SERMONS & ART OF LAURA GENTRY

THE HIGH COST OF DISCIPLESHIP

2009-07-12T15:14:00.000-07:00

A Sermon for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost

by Pastor Laura Gentry

Mark 6:14-29

There is a scene in the first Austin Powers film where Austin and his spying partner, Vanessa, witness the decapitation of one of the “bad guys” in Dr. Evil’s lair. Don’t worry, it’s not gruesome—this is a comedy film. Austin, who is known for his love of puns, can’t help but comment.

Austin Powers: Not the time to lose one's head.
Vanessa Kensington: No.
Austin Powers: That's not the way to get ahead in life.
Vanessa Kensington: No.
Austin Powers: It's a shame he wasn't more headstrong.
Vanessa Kensington: Hmm.
Austin Powers: He'll never be the head of a major corporation.
Vanessa Kensington: Okay, that'll do.
Austin Powers: Okay.

When I examined today’s Gospel reading about the horrible decapitation of the famous prophet, John the Baptist, I decided I’d have to start the sermon out with this set of puns because, how else can you cope with such a horrifying text? I mean, what is this story even doing in the gospel of Mark, let alone our lectionary? There are a lot of gruesome stories in the bible that didn’t make it into the set of lectionary readings like Uzzah who is struck dead just for reaching out his hand to steady the ark of the covenant when it wobbled on its way to Jerusalem (2 Samuel). Why did this story about John the Baptist’s awful death make it in the lectionary? And what are we supposed to gain from having examined it?

Well, to begin with, we should look at where the interlude comes chronologically in the Gospel story. It happens right after Jesus sends the disciples out to do their ministry. Remember? We talked about that last week. They didn’t take anything with them—no purse, no money, to extra clothes, not even a cell phone—and they were given power to heal and to cast out demons. It is during the time they are off doing this exciting ministry that we hear about John’s sad fate.

I think the point of juxtaposing these two stories is to highlight the high cost of discipleship. Jesus’ disciples are off slugging it out with the demons and illnesses and they’re out there on their own without even any snack bars or other provisions that might help prop them up in this difficult work. They’ve just been called as disciples and so they are not that experienced, yet they are sent to proclaim the good news. It’s certainly not an easy mission Jesus has sent them on. It’s costing them everything, as they’ve had to leave their old lives behind do to this.

Meanwhile, John the Baptist is about to loose his head for having had the courage and integrity to criticize Herod Antipas, the tetrarch of Galilee. He had stolen his brother’s wife, Herodias and married her himself. So his wife’s daughter, Salome, was at once his niece and his stepdaughter. John had told Herod that this marriage was a moral outrage. This wasn’t exactly music to his ears. Still, he was fascinated by John and he feared him, recognizing he was a righteous and holy man. Furthermore, he liked listening to John, even though his words were critical. So Herod put him in prison, rather than killing him as Herodias had wanted him to do.

Well, then things really come to a “head” at Herod’s birthday banquet. This was an extravagant event thrown my Herod himself. The entertainment, it seems, was the dance of the stepdaughter/niece, Salome. I’m with John on the being outraged here because it doesn’t sound appropriate for this daughter to be entertaining the party guests in this way. Herod is a bit too “into” his step-daughter’s dance. He is so “pleased,” it says, that he makes an exaggerated oath to give her whatever she wants (up to half his kingdom, which is the most a woman could inherit).

The girl goes to her mother for guidance on what to request. Herodias has had it in for John from the start and so without hesitation, she tells Salome to ask for the head of John the Baptist on a platter.

Now Herod’s in a tight spot. All of the guests heard him give his word that he would grant the girl her request. If he wants to be a man of his word, he will have to do it. It says he is deeply grieved about it but it’s rather difficult to have pity for him. He orders the dirty deed done and John’s head is brought into the banquet on a platter—still dripping with blood—and presents to Salome, who gives it to her evil mother.

Um...where’s the happy ending? I guess the old saying holds: No good deed goes unpunished. Here we have an incredible prophet in John. Even his birth was a extraordinary and miraculous and had been prophesied. While he was still in his mother’s womb, John leapt for joy upon hearing the greeting of Jesus’ mother. He was born to a family of priests to prepare the way for Jesus. He called people to repentance and baptized them in the Jordan River. He had no earthly possessions and ran around in nothing but some stinky camel hair and ate wild honey and grasshoppers, for crying out loud! The guy was committed. Here is a prime example of fabulous discipleship. He didn’t give God a portion of his life—he gave it all. And in the end, he’s gotta die for it? What’s the reward in that?

And he wasn’t the only one to die for his faith: the apostles did too. The only one who lived out his days was Saint John but he was exiled to the island of Patmos where he is said to have written the book of Revelation. All the others died as martyrs: killed for having the courage to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.

John’s death foreshadows the death of the one he has come to prepare the way for: Jesus Christ. Just as Herod reluctantly orders the death of John, Pontius Pilate will soon reluctantly order the death of Jesus. Yes, even the Son of God is given the death sentence for bringing the good news. So is it really good news?

Indeed it is, because God does not let death have the final say. Jesus is laid in the tomb but three days later, he is risen to new life and with it, he brings resurrection power to the whole world. He lives that death may die!

And so the tragedy of John’s violent death, as well as the tragedy of all those disciples dying in the line of duty is nullified. There is no sting in death—there is no victory in it at all. Jesus’ has taken their deaths and transformed them into resurrections.

Hopefully, none of us will ever have to face what John the Baptist or any of the apostles did. Nevertheless, we can expect problems in our life of faith. Don't be mistaken: the cost of discipleship is extremely high. We can lose friends, even jobs because of our religious convictions. We can experience hardship and prejudice and any manner of setbacks. Yet these things don’t matter compared to the glory that will be revealed to us. Jesus has given us his life so that we may have life and have it abundantly. And he has called us to a life of discipleship in which we give our very ALL for the sake of the kingdom. We cannot hold back even a part of ourselves—no, we must follow the example of the saints who have gone before and dive right into our mission. We can do it because the Spirit’s power is with us and nothing can ever separate us from the love of God. Amen.

LET GOD BE GOD

2009-07-05T05:36:00.000-07:00

A Sermon for the 5th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B

by Pastor Laura Gentry

Mark 6:1-13

There was a kid who got kicked out of the neighborhood drug store by the time he was in high school. Needless to say, he’d caused the owner quite a bit of grief in his mischievous younger days. Twelve years later, while visiting home after his ordination into the ministry, his mother sent him to the same store. When he walked in the owner looked up and said, “I told you: OUT!”

It’s hard to be a prophet in your own hometown. That’s the same thing Jesus found out in today’s gospel reading. It’s hard to gain respect from those who know you. You know what the definition of an expert is, don’t you? It’s someone from at least 50 miles away.

Sometimes, I think we forget how difficult Jesus had it. In Mark 3:21, we see that Jesus’ own family had labeled him crazy and tried to restrain him. A few verses later, his mother and brothers and sisters try again to remove him from his teaching ministry. In last week’s story when he came to raise the girl from the dead he was laughed at.

And now in today’s gospel scene, he’s back in his hometown and goes to the temple to teach. The people who heard it are astounded. The Greek word used here implies a hint of incredulity. They can’t comprehend it! I can imagine all the muttering things like: Hey isn’t that Mary and Joe’s kid? The one that used to throw rocks at the house? Yeah, yeah and his brothers were all messed up. Now he thinks he’s a prophet? Some great teacher back here in Nazareth? And doing miracles! I hear he just raised a little girl from the dead. No way could Joe’s kid do that. He’s gotta be a fraud.

Yes, Jesus is flatly rejected by his peers—by the folks he grew up with. It amazes Jesus that they could be so impervious to the good news. This scene shows us how deeply God has entered into our world in the person of Jesus. He experiences all the same problems, peer pressures, disappointments and sufferings that we do. Yet he gives us a model of how to deal with the pain of being human. He shows us that depending upon God is the way to get through it.

Jesus is anchored in God’s love and even if he is not accepted, he will not lose heart. In fact, he realizes that trying to do more miracles here in his hometown is going to be a waste of time because they won’t understand that he’s not trying to be a show off with the miracles. He is trying to give them a glimpse of the Kingdom of God. Instead, these displays of power will become a stumbling block for them. So he does no great deeds of power here.

And then he calls his disciples and immediatelysends them out in pairs to proclaim the Gospel. The amazing thing is that he sends the out without anything: no money, no extra clothes, no bag. I like to have a different bag to match each of my outfits but Jesus’ disciples are sent out with no bag at all! He instructs them to depend upon God, not other things that would normally sustain them on such a journey. And he tells them something strange. He says: “If any place will not welcome you and they refuse to hear you, as you leave, shake off the dust that is on your feet as a testimony against them.”

Now I used to be troubled by that statement because it comes across as rather rude, even mean-spirited. Shaking your shoes at them? Why should Jesus tell them to do this? It comes from his own experience. He knows that not everyone will accept the good news and some will wholeheartedly reject it. There is danger that this rejection will discourage them from moving forward with their mission. Jesus knows that they have a vital task and they cannot allow nay-sayers to get them down. Negativity has a way of doing that, as you know. Instead, Jesus instructs them to be connected to God and depend upon God’s mercy entirely and so if someone has something bad to say, shake it off and move forward.

This is all well and good but it is easier said than done. How many times have you been set back by the negative comments of others, particularly your friends and loved ones? Being rejected by a stranger is no big deal compared to being rejected by people close to you. How do you deal with it? How do you not lose heart? Do you ever feel too weak to go on?

Paul talks about this in the Epistle lesson for today. He had been through all kinds of rejection and even had what he called a “thorn in the side.” We don’t know if this was literally a torn stuck in his side or a metaphor for some other medical or emotional problem. Whatever it was, it made life really difficult for him. And like Jesus, he had a hard time teaching in places where people knew him. They doubted his motives and authority.

Indeed, Paul felt weak. Yet he discovered a profound truth in this weakness: it is strength. It is strength because it keeps you humble. It keeps you from believing your greatness comes from your own doing. It enables you to cling more tightly to your Savior. God’s power is made perfect in weakness. Grace, he explained, is all sufficient for us no matter how many thorns we have in our flesh.

In their weakness, Jesus’ disciples truly experience the sufficiency of grace. Without a bag, they go out to do God’s work. They follow Jesus’ advice to walk away from rejection and to allow God’s power to fill their weakness. Truly God’s power became their power. This passage tells us that they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many who were sick and cured them. Yes, they could cast out demons and heal the sick! God’s power was evidently in them.

And so this morning, we must ask ourselves: Is God’s power in me? Do I trust that if I humbly allow God to work through my weakness, I will have amazing power too?

The theologian Meister Eckhart wrote: “A pear seed grows into a pear tree, and a hazelnut seed grows into a hazelnut tree and a seed of God grows into God. God does not ask anything else of you but to let yourself go and let God be God. In you.”

This reminds me of a story. A man was hiking along the top of a great cliff and lost his footing and fell over the edge. Yet he managed to grab the edge of the rock with one hand. As he dangled there in great danger, he prayed: “God, God, are you there?”

And a voice said: “Yes, my son, It’s me: God. I’m here for you.”

Relieved, the man prayed: “God, you’ve got to help me out of this situation. Tell me what to do!”

God said: “You are going to have to trust me entirely. What I want you to do is let go of the rock.”

There was a long pause and then the man said: “Is there anyone else up there?”

That’s us. We say we want God’s help but when God shows up and asks us to let go and trust him, we get a little nervous.

It’s easy to get puffed up about our own accomplishments, but the goal of the Christian life is humbly to let yourself go and let God be God. In you. For with God, all things are possible. But if we stand in the way of the Spirit, we’ll be like the nay-sayers in Nazareth who could not believe and for whom no great works of power were performed. No, we are called to proclaim the good news even though the road is rough and we are weakened by the thorns in our flesh and not everyone, especially those in our hometown, will receive the liberating message we share. Nevertheless, we shake it off and press on. We must let God’s power be made perfect in our human weakness. Today, may we hear the call to truly let go and let God be God. In Us. Amen.

GO IN PEACE & BE HEALED

2009-06-28T10:21:00.000-07:00

A Sermon for the 4th Sunday after Pentecost, Year B

by Pastor Laura Gentry

Mark 5:21-43

When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet and begged him repeatedly, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live."

So he went with him. And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, for she said, "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well." Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?" And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, 'Who touched me?'" He looked all around to see who had done it. But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."

While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader's house to say, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?" But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe." He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. When he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping." And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha cum," which means, "Little girl, get up!" And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat. (New Revised Standard Version)

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Today, we are given not 1 healing story in the gospel passage but 2: 2 women, 2 healings, 2 miracles. What’s it all about? And, most importantly, what is the gift in these stories and how can it bless us and move us on toward greater healing?

Well, we really don’t know much about either woman. We are not even given their names. We do know they are both in crisis. And they are both subject to the taboos around the mysterious power of life. Neither a bleeding woman nor a dead girl were to be touched. They were considered ritually unclean and needed to be avoided by practicing religious people.

The author of this gospel also carefully weaves in the number 12. The hemorrhaging women has been sick for 12 years and the little girl who died had lived for 12 years. This number has important symbolic value in Judaism. In their history, the nation began from Jacob’s 12 sons who founded the 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus would later go on to choose 12 apostles. This number even affected the western calendar, which is why the year is divided into 12 months. It was thought that this number represented God’s mysterious union with humanity. And in this story, we certainly see these women transformed by God’s union with them.

The scene opens with a synagogue leader named Jarius approaching Jesus with the request that he come to heal his daughter. The death of a child was quite commonplace in those days. Historian John Pilch estimates that in Jesus' time 60 percent of live births usually died by their mid-teens. So parents would have been always bracing themselves for the strong possibility that they would lose some of their children to death. Not only that, this was a time when daughters were not valued as much as sons. Yet Jarius obviously loves his daughter wholeheartedly. He cannot bear the thought of losing her. He has faith in Jesus, who is known as an itinerant preacher-healer who was already in trouble with the religious authorities. He himself is one of these authorities having problems with Jesus. Nevertheless, he wants his daughter healed but he has to go out on a limb to do so. By asking Jesus to come heal his child, he risks being ridiculed by his peers. Yet his faith drives him and he makes his request to Jesus and thankfully, Jesus agrees and goes with him straight-away to the house.

As he is going, however, Jesus encounters the hemorrhaging woman. She has been bleeding for 12 years. It has continued to flow. This word could also be translated as "river." For all these awful years, the woman was being taken down a river of physical and social pain. She must have felt depressed and exhausted from all that she had endured. No treatment had worked for her. Her physicians had failed her. And yet for some reason, she has not given up up. No, she continues to hold on to her faith. She believes God has the power to heal her. And so when she hears that Jesus—this mighty healer from God—is in town, she is desperate to see him.

For her to be out in the public was forbidden. She was supposed to stay isolated because of her ritual uncleanness. Yet she ignores this law because more than anything she wants to be healed. Not only does she have faith, but she allows that faith to move her into action. She actively pursues Jesus, thinking: If I can just touch the hem of his garment, I will be healed. And so she goes out in faith and finds Jesus. The crowd is thick and she must press her way through to get to him. Finally, she makes it to Jesus and touches his robe and immediately, Jesus can feel the power rush out of him. God’s mysterious connection with humanity (that the number 12 represents) is given to this woman who had been suffering 12 years.

Jesus whirls about and asks, "Who touched my clothes?"

This seems to stupefy the disciples. They are aware of how huge the crowd is. It’s a hot day it the desert. All those sweaty bodies bumping up against one another. Who touched Jesus? Pretty much everybody. They’re all smashed up around him. How could he possibly notice one particular touch?

But Jesus knows this is not an unintentional bumping-into-someone in a crowd touch. It is a faith-filled touch of someone who has come to him in grateful expectation of healing. Thus, he continues to look for this person. The woman cannot hide. She knows that she’s been transformed by this encounter. So she comes forward in fear and trembling. She falls down before him, and tells him the whole truth. Then Jesus says to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."

Even though Jesus was on a mission to get to the 12 year old girl, he allows himself to be sidetracked by the need of this person who has reached out to him in faith. His the son of God, after all, he can multitask. He compassionately heals her before moving on to the task at hand: to help a woman who is barely a woman—just a little girl of 12.

As Jesus is still speaking to the crowd, some people come rushing from Jarius’ house and give him the terrible news that his daughter is dead. Even this devastating news does not ruffle Jesus’ feathers. He calmly uses it as a teaching moment. He says: "Do not fear, only believe." Some call this Jesus’ shortest sermon. It says it all: Do not fear, only believe.

They go to the house and find the typical demonstrations of grief for that time and place going on. People are weeping and wailing loudly. But Jesus heads right into the whirlpool of grief and says: "Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping." They are so surprised by this statement that they actually laugh at him. So Jesus takes these unbelieving nay-sayers and put them outside the house. Perhaps he knows their negative energy might affect his healing and so he creates a space of faith and not fear by sending them out.

Jesus takes the little girl by the hand. Again, this is against the religious laws. He is supposed to stay away from unclean, dead bodies but the compassion of God is greater than the religious customs. Jesus breaks the rules in order to break the bonds of death. He says to the little girl: Get Up! And astonishingly, she does. She comes back from the dead by the touch of God’s power in Jesus!

Do not fear, only believe. This is what Jesus had told them and this is exactly why. Even death has no sting with Jesus at hand. The little girl is immediately able to awaken from death and be so healthy that she is ready for a snack. Jesus tells them to go get her something to eat.

So what are we to take from all of this? Where is the blessing? What seems most prominent in these stories is the power of faith. Jesus has the power to heal and to raise from the dead. Yet many people around him overlook that and even criticize him. But Jarius and the hemorrhaging woman believe in him. They know he can change their situations and so they do everything in their power to reach out to him in faith. They push passed the boundaries that existed for them and grab at Jesus with all they have inside them. This is what God wants from us. Do we reach out for Jesus? Fervently? Do we want to be healed? Do we trust him with our life and our death?

In these stores we glimpse the power of God that is ours for the asking. God wants to forgive and heal us. God wants to grant us eternal life. May we take inspiration from the characters in these stories and reach out to Jesus anew, trusting he will say to us what he said to the woman: your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed. Amen.

FUNERAL SERMON FOR NANCY AMBLE

2009-06-27T08:10:00.000-07:00

Sermon for Christians Gathered Together at the Death

Nancy Amble

June 27, 2009

1:00 p.m.

by Pastor Laura Gentry

Isaiah 43: 1-7
But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; 6I will say to the north, “Give them up,” and to the south, “Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth— everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

1 Corinthians 15:51-57
Listen, I will tell you a mystery! We will not all die, but we will all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on imperishability, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

John 11:17-26
When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die."

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

It seems all too soon that we’ve gathered today, at the end of Nancy’s journey on earth, to celebrate her life and entrust her to God. Yet celebrate, we must, because Nancy lived a life worth celebrating.

In the reading from Isaiah, we heard those comforting words from the Lord: “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.” In the waters of Baptism, God first claimed Nancy and promised to walk with her through all the days to come—to be her God, to give her faith and love her unconditionally.

As Nancy grew, so did the faith God had given to her. She embraced the grace and love of her Savior and reflected it in her exuberant life.

T'was Grace that taught my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear
The hour I first believed.

Nancy had courage, boldness and joy as well as sensitivity and kindness. Her family and loved ones gathered here can attest to Nancy’s amazing ability to care. She was a shining light that brightened our lives more than we can describe.

Here at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church, Nancy was a true treasure. She was always ready to serve and was instrumental in many of the innovations in the way we do things around here. For example, we now have a sanctuary filled with lilies on Easter, geraniums on Pentecost and ponsettias on Christmas. Nancy started that. And we have flower stands to put them on—Nancy ordered those. And the beautiful oil candle Advent wreath we put out each year—Nancy ordered that too. You may know that she was a great shopper. When we ran a children’s choir, she propped me up as we managed the mob of kids—or at least mostly managed the mob of kids on rehearsal days. Yes, her faith was always in action.

And Nancy’s faith bouyed her up throughout her life. That passage from Isaiah goes on to say: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.”

Like the rest of us, Nancy had to pass through the rivers and walk through the fire at various times in her life. Yet, because of her faith, the rivers did not overwhelm her. Because of her faith the fire did not burn her, the flames could not consume her.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
I have already come;
'Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far
and Grace will lead me home.

Nancy’s confidence in grace was never more evident than in her battle with cancer. No matter how much she suffered, Nancy remained confident that she was walking in the love of God. She refused to be consumed by the fire of her illness. She held fast to the rock of her faith and seemed more able to talk about her own death than her

loved ones. When they’d cry too much she’d say something along the lines of: “Cut it out!”

Nancy’s faith informed her that death was not something to fear. Fear not, her Savior had said, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name, you are mine. Just has she had not feared living, Nancy did not fear dying. She knew that death is but a gateway to eternal life. As we heard in the scripture passage from l Corinthians: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?”

There is no sting for those who have faith in Jesus Christ, who has won the victory on our behalf and saves us by grace. There is no sting. When we are claimed by our Savior, nothing can take us out of that grasp. Jesus said: “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. “ Nancy knew this. She believed it in her heart. She was certain that grace would lead her home.

Yes, it is true: Nancy has left this world. She is no longer walking among us in the flesh. We can’t see her or touch her. We can’t call her up on the phone as we liked to do. But we are confident that she is not gone. Her soul is imperishable and it is now in the hand of God. We believe that we’ve not seen the last of her. No, we will be reunited with Nancy and all the saints that have gone before. In God, her love is eternal and so is ours. This makes our lives so profoundly meaningful and beautiful. We must embrace this beauty and live in it each and every moment that we are given.

This is why we may have tears today but it is really a day of celebration. We celebrate the wonderful, loving life of Nancy Lou Olsen Sherwood Amble. We celebrate the multitude of things that she meant to us. We celebrate how she enriched and changed our lives. And most of all, we celebrate the God who created her and gave her faith and guided her through all her days—helping her through the ups, the downs, the rivers and the fires—never once leaving Nancy’s side or allowing her to be consumed or burned. We celebrate the God who does not let his children go. And we look forward with great confidence to the day when God will call us to be home in heaven.

We will gather at the river that flows from the throne of God. It is difficult to believe that there is a river more beautiful than the Mississippi but apparently there is. We will one day arrive at that river and stand with Nancy and all the saints in light and praise our Maker with joyful dancing and singing that has no end.

When we've been here ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.

FOOLS FOR CHRIST

2009-06-14T15:44:00.000-07:00

A Sermon for the Second Sunday after Pentecost

by Pastor Laura Gentry

As you may know, I went to Clown Camp in LaCrosse last week. There, I was immersed in a culture of clowning that I previously knew little about. Now if I were not a laughter therapist, you would probably be saying to yourself: “What business does a pastor have being at Clown Camp?”

And that’s what I’d like to talk to you about today. What place DOES a clown have in the life of a Christian community? I mean, we come here to worship in a way that is done in “decency and order,” as Martin Luther would say. We want to be respectful to God and show our thanks and praise in a dignified manner because, after all, we are good Christians. That’s why we’re at church, isn’t it? We strive to follow the Ten Commandments and serve God with our whole lives. And we look really good, too. We certainly wouldn’t want to look foolish like a silly old clown.

But are we not fools already? If we’re honest with ourselves, our Christian piety is just a mask for our own shortcomings. At our core, the Bible says, we are sinful and unclean. So I’m going to do a demonstration for you about the foolishness of each one of us. (puts on cap and sets up make up table)

EYES
First of all, why would we want to put clown make up on our eyes. Our eyes are serious. They are pure and holy. Are they?

Jesus didn’t think so. (begins painting clown face on eyes) When he witnessed the behavior of the people, he said:

“For this people’s heart has grown dull,
   and their ears are hard of hearing,
     and they have shut their eyes;
     so that they might not look with their eyes,
   and listen with their ears,
and understand with their heart and turn—
   and I would heal them.”
(Matthew 13:15)
Even with Jesus offering healing, their eyes were foolish and shut to the needs of others. Are not our eyes so foolish? We pass opportunities to help others nearly every day. How foolish.

Jesus also said:

Your eye is the lamp of your body. If your eye is healthy, your whole body is full of light; but if it is not healthy, your body is full of darkness. (Luke 11.34)

He used the term darkness to describe the sense of being lost and without direction. We have eyes and yet we too, end up wandering through life without the direction of faith.

Oh, and our eyes get us into trouble because of our judgmental nature. Jesus chastised his followers by saying:

Why do you see the speck in your neighbor’s eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? Or how can you say to your neighbor,* “Let me take the speck out of your eye”, while the log is in your own eye? (Matthew 7.3-4)

Why not just admit our eyes are quite foolish and unholy? A fool can admit his eyes are up to no good.

MOUTH
And why would we want silly clown paint on our mouths? Our mouths are pure. We sing God’s praises each Sunday. We profess our faith with our lips, reciting the Apostle’s Creed week after week. We speak to God in prayer. Why wouldn’t our mouths be holy? Are they?

Jesus didn’t think so. (begins painting clown face on mouth) In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus was so angry he said:

You brood of vipers! How can you speak good things, when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. ( Matthew 12.34)

Our mouths might have good intention but they speak evil—so much so that Jesus said this behavior was like a brood of vipers!

And when the disciples were getting their undies in a bundle about people not following the proper religious practices about cleaning their hands before eating, Jesus reminded them that:

It is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes out of the mouth that defiles.’ (Matthew 15.11)

In the book of James, there are many bad things said about our tongues. Take this passage, for example:

If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. (James 1.26)

Yes, if we take a hard look at ourselves, we must admit our tongues aren’t as controlled as they need to be and our mouths defile. We might as well be wearing foolish clown mouths, for that’s what Christ reveals.

NOSE
And what about our noses? Clowns are famous for their wacky red noses. How silly and undignified. Our noses are serious and wonderful. Are they? (begins attaching clown nose)

We tend to stick our serious and wonderful noses into the air as if we are better than other people. We can be so snooty that it is a stumbling block.

In Romans, Paul said not to:

“...think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.” (Romans 12.3)

How come he knew that we are so prone to turning up our noses at other people and thinking ourselves more highly than we ought? Our noses are just as foolish as any red-nosed clown. Let’s just admit it.

HEAD
Okay, so maybe our faces aren’t so perfect and we’re on the foolish order, but who wants a big old clown wig? That’s just a bit too much. Our heads are far too dignified to be covered by such ridiculousness. Are they?

In Matthew, we read this:

But Jesus, perceiving their thoughts, said, ‘Why do you think evil in your hearts? (Matthew 9.4)

Our heads are filled with wrong thoughts. Indeed, our heads are also foolish and may as well be covered in a foolish, rainbow wig.

And perhaps even a silly hat.

In a letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul summed up this reality. He wrote:

Do not deceive yourselves. If you think that you are wise in this age, you should become fools so that you may become wise. (1 Corinthians 3.18)

He wanted them to take themselves less seriously. We are NOT wise, we are NOT holy. We are in great need of help! We must cling to Christ with all that is in us, admitting our foolish nature and not thinking we can impress God on our own. We’re as goofy as a clown. (takes off alb to reveal a whole clown outfit)

Paul strongly advocated this and often called himself a fool. He proclaimed:

We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ. (1 Corinthians 4.10)

Clowns, you see, can be profound teachers because they remind us of who we really are. We are nothing but fools. We might think otherwise, but the clown hold a mirror up to us and show us how we are fools. Our eyes and foolish. Our mouths are foolish. Even our noses are foolish. And our heads are most definitely foolish. We have no holiness in us. And so we must learn to laugh at ourselves. (points to self and laughs hysterically)

But the great news is that in Christ, we are redeemed. In our Epistle lesson for today, Paul writes:

So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new! (II Corinthians 5:17) We are brand new! We are free to be the clowns we really are! We are free to admit our incompetence. We are free to try and to fail and know we’ll get picked up again. We can dance and sing and be silly because we have been saved by the King of Kings—or perhaps we could even call him the Clown of Clowns. That’s what I learned at Clown Camp.

Now that I’m all dressed as a clown, I’m going to have to stay this way for the remainder of the worship service. Many forms of clown ministry have been developed all over the world and sometimes, entire worship services are facilitated by a gaggle of clowns. Go ahead and giggle at me if you feel like it but remember that you are just as silly as I am dressed like this. You and I both need Christ because without him, we are just bumbling fools.

And now I will close with the clown’s prayer:

As I stumble through this life,
help me to create more laughter than tears,
dispense more cheer than gloom,
spread more cheer than despair.
Never let me become so indifferent,
that I will fail to see the wonders in the eyes of a child,
or the twinkle in the eyes of the aged.
Never let me forget that my total effort is to cheer people,
make them happy, and forget momentarily,
all the unpleasantness in their lives.
And in my final moment,
may I hear You whisper:
“When you made My people smile,
you made Me smile.”
Amen

Here I am with some of the children and youth.

Here I am in a post-worship nursing home visit.

COMMUNITY OF THE TRINITY

2009-06-07T04:47:00.000-07:00

A Sermon for Holy Trinity Sunday

by Pastor Laura Gentry

Today, we celebrate Trinity Sunday—the only day of the church year dedicated to a theological teaching of the church not associated with the life of Jesus and given the name “Trinity,” which is not even in the bible. Now why in the world is such a ancient and difficult-to-understand festival sandwiched right into our church year?

It all began in the ninth century where Christians in French monastic communities would celebrate the festival of the Holy Trinity. They were carrying on the tradition of the early Christians, who developed the teaching of the Trinity in order to give them a common understanding of God , which helped Christians understand that God was one, not three gods. Later, in the fourteenth century, the festival became so widespread that it was added to the church calendar and has been celebrated throughout the world ever since.

So now let us look at the three persons of God to help us understand and celebrate the Holy Trinity.

FATHER
God as God the Father—the Creator of our entire universe. In this morning’s lessons, we heard from the Genesis story of creation in which God calls the universe into being by the power of God’s word. God the Father is the all-powerful, eternal, yet loving source of all life. All that we are and all that we have come from God the Father. In the explanation of the Apostle’s Creed, Martin Luther said we ought to thank, praise, serve and obey the Father. And added his signature ending: this is most certainly true.

SON
God the Son in the form of Jesus. What does it mean that God became flesh and dwelt among us? We ponder this each year at Christmas time.

Soren Kierkegaard, the great Danish theologian, tells a story of a prince who wanted to find a maiden suitable to be his queen. One day while running an errand in the local village for his father he passed through a poor section. As he glanced out the windows of the carriage his eyes fell upon a beautiful peasant maiden. During the ensuing days he often passed by the young lady and soon fell in love. But he had a problem. How would he seek her hand?

He could order her to marry him. But even a prince wants his bride to marry him freely and voluntarily and not through coercion. He could put on his most splendid uniform and drive up to her front door in a carriage drawn by six horses. But if he did this he would never be certain that the maiden loved him or was simply overwhelmed with all of the splendor. As you might have guessed, the prince came up with another solution. He would give up his kingly robe. He moved, into the village, entering not with a crown but in the garb of a peasant. He lived among the people, shared their interests and concerns, and talked their language. In time the maiden grew to love him for who he was and because he had first loved her.

This very simple, written by one of the most brilliant minds of our time explains what we Christians mean by the incarnation. God came and lived among us. I am glad that this happened for two reasons. One, it shows beyond a shadow of a doubt that God is with us, that God is on our side, and that God loves us. Secondly, it gives us a first hand view of what the mind of God is really all about. When people ask what God is like, we as Christians point to the person of Jesus Christ. God himself is incomprehensible. But in Jesus Christ we get a glimpse of his glory. In the person of Jesus we are told that God, that mysterious other that created the stars and the universe—who didn’t even need to bother to be mindful of us—is willing to go all of the way, to become one of us: talk our language, eat our food, share our suffering and die on a cross. Why? So that a single person, you, me, might be redeemed. And, grow to love the infinite God who created you.

HOLY SPIRIT
And we know God as the Holy Spirit —the one who is with us in this very moment, inspiring us, illuminating the Scriptures, animating our faith and worship, interceding for us in our weakness "with sighs too deep for words," leading us, strengthening us, turning on the lights for us when our paths become unclear. Just last week, we celebrated the Sunday of Pentecost, in which we talked about how the Holy Spirit came to the disciples and has been blowing through the church ever since, blowing as powerfully as the wind. Jesus told us that this Spirit blows where it pleases. That is something we ought to be excited about.

TRINITY

Saint Augustine often puzzled about the whole idea of describing God as a Trinity. He described an incident in which he was walking along the beach and observed a young boy with a bucket, running back and forth to pour water into a little hole. Augustine asked, "What are you doing?" The boy replied, "I'm trying to put the ocean into this hole." It suddenly occurred to Augustine that just as this boy was pursuing the ridiculous goal of putting the whole ocean into the hole, he was pursuing an equally ridiculous goal: trying to put an infinite God into his finite mind. We, with our very limited brains (in comparison to God’s wisdom), have come up with the doctrine of the Holy Trinity—the belief that God is expressed in three parts as Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But we must recognize, as Augustine did, that we could never fully understand God—we could never capture God’s entire essence with a doctrine. But this doctrine can be helpful in getting us to know our three-personed God.

Garrison Keillor once said of love, “We should not think that we have figured this out, because it is not a problem, it’s a mystery and always will be.” The same could be said of the doctrine of the Trinity. We don’t have to think of it as a problem to be solved, but rather a glorious mystery in which to relish.

But what does it mean for us that God is three, yet one? The Athanasian Creed states “And in this Trinity, no one is before or after, greater or less than the other; but all three persons are in themselves, coeternal and coequal; and so we must worship the trinity in unity and the one God in three persons.” These three, equal persons of God work together in community as one, unified God. Some theologians insist that what is most important about belief in a triune God is not that we see God in three ways, but that we understand God as dynamic community. God, you see, is a like a committee that actually works.

What is unique about Trinitarian theology, is that it explains that there is an inner relational energy within the three forms of God. John of Damascus, an eighth-century theologian, described the Trinity with the Greek word "perichoresis." This word comes from the same root as the word "choreography." It suggests that there is a movement, a harmonious dance within the internal life of God.

So if God is a community and we are created it God’s image, what does that mean? It means that we are created to be in relationship, just as God is in relationship. The doctrine of the Trinity gives us a vision of a community of women and men in church and society who treat each other as equals and work together in shared responsibility of unity and love. You see, when we understand God in terms of the doctrine of the Trinity, we can see within the very person of God, a radical example of a community built on justice, relationship and care.

So that is what we are celebrating today. In clear terms, the profound mystery of the Trinity tell us who God is: the Creator, the Redeemer, and the Spirit who exist in perfect community with one another. And as people formed in God’s image, it tells us who we are, and why we crave community. May our hearts follow this natural impulse to search and out and find connections with God and with one another that we may be one as God is one.

WILD FIRE OF THE SPIRIT

2009-05-31T13:04:00.000-07:00

A Sermon for Pentecost Sunday
May 31, 2008
By Pastor Laura Gentry

Acts 2:1-21

Yippee! Here we are on Pentecost Sunday with our lovely red geraniums and our beautiful red outfits. Do you ever ask yourself why we do this? We do we make such a big deal about Pentecost? Why do we have to read the same text every year from the book of Acts tongues of fire appearing and resting upon the disciples' heads and causing them to speak in languages they hadn't even studied? And why didn't that happen to me while I was taking Greek class in seminary?

We do it because we can't afford to forget how this all started. We can't afford to forget that the church was born in fire! God sent the Holy Spirit, just as the prophets had foretold—and not just to the Jews, but to all people. Why do you think the first thing the Holy Spirit did was to make the disciples multilingual? It was because the liberating news of Jesus' death and resurrection was not just for an exclusive group in Jerusalem who spoke their same language, but it is for ALL PEOPLE! That's what this yearly celebration is all about—it's about what it means to be the church.

It’s exciting to tell the story of that Pentecost when the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the disciples. It’s a story filled with excitement and drama. Had we been there, we probably would have called up the fire department. Perhaps we are grateful that we weren’t there. All those balls of fire on people’s heads might have caused us to panic!

There is a danger in reading this story, however, of thinking that the Pentecost story is just a happy tale from the past. There is the trap of considering it another one of those miracles of the Bible that “don’t happen any more.”

But the reason we celebrate Pentecost day, followed by the lengthy season of Pentecost, is that we hold fast to the fact that the Spirit’s outpouring is on-going. Jesus made this promise to his disciples: “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our dwelling with them.” Jesus assures us that, by the Spirit, he and the Father will come to us—will dwell with us.

Do we believe that? Do we really think that God: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit is going to come to us and dwell with us? It’s kinda scary to believe this because we know that God does powerful things. If God is in ME, then that means that powerful things can happen through me. Perhaps we should show up at church in extreme sports gear instead of our normal church clothes. We should probably have knee pads and crash helmets and bung cords just in case the Holy Spirit shows up. With all that wildfire power we know the Spirit has, we could be in for a wild ride!

I saw a bulletin blooper once that said, “We pray for those who are sick of this church.” If we are living in the true power of the Holy Spirit as we ought, then no one is going to be sick of this church! This will be a place of great excitement. It is going to be a place where the Spirit of God is increasing, more and more each day. This can be a church where God is sought and found and others catch the vision too. When you allow the Holy Spirit to catch fire within your heart, you will want to share the good news. You’ll have trouble keeping it inside. You may, indeed, need that extreme sports gear after all.

According to a brand new poll by Newsweek, the percentage of self-identified Christians has fallen 10 points in the past two decades. In fact, churches are shrinking so quickly that some call America a country that is “post-Christian.” Why are people going to church less and less? Why are churches closing their doors and turning their buildings into historical museums? Why do people get sick of their church and stop getting involved?

I will tell you why: it is because we are not allowing the Holy Spirit to burn within our hearts. We lose sight of our mission. We don’t live in love and zealously proclaim the good news to all people. The old saying goes: a Lutheran invites a friend to worship once every...26 years. That’s not enough! We get comfortable and in so doing, we block the work of the Spirit.

Nevertheless, the Spirit is at work. Even in our “post-Christian” nation, people are praying. According to Newsweek’s poll, more people profess to pray than they did in 1987. And the people who consider religion important in their lives has held fast for the past decade. People crave God’s power. They want the Spirit to transform them.

The question is: are we as the church feeding the world’s spiritual need or are we standing in the way? As Jesus’ followers, we have been given the Spirit’s power. We are supposed to be able to do even greater works than Jesus did because we are equipped with this life-giving Spirit. Hildegard of Bingen said we are all Sparks of the Divine Flame.

The Spirit is alive and well and burning as brightly as ever. God wants us to be a part of this wildfire and spread the good news throughout the whole earth. May this birthday celebration reignite us to be a part of that fire.

I would like to close with an extended blessing for Pentecost written by Joyce Rupp:

May the enthusiasm of Spirit leap incessantly within you and help you to live a vibrant life.

May the warmth of Spirit's fire be extended throughout your concern and care for all those who need your love.

May the blaze of Spirit's courage enable you to speak the truth and to stand up for respect, dignity, and justice.

May the undying embers of Spirit's faithfulness support you when you feel spiritually dry and empty.

May the strength of Spirit's love sustain your hope as you enter into the pain of the world.

May the clear light of Spirit's guidance be a source of effective discernment and decision-making for you.

May Spirit's patient endurance be yours while you wait for what is unknown to be revealed.

May the steady flame of Spirit's goodness within you convince you every day of the power of your presence with others.

May the joyful fire of Spirit dance within you and set happiness ablaze in your life.

May the spark of your relationship with Spirit catch afire in the hearts in the hearts of those with whom you live and work.

May you be mindful of the Eternal Flame within you. May you rely on this Source of Love to be your constant ally and steady guide.

(Joyce Rupp, Out of the Ordinary, Ave Maria Press, 2000)

MISSION IMPOSSIBLE OR MISSION POSSIBLE?

2009-05-24T09:00:00.000-07:00

A Sermon for Ascension Sunday
by Pastor Laura Gentry

Luke 24:44-53

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

“Mission: Impossible” was a popular television show of the sixties that turned into a movie franchise in the nineties. The series focused on the dangerous world of espionage and spies—chronicling the missions of a secret team of American government agents known as the Impossible Missions Force.

The format of the TV and movie series was rather predictable. Each episode would begin with the main character being given a secret tape. It would always start with the words “your mission, should you choose to accept it...” then continue on to describe the ridiculously impossible sounding mission. At the end—to add to the secretive nature of the mission—the tape would say: “This message will self-destruct in five seconds.”

Now, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I do not have a secret tape for you today and there will be no self-destruction of it. Nevertheless, you and I have been offered a mission that is every bit as exciting as a Mission: Impossible episode. And we must choose whether or not to accept it because, frankly, Jesus wants to know our answer.

What is this mission all about? Well let’s begin with the event that happened last week on Thursday: Ascension Day. Forty days after Easter is when Christians commemorate Jesus' ascension into heaven. Christian traditions around Ascension very from country to country. In Germany, for example (where it is called Christi Himmelfahrt--"Christ's journey into heaven"), it is an official school holiday. In North American culture, even though many more of us Christians go to church, the day passes relatively unnoticed, especially among Protestants.

There is a tradition in Clayton County, however, of having an Ascension Day worship service at the Pioneer Rock Church at Ceres, on Highway 52 between Guttenberg and Garnavillo. The church has been closed since 1927 but the beautiful limestone building is maintained by its historical society and Ascension is now the only worship service held each year. It is led by the Lutheran pastors of the area. My ancestors worshiped at the Ceres church and I attended that service a few years ago with my parents. It really gave me a sense of the great heritage of faith my ancestors laid for me.

In the New Testament, the story of Jesus' ascension is found in the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts, both written by the same author. The classic text is Acts 1:9-11. After the risen Christ had spoken his final words to his followers, we are told: "As they were watching, Jesus was lifted up, and a cloud took him out of their sight." That’s more exciting than a self-destructing tape anyway. The text then refers to the disciples "gazing up toward heaven while he was going."

The interesting thing about the Pioneer Rock church is that the pulpit is extremely high despite the fact that it is a tiny sanctuary. So as we listened to the sermon, I felt like I, too was “gazing up toward heaven” and I got a real sense of what the disciples must have felt as Jesus ascended.

In the Acts version of this story, it really shows how confused the disciples were. I once saw a young man who was wearing a T-shirt with a big letter K on it. I asked him what the K was for and he said it’s because I’m confused. “Confused,” I said, “starts with the letter C, not K.” He replid, “You have no idea how confused I am.”

The disciples, too, are looking upward, dazed and confused and probably afraid. In all consideration, they shouldn’t be confused because Jesus has already told them what they need to know. In Luke’s gospel today we hear him explaining, once again, what he has done—how the scriptures foretold that the messiah would come and suffer death and would rise again. Jesus’ name means “he shall save his people” and that is exactly the mission he accomplished. He lived among us and taught us and healed us and then he was crucified, but he rose victorious on Easter morning. He triumphantly accomplished the seemingly impossible mission for which he was sent into the world.

But as with a lot of stories—that’s not the end of the story. There is much more mission yet to be accomplished. Jesus tells them that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. This is their mission. Mission Impossible? It probably seems like it to them.

He puts the future of his ministry in their hands, then takes them out to Bethany and ascends. Now, the mission is theirs—and ours—to continue so that all can hear the good news. That is a mighty big mission. How does Jesus ever expect we can accomplish it?”

A mother eagle, taking charge of her little ones, serves as a beautiful example of how it is that Jesus prepared his disciples, and how he prepares us for our ministries. You see, what a mother eagle does, once her young have developed their tiny wings, is to place them on her large, outspread wings, soaring into the air currents with them. The air currents then push the little ones off mama eagle’s wings, forcing them to try their own wings. After wildly flapping those tiny wings as they careen towards the earth, mother eagle eventually flies under them, allowing them to crash upon her soft wings, there to catch their breath, to rest and recuperate. Then, once again she will take them into the air currents, continuing this procedure off and on for days until the tiny muscles of her offspring are strengthened enough for the little ones to fly on their own. Her goal is not only to nurture them, but to enable them to fly.

Jesus, too, gives us the opportunity to try our own wings. We love to come up with excuses about how we are not equipped to evangelize. “I am not one to talk about my faith, I don’t really know the bible, I am just so busy...” the excuses go on an on. But we don’t have to be biblical scholars or great public speakers or have any other spectacular qualifications. We just need to love God and be willing to do God’s work.

And we’re allowed to make mistakes. Like the mother eagle, Jesus sends us his Spirit to rescue us and help us out again and again until our own “wings” become strong. And because of this, our mission is not so impossible as we might think. We can accomplish it if we only welcome the Spirit’s help. For as the angel said to Mary, “with God, all things are possible.”

We might be afraid of this mission handed down to us by Jesus, through all those faithful who have gone before us that we remember today. We might worry about living the life of discipleship, but this is the path to joy and freedom. The freedom and forgiveness from your sins awaits, the ability to share and live the gospel awaits. The ascension assures us that Jesus is Lord, that his mission is accomplished but that there is still a mission for us to accomplish. And yes, with God that mission is infinitely possible.

Let me close with the prayer Paul prayed for the Ephesians, which we heard in our second lesson for today:

I pray that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation as you come to know him, so that, with the eyes of your heart enlightened, you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance among the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power for us who believe, according to the working of his great power. Amen.

FUNERAL SERMON FOR BOB SWEENEY

2009-05-18T12:48:00.000-07:00

Sermon for Christians Gathered Together at the Death

Robert Joseph Sweeney

May 18, 2009

11:00 a.m.

by Pastor Laura Gentry

John 14:1-6
"Let not your hearts be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me.

In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. And you know the way where I am going."

Thomas said to him, "Lord, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way"

Jesus said to him, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by me.

In a passage that comes just after this, Jesus goes on to say to his disciples: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

What wonderful words to hear today as we bid farewell to this well loved man. Jesus tells us that he has peace to give us, so that our hearts need not be troubled, even as we grieve this great loss. This peace is not the peace that we have come to expect from this world. We will not find the peace by throwing ourselves into our work hoping to forget about our loss, only finding the sadness resurfaces when we slow down. We will not find the peace in material wealth—even if we had all the money in the world, there will still be an empty hole in our lives. We will not find the peace in a self-help books or groups, for we need more than the help we can muster ourselves.

The peace we seek is found in trusting in God who promises to be with us in whatever happens in life. The peace which come in knowing that God makes his home with us and will never abandon us even though we often abandon God. As we rest upon this hope, we find the peace that our hearts seek.

Certainly Bob knows this peace today. For in his baptism, God claimed him as his very own. “You are sealed with the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ forever,” said the pastor the day little Bob was brought to the font. And as a child of God, he is heir to the promise—an inheritor of the gift of God’s eternal peace. Nothing can ever cause God to let go of his children. And that’s why Bob marched fearlessly into his own death. He knew that it was but a gateway to eternal life, a life won for him by his Savior Jesus Christ.

And so the word of peace surrounds Bob. No doubt about that. He is now in endless joy, praising God with great elation, totally free from the physical limitations he had to face here on earth. He is free at last. What glory for him!

It is we who are the ones who need the word of peace so desperately now. We are the ones need to be covered in peace. How comfortig to know that we are not alone in our pain. Christ knows our pain, suffers alongside us, and leads us gently to the healing and wholeness we need.

Yes, God offers peace to us today—peace that enables us to place Bob in God’s hands, and peace to place our own lives into God’s hands, knowing that God is with us in this time of grief and will carry us through. We, too, rest upon the amazing grace that upheld Bob all the days of his life and filled him with such love and compassion for all of us.

It is this amazing grace that we can find today, as we remind ourselves once again that nothing can separate us from the love of God. Even death cannot separate us from this love and even the loss of one as dear as Bob cannot rob us of our peace—peace that truly passes all understanding. This is the peace that God offers to all of us today—a free gift, a blessed gift.

I would like to close with a lovely poem by Henry Van Dyke because it reminds me of Bob, a friend who truly walked with us and who will walk with us again in the life to come.

O, who will walk a mile with me, along life’s merry way?
A comrade blithe and full of glee,
who dares to laugh out loud and free.
And let him frolic, fancy play,
like a happy child through the flowers gay,
That fill the field and fringe the way,
where he walks a mile with me.
O, who will walk a mile with me, along life’s weary way?
A friend whose heart has eyes to see,
the stars shine out or the darkening lee.
And the quiet rest at the end of the day,
a friend who knows and dares to say,
The brave sweet words that cheer the way,
where he walks a mile with me.
With such a comrade, such a friend,
I fain would walk ‘til journey’s end.
Through summer sunshine, winter rain
And then farewell,
we shall meet again.

Now, may the peace, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

Above is Bob celebrating his 89th birthday this spring.

LOVE, JOY & FRIENDSHIP

2009-05-17T09:00:00.000-07:00

A Sermon for the 6th Sunday of Easter

by Pastor Laura Gentry

John 15:9-17

Today’s gospel lesson is a portion of Jesus’ conversation with his disciples as he is preparing them for his physical departure. Though it is a brief passage, it is filled with deep meaning. The points Jesus makes have to do with love, joy and friendship. Let's take a look at each one.

LOVE
To begin with, this is a lesson about love. Jesus tell them: “As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you.” Just what does that love look like? What is this glimpse of God’s love that Jesus demonstrated for us? It was an all-inclusive love that was offered to all people. He loved the difficult-to-love people just as much as the easy-to-love ones. He did this with such conviction that he was often criticized for it. They didn’t think it was proper for Jesus to hang out with such “low-lifes.” And not only was Jesus’ love inclusive, it was self-sacrificial. He left the comfort of heaven to come and demonstrate his love and he accepted the life of an itinerant preacher with no home to call his own. Ultimately, he walked right into the trap that was laid for him and accepted death on the cross.

Now all this sounds quite good in that Jesus did it for us. How perfectly lovely to be loved by God in this way. But herein lies the problem: Jesus expects us to offer this same kind of love to others. He didn’t suggested it casually either. He actually commands it. We are to love one another.

You know what Mark Twain said about love? He said: "The holy act of love is of so sweet and steady and loyal and enduring a nature that it will last through a whole lifetime if not asked to lend money!" Ah, we humans have our limitations, don’t we? Our love comes in small bits and usually has strings attached. Yet this is not at all the way that Jesus loved. Instead, he revealed through his actions how universal and unselfish and lavish God’s love is.

In the Acts lesson for today, Peter has trouble dishing out this kind of lavish love. Peter has been called to visit Cornelius, an officer of the Roman army stationed in Caesarea. He’s had a dream about it but he’s still hesitant to do this. After all, Rome was the occupying force at the time—these are the same folks who mocked, beat and killed their Lord Jesus. No doubt Peter has fear of them. But the Spirit of God will not relent and does not want Peter to withhold God’s love from anyone, regardless of their religious, ethnic or political divisions. God’s love is radical in that it is for all people and the Spirit is sent to everyone. To be Easter people, we are called to live in this resurrected reality and share God’s love eagerly with all.

When Peter obeys this command, many are baptized and the Spirit is poured out upon even the Gentiles. Peter even eats with these non-Jews and is criticized for it later back in Jerusalem. He has to defend his actions by explaining that Jesus told them they would receive the Holy Spirit. He said that God gave the Gentiles the same gift that he gave the Jews and added: who was I to stand in God’s way?

Who, indeed, are we to stand in God’s way because our minds are limited and can’t always perceive the inclusive nature of God’s love. Yet this is precisely what Jesus is conveying to the disciples as part of his final message to them: You MUST love.

JOY
The other important thing that Jesus feels the need to get across is to them is joy. He says: “I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.” Is God’s joy in us? Jesus wants us to know the abundance of life in the Spirit and joy is central to that life. If we, as Christians, hang our heads in sadness, bent over from the worries of this life and try to talk about the joy of the Lord, we are not going to convince anyone. To embrace Jesus is to embrace the good news that God is for us, not against us; that we are loved and forgiven; that we are promised eternal life as a gift through faith. If we believe these amazing promises, how dare we live dour, joyless lives? It doesn’t make any sense. If we believe Jesus, we are called to be happy even in the midst of difficult times.

We can sing and dance and laugh in all things because Jesus is with us. He gives us abundance of life. Living joyfully because of God's lavish love, said the mystic Juliana of Norwich (14th century), is the greatest honor that we can give Almighty God. As the psalmist declares in today’s Psalm (98), we are to sing a new song because God has done marvelous things. In fact, we are to “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises.” A joyful noise. Some day this is the verse for bad singers. You could also argue that the psalmist is talking about laughter. That’s a joyful noise too. In any case, Jesus’ joy in us makes us complete and so it is our Christian duty to strive for this kind of joyful living.

FRIENDSHIP
But now these are big things to live up to: love and joy. Sometimes we don’t feel loving. Sometimes we don’t feel joyful. How can we possibly live with love and joy as Jesus has commanded us? We can do it because Jesus has declared us friends.

“I do not call you servants any longer,” he says, “because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. You did not choose me but I chose you.”

What amazing words! We are drawn into Jesus’ inner circle and deemed his friends. Even before we chose Jesus, he chose us. Despite our unworthiness, Jesus claimed us and holds us tightly as his friends. This tight relationship is explained by the metaphor of a vine and branches. Just as branches could not live without the nourishment of the vine, we need Jesus in order to bear fruit in our lives. He gives us the spiritual strength to obey God and bear the fruits of the Spirit in our lives.

This fruitful living is possible because God abides in us as friends. The Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard observed, “Christianity is not a doctrine to be taught, but a life to be lived.” Helen Keller explained it in even more vivid terms. She said: “I believe that life is given us so we may grow in love, and I believe that God is in me as the sun is in the color and fragrance of a flower.”

Is God in you as the sun is in the color and fragrance of a flower? As God’s beloved children, we are to embody the presence of God. People should be able to look at us and our selfless actions and say: yes, without a doubt, God is in him. God is in her. Our love and our joy should be so obvious, that others can see God in us. That’s Jesus’ exciting vision for what our lives should be and that’s why he offers his friendship to us so that this life is truly possible for us.

I’d like to close with the song “One in the Spirit.” Please sing it with me.

We are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord,
we are one in the spirit, we are one in the Lord,
and we pray that all unity may one day be restored
And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
yes they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

Knowing the Shepherd

2009-05-04T12:47:00.000-07:00

A Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Easter
May 3, 2009
by Pastor Laura Gentry

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

No matter how grievous a funeral is, no matter how tragic a memorial service can be, when we start to recite the familiar words of the twenty-third Psalm, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures ..." it calms the congregation. It makes all of us feel more at peace. Perhaps that’s why it is the most popular of all the Psalms.

This morning, we celebrate Good Shepherd Sunday—we acknowledge in this Easter season that our Risen Lord is our loving shepherd. Knowing that shepherd can make a difference in our lives. For Jesus, as we heard in the Gospel lesson, is quite different from a hireling, who would flee in time of trouble, who would never take a risk to help the sheep. No, Jesus is our shepherd, who knows the flock and loves each one of us. He will do anything to save us, even lay down his life.

I remember reading an article in National Geographic shortly after the great fires of Yellowstone National Park. It explained an interesting discovery made by the forest rangers who were assessing the inferno's damage.

One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick.

When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their
dead mother's wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise.

She could have flown to safety but refused to abandon her babies. When the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wing were enabled to live.

I think this story so beautifully illustrates what our Good Shepherd has done for us. When sin and death were threatening to destroy God’s beloved children, the Good Shepherd stepped in and allowed himself to be sacrificed, that we might live. Just like the mother eagle, he was willing to die in order to save his beloved. When Isaiah spoke of the coming of the Messiah, he worded it by saying: "He will feed his flock like a shepherd! He will gather his lambs into his arms." That’s exactly what he has done.

And our Good Shepherd continually calls to us. He calls to draw us near to himself, to beckon us into his arms, that he might lead us. Certainly that’s what we desire, a life led by Jesus.
The call of our Lord is sometimes difficult to hear, though, because we don’t know our shepherd as well as we ought and we don’t always know what we’re listening for—there are so many other voices crying out for our attention. Other would-be shepherds seek to draw us away from the Good Shepherd—away from his forgiveness and unconditional love.

There was an American tourist, traveling in the Middle East, who came upon several shepherds whose flocks had intermingled while drinking water from a brook. After an exchange of greetings, one of the shepherds turned toward the sheep and called out, "Manah. Manah. Manah." (Manah means "follow me" in Arabic.) Immediately his sheep separated themselves from the rest and followed him.

Then one of the two remaining shepherds called out, "Manah. Manah." and his sheep left the common flock to follow him. The traveler then said to a third shepherd, "I would like to try that. Let me put on your cloak and turban and see if I can get the rest of the sheep to follow me."

The shepherd smiled knowingly as the traveler wrapped himself in the cloak, put the turban on his head and called out, "Manah. Manah." The sheep kept grazing as if they hadn’t even heard him. He cried out again and again, trying his best to emulate the shepherd’s voice, but try as he may, the sheep would not respond to the stranger's voice. Not one of them moved toward him.

"Will the sheep ever follow someone other than you?" The traveler asked.

"Oh yes," the shepherd replied, "sometimes a sheep gets sick, and then it
will follow anyone."

So with the sheep metaphor, there are sheep who know the shepherd’s voice, who follow him and only him. And then there are those sheep who will follow anyone. We have seen that in humans, too, haven't we? Battered by the storms of life and distracted by voices urging them to go this way and that—they have lost their bearings and they don't know where they are or where they are going. When they become confused, spiritually, they will follow anyone who will promise a moment of happiness, a brief feeling of peace or forgetfulness, a sense that they are someone.

But the call of Jesus the Good Shepherd is, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." There is no better way, no greater truth, no deeper joy. Our Lord reaches out to us in love that we might follow him into pastures green.

And we who have been shepherded so lovingly have a special responsibility—to shepherd others into the arms of our Savior so they can nestle there as well. Now I know that every person here has been shepherded in the faith or you wouldn’t even be here. There were key people in your life that led you into the green pastures of faith: grandparents, parents, sponsors, aunts and uncles, pastors, teachers, friends. Just like sheep need to be in a flock to flourish, we too need one another. We come to faith and grow in it with help from other faithful people.

In this season of Resurrection, let us put our trust in our good Shepherd who knows us each intimately, who calls us by name and who carries us through all our valleys and promises us that “Goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I shall dwell in the House of the Lord forever.” Amen.

And now, may the peace which passes all understanding keep our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

© 2009 Laura E. Gentry

FEAST ON FORGIVENESS

2009-04-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

A Sermon for the Third Sunday of Easter (Year B)

by Pastor Laura Gentry

Luke 24:36b-48

On Easter Sunday—two weeks ago—my husband and I headed to Dubuque after we’d finished our Easter worship duties. We were celebrating the resurrection with my parents. Since it was just the four of us this year, we opted not to make our own feast. Instead, we went out for a fancy buffet. I haven’t been to a buffet in a long time. I’d forgotten how difficult it is to make choices about what to eat at an all-you-can eat banquet. After a while, you get too full to walk and you have to sort of roll yourself out to the parking lot. I remember once I ate so much at a buffet that I announced I was unable to even lick my spoon! Though this year’s Easter banquet was delicious, I ended up thinking how ridiculous it was that we’d eaten quite that much.

Yet now as I continue to study the resurrection scripture lessons through the season of Easter, I am beginning to think our massive Easter banquet was actually appropriate. Why? Because as the gospel of Luke describes it, Easter is not just about the empty tomb, it is about eating. Jesus himself, it seems, spent the first Easter eating.

In the portion before today’s Gospel reading, Jesus makes himself known to two disciples in Emmaus through the breaking of the bread. Now in today’s reading, he demonstrates that he is not a ghost by devouring a piece of fish. His disciples gather around the table too. Like us, they celebrated the resurrection of Jesus by sharing a meal—perhaps they didn’t get a fancy “omelet station” like I did at the Easter buffet I attended, but they had a meal nevertheless.

And it wasn’t their first meal together. We remember, of course, the last supper Jesus and his disciples shared in the upper room the night he was betrayed. At that meal, he assured them that he would be with them in the bread and wine even after he was gone from them in body. No wonder the disciples later recognized Jesus in the breaking of bread at Emmaus—it reminded them of this landmark last supper.

But Jesus had already spent his entire ministry with the disciples, he had already shared countless meals with them and he had already given them the amazing experience of the last supper—a gift that would keep on giving. So why would he need to keep showing up after the resurrection to convince them that he had really risen?

We don’t know Jesus’ motivation for sure but we do know what his post-resurrection appearances accomplished in the disciples. It gave them a deep sense of forgiveness. Remember that according to the gospels, the disciples weren’t there for Jesus in his time of need. Fearing for their lives, they all fled when the Romans came to arrest Jesus. Peter denied him three times even though Jesus warned him he would do so.

They had good reason to feel guilty. They had failed their Lord and Savior. Though he’d spent so much time with them, they were failures when the rubber hit the road. Pathetic might be the best word to describe the followers at the time of the crucifixion and resurrection. But then Jesus comes to them in his resurrected body. He offers them forgiveness and embodies this by eating with them. In Biblical times you would never eat with someone against whom you held a grudge. Eating with them demonstrated that all was well between you. These caring appearances and shared meals utterly transformed the disciples. That must be the reason Jesus came to them.

Now Jesus didn’t appear in body in our modern world. We have no photographs of him or TV interviews and so it would be easy to dismiss the story of the resurrection as fiction. There’s no proof Jesus rose. If you made that argument, you would be right. There is no scientific evidence to prove the Easter story.

What we do have, however, is the convincing evidence that something changed the disciples entirely. They went from a ragtag group of run-aways to the greatest evangelists you can imagine—evangelists who were so zealous to spread the good news that many gave their lives for the cause. Something changed them. We believe it was not something, but someone. It was the loving, forgiving Jesus who came to them and ate with them until they were convinced that their sin was wiped away and they were equipped to carry on the ministry Jesus had begun.

Forgiveness of sins—that’s what Jesus brought to them and to us. That is what he has always been about. Even as he was dying, Jesus asked for forgiveness for those who were killing him (Luke 23:34). In Jesus’ appearance to the disciples in the doubting Thomas story from John’s gospel, he told them that they had the power to forgive sin. Just as God had forgiven them, they were called to forgive the sins of others. This echos the important lesson in the Lord’s Prayer he had already given them: Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Do WE know forgiveness? Do we know it in our hearts—that Jesus rose from the dead for US? For the forgiveness of OUR offenses? Does this give us the inspiration to turn away from our ways of sin and to forgive others as they wrong us? It certainly should.

The German theologian, Karl Rahner, wrote: “we are always tempted to stay in sin because we do not dare to believe in the magnificent love of God, and because we do not want to believe that God will forgive us our sins” (The Content of Faith, p. 306).

We do not dare to believe in the magnificent love of God. How tragic! I remember once when I was a child, a bird flew into our window and injured itself. The neighbors and I ran after the flopping, hurting bird—attempting to capture it so we could get it treatment. We were trying to help, but the bird didn’t want to let us help. It didn’t understand. It was afraid. We were unable to catch it and later found it’s body in the lawn.

When I think about how desperately God wants to love us and how unwilling we are at times to let God love us, I think of that dying bird. We are only hurting ourselves when we attempt to go it alone—pushing against the God who made us and who given his life to redeem us. But it is hard for us to ask for help and to really allow God to love and forgive us. God’s love is foreign to us. No where else do we experience such unconditional love and forgiveness. It is hard to trust in it when others have promised love and then let us down. Yet by the gift of faith, we CAN trust in this love, we CAN accept this forgiveness and we CAN be changed into loving people who offer forgiveness to others.

Jesus love and undeserved forgiveness offered to the disciples in the concrete experience of shared meals changed the denying Peter, the doubting Thomas and the run-away disciples into the heros of faith God designed them to be. Jesus continue to offer this love and forgiveness to us in the Lord’s Super and in the Word. May we also feast on forgiveness that we may be transformed to change the world with God’s love. Amen.

© 2009 Laura E. Gentry

THE BANANA PEEL OF THE CHRISTIAN FAITH

2009-04-19T09:00:00.000-07:00

A Sermon for Holy Hilarity Sunday
by Pastor Laura Gentry

Ha ha ha! Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed! Ha ha ha!

Happy Holy Hilarity Sunday—the fun Sunday where we get to wear silly costumes and enjoy some laughs in church. Why? Because the early church found humor an appropriate way to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. It’s God’s great joke on the devil. Oh yes, the devil thought he’d won and Christ was dead but three days later...ha ha ha! He is risen! It’s the unexpected ending that really makes it funny. Some call the resurrection the banana peel of the Christian faith, the cosmic pratfall. Yes, with the resurrection, God has the last laugh.

And we can laugh, too, because the joy of the Lord is our strength. Laughter is a holy thing that really helps us embody the exciting reality that Jesus is risen from the dead now death has no more sting. We can laugh in the face of death, fully confident in the power of God. Ha ha ha!

So here’s this year’s set of thoroughly researched Holy Hilarity jokes. First, we begin with the knock knock jokes. You’ve got to play along.

Knock,knock.
Who’s there?
Ether
Ether who?
Ether bunny.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Juan
Juan who?
Juan more ether bunny.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Samoa
Samoa who?
Samoa Ether Bunnies.

Knock, knock.
Who’s there?
Dewey
Dewey who?
Dewey have to listen to any more ether bunny jokes?

Now, on to the question and answer jokes. I’ll ask the question and you’ll say, “I don’t know!” and then I’ll give you the punch line. Go ahead and groan if you need to.

Q. Where do Easter Bunnies go for new tails?
A. To the retail store.

Q. Do you know how to find the Easter bunny if he was lost?
A. Make a noise like a carrot; he’ll find you.

Q. What’s the best way to catch a unique rabbit?
A. You ‘nique up on him.

Q. How do you catch a tame rabbit?
A. Tame way, unique up on it.

Q. What did the bunny say when he only had thistles to eat?
A. Thistle have to do!

Q: What did the rabbit say to the carrot?
A: It’s been nice gnawing you.

Q. What is a rabbit’s favorite dance?
A. The Bunny Hop, of course.

Q. What does the Easter Rabbit get for making a basket?
A. Two points just like everybody!

Q: What do you call the Easter Bunny the Monday after Easter?
A: Tired.

Now on to some story jokes.

The Ten Commandments
A Sunday school teacher was discussing the Ten Commandments with her five and six year olds. After explaining the commandment to "honor thy father and thy mother," she asked,"Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?"
Without missing a beat one little boy answered, "Thou shall not kill."

Painting the church
A contractor was hired to paint a church and he began the job strong. But soon he realized he wasn’t going to have enough to finish the job. Not wanting to spend any more money on supplies, he simply added some water to the paint. Thing were going well but then he realized he was going to need to water it down even further. By the time he got to the end, the paint was almost entirely water. Just then, a big rain cloud burst out with rain. The whole church began to run. The paint was dripping, dripping down the side of the church and it looked horrible.

In anguish, the contractor suddenly got religious. He looked up to heaven and said, “Oh Lord, this paint job is all botched. Now what shall I do?”

A voice thundered out from heaven with this advise: "Repaint, repaint, and thin no more!"

The Nursery
Once I was at a church and I noticed that they had a nice plaque on a door in the Sunday School area. It that had 1 Corinthians 15:51 on it, which reads: "Behold, I tell you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." I didn’t think anything of it until I opened the door and realized the significance of the verse—it was on the door leading to the church nursery.

Out Of Gas
A nun who works for a local home health care agency was out making her rounds when she ran out of gas. Now there was a station just down the street so she walked to the station to borrow a can with enough gas to start the car and drive to the station for a fill up.

The attendant regretfully told her that the only can he owned had just been loaned out.

Since the nun was desperate to see the patient she went back to her car and looked for something to carry to the station to fill with gas. She spotted the bedpan she was taking to the patient. Always resourceful, she carried it to the station, filled it with gasoline, and carried it back to her car.

As she was pouring the gas into the tank of her car two men walked by. One of them turned to the other and said: "Now that is what I call faith!"

God’s Workmanship
A little girl was sitting on her grandfather’s lap as he read her a bedtime story.
From time to time, she would take her eyes off the book and reach up to touch his wrinkled cheek. She was alternately stroking her own cheek, then his again.
Finally she spoke up, “Grandpa, did God make you?”

“Yes, sweetheart,” he answered, “God made me a long time ago.”

“Oh,” she paused, “Grandpa, did God make me too?”

“Yes, indeed, honey,” he said, “God made you just a little while ago.”

Feeling their respective faces again, she observed, “God’s getting better at it, isn’t he?”

Laughing for the Joy of the Lord

Now we are going to practice laughing with the joy of the Lord. I am going to read you happy Bible verses and you will respond by throwing your hands into the air and doing a full belly laugh. Ready?

Psalm 98:4: Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises.

Psalm 2:4: God, who sits in heaven, laughs!

Psalm 30:11: You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy.

Isaiah 55:12: You shall go out in joy, and be led back in peace; the mountains and hills before you shall burst into song, and the trees of the field shall clap their hands.

Psalm 126:2: Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then it was said among the nations, the Lord has done great things for them.

Proverbs 17:22: A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a downcast spirit dries up the bones.

John 15:11: “I have said these things to you,” Jesus said to his disciples, “so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.”

Luke 6:21: Jesus said, “Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh!”

1 Peter 1:8: Although you have not seen Jesus, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy.

Ha ha ha! Christ is risen! Christ is risen, indeed! Ha ha ha!

Okay, one final joke...

What is Easter?
Three sillies die in a freak banana peel accident and arrive at the pearly gates of heaven. St. Peter tells them that they can enter the gates if they can answer one simple question:"WHAT IS EASTER?"

The first silly is eager to respond. He says: "Oh, that's easy, it's the holiday in November when everybody gets together, eats turkey, and is thankful..."

"No!," replies St. Peter, and proceeds to ask the second silly the same question, "WHAT IS EASTER?"

The second silly replies, "Easter is the holiday in December when we put up a nice fir tree, exchange presents, and celebrate the birth of Jesus."

St. Peter shakes his head in disgust, “Can’t anyone get this simple question?” So he poses it to the third silly: "WHAT IS EASTER?"

Now this silly is very confident. He says: "I know what Easter is. Easter is the Christian holiday that coincides with the Jewish celebration of Passover. Jesus and his disciples were eating at the last supper and but he was betrayed by one of his own disciples so the Romans came and arrested him. They flogged him and made him wear a crown of thorns. They crucified him between two criminals with a sign over his head that read 'the king of the Jews' and when he died, there was a great earthquake and the curtain in the temple was ripped in two. The centurion who saw it said, 'surely this was the son of God.' Then his followers buried his body in a cave tomb and they rolled a huge stone over the entrance to seal it.”

Saint Peter can hardly contain himself, he nods his head and approvingly says, “Yes, yes!”

But then the silly continues: “And every year the stone is rolled aside and Jesus pops out, and if he sees his shadow there will be six more weeks of winter."

May you live as joyful resurrection people today and every day. Christ is risen, indeed! ha ha ha!

© 2009 Laura Gentry

A WHOLE NEW CRY

2009-04-12T09:00:00.000-07:00

The ceramic butterflies were hand-made and given to worshipers on Easter Sunday as a reminder of the resurrected life to which Jesus calls us.

A Sermon for Easter Sunday

by Pastor Laura Gentry

John 20:1-18

This wonderful Easter morning we have come together celebrate the resurrection of Christ. Throughout our service, we continue to affirm that Christ is Risen, Christ is Risen, indeed. Alleluia! We are all aware that this is a joyful day—a day to dress in our finest clothes, a day to plan a wonderful meal, to come to church with the whole family, to sing our favorite Easter hymns.

And yet, the people at the tomb in this morning’s Gospel didn’t find it so joyful. They weren't having Easter egg hunts and munching on Cadbury cream eggs, or wearing pretty springtime fashions thinking pleasant thoughts about bunnies and about all the half-price pastel M&Ms they were going buy at the after-Easter sales tomorrow. No, they were caught up in the harsh reality that their Lord had died—a reality they did not expect, though Jesus had tried many times to tell them that this was God’s plan. It is a reality they cannot understand or accept—for with Jesus, all their hopes had died. They were deep, deep in darkness.

And it is in darkness that Mary Magdalene makes her way to the tomb that first Easter morning. She has no idea he is risen. She comes before dawn, perhaps because her sorrow has kept her awake all night and she cannot sleep anyway. All she can think about is the fact that her Lord has been crucified. With her hopes dashed and her world in shambles, she has come to his grave, perhaps to grieve in the peace of this garden.

But the serenity of the grace is certainly not what she finds. The sealed tomb has been opened! The huge stone is rolled away! Mary turns and dashes off to find Peter and the other disciple. Out of breath, Mary cries to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him!”

Shocked, the disciples run to the tomb to see if what Mary was hysterically crying about was true. Sure enough, they see the out-of-place stone, the empty linens, the body-less tomb. In this Gospel account, John doesn’t tell us what the two men are thinking or feeling—he just simply says that the other disciple “saw and believed.” He doesn’t even tell us for sure that Peter saw and believed, though we assume so because then the two men turn around and go home. Not very big parts for important disciples. They couldn’t even get a “Best Supporting Actor” for these little cameo roles.

But Mary—Mary deserves a “Best Leading Actress” for her dramatics here. After the two disciples run off, Mary stands weeping outside the tomb. When faced with the empty tomb, Mary doesn’t just “see and believe” so easily like the two disciples. She is still convinced that some opponent of Jesus’ has stolen his body to further undermine her Lord—as if getting him crucified was not enough. She is wrought with grief in this moment—her world has come to an end. I picture her in this scene shaking with sobs, unable to get a hold of herself.

Still trying to comprehend this catastrophe, Mary peeks into the tomb again. This time, it is not empty. This time, she sees two angels hanging out where Jesus was supposed to be, and they casually ask, “Woman, why are you weeping?” We can see that Mary is overtaken by her grief because she seems to lack logic here. If you saw two angels sitting in your loved one’s empty tomb, wouldn’t you start to catch on that something strange is afoot? Not Mary—she goes on to answer the angel’s question as if she’s talking to some regular person, crying, “They have taken away my Lord, and I do not know where they have laid him.”

As if Jesus cannot stand to see Mary grieve another moment longer, he appears. Perhaps she senses him, because she turns right around to face him. Yet, through her tears, she cannot recognize him. He asks her the same question: “Woman, why are you weeping? Whom are you looking for?”

Mary assuming he is the gardener and also the alleged grave robber, addresses him in an accusatory tone: “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have laid him, and I will take him away.”

Then, Jesus calls her by name: “Mary.” That’s all it takes to turn her tears to cries of joy. She hears her name, recognizes her Lord and responds with the affectionate name she had always called him, “Rabbouni,” the more familiar title used to address teachers.

A parishioner from my congregation in California showed me a painting she had commissioned by the artist Richard Serrin (pictured above), which seeks to visually interpret this passage from John’s Gospel. Mary is outside the tomb, kneeling in darkness, yet her face is mysteriously illuminated. Christ is standing in the background because she has not yet turned to face him. Her hands are clutched in tight fists and there is a cry upon her face. It looks like a cry of anguish but if you look at it for a while, you think it might be a cry of joy. It is as if the artist has caught the precise fraction of a second when one cry transitions into the other. And that very moment, I think, expresses the whole purpose of the Easter story.

Today it is Easter Sunday, 2009. Nearly 2,000 years have passed since that first Easter day. We have come to church to celebrate the Resurrection. And, yes, we are dressed up in our Easter finest but deep inside, I think we can all relate to Mary Magdalene. Like Mary, don’t we carry around a burden of grief in our souls? Perhaps it is the loss of loved ones that grieves us. Perhaps it is the disappointments and crushing blows we’ve suffered in our lives. Perhaps it is the terrible weight of our sins, the unwise choices we’ve made. Perhaps we bear the wounds of pain inflicted by others. Or maybe illness and disease weigh us down. Yes, we confess that Christ is risen. We believe it in our hearts and we know that there is cause for great joy this Easter Day but the grief is there, too. Like Mary, there is a cry of anguished sorrow on our lips.

But just as Mary’s cry was changed into joy, so is ours. As he called her by name, as he under stood her deep need and came to her rescue as the Risen One, so he calls us today. So he rescues us from sin and death. He came to change our human cry of grief into a cry of happy victory. He came to give us a whole new cry!

And what does Mary do, once her cry has been changed—once she has been given a new cry—a faithful cry of joy? She immediately does as Jesus commands her. She runs like the wind to tell the disciples, “I have seen the Lord” and to tell her whole story of how Jesus has transformed her cry.

Do we recognize Jesus? We hear him call us by name? Do we see that Easter is more than just a springtime tradition? Do we see that it is the church’s celebration of the fact Jesus has changed our human condition entirely? It is a celebration that Christ continues to reveal himself to us today in Word and Sacrament: in the Holy Scriptures, in the healing waters of Baptism, in the body and blood of the Lord’s Supper, and in the fellowship of our church community. And in these things, Jesus changes our cry of grief into a victorious cry of joy! And, like Mary, we are called to share with others the good news that Christ is Risen! May we do so with Mary’s exuberant, Oscar-award-winning zeal and proclaim in all we do and say that “Christ is Risen! Christ is Risen, Indeed, Alleluia!”

May the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.

THE MORE WE LOVE, THE BIGGER WE ARE

2009-04-09T12:33:00.000-07:00

A sermon for Maundy Thursday
by Pastor Laura Gentry

John 13:1-17, 31b-35

We gather this Maundy Thursday as part of our Holy Week journey. It is our symbolic walk with Jesus to the cross. And we pause this night to hear again the story of the last supper Jesus shared with his disciples. It is the Passover meal they are celebrating. They would have retold the great story of how God delivered their ancestors from slavery in Egypt.

It would have been an ordinary Passover, except Jesus does something shocking: he strips off his robe and kneels down to wash each one’s feet. It is probably impossible for us to understand just how outrageous this was for his disciples to witness. Not only were feet literally unclean—what with all the dirt and donkey droppings they’d have to endure in the course of a day—feet were also symbolically unclean according to their religious traditions. Feet in those days definitely needed to be washed, but religious people didn’t wash their own. They had slaves do it for them, and not just any slave, but the lowest slave in the household. It was an embarrassing chore that nobody but nobody would have volunteered to do. So when Jesus decides to take on the task of foot washing, it causes an uproar.

Why would he do such a thing? Why? Because it is an object lesson, an example for them and for us. You see, Jesus is well aware that this is his last night with the disciples and their is one final lesson he aims to teach. He says to them: “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Not only is his foot-washing stunt an example of humility and love for us, but it foreshadows his ultimate act of love: his self-sacrificial death on the cross. Jesus is very clear because he knows his time is limited. He commands his disciples to love in the same way that he has loved. That is what it’s all about. Everyone should be able to tell that we are Christians by the way we show love for all people.

Love. In action. That’s the whole lesson Jesus offers us in his final hours. Are we focused enough upon this all-important task?

There is a Family Circus cartoon created by Bill Keane that speaks to this. The children have crept into their parents room to watch them silently sleeping. One of the kids points at the parents and says to his sisters, “They look so sweet and peaceful when they’re asleep. You wonder how they could ever yell at us during the day.”

This is laughable, yes, but does it make us wonder what kids say of us—what those most vulnerable in our society say about the way we treat them. Jonathan Swift, the 17th century satirical writer, said: “We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another.” The Amerian poet Edna St. Vincent Millay was quoted to have said, “I love humanity, but I hate people.” And the commedianne, Lily Tomlin says, “If love is the answer, could you rephrase the question?”

Jesus’ commandment to love is clear. It is we who are not clear in our focus to follow this teaching. This annual service of Maundy Thursday is always an important reminder that love—showing itself in humble service—is our highest calling. So tonight, I bring you quotes of inspiration and stories of love.

In First Corinthians, we hear that:

Love is patient, love is kind.
It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It is not rude, it is not self-seeking.
It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.
Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth.
It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Love never fails.
(I Corinthians 13:4-8)

Here are some other quotes to make us think about love:

ELIZABETH BARRET BROWNING:
Whoso loves, believes the impossible.

GEORGE SAND:
There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved.

SØREN KIERKEGAARD:
Love does not alter the beloved, it alters itself.

MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR.:
Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into friend.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH:
The little unremembered acts of kindness and love are the best parts of a person's life.

ELBERT HUBBARD:
The love we give away is the only love we keep.

OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN, II: (from the musical, Cinderella)
Do you love me because I'm beautiful,
or am I am beautiful because you love me?

I once heard a story about a woman who went to a marriage counselor all by herself to complain of her failing marriage. “I can’t do this any longer. My husband has no regard for my feelings. He is the most insensitive, uncaring person in the whole world—he doesn’t do anything for me anymore. What should I do?”

The therapist quickly replied, “Well it seems obvious that you must leave him. You cannot seem to get your needs met at all and he doesn’t seem to care. In fact, I don’t think he’ll even care that you leave him. I have an idea. Why don’t you get him back for all the emotional trouble he’s given you. Make him sad that you’re leaving him. That’s right. For the next month, I want you to be the perfect wife. Love him, praise him, make his favorite dinner, do his favorite activities with him. Whatever you have to do, make him feel that you are totally in love with him. Just pretend. Then, after a month, leave him with no warning and he’ll be devastated.”

“That sounds remarkable! That’s the best solution I’ve ever heard. I’ll make him sorry he never loved me.” And so she went home and did just that. Every possible thing she could think of to demonstrate love for her husband, the wife did.

The weeks wore on and at the end of the month, the woman came to see her therapist again. “So, how are you doing now that you’ve left that horrible husband of yours?” he asked with a smile.

“Leave him??? Leave him? Why would I want to leave him? Ever since I started showing love for him, he’s become the most loving husband in the world. Not only am I not leaving him, but we’re going on a second honeymoon next week to celebrate the new passion in our marriage.”

What this wise therapist was banking on was the fact that when we show love for others—through action—they feel loved and secure, and generally treat us differently in return. All this woman did was pretend that she loved her husband, which made him love her, which made her fall in love with him again. That’s the power of the action. Jesus showed love in action by washing feet and he asks us to do the same kind of action-oriented loving.

And yet following Jesus’ command to love one another in this way is perhaps the most difficult undertaking of our lives. And it is easy for us to get hurt in the process.. It is a dangerous business—we cannot do it without God’s help. In the wonderful children’s book, The Velveteen Rabbit, by Margery Williams, there is a profound conversation between a toy rabbit and a skin horse:

“What is REAL?” asks the Rabbit one day. The horse replies, “It’s a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.” “Does it hurt?” The Rabbit asks. “Sometimes,” responds the horse with honesty. “It doesn’t happen all at once,” says the Skin Horse. “You become. It takes a long time. That’s why it doesn’t often happen to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don’t matter at all, because once you are Real you can’t be ugly, except to people who don’t understand.”

Like the Velveteen Rabbit, we too can get pretty ragged in the business of love, but when we are in God’s will for our lives, it doesn’t matter. It is worth it!

And finally, I share with you a story from A Cup of Chicken Soup for the Soul:

A kindergarten teacher read her class a story called, “Big.” Then she asked her students, “What makes you feel big?”
“Bugs make me feel big,” yelled one young student. “Ants!” hollered another. “Mosquitoes,” called out one more.
The teacher, trying to bring some order back to the class, started calling on children with their hands up. Pointing to one little girl, the teacher said, “Yes, dear, what makes you feel big?” “My mommy,” was her reply.
“How does your mommy make you feel big?” quizzed the teacher. “That’s easy,” said the child. “When she hugs me and says I love you, Jessica.”

The late preacher William Sloane Coffin, Junior adds to this message with his enduring quote: “Love measures our stature: the more we love, the bigger we are.”

Jesus is the supreme example of this: by humbling himself he became big. By loving us, he makes us feel big. And the more we love, the bigger we are. May we follow his example by sharing God’s love every day. Amen.

© 2009 Laura Gentry

PALMS & SHOUTS OF "HOSANNA!"

2009-04-05T08:30:00.000-07:00

A Sermon for Palm/Passion Sunday, Year B

by Pastor Laura Gentry

John 12:12-16

This is always an exciting day in our church year. We get props. Unlike an ordinary Sunday, we are given palm branches to wave. And this year, we ordered fancier ones with the whole branch—not just the single strand ones we’ve had in the past. We get to sing the triumphant songs, and shout “Hosanna!” and wave our palms about. But what does it all mean? How is this supposed to prepare us for the impending, somber Holy Week experiences of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday?

Let’s take a look at each one of these elements to figure it out. First, is the palm thing. Why palms? Why do we have to spend money every year from our worship budget ordering these things? Why couldn’t we just call it “random shrubbery Sunday” and cut whatever branches we could find and bring them in to wave about? Well, this would be more cost effective but John’s gospel specifically mentions that it was palms the people waved as Jesus entered Jerusalem. John always has deep, symbolic meaning in everything he writes so the palms must mean something important.

And indeed, they do. You see, 200 years before Jesus triumphal entry into the city, there was the triumphal entry of Simon Maccabeus into that same city. He remains a greatly revered hero of the Jewish people. They had been under the horrible leadership of Antiochus Epiphanes who forbid the practice of the Jewish faith. In 167 B.C. Antiochus took over the Jewish temple in Jerusalem—the holiest place on earth—and created an altar to the Greek god Zeus and proceeded to offer swine’s flesh upon it. In the Book of Daniel, this is called the "abomination of desolation" because it was so awful that it would hard to imagine doing anything more offensive to God. In the additional biblical material known as the Apocrypha, it explains that under Antiochus, the government also “put to death the women who had their children circumcised, and their families and those who circumcised them; and they hung the infants from their mothers’ necks.” (1:60-61) The nation was hurting and in desperate need of a hero to save them from this oppression.

Thus, Mattathias, an old man of priestly stock, rounded up his five sons and all the weapons he could find. A guerrilla campaign was launched against Antiochus’ soldiers. Though Mattathias died early on, his son Judas, called Maccabeus, was able within three years to cleanse and to rededicate the temple. But the fighting wasn’t over. A full 20 years later, after Judas and a successor brother, Jonathan, had died in battle, a third brother, Simon, took over, and through his diplomacy achieved Judean independence, establishing what would become a full century of Jewish sovereignty. So there was great celebration. The scripture says that the Jews “entered Jerusalem with praise and palm branches, and with harps and cymbals and stringed instruments, and with hymns and songs, because a great enemy had been crushed and removed from Israel.” (I Macc. 13:51) Not only that, but this date was celebrated every year as the Jewish Independence day and palms were waved to remember this great military victory. Now, 200 years later, the Jews are under Roman occupation and are desperate for another Maccabean type revolt that can set them free. The palms say that they are expecting Jesus to be a military hero like Simon Maccabeus.

Now what about the cry of “Hosanna”? This is what the people shout at Jesus when he enters. Today, we think of this as a praise word. We sing it in our communion liturgy, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord, Hosanna in the highest.” Other than that, “Hosanna” is not a word we use regularly in conversation. You don’t call someone up and say, “Hey, how are you doing? Hosanna, man!” It is a foreign word to us but what it means in the native language is “Save, now!” It was a desperate cry for help. It is usually what people would say to their king in an effort to get him to protect them militarily. And this is what the people cheer to Jesus as he comes.

That’s what our Palm Sunday procession is all about. It enables us to enter this drama too, as we wave our palms and shout “Hosanna!” we are begging God to save us, too. But the question is, do we have the humility to do that? Oh yes, we can waggle our palms and sing our hymns of triumph and say “Hosanna!” whenever it is written in the bulletin but do we really want God to save us? Do we dare trust God to save us from the things that oppress us? Can we cry to God with our whole heart: Save me! Save me from financial ruin! Save me from depression! Save me from anger! Save me from loneliness! Save me from failure! Save me from feelings of worthlessness! Save me from fear! Save my falling-apart family! Save me from sickness! Save me from cancer! Save me from aging! Save me from having to go into the nursing home! Save me from death!

You see this liturgy is more than just a pleasant bit of pageantry with fancy greenery. It is really an opportunity to go to that place deep inside, where we are broken and alone and afraid. And from that vulnerable place, cry the cry of faith: Hosanna! Save me now, Lord! Grab me by the collar and pull me up out of the waves, God, because I am drowning. There is nothing in this world I need more than your help!

Jesus didn’t come as a military leader like the original Palm Sunday crowds expected. But he came to answer their cries of Hosanna, nevertheless. He came to give himself over to suffering and death so that he could rise and with it, bring redemption not just for that country at that time, but for all people of all times and places.

That’s the heart of the Jesus story. It tells us that God comes to save us. God was not content to stay apart from this sinful world. No, God would not remain in heaven and simply send a fax or e-mail with a cheerful message of encouragement. God wanted so much to be with us, that he became incarnate. He came to enter into our broken, fragmented, messy world. This compassionate answer to our hosanna cries is so amazing, it is hard to take it in.

And so we can march headlong into the sacred journey of Holy Week. We can walk with Jesus the way of the cross—clasping our palm branches for dear life and wailing “Hosanna” from the depths of our being. We know, by faith, that God is with us and will answer our cry to save us, to save us now.

Let us pray: Oh God of endless grace, we need you to rescue us from the depths. Please do what you have always done when your people have cried out, "Please save us!" In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

TRUSTING GOD WITH OUR WHOLE HEARTS

2009-03-29T08:30:00.000-07:00

A Sermon for the Fifth Sunday in Lent, YEAR B
March 29, 2009

By Pastor Laura Gentry

Jeremiah 31:31-34

The French daredevil, Jean Francois Gravelet, known by his stage name as the Great Charles Blondin, born 1824, is remembered as one of the greatest tightrope walkers of all time. To bring his story to life, let’s use our imaginations this morning and pretend we are the crowd watching one of the Great Blondin’s many death defying performances.

I’ll need my assistants to come forward. They will flash one of three signs at you and you’ll need to make that sound. So let’s practice. First, there is the cheer sign. Whenever you see this, I want you to cheer excitedly. Let’s try it! (CHEER). Secondly, there is a sigh sign. Whenever you see this, I want you to sigh like are so relieved. Let’s try it! (SIGH). Now he’ll be going across the Niagara Falls, which makes a pretty loud gushing sound. So whenever you see the gush sign, you’ll need to attempt to make this sound and if you can’t, then just say “gush” loudly. Let’s try it! (GUSH). Okay, I think you are totally ready for this.

Now picture it. We are now transported to a hundred years ago—to the time before extreme sports were invented. No one was jumping off bridges with rubber band around their waist. Reality shows with people eating worms were not on the air. Demolition derbies were yet a reality. And since there was Vince McMahon hadn’t built the world wrestling entertainment up to what it is today, people were not accustomed to seeing guys get hit over the head with folding chairs. Nope. The main excitement in entertainment of this era is the Great Blondin—he is adored by people all over the world. And here we are watching him make his grand entrance!

So when he enters, the crowd cheers! (CHEER) Blondin swishes in and says, “If it is a rope and it is high up, I will walk on it!”

A young lady runs up to him and begs him for his autograph. A gentleman, Blondin signs her paper with a flourish. The girl grabs the paper, holds it tightly, swooningly. The crowds continue to bombard him with adoration. (CHEER)

You see, we are here at Niagra Falls. We are sitting next to the American Falls at Prospect Park in the United States. The water is gushing over the falls—150,000 gallon of water flower over these falls every second! And the water drops 176 feet to the churning waters below, creating immense mist! Can you hear the rushing water? (GUSH)

Oh, what a dangerous place this is! But look, 160 feet above the top of these falls, there is a tightrope strung across it—from here in the US, all the way over the the Canadian side: 1100 feet. How could anyone attempt such a feet? If he falls, he will surely die. Can the Great Blondin really survive such a walk? “This is the longest walk I have ever attempted,” Blondin says to the reporters.

But look, there he goes. The Great Blondin is walking across. Yes, look at that. The crowd is silent as he carefully makes his way over! All you can hear is the gushing of the deadly falls beneath. (GUSH) And now, he takes his last step onto the Canadian side! (SIGH) The crowd goes wild! Blondin has done it! He’s really done it. (CHEER)

And that’s not all. What is he doing? He’s climbing into a potato sack. and look! He’s coming back this way. He can’t even see out of that sack and his legs might get tangled. The crowd is quiet again. Nothing but the water’s gush. (GUSH) Carefully, the Great Blondin, looking like a wiggling sack, gets all the way back to this side! (SIGH) Incredible! The crowds go crazy. (CHEER)

Blondin continues to amaze the crowds. He crosses again and again. (GUSH) One time, he even cooks a meal on the rope with a portable cooker and lowers it to the people on the Maid of the Mist boat below! (CHEER)

“Do you believe in the Great Blondin?” a reporter asks a member of the audience.

“Oh yes, I believe in him.” he replies. “He’s amazing! He can do anything.”

Oh but wait! The Great Blondin is going to try yet another trick. This time, he’s walking across the gorge pushing a wheelbarrow with a two hundred pound weight inside. (GUSH) This is too much to bear! The women begin to faint from the sight of such danger, men avert their eyes. The Great Blondin must be out of his mind!

As he’s crossing, the reporter turns to an onlooker and asks: “Do you think the Great Blondin can get across with the wheelbarrow and all that weight?”

“Of course! No doubt! He's the greatest tightrope walker in the world!” replies a young lady.

“Of course!” declares another. “He’s walked that tightrope every single way. There is nothing he can’t do! I trust him entirely.”

And then, Blondin steps onto the safe land of the United States. (SIGHS) Wow! The crowd is louder than it’s ever been before. (CHEER) What an outstanding feet! This is entertainment at its best.

Now the Great Blondin turns and looks at us and says, “Would anyone like to go across with me? Climb right upon my back.”

From the back of the crowd you can hear comments such as “What an honor! What a privilege! Wouldn’t that be neat?”

“Let me repeat,” Says Blondin dramatically, “I am looking for a volunteer to be the first person in history to go across Niagra Falls in a tightrope walker’s back. Say, you look like a brave fellow, how about you?”

“I wouldn't want to risk it. My family might think I was irresponsible.” says the man as he turns and runs away.

Blondin looks at another fellow who says: “Well, sir, I'm honored by your request but I, uh, I, uh, . . . I . . . Oh yes, I have to go get something out of my car.” He jumps into his car and peels away.

“I do not understand,” Blondin continues. “ How about you, miss?”

“Oh, Great Blondin, you're my hero!” she sighs.

“Then you'll come with me?”

“But, but . . . I'm scared of heights . . . I couldn't .” And she faints into his arms.

Finally, with no one agreeing to put their lives on the line, his own manager, Harry Colcord, agrees to be the one to go across the falls on Blondin’s back. Slowly they make their way over the falls, each step wobbly and difficult. The water rushes madly below (GUSH) as the crowd watches intently until at last, they reach the other side safely. (SIGH) Incredible! The crowd jumps to their feet and cheers as loudly as they can. (CHEER) Indeed, we’ve never seen anything so amazing in all our lives!

But what if the Great Blondin had asked YOU to go across the gorge on his back? It’s one thing to say you believe in his talents as a tightrope walker and quite another to actually put your life in his hands. It takes courage to do what Harry did, to literally put yourself in someone else’s hands.

You know, it’s just like believing in God. It is pretty easy to say, “Oh yes, I am a believer” and yet another to believe in God so much that you put your life in his hands—to trust your Lord entirely. Martin Luther once said, “The only saving faith is that which casts itself on God for life or death.” Do we trust God that much?

In our scripture lesson from Jeremiah today, the prophet speaks to the people of God who have been devastated by the siege of their country and their subsequent exile. “The days are surely coming,” he tells them as he speaks the word of the Lord. “The days are surely coming when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant that I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt--a covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, says the LORD. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people."

Despite their sin and unworthiness, God is announcing a new beginning for the people. God is renewing the covenant, the promise of love and commitment. God is going to do a new thing for these broken and and lost people—”I will be their God and they shall be my people,” the prophet declares. But how?

Well, the former law, which God had given Moses was written on tablets of stone. And the people rebelled against it, refusing to follow this law. Now, God proposes to write the law within them. “I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.”

This is language of the heart. It implies a marvelous intimacy between Creator and the creation. It is not about some big rule-making God thundering down judgment from the sky. This is about God seeking to enter the very hearts and minds of his people, to transform them lovingly from within. The sin written in their hearts will be replaced by God’s liberating law.

“No longer shall they teach one another, or say to each other, ‘Know the LORD,’ for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, says the LORD; for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sin no more.”

Having experienced grace, God’s people will live in it. They won’t have to tell each other to know the Lord because they WILL. They will know God in their heart of hearts. They will trust God with their very lives.

Jesus adds further punch to this message by saying in the gospel of John: “Those who love their life lose it, and those who hate their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.” God wants us to absolutely surrender ourselves to God’s care.

The story of the Great Blondin reminds us that living out our belief in someone is difficult, it takes more than just lip service, it takes great courage. Living out our faith can be equally hard. God asks everything. But it is worth it, for faith offers eternal life.

This morning, we are going to be conducting an order for healing in worship. All of you will be invited to come forward to receive a word of blessing and prayer, if you wish. There will be an anointing with oil and the physical gesture of the laying on of hands. These are signs to tell us again that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with the cross of Christ.

God promises us wholeness and peace and as a joyful response to this covenant, we cling to God in faith. As we continue our Lenten journey, may we know God, may we trust God to heal us and care for all our needs, and may we trust God with our whole hearts. Amen.

REJOICE IN GOD'S LOVE

2009-03-22T09:00:00.000-07:00

A Sermon for the 4th Sunday in Lent, Year B
by Pastor Laura Gentry

Numbers 21:4-9 • John 3:14-21

Today is already the fourth Sunday in Lent. And it actually has a name. It is called Laetare. This term comes from the Latin word “rejoice.” So we are right smack dab in the middle of the somber season of Lent and yet the word that describes this day is rejoice. Does that make any sense to you?

It seems a bit odd since this is a season of penitence and sacrifice. It is a season so serious that we don’t even get to sing our alleluia verses. Yet in the ancient church, the prayers for this day always began with the word rejoice. Why? Because we have now passed the halfway point. Lent is more than half done and we are well on our way to the great joy of Easter. And today’s scripture lessons are filled with joy as well.

It begins with the story from the Exodus where the people of God begin to get grumbly. They are on a journey to the promised land but they seem to have forgotten about the greatness of this destination. All they can see now is the present discomforts. They are in the middle of the wilderness and the food is awful. So they get mad at Moses. Never mind the fact that he led them out of slavery and he has helped them find water, manna and has even argued with God on their behalf. Still, they feel sorry for themselves and he’s the most convenient one to blame. “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness?” They ask Moses.

God does not appreciate their ingratitude and so poisonous serpents show up and start biting and killing the Israelites. So where is the joy in this story? It sounds like a horror movie. In a 1999 poll, 40% of Americans listed snakes as that thing in life that they feared most. Snakes beat out speaking in public and spiders. Now we have to deal with a snake story in the bible? It seems too awful.

It certainly reflects our human nature to want to fuss about things. We often grow impatient with God and feel that our wilderness experiences are lasting too long. We grumble and complain and embrace negativity instead of hope.

But back to the Exodus. Despite the fact that the people brought the snake problem on themselves by their negativity and ingratitude, God proves to be merciful. The people acknowledge their sin and ask for help. So God instructs Moses to make a bronze sculpture of one of the very serpents that had bitten them and mount it on a pole. Then, whenever someone is bitten, they simply look up to the serpent and they are healed. This is a great grace given freely to these unworthy wanderers.

Then, in the gospel lesson from John, we come in at the middle of a conversation that Jesus is having with a religious leader named Nicodemus. Jesus is trying to get through to this man that God is offering a new covenant through him. He says, “And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” You see he is making reference to the story we just heard. In the same way that God provided healing for the people through the serpent sculpture, God was now providing healing for all through Jesus who would be soon be dying for all on the cross. This cross is not just for the “insiders” who already have a relationship with God, but for all.

Then, comes John 3:16, the verse that everyone knows. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” It is known as the gospel in a nutshell. You see it written on the scoreboard and baseball games, on billboards and bumper stickers. I once saw a man holding a sign with this verse as he was protesting a concert of the Rolling Stones. It made me laugh to see him using it as a condemnation of those awful people going to see a rock band. I laughed because that is exactly the opposite point this scripture passage is making.

Look at the very next verse. Jesus says, “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” The message is that the cross is lifted up to liberate people, to draw them to God with the cords not of guilt and condemnation but of unconditional love.

For we are the all the ones who chose darkness over light. We are the ones, like the Israelites, who like to complain even while we are on the road to freedom. Even when we don’t want to be this way, we end up being this way. Paul understood this internal wrestling when he wrote: “For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (Romans 7:19-21) And it is not just the sins we commit that is the problem, but the sinners that we are at our very core.

Yet Paul also understands that while our nature is sinful, God’s nature is one of love and grace. “Where sin increased,” he writes in Romans 5:20, “grace overflowed all the more.”

Out of God's unsurpassing love for us, Christ is lifted up on the cross. And this love is for the whole cosmos. The author of John’s gospel wants to make this abundantly clear. Love is the theme that dominates the whole book. We hear that God is love (1 Jn. 4:8), that the relationship between Jesus and his father is love (Jn. 15:9-10; 17:23), and that the nature of discipleship is love (Jn. 13:34-35; 15:12-14).

This love of God is all in all. That is why they call John 3:16 the gospel in a nutshell: For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. This is the reason we can rejoice today, even as our Lenten journey continues.

God woos us into a relationship through love and grace. In the book Surprised by Joy, the famous theologian C.S. Lewis claims that he came into Christianity kicking and screaming. He says that as a young man he was “very angry with God for not existing.” He had no intention of embracing faith in an unseen God. But the love of God drew him in against his own will. Of the night he accepted Christ, he writes this:

You must picture me alone in that room in Magdalen, night after night, feeling, whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet. That which I greatly feared had at last come upon me. In the Trinity Term of 1929 I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all England.

As God offered healing to the Isrealites, God offers healing to all in Christ. The word “healing” comes from the same root as “wholeness” and “wellness” and they all refer to being “full” or “complete.” When we look at our own lives, we know that we are broken. Like Humpty Dumpty, all the king’s horses and all the king’s men cannot put us together again because we are just the broken by our own sinfulness and the sinfulness of the world that has run us over time and time again. Yet, Jesus comes to us in our broken state and offers healing and wholeness because of God’s great love for us. We are called to faith in Christ who heals us.

The theologian Paul Tillich wrote: “Faith is being seized by a power that is greater than we are...one that transforms us and heals us...Surrender to that power is called faith.” We are not required to heal ourselves, but simply to surrender to the Savior who can.

And so today, we hear again that powerful message of grace. Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. We are saved by grace through faith in him and set free to do the good things God has planned for our lives. That is why it is Laetare—a day of rejoicing. We rejoice in God's love. Let us surrender to this power called faith that we may have eternal life. Amen.

OVERTURNING OUR TABLES

2009-03-15T09:00:00.000-07:00

A Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent, Year B
by Pastor Laura Gentry

John 2:13-22

Now I don’t know if you can believe this or not, but when I was a kid, I was—well, let’s just say I was prone to outbursts. My sister was the reason for it, of course. She could set me off in an instant. And I found great satisfaction in using drama do deal with the anger she could so easily rouse in me. I would stomp around or slam doors or pretend to sing opera at the top of my lungs in vehement protest.

And so when I was introduced to today’s gospel lesson in Sunday school, I took great interest. How exciting, I thought, Jesus has a temper just like mine. He can throw an even bigger fit than even I can. Why, I have never even dreamed of turning over a table or getting out a whip. So if our Savior can get away with this kind of angry behavior, shouldn’t I? My mother didn’t buy this argument. And you shouldn’t either if your kid tries to pitch this idea to you.

There is a lot going on in this story and we have to consider all the facts if we are to understand it. First of all, there was a system of commerce in the Temple in Jesus’ time that is a bit confusing for us. You see, once a year, Jewish men would have to pay a temple tax. But this tax could not be paid with the Roman or Greek coins used in regular commerce—it had to be paid with special temple coins. Now how do you get your hands on such coins? You would have to exchange them. To make it convenient for people, the temple authorities set up money changing booths in the temple courtyard. It wasn’t a very fair exchange, however. The fee for the exchange was sometimes as much as the exchange—thus, doubling the cost.

On top of that, animals were offered for sacrifice at Passover. These animals had to be without blemish according to the Jewish laws. If you brought your own animal to sacrifice, it had to be inspected by the authorities to see whether it would qualify as perfectly suitable for sacrifice. Almost none ever qualified, as you might expect. It was easiest, then, to just buy a pre-approved animal in the temple court. These animals went for substantially higher prices than they could be purchased elsewhere. Sometimes it was several times the cost.

This scene is depicted very dramatically in the musical Jesus Christ Superstar. In the 1973 film of it, they show the temple filled not only with ancient items for sale but modern things too, like a rack of postcards, a rack of mirrors, guns, hand grenades and the like. Jesus approaches them and it looks like he’s blown a gasket. He throws over the tables and drives the market people and their animals out. His high pitched singing wails: “My temple should be a house of prayer! But you have made it a den of thieves!” Then he screams in full voice: “Get out! Get out!” The merchants and shoppers all flee the scene and there is nothing but an eerie silence.

John tells us that it causes great chaos when Jesus does this. Even the disciples are stunned, confused and amazed at what has happened before their eyes.

This confusion seems to grow when Jesus says: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." That makes no sense to them. The Temple had been under reconstruction for 46 years . How in the world could it be rebuilt in 3 days? It was physically impossible.

As with so many things, the disciples only figure it out later—after the resurrection has made it clear. The temple Jesus was talking about was his body, not the stones of this magnificent building. He was foretelling his own resurrection.

But why does Jesus choose to cause such a scene in order to talk about his resurrection? Well, it seems he understands what the temple authorities are doing with their temple marketing. They are intentionally overcharging and taking advantage of the poorest of people. It is clearly a misuse of their spiritual authority. Injustice in God’s name doesn’t sit well with Jesus.

It could also be related to the Ten Commandments that we’ve just heard again in our first lesson for today. Could it be that Jesus’ anger is not just about the fact that they’re overcharging for the merchandise, but the fact that this institution—the Temple—is failing to promote the worship of God and instead turning people's attention elsewhere? This is a violation of the first commandment: "You shall have no other gods before me." Because this word is translated as "before" it may lead people to think you should put God first and everything else second. But the heart of the meaning is really that you should put God first and nothing else second. God should be our all and all.

Jesus is angry that the church of his day is getting people caught up in commercialism. The frenzy of the Temple’s looks just like the world’s marketplace. This is pulling their focus away from true worship. God is not just another product to buy. God is God and demands absolute loyalty.

Today this is still a problem. Perhaps if Jesus came into our modern context to do a little temple cleaning, he'd find more abuses that needed changing. No, we’re not selling calves and pigeons in the fellowship hall but we do fun the risk of taking our eyes off God. We cannot let other loyalties interfere with our devotion to God—our nation is not more important than God, our denomination is not more important than God, even our congregation is not more important than God. To forget this is idolatry. We can never substitute devotion to an institution for devotion to God. Institutions can provide good guidance, but they are not always right. No, not even our denomination is always right. As much as we may love it, we have to remember this.

There may be yet another reason for Jesus' outburst, however. In Mark's version of this story, Jesus notes that the temple is a "house of prayer for all nations." The Jews also had laws about who could and could not enter the inner part of the temple. The outer court, in which this incident occurred, was the only place non-Jews could be. It was the place where even Gentiles could come in order to approach God. Now that the outer court has become so cluttered with business transactions, it is not a suitable place for prayer and worship. Therefore, Gentiles are no longer able to worship God in the temple. It has become exclusive. Perhaps Jesus was crying out against this kind of selfish hoarding of God's grace and mercy, of shutting God away from the people who needed him desperately. Again, we can see this offense alive and well today as Christians draw lines of "saved" and "unsaved" when that judgment is for God alone to make. We see houses of prayer becoming exclusive clubs that purposefully keep outsiders out.

But perhaps there is still a deeper reason why Jesus braided together a whip to drive away the merchants of the temple. Perhaps he is trying to drive home the point that animal sacrifices are no longer relevant. The prophets had already been telling them this for years. Hosea said of the people: “They love sacrifice; they sacrifice flesh and eat it; but the Lord has no delight in them.” Somehow the people felt that God worked like a cosmic vending machine: put your animal sacrifices in and out pops a blessing from God—an even exchange. People are thinking they can balance the scales with the God who had created them, who had delivered them from Egypt. But the reality is that they owe God so much more than a few burnt offerings here and there and an annual temple tax could buy. In fact, they have no hope of keeping the law and there is virtually nothing they can do on their own to make themselves right with God. They are enslaved by their sin and will always fall short of the glory of God. And there they are in the temple courts, brazenly believing they can win God's favor and perhaps even make God owe them blessings by following the religious sacrificial customs. And into their self-righteous faces, Jesus jumps in with a big "NO!" They just can’t save themselves—not with all the flawless animals in the world. They need a Savior and the one that shocked them by driving them from the temple is the very same one who will soon surprise them again by taking on that role himself and making the ultimate sacrifice for them. That’s why he’s on about rebuilding the Temple in 3 days. It is all about the salvation he will offer through his resurrection.

Christianity not about balancing the books, you see. We don’t come to church to get bonus points with God—it doesn’t work that way. I remember when I was a child at Christmas time. I wanted to get my parents presents, but since I had no income of my own, they would slip me some cash to get them presents. I’d pridefully ride my bike over to the dime store and pick out some marvelous treasures for them, like cheap after shave my father probably still hasn’t used up. I’d make my purchases, hustle home, wrap them up (sometimes Mom would even do that for me while not peeking at her gift, of course) and I would joyfully present them to my parents on Christmas eve. They’d open them and receive them with grateful hearts. But I wasn’t giving them anything they hadn’t already given me. I could never out-give them—I simply didn’t have the means. I was ever-indebted to them. Yet as loving parents, they didn’t mind—they were just happy that I loved them in return.

Our relationship with God is similar. Everything we have is God’s. We cannot out give God. And all the sacrifices we offer are like the petty gifts I would give my parents for Christmas—that I had purchased with their money. We must come to realize that we are indeed debtors to God—we cannot impress or control God with our devotion.

Jesus has overturned the tables of the law because what he wants from us is faith. Martin Luther said, “True faith in Christ is a treasure beyond comparison which brings with it complete salvation and saves us all from evil...What person is there whose heart, upon hearing this, will not rejoice to its depth, and when receiving such comfort will not grow tender so that they will love Christ as they never could by means of any law or works?”

In this Gospel scene, Jesus may appear to have an anger management problem. He may look altogether unloving, but he is acting this way because he is showing us that God desires a whole new relationship with us, one of unbelievable love and tenderness. He wants us to stop striving to obey on our own and impress him and to accept the free gift of grace in Jesus Christ—to really accept it. And having been infused with this marvelous grace, we will desire live according to God’s will in response to this good news.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO FOLLOW JESUS?

2009-03-08T09:00:00.000-07:00

A sermon for the second Sunday of Lent (year B)

Pastor Laura Gentry

Mark 8:31-38

There is a story from the life of Paul that reminds me of today’s Gospel text. Paul is in a big hurry to get to Jerusalem by the day of Pentecost. When their ship lands in Caesarea, a prophet warns him that the Holy Spirit told him that if Paul goes to Jerusalem, he will be bound and handed over to the Gentile authorities. So what do Paul’s friends do? Of course, they try to convince him not to go. He is their companion and leader, they don’t want him to meet with a terrible fate. So—in tears—they beg him to stay.

Paul gets absolutely incensed by their plea. “Why are you weeping and breaking my heart?” he replies. “I am ready not only to be bound, but also to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:8–12). And sure enough, about a week after they land in Jerusalem Paul is arrested. It eventually leads to his death—just as his friends so dreadfully feared.

But what would Jesus have had him do? Should Paul have hidden out and not traveled to Jerusalem for Pentecost in order to avoid those wicked conspirators? Would he have been better able to proclaim the gospel if he’d been able to stay alive? I mean, wasn’t Paul just throwing his life away?

In today’s gospel, Jesus quizzes his disciples about his identity. “Who do people say that I am?”

They have answers ready for him: John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets.

Jesus, then, presses them about their personal understanding of his identity. “But who do YOU say that I am?” he asks.

Peter answers him boldly, “You are the Messiah.”

Jesus sternly orders them to keep this a secret for now. Then he launches into a whole speech about how he 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.

Now this bad news just doesn’t sit well with Peter. So he pulls Jesus aside and rebukes him.

Now this rebuking doesn’t sit well with Jesus. We’ve got a real conflict bubbling up here and it results in an explosive statement by Jesus that shocks us all. “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

Satan? I mean, come on, isn’t that a little bit strong for your right hand man? But that’s what Jesus says. Satan. Peter is setting his mind on human things instead of the divine things despite all Jesus has taught him.

Then comes an even bigger bomb. Jesus turns to the whole group of disciples—and to us as well as we read these pages of scripture—and says quite plainly: “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

This is a famous passage of scripture, one that many Christians can recite by heart. But whatever does it mean?

If read out of context and with our modern western understandings, Jesus words can be understood as a glorification of suffering, as a strong encouragement to become a victim. In this way of interpreting it would follow that I should deny myself—that is, sacrifice myself, wipe out any real sense that I have of myself, my individual personality and embrace the cross—which undoubtedly means suffering. To be Jesus’ follower, then, I should stop being me and throw myself into a life of miserable suffering.

Now this is a dangerous road to go down. Many women have failed to develop their own identities because of this interpretation. They have hidden their talents and strengths in order to embrace suffering that could be alleviated because that’s what they thought Jesus wanted. And so they stayed in abusive situations when they should have found a way to freedom. Other marginalized groups have gone with this interpretation and believed they should stay in their low stations, never challenging the powers that cause them to suffer. More than anything, they want to follow Jesus and so they go on suffering.

Is that what God wants? It is important, especially when we look at the strong statements of scripture, to look at it in the literary context of the whole scripture and in the cultural context into which it was actually spoken.

Since we really want to know what Jesus means, we must first take up the question of the literary context. Let’s think about Mark’s gospel as a whole. Mark does not glorify either self-sacrifice or suffering. In fact, Jesus in this gospel does just the opposite—he announces to all the kingdom of God. And in order to make this message clear, he alleviates suffering and empowers others to do the same. He is ever about the good news that God’s kingdom—God’s rule—is breaking in on our fallen world. This rule brings with it great joy, healing, feasting and the end of suffering.

Not only Jesus but others who join God's rule also have power over suffering. Jesus sends out the disciples to preach, heal, and exorcise, and they do it successfully! (6:7 -13). Jesus also tells the disciples to trust God's power over nature: he expects them to trust that the storm will not destroy them and to be able themselves to feed thousands with little food (4:35-41; 6:3544; 8:1-10). Once, somebody who hasn’t even met Jesus throws his name around and is able to successfully exorcise in his name! (9:38-39). Throughout Mark’s story, we see signs that the marvelous new reality of God's rule has broken into our world and things are changing for the better.

So when we look carefully at the literary context, we see it does not support the theory that “deny yourself and take up your cross” means that God specifically wants you to suffer for the sake of suffering. Indeed, Jesus’ message is one of liberation from suffering.

But make no mistake, this good news is not good news to everyone. Jesus has made powerful enemies who will soon take his life. He does not want his disciples to be surprised by the fact that following him and proclaiming God’s rule of justice and peace will have its consequences. Keep in mind that John the Baptist has already died for the cause, Jesus is about to die, and most of the disciples will go on to die in the line of duty also. Yes, along with the good news, there comes the reality that persecution will face the followers of Jesus.

Nevertheless, you should not lose heart! That is what he is trying to convey when he tells them they must take up their cross. They must resist the temptation to let go of their mission just because it threatens their safety. Yes, there is the inevitability of persecution. However, the blessings of God's rule are even greater. They far outweigh the suffering to be endured. That’s why they should hang on with everything they’ve got and follow Jesus.

Okay, that may explain the suffering part, but what about the “deny yourself” line? Exactly what is Jesus getting at? Let’s look at the first-century cultural context to get a handle on this question. Most Christians are ill-informed about the vast cultural differences that our modern society has with the ancient Middle East. To our modern ears the command to “deny yourself” sounds like a call to self-sacrifice. Today many do read this way—as a demand to deny your individual self and always put yourself last. But that is not how a person of the first-century would have heard it.

To begin with, their sense of self was so very different from ours. People in Jesus’ time had little, if any, idea of individual identity. Their sense of “self” was completely connected to their family. The question: “Who are you?” was really asking: “Who is your family?” That defines who you are. Families lived and worked together as a solid unit. If you left your family, you would have no identity and probably no means of earning a living. When I finished college, I had the desire to live in Montana. So I simply packed up my car and left—off to make my way in the world as a young adult. That kind of thing would be unheard of in ancient society. But that is precisely what Jesus was calling his followers to do.

In asking them to deny themselves, Jesus was asking them to leave their family unit in order to follow him. At one point in his ministry Jesus says: "'Who are my mother and my brothers?” He looks around at the group gathered and says: “Look, here are my mother and my brothers! For those who do the will of God, they are my brother and sister and mother.'" (Mark 3:33-35). To accept Jesus’ invitation— to leave their own families in order to join Jesus’ family was completely against societal expectations. It was a radical act, an act that threatened the social order of the entire empire. No wonder Jesus and his followers drew such fierce enemies.

Therefore, when read in the context of the first century and the overall message of Mark’s gospel, Mark 8:34 is not a command to suffer and be a victim in general. Not at all! It is an exhortation to remain faithful to Jesus and the liberating kingdom of God even in face of persecution by political authorities. It is an invitation to leave family and other alliances behind and become part of Jesus’ family first and foremost.

The question then remains: what does this mean for us today? We don’t have to stay in our family units to be socially accepted. Like I said, I myself ran off to a far away state to live and my parents did not disown me as they would have in ancient times. In fact, they were quite proud of me. Furthermore, we live in a country that has, as one of it’s pillars, freedom of religion. Here, we can follow Jesus all we want and never get arrested or executed for it.

These things put us in a totally different position from the first generation of disciples. Yet look what they accomplished! They turned from a ragtag group of misfits who were hiding out after the crucifixion of Jesus into zealous evangelists who spread the good news far and wide. Just as Jesus exhorted them, they were not deterred by political persecution or the threat of death. Like the story of Saint Paul I told you at the beginning of the sermon, they marched headlong into danger if it would further the mission. In short, they changed the world. We would never have heard of Jesus and his story of redemption had it not been for their courageous evangelism.

What’s our excuse? To deny ourselves and take up our crosses actually costs far less for us today than it did for the early disciples and yet we seem to follow with far less passion. Oh, we might alienate a friend by taking about faith too much or we might be known as “those” Christians but we honestly don’t have much to lose.

Do you want to follow Jesus? Then go for it! What does it take? Deny yourself—love Jesus, embrace him as your heart’s heart. He is your family even more than your own family and you owe him not part of all of your allegiance. Take up your cross—whatever it costs you is nothing next to the incomparable riches of following Christ and letting him lead you. If Peter, who was called Satan for his blunder can rise to the task of discipleship, so can you and I. The good news of God’s kingdom must be heard and it’s our job to share it. Amen.

DRIVEN BY THE SPIRIT

2009-03-01T09:00:00.000-08:00

A Sermon for the first Sunday of Lent

Pastor Laura Gentry

Mark 1:9-15

A little girl asked her mother, “Mom, where’d I come from?”
“God sent you,” said mom.
“Where did you come from?”
“God sent me.”
“How about Grandpa and Grandma?”
“God sent them.”
“Gee,” said the little girl. “There hasn’t been a normal birth in this family for 150 years!”

In today’s Gospel lesson we have Jesus, the one of extraordinary birth, doing something quite ordinary: he’s going into the wilderness.

In Mark’s Gospel there isn’t a whole lot said about this encounter. We simply read that he is baptized by John in the Jordan and then the Spirit of God drives him out into the wilderness where he is tempted for 40 days.

Now what kind of Spirit is this anyway? While Jesus is still dripping with the waters of baptism, it drives him out into the cruel, harsh wilderness of the Middle Eastern desert? Didn’t that same Spirit look really harmless a moment ago when it decended upon Jesus like a dove as God claimed him as his son? Now the Spirit picks up speed and pushes him like a gust of mighty wind. But we remember that this Spirit is powerful and it can do great things like in the vision Ezekiel has of the Valley of the Dry Bones. There the Spirit lifts dry, lifeless bones and gives them life again. It gives hope to a hopeless nation by promising God’s faithfulness.

Yes, Jesus is driven by the Spirit and now finds himself in the desolate desert with it’s life threatening climate and he is tempted by Satan not just for an afternoon, but for 40 days. Mark doesn’t tell us about the particular temptations Satan offers, as Matthew and Luke do. No, he just tells us that Jesus is there being tested.

Yet he does tell us a couple of very interesting things. First, that Jesus was not alone. He was with the wild beasts. And second that the angels waited on him.

Now this reference to the wild beasts in the wilderness makes us recall the words of the prophet Isaiah when he said: “Behold, I am about to do a new thing...I will make a way in the wilderness...and wild animals will honor me.” (Isaiah 43:19-20) This shows how Jesus is a fulfillment of ancient prophesy.

The aside about the angels is fascinating, isn’t it? They waited upon him—that is, they provided food for him. You can imagine an angel standing there in the desert with a notepad saying, “Okay Jesus, do you want fries with that?” Yes, even the Son with whom God is pleased needs help and is given it. The angels are there carrying him through this wilderness experience, especially as Satan hurls temptations at him. He is protected by these heavenly helpers.

And here we are in the midst of our own 40 day journey through the season of Lent with that same life-giving Spirit driving us. It is an opportunity to think about our own wildernesses. What troubles and temptations do we face? Do our loved ones face? Does our town face? Our country face? Our world face? It is all to easy to feel overwhelmed by all the things we must deal with. Just keeping our head above water is all we can do at times. The wild beasts are ever after us along with the presence of evil.

Nevertheless, we are driven by the Spirit of God. We are empowered by this life-giving Spirit who brings wisdom and wholeness and sends us angels just when we need them. In fact, God uses our wilderness experiences to strengthen and deepen our faith so that we will learn to hold fast to the faith that is within us.

This scripture ends with Jesus on the other side of the wilderness. Having survived these temptations, he rejoins civilization and moves around the Galilee with a powerful call to action. He cries: “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

We need to believe the good news. Our wildernesses are deep, complicated and debilitating. We find trouble at every turn, temptations when we least expect them, tests all the time. And so God says we must embrace God’s kingdom, which has come marvelously near us in Jesus Christ. We must repent of our old ways, turn to Christ and live. Really live.

Lent is more than just a time to give up watermelon or water skiing or whatever it is you may have given up. It is more than just a time to attend extra worship services. It is a sacred, 40 day journey that bids us walk with Jesus, to live his way, to repent and believe the good news. The Spirit of God is driving us on to more dedicated discipleship. No matter how many Lents we’ve journeyed through, the call remains as urgent as ever. Let us heed the call today: repent and believe the good news! Amen.

REMEMBER THAT YOU ARE DUST

2009-02-26T09:54:00.000-08:00

A sermon for Ash Wednesday

by Laura Gentry

Tonight marks the start of our Lenten season. You will soon be invited to come forward to receive the cross of ashes upon your forehead with those hard-hitting words “Remember that you are dust and to dust you shall return.” We are dust.

I was recently having a conversation with a person who is struggling with some addictions. Though he’s kicked one, he still has a few others to work on. “I don’t want to be that guy,” he told me. He can see himself clearly enough to know that he doesn’t want to go on being the person he’s been. In his own way, he knows that he is dust.

Each of us faces a struggle of this sort. We see our lives and sure we see our good points but if we look hard enough we have to say: I don’t want to be that person. I don’t want to be the person who walks so far from God, who is so self-centered and doubtful and helpless. But the truth is that’s what we are. We are dust.

And the message of Ash Wednesday is that it okay to be dust—to be a broken person in desperate need of help. That is why tonight we freely confess our sinfulness, our brokenness, and beg God for redemption.

Ashes in ancient times were used to show sinfulness. If you’d see a guy walking around with a cloud of gray ash so thick you couldn’t even recognize him, you would know that he was repenting for something. It was a ritualized way of showing the foulness of our sin, of our desperate need for God’s redemption.

But repentance is not so outwardly demonstrated these days, except for Ash Wednesday and you’ll be glad to know that we don’t dump a whole bucket of ash on your head like in olden days. We simply give you an ashen cross—made from the burnt palms of last year. We place the ash in the middle of your forehead. And this mark reminds you and everyone else that you are dust and to dust you shall return.

Lent invites us to spend the next 40 days repenting and engaging in prayer, fasting and almsgiving to prepare for Easter. These specific Lenten practices were devised for the purpose of putting you in communion with God.

And that’s what we want most of all. Our souls thirst for God. Our hearts are restless long to draw nearer God. We don’t want to be these people we are, who walk so far away from God. We want to be held in the heart of the divine. We want healing for our dustiness. And the scripture says to us that we are to return to God with our whole hearts.

We may have let a lot of Lenten seasons go by in the past, where we didn’t do much to draw near to God. We didn’t pray, fast or give alms and then wondered why Lent didn’t do anything for our spiritual life. This year, I urge you to seize this opportunity to turn to God with all your heart, to do whatever spiritual disciplines YOU need in order to put yourself in communion with God. Come to the Wednesday night sessions where you will learn practical, historically based practices that will help you do just that.

Lent is too important to sit out. We must dive right in and trust that God will work through our feeble, dusty efforts and will lift us to the joy divine. Amen.

The ceramic cross pendants were made by Pastor Laura Gentry. Each parishioner was given one as they recived the mark of ashes upon their forhead to serve as a reminder that we are dust and to dust we shall return.

GLIMPSE OF GLORY

2009-02-22T09:00:00.000-08:00

A Sermon for Transfiguration Sunday
February 22, 2009
by Pastor Laura Gentry
Mark 9:2-9

This morning, we celebrate Transfiguration Sunday. We hear Luke’s Gospel account of this amazing event in which Jesus takes Peter and James and John up the mountain with him and then is transfigured before their very eyes. His face changes and his clothes become dazzling white—whiter than anyone could bleach them. It sounds like we are talking about laundry in this translation. In the original Greek, however, this word is closer to “lightning.” Jesus clothes became so white they looked like lightning! That’s some pretty impressive pyrotechnics, now isn’t it?

Not only that, but the great Moses appears as does Elijah and the three of them begin to converse. Moses, who represents the law God gave to the people, and Elijah, who represents the prophets through whom God spoke and guided the people, appear from beyond the grave and talk with Jesus on the mountain top. No wonder the disciples are awed by the experience. The glory must have been completely overwhelming.

Though we hear this story every single year, I think it is hard for us to relate to. I mean we’ve never seen Jesus in person, let alone see him transfigured in all his glory. We get a sense of this scene being a spectacular, supernatural event of biblical times that is unfathomable to us in our modern world.

In this way, it is a difficult story to interpret. Peter doesn’t even seem to be able to interpret it correctly. With great enthusiasm (and not much insight), he says: "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” Now obviously this was the wrong response because even the gospel writer of Mark adds a commentary here even though he’s usually so concise. He says that Peter didn’t know what to say because they were terrified. By his remark, you see, Peter is saying that he wants the glory to continue. He doesn’t want Jesus to stop glowing or for Moses and Elijah to go away so he thinks if they can just get some dwellings constructed quickly for them to hang out in, they might stick around a while longer. This moment might last.

In older translations, it calls these dwellings "booths." I always pictured them as phone booths when I was a kid and wondered why in the world Peter would want to stick Moses and Elijah—the great figures of the Old Testament—in phone booths. Who are they going to call? Or does Peter want them to use the booths to transform into their super-hero likenesses or something? Unfortunately, my interpretation was all off because these dwellings he's suggesting are not the phone booth type, they are shrines. He wants to build religious shrines where Jesus and the other two can stay and be worshipped—just like the pagan deities of their time.

But it seems God doesn’t much like that shrine plan because in that moment, a cloud covers them and God’s voice says:"This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!" And then the transfiguration is over. No more bleachy-white lightning flashes and heros showing up from the dead to chat up Jesus. Nope. It’s gone. All is quiet. This was simply a glimpse of the glory of God.

In writing about this special event, Mark invites us to stand with Peter and James and John and encounter the lightning-laden glory of the transfiguration. Wow, Jesus really IS the son of God! Amazing! But Mark doesn’t want us to get fixated upon this event like Peter did, as if it were the only revelation of God’s glory that ever would be. No, Mark is showing us that in the transfiguration, Jesus pulls away the veil for just a moment reveals what our every day lives tend to hide: that we we are never far from the dazzling and miraculous glory of the eternal God.

This glory is too wonderful, too amazing to pin down. That’s why Peter couldn’t go through with his booth plan. You cannot turn the glory of God on and off like a faucet, as if it were something that humans control.

And this uncontrollable and marvelous glory didn’t end when John set down his pen after writing the final book of the bible. The incredible thing is that it is ongoing. Through the ages we’ve seen God’s glory continue. We’ve glimpsed glory in the survival and growth of the early Christian church. We’ve seen it in the saints and martyrs, who gave it all for the sake of the Gospel. We’ve seen it in the missionary zeal that continues to spread the good news around the globe.

We encounter this glory today whenever we see a breathtaking work of art or architecture or hear beautiful music or read a moving piece of literature. We experience God’s glory in nature. We see it in each glance at the mighty Mississippi that runs through our town. We see the glory of God in the gift of parents, children, friends, community.

God’s glory is all over the place and it is here to inspire us and fill us with awe. It is here to engage us and keep us steadfast in our faith. It calms us when we are filled with anxiety. It comforts us in our sorrows. It invigorates us to do God’s will.

God’s glory calls out to us in this very moment. How dare we think that the glory of the transfiguration was only for that ancient time and place? God’s glory is eager to set us free, to transform us into the image of God.

The transfiguration merely reminds that the veil that separates us from God’s revelation of glory is thin. This is what Paul is talking about in his letter to the Corinthians in our second lesson for today. In the chapter before, he talked about how Moses had to cover his face because it was still glowing from his encounter with God and how God’s people hardened their hearts and would not look upon the glory. And there are those who still veil their minds from God’s glory. But when we turn to God, the veil is removed. “And all of us,” he writes, “with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit.” In the reading for today, he says that the gospel is only veiled to those who are perishing but to those with the eyes of faith to see it, it is the light of Christ which shines in our hearts. This is why we have hope, why we do not lose heart, why we can and must act with boldness!

This Wednesday, we celebrate Ash Wednesday, which launches us into the 40-day season of Lent. This is the season of repentance—of turning our hearts back to God and walking with Jesus to the cross as we await his resurrection at Easter.

Today as we observe Transfiguration Sunday, we are given a foretaste of the Easter celebration. And we are invited to contemplate the glory of God in our own lives. It’s there. But do we perceive it? What can we do to unveil our minds so that we can truly be present to the times when God shows up? How can we participate more fully in the Spirit’s work to transform us into that same image of the transfigured Christ—to move us forward from one degree of glory to another?

Let us pray: Loving Jesus, we thank you for the glimpse of glory given to us in the Transfiguration and for the reminder that the more we unveil our minds, the more your glorious love will shine into our hearts. Prepare us for the Lenten season, that as we draw nearer to you, we may be transformed from one degree of glory to another. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.

© 2009 Laura Gentry

I DO CHOOSE

2009-02-15T09:01:00.000-08:00

A Sermon for the 6th Sunday of Epiphany
by Pastor Laura Gentry

Mark 1:40-45 • 1 Kings 5:1-14 • Psalm 30

It is practically impossible for us to comprehend how horrible it was to be a leper in biblical times. People had no idea how this ugly and painful disease was spread. It struck fear in their hearts. And how did they handle this paralyzing fear? They totally isolated those who showed signs of infection.

According to the Levitical laws, lepers were considered unclean and forced to live outside the city. As late as Medieval times, a priest would read the burial service over the leper before he or she was cast out of the city, doomed to die alone. It seems outrageous to us today, but those sick with leprosy in the ancient world had to live in large unlivable pits, far away from civilization.

So not only did lepers have physical pain, they lived with the emotional pain of being abandoned by their family and friends in their dying days. In today’s reading Jesus has a brief encounter with one such person. Here is a man who had lost hope. Yet, he has heard about Jesus and it fills him with hope again. Lepers weren’t even supposed to approach the healthy, yet this man comes directly to Jesus and says, “If you choose, you can make me clean.” The audacity of his faith is striking.

The ancient audience would expect Jesus to toss rocks at the leper to keep him at bay. That was what normally happened in such a circumstance. Yet, Jesus does the unexpected. He does not rebuff this leper. In fact, he is so moved by compassion that he breaks the religious law by stretching out his hand and physically touching the man. He reaches out to him in more ways than one. Then Jesus says: "I do choose. Be made clean!" And the man is healed instantly.

In the reading from the I King, we hear a similar story of a leper being healed through the power of God. In it, Naaman, an enemy military commander, is given words of wisdom by the prophet Elisha that he is to immerse himself in the Jordan River 7 times. Now Naaman’s got a bad attitude, but at length he agrees to follow these instructions and is immediately made clean. This demonstrates how God’s healing power knows no limits. Even God’s enemies are given mercy and healing! And perhaps this news is even more miraculous than the fact that Naaman’s leprosy disappears.

Today’s Psalm gives voice to the joy God’s healing can bring. “O LORD my God,” says the Psalmist, “I cried to you for help, and you have healed me. O LORD, you brought up my soul from Sheol, restored me to life from among those gone down to the Pit. Sing praises to the LORD, O you his faithful ones, and give thanks to his holy name. For his anger is but for a moment; his favor is for a lifetime. Weeping may linger for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” This Psalm concludes with the profound cry of faith: “You have turned my mourning into dancing; you have taken off my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, so that my soul may praise you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks to you forever.”

And today, there is great cause for the people of God to not be silent but rejoice and give thanks. Why? Because today a great healing is about to take place, which we will be privileged enough to witness. I’m talking about baptism. In this holy sacrament, we are adopted into God’s joyful family. We are healed of our sin through the gift of forgiveness. And we are promised deliverance from death and the devil forever. Can there be a more marvelous healing? Can there be a sweeter balm for our mourning souls? No. In baptism, we are all transformed into happy, dancing people.

For many of us, this healing took place before we were consciously aware. We were infants at the font and we only learned about the healing of baptism years after the event. Today, however, we have the rare opportunity to witness an adult baptism. Jamie Horkheimer has been walking with Jesus for quite a long time and has developed an active worship life. Yet, the Holy Spirit has led him to seek a deeper fellowship with his Savior. Jamie wants to have the assurance that he is accepted by God and promised the gift of eternal love. In asking to be baptized, he is saying to Jesus precisely what the leper in the Gospel lesson said: “If you choose, you can make me clean.”

Jamie is crying out with the Psalmist for healing. His soul wants transformation so that he may be fully God’s own—filled with peace and joy that pass understanding. He wants his mourning to give way to dancing. And that’s what all of us want, isn’t it?

So many times the harsh waves of life come crashing over us and we feel lost and alone in the universe, like drowning souls. We sense our own helplessness. We run aimlessly and box at the air, unable to live as we know we should live.

Yet no matter how far we have moved from God’s way, there is grace for us. There is compassion. There is healing and rebirth. And so in faith we cry out to Jesus: “Won’t you choose to save us!”

And Jesus responds with unbelievable compassion. He reaches out to each one of us and says: “I do choose. Be made clean!” Let us dance for joy at this miracle today and every day. Amen.

© 2009 Laura E. Gentry

HEALED TO SERVE

2009-02-09T07:36:00.000-08:00

A Sermon for the 5th Sunday after Epiphany
by Pastor Laura Gentry

Mark 1:29-39

Healed by faith. Is it possible? In Lourdes, France, there is a world famous Roman Catholic shrine at which the Blessed Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to a saintly young woman named Bernadette a century and a half ago. Thousands of pilgrims throng the shrine every year, hoping to be cured of their ailments. Over the decades, people have left behind their crutches, braces and other tokens of healing as witnesses to God’s power to make them well.

Some say it’s a total sham—that Lourdes and other such places are just tourist traps with no power at all. If a “healing” occurs, they claim it is either pure coincidence or the placebo effect. And with all the modern therapeutic advances, time and money would be better spent visiting medical experts.

What ever you think about modern day faith healing stories, healing is an essential element of the Gospel message. Christians of all denominations have embraced the scenes of healing found throughout the bible.

The ministry of Jesus is particularly loaded with healing. He heals from the very start. In the gospel of Mark, Jesus calls the disciples and then immediately cures a man with an unclean spirit. In today’s lesson, he leaves the synagogue, and enters the house of Simon and Andrew where he find Simon’s mother-in-law in bed with a fever. So what does he do? Of course, he heals her. He takes her by the hand and lifts her up—quite literally. She stands up beside him and her fever leaves. It seems to me that she must have been from Iowa since doesn’t delay a moment after being healed—she gets right back to work in the kitchen.

Like others whom Jesus touched withhis healing, he gives this woman a second chance. He gives hope where there is no hope. In an instant, healing brought freedom from physical debility and not only that, it brought inner change. No wonder “the whole city was gathered” at Jesus’ door. The scene was probably not that much different from contemporary Lourdes at pilgrimage time. People flock to healing.

But healing was never an end unto itself in the ministry of Jesus. In his very first words, as recorded by Mark, Jesus proclaimed, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near.” Healing is but a foretaste of the coming of a kingdom that transcends this world of pain and death. And most importantly, this kingdom, Jesus demonstrated, is here within anyone’s grasp, not in some far off place. It has come near.

We are all still in need of healing—physical and otherwise. Everyone seems to be searching for something to improve their lives. These days, the web seems to be overrun with an obnoxious banner ad for some diet plan. The ad is an animated jiggling belly. You try to read the news page and all you see out of the corner of your eye is this wiggling belly. You can't ignore it! And it is trying to make you think: is my belly okay? Does it wiggle and jiggle like this horrible ad? Must I click the ad and go buy this diet plan that will make my belly suitable to be seen in public? But all makeovers and the latest fad diets the world offers cannot assure us of happiness and fulfillment. Real transformation, as understood in the Gospel, has nothing to do with belly fat. It is about our need to for God's healing. We must embrace our own ultimate frailty and death so that we can recognize our need for grace.

I remember reading the story about the Egyptian ferry that sunk in the Red Sea in February of 2006. Only 388 people of the 1,400 on board were rescued. Because the boat sunk so quickly, most of the lifeboats went down with it. The ferry captain apparently was able to get one of those boats but reportedly rowed away from the drowning wreck in it all by himself. He just abandoned his passengers in their time of greatest need.

I think a lot of people fear that God is like that runaway captain, that we can't quite trust that God will always be there for us. What if I'm just not good enough? What if my sins become to vast? What if the bottom falls out of my life? Will God still love me? Will God still be there for me? As humans, it is hard to trust such unconditional love. But we can be assured that God is nothing like the captain who rowed from the wreck by himself. God is always here for us, no matter how far we stray. God holds us close, offering healing for our brokeness again and again.

In the English language the words healing, health, wholeness and wellness all share the same etymological root, meaning full or complete. At whatever state of health we may be, we must recognize our deficiencies, our incompleteness. We need something or someone beyond ourselves and without it we know we are not complete. We are missing something. We are forever longing. We need God’s strength not just to make us well, but to make us whole.

Jesus “cast out many demons.” In our quest for wholeness, we face demons too—habits and behaviors that lead to ruin and self-defeat, sometimes even to death itself. Yet despite these demons, we press on for wholeness, for oneness with God. And healing is about God showing up in the midst of our pain and making that oneness possible. Jesus took Simon’s mother-in-law by the hand and raised her up from her sickbed, and she was made well. She must have understood, as no one else, the meaning of the kingdom and oneness with the Lord. And that closeness and oneness is ours to have as well.

How can you know when you have been healed? Seems like a silly question. For many, the answer is obvious: when the pain is gone, the fever has come down, and the disease is no more. But the Gospel gives a better answer. “The fever left her,” we are told of Peter’s mother-in-law, “and she began to serve them.” As she was healed, she immediately began to serve others. When we are ready to help others in their need and focus once again outside ourselves we will know that we too have been cured. We will no longer be slaves to our own hurts and resentments. We will at last be made whole.

My friends, our captain is with us—reaching out to save us. Let us heed Jesus’ invitation today to be healed and to share that healing by serving others.

Now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.

© 2009 Laura E. Gentry