There is something sacred about Sundays. Of course, coming from a pastor, that may not sound too terribly surprising. If, as people of faith, we didn’t feel some sort of sacred attachment to this day we probably wouldn’t be sitting here right now. But for clergy Sundays are a little different; Sunday mornings, and sometimes other parts of the day too, these are work days. Now don’t get me wrong, I love playing an active role in worship. So much so I made a significant mid-life career change to do a lot more of it. But Sundays, for clergy, well, they are indeed work days.

And when that big workday Sunday morning is over, and after forgiving and preaching and communing and blessing and smiling and shaking hands with a few hundred people, this particular pastor does as many pastors do; he heads home and crashes on the couch. And, during Sunday afternoons in the Fall, from late September to the end of the year I spend that time sitting alongside my wife enjoying some NFL football.

For the last couple of years, and definitely the last several weeks, NFL games have been experienced a little differently than usual, both for our family and tens of millions of others in the US. Instead of just focusing on the game itself, there’s a national conversation about what happens before the game. If you’ve been anywhere close to a newspaper, or a newscast, or social media, or had even coffee with friends this past month you likely know *exactly* what I’m talking about. We’re talking about conversations of standing, kneeling or linking arms. Conversations of flags, veterans, and patriotism. Conversations of skin color, equality, and justice. These conversations all stem from what does, or does not, happen in the two minutes leading up to that opening kickoff on the gridiron.

And, selfishly speaking, I really just want to relax and watch some football.

But if there is anything divisive about this message, please Lord let it be this: as for me and my house, we will root for the Chicago Bears.  Not the Minnesota Vikings, not the Green Bay Packers. And certainly not the New England Patriots. The CHICAGO BEARS. So if you find yourself rooting for an NFL team whose colors are not dark navy and orange, well, you’re rooting for the wrong team. Tho no worries, you are also forgiven. You are loved. But you are not rooting for the right team. We’ll have to agree to disagree, at least on that.

So what do conversations of football and flags, standing and kneeling, skin color and justice have to do with our scripture reading today? Stay tuned, we’ll come back to that a bit later.

The Five Solas
For the past six weeks we’ve been celebrating, via sermon series and a ton of related events, the 500th anniversary of the Protestant Reformation. We’ve had fun trying out new greetings like Good Morning Saints! Good Morning Sinners! Both, for all of us, at all times, are true. We’ve talked of another paired paradox, a staple of Lutheran identity, law and gospel. The law condemns, the gospel frees; we live in the tension between the two.

And, for the last four weeks, we’ve learned some Latin together, including Sola Scriptura, Sola Fide, Sola Gratia, and Solus Christus. These mean, in English, scripture alone, faith alone, grace alone, Christ alone. Taken together these solas represent the core of protestant Christianity. And when taken together they lead nicely to the last of the five solas, Soli Deo Gloria, or Glory to God Alone.

Soli Deo Gloria

In reformation times there was a perception that the Catholic Church lifted up many figures, from Mary the mother of Jesus, to the saints, to the angels, all higher than perhaps they should be lifted. This lifting up of some people over others carried into reformation-era society as well, from the popes to the church hierarchy all the way down to the average citizen. The church of this time arguably operated as more of an ivory tower of sorts, as an intellectual pursuit.

Again, imagine what it must feel like to speak one language all week and go to church and hear another language, a language that you don’t understand. This intellectual pursuit, while absolutely of value, when prioritized above all else, had the effect of disconnecting the church from practical concerns of everyday life.

And this concern certainly concerned Martin Luther.

Luther, who we enjoy celebrating as Lutherans, had a very good grasp of soli Deo gloria. In fact he was so sensitive to who should receive glory he’d really rather we all go by another name. Less than five years after the launch of the protestant reformation, in 1517, his followers began to be mockingly called “Lutherans” – a label those followers happily embraced. But Luther wanted none of that, writing in 1522:

“I ask that men make no reference to my name; let them call themselves Christians, not Lutherans. What is Luther? After all, the teaching is not mine. Neither was I crucified for anyone. St. Paul, in 1st Corinthians 3, would not allow the Christians to call themselves Pauline or Petrine, but Christian. How then should I—poor stinking maggot-fodder that I am—come to have men call the children of Christ by my wretched name? Not so, my dear friends; let us abolish all party names and call ourselves Christians, after him whose teaching we hold… I hold, together with the universal church, the one universal teaching of Christ, who is our only master.” (LW, vol. 45, pp 70–71)

Poor stinking maggot-fodder that I am, I love Luther’s playful use of language here, just gorgeous. Let us abolish all party names and call ourselves Christians, Luther writes. Hold on to that notion as well, let it linger in your mind, just a bit.

Scriptural perspective
Today’s scripture passage from Philippians also speaks clearly to this notion of soli Deo gloria. First, in chapter 2 verses 3-5, Paul gives a four part cliff-notes version of what it to be Christian.

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1. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. Very good words to live by.
2. In humility regard others as better than yourselves. Egad that can be tough.
3. Look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Yikes! This isn’t getting any easier.
4. Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ. What an aspiration. Lord, please make it so.

Paul then goes on to describe what it is to be of the same mind as Christ. Though he was in the form of God, Christ emptied himself, Paul writes, taking human form, the form of a slave. And he humbled himself, obedient even to the point of death on the cross.
And from that, Paul concludes, God exalted him, giving him the name above all names. A name that, when spoken, every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess, that, to the glory of God, Jesus Christ is Lord.

We could almost end the message right there, give it a hearty AMEN!, and call it a day. But I can’t. At least not yet.

Football
I can’t because when I hear that phrase, every knee shall bow, my mind wanders, back to Sunday afternoons and the NFL. More specifically it wanders to the two minutes leading up to opening kickoff.

I can’t give a hearty amen right now because as I watch, as you watch, as we watch, every knee is not bowed. Every anthem is not stood for. Every arm is not linked together in unity.

And if you’re not familiar with this particular football-related national dialogue, that’s ok, there are plenty more examples to draw from. If you would, briefly consider these words, and see what images and opinions bubble up from within you: Charlottesville, Puerto Rico, Las Vegas. Tweets, immigrants, which lives matter, which do not. What you find yourself thinking, and believing about each of these is likely different from the person sitting next to you.

We remain, and have for a while, a nation divided. And that isn’t likely to change any time soon. At least with the current track we’re on.

Our media has perhaps oversimplified the issue, forcing us to choose a side to this national football dialogue; either stand for the flag, or bow for justice. What is a very necessary conversation, when mixed with divisive politics, and blended with a favorite sporting pastime, well then it becomes a dangerous, caustic, painful brew.

We can’t just watch some football.

And maybe, if we’re honest with ourselves, maybe we never really could.

Close
So, instead of those starting points, of football and politics, of kneeling, standing or linking, of race, equality and justice, I’d like to propose something:  Choose a different starting point. Start with soli Deo gloria, glory to God alone.

With that starting point, as Christians, every knee should bow, every tongue confess, that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. And then, after bowing your knees, in prayer, take another look at the world. Look at the world both as it is – fallen, broken, in need of some fixing – and compare it, through scripture, to how Christ wants it to be. Where not just some, but all of God’s children are valued, loved, and cared for. And then go, and participate, in that reformation, in 2017, to make it so.  Amen.

A homily about super powers, wealth and you, as seen through the lens of Luke 16:19-31

With great power comes great responsibility. You may recognize this famous line from Spiderman, it first appeared in the 1962 comic book Amazing Fantasy #15. In this comic, the first to feature Spidey himself, Peter Parker, a somewhat normal teenager at the time, is bitten by a radiation-infused spider. This spider bite gives Peter super strength and agility, and a super cool outfit too.

Peter Parker, as Spiderman, can now cling to surfaces, and also shoot spider-webs using wrist mounted devices he calls web-shooters. Even better he is now able to react to danger quickly with his “spider-sense” – a sixth sense that gives Peter an advantage when combating his foes.

But who are his foes? Well, it seems Peter has a decision to make. With these new powers Peter has an advantage over almost any other human being. What should he do with this new gift? He could potentially use these skills to make millions, surely there must be a market willing to pay for the chance to see him fly through the skies with those great wrist-mounted web-shooters. Or, he could choose to be the bad guy, and use those powers to conquer people, to rule over them; there are plenty of super-villain comic book characters out there too.

Instead, Peter comes to another conclusion. He realizes, of course, that with great power comes great responsibility. He chooses to use this great power for the good of all, keeping the residents of New York City safe, and free from harm when the bad guys reared their heads.

Scriptural Wisdom
Today’s reading, a parable told by Jesus, is also about great power, but takes a different form, telling the story of a rich man and a poor man. While on earth the rich man wore the finest clothes, the poor man, called Lazarus, wore sores that covered his body. The rich man filled his table with the finest foods. The poor man longed to eat just the scraps from that same table. The rich man has all his earthly needs met; the poor man has only dogs to lick those open sores. The two could not be more different.

And when they die, surprisingly, that table has now turned. The rich man finds himself being tormented, the poor man is carried away by the angels. The rich man is in agony; the poor man comforted by Father Abraham himself. The rich man asks for mere drops of water to cool his tongue. And, in a twist of fate, it is the rich man that asks the poor man to provide those soothing drops.

But it is too late, Father Abraham replies, for now between the rich and the poor man a great chasm exists, making it impossible for one to be comforted by the other. That chasm, between those that have, and those that have not, once we leave this earth, that chasm simply cannot be crossed. And that chasm, which while on earth was more relational – the two men did not interact while alive – is now physical, and permanent.

Today’s Chasm
Stepping back into today, a great chasm still exists between the rich and the poor.
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And within the US this chasm, between the haves and the have nots, is widening. The middle class in our country has been shrinking for decades, with a recent study finding a loss of middle class people in nine out of ten metropolitan areas in the US. The chasm is so wide that the top 20% of Americans hold 85% of all wealth in the country. And the bottom 40%? They hold just 0.4% of wealth.

The chasm exists more locally too, where many of us are highly educated and have done well financially too. Even here, in Ames Iowa, which at times strikes me as a Rockwellian utopia, an ideal setting pulled from another era, even here Census estimates suggests over 30% of the population lives below the poverty line.

Close
This parable is really good news for the poor, for those without: these are words of comfort, words of hope. After a lifetime of misery, finally, Lazarus is being cared for. These are words that it does indeed get better. And for those of us of some means, of some wealth? It offers a challenge, an imperative, and something to tend to in the here and now.

In many ways our wealth serves as our great power; fortunately unlike Spiderman we don’t have to don an uncomfortable costume to wield it. And with that great power of wealth comes our great responsibility. Unlike the rich man in this parable, who ignored the chasm, and served only himself, served only his own interests, we are called to more.

We are called not just to recognize the chasm, but to cross it. We cross it when we move beyond the societal and national groupings that divide us, that prevent us from seeing that the chasm even exists. We cross it when we help meet the real-world needs of nutrition, clothing and healthcare for those without.

For when we cross that chasm, we model Christ, the greatest power to walk this earth, who took on the greatest responsibility for all of humanity. And we model Christ, who reminds us that whatever you do for the least of these you do for me. Amen.

Modern snafus
Typically, to get my creative juices flowing, in the hopes of artfully concocting a sermon message, I’ll head to a local coffeeshop to write, or sometimes even an area craft beer hotspot. That was the goal for this message as well. I had it all planned out, I’d stop into the church office Thursday morning, spent an hour tops getting a few minor todos completed, and then head out to a coffeespot around 9:30a. And then, around noon, I’d meet a friend for lunch at a local deli. And then, after chatting for perhaps another hour or so I’d get back to writing the message. By the time I’d head home at 5pm I planned to have logged six and a half hours on this message, which usually gets it pretty far along to being complete.
But this plan didn’t exactly roll out as I’d hoped.

It took longer to knock out the office todos than I’d guessed, and I didn’t leave the office until 9:55a. And then when I did I forgot the laptop charger, and had to run back. And when I ran in, I accidently locked my keys in my office, and had to ask our youth director Dan Hinderaker to unlock the door. When I *finally* got out of the office and headed my coffeeshop of choice, it ended up being closed. The owner is moving and shut it down this week, go figure. So I found another coffeeshop, ordered a drink, opened my backpack, and guess what, I’d forgotten my laptop! So it was back to the office to pick that up, and then back to the coffeeshop to write. At this point I’d lost over an hour from my planned schedule.

Noon rolled around, and I met my friend at the deli right on time. Ok then, I thought to myself, perhaps the day is back on schedule. And after an hour or so of sparkling conversation we left, and I headed to my car. Except it wasn’t where I’d parked it. Instead I noticed a sign, a little more clearly than before, that read, “Parking for barbershop customers only. Violators will be towed.” UH OHHHHH… I’d seen that sign when parking, considered it briefly, and figured lunch wouldn’t be too long and all would be fine. It didn’t exactly turn out that way.

And after one phone call to the tow company, one sheepish call to my wife asking for help, and one payment of two-hundred forty nine dollars and thirty one cents, OUCH, I was reunited with the car. You can imagine the guilt, the shame, the embarrassment of a moment like this. I screwed up. I broke a rule, got caught, and paid the consequence. Yes, this is your new pastor, making a slew of mistakes, of various shapes and sizes, over the course of just a few hours, guilty as charged. All was not well with this day.

Medieval snafus
All was not well in Martin Luther’s day either. To celebrate the 500th anniversary of the Protestant reformation, Pastor Bryan and I are delving into many of the important concepts from that time in history, via sermon series. Today we’ll dive into the Latin term sola gratia, or grace alone.

In Luther’s era the concept of salvation looked a little different than how we understand it today. In those times the Catholic Church viewed salvation as a mixture of two things, a reliance on the grace of God, and being confident in your own works; essentially that you’d done enough positive things in life to make it to the good place.

The church of Luther’s day taught people to fear hell and the God who could send them there. While the church of this era also taught of Christ’s salvific grace, there was more to do if you wanted to avoid hell and make it to the pearly gates.

God the Father is willing to pardon you, the church would say, tho you dare not approach the terrible Judge directly. Even Jesus, at times, was probably angry about your sin, and he may not take your prayers to God. Instead, the church suggested, ask some of the saints already in heaven to go to Jesus with your prayer.

But remember, praying by yourself is not enough. Your priest has to pray for you too, asking God to forgive you. And even then God won’t listen unless you do good works, things like trips to Rome and Jerusalem, gifts to the church, gifts to the poor, the more the better.

Do you see how all that plays out? From this vantage, while Jesus offers salvation, God’s still really ticked off that you keep screwing up. Oh is he angry! Jesus is too sometimes, so, to be safe, you better pray to a saint. But praying by yourself isn’t enough, a priest has to pray for you too. And even when the priest asks that you be forgiven, God *still* won’t listen unless you do good works, and give money too. And the more good you do, and the more money you give, well, the better the odds you have of going to heaven. And to get all that accomplished you better hope the Holy Spirit is there in the mix, helping, encouraging, persuading everyone to play their role well.

From this vantage to arrive in heaven required the combined work of the Holy Trinity, saints, priests and you. How does that sound to your ears? To me it seems like an awfully complicated system. And a system where the fate of your soul is always just one good or bad move away from landing in heaven or hell. And you could never quite be sure where you’d land.

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Fortunately, a careful reading of scripture led Luther to another understanding of salvation, that it is a gift from God, an act of grace dispensed by the Holy Spirit, made possible by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The reformers coined the Latin term sola gratia, or grace alone. The act of salvation is of God coming to us, not the other way around. There are no works we can do on our part to get to heaven, because it’s all been done by Christ. I hope that sounds freeing to you, because it really is.

Now this isn’t to say that good works aren’t important, they are. As a church and as a people of faith we certainly do our best to live into the world around us in positive, transformational, Christ-like ways. Many of you here today do that very, very well. But the reason we do that isn’t to earn our own salvation, because there is no act needed on our part for that. Luther is famously quoted as saying “God doesn’t need your good works. But your neighbor does.” I love that quote, and find it very helpful, perhaps we’ll explore that more in a future message.

Grace Alone
Scripture is filled with stories of God’s grace, of Jesus acting out of that grace, alone, on our behalf, especially when things go bad, with no works needed on our part. Today’s passage of Jesus turning water to wine is an example of that.

The text finds Jesus, his mother, and the disciples at a wedding celebration, when suddenly the wine runs out. In biblical times marriage was celebrated not with a honeymoon but instead with a seven-day wedding feast, with all your friends and family invited. To the family that’s responsible for keeping this celebration going, running out of wine, only three days into the week-long event, well, that’s a problem. Somebody screwed up. The potential for shame, embarrassment and guilt was real. In that moment all was not well with that day either.

So Jesus did what Jesus does, he acted, he fixed the problem. Six jars, each holding twenty or thirty gallons, were suddenly filled with wine. That’s no small amount, 180 gallons, that’s about 1,000 bottles of wine. And this isn’t just any wine, it’s the good stuff, even better than what had just run out. The wedding festival, a celebration of new relationship, new life together, can continue. Crisis averted, all because of Christ.

Now notice what isn’t in this story. Jesus doesn’t ask who is responsible for the wedding festival snafu. He doesn’t place blame, point fingers, or judge. He doesn’t shame, embarrass, or guilt someone into doing anything. Instead he acts, out of grace alone, for the good of the entire party, making this celebration of new relationship and new life, together, even better than it was before. And with 1,000 bottles of wine God’s grace isn’t about to run out any time soon.

Grace alone. Nothing else. It’s Amazing, amazing grace.

Close
Thinking back to my bad day this past Thursday I started out with the best of intentions, and had that day all planned out. And then, through a series of events that at times felt like I was being punked, and at other times felt like I was on some kind of candid camera show, the day got worse, until finally my car got towed. And that was on me, I should have paid more attention to that parking sign. There were earthly consequences to my actions, to the tune of almost two hundred and fifty bucks. But fortunately, because of God’s grace, none of that is tied to where I spend the afterlife.

You will have bad days. You will, every-so-often, do bad things. Heck, you may sometimes get caught doing them. Despite your best intentions, your best planning, your desire to follow all those great guidelines found in scripture, you will, on occasion, fail. You may drop the ball with wedding preparations and not have enough wine to last. Or you may ignore a parking sign and get your car towed. We are, after all, talking about the human condition, we can’t escape it.

And when those sort of things happen you may feel guilt, or shame, or embarrassment. But if you do, I’ve got good news for you, the fate of your eternal soul is not hanging in the balance waiting for you to act. Instead, take the guilt, the shame, the embarrassment and leave that at the foot of the cross. Because salvation comes not from what you do, but from what Christ has already done, by sola gratia, by grace alone. Amen.

To be honest reading the text of John 2:1-12 earlier this week, a narrative of transforming water to wine,  it made my stomach turn a bit.

Our news cycle here in the US has been dominated these past few days by stories of Las Vegas. Personally speaking it’s tough to see how Jesus changing H₂O into something with a higher alcoholic content fits into any of that.  But still, it’s difficult to get the events that went down from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay safely at bay from our collective conscience.

Wine-making
On the surface this water-to-wine narrative, done at a wedding celebration no less, almost makes the savior of the world sound like a frat boy, going out to restock with another keg, to make sure everyone has enough to drink for the big bash. The text tells us that six jars, each holding twenty or thirty gallons, were suddenly filled with wine. That’s no small amount, 180 gallons, that’s about 1,000 bottles of vino. And this isn’t just any vino, it’s the good stuff, even better than the wine that had just run out.

To me it almost sounds excessive. It sounds almost scandalous.

Now this scripture does have scandal, tho I’d suggest it’s not in the miracle being performed, but in the need for it.  In biblical times marriage was celebrated not with a honeymoon but instead with a seven-day wedding feast. To the family that’s responsible for keeping this celebration going, running out of wine, only three days into the week-long event, well, that’s a scandal in the making.

The mother of Jesus, aware of the cultural scandal of empty wine glasses, mid-celebration, petitions her Son.  “They have no wine,” she says. There’s a problem here, Jesus, she suggests, please fix it.

The response of Christ, at least initially, is not quite what maybe we’d expect. Here Jesus replies, “what concern is that to you and me? My time has not yet come.”  Now, to be fair, the identity of Jesus as Christ was not yet known to many. This story comes very early in his ministry; that identity isn’t fully revealed until Christ’s death and resurrection, which is still several years away.

Yet here we have the mother of Jesus, petitioning him to solve a very real problem. A problem staring them right in the eyes.

Theologian Carol Lakey Hess refers to this as the scandal of divine reluctance, and it is indeed enough to raise an eyebrow.

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You know the end to this story, Jesus takes action. The 1,000 wine bottles miraculously appear. The week-long wedding festivities continue. The potential cultural embarrassment of this moment has been averted. The God of abundance has shown up, bringing new life, new hope, new celebration for all of Creation. It is a happy, happy ending.

Vegas
So what do we do, when, culturally speaking at least, our wine has run low? What happens when the party is unexpectedly, tragically, cut short? I’d suggest that’s exactly what happened Sunday night, right there, in the middle of a music festival on the Las Vegas strip.

In these moments, perhaps mirroring an approach found in scripture is in order. So if you find yourself wondering how to feel, what to think, what to do, consider this basic game plan.

Be like the mother of Jesus: petition our Lord. Cry out to the heavens at the injustice of the largest mass shooting in our nation’s history.  Ask God to fix this.

Also be like Jesus, grapple with the issue at hand. Ask yourself, candidly, what concern is that to you and me? Keep asking until your answer becomes clear. Wonder aloud, as Jesus did, has your hour not yet come? Or, is the hour for you, and for our society, now here?

And then be like Jesus again: take action. Participate in the conversations, the process, the policy discussions, the – let’s be honest – the miracle needed, to end this unfortunate reality.

For when we do, we refill our supply of not just wine, but the good wine, the divine wine. A divine wine that gets us back to a grand party, together, as the God of abundance, the God of peace, and the God of unexpected miracles, intends for us all.  AMEN.