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Pastor Brown's Message for September: “This is my commandment, that
you Love One Another as I Have Loved You.” When we realize how much God loves us, our response is to love one another. How much does God love us? God loves us so much that He gave His One and Only Son. And the Son loved us so much, that He gave His life for us on the cross. God loves us, we love each other! That’s our Faith and our Mission. A woman had been rejected by Christians with a narrow view of God’s love.(They loved those with their view of correct doctrine, and rejected those who didn’t fit their view.) This woman said that she wished that Jesus’ followers had forgotten everything else Jesus said, and had only the simple creed: “Love One Another!” I wish it were that simple. How to love our neighbor can be interpreted in many different ways. Each of us must follow the Lord’s leading, in how we love our neighbor. When I came back from vacation, I got the word that one of our members had been in church for the first time in a long time. I called this person up and found that she had come because one of our members had picked her up and brought her. That’s an example of love. A member sent an e-mail to a bunch of friends, inviting them to meet and enjoy a community concert. Just thinking of others and inviting them is an example of love. Church committees and teams meeting in the summer, when so many are gone, but meeting anyway, and planning and praying for the fall program at Hope. That’s an example of love. I was working in the church office. A couple stopped by and said they needed gas to get to Stanford to visit a sick relative. I believed their story. They followed me to a gas station, and I filled their tank. I loved them with a tank of gas. They loved me with a “thank you hug”...a fair exchange. As we gather for worship each Sunday, we are filled with God’s love. As we go on our way through the week, we are instruments of God’s love. A good old song says it well. “It only takes a spark to get a fire going. And soon all those around can warm up in its glowing. That’s how it is with God’s love, once you’ve experienced it. You spread His love to everyone. You want to pass it on.” Maybe we’ll sing that song in church. Passing it on with you, PASTOR BROWN'S RECENT SERMONS: 8-29-10 Pentecost 13 “Humility and Hospitality” We have two parables
of Jesus this morning. They both are stories of banquets. One teaches us
humility. The other teaches us hospitality. This is one of Jesus’ recurring themes. This is the good news Jesus brings to the poor and to all who are downtrodden and victims of injustice. Jesus promises that God has His own list of who will sit at the head table, in the kingdom of God. And when Jesus comes again, to judge all people, there will be some surprises. Some who sat in places of honor, will find themselves sitting at the foot of the table. And some of those who sat way down at the end of the table, in this life, eating crumbs, will be sitting at the head table, dining on filet and lobster. If you picture this world, the world in which we live, as one huge banquet table, where are most of us dining? Most of us, are dining at the head table. And we who dine at the head table, look forward to heaven, but we don’t look forward to heaven, for the food, for we have plenty to eat, and more than enough, every day. Just as they did in Jesus’ day, we invite our family and friends over for dinner, and then they return the favor, and invite us over to their house. We like doing that right? Jesus reminds us that there are others out there, who don’t have a nice house and a nice kitchen to be able to entertain guests. And they couldn’t afford the groceries if they had the nice kitchen and the nice house. Jesus asks us to invite those who could never invite us back. Jesus says, “When you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind.” And Jesus says, “They won’t ever be able to repay you. But God will be watching. And God will repay you at the resurrection of the righteous.” We who follow Jesus don’t have to worry about not being paid back. We don’t have to worry if anybody will see how generous and hospitable we are. We aren’t feeding the hungry and caring for the needy to get recognition. We are doing it because we care, because we love, and because we are so grateful to God that we have enough, to be able to share with others who are in need. Whenever Jesus talks about banquets, He talks both about banquets here on earth, and the great banquet in heaven. And when we plan our banquets here on earth, we need to picture, in our mind, that great banquet in heaven, and try to pattern our banquets after that great banquet to come. In that great banquet in heaven, there will be a place for everyone who is wearing a white robe of the forgiveness of sins. And that means that there will be people of all races, all social levels, and of many different church denominations. We know that in that great banquet there will be former slaves sitting next to former slave owners. There will be former El Camino homeless shelter folks, sitting next to former members of country clubs. There will be those who died of starvation or malnutrition, sitting next to those who died of heart failure due to overeating. God’s banquet table in heaven will be the most diverse gathering of folks ever assembled, so different in so many ways, but all having one thing in common. Their love of God, that flowed out in love to their neighbor. And so, with that great banquet in heaven as our model, we imperfect people, must try to duplicate that model, as closely as we can, on this imperfect earth. And how can we try to duplicate the heavenly banquet here on earth? First of all, we do it every time we gather for Holy Communion. Our communion table is open to everyone who loves God. The only requirement is a humble faith in Jesus. We kneel in confession of our sins, in confession that we are not always as humble as we should be. We kneel admitting that we re in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. We kneel in full awareness that we are so middle class and well dressed that many who are poor feel out of place among us. But we kneel with the prayer that we will be hospitable to everyone who comes, and that all will sense the welcome that is in our hearts. And we pray that in our home, and at our job, or at our school, we will have a smile and a handshake, and a word, that will say “welcome” to everyone we meet. Robert Schuller, at the Crystal Cathedral, often says to his guests, “God loves you, and so do I.” That’s a great way to welcome strangers. That’s a great way to show hospitality. You don’t have to use those particular words. You can show your love by your smile, by taking the time to ask a person’s name, and how they are doing. You can show your love to a person by handing them a church bulletin, or by picking up their mail for them when they are gone for the weekend, or by pulling their garbage can up to their garage. There are many ways to show love. Hospitality, inviting, welcoming, are all ways to show love. When we show love we are bringing a little bit of the heavenly banquet down here to earth. I got a sad E-mail from one of our families, who had moved away . I had referred them to an ELCA church in their new city. I also had called the pastor and told him how great this family was, and what an asset they would be to his congregation. This family did attend that church, and reported that it was the most unfriendly church they had ever been in. The only time a person spoke to them was when they did the passing of the peace. Now the regular pastor wasn’t there that day. . . . Maybe that church has a few friendly members, who also happened to be gone that day. But that’s no excuse. Every member should be on the lookout for people who are new. And if somebody is standing around, not talking to anybody, all members should be alert, that maybe they are strangers, and should welcome them and strike up a conversation. Joyce and I visited here at Hope, a couple years ago, when we were on vacation. And I’m happy to report, that we were warmly welcomed. It’s good to worship at other churches when you are away from your home church. When you enter a new church, you get that feeling of what it’s like to be a stranger. You feel very vulnerable. You may not be familiar with the hymns or the liturgy, or the procedure for holy communion. You need someone to reach out to you. When you experience the fear and loneliness of worshipping in a new church, I hope you will come back home to Hope, and be sure that all visitors at Hope, are welcomed warmly. And hospitality is something that we need to show outside the walls of church as well. Rev. Larson, the new Pastor of Highlands Presbyterian Church, was making the rounds, visiting with members of his new congregation. He had called Gene Proctor earlier that morning, and asked if he could stop by in the early afternoon, and Gene had said he’d be looking forward to it. So when Rev. Larson knocked on Gene’s back door, he sensed nothing unusual. “Come in, come in,” said Gene. “I was just making some chocolate-chip cookies. Sit down, let me get you one.” “Thanks, Gene. You have a lovely home. So how are you today?” “Oh, I’m good”, said Gene, rushing in with a plate of cookies. How are you?” And pastor Larson answered, “I’m Good. Busy, trying to get unpacked and straightened up, but we’re finding our way around town all right.” “And you like it here?” “Oh yes, it’s very nice.” “Now tell me, where do you live?” Rev. Larson paused for a moment. Everyone knew he lived in the parsonage right next door to the church. “Uh, I live in the parsonage, you know, right next to the church.” Gene looked puzzled for a moment, and then his hands flew up to his cheeks. “Oh, now I know who you are. You’re the new pastor aren’t you?” “Yes, Gene, I met you in church. I called earlier and said I was coming.” “I’m sorry, I didn’t recognize you without your robes,” said Gene with a laugh. “Well, who did you think I was?” “Oh, I don’t know, someone passing through.” “Do you always invite strangers in and offer them chocolate-chip cookies?” asked Rev. Larson, a smile spreading across his face. “No, not usually. But as the Bible says, “Show hospitality to strangers.” That’s a great story
of hospitality. That man’s door was open to any stranger who might stop by and
knock. And where did he get that kind of hospitality. He got it from the top.
He got it from Jesus. Jesus is the ultimate welcomer. Jesus welcomes everyone
who wants to come to Him. Jesus welcomes Makila Salgado to His table this
morning. Jesus welcomes us all to His table this morning. I ask you all to
picture Jesus in your mind right now. Picture Jesus with His arms wide open.
Jesus isn’t standing before us with an accusing finger pointed at us. Jesus is
standing before us with open arms, and is saying to us, Come to me. All are
welcome. Come to me for forgiveness of all your sins. Come to me and you will
find rest for you soul. Come to me, and I will fill you with my love, and you
will go and share my love with everyone you meet. Do you ever get the feeling that God guided you to something, and it didn’t happen just by chance. I got that feeling doing a crossword puzzle. I hardly ever do crossword puzzles. I do word jumbles almost every day. But I hardly ever do crossword puzzles. About the only crossword puzzles I ever do, are the ones in the airline magazines. And in one of those crossword puzzles, I came across a clue that was “a quote from Thoreau”, in two parts. Of course I was dead in the water on that one. I never came close to getting it. But when I gave up on finishing the puzzle, and looked at the solved puzzle, I found that the quote from Thoreau was a good one. The quote is: “Heaven is under our feet, as well as over our heads.” I’ll never forget that quote. It is the frame for this sermon. And I believe God directed me to that quote, that I might share it in this message. The first lesson for this morning ends with the words, from Isaiah, “The mouth of the Lord has spoken.” I believe it. I believe that God spoke through the prophet Isaiah. I believe that God spoke through Jesus Christ. Believe that God spoke through Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul, and every writer of the Holy Bible. I believe that God speaks, in unexpected times, and in unexpected places. God spoke to Moses out of a burning bush. I believe God can speak . . . even through crossword puzzles. And I believe that heaven is under our feet, as well as over our heads. We have a great story of Jesus healing a bent over woman, in our Gospel this morning. She hadn’t been able to stand up straight, for 18 years. Luke doesn’t tell us that she came seeking healing from Jesus. He says she just appeared. And Jesus spotted her, and told her, “Woman you are set free from your ailment.” Then he laid his hands on her, and immediately she stood up straight and began praising God. It could very well be that this woman was not even seeking healing. She may have been there, in the crowd, for no other reason, than to hear Jesus speak. She may have been well-adjusted to her handicap. In other words, she may have been able to see heaven under her feet in countless ways. She may have been able to see heaven in the wonder of her ability to walk, no matter that she was bent over. She might have thanked God every day for her ability to see and to hear and to talk. She might have been a mother who thanked God for the miracle of the births of her children. She might have seen heaven in her husband, who had fallen in love with her, and married her, in spite of her inability to dance close to him. She might have praised God on a daily basis for miracles of God’s love. She might have praised God that very morning, . . that she could get up, out of bed, . . even though she couldn’t, straighten up. But this was her special day. A miracle came straight from heaven, just for her. For Jesus came down from heaven, and whomever he touched, was touched by heaven in a way that was special, and rare. And here I want to tweek Thoreau a little. There is so much truth in what he says. But I want to go beyond what he says. I want to say that, heaven is under our feet, yes, . . . but the heaven that is under our feet, is nothing, . . . compared to the heaven that is over our heads.” The miracles that are under our feet, that are part of this created world, are awesome and wonderful. The miracle of our heart that keeps on pumping hour after hour, day after day, year after year. What a miracle. Only God could design and build such a machine. Our heart is a miracle of this world, or in the words of Thoreau, a miracle under our feet. The human spine, with its complex of bones, nerves, and blood vessels, whether it is bent over, or standing up straight, is a miracle, because it is something only God could make. But when the Son of God touched that woman’s bent spine, and straightened it, God proved, that His grip is stronger than the grip of Satan, that had held this woman for eighteen years. When Jesus touched this woman, the perfection of the Garden of Eden , overcame the fallenness of this creation, and heaven overcame the imperfection of this earth. When Jesus touches someone, they know that no miracle of nature can hold a candle to the miracle of heaven. When that woman was touched by Jesus, she knew that God was alive, and that there is something better than physical life, and that there is something greater than just looking down at the ground all the time. This woman found a new and better life, when her eyes focused on Jesus. And not only was her back healed. Her whole life was healed. And how do we know her whole life was healed? We know, because immediately after she was straightened up, she began praising God. Praising God is that added dimension to life. Praising God is possible no matter what shape your spine is in. It was great on the Sunday after Vacation Bible School, to see our children and youth, up here in front of the church, praising God with all kinds of motions – waving their arms, jumping up and down. Some of you out there in the pews can’t do that kind of waving and jumping. But you can praise God. You can praise God with your smile, with your songs, with your words. You can lift up your heart to God, even if your arms don’t go as high as they used to. Praising God can be done quietly or loudly. Praising God can be done in a great cathedral, in a little country church, or around a campfire. Maybe we can learn from this woman to praise God every time we get out of bed and stand up straight. Most of us got out of bed this morning and stood up straight. Then we came to church and praised God. Maybe every morning when we get out of bed and stand up straight, we should praise God. Surely we should, for the Bible tells us to praise God in all circumstances, and that in everything we should give thanks. Many of us have had the opportunity to travel this summer. Joyce and I got to see a lot of the North Woods of Wisconsin and Minnesota. We even worshipped outdoors last Sunday under huge Oak trees, sitting in lawn chairs at Calvary Park, in Golden Valley, Minnesota. In that beautiful setting we experienced heaven under our feet and over our heads. We were part of the celebration of two baptisms. Holy baptism is a sacrament. In Holy Baptism we experience heaven and earth coming together. The Holy Spirit comes in the washing of ordinary water. God reached down from heaven and touched those little ones, as the young Youth Pastor splashed water on their heads, and marked them with the cross of Christ, forever. In July, Joyce and I were with childhood friends in Illinois, two couples that we once took a cruise with to Alaska. We reminisced about that trip and how much we had enjoyed it. One of the wonders of nature that we saw on that trip, was the Salmon. We saw hundreds of Salmon on their spawning runs in streams. But we also saw many Salmon lying dead and bleached white in the bottoms of the streams. Every living Salmon we saw in those streams would soon be dead. They had been born in that stream. They had survived the swim to the ocean, lived there a few years, and then had found the stream of their birth, and had fought their way upstream to the place they had been hatched. They had one last task to achieve, to reproduce, and then they would die. There is a sense in which the Salmon is a symbol of self-sacrifice. For the sake of perpetuating the species, the Salmon struggles upstream mile after mile, against swift current, climbing waterfalls, with nothing to gain for itself. It does it only for the sake of it’s offspring. And it never even gets to see its offspring. It dies before its offspring are hatched. It’s all part of God’s plan, built into the instinct of the Salmon. How sad life would be, if we humans had no more to hope for than the Salmon has. How sad life would be if the best we could hope for was to keep the human race alive on earth. How sad it would be to have nothing more to live for than a few years of earthly enjoyment, reproduction, and death. What can we learn this morning? We can learn from the woman whose back was straightened by Jesus. She not only stood up straight and enjoyed her new physical well-being, she also praised God and renewed her connection with God. We can learn from her to stand up straight and to praise God. We learn from the Salmon that God’s plan for us is so much greater than God’s plan for the Salmon. Jesus came to this earth and died on the cross and rose from the dead, so that life can be more than just swimming through life, procreating and dying. Life for us is more than a few years and then death. Life for us is to die and then rise again and live in heaven with God and with all who have been born again into the eternal family of God. We can, and we should do our best, to see heaven beneath our feet. We can and we should bring as much heaven to earth as we can. And we can bring a little bit of heaven to earth, by sharing our bread with the hungry, by giving generously in our offerings, to aid the victims of floods and earthquakes, and oil spills, and by working toward world peace. But the most important thing we can do for anyone is to help them lift their eyes to heaven. It’s great to be able
to stand up straight, but it is even greater to stand up and praise God. And
it’s best of all to have eternal life. The best thing about a vacation is coming
home. The best part of life is also coming home, . . . . coming home to
heaven.
“By Faith” By faith everything is possible, life is exciting, you’ve got a future and a hope, and an eternal home. Sometimes people think of faith in the very limited sense of just positive thinking, like the faith that my high school football coach, in Rochelle, Illinois, spoke about at half-time, when we were down 20 to nothing, against a bigger and stronger team from Mendota, who had a fullback named Bill Brown, who went on to star for the Minnesota Vikings. Coach Corral said that our problem was that we didn’t believe we could win, we didn’t have enough faith. And in a sense he was right, at least in my case. I had had plenty of faith at the beginning of the game, when we were tied at zero zero. But after Bill Brown had plowed through our line 6 or 8 times, I lost my faith that we could win that game. But the faith that the Bible talks about, is more than just the faith that sets a goal and never gives up, more than just positive thinking. The faith the Bible talks about is basically TRUST, trust in God and trust in God’s promises. Faith is basically trust that there is a God, a God who is willing and able to take care of you. And those of us who know Jesus as our Savior, our Lord, and our Friend, have this faith, this trust, that God will take care of us, that God will get us through anything that comes our way, and that God has a place for us, a place of safety and rest, at the end of our time here on earth. And how do we get faith? It’s a gift. And those of us who have it, simply thank God for it. We also believe that the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God, the Bible to give us faith. And the Holy Spirit uses the testimony of people who have faith, to inspire faith in us. When I, or any preacher, gets into this pulpit, what we do is primarily share our faith with you. We have three young people who will share their faith stories with all of us, on their confirmation day, October 31. The Bible is full of the faith stories of the heroes of the Bible. We hear their stories. They are examples of faith. They inspire us to follow in faith where they have led the way. My text this morning is from Hebrews chapter 11, which was read for us. Hebrews 11 is called the faith chapter of the Bible. Read the whole chapter this afternoon, and your faith will be strengthened. It goes through the old testament heroes of faith, one after another. One of those heroes is Noah. By faith, Noah, warned by God about events as yet unseen, respected the warnings, and built an ark, to save his household. Noah trusted in God, and did what God told him to do, build an ark on dry ground, far from the nearest body of water. He trusted in God, and did what God told him to do, even though his neighbors laughed at him, and thought he was crazy. And his trust in God saved him, when the rains came down, and the floods came up, and covered the earth. By faith Moses was hidden by his parents . . ., because they saw he was beautiful; and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. And we read, “By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to set out for a place that he was to receive as an inheritance.” By faith Abraham obeyed. True faith is faith that leads to faithfulness. Because Abraham had faith in God, he was faithful to God’s command, when God said, “Pull up stakes, and head out to the land that I have promised you.” And God didn’t tell Abraham exactly what land He was talking about. God just pointed Abraham in the general direction, and said, Go, . . . I’ll keep pointing the way. You’ve got to trust me, Abraham. You’ve got to trust me, that I know the way, and that I will show you the land when you get there, and that I will give you the land.” And then it says that Abraham set out, not knowing where he was going.” Can you imagine Abraham’s non-believing friends saying, “Abe, it looks as if you are fixing to move. Where are you going?” And Abraham answers, “I don’t know where I’m going. All I know is that I’m supposed to head west, and God will tell me when I get where I’m supposed to be.” Hebrews chapter 11 begins with the words, “Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen". Abraham had, in his heart, the assurance and conviction that there was a promised land somewhere, out there, because God had promised. He had a goal that God had given him. When he set out, he had no idea the twists and turns and dangers he would meet on the way. He couldn’t see the promised land. But he believed he would get there eventually, because he had faith in the one who had promised. And now for all of us who want God to answer our prayers right now, get this. Abraham got to the promised land, but never got to buy a lot there, and build a house there. All he did was wander as a nomadic herder of cattle and sheep in the promised land. It wasn’t until centuries later, that his ancestors were able to claim the land, under Joshua, and become the nation of Israel. God’s time is not our time. Sometimes we have to wait for God’s promises to be fulfilled. But God always keeps His promises. You can count on that. And all of God’s promises to Abraham were fulfilled, all three promises, the promise of a land, . . . the promise of a son and descendants as numerous as the grains of sand, . . . and the promise that one of his descendants would be a blessing to all mankind. And that promise was eventually fulfilled when the Messiah, Jesus, was born, and Jesus, by his death and resurrection, opened the way to the promised land that we call heaven. And the writer to the Hebrews tells us that Abraham, and all the old testament heroes, were really looking forward, not just to the earthly promised land that Joshua conquered, but also to the heavenly promised land that all of us look forward to. By faith we believe that the best is yet to come. Amen? Whether everything is coming up roses, or we are experiencing mostly the thorns on the roses, . . .by faith, we trust that God will take care of us, and there will be a better day ahead. By faith, we can see what is really valuable, and what is just nice stuff to have. Once, when Joyce and I arrived at the airport in San Jose, after a trip back to the Midwest, and went to pick up our luggage, we waited and waited at the carousel, but our luggage never arrived. Mine arrived the next day, but the airline could not tell us where Joyce’s bag had ended up. Now Joyce doesn’t pack light. She had a lot of stuff in that suitcase that she really needed. And we were faced with the possibility that someone had stolen her bag, and we would never see it again. But when we stopped and thought about it, and put it in perspective, we realized how trivial the loss of that suitcase really would be. It was just stuff. Everything could be replaced. It would be a loss, but compared to the loss of those families, who stood on the back and watched their children drown in that river in last week, the loss of that suitcase was nothing. It can be a blessing to lose stuff once in a while, just to remind us of how little value there is in stuff, compared to the value of eternal things. By faith we can see what is really valuable, . . .and what is just stuff. By faith, we can see that a simple meal, is as valuable as a sumptuous feast at a five star restaurant, . . . if the simple meal is eaten with loved ones and received with thanksgiving. By faith, we enter into marriage. Husband and wife must have faith in each other. Each has to have faith that the one they are marrying will keep their marriage vows, to be faithful, for better or for worse, till death does them part. And knowing how weak we humans are at keeping such lifelong promises, it helps a lot to have faith in God, that God will help us keep our marriage vows. Entering marriage takes a lot of faith, . . .and a successful marriage requires faithfulness on the part of all three, . . . God, . . .the bride, . . .and the groom. A couple years ago, I experienced a leap of faith, when I jumped out of an airplane at 15,000 feet, strapped to an experienced skydiver, named Alex. I had faith in Alex, that after free-falling for about a minute, he would pull the ripcord. And I had faith in the parachute, that it would open. But the most crucial faith I had, was my faith in God. I had faith in God, that God would make sure that Alex did his part and the chute it’s part. But the most crucial faith I had. And I wouldn’t have taken the risk, if I had not had faith, that, even if Alex should lose consciousness, and the chute should not open, I would still be safe, . . .and after a short prayer, as I fell the last 5000 feet, I would awaken in the presence of God and the angels By faith, I looked out of that airplane, and took the leap. I want to close by reminding you, that by faith we can face any risk of death, without fear. By faith our soldiers can face the risk of battle in Afghanistan or Iraq, believing that, no matter what happens, they have eternal life. By faith, some of you have faced heart surgery or cancer treatment, knowing that your final destination is not the cemetery, but heaven. And faith also gives us the power to live this life victoriously. By faith our college bound graduates can enter college, not knowing what career awaits them at the end of four or five years, but knowing that God will lead them step by step. By faith we send our little ones to their first day of school, entrusting them to their teachers. By faith we come to church, confessing our sins, and believing that God hears our prayers and meets us in worship, and speaks to us through His Holy Word. By faith we open our hearts to God, and God charges our spiritual batteries for another week, to let our light shine, and to be faithful followers of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us pray: Dear God, great is your faithfulness to us. Help us to be faithful to you.
“Better a Poor Farmer than a Rich Fool” I want to begin this message with a portion of the Prayer of the Day, which we prayed at the beginning of the service. This prayer is the theme of the message this morning. Lord, teach us to love what is worth loving. Lord, teach us to love what is worth loving. And what is worth loving? Well the easy and correct answer is: “God and our neighbor are worth loving.” That’s why the great commandment is to Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and your neighbor as yourself. Loving God and loving our neighbor is loving something that is worth loving. Loving God and our neighbor is how God created us to live. Loving God and our neighbor is to have eternal life. Of course, we aren’t very good at loving God and our neighbor. That’s why we need to come to God for forgiveness. That’s why we need our Savior, Jesus, to give us love, when we run out of it on our own. Because we aren’t very good at loving God or our neighbor, we need to come for Holy Communion to receive Christ into our life, so that His love can make up for our lack of love. Our Gospel lesson for today starts out with a man asking Jesus to make his brother divide the inheritance with him. But Jesus wouldn’t use his influence to solve a family dispute over the inheritance. Jesus used the man’s question to drive home a deeper point: the danger of greed, the danger of loving money too much, the danger of trying to find security in money, the danger of being rich in money, but not rich toward God. Jesus said, “Take care! Watch out!! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of possessions.” Jesus could see, down through the ages, how many families would be torn apart fighting over inheritance. Jesus could see how many brothers and sisters would never speak to each other again, over a disagreement over how they would divide Mom and Dad’s money. “Lord, teach us to love what is worth loving . . . and loving your Mom and Dad’s hard earned money is not loving something that is worth loving. Loving your Mom and Dad is something worth loving. And loving your sister or brother is something worth loving. But loving money is not something worth loving. And Jesus tells a parable to demonstrate powerfully, how money, and anything that money can by, is not something worth loving. A farmer had a bumper crop. So great was the yield of his fields that he didn’t have room for it in his barns. “What will I do?” he said to himself. “I know what I’ll do. I’ll tear down my barns and build bigger barns, enough to hold all my grain.” And then I will say to myself, “Self, you lucky son-of-a-gun, now you can retire. You don’t have to work any more. You can take it easy. . .eat, drink, and be merry". Now if this many had lived on the central coast, he might have said, “Let’s see how long it will take me to get around to tasting the wine at every tasting room between Paso Robles and San Luis Obispo". Or maybe he would have said, ‘I think I’ll buy a sailboat”, and sail up and down the coast. Or maybe he would buy a humungous motor home and visit every state in the USA, and maybe play golf on all those courses he’s seen the Pros play on TV. But God said to him, “You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. . . . No eating, drinking, and being merry. No wine women and song. No long retirement, taking it easy. None of that kind of riches can go with you. The only thing that matters now is, “Were you rich toward God?” “Did you have any treasure in heaven?” Jesus earlier had said, “One may gain the whole world and lose one’s soul.” When your heart stops, nothing in those barns is worth a nickel to you. All that matters is that you are prepared to meet your maker. We can’t judge this man. That’s up to God. But God does call him a fool. And a significant thing to note is how this man uses the first person personal pronouns an awful lot. It’s My crops, My barns. What will I do? I’ll eat, drink, and be merry. He never mentions anybody else. It never enters his mind that he might share some of his bounty with somebody else. It sounds as if he is a man turned-in-upon himself. He might have been rich in this world’s goods. But he looks as if he was very poor in his relationship to God and to his neighbor. You’ve probably heard of Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity. Dick Lund and others of you have volunteered to help Habitat in their mission of building homes for the poor. I was privileged to work on a Habitat project in Jamaica a few years back. Millard fuller, in an article in the Atlanta Constitution, tells about a rich young man whose income was a million dollars a year. He had just built himself a plush mansion. He was also a Sunday School teacher. When he was asked about his great wealth in light of his Christian commitment, the young man replied, that God had given him the talent to make money, and that justified his using it on himself. There was not a word about sharing anything. Futurist Faith Popcorn tells us that a new phrase has been coined for opulent homes, homes in the three to six million dollar range. They’re called “starter castles”. Now I’m sure that, in light of the recent economic downturn, some of those starter castles are probably in foreclosure. But there are still some who are able to take advantage of the depressed real estate market to buy starter castles at bargain prices. Most of us aren’t in the starter castle category, but if we look at our homes, compared to the homes in a nation like Haiti—since that sad land has been on our hearts this past year—we are wealthy indeed. Our barns are overflowing, compared to theirs. We need to listen. God may be speaking to us. God may be telling us that, even though our retirement funds might have shrunk in the last few years, still we could be sharing more with others, who have so much less. A traveler back from Africa said , “If you get a raise, you smile, go out for drinks, celebrate.” Then she contrasts this celebration with the lives of people in Mali, West Africa. In Mali, she says, “If a child lives to their first birthday, they celebrate by giving him or her a name". They don’t name their children before then, because mortality rates are so high under the age of one. How blessed we are to have children, who grow up into adulthood, and for many of us, even to have grandchildren. We are rich indeed, even if we are struggling financially by American standards. A lesson Jesus would teach us from this parable today is to work toward a simpler lifestyle, so that we have more to share with those who really are needy. As you have probably heard, “Live simply that others might simply live.” You don’t realize it so much when you are young. But when you have lived a few decades, well maybe six decades for me, it’s easy to accumulate a lot of stuff, and everything we acquire is one more thing to think about, take care of, clean, repair, re-arrange, replace when it goes bad. You really realize how much stuff you have, when you have to move. Joyce and I lived in the same house in Salinas for 32 years. Our garage was full of cupboards, shelves, stuff hanging from the rafters. Joyce and I each had an office at the church that was packed out. I even had a closet in my office, and I had stored stuff up in the attic at church. Our barns were full, too full. We gave away a lot of stuff, sold a lot of stuff. I made so many trips to the Salvation army, that I struck up a relationship with the guy who packed the stuff in their semi truck. And I couldn’t help but think about how, if we had not bought so much stuff, we could have increased our giving to our church, and to missions, and to Lutheran World Relief. We could have laid up a lot more treasure in heaven, and we could have grown richer toward God. Let me be the first to admit that I am so slow to learn that it truly is more blessed to give than to receive, and I am so slow to learn that it is better to give away stuff than to build a bigger garage, and I am so slow to learn, that we are so much richer toward God, when we increase our pledge, than when we increase our bank account. Henry Ford once asked an associate what his life goal was. The man replied that his life’s goal was to make a million dollars. A few days later, Ford gave the man a pair of glasses, with two silver dollars where the lenses should be. He told the man to put them on, and asked him what he could see. “Nothing”, the man said, “the dollars are in the way.” Ford told him that he wanted to teach him a lesson. If his only goal was dollars, he would miss a host of opportunities. He should invest himself in serving others, not simply in making money. When Joyce and I were back in Illinois, where we grew up, two Sundays ago, we went to my old home church. The pastor there had recently visited southeastern Iowa, where they had gotten such a wet spring and summer that they couldn’t even plant their crops. And now there was a dam that broke and flooded thousands more acres. I know that there will be farmers in Illinois, where the crops are great, who will be shipping corn, and maybe hay, to help the farmers in Iowa. I remember seeing loads of hay given away when I was growing up, to help farmers whose crops had been destroyed by hail. Closer to home, there was a local 4-H girl who announced that when she sold her steer at the fair this year, she would donate the money to feed the hungry. Instead of building a fund for herself, building a bigger barn, she chose to open her heart to the hungry. And a heart open to the hungry, is a heart that is open to God. She’s a rich young lady. We are all rich, for
we know that God loves us, and we find our riches, not in building bigger barns
for ourselves, but in sharing God’s blessings with others. Amen
We need to remember several things when we are involved in public worship. The first and most important is that we are in the presence of the Divine Trinity. Jesus was right, “For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” The quote from Matthew points to another thing that we need to remember—we are worshiping with fellow disciples. Finally we need to be aware that there will be strangers who gather with us and we need to be good hosts. We need times to connect with the Lord on a personal basis but we also need times to connect with those around us in the Lord’s presence. We need times of silence and times of music. We need times of listening and of conversations. Both of our services look to find a good balance between these important parts of worship. They do however put the emphasis in different places. Our traditional, liturgical service is more formal. There are more and also longer times of silence within the service. The beginning of the service is a time for quiet reflection and to enjoy the prelude music. In the service itself there is time to greet one another during the “passing of the peace.” The contemporary service is more informal. There are fewer and shorter times of silence within the service. The time before the service is a chance to greet your neighbor and to rejoice in the presence of the Lord. The time before the service is not a gabfest but rather a time of fellowship, a time to connect to other believers and to remind one another of our partnership in Christ. In the service itself there are times for silence during the prayer and confession of sin.
Finally, in both services, it is a time to
serve our Lord and savior by being a good host to the strangers in our midst.
Reach out to them let them know through smiles, body language and words that you
are happy to see them.
Passing the peace is an important part of our worship. It reminds us that worship is not a private event but a communal event. It also reminds us that our faith has two important parts—our relationship with the triune God who we worship, and our relationship with fellow disciples with whom we worship. Both of these relationships are important parts of our faith. As it says in the first letter of John, “For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20). The passing of the peace is one way we live out that truth. Hope is great at passing of peace. It is not just a formal handshake with the few people that sit around you; rather, when Hope passes the peace it is a great free-for-all that truly expresses the joy and enthusiasm of this congregation. This is true at both services. As your pastor it’s great to watch and experience.
At the same time I want to encourage
us as a community to be sensitive to those people who might be overwhelmed by a
large crowd. If you see someone sitting or standing off to the side please greet
them, but neither try to get them more involved nor become so caught up in the
moment that they are completely ignored. In other words, we as a community
should strive to be welcoming but not overwhelming.
In Stephen Ministry
congregations, lay caregivers (called Stephen Ministers) provide one-to-one
Christian care to the bereaved, hospitalized, terminally ill, separated,
divorced, unemployed, relocated, and others facing a crisis or life challenge.
Stephen Ministry helps pastors and congregations provide quality caring ministry
for as long as people need. Our Stephen Ministry will be starting another class
this fall. If you are interested in becoming a Stephen Minister, or would like
to talk to one, contact Diane Lund, Karen Marino or me. In the last 10 to 15 years, we’ve had a
great deal of publicity given to many extra-biblical texts. Probably the three
most well-known texts are The Gospel of Thomas, The Gospel of Mary
and The Gospel of Judas. These texts often claim to give new insights
into the life of Jesus. In addition, modern authors have used some of these
ancient ‘gospels’ to write amazingly creative – but not necessarily historically
accurate – biographies of Jesus. How are we to respond to these ancient
texts? In order to respond, we must realize what these texts are. First, all of
these ancient texts were written long after Paul’s letters, between 48 and 95
A.D., and Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, written between 65 and 95
A.D. In contrast, every one of these ‘lost gospels’ was written in the second
century, between 120 A.D. and 180 A.D. That’s 90 to 150 years after the
crucifixion of Jesus. Some scholars make the claim that some of the material in
The Gospel of Thomas comes from the first century; however, the portion
that they are talking about echoes portions of Luke and Matthew.
The simplest, and perhaps the most likely, explanation is that Thomas copied
Luke or Matthew or the same source that Luke and Matthew copied. Secondly, the pictures that these stories
paint of Jesus not only contradict the traditional gospel, but they also
contradict each other. In other words, these gospels do not paint a cohesive
alternative view of Jesus of the Bible. Finally, in the organic process that went
into the formation of the canon, none of the texts that have recently been in
the news for the past several years were included in any of the lists that were
composed in the second and third centuries of what books should be considered
part of the New Testament canon. For example, Revelation, 2nd
Peter, and Jude were not included on many of the lists. If you want
to read a book that was on several of the lists but ultimately did not make it
into the canon, you can read either the Shepherd of Hermes, or The
Didache. You can find both on the Internet. So what are we to make of these texts? They are interesting ancient documents that help us to understand more about the diversity of the church in the second century than about Jesus and the early spread of Christianity. You are right in the sense that the story of Jesus' transfiguration prefigures the resurrection. Yet all three Gospel writers place this story right in the middle of Jesus’ earthly ministry. While on the mountain Jesus appears to Peter, James and John as the Cosmic Christ; after the experience he again becomes Jesus of Galilee. You might be tempted to see this story as the original mountain top experience. There are, however, two other such experiences in the Hebrew Scriptures: The making of the Covenant with Moses and the renewal of the Covenant with Elijah. The reason this story is read at the end of the season of Epiphany is that Epiphany is all about Jesus revealing who he truly is to humanity. This text certainly fits that Criteria. Other text associated with Epiphany include: The worship of the Wise men, Jesus’ baptism, and the calling of the first disciples. The season after Epiphany is, in many ways, a bridge between two Holy Days. Notice we start with a story associated with Christmas, the coming of the Wiseman, and end with a story that prefigures Easter, the transfiguration. Good question! What does separation of church and state really mean? You’re a close observer of the political process. Three of the major political candidates have interesting religious backgrounds. Mitt Romney is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. He is not, however, the first Mormon to run for the presidency. His dad ran for president in the 60’s. Mike Huckabee is a former Baptist Minister. Barak Obama is a Christian but was raised by a Muslim stepfather. He went both to an Islamic school and Catholic school when he was a child. It stands to reason that there has been and will be a great deal of discussion about religion and politics. That discussion is a good thing. Religion and faith are not merely private matters but belong in the public square. What about the separation of Church and State? First that phrase appears nowhere in the United States Constitution. The phrase comes from a Supreme Court decision in which the writer for the majority used a phrase coined by Thomas Jefferson in his correspondence. What does the first amendment of the constitution actually say? Here it is, “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The trick is to find the balance between ‘establishment of religion’ and ‘the free exercise thereof.’ While an established religion is prohibited, religion, and the morals that often spring from faith, are an important part of our public debate and can not be silenced politically simply because they grow out of a religious sensibility whether, Christian, Jewish or Islamic. Some say that Freedom of
Religion means freedom from religion. If they simply mean force conversions or
mandatory attendance at Church they are right. Yet many people have interpreted
freedom of religion to mean freedom from any public display, discussion or
debate of religion. A cursory reading of the First Amendment reveals that idea
as simply silly! What is the story behind the clerical collar? It is sometimes called the Roman collar which is surprising since the current clerical collar was popularized not by Roman Catholic Priests but Anglican clergy of the early 19th century. Later in that century Roman Catholic clergy borrowed the idea from the Anglicans and required their priests to wear the clerical collar. However, clergy for many centuries have worn special clothing. Wayne Weissenbuhler wrote an excellent article abut clerical clothing. Here is a portion of his article: “From antiquity, certain styles and forms of clothing have identified people according to rank and station in life as well as vocation. It wasn't until around the sixth century that clergy wore special dress outside the church building, and it has developed and changed through the centuries in plentiful variety. Black has been the dress color of clerics since the 17th century. The Council of Baltimore in 1884 required Roman Catholic clergy to wear the white Roman collar outside the house. These collars, commonly worn by Catholic, Episcopal and Lutheran pastors, are a stylized version of the neck cloth worn by gentlemen into the 19th century Pastors wear the clerical
collar for a variety of reasons. It makes it easier to gain access to places
where ministry needs to be done without extraneous questions. It also helps both
the wearer and those ministered to, to realize that what is being done and said
is more than personal. The pastor is acting out of the office of the ministry
conferred by the church and passed down through the ages.” This is an excellent question. It is a question that encompasses theology, biblical studies and even modern day economics. So I am going to take at least two newsletters and maybe even three to answer this question totally and completely. First, let's tackle the theology. One of the basic truths of Christianity is the doctrine of the incarnation. It asserts that when God chose to make his essence known he did it by becoming human. The whole Bible announces the incarnation but the most succinct statement of this truth is probably John 1:14, “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” God’s living Word was made real to humanity by becoming one of us by revealing himself in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. God was willing to bridge all the barriers that would keep humanity from discovering his love. These barriers of course include language and culture. This basic tenet of God coming to humanity was embedded in the mission of the Church at Pentecost. Do you remember what happened when the Holy Spirit lit the disciples up with power? They began to share the story of Jesus in the languages of all the people present. Again God was reaching across the culture barriers. Consequently the Church, from its inception on that day of Pentecost, has always wanted to communicate the love of God in Christ Jesus through the language of the people that it is trying to reach. So when the New Testament was first written it was not written in Hebrew or Aramaic, the language that Jesus and the first disciples spoke, but common Greek, the most used language within the Eastern half of the Roman Empire where much of the New Testament was first written. As the Latin west grew father apart from the east the scriptures were translated into Latin. Latin remained the primary language of the literate class in Europe for over a thousand years. In the sixteenth century Luther desired that, not only the nobility, but also the peasantry should be able to read the Bible and discover the Gospel within its pages. This motivated him to translate the Scriptures into German. It was no easy task. He literally had to invent words to capture certain biblical concepts. No wonder he is thought of as not only the founder of the Reformation but also as the father of modern German. This desire continues today. One of the first things that are done once a missionary has made contact with a new ethnic group is to learn their language. There are two primary reasons for this. The first is obvious, so they can communicate with them. The second is considered equally important, so that the Bible can be translated into their native tongue. The Bible has been translated into hundreds of different languages. This same desire is the reason that the Bible is translated into a style of English that communicates more effectively to a contemporary audience. So we have a plethora of present day translations: ‘Today’s English Version,’ using only very common English language words; ‘The New Revised Standard Version,’ an update of an update of the King James Version; ‘The New International Version,’ a scholarly effort to produce a readable text based on the best evangelical scholarship. All of these efforts have at their heart the desire to reach across the barriers of culture and language to proclaim the Good News of Jesus Christ, ‘The Word made flesh.’
Answer: If you want to look at a quick list of the ministries that we "officially" support you can go to our Web page, www.ourhopechurch.org, click on the members only button, click on the financials, enter our password (call the office if you don't have one) and scroll down to the bottom of the page. There you will find a list of ministries that we financially support through the budget. They are ELCA Hunger Appeal, Lutheran World Relief, Women's Resource Center, Loaves and Fishes, Iglesia Lutherana Santa Cruz, Crossways International, Habitat for Humanity and ECHO. This is only a partial list, however, because it doesn't include any of the ministries that our Congregation does for the community. For example: our parking lot is used every weekday by San Gabriel School. On a monthly basis we pick up a two-mile section of Highway 101. Our prayer quilts have literally gone all over the World, not just to congregation members. Added to this list are ministries that individual members support. The one that comes immediately to mind is compassion International. We had a fantastically successful Compassion Sunday wherein all the children that were sent to Hope found sponsors. Other ministries are: Youth Encounter, Covenant Players, Campus Center at Cal Poly, North County Christian Schools, and I'm sure many others. Do you have a passion for a particular ministry? Let us know, we want to support your passion to serve.
Is it OK to ask questions about the service, liturgy, religion/church in general? Who do we ask? Absolutely, questions are
encouraged! You can ask the Pastor directly, send an email to the
Webservant, or put it in the Hope's Voice Box.
Questions/answers of a general nature will be posted on this page.
Lutheran's have never outlawed private confession only the idea of penance and
the need to remember and confess every single sin (an impossibility in my
view.) Private confession is fine in fact helpful as long as the pastor who is
hearing the confession speaks the gospel, the unconditional grace of God in the
Cross of Christ, to the person who is confessing. Martin Luther encouraged
using the confessional with this gospel center understanding. Down through the
centuries Lutherans have met their pastors to confess their sins and receive
absolution. Sometimes this has been done in a very formal way. For example, some
Lutheran churches used to require that a member meet with their Pastor before
receiving communion. At other times, private confession has been done in a very
informal way, much like today, through pastoral counseling and private confession. Personally, sitting down with a brother or sister in Christ and
discussing with them their personal struggles and hurts and having a chance to
share the gospel in a very personal way is one of the greatest joys of my
ministry.
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