Devotion for Sermon 3

Devotion for Sermon 3:

“The Lord God appointed a bush, and made it come up over Jonah, to give shade over his head, to save him from his discomfort; so Jonah was very happy about the bush.”

“Take what belongs to you and go; I choose to give to this last the same as I give to you. Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to me? Or are you envious because I am generous?’ So the last will be first, and the first will be last.”

“I believe in the Holy Spirit; one holy catholic Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.”

Take time to answer these questions, to think on these questions, and to let your answers move you. Feel free to blog your answers, write your answers in a journal, or simply keep them in your mind.

• Think / Reflect on different ways Christians talk about the Holy Spirit.
• Have you ever felt like God had left you? How did you overcome this experience? 
• Have you ever been in a situation where someone received something and you felt that it was unfair? How did that make you feel?
• Think / Reflect on the fact the God gives grace to all of God’s children, even the ones you don’t like and the ones to whom you think it’s wasted. How can we overcome these feeling? What role does intentionality play?

Prayer:

O Spirit of the Living God, 

Give me strength to live our my days for you. Help me to serve. Help me to love. Take jealousy from my heart and help me to live for you alone. 

In the name of the sustainer, 

Amen

Sermon 3

The Third Article.

Of Sanctification.

I believe in the Holy Spirit; one holy catholic Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen.

What does this mean?—Answer.

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with [His] gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as [He] calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in which Christian Church [He] forgives daily and richly all sins to me and all believers, and at the last day will raise up me and all the dead, and will give to me and to all believers in Christ everlasting life. This is most certainly true.

Sermon 3 (Article 3):

Matthew 20:1-16

Jonah 4:1-8

Audio Available: https://youtu.be/LQqZHVSyg9s

Let’s be honest about the gospel reading for today—Jesus tells a parable about a land owner who pays everyone the same amount no matter if they started working early in the morning or late in the evening. This is ridiculous! It’s hard for us to hear this parable because this is not how our economic systems work, this is not how our world or our lives work. Our world is one where people are paid according to their work—according to the amount of effort they put forth. We live in a world where we are expected to accomplish something before we get to feel good about ourselves. In this world you’ve got to earn things!!!

I can’t help but consider the American Dream when I consider one’s efforts and the supposed reward.

The American Dream— is the ethos or essence of the United States, a set of ideals in which freedom includes the opportunity for prosperity and an upward mobility achieved through hard work and determination. James Truslow Adams, an American historian from the early 20th century writes, "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement”. 

How many times have people told us, “Life isn’t fair” and how many times have we groaned in knowing that they’re right but also in exasperation for how arbitrary the whole concept is!

I think we can come up with tons of reason why life isn’t fair. Life isn’t fair because the rich get richer and the poor, well they get poorer. Spouses and children are beaten by individuals who claim to love them, people die before they ought, bombs fall from the sky on the innocent heads of children who have nothing to do with the politics which brought the bombs in the first place, people who never touched a cigarette receive a terminal lung cancer diagnosis, people who worked long and hard for their churches and communities are struck down by disease… From these things we can easily conclude that life is not fair…

Life isn’t fair because we live in a broken world. We live in a world ravaged by sin and death. The enemy fights against God’s goodness and love and brings trial and tribulation to our lives—day in and day out. 

I think Jonah gives us a wonderful insight into how we react to the world around us…. Jonah is angry and goes out of the city and sits in the hot sun. God knows that Jonah won’t get any happier sitting in the sun so God calls forth a bush to shade Jonah’s head. Jonah is happy about the bush and feels a bit better but then night falls and the next morning God destroys the bush. AND Jonah is MAD! Jonah calls out that God should just kill him. God talking to Jonah is like a parent talking to an angsty teenager. Jonah didn’t do anything to deserve the shade, yet God provided it, and when God took the shade from Jonah he was so angry as to wish himself dead. 

How often do we see ourselves playing the role of Jonah? We get angry with God … it happens right in the beginning when Adam and Eve eat the apple Adam says, “It was the woman you gave me! God you’re at fault!” We feel that we have so many reasons to be angry with God, maybe even on a daily basis.  

So life in this world isn’t fair… We blame God, we blame others, and we blame ourselves…

And yet the parable from our Gospel reading today isn’t telling us what our world is like…. we don’t need parables to tell us what our world is like… we can see it all around us. We see the winner takes all mentality, we see money and resources being hoarded by individuals in power, we see the hungry and thirsty, we see that some people who came into the world the same way that you and I did are left homeless and heartbroken.

HERE, in this parable, Jesus tells us what the KINGDOM of Heaven is like…

It’s so hard for us to understand grace and to believe GRACE because of the way our society is set up. We don’t believe that we have done enough to be worthy of God’s unending grace and mercy. We’ve done nothing to deserve GRACE and we’ve done everything to NOT DESERVE GRACE. In continuing our look at the Creed — in the third article of the creed we say, “I believe in the Holy Spirit; one holy catholic Church, the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting.”

Luther writes, 

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to [Him]; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with [His] gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith; even as [He] calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith; in which Christian Church [He] forgives daily and richly all sins to me and all believers, and at the last day will raise up me and all the dead, and will give to me and to all believers in Christ everlasting life. This is most certainly true.

This is my favorite part of the Creed or any theology period. It gives an incredible amount of hope. I believe that I cannot believe! BUT the HOLY SPIRIT makes me believe, propels me to believe, leads me into service of my bothers and sister, and sustains me! We are forgiven and loved children of God. We are made new by God, day after day. And we are gifted with God’s grace to pull us out of the webs that sin spins around us.

The beauty of grace, my friends, is that it makes life not fair…. For Matthew, the vineyard is the Christian community and those who join early or late will be treated the same. They will be treated as equals!! Jesus is trying to convey to the people that eternal life- - -life forever with God- - - is not a result of human merit… it is a FREE gift from GOD. 

A free gift. It’s not like the usual gift. You don’t get it on your birthday or Christmas… it’s a gift that comes totally unmerited and undeserved. It’s a gift that come totally unwrapped and you have no opportunity to reject it. It’s like falling in love… it happens suddenly and you have no control over it. 

You see, if we have to earn grace, Christ’s role is diminished because reason and philosophy can lead individuals to do good works… BUT we are led by the law, by the dos and don’ts of the Bible, to the foot of the cross… Where the Holy Spirit allows us to see what Christ has already done for us!!!

Weekly we hear the absolution, we hear that “the grass withers and the flowers faded but the word of our God will stand forever. Through that living Word, Jesus Christ, God forgives our every debt, our every sin, and gives us new hearts and a new Spirit.” —- As the Apostle Paul tells us, “Faith comes through hearing…” In the hearing of this message week after week we are reminded that there is no sin that God will not forgive. 

IS THAT IT? Just those few words?? — Yep! That’s it! We are forgiven of every sin on account of Christ’s faithfulness week after week, day after day, minute after minute… we can hardly believe our ears! Now we can say to ourselves….”God forgives me, despite all of my unworthiness, pulls me in and over and over says you are mine you filthy yet holy little human.” 

Amen.

Devotion for Sermon 2

Devotion for Sermon 2:

“All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left.”

“I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; He shall come to judge the living and the dead.”

Take time to answer these questions, to think on these questions, and to let your answers move you. Feel free to blog your answers, write your answers in a journal, or simply keep them in your mind.

• Think / Reflect on what it means to be a sheep, goat, goat in sheep clothing, both at different times.
• Is God calling us to live into the reality of sheep/goat? Is God calling us to own who we are—our brokenness and our wholeness? 
• How has God moved you from a place of brokenness to wholeness? Think about examples of this is your life and reflect on your feelings before, during, and after. Did you realize that God was restoring you while it was happening?

Prayer:

O God, My Redeemer

You have called me out of darkness into light. You have restored the brokenness in me. Continue to restore me and make me whole. Redeem me daily for I so easily fall apart. Give me your strength and newness of life. 

In the name of the one who saves, 

Amen 

Sermon 2

The Second Article.

Of Redemption.

And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

What does this mean?—Answer.

I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won [delivered] me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, in order that I may be [wholly] His own, and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.

Sermon 2 (Article 2):

Matthew 25:31-46

Ephesians 1:15-23

Audio Available: https://youtu.be/TLCUrKVhyg8

I’m afraid I have to make a confession—I’m a goat. I’m not as secure about grace as I may lead on. There are times when I see an apocalyptic television show or movie when I think… I hope I’m not going to wind up in hell. According to Dante, I would be located in various different rings of hell because I’m a sinner and I do a lot of sinning! There are many times when I hear fundamentalist Christians preaching about the end of the world where I think, maybe they’re right—maybe I am going to hell. 

The Devil sneaks down and comes right up to my ear and says, “Hey, God doesn’t love you.” “Lauren, Grace isn’t actually free, the Lutherans are wrong, you gotta work!” I’m sure all of you have experienced the Devil’s tricks—insecurity welling up within yourself—and you start to think to yourself, “I’m not good enough”. 

On average people have 50-70,000 thoughts per day and 70-80% of those thoughts are negative thoughts. It’s amazing how many insecure or negative thoughts each person has each day…. So why would we think we are good enough? We doubt that we’re good enough for our partners and friends—how could we ever think that we’re good enough for GOD?

From the gospel reading for this morning I can’t help but think about this high and mighty king who has come to judge poor little me—the sinner that I am. There are times that I walk away from a project directed at individuals on the margins—homeless, addicts, etc. where I pat myself on the back and think—I am doing what Jesus would want. There are times when I go to the mall and I think, Jesus would be so mad about this whole consumer culture. When I think these things, when I refrain from buying superfluous junk at the mall, I pat myself on the back and think, “Look how good I am!” 

Don’t get me wrong. It feels good to help people. It feels good to volunteer. It feels good to feed people, clothe people, and give people shelter. It feels good! That’s not wrong—it’s not wrong to feel good when you look outside yourself and help people. I think that’s exactly what Jesus asks us to do. Jesus tells the parable of the sheep and goats. Neither the sheep nor the goats realize that they are sheep or goats. They don’t realize that Jesus is in their midst. They don’t realize that Jesus is in every person on the fringes of society. Jesus specifically comes to be with the poor and the outcast! The disciples, religious leader, and other individuals in first-century Palestine are surprised over and over again by where Jesus shows up and who Jesus decides to associate with…

So why can’t we rest assured in grace and serve just because we’re propelled to serve by the Holy Spirit. I think we have a security problem—no not a social security problem, thought we also have that problem—but we have a salvation security problem. Sin, death, and the Devil has us running scared—it has us second guessing who we are and more importantly who’s we are!

As you already know— we are having a three week sermon series that focuses on the creed. It can be easy to just say the words of the creed without even thinking about what we’re saying—I know I’m guilty of that! When we say the second article of the creed we say, 

I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven, and sits at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; He shall come to judge the living and the dead.

It seems straightforward: We are Christians, we believe in Jesus as God’s son. We believe that Jesus came, lived, died, rose and will come again. Luther writes, 

I believe that Jesus Christ, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true [man], born of the Virgin Mary, is my Lord, who has redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature, purchased and won [delivered] me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver, but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, in order that I may be [wholly] His own, and live under Him in His kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, even as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. This is most certainly true.

The key word here for Luther is redeemed. God redeems us through Jesus, our Lord. God comes to earth and dies on a cross for US! So that we can be made free! So that sin no longer has a hold on us!! Luckily I’m a goat in sheep clothing…. Luckily we are all goats in sheep clothing!  Luckily Jesus keeps showing up in ways I would have never expected. Think about how King Jesus could have come to Athens or one of the other prominent cities, but Jesus shows up in Bethlehem, in a stable, in a manger, in dirt and animal feed. The people are surprised to find out where the Christ hangs out. In this parable, I think Jesus has more to say than “you are a sheep or you are a goat.” Jesus comes to say, “Hey sheep, hey goats—I’m here with you always.” 

If we want to experience God’s presence fully we must look in the suffering of ourselves and our brothers and sisters. The only way that we, humans, have even been able to connect to God fully and deeply is in the scandal of the cross. Jesus doesn’t invite us to meet God on the top of the mountain. We don’t have to do various good deeds in order to get to a level where God is willing to see us. God comes down off the mountain and meets us in our exasperation, in our pain, in our shame, in our guilt… in the messiest mess we’ve ever been—God meets us there!

I know the media and other Christians spend a lot of time talking about Jesus’ return, talking about Jesus coming to earth, coming back… but I want you all to keep in mind that Jesus is here now! Jesus has never left us. Jesus will remain with us always. Our God is a God that comes down over and over, our God is a God that keeps coming back, and our God loves us more than we can fathom or ever understand. Let’s sing of that great day when all will be one and God will reign in heaven and earth—but let’s keep welcoming the presence of Jesus into our midst—every hour of everyday! 

Amen.

Devotion for Sermon 1

Devotion for Sermon 1:

“This at last is bone of my bones

    and flesh of my flesh;

this one shall be called Woman,

    for out of the man this one was taken.”

“I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.”

Take time to answer these questions, to think on these questions, and to let your answers move you. Feel free to blog your answers, write your answers in a journal, or simply keep them in your mind.

• Think/Reflect on a time that God’s image on you was apparent.
• What does it mean to be created in God’s image?
• When you know that you’re created in God’s image does that change the way you live your life?
• How does this relate to the first article of the Creed?
• How might you understand God’s story of creation and the stories that science (Big Bang Theory) tells us? How can God’s narrative work alongside scientific understandings?

Prayer:

O God, My Creator

You have created me in your image. Help me to live out your Word in my life. Restore your creation: plants, animals, sea, sky, and me. 

In the name of the one who lives,

Amen.

Credal Sermon Series (Sermon 1)

The First Article.

Of Creation.

I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.

What does this mean?—Answer.

I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my limbs, my reason, and all my senses, and still preserves them; in addition thereto, clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and homestead, wife and children, fields, cattle, and all my goods; that He provides me richly and daily with all that I need to support this body and life, protects me from all danger, and guards me and preserves me from all evil; and all this out of pure, fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me; for all which I owe it to Him to thank, praise, serve, and obey Him. This is most certainly true.

Sermon 1 (Article 1):

Genesis 2:4-25

Psalm 24

Matthew 22:15-22

Audio Available: https://youtu.be/IT16OxT7FUA

The exchange between Jesus and the group of individuals—people who were not his biggest fans—is at the very least, interesting. They attempt to trap Jesus! They try to get Jesus to say that taxes should be paid (and consequently anger the Pharisees) or say taxes shouldn’t be paid (and anger the government officials). Jesus has a choice to make, but Jesus manages to spin the question onto the Pharisees and Herodians. Jesus asks, “Who’s head is on the coin and what is his title” and the group responds “The emperor’s” and cleverly Jesus asserts “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s and to God the things that are God’s.” 

Ah! I see what you did there, Jesus! Because Jesus knows that everything is God’s. Like Paul says in his first Letter to the church in Corinth (echoing Psalm 24), "The earth is the Lord's, and everything in it." What is interesting to consider is what this tax was for… the tax in question is the imperial tax. This specific tax was used by the Roman government to continue the occupation of 1st-century Palestine. In a sense, the Jews were paying their oppressor to oppress them…

Jesus asks about the image on the coin. I don’t think Jesus is asking us to declare our allegiance but reminding us who’s image is already imprinted on us from the creation of the universe. God says, “This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one shall be called Woman, for out of Man this one was taken.” We are part of God—made in God’s image, yet not left to our own devices…Fortunately, we don’t mark our allegiances to God, instead God marks God’s allegiance to us! God makes us in God’s image. We are imprinted forever with the image of God no matter where we live, when we live, if we are democrat or republican, male or female, gay or straight, white or black or brown…

What belongs to God? We live in a society that makes us want to claim the things that we feel like we’ve earned. I like to think that my clothing are mine because I bought them and I wear them and I store them, I like to think that my 50” television is mine because again I worked hard to buy it. I mean saying my TV or clothing belong to God is pointless, right? I mean, God doesn’t need a TV or clothing or anything for that matter. So what does it mean to say everything we have belongs to God?

The first article of the creed, which we will recite in whole a little later this morning, goes like this: “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.” This statement is one that can just wash over us because we hear it so often. Sure, we believe that God created heaven and earth, but what does that really mean. Luther, the theologian for whom our church is named and by whom our church was founded says this, 

"I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my limbs, my reason, and all my senses, and still preserves them; in addition thereto, clothing and shoes, meat and drink, house and homestead, wife and children, fields, cattle, and all my goods; that He provides me richly and daily with all that I need to support this body and life, protects me from all danger, and guards me and preserves me from all evil; and all this out of pure, fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me; for all which I owe it to Him to thank, praise, serve, and obey Him. This is most certainly true."

What belongs to God? What belongs to God, and what belongs to Caesar? And what if Caesar is Hitler, or apartheid, or global climate change, or poverty? What is to be the attitude of Christians toward domination systems, whether ancient or modern? God provides us with everything… including the coins with Caesar’s face. Everything belongs to God even if we don’t recognize it, or if we don’t want to recognize it, or if we forget….

I think what Jesus is getting at is that our identities, the things that make up who we are, all those things are to be rendered or given back to the creator. What is beneath all of these categories and things belongs to God (below the surface), what is deep within us… that is God’s! The identity that God has created within us, first and foremost as Child of God, shapes what we do with the freedom that God has given us in the death and resurrection of Jesus. The Spirit of God lives in us and continues forming us and urging us to be the people God created and calls us to be. We are stewards of ourselves, our time, our possessions… we give God what God has already given to us… We serve in various ways according to our various gifts. 

Despite our attempts to make things the way we want to make them—God is moving and changing everything all the time! God created us and will sustain us!

The coin might belong to Caesar but the people, they belong to God! 

Amen

Global Climate Change & Digital Platforms

I would engage these different aspects of global climate change (seen below) with aspects of faith. Stewardship of the environment is biblically grounded, and is arguably a bipartisan issue (because of its additional grounding in scientific evidence).

Jeremiah 2:7 - And I brought you into a plentiful land to enjoy its fruits and its good things. But when you came in, you defiled my land and made my heritage an abomination.

Genesis 2:15 - The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.

Nehemiah 9:6 - “You are the Lord, you alone. You have made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all that is on it, the seas and all that is in them; and you preserve all of them; and the host of heaven worships you.

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Real life examples of the effect of climate change on everyday life is vital in helping people understand how critical a time we are in concerning global climate change.

The way that global climate change impacts human rights and human dignity is a way of communicating climate change in a way that might move people to consider our influence on the planet.

Expressing how dire a situation is can be impactful and important for people to recognize. It is important that these headlines, tagline, or statuses are concise and straight-forward. 

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Twitter is more complicated because there are character limits, yet fortunately this is helpful in keeping communication concise. Again, human rights and their relationship to global climate change is important to express. Climate change is not simply about hotter weather. Climate change is bigger than any of us realize.

Pictures are helpful in expressing messages about controversial issues, especially climate change. This image shows major glacial decrease, which can impact individuals because it is visual and easily accessible (no reading necessary).

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Charts are helpful in showing statistics quickly. I am not sure that they're always the best way to show information about climate change because I think they can shut people off, but often times charts and graphs are able to communicate information quickly and efficiently. 

Again, pictures are able to quickly express an idea. It can be difficult to know what a picture means, but a picture combined with a short description can be helpful for individuals to understand the necessity of action concerning global climate change.

My example of faith in action on digital platforms:

In addition this blog will be live and hopefully influence people in their understanding of global climate change, faith, and digital platforms.