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"On The Journey, In The Spirit" Pentecost 2009 May 31, 2009

(First, read the passages for this sermon: Acts 2:1-21; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15)

God the Holy Spirit has assembled us here. God the Holy Spirit has created us, as a worshiping community, at this time and in this place.

Indeed, God the Holy Spirit has been bringing us along since we were baptized. In this morning’s gospel story, Jesus promises, “When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth.” Since the day that we were baptized into the resurrection of Jesus, we have been on the journey, in the Spirit.

On this day of Pentecost, this is our particular theme.

On the journey, in the Spirit, our question always is: What is God up to?

What is God doing that is new?

What is God creating?

Those are the questions in the story that we read each year on Pentecost, from the Acts of the Apostles. First – why are the Roman authorities unable to stamp out the Jesus movement? They tried to do that, by executing Jesus. But some of Jesus’ followers have reported his grave to be empty! Some of Jesus’ followers have seen him alive, after they had seen him dead.

Are these reports of crackpots?

Or is God up to something? Is God creating something that is new?

That leads us into this morning’s phantasmagorical story, from the second chapter of Acts. (You know that the gospel of Luke and the book of Acts was written by the same anonymous author. Luke is “Part 1,” telling the story of Jesus, and Acts is “Part 2,” telling the story of the first-generation church.) In the story from Acts this morning, Jesus has been executed only weeks ago. Those appearances of Jesus – or, at least, we think it’s been Jesus – what is going on? What is God up to? What is God creating?

Jesus disciples, observant Jews that they are, have gathered in Jerusalem for the Jewish festival of Pentecost. It’s an agricultural, religious festival. The city of Jerusalem is crowded with Jewish pilgrims from all over the region. And God does something new!

And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability. The polyglot of pilgrims are amazed! Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene – all of these people understand words of their languages! They are being spoken by followers of Jesus – who are themselves astonished by what’s coming out of their mouths! What is going on?

Some bystanders sneer and say that the Jesus people are drunk! But Peter says this, in one of the best comic lines in all of Scripture: “We’re not drunk! It’s only nine o’clock in the morning!”

No, Peter says, what you are watching and hearing is the Holy Spirit creating the Church. It is to be a community in which the words of the prophet Joel are fulfilled:

and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy
and your young men shall see visions,
and your old men shall dream dreams.

John Howard Yoder writes that God the Holy Spirit is here creating a new way of behaving: “a kind of life strikingly, offensively different from the rest of the world; it dared to claim that Christ himself was its norm and to believe in the active enabling presence of the Holy Spirit.”

You and I have been baptized into this same Church; into this behavior, into this kind of life that God creates: strikingly, offensively different from the rest of the world. Here’s how Bryan Stone describes this new creation of God: “the marks of the early church are concrete and visible: jubilation, unity, consensus built on spiritual discernment, material sharing, inclusive table fellowship, bold proclamation, and public defiance of the powers.” In other words, among us, in the church, God the Holy Spirit has created the presence of the kingdom, now come, into daily human life! “Your kingdom come.” It is answered prayer.

On the journey, in the Spirit, with each other who are on pilgrimage, in this community that we call “church,” “our lives are patterned together into the narrative of [Jesus’] life.” God the Holy Spirit “[scripts] our minds and bodies through worship and ministry into a new timeliness,…’gospel’ time, resurrection time. Learning to be a Christian, then, is not just learning about a story; it is learning to live into a story.”

That is what we are about, on the journey, in the Spirit, in community with each other. We are learning to be Christians. We are learning to see the resurrection, the kingdom come, in our daily lives. On the journey, in the Spirit, the Spirit is forming us into God’s point of view! We are learning to repent from cynicism and despair, and to live into hope – because God is always doing something that is new. We are being formed by God the Holy Spirit in the distinctive and strange Christian life of “compassion, kindness, humility, meekness and patience,” as Paul describes this life in one place (Col. 3:12). We are rejoicing to see in ourselves the fruit of the Holy Spirit, as Paul describes this in another place (Gal. 5:22-23): the distinctive and strange Christian life of “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.”

How does the Holy Spirit form us into lives of such strange distinctiveness? It happens as we practice the faith. The Spirit changes our priorities and behaviors as we do the things that those affirming their baptisms this morning will themselves promise to do:

to live among God’s faithful people,
to hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper,
to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed,
to serve all people, following the example of Jesus,
and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.
(From the Affirmation of Baptism liturgy in Evangelical Lutheran Worship, page 236.)

What a strange, distinctive, utterly joyful way to live: on the journey, in the Spirit; watchful and open to what God is doing that is new; embodying that new creation; inviting others into the journey; into life in the Spirit.

God is no less active now than in that story from the Acts of the Apostles. On the journey, in the Spirit, our questions are always: What is God up to? What is God doing that is new? What is God creating? And what is God calling us to do, in response?

Thanks be to God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia

“Called To A Better Way Of Life” Easter 6 May 17, 2009

(First, read the text for this sermon: John 15:(1-8)9-17)

The Baccalaureate service for graduating seniors and their families was yesterday morning at the College. I participated – because I said I would. I had been assigned to lead the benediction, but I cringed when I discovered what the benediction was! It included these words of call and response:

Leader: What we call the beginning is often the end
People: And to make an end to make a beginning.
Leader: We shall not cease from exploration
People: And the end of all our exploring
Leader: Will be to arrive where we started …

(It goes on from there for a few more lines, but I will spare you from any more of it. In fact, the Call to Worship was even worse, and the Invocation did not invoke the name of God. I know, I know: I’m rigid. And sectarian. But, in my humble opinion, I think that a worship service ought to at least mention God.)

You see, I had agreed to take part in the Baccalaureate service because I assumed that the service would be what we’ve done in the past. But this year, it turns out, one of the other campus ministers had assumed that she could entirely re-do the service, and that the rest of us didn’t need to review it before it was printed!

When I did see the service, boy, was I angry! I shot off an e-mail, mincing no words, pointing out where the service fell short of what it should be. In fact, there was a flurry of e-mail protests from other campus ministers who also had not had the chance to help prepare the service, and who also did not like the words they had been assigned to say. How did the author of the service begin her e-mail of reply? With these words: “I have to begin my response by saying how furious I am …”

Oh, how good we human beings are at misunderstanding each other, or working from conflicting assumptions, or taking too much initiative and getting ourselves into trouble, or taking pot shots at each other after the fact. Think of when you’ve been caught up in such a situation. What are the results? Hurt feelings, at least. Resentment. Quickly-escalating anger.

I’m right, of course! You’re wrong!

And often: We’re stuck – in our festering resentment and anger!

As followers of Jesus, we are called to a better way of life. Here is a short description of what that looks like: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

These words come from this morning’s reading, from the gospel of John. They describe the life of love to which we are called. Indeed, this life of love is commanded.

The use of the word, “commandments,” is arresting, isn’t it? This is obviously something profoundly different from the way we often think of love. Do you hear anything sappy or sentimental here? Do you even hear anything about reciprocity? There isn’t any: “I love you because you deserve it!” Or even: “I love you because you love me back.” Instead, we hear Jesus talking about “commandments.” We’re commanded to love those we don’t even like (to quote Al Kuhn.) Boy, is that hard! This Christian way of life is not something that comes naturally, is it? What is required is faith formation by the Holy Spirit.

So. Back to the Baccalaureate brouhaha. The campus minister who radically changed the service was wrong! No one gave her permission to re-write the service unilaterally! I was really angry.

But here’s the thing. I am also commanded by the God who created me, to live in a better way than tit-for-tat anger. And, so, when the e-mails were flying, angry and resentful, I took a deep breath, and composed this e-mail reply to my equally-angry and resentful colleague:

Margaret --

I am sorry that this is emotional. Indeed, I can understand your emotion.

I am sorry that none of us questioned our assumptions. For myself, I had heard you state clearly, at two meetings, that you thought the liturgy was inadequate. I did not hear others in the group sharing the same opinion. I did hear people encourage you to work on an alternative -- which you assumed to be the freedom to shape and change the service. However, I assumed that, when you came up with something, you would share it. As the weeks went by, and nothing was shared, I assumed that there would be no changes.

And so, we are where we are -- which is unsatisfactory for all of us.

I am sorry, for my part, that I did not contribute to better collaboration and communication.

Now, guess what? As it turns out, the next day, we campus ministers were scheduled to get together for our end-of-the-semester lunch! So, when I arrived at the restaurant, again I took a deep breath, and sat across the table from Margaret, and asked, “Are we still friends?”

We are! Hooray! Maybe these words in today’s gospel reading about joy are actually true: If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.

“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love.”

"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

The Christian life of faith would be so much easier if it was a private, individualistic thing; if it was a set of beliefs that each one of us could make up for ourselves, according to what makes me feel comfortable, or what “meets my our needs!” But that, of course, would not be the Christian life of faith – at least not as Jesus’ teachings have been brought to us through the Biblical tradition.

Instead, Dorothy Day nails this Christian life of faith, this better way of life to which we are called, with this one sentence: “[A person’s] love for God can be measured by his love for the one he loves least.” (The Duty of Delight, page 119.)

A person’s love for God can be measured by his love for the one he loves least.

Then, by that measure, how can we possibly measure up? It is all grace. It is all what God the Holy Spirit makes possible. Our lives are our response to what God has already done to measure us up. That’s in this morning’s gospel passage as well. The gospel writer has Jesus saying, “No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends.” In the story, of course, Jesus is laying down his life for “friends” who remain ignorant, who betray him, who desert him, who in no way deserve what Jesus is doing for them.

Through the human flesh of Jesus, God acts first, with saving grace. Our salvation is won. Now, God commands us to respond. "This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”

You and I learn to respond, as God the Holy Spirit forms us into the Christian life of faith. Through the words that we speak and sing and hear in Sunday morning liturgy, the Holy Spirit forms us. Through the practices of daily prayer, using passages of Scripture, the Holy Spirit forms us. Through the conversations we have, sharing our lives with others on the journey of faith, the Holy Spirit forms us.

The Holy Spirit forms us so that you and I will turn away from self-centeredness, which is where anger and resentment come from.

And then, turned towards God, the Spirit leads us along a new journey, to respond to God’s commandment to love.

It’s a better way to live!

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia

“What Does It Mean?” Easter 2009

(First, read the text for this sermon: Mark 16:1-8)

So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Doesn’t it shock you that the gospel of Mark ends that way?

Here’s where we are in the story. Three women are the only ones who have remained faithful to Jesus. All the male disciples are in hiding. Two days ago, these women had followed and marked where Jesus was buried. They are observant Jews, and so they couldn’t do anything more because the sabbath was beginning, and they could do no work. But now, the sabbath over, they have returned to the tomb, at first light, as soon as they possibly could.

And what do these courageous and faithful women find? Jesus’ grave has been opened! There is no sign of Jesus’ body. There is “a young man.” (Is he a vision? An apparition?) The young man says to them, "Do not be alarmed; you are looking for Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified. He has been raised; he is not here. Look, there is the place they laid him. But go, tell his disciples and Peter that he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you." So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

The end.

That’s how the gospel of Mark ends.

How can that be the end?

Of course, that’s not the end of what actually happened. Obviously the women told other followers of Jesus that the tomb was empty. Obviously the women and Jesus’ other followers experienced Jesus alive, after they had seen him dead. Obviously all of that happened. Otherwise, there would not have been a community of resurrection people to produce this gospel of Mark – the earliest one that was written, around 70 AD.

The endings are certainly tidier in Matthew and Luke, which were composed about 10 years after Mark, and in the gospel of John, produced about 30 years later. All three of those gospels end with stories of Jesus, alive after he was dead. But the gospel writer of Mark is not trying to tie things up, neatly, at the end. Instead, he’s leaving everything untied!

What does it mean, that the tomb is empty? That question is left open, as Mark’s story ends. It is a question for the readers to answer.

What does it mean, to you and me, now, as we read this story? Jesus’ rising from the grave has to matter now. The significance of this is not simply reserved for the future. Life is changed!

All four of the gospels – Mark, Matthew, Luke and John – were composed not to be objective, but to be persuasive! First were the collections of stories about Jesus told to first-generation listeners, to persuade them that God has brought the kingdom in the flesh and blood of the Christ. In the gospels, those stories are arranged in various ways, in written form, to persuade us that Jesus is the long-promised Christ, who did much more, and much differently, than what God’s people had expected for centuries. This Jesus of Nazareth, this messiah, actually rose from the dead!

How does that transform your life? That’s the question the gospel stories persuade you and me to answer. What does that mean for you, day-to-day, in your work and play?

Enter into this scene. So [Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome] went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid.

Of course there is terror and amazement and fear! The women’s assumptions about the way the world works now count for nothing! Logic? Reason? What we limit reality to be? The empty tomb blows all of our constructions and assumptions to smithereens.

Mark ends with everything untied to make you and me wonder about all of that. In other words, if today is simply an annual festival of lilies and brass, and cooking or going out for a special dinner; so that, when we put away our fancy clothes this afternoon and say, “There. We’ve done Easter again.” – then the untied story in Mark hasn’t drawn us in.

The tomb is empty!

Jesus is risen from the dead!

How does that transform your life? What does it mean for you, in your day-to-day work and play? How do you live the resurrection, now?

Does the Spirit draw you into daily thanksgiving, realizing that God gives us more than enough of what we need each day? It is grace upon grace. So – joyful gratitude for abundance, and resisting the deadly messages we receive each day that there is scarcity: that’s what it means that Jesus has risen from the dead.

The realization that, since we have more than we need, we are given opportunity to care for those who don’t have enough; the realization that, in that servanthood there is joy: that’s what it means that Jesus has risen from the dead.

Having the courage and intestinal fortitude to be “meek” (which means resisting the pressure to respond to aggression with aggression; but instead, defusing violence and working towards reconciliation): that’s what it means to live in the resurrection.

Resisting the message that power and beauty and celebrity are qualities to be admired and, instead, embodying God’s compassion for those who are vulnerable: that’s what it means to live in the resurrection.

Those who value “keeping everything under control,” and staying within our limits of what is possible, and being certain about the way the world works, I think find it impossible to live in the resurrection. It is for that reason that the empty tomb provokes terror and amazement and fear for Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, in this morning’s untied story from Mark. For three horrific days, they have been trying to keep everything under control, staying within the limits of what is possible. And now, the tomb is empty? It’s all just too much for them!

But that’s not where Mary and Mary and Salome end up, in what happens after the gospel of Mark ends. So, too, for you and me.

Jesus is risen from the dead!

And so God the Holy Spirit moves within us and among us, to persuaded us to let go of our death grip; to experience God moving in all the loose ends of our lives; to listen for God; to follow where the Spirit is leading us on the journey: into both exhilarating risk and profound security; into joyful servanthood to those who are in need.

That’s what it means, to live in the resurrection.

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia

“The Servant Community, Gathered to Share a Meal” Maundy Thursday, 2009 April 9, 2009

(First, read the passage for this sermon: John 13:1-17, 31b-35)

We are a servant community. We are gathered to share a meal.

It’s a simple meal: bread and wine. And it’s not even our own meal. It’s the Lord’s supper. Our Lord is our host. But this is a meal to which our risen Lord invites anyone. There is no barrier due to family or gender or race or sexuality or class. No one gets more than another. No one has more privilege at the table than another.

What we are doing this evening, around this table, makes the church what it is! We are centered in Christ. We are gathered in thanksgiving. We welcome anyone.

And so, there is nothing private, in what we are doing at this table. We are participating in each other. God the Holy Spirit forms us into the body of Christ, when the Spirit assembles us at this time and in this place. We are a spiritual community. But we are a physical gathering. “God’s love is not an abstraction. It has a body.” (Bryan Stone, Evangelism After Christendom, page 207) Gathered here, around the table, the body of Christ, we embody salvation.

This is a very different perspective from at least several popular, but non-Biblical traditions (small “t”). One of those traditions has it that salvation is something entirely reserved for the future. And so, the life of faith is to follow the rules while we are in this vale of tears; to do what you need to do so you’ll get into heaven, which will be in the great beyond, by and by. In the Bible, though, salvation comes now, with faith in Jesus the Christ, which produces the life of joyful servanthood! Salvation is seen then, in the way we live!

Here’s another tradition (small “t”): that salvation is individualistic. That again, is not Biblical. But our culture that worships individualism encourages us to think in individualistic terms: “me ‘n God.” “Are you right with God?” the fire and brimstone preacher will thunder, looking each individual in the eye. Instead, our concern has to be whether we (plural, community) are living in righteousness. That’s a Biblical world-view.

It could be that even something we have done this evening may encourage us to think that it’s one-on-one, “me ‘n God.” A few minutes ago, many came up to the rail and knelt while an ordained pastor placed his hands on each individual head and said, “In obedience to the command of our Lord, Jesus Christ, I forgive you all your sins.” Obviously, those are words spoken to each individual, words carrying extraordinary power and grace. But we did this as a community. As the assembled body of Christ. Elbow-to-elbow; shoulder-to-shoulder; together; the community of salvation.

That’s what we are: a community of salvation. We gather around a table, to share the Lord’s Supper, which perhaps has special poignancy on this evening, entering as we are into the experience of Jesus’ last supper with his closest followers. In this meal tonight, we embody what salvation looks like. No one of us has more privilege over another. There is no barrier due to family or gender or race or sexuality or class in the community of salvation. That is because God took on human flesh to be a servant in particular to those who were excluded in his culture! That is all through the gospel stories.

Listen again to this stunning description of Jesus’ servanthood, in John’s account of the Last Supper. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him.

I’m afraid this has lost its shock value for you and me.

Jesus has dressed as a servant! He is performing an act of hospitality that was usually delegated by the host to his servant!

Jesus’ action is shocking because of what his role is supposed to be, in that time, in that culture. His followers call him “Teacher.” A teacher enjoyed a high position. A teacher gathered a cluster of disciples who literally sat at his feet while he imparted his wisdom. (Remember the story of Jesus’ visit to the sisters, Martha and Mary? He’s there for dinner, and Martha is frantically trying to pull the meal together. She complains to Jesus because her sister, Mary, isn’t helping! Instead, Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to him teach. Well … That’s what Mary is supposed to be doing, according to the rules of the culture. She’s giving honor to the teacher!)

In the story from John, Jesus says to his disciples: You call me Teacher and Lord -- and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Well, good Lord! If a teacher was honored in Roman culture, a Lord was honored even more so! And Jesus is acting as a servant to those guests at his table? Jesus’ actions would have been incomprehensible to those at the table.

And so, Peter reacts as any one of us would have! [Jesus] came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" (Peter’s face must be revealing his incredulity and shock!) Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am doing, (boy, that’s for sure!) but later you will understand." Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!"

Peter’s bewilderment and protests are entirely natural, because Jesus is acting so entirely counter to the culture.

Indeed, even today, whenever the church acts as a triumphant, hierarchical community, Peter’s misunderstandings persist.

Instead, we are a servant community. We are gathered to share a meal – with our Lord, Jesus the Christ, in the center of our gathering, present in the bread and the wine.

God the Holy Spirit has formed us as a salvation community in this place and at this time. We gather in thanksgiving for our salvation. We eat and drink salvation. We embody salvation. Salvation comes to us in community, the body of Christ. We are participating in each other. No one of us has more privilege over another. Family or gender or race or sexuality or class presents no barrier. The Spirit forms us in community to be servants to one another.

And then the Spirit sends us out from our gathering, to be the body of Christ in the world, to be servants in the world.

“God’s love is not an abstraction. It has a body.”

Through the body of Christ – us! – salvation is given for the world, through our servanthood, imitating our Lord, Jesus Christ.

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia

Sunday of the Passion April 5, 2009

Liturgy is drama.

In what we do and say and hear in our worship -- the words, the song, the bread and wine -- we enact God's salvation.

God's acts of salvation become real in what we do in worship.

That is true every Sunday morning. That is true in the worship that we will experience during this coming Holy Week.

This Thursday, Maundy Thursday, is the conclusion of the penitential season of Lent, with its opportunity for worshipers to come forward, and to feel the pressure of a pastor's hands on their heads as he speaks God's words of forgiveness for your sins.

Maundy Thursday begins "The Three Days" -- worship during which we experience Jesus' death and resurrection. At the conclusion of the liturgy on Maundy Thursday, we watch as all color and decoration is removed from the worship space.

Good Friday is the day of our Lord's death. Our worship begins in full light, with seven mismatched candles burning on top of the naked altar. As we hear scripture and as we pray, candles are snuffed, lights are extinguished. We end the liturgy with only a single candle burning.

When the Easter Vigil begins, on Saturday night, it is as if we are in the tomb. There are no lights, no candles. Our first action in the Easter Vigil liturgy is to light our hand-held candles from the Paschal Candle, when it is brought into the darkness of the worship space. ("The light of Christ" into our darkness!) In half-light we hear readings from scripture describing God's salvation. We affirm our baptisms. We end in full light, making much noise, with the first Holy Communion of Easter!

Our liturgy this morning begins all of this drama. Watch the movement of what we are doing. So far, it has been the chaos and confusion of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem! But now, with the reading of the Passion according to the gospel of Mark, the mood will change. When our liturgy ends this morning, we will find ourselves thrust into Holy Week.

The Passion of Our Lord, according to St. Mark 14:1-15:47

It was two days before the Passover and the festival of Unleavened Bread. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to arrest Jesus by stealth and kill him; [2] for they said, "Not during the festival, or there may be a riot among the people."

[3] While he was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, as he sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very costly ointment of nard, and she broke open the jar and poured the ointment on his head. [4] But some were there who said to one another in anger, "Why was the ointment wasted in this way? [5] For this ointment could have been sold for more than three hundred denarii, and the money given to the poor." And they scolded her. [6] But Jesus said, "Let her alone; why do you trouble her? She has performed a good service for me. [7] For you always have the poor with you, and you can show kindness to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me. [8] She has done what she could; she has anointed my body beforehand for its burial. [9] Truly I tell you, wherever the good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her."

[10] Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. [11] When they heard it, they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

[12] On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples said to him, "Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?" [13] So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, "Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him, [14] and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, 'The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?' [15] He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there." [16] So the disciples set out and went to the city, and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal.

[17] When it was evening, he came with the twelve. [18] And when they had taken their places and were eating, Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me." [19] They began to be distressed and to say to him one after another, "Surely, not I?" [20] He said to them, "It is one of the twelve, one who is dipping bread into the bowl with me. [21] For the Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born."

[22] While they were eating, he took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to them, and said, "Take; this is my body." [23] Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, and all of them drank from it. [24] He said to them, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many. [25] Truly I tell you, I will never again drink of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new in the kingdom of God."

[26] When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. [27] And Jesus said to them, "You will all become deserters; for it is written,

'I will strike the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered.'

[28] But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee." [29] Peter said to him, "Even though all become deserters, I will not." [30] Jesus said to him, "Truly I tell you, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times." [31] But he said vehemently, "Even though I must die with you, I will not deny you." And all of them said the same.

[32] They went to a place called Gethsemane; and he said to his disciples, "Sit here while I pray." [33] He took with him Peter and James and John, and began to be distressed and agitated. [34] And he said to them, "I am deeply grieved, even to death; remain here, and keep awake." [35] And going a little farther, he threw himself on the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from him. [36] He said, "Abba, Father, for you all things are possible; remove this cup from me; yet, not what I want, but what you want." [37] He came and found them sleeping; and he said to Peter, "Simon, are you asleep? Could you not keep awake one hour? [38] Keep awake and pray that you may not come into the time of trial; the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." [39] And again he went away and prayed, saying the same words. [40] And once more he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were very heavy; and they did not know what to say to him. [41] He came a third time and said to them, "Are you still sleeping and taking your rest? Enough! The hour has come; the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. [42] Get up, let us be going. See, my betrayer is at hand."

[43] Immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; and with him there was a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders. [44] Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, "The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard." [45] So when he came, he went up to him at once and said, "Rabbi!" and kissed him. [46] Then they laid hands on him and arrested him. [47] But one of those who stood near drew his sword and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. [48] Then Jesus said to them, "Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? [49] Day after day I was with you in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. But let the scriptures be fulfilled." [50] All of them deserted him and fled.

[51] A certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, [52] but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.

[53] They took Jesus to the high priest; and all the chief priests, the elders, and the scribes were assembled. [54] Peter had followed him at a distance, right into the courtyard of the high priest; and he was sitting with the guards, warming himself at the fire. [55] Now the chief priests and the whole council were looking for testimony against Jesus to put him to death; but they found none. [56] For many gave false testimony against him, and their testimony did not agree. [57] Some stood up and gave false testimony against him, saying, [58] "We heard him say, 'I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, not made with hands.' " [59] But even on this point their testimony did not agree. [60] Then the high priest stood up before them and asked Jesus, "Have you no answer? What is it that they testify against you?" [61] But he was silent and did not answer. Again the high priest asked him, "Are you the Messiah, the Son of the Blessed One?" [62] Jesus said, "I am; and
'you will see the Son of Man
seated at the right hand of the Power,'
and 'coming with the clouds of heaven.' "

[63] Then the high priest tore his clothes and said, "Why do we still need witnesses? [64] You have heard his blasphemy! What is your decision?" All of them condemned him as deserving death. [65] Some began to spit on him, to blindfold him, and to strike him, saying to him, "Prophesy!" The guards also took him over and beat him.

[66] While Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the servant-girls of the high priest came by. [67] When she saw Peter warming himself, she stared at him and said, "You also were with Jesus, the man from Nazareth." [68] But he denied it, saying, "I do not know or understand what you are talking about." And he went out into the forecourt. Then the cock crowed. [69] And the servant-girl, on seeing him, began again to say to the bystanders, "This man is one of them." [70] But again he denied it. Then after a little while the bystanders again said to Peter, "Certainly you are one of them; for you are a Galilean." [71] But he began to curse, and he swore an oath, "I do not know this man you are talking about." [72] At that moment the cock crowed for the second time. Then Peter remembered that Jesus had said to him, "Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times." And he broke down and wept.

[15:1] As soon as it was morning, the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. They bound Jesus, led him away, and handed him over to Pilate. [2] Pilate asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" He answered him, "You say so." [3] Then the chief priests accused him of many things. [4] Pilate asked him again, "Have you no answer? See how many charges they bring against you." [5] But Jesus made no further reply, so that Pilate was amazed.

[6] Now at the festival he used to release a prisoner for them, anyone for whom they asked. [7] Now a man called Barabbas was in prison with the rebels who had committed murder during the insurrection. [8] So the crowd came and began to ask Pilate to do for them according to his custom. [9] Then he answered them, "Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?" [10] For he realized that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests had handed him over. [11] But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release Barabbas for them instead. [12] Pilate spoke to them again, "Then what do you wish me to do with the man you call the King of the Jews?" [13] They shouted back, "Crucify him!" [14] Pilate asked them, "Why, what evil has he done?" But they shouted all the more, "Crucify him!" [15] So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released Barabbas for them; and after flogging Jesus, he handed him over to be crucified.

[16] Then the soldiers led him into the courtyard of the palace (that is, the governor's headquarters); and they called together the whole cohort. [17] And they clothed him in a purple cloak; and after twisting some thorns into a crown, they put it on him. [18] And they began saluting him, "Hail, King of the Jews!" [19] They struck his head with a reed, spat upon him, and knelt down in homage to him. [20] After mocking him, they stripped him of the purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. Then they led him out to crucify him.

[21] They compelled a passer-by, who was coming in from the country, to carry his cross; it was Simon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus. [22] Then they brought Jesus to the place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull). [23] And they offered him wine mixed with myrrh; but he did not take it. [24] And they crucified him, and divided his clothes among them, casting lots to decide what each should take.

[25] It was nine o'clock in the morning when they crucified him. [26] The inscription of the charge against him read, "The King of the Jews." [27] And with him they crucified two bandits, one on his right and one on his left. [28] [29] Those who passed by derided him, shaking their heads and saying, "Aha! You who would destroy the temple and build it in three days, [30] save yourself, and come down from the cross!" [31] In the same way the chief priests, along with the scribes, were also mocking him among themselves and saying, "He saved others; he cannot save himself. [32] Let the Messiah, the King of Israel, come down from the cross now, so that we may see and believe." Those who were crucified with him also taunted him.

[33] When it was noon, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. [34] At three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" [35] When some of the bystanders heard it, they said, "Listen, he is calling for Elijah." [36] And someone ran, filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a stick, and gave it to him to drink, saying, "Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down." [37] Then Jesus gave a loud cry and breathed his last. [38] And the curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. [39] Now when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he breathed his last, he said, "Truly this man was God's Son!"

[40] There were also women looking on from a distance; among them were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and Salome. [41] These used to follow him and provided for him when he was in Galilee; and there were many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem.

[42] When evening had come, and since it was the day of Preparation, that is, the day before the sabbath, [43] Joseph of Arimathea, a respected member of the council, who was also himself waiting expectantly for the kingdom of God, went boldly to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. [44] Then Pilate wondered if he were already dead; and summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he had been dead for some time. [45] When he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the body to Joseph. [46] Then Joseph bought a linen cloth, and taking down the body, wrapped it in the linen cloth, and laid it in a tomb that had been hewn out of the rock. He then rolled a stone against the door of the tomb. [47] Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where the body was laid.

“Warning: Jesus is Calling Us to be Very Weird” Fifth Sunday of Lent March 29, 2009

(First, read the passage for this sermon: John 12:20-33)

Jesus Christ is a superstar, at this point in John’s gospel. It’s the biggest time of the year in Jerusalem, for Jews. It is Passover. Great crowds have gathered in the city, from all over the hinterlands, for the annual celebration of God’s delivering the people from slavery in Egypt. And Jesus is providing extra excitement! Here’s what we read in John’s story, just before this morning’s reading begins: The next day the great crowd that had come to the festival heard that Jesus was coming to Jerusalem. So they took branches of palm trees and went out to meet him, shouting,
"Hosanna!
Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord --
the King of Israel!"

You know what we call our celebration of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem? That’s right: Palm Sunday, or the Sunday of the Passion. It’s next week! In John’s story, though, Jesus’ enemies react badly to all of this acclaim: The Pharisees then said to one another, "You see, you can do nothing. Look, the world has gone after him!"

As to confirm the Pharisees’ worst fears, about the whole world going after Jesus, this morning’s story begins: Now among those who went up to worship at the festival were some Greeks. Jesus’ followers are now expanding beyond those of the Chosen People who think Jesus is the Christ. Now Gentile converts are coming, too.

We read, They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, and said to him, "Sir, we wish to see Jesus." Philip went and told Andrew; then Andrew and Philip went and told Jesus. The Greek converts approach Philip, because his name is Greek, and because he comes from Bethsaida, which is a town close to the Gentile area. Philip picks up his fellow disciple, Andrew (who also has a Greek name), to approach Jesus, and Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.”

You do know where the story is going to go from here, right? (Here’s a clue: what’s going to happen two weeks from this Friday, on the day we call “Good Friday?” Yes, that’s where the story is going from here.)

And here’s what strikes me at this point. At Jesus’ greatest fame and power, he does not build a mega church. He doesn’t begin writing best-selling books outlining the path to spiritual success and psychological happiness. He doesn’t respond to the request for a cover story, from the reporter from Time magazine. He doesn’t accept the President’s invitation to pray at the inauguration.

Instead, here’s what Jesus does. He tries to frighten away as many followers as he can!

Jesus answered them, "The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.” Well, you and I have certain expectations of what that means, according to the way our culture adulates the rich and powerful. ButGod has different ideas. Jesus says these shocking things: “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

And: "Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life."

And: "Whoever serves me must follow me, and where I am, there will my servant be also.”

You and I are called to die to ourselves? We are called to “lose” our lives (which means that we are not to be the center of our own little universes?) We are called to servanthood? Then I must warn you: Jesus is calling us to be very weird – at least according to our culture’s criteria of glory and fame.

I am very pleased to see how many of us are well along the path into weirdness, following Jesus’ call! For instance, you and I are right now worshiping the God who created us! (What a weird thing to do; an act of resistance against the culture that does not consider this to be the sabbath day, with any sense of holiness – but to be “the weekend.”) In this community of faith, you and I encourage each other to give away money! (That’s weird. The first thing many financial planners advise is to stop tithing to the church.) In this community, we practice taking seriously and listening to those we disagree with. (That’s really weird.) In this community, we practice loving those we don’t even like. (How weird is that?)

All of this weird behavior is a sign that you and I are bearing fruit. The key to understanding what Jesus is talking about are these words: “Very truly, I tell you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.”

Jesus is saying that he, the Son of Man, is glorified by dying on the cross – which is about as strange a thing as Jesus could possibly say. (Remember how offensive that would have been? Remember that today’s equivalent to the cross is the lethal injection syringe?)

Jesus is saying that it is necessary for him to die, so that he can bear fruit.

Using the Bible to provide commentary on the Bible, here’s what that means. In John’s story, two chapters further on from where we are this morning, Jesus alerts his followers to the lasting fruit that will come from his death and resurrection: "I have said these things to you while I am still with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.” The Holy Spirit continues Jesus’ work in the world.

And, again using the Bible to provide commentary on the Bible, I think of one of the most important sentences in all of St. Paul’s writings: By contrast, the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)

There is a direct line, then, from the work and words and presence of Jesus the Christ who dies to bear fruit, and that fruit of the Spirit that shows up in you and me, when we die to ourselves!

Here’s another description, from Paul, of what this looks like: As God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience. Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. (Colossians 3:12-13)

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control? Compassion, kindness, humility, meekness? Bear with one another and, if anyone has a complaint against another, forgive each other; just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive?

Warning! Jesus is calling you and me to be very weird – at least, according to what is usually honored and celebrated in our culture.

You and I are called to be very different from that.

You and I are called to be church: “a new and alternative public;… a new and distinct society, a new and extraordinary social existence where enemies are loved, sins are forgiven, the poor are valued, and violence is rejected.”

You and I are summoned “to take the reign of God seriously, and it is an invitation to allow our lives, commitments, and relations to be ordered within that deviant politics called the church.”

You and I are called to be church, “a people whose lives are marked by such practices as forgiveness, enemy-love, inclusive table fellowship, and a sharing of material possessions.”

All of these behaviors are “subversive of an old order that, since Jesus, is passing away.” (Quotes from Bryan Stone, Evangelism after Christendom, page 179, 180)

How can we possibly bear such fruit? By imitating Christ. By dying to ourselves.

And that’s not a heavy or onerous thing! Instead, it leads to a better way to live! We die to what exhausts us and dehumanizes us – holding grudges, competition that creates winners and losers, coercion, thinking that you are valuable according to what you produce, imagining that there is scarcity. We die to all of that which deadens us – so that God can raise us, to be what God created us to be! So that we can bear the fruit of the Spirit, as individuals formed in community. So that the Spirit will form us in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; in compassion, kindness, humility, meekness; in mutual forbearance and forgiveness.

Why do we gather as church? One reason is so the Holy Spirit can form us in this weirdness, as we practice the faith.

Can you do that alone, without gathering as church? Man, I sure can’t.

Here are some provocative sentences, from Bryan Stone: “Salvation is impossible apart from the church, not because the church has received salvation as a possession and is now in a position to dispense it to or withhold it from others. It is instead because salvation is, in the first place, a distinct form of social existence. To be saved is to be made part of a new people and a new politics, the body of Christ.” (Stone, page 188)

In this community of St. Stephen, then, we practice what that looks like: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control; compassion, kindness, humility, meekness; mutual forbearance and forgiveness.

As we embody that life, we are the body of Christ. And others are attracted to it – because it is a better way to live. It is a more joyous, grace-filled way to live!

Thanks be to God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia

“By Grace You Have Been Saved” Fourth Sunday in Lent March 22, 2009

(First, read the text for this sermon: Ephesians 2:1-10)

The apostle Paul might have written the letter to the Ephesians. But probably not. The style and the Greek vocabulary is much different from those letters which are indisputably from the pen of Paul. (According to introduction in the new Lutheran Study Bible, “For example, some sentences in Ephesians are unusually long….Nearly ninety words appear in Ephesians that do not appear in other letters written by Paul.”) This kind of thing is easy to see, for Greek scholars. It would be as if English readers compared a passage of Faulkner, for instance, with one from Hemingway. From the different styles of writing, from the different vocabularies used, it would be obvious that two different people wrote those two passages.

In the second and third centuries, though, as church leaders were deciding what would be in the collection we call the New Testament, it didn’t really matter who wrote Ephesians. It was common for a follower of a prominent person to write in the name of that person. What was important was that the letter proved to be so helpful to the churches of the first centuries! It was an easy choice to include Ephesians.

The letter so clearly describes the nearly-inconceivable grace of God. The author has composed a letter of perfect Lutheran theology!

Oh. Wait. It’s the other way around, isn’t it? It’s Luther’s emphasis on grace that comes from the Bible, right?

In fact, the Bible offers contradictory witnesses to God. Over a period of 1,600 years or so, as the authors composed the writings that eventually came to be collected together as the Bible, the authors were witnessing to how they understood God to be working in their times and their places. And so, in the Bible, God seems to act in conflicting ways. That gives rise to an inaccurate stereotype that I hear a lot: “In the Old Testament, God is a God of anger and vengeance. In the New Testament, God is a God of grace and forgiveness.”

It is true that there is a lot of violence in the Hebrew Scriptures. (I said a couple of weeks ago that the story of Elijah is better than any of the “Indiana Jones” movies.) And, it is true that various writers portray God as involved in the violence. (Look at this morning’s story, out of Numbers. Is there any story more weird?! Numbers 21:4-9)

But, mostly, the Old Testament is full of grace! We see that by considering just a few examples.

Consider, for instance, the call of Abraham and Sarah. Who were they that God should call them? Did they deserve God’s favor? Uh uh. Pure grace.

Consider the call of Moses – a no account sheep herder, working for his father-in-law. Pure grace.

Why would God choose the insignificant, powerless, land-less, nomadic Hebrews to be the Chosen People? Why did God save those Chosen People from slavery in Egypt? Why did God give them the 10 Commandments? Of course, the answer to all those questions is: pure grace from God.

Does God get angry in the Bible? Well, certainly! For one example, God’s anger is that of a jilted lover according to the prophet Hosea, because the people have given their love to other gods. Most often in the Old Testament, God’s anger is that of a loving parent, despairing as he watches his children engage in behavior that will destroy them. (Perhaps you’ve known that terrible, angry love, with your children.)

But just as with any parent, all through Bible, God’s anger is temporary. All through the Bible, God offers new chances – even though the people have given no reason for God to do that! God never tires of welcoming the errant children back. Why does God do this? Pure grace.

Grace is the primary and unifying theme – throughout the Hebrew Scriptures and the New Testament. In the Pauline writings, in particular, grace is the point of everything that God has done and everything that God will do. In the Lutheran tradition of Christianity, based on Paul, we assert that grace is fundamental to God. And this passage from Ephesians is as radical a statement of grace as we’ll ever encounter.

You were dead. You were dead. I was dead. Let’s start there.

You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. “Disobedient”: there is the theme of repentance that we’ve encountered in many of our readings during Lent. To be disobedient is to turn away from God, and, instead, to follow “the ruler of the power of the air,” as Paul puts it. (There he is reflecting the cosmology of his time: the ancient assumption that the habitat of demons was up there, in the air.) Repentance means to turn back towards God!

There are Christian traditions that require repentance, as something we do first, in order to be saved. Hmmm. Does God withhold salvation until people first prove that they deserve it, until they first repent? That is not what the author of Ephesians is describing. Instead, it is all pure grace. Listen:

All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. (My emphases.) But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ -- by grace you have been saved -- and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.

In case you haven’t been paying attention, the author repeats himself! For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God – and I say to myself, “Thank God!” Because, I don’t know about you, but I am constantly reminded of how powerless I am to save myself, or even to improve myself. I think, “OK. I’m doing well overcoming this grief stuff”; and then I see a video of my loved one back when she was alive and healthy and beautiful, and then the tears come as if they are new. I’m not doing well at all! I can’t work myself out of it! I can’t do it myself!

Or, I’m working too hard, right? I’m driving myself, and I find myself feeling trapped, and I start becoming resentful. So I come across some good “self help” advice somewhere, in some reading: of how to regain balance; and I recover some perspective; and that works for, how long? Thirty-two hours or so? But 33 hours later I’m driving myself mercilessly again, because I’m motivated by law: if things fall apart, it’s my fault, right? I can’t free myself from this captivity to sin! I can’t work myself out of it. I can’t do it myself!

It is into this, our condition of sin, that God has come. God has come in the flesh and blood of Jesus the Christ, who died on the cross and then rose from the grave. And this is the effect of that: For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God -- not the result of works, so that no one may boast. Pure grace! Our salvation is not what you and I do. Our salvation, instead, is what God has done. Pure grace. For by grace you have been saved through faith.

Can it be that easy? That’s the question we ask. That’s what makes God’s radical grace so difficult to accept and believe! Can you believe that our salvation is a gift, without us doing anything?

And – aren’t you and I supposed to work? Aren’t we supposed to do good things? Hasn’t God given us our work to do?

The answer is: Yes! Of course. Indeed, that is why God frees you and me from the need to save ourselves! We can stop trying to do that now. That’s been done. Now, you and I can devote our energy to the work God gives us to do, our ministries, among the people God gives us to work with and live with and play with.

Listen to how that’s expressed, in the last verse of this morning’s reading (again, with my emphases): For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

So. What about you, on your journey of faith? It’s all grace from here on out, right? Pure joy, right? You’ll never again be hard on others and even harder on yourself. Right?

Yeah, right. It’s the life-long paradox that Luther calls being “saint and sinner.” Separated from God in sin, we turn away from grace. We live by law. We beat ourselves up for every tiny failing. Repentance, the turning back to God, must be a daily movement of our journey in faith.

At least weekly, as we begin our sabbath day worship, we confess our sins and then you hear these grace-saturated words: “In the mercy of almighty God, Jesus Christ was given to die for us, and for his sake God forgives us all our sins.”

Or, using the “right-hand-column” words, as I did a few minutes ago this morning: “God, who is rich in mercy, loved us even when we were dead in sin, and made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved.” (Recognize those words? They’re from this morning’s reading in Ephesians! That’s what liturgy is: the Bible, adapted!)

The words of absolution continue: “In the name of Jesus Christ, your sins are forgiven. Almighty God strengthen you with power through the Holy Spirit, that Christ may live in your hearts through faith.”

Pure grace.

And so, given salvation, freed by that pure grace, the writer of Ephesians puts it this way: we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life.

Thanks be to God!

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia

“Can We Imagine What God Is Doing? Third Sunday of Lent March 15, 2008

(First read the text for this sermon: 1 Corinthians 1:18-25)

In 1991, before we moved to Wilmington, Delaware, Patty and I were looking at houses with a realtor. We were in an old city neighborhood, about 15 blocks from the church building where I would be working. So the houses were quirky. Each one was different from the others. Each one was wonderful!

Some of the houses also had not been updated for, oh, 60 or 70 years. I remember the realtor peering through the window in the front door of one house and, as she unlocked the door to let us in, she turned to us and said, “Now, just to warn you: this one is going to take a great deal of imagination.”

That comes to my mind, as I think about the Sunday morning passages we’ve been reading during these weeks of Lent. You and I are missionaries to this old, unrenovated world of ours, and the passages are urging us to use our imaginations! Can we imagine what God is doing?

You may remember that, two weeks ago, the gospel passage included the keynote of Mark’s story: Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

I wonder about those words: “The kingdom of God has come near.” Later in Mark, Jesus speaks similar words to a scribe who knows all the right answers. (Mark 12:34? Jesus says, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Many of us are using the Book of Faith Lenten Journey for our prayer and journaling during this season, and author Henry French offers this interpretation: “Not far? Why not in? Perhaps because Jesus saw a difference between knowing the right answers and living the right answers. The distance between ‘not far’ and ‘in’ is the distance between talking about love and loving.”

Could it be that moving beyond talk about love – and actually loving – is a sign of repentance? Of turning towards God? Or – more accurately – is it a sign of the daily re-turning to God? That was what Jesus was teaching with his harsh words in last Sunday’s reading from Mark. Jesus said to Peter, “For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." The theme, again, is repentance.

To repent means to re-turn to God. Living in God, then, our imaginations are Spirit-filled! We see our way clear to carry our crosses (that’s from last Sunday’s reading in Mark), which means to live as citizens of the kingdom of God. We pray for that, each time we gather: “Your kingdom come.” Luther teaches: “In fact, God’s kingdom comes on its own without our prayer, but we ask in this prayer that it may also come to us.” (Small Catechism) Our prayer, then, is to be Spirit-filled in our imaginations, so that the kingdom will not simply be near to us, but that the kingdom will be here, in us!

You need to know that all of this is foolishness. (At least, others think so.) None other than St. Paul tells us that – in his first letter to the congregation he founded in the city of Corinth. Paul writes: For the message about the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. Then he writes: For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.

Do you have the imagination to see how foolish it is, that God has worked redemption through the cross? That God has won victory through the cross?

Do you see this to be foolishness? I ask that because I wonder: Has the cross lost its ability to be scandalous? Let me try this. What if I were to say that, instead of adorning ourselves with beautiful and expensive crosses, as jewelry, you and I should wear lethal injection syringes around our necks?! Would that be scandalous? After all, a lethal injection syringe is the 21st century equivalent to the cross. That’s the method the state uses, today, to execute criminals.

The first century Roman empire executed criminals by hanging them on crosses. It happened all the time. (Pontius Pilate was especially cruel and bloodthirsty.) In fact, this method of execution happened to be especially useful when it came to killing the purported “king of the Jews” – because, according to Jewish teaching itself, hanging someone on a cross indicated that the criminal had been cursed by God! (Deuteronomy 21:23) How could Jesus have been the messiah, then? How could such a thing be said about Jesus, who died under the most vile death sentence, condemned as a criminal according to Roman law and cursed by God according to Jewish law? It takes a lot of imagination to claim Jesus to be the Christ!

Here is what we prayed, in the first sentence of the Prayer of the Day last Sunday morning: “O God, by the passion of your blessed Son you made an instrument of shameful death to be for us the means of life.” That claim is utter foolishness! It is scandalous – to both Jews and non-Jews!

That is still true, today – when we consider what it means for us to respond to Jesus’ call, to carry our crosses. That means to do the work that God gives us to do – to be servants to those who are in need, which means we don’t have much time to feather our own nests. Carrying our crosses means living according to the virtues of the kingdom of God: love, hope, faith, presence, patience, humility. When we carry our crosses, we exhibit the fruit of the Spirit, as Paul describes that in Galatians (5:22-23): love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Carrying our crosses means to refuse to take on the trappings of worldly power. Instead, we are servants. Carrying our crosses means to touch lepers; in other words, to advocate for those considered to be unclean, according to the wisdom of the world. As citizens of the kingdom, we work on behalf of the powerless, rather than the powerful. We live in humility, rather than in self-promotion. We live by grace, rather than worrying about what we’ve earned, or what’s “fair.” And we give witness, through our cross-carrying, that this is a better way to live.

There’s one other thing about carrying the cross. You and I receive from the Spirit the radical courage that we need to resist the "wisdom" of the world. Because, according to that “wisdom,” we are to win! We are to out-vote! We are to overpower, if necessary! We are to judge! We are to be more forceful than our opponents, to coerce them to see things our way; not to let them speak; not to listen to them or to consider whether they might be right, because we’re right and they are wrong, and God is on our side! (You want proof that that is the wisdom of the world? Watch any of the political debate shows on TV.)

What is the result of this violence, this way of creating winners and losers who are then immediately preparing for the next fight? Bryan Stone puts it this way: “We live in a world that is increasingly cynical, pessimistic, and calloused – a world that has learned not to trust, expect, or hope.” (Evangelism After Christendom, page 56)

Where is the wisdom in that?

Paul asks the same thing! Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom, but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For God's foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God's weakness is stronger than human strength.

It is impossible to understand these words without Spirit-filled imaginations.
Can we imagine what God is doing? Can we imagine what God is calling us to? As Bryan Stone describes it: “[T]o speak of God’s reign breaking into history is to speak also of a people called into being by that reign and in whom that reign is embodied in habits, practices, disciplines, and patterns that are intrinsically social, practical, and public. Moreover; it is through this people that God’s reign, by being displayed, is offered to the world.” (Do you have the imagination to see us, as church, offering that?)

”The reign of God, therefore, was nothing abstract or ethereal for Jesus and for those who heard him. The inbreaking of God’s reign both demanded and made possible an altered set of allegiances in which obedience to God relativizes one’s family and national identities while calling into question customary patterns with regard to the status of women, children, the poor, and those otherwise ostracized or considered strange (tax collectors, prostitutes, lepers, Samaritans).”

Through the “tangible practices of eating, sharing, meeting, and service[,] Jesus’ evangelism is not just the preaching of a message but the gathering together of a new family, a new household.” (pages 78-79)

In other words, the Holy Spirit constitutes the church, a community, so that people can live foolishly together – at least, according to the wisdom of the world.

Why does God the Holy Spirit create in us such community? It is so you and I can demonstrate by our way of living what it looks like to live according to the kingdom that Jesus embodied – because now we are the body of Christ in the world, and God uses the church to save the world!

As Paul puts it: For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.

Do we have the imagination to see what God is doing? Do we have the imagination to live today as citizens of the kingdom?

If so, then what fools we are (according to the wisdom of the world)!

What joyous fools we are!

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia

“Losing Ourselves in Jesus” Second Sunday of Lent March 8, 2009

(First, read the passage for this sermon: Mark 8:31-38)

In last week’s reading from Mark, this was Jesus’ announcement: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news." (Mark 1:14-15)

Does the word, “repent” put you off? I would not be surprised if it does! Many associate repentance with fundamentalist pulpit pounders who cause people to be afraid of God!

But repentance is a positive movement. To repent means to turn, or to return. To turn towards the God who made us and who loves us. Repentance means to turn away from what is self-destructive that which causes despair. Repentance means to turn towards the hope and joy of the good news, the good news of our salvation that has been won for us by Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.

So, what is the movement called for? It is to turn, or to return.

This morning in Mark, we are eight chapters later in the story. This morning, we read that Jesus rebukes his most prominent follower. (“Rebuke” is the translation of a very strong Greek word!) Jesus says to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things."

What is Jesus saying to Peter? He is telling Peter to turn – and to return! “Turn away from human things,” Jesus is telling Peter. “Turn towards divine things.” It’s the same theme as in last week’s reading.

The theme is developed in this morning’s story from Mark. And we encounter more teaching that might cause you heartburn! [Jesus] called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”

"If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves …” Are those words off-putting to you? These words remind us why many people think of the season of Lent as a real downer: that it is to be a dreary season of deadly devotional practices; of having to give up what you would really like to be doing. Is there any joy in that? And so, by extension, is there any joy in the Christian life, with all this talk of self denial and losing our lives?

The next thing I’m going to say is counterintuitive – which is not unusual, because most of the Christian gospel is counterintuitive! Let me suggest that, in fact, all this talk of self denial and losing our lives is the path to joy, a joy that is deep and abiding!

Here’s why. “For those who want to save their life will lose it” means that we are to lose ourselves in Jesus. This is a promise of the good news of Jesus the Christ: that you and I discover our true selves by losing ourselves in Jesus. Let’s think about how this works.

Some of you may remember that, from last Sunday’s reading in Mark, I raised the theme of wilderness – which all of us have experienced. The wilderness is where we find ourselves to be when things have fallen apart. The wilderness is where it’s hard to figure things out. It’s hard to rediscover the path. The wilderness is where we encounter our demons. The wilderness is where we are when our defenses fall apart, and our protective pretences and facades crumble.

Here’s how that relates to today. Those protective pretences and facades are what prop up our false selves. When we are protecting our false selves, then we’re afraid of discovering who we are. And something else: we cannot begin to know, or to be comfortable with our true selves.

But Jesus is calling us into honesty. When Jesus calls his followers to deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me, it is those false selves that we are called to deny. That false self is the you who does things because of artificial motivation, because someone has told you that you should, rather than acting out of who you are, the person God has created you to be. Your false self is stuck on what the law tells you: “You’re no good. You’re certainly not good enough!” Your false self worries about what others think of you. Your false self cannot believe the good news – that our salvation has been won through the death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ – because your false self is trying to justify yourself, to save yourself, to make yourself good enough!

Can you even do that?

Of course not! The Order for Confession and Forgiveness speaks the truth with the words that we said a few minutes ago: “we are captive to sin and cannot free ourselves.” Is that not true?

So why do you and I try to free ourselves? (See how pervasive sin is? We are in its grip.) When God the Holy Spirit moves within you, and you turn away from that self-help mentality; when you repent, when you deny your grasping, false self; then the Holy Spirit has room to work! Then God has the chance to liberate your true self from its captivity to sin!

Do you think the Holy Spirit could have room to work, through your Lenten faith practices? What joy could result, especially during this time of high anxiety. When you deny your false self, you find yourself free from every illusory security. For instance, a pastor named Kathy Beach-Verhey recently prayed, “Lord God, this financial crisis highlights our love of and dependence on money, and as people of faith, this helps us to call into question our values and priorities…Loosen our bonds to our money and our material possessions we pray, Lord God, at the same time that we pray for you to calm our anxious hearts and minds.”

In this morning’s story from Mark we read this: [Jesus] called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it.”

What joy results, when we receive power from the Holy Spirit to deny our false selves. Then God can break down those protective pretences and facades that we have erected. Then God can liberate our true selves – the people God has created us to be! Then you and I are free to take up our crosses – which means we are free to do the work God gives us to do, in service to others.

Will carrying our crosses entail suffering? Maybe. Will the work God has given us to do, our ministry, our servanthood, entail suffering? It could. It is much more likely that carrying our crosses will lead to deep fulfillment.

Here’s why. Losing ourselves in Jesus means letting go. It means freedom from our false selves, stuck in our condemnation by the law. We lose ourselves in the salvation that Jesus the Christ has won for us, through his death and resurrection. Losing ourselves in Jesus means that we become free to do our ministries, the good works that God gives us to do!

We lose ourselves in Jesus, then, on behalf of others. God liberates our true selves. God creates in us lives of joyful servanthood.

Thanks be to God who creates us, and who saves us, and who makes us holy. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia

“On the Journey – Driven Out Into the Wilderness” Lent 1 March 1, 2009

(First, read the text for this sermon: Mark 1:9-15)

The wilderness is a frightening place.

The wilderness is where we find ourselves to be, when things have fallen apart.

The wilderness is where it’s hard to figure things out. It’s hard to rediscover the path.

When we’re in despair, we’re in the wilderness.

The wilderness is where there are physical and moral trials; where there is temptation and sin.

And so, here is a stunning verse, from this morning’s reading in Mark: And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.

Think of this. God the Holy Spirit drives God the Son out into the wilderness – a geographical place: desert, a place hostile to human life; but also the place of ambiguity, and physical and moral trials, and conflict, and fear, and despair, and hunger (both physical and figurative).

And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness.

Isn’t this a verse we usually ignore? For one thing, in Matthew’s parallel version of this story we read, “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness…” In Luke we read, “Jesus…was led by the Spirit in the wilderness…” Both of these versions offer much gentler notions, don’t they? In neither version is Jesus driven out into the wilderness!

Don’t we usually think of the Holy Spirit as a gentle presence? That is how the Spirit is described in verse 10 of this morning’s reading, after Jesus has been baptized: And just as he was coming up out of the water, [Jesus] saw … the Spirit descending like a dove on him. In how many thousands of stained glass windows, do you think, is the Holy Spirit portrayed as a dove? A dove is also a symbol for peace, right? So – how peaceful is the Holy Spirit, right? How gentle? How comforting to us, in all our sorrows?

But how easy is it to go from there to thinking of the Holy Spirit as an innocuous wisp of gentle breeze? A god who is innocuous is easily dismissed! Ignored! The witness to God in this morning’s story from Mark prevents such sentimentality. God the Holy Spirit is driving the newly-proclaimed Son of God out into the wilderness – the place of ambiguity, and physical and moral trials, and conflict, and fear, and despair, and hunger (both physical and figurative).

And that depiction of the Spirit as a dove? That itself is only a partial reading of verse 10 in this passage. In full, that verse reads: And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. The heavens torn apart! This is apocalyptic language – words bearing the images of God’s bringing history to its final climax. In fact, the apocalyptic is all through this short passage. The opening formula, “In those days” alerts us to God’s final days. Not only are “the heavens torn apart,” but a voice comes from heaven! And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.

This is a description of Spirit-filled upheaval.

When have you experienced upheaval? When have you found yourself in the wilderness?

When you are grieving, you’re in wilderness.

When you are working through an experience of betrayal, you’re wandering in wilderness.

When you’re debilitated by illness, you know what wilderness is.

But here‘s something else. In the wilderness we encounter God, in a primal and unmediated way.

Time in the wilderness is dangerous. Time in the wilderness can lead to dis-integration. But: God can also use wilderness time of ambiguity, and physical and moral trials, and conflict, and fear, and despair, and hunger (both physical and figurative), to bring us back to God. Sometimes it is only when we are wandering in wilderness that God can get through our thick skulls and hardened hearts. Sometimes it’s only through wilderness experience that we come to know our need for return; our need to repent, and believe in the good news.

So – can it be that this morning’s gospel portrayal of God is actually true? Can it be that God the Holy Spirit drives us into the wilderness when we’ve gotten too comfortable? When our idea of God has become too tame? Too limited? Too domesticated?

Boy! That’s a counter-cultural notion! And the culture infects the church. One in our congregation objected to something I said not long ago because he was offended by it. He said, ”It is important never to offend the members of the congregation.” Well, I understand the Biblical image of God the Holy Comforter. That is the acceptable god in our culture: a warm, fuzzy, inoffensive god. But, to many, many people, that god has become boring and unnecessary and easily dismissed! This morning’s verses from Mark do not describe such a god. Such a domesticated god cannot cause Spirit-filled upheaval.

Look at the passage. Not only does the Holy Spirit descend like a dove upon Jesus. The same Spirit immediately drives Jesus out into the wilderness! Indeed, Elizabeth McGregor Simmons writes that the wilderness is “where people who are serious about living the Christian faith are of necessity driven.”

Hoo boy!

The wilderness is where we encounter our demons.

The wilderness is where we are when our defenses fall apart, and our protective pretences and facades crumble.

The wilderness is a hostile place. We are exposed. We acutely know our need for God.

Here’s another thing. In the wilderness, you and I are not abandoned. God is right there with us when we are in wilderness.

Do you see that in the passage from Mark? And the Spirit immediately drove [Jesus] out into the wilderness, we read. He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts;… Scary, scary stuff, huh? But then we read this: and the angels waited on him.

In the Bible, angels are fierce. They are more than equal to any demonic forces out there in the wilderness. If you know the stories in the Hebrew Scriptures, you are reminded of other times when angels provided God’s presence to those driven out into the wilderness by God. The angel guided Moses and the Israelites during their 40 years of desert wilderness (Exodus 14:19; 23:20). The angel brought nourishment to the prophet Elijah when he was starving in the wilderness (1 Kings 19:5-7).

Same thing, here, with Jesus. And same thing, with you and me. God is in the wilderness, as fierce, protective presence, where we are face-to-face with our demons; and when our defenses have fallen apart, and our protective pretences and facades have crumbled; and when we come to acutely know our need for God.

Let me say one final thing. I think I know why God the Holy Spirit has worked on me through these words in Mark, so that I am focusing on all of this. It’s because the themes of the 40-day season of Lent encourage you and me to be honest about our wilderness experiences! Instead of covering up those frightening and disorienting experiences, the season of Lent encourages us to enter into them; to know acutely our need for God.

Why? Because then there’s a chance that the resurrection of Jesus from the dead will mean something to us!

Because of the resurrection, you and I live! That is the good news of the Christian faith.

Remember: this announcement in words of Jesus comes to us only as he emerges from 40 days in the wilderness: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia

“Our Lenten Offering” Ash Wednesday February 25, 2009

(First read the texts for this sermon: Isaiah 58:1-12; Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21)

It all begins with the ashes on our foreheads, and the words, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” The reality of Lent begins there – with the remembrance that life is short.

And the years flash past. How is it that I have been ordained a pastor for 30 years? How is it that I’m old enough to receive a senior citizen discount? A week ago a former parishioner in a former parish called to say that her younger-than-me husband had died. Life is so short.

Does all of this strike you as morose? Depressing?

Some would react that way. Instead, let me suggest the alternate reality for us who follow Jesus. The phrase, “remember that your are dust, and to dust you shall return,” is a path to joy. Because those words drive home the reality that each day is to be received, a gift from the God who loves us. You and I do not deserve a single one of those days. (You have heard me say this many times.)

Where does joy come from? Joy comes from thankfulness. And we are thankful when we remember that the gift of each day is precious. That there is a limited number of days, and so we cannot take a single one for granted. That there cannot be such thing as “the boring routine”; or “the same old same old” – because each day is one of a limited edition; each day is precious; pure gift from the God who has created our lives!

One purpose of the season of Lent is to remember this! The gospel writer of Mark gives this keynote passage, only 14 verses into the gospel: Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news."

To repent means to return, and to remember. To return to what you and I already know: that everything comes from God. That each day of life is a gift. Lent itself is a gift of grace, an opportunity to practice responding to each day as the gift that it is.

Our response is our Lenten offering! It is our Lenten offering! In thankfulness, we offer ourselves, our time, our abilities, our possessions, our lives, to God!

I’m not sure that a follower of Jesus can do any of this unless s/he prays. Prayer will be the faith practice we’ll focus on during Wednesday nights this Lent, in the context of Holden Evening Prayer. I’ll use the Lord’s Prayer as a point of departure, but I won’t simply talk at you! We’ll practice prayer. And my prayer is that the Spirit will work on you during the weeks of Lent to deepen your practice.

Here’s a preview: Prayer is not about “asking God for stuff.” Not primarily. Prayer is, most importantly, opening to what God is doing in my life, in your life, during our life-long repentance, our return to God, our life-long conversion. Prayer is discerning how the Spirit is leading you and me along the journey into God. Obviously, then, prayer must most often be about listening. Listening for God means this: even when we are speaking our needs in prayer – our fears, our anxieties, our hopes – the Spirit works to bring our desires into line with God’s desires!

When I talk like this (which is so much different from what many of us learned about prayer as children), I hear people say, “I don’t know how to pray.” Well, that’s what we’ll practice on Wednesday nights in Lent. Our prayer will be part of our Lenten offering.

Jesus refers to prayer, in tonight’s verses from the gospel of Matthew. The gospel writer also has Jesus talking about generosity. (That old fashioned phrase, to “give alms,” means to give money.) When many people think of an offering, they think of giving money. But what else will be part of your Lenten offering –your response, in thankfulness, for each day that is a gift?

The prophet Isaiah tonight encourages us to think of engaging in social justice actions as one generous response to what God has first given us. The prophet declares:

Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,… (Isaiah 58:6-7)

According to the prophet, God does not care about our “fasts,” our worship services, our pietistic practices, unless they translate into action on behalf of the poor. Acting to build social justice means being generous with your time, with your talents. It’s a Lenten offering!

I am aware that all of this talk can be deadly! It is so easy to turn Lent into law, into obligation, into what you should do. I want to avoid that! Because the season of Lent is a gift of grace, from the God who loves you and me. God loves us with an anguished love when we wander. God is joyous when we return from our wanderings. God desires that you and I will respond to God’s love in ways that increase our joy!

And so, on this Ash Wednesday, you and I hear these words: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” What might be your Lenten offering, in joyful response to the gift of each precious day in this life that is too short?

Might your response to the shortness of life be to exercise for 30 minutes a day, five days a week? Would a joyous response be to ride your bicycle on the bike path for 30 minutes a day, five days a week, turning your pedaling into prayer? Would it be gardening for the same amount of time, digging in the dirt while you pray? How about refinishing furniture, or reading a novel 30 minutes a day, five days a week, consciously thankful for the gift of the day? How about visiting friends you’ve neglected, thankful for their presence in your life?

You see what I’m suggesting. I’m raising possibilities of how to respond to this year’s gift of Lent, in positive ways, in joyous ways, in ways that increase our health, in those ways opening ourselves to God’s presence and blessings that we receive each precious day that God gives to us.

In other words, our Lenten offering is to offer ourselves – as we return to God in joyful thankfulness!

I pray for you a holy Lent.

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia

“Our Imaginations, Transformed By God’s Imagination” Transfiguration Sunday February 22, 2009

(First, read the text for this sermon: Mark 9:2-9)

There have been remarkable news images this past week – of California state legislators. California was facing a budget deficit of $41 billion, and the state constitution requires a balanced budget! What could be the solution? To get to that point, the Speaker of the California House decided to lock representatives into the House chambers until a resolution would be worked out.

Was that a good move to make? Representatives pictured were exhausted. Some were dead asleep at their desks, and even on the floor! Was that the best environment for imaginative thinking? (That, of course, is what’s needed to come to good solutions to huge problems.)

Usually, when there is a lot of stress, there is very little imagination. The heavy pressure makes it hard to be creative, to perceive options. We often fall back to simply wishing that everything could be the way it was, during flush times. When the reality of the challenges seems so overwhelming, it is very difficult to imagine another reality.

These days, the imagination deficit is as big as the budget deficit. Our representatives in Washington are working hard to get the economy back to where it was, say, a year ago – as if everything was fine a year ago. So they’re propping up car makers who have shown little innovation, and they’re propping up banks which were motivated by the deadly sin of greed when making shaky mortgages, and they’re propping up people with the same motivation, who borrowed more than they could pay to move into a house. The aim, of course, is so we can all get back out there and buy lots of stuff again. Then everything will be fine again, right?

But could it be that that’s the wrong approach – to try to restore what was old? Instead – is something new happening? Can you imagine what that might be? That’s hard to do, isn’t it?

Jesus’ closest disciples are suffering from an imagination deficit, in this morning’s story from the gospel of Mark.

Just before this morning’s story, we read in Mark: Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi; and on the way he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that I am?" And they answered him, "John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets." He asked them, "But who do you say that I am?" Peter answered him, "You are the Messiah." And he sternly ordered them not to tell anyone about him. What is going on here? Do not tell anyone about him?

It gets even more confusing and frightening: Then [Jesus] began to teach them that the Son of Man must undergo great suffering, and be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. He said all this quite openly. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. But turning and looking at his disciples, he rebuked Peter and said, "Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things." What is going on here? Jesus is saying that the Son of Man must suffer and be killed? That’s not what any of the disciples signed up for! That’s not what any of them expected, according to the old, accepted prophecy of the Son of Man, the figure they expected God to send, to free Israel!

Do the disciples have the imagination to understand what Jesus says next, either? [Jesus] called the crowd with his disciples, and said to them, "If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake, and for the sake of the gospel, will save it. For what will it profit them to gain the whole world and forfeit their life? Indeed, what can they give in return for their life? Those who are ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of them the Son of Man will also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels."

And then, six days later, Jesus leads his three closest followers up a mountain. And [Jesus] was transfigured before them, and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus.

This is a precursor of the resurrection. This is something entirely new! You know this. I know this. That’s because you and I know how the story is going to turn out. You and I know about Easter. But the disciples don’t understand any of this. They haven’t been able to process what Jesus told them six days ago. They are suffering from imagination deficit! That’s obvious in what Peter says next. Then Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah."

Peter’s imagination has not been transformed. He is not imagining the new thing that God is doing. Instead, he is wanting to preserve this moment. He can only conceive of what is old. He’s there with this all-star trio of Elijah and Moses and Jesus, and he wants to create a religious shrine on the mountain to remember this occasion forever! It’s all he can figure out to say, suffering as he is from imagination deficit. In fact, we read, [h]e did not know what to say, for they were terrified.

Unfortunately, it gets even worse for Peter and James and John! Then a cloud overshadowed them. That evokes our Biblical imaginations: you and I know that this setting – up on a mountain, engulfed in a cloud – is the same as in the story of Moses on the mountain. You and I know that this is the presence of God! But Peter and James and John so far are showing no signs of such imagination and insight. Then a voice comes from the cloud, and I imagine the voice of God with this inflection: "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him! Jeez!" (Because, so far, they haven’t been listening!)

Then we read, As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. Don’t say anything, in other words, because before Jesus’ resurrection can be understood, first people will need to see that it is necessary for him to suffer and to die.

But – why suffering? Why death? Why is the cross necessary? Even at the end of Mark’s narrative, the disciples are unable to imagine what God is doing. Why is God having to enter into human suffering? Why can’t God just be all-powerful, as we’ve expected God to be, making everything better in one “poof?” Here‘s how the gospel of Mark ends, when Jesus’ followers find the tomb to be empty: So they went out and fled from the tomb, for terror and amazement had seized them; and they said nothing to anyone, for they were afraid. The end.

So – how would you be: up there with Elijah and Moses and Jesus, on the mountain, engulfed in a cloud, hearing a voice? How’s your imagination? What is God doing that is new?

Isn’t that the same question for us who are living in these days? Obviously, huge changes are happening. Where is God in all of this? What is God doing that is new? Perhaps you and I will experience a dramatic transfiguration. More likely, this is the question: How can we offer our imaginations to the Holy Spirit, so that our imaginations will be transformed by God’s imagination? How can our imaginations be transformed to envision the future that God desires for God’s creation?

God the Holy Spirit does transform us, as we practice the faith. When we worship with openness to what the Spirit will say to us today; when we offer our anxieties and griefs and joys to God in prayer, and then listen for what comes; when we read and pray over passages in the Bible, noticing how the Spirit is leading us through those words into the mystery of God’s judgment and grace, then we experience the life-long journey of conversion, of turning to God. As God the Holy Spirit moves within and among us, opening us up in these ways, transforming our imaginations by God’s imagination for the future, then we come to perceive what God is doing that is new.

I invite you into the practices of faith that will lead to such transformation. The season of Lent, which begins this Wednesday, is a special period of openness to the Spirit’s movement. As a start, let me invite you into a deeper practice of prayer. I am no longer surprised when I hear someone say, “I don’t know how to pray.” That foundational practice of the faith will be the subject of our Wednesday evening experiences this Lent.

In the name of God, who is Father and Son and Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pastor Andy Ballentine
St. Stephen Lutheran Church
Williamsburg, Virginia