Blogging from the Big Easy: Day 3

Friday morning (July 24) I hoofed it over to the Double Tree by 6:30 a.m. to meet up with about fifty youth and adults from Our Savior’s and Bethany churches of East Grand Forks. We then headed up Poydras Street to the Dome for the 7:45 a.m. ServantLife launch. We learned we’d be heading to the now-famous Lower Ninth Ward, to help spiff up a park in the St. Bernard Parish. The bus ride to our servant-site took us by some of the poorest parts of the city. What struck me was how some homes have been beautifully rebuilt (or replaced), but they’re right next to houses that are still uninhabitable from Katrina. Some of these abandoned homes look as though they were “hurting” plenty BEFORE the hurricane, signs of the grinding poverty of that area.

I have to hand it to the kids from East Grand Forks—they were real troopers. We started out by weeding some of the garden areas surrounding a kids’ playground….then raked the area and put down some new mulch. We also patrolled for trash, pulled up support rods from saplings that had “outgrown” them, and added reinforcing brackets to the playground equipment. As the day wore on and the temperature and humidity rose, we all started to wilt a bit—but the kids hung in there and kept working. We took frequent water breaks, chased a few toads and lizards, patronized a passing ice cream truck and chowed down on Subway sandwiches. Hats off to the Our Savior’s and Bethany youth, their adult advisers and their leaders—Chris Leach (Our Savior’s) and Pastor Bud and Claudia Johnson (Bethany).

A mid-afternoon shower and clean clothes were refreshing, and I snuck a few moments in a food court with free wifi, so that I could post my blog for Day 2. One of the puzzles of life in New Orleans, at least from my perspective, is that it’s relatively hard to find food. Lots of eateries are not open, or are open for very limited hours. Getting food has generally been a challenge at this Gathering, and it started on opening night with a “Tailgate Party” at the SuperDome that basically fizzled.

The evening mass gathering at the dome gave me a chance to sit with my daughter Kristen, and her fiancé, Aaron, who are both counselors with a group from First Lutheran Church of Sioux Falls (where Kris and Aaron will be married on August 8th). We arrived at the Dome before 6 p.m. and basked in the air-conditioned cool while warmup groups like Lost and Found shared their music.

Sad to say, I experienced the mass gathering with a fair amount of disappointment. On an emotional level, the event never seemed to bring people together, with alternating moments of serious engagement and playful humor. The mood seemed mainly “serious” last evening, and the program just got heavier and heavier. The first speaker was Spencer West, a young man who lost both legs (due to health issues) at age five; he spoke winsomely about overcoming challenges in life. Michel Chikwanine spoke later, about his horrific experiences as a child soldier in Africa. It was a moving presentation, raising our awareness of a still little-known reality in the Third World. There was a big hole in both speakers’ presentations, though, about which I’ll say more below.

It became clear that the headliners for the evening weren’t the speakers but the band, Skillet, who performed for about 45 minutes….though our church group, like many groups, left before the conclusion of their last number. My goodness! Skillet’s high-energy, high-decibel, pyrotechnic-backed “music” almost peels the skin off your face. The band clearly had many fans who streamed forward toward the stage and were loving every minute of the experience….while others among us (youth as well as adults) looked at each other with puzzled expressions (speech was impossible, the music was so deafening)….and after two “songs” I noticed significant “leakage” from the arena, as groups evacuated en masse. Because I had no idea WHAT they were singing, it seemed as though the attraction of Skillet is about spectacle far more than substance.

Which leads me to a little blogger rant I need to share. I admire the gargantuan effort that goes into planning and executing a mass Gathering like this….and although there are always glitches with gatherings (e.g. the food issue mentioned above)….there are also issues of substance that cannot be ignored. I might sum up my main gripe this way: the theme for this Gathering is Jesus, Justice, Jazz….but thus far I’d have to say that the Dome events have been long on Justice….with Jesus making only cameo appearances….and not nearly enough Jazz.

Re: the dearth of Jazz at this event--my heavens! We’re in NEW ORLEANS….and by my count the Dome events have had only ONE local jazz band, on the opening night. We know that there are all sorts of jazz groups, including Christ-formed musicians, that could share with us that art form most representative of the great city we’re visiting!

But it’s Jesus I’m missing the most at the Dome events. He gets a few tips-of-the-hat, now and then, but I’m not walking away from the SuperDome with the sense that it’s Jesus who brings us together—him alone—and it’s Jesus who sends us out into a hungry world (Justice) and bearing the Christ-light in the joyful hilaritas (Jazz!) of Christian discipleship. By my count, four of seven evening speakers thus far have scarcely MENTIONED Jesus, and the other three have hardly knocked the ball out of the park, in terms of re-centering our lives in Christ. (Jay Bakker tossed out the most scripture passages in his all-too-brief message, but he seemed so nervous and cowed by the size of the crowd that he never hit his stride on Thursday evening.)

When Jesus isn’t clearly front and center in our Gatherings, they start to seem like something other than Christian assemblies. Right now, I’d say that the evening mass events in New Orleans have about them the aura of conventions of Young Democrats. (I wouldn’t be happy if they seemed like Young Republicans gatherings, by the way!) We talk about “making a difference in the world” and “changing the world,” because we’ve lost the sense that God is bringing in a New Creation through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God’s work isn’t just “making a difference in the world.” It’s the amazing miracle of making all things new. God’s mission catches us up in getting ready for the New Creation that God is bringing to us (not the "better" world we are producing, thank God!)

A related note: I and others have observed and talked about the tendency for the Dome events to be performances or spectacles rather than participatory assemblies of Christian folk. Case in point: there has been virtually no sing-along music in the Dome events, thus far. Tragic!

That’s why I was so glad to end my day with devotions at the SpringHill Suites, hosted by Trinity Lutheran of Moorhead. My, but these young people (all 92 of them) know how to sing and be together with grace and good humor. I was introduced to a new, lilting version of Kumbaya that just might give that old song a new lease on life. Kudos to Kathy Hunstad, AiM, who directs youth ministries at Trinity, Pastor John Hulden (who is attending his 11th national youth gathering, though he started out at the age of seven!) and a splendid cadre of other Trinity staff and adult advisers. It was the perfect ending to a topsy-turvy day.

Blogging from the Big Easy: Day 2

Thursday morning (July 23) dawned bright and clear, and I joined Chaplain Tim and Ute White, along with Tim’s commanding officer, Capt. James Tunstall of the U.S. Coast Guard for an early morning breakfast at a great breakfast café, Stanley’s. Though a member of the Navy, Chaplain White is “billeted” for now to the Coast Guard’s 8th District, headquartered here in New Orleans. The 8th District is a huge area, along part of the Gulf Coast and as far northward as North Dakota (the Red River is a Coast Guard-supervised waterway—did you know that?)

It was fascinating for me to receive this “up close” look at what a Coast Guard chaplain does (most everything a parish pastor does) and who he serves (mainly young adults, ages 18-26). We reflected together on how military chaplains are in the front lines of mission and ministry with young adults. I also learned that, though it is organized along military lines, the Coast Guard is part of the Department of Homeland Security. They do great work on behalf of all of us, patrolling our water-borders and spearheading search, rescue and recovery efforts.

My afternoon was spent in the Interaction Center in the Morial Convention Center—a huge area dedicated to providing learning activities, games, art projects, simulation experiences, etc. I helped staff the Vocation and Education unit of the ELCA area for a couple of hours, and had some neat conversations with ELCA college admissions staffers, seminary reps, and outdoor ministry directors (including our own Laura Morlock from Pathways Bible Camps). The Old Lutheran Store was doing land-office business selling all sorts of Gathering memorabilia, music CDs, t-shirts, you name it. This is the first year that this Moorhead-based enterprise, operated by former NW MN Synod youth ministry leader David Hunstad, has been in charge of the Gathering “store” (formerly operated by Augsburg Fortress publishers).

Other bishops and I enjoyed a delicious supper in the SuperDome, hosted by SYMBOL—the Synod Youth Ministry Band of Leaders, a network of youth ministers who serve on synod staffs. They challenged us bishops to support an initiative at the upcoming Churchwide Assembly that will mandate having young people fill at least 10% of the members of churchwide assemblies, the Church Council and ELCA boards and committees.

Thursday evening’s mass gathering in the SuperDome was even more energy-filled than Wednesday’s event. Opening speaker, Jay Bakker (son of former televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Baker) looked out over the multi-colored sea of t-shirts in the Dome and said that we looked “like a bunch of Dippin’ Dots.” He spoke eloquently of God’s call to love all persons, regardless of religious differences, and at several points it was clear that this young pastor (who was reared in the Assemblies of God) understands the “Lutheran thing” about grace. Perhaps the most well-received speaker of the evening was Viola Vaughn, an American who moved to the African nation Senegal in 2000 and started a remarkable ministry of empowerment for at young girls who have failed in the school system. She was followed by Pr. Becca Stevens, an Episcopal priest and founder of Thistle Farms and Magdalene—ministries that help women get out of drug abuse and prostitution. Three “graduates” of the Magdalene program were guests with us in the Dome.

Solo performer Celia Whitler sang a thrilling song, “Live Christ, love Christ, share Christ, be Christ. All these things do, today; all these things along your way.” The evening ended with the music of an amazing Christian hip-hop group, Group1Crew—two guys and a young woman who met in a Bible study!

I spent some time with my daughter Kristen and her fiancé Aaron, and the youth they are leading from First Luthearn Church of Sioux Falls, enjoying “night life” in a hotel in the French Quarter, just off Bourbon Street.

My day ended at 11 p.m., sharing some get-acquainted time, “stump the bishop” questions, a photo shoot and prayer with the ten youth and adults attending the Gathering from Our Savior’s, Warren. Sweet kids and two great adult leaders….a neat way to “wind down” before bedtme.

Blogging from the Big Easy: Day 1

ELCA National Youth Gathering
Day 1
Blogging From the Big Easy: DAY ONE

In a slight departure from my normal approach to this blog (which is mainly a public archive of my preaching and writing), I’m going to try my hand at some “live blogging” while here in the Big Easy for the ELCA Youth Gathering. This is the first of what I hope will be several reports from the Gathering, and I invite comments from readers who “tune in.”

I flew into New Orleans yesterday (Wednesday, July 22) and was greeted at the Louis Armstrong Terminal by Cmdr. Timothy White and his wife Ute, who warmly welcomed me with a “military escort” to my hotel. Tim and Ute have been great, and in my next posting I’ll share a bit on a wonderful breakfast we enjoyed this morning. Tim is an ELCA pastor, a Navy chaplain, currently billeted to the U.S. Coast Guard 8th District here in New Orleans.

Most of the 38 bishops (with some spouses) met for a superb supper at Café Reconcile in the warehouse district of the city. The café is a real working restaurant that is also a ministry of development and entrepreneurship, training city youth in what it means to work in the hospitality industry. A wonderful Christian ministry, doing its part in the rebuilding of the human lives of New Orleans’ residents. Learn more about them at http://www.cafereconcile.org/
After supper we were taken to the SuperDome where some 37,000 youth and adults were already raising a ruckus of praise and worship. Stunning—the music was so overpowering that I “felt” it in my stomach.

The first evening Mass Gathering was an action-packed 90 minutes of singing, clapping, praying and hearing speakers. The Dome is an amazing venue for so many Lutherans crammed into one place.

Presiding Bishop Mark Hanson met us first via a video “road trip”—as if he had traveled on a bus with youth from Illinois down to New Orleans, complete with mission experiences and recreational activities along the way. By the end of the road trip even the perspiring bishop was getting a little “rank” and needed a shower….but when he finally had time for that shower, it was time for him to come on stage in the Dome. So picture our presiding bishop, clad in shower cap and terry-cloth robe, DRIVING into the dome in a battery-powered bathtub (don’t worry, he was fully clothed under the robe). The crowd loved it…..and as Bishop Mark stepped onto the stage he effortlessly connected his “shower” with the baptismal grace that calls us all into humble service in God’s world. Once again we experienced Bishop Mark’s wonderful willingness to “play” with God’s people and lead them in gospel service….in a way that participants will not soon forget.

Speakers on the program included Liz McCartney and the Kielburger brothers. Liz has spearheaded a volunteer home-rebuilding effort in New Orleans that has brought 200 families back into livable housing. She was named CNN’s Hero of the Year in 2008—plainspoken, humble, genuine to the core. She reminded us that there are still 15,000 New Orleans households who need to have their homes restored. The Kielburgers started up Free the Children in 1995, a ministry that builds school in marginalized regions worldwide. The “quote of the night” came from their message. Marc Kielburger talked about being so frustrated with the “bad news” on the front page that he stopped reading newspapers for a time—until he met Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa who said: “College boy….what do you see there? I see all that ‘bad news” and call it ‘God’s to do list.’” A turnaround moment for us all.

The music was rich and engaging, with Peter Mayer and the house band and a Christian rapper, Agape (Dave Scherer) who had us all on our feet. A Dixieland jazz group featured a trumpeter whose cheeks puff out the way Louis Armstrong’s cheeks puffed out….along with a pint-sized trombonist who brought the house down. The evening closed with a STOMP-STOMP-CLAP chant that rocked the stadium, as several hundred red-tee-shirted participants (carrying red glow sticks) converged on the stage, preparing the whole Gathering for the Servant Life activities that will send out all 37,000 participants into mission projects across the city today, tomorrow and Saturday. We moved from “We Will Rock You” to “We Will LOVE You” in a perfect coda to the day.

Fun fact: I found out from youth director Kathy Hunstad that Trinity Lutheran Church of Moorhead, MN—with 92 participants at the Gathering—is the largest single congregational youth group here. Over the next few days I look forward to connecting with a number of our NWMN Synod groups, along with other friends from across the church. Please keep this Gathering and the city of New Orleans in your prayers…and check back for further updates this week.

Jesus is Our Cornerstone

Kingo Lutheran Church of Fosston
125th Anniversary Celebration—July 19, 2009
Ephesians 2:19-22

"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God, built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole structure is joined together and grows into a holy temple in the Lord; in whom you also are built together spiritually into a dwelling-place for God."

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

One of the more enjoyable things I get to do is attend church anniversaries like this one. We Lutherans are a pretty calm, sedate bunch, but every hundred-and-twenty-five years or so, we like to cut loose! And then—watch out! We write up our history…throw a party….sell some keepsakes….and wheel in a bunch of old pastors to see how they’re doing!

Who says we Lutherans don’t know how to have a good time!

A year ago I helped the folks of Calvary in Bemidji celebrate their centennial. The climax of their party was opening up three different cornerstones. It was pretty exciting! After a guy used one of those incredibly-loud saws to cut through brick and mortar to dislodge the cornerstones, they laid ‘em out on a table in the narthex.

The whole church gathered around, with the little kids in the front row, standing on tiptoes, wondering what artifacts were tucked away in those three cornerstone-time capsules.
And what a treasure-trove it was! There were old Bibles, wrinkled catechisms, yellowed constitutions, moldy baptismal candles, and faded newspapers telling how much eggs and shoes and gasoline cost when each of the three cornerstones were laid.

Now this might sound like so much foolishness….but think about it: we put stuff in time capsules inside of church cornerstones because we assume the church has a future, right? It’s like planting: we tuck away that stuff, knowing that someone years from now willopen it up and gawk at it.

The church has a past, a present and a future…because it belongs to Jesus, the crucified and risen one. The church is “built” on Jesus.

Paul says as much in this reading from Ephesians 2: the people of God are like a big building—and the cornerstone of this “building” is Jesus himself. And Jesus never gets old or faded or moldy! Jesus has death behind him and nothing but the future ahead of him—and it’s on Jesus that the church—you and I—are “built.”

Having Jesus as our cornerstone, in fact, leads us to realize three things…to realize:
1. How God lays a foundation for us that cannot be shaken…
2. How God brings us together, transcending all our divisions…and
3. How God orients us toward the future, as missionaries in a world hungry for the gospel.

First, having Jesus as the true cornerstone of our church means that we’re built on a foundation that cannot be shaken.

I know just about nothing about how buildings are put up, but even I know that the foundation comes first. The bedrock, the foundation, the cornerstone needs to get laid before anything else. Nothing will go well for us if we don’t get the foundation straight and strong and deep.

Jesus our true cornerstone is the first stone that gets laid in this “building.” It starts with Jesus. I’ve read some of your history here at Kingo, and I’ve noticed how back in 1884 your ancestors put first things first. Like a lot of good Norwegian immigrants of the late 19th century, they didn’t wait around to organize a church. In many frontier communities—probably here in Fosston, too—newcomers sometimes organized a church family before they even built their own cabins.

Ponder that a moment. If for some reason we all picked up stakes and left here for Alaska or Siberia TODAY, would we be as likely to start up a new church before we even built our family homes?

Our forebears in faith got it right. Kingo was the first Christian church organized here in Fosston, one year after the town itself got started! Your forebears gave priority to Jesus Christ and the faith that embraces him and the mission-oriented life he calls us into.

The church, the people of God, are not “built” on shaky things. We don’t base our life on our proud ethnic heritage or our prevailing politics or our moral convictions or even our good looks! Rather, we are founded, established, on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Jesus Christ our true cornerstone.

If we’re built on Jesus—that means we base our life on his sin-forgiving, death-defying, future-opening unmerited love and mercy. What a foundation! When we get that straight, as your ancestors got it straight back in 1884, everything else falls into line.

Second, having Jesus as the true cornerstone of our church means that God brings us together and keeps bringing us together in a community that transcends all our divisions.

Remember that old joke?---
What did one wall say to the other wall?
“I’ll meet you at the corner.”

The corner is where walls come together….we might even say (in line with the earlier portion of our reading from Ephesians 2) that the corner is where separation-walls are replaced by walls of sturdy togetherness. The cornerstone is where the walls meet up and actually strengthen each other.

Jesus is like that in the community of the church. You started out as a Norwegian congregation….but you’re named a Danish hymnwriter. (How did that happen?) And since 1884 I dare say that you’ve let in all sorts of other folks….and this morning, wonder of wonders, there’s a German standing in your pulpit!

Those old ethnic divides are nothing, though, compared to all the other differences that sometimes keep us apart. Jesus overcomes our gripes and feuds and jealousies and disagreements. We meet—quite literally!—“at the corner”—the cornerstone who is Jesus Christ. When Jesus draws us nearer to himself, he simultaneously brings us closer to everyone else who belongs to Jesus.

Third, and finally, having Jesus as our cornerstone orients us toward God’s future as missionaries to a world still hungry for the gospel. Jesus lines us up as his followers, in order to send us out to keep building his church.

A cornerstone isn’t just the foundation stone or the coming-together stone. It also determines how the rest of the church will be built. Master-builders are painstaking in making sure that the cornerstone is set—straight and true!--because that’s what the whole rest of the building is “oriented” around.

It’s fascinating to read through your history here at Kingo. You started out with just 35 members back in 1884….and you just kept growing until your membership peaked at 931 members in 1959.

But don’t you imagine that that’s how your ancestors envisioned it happening? When they laid the cornerstone for their first church building in 1888 I bet those old Norskie settlers prayed: “Please, dear Lord Jesus, help us outgrow this building?”

Now we all know how the population in this part of the world has waxed and waned over the years. I’m guessing that when your membership peaked 50 years ago, the city of Fosston’s population peaked also. That’s what happened in the midst of the post-WWII “baby boom.”

But I wonder: do we still pray that old pioneers’ prayer: “Lord Jesus, help us outgrow this building?” If we’re not praying that prayer—why not?

Since 1990 the population of your zip code area 56542 has gone up, not down—did you know that?[1]

And do you realize that even now over one-quarter of the residents of Polk County are unchurched?[2] Some might call that a “mission field!”

What if we thought of those 8,370 Polk county neighbors of yours not as “the unchurched” but as “disciples-in-waiting?” What if we followed the trajectory of our hope in Jesus Christ and made the task of claiming them our 21st century assignment? What if Kingo faced the next century-plus, re-oriented to our mission as a people who still pray: “Lord Jesus, help us find a way to outgrow this building?”

Jesus, our true cornerstone, provides a foundation, brings us together past our differences,….and also “orients” us, gives us our marching orders. When we’re lined up with Jesus, like the faithful followers, the durable disciples that he has called us to be….we know where we need to go--right into the next 125 years, caught up in God’s barrier-breaking, future-opening mission!

In the name of Jesus.

Amen.


[1] http://archive.elca.org/ScriptLib/RE/Trendnet/cdsTrendNet.asp?Id=ACDCD8BEC79BABBEEEAFC3B8C3BFA8B2B6C5DFC4EDC7BEDCB9C892BDBACF9BC7DE88C7C4A2BA9C8D

[2] http://www.thearda.com/mapsReports/reports/counties/27119_2000.asp

God Will Not Be Silenced

Mission Sunday
Zion/Amor Lutheran Church, Battle Lake
Pentecost 6/YearB/July 12, 2009
Mark 6:14-29

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

As I read this gospel story from Mark, chapter 6 two thoughts come to mind:

First, this is probably one Bible story you shouldn’t read to little children at bedtime.

Second, this doesn’t seem like a good gospel text for a Mission Sunday.

Read this story to little kids just before tucking them in, and they’ll probably have bad dreams about mean old King Herod and what he did to John the Baptist.

Read this story on “Mission Sunday,” and folks will just go, “Huh? What in heaven’s name does this violent “flashback” have to do with spreading God’s love, telling others about Jesus or serving in Christ’s name?”

I’m going to go way out on a limb, in these next few moments, though…and I’m going to argue that this gospel lesson, oddly and unexpectedly does say all sorts of things about God’s great mission to rescue us, to renew the creation and to set all things right, in Jesus Christ. If that sounds like a bit of a stretch—well then please humor me, for just a little while.

1. This is a good Mission Sunday text, first of all, because it’s embedded in a greater mission story here in Mark, chapter 6. Just prior to this morning’s reading we see Jesus sending out his disciples, two by two, to tell others about God fixing up the whole creation, making all things new. In the power that Jesus shares with his followers, demons are cast out and illnesses are cured—signs of God’s imminent recapture of the world, God’s in-breaking Kingdom!

In fact, it’s precisely this mission work of the disciples, that’s referred to in first line of this morning’s gospel lesson: “King Herod heard of it,” we read in v. 14, and the “it” is the mission, the wonder-working, healing power of Jesus, unleashed in the world. All that God was doing through Jesus’ disciples came to the attention of King Herod in a way that made him shudder.

Herod, you see, like most petty tyrants, liked to keep things calm in the little territory over which he ruled. But when Jesus sent out his disciples to be about his mission, they stirred things up. The local gossip was that maybe evem John the Baptist had come back from the dead—that Jesus, was in effect the reincarnation of John the Baptist.

When followers of Jesus are about his work…when disciples of the Lord do what Jesus commissioned us to do, heads will turn and people will take notice. Jesus’ name will become known! (cf. v. 14)

2. A second reason why this gospel text is a good Mission Sunday lesson is that it reminds us how God’s mission always encounters resistance in the world. Getting caught up in God’s work, taking our orders from Jesus, putting mission first, will (if we do it right!) get us “sideways” with some folks.

There are always, always opponents to God’s mission. Here in Mark 6, King Herod represents the opposition—big time! He had thrown John the Baptist into a dungeon, after all—not because John stole or kidnapped or killed someone….but because John the Baptist had told the truth—he had proclaimed God’s Word boldly, fearlessly. Rather than sweeping under the rug the extra-marital affair Herod had had with his own sister-in-law, John the Baptist called it what God calls such things: the sin of adultery.

Have you noticed how we almost never hear talk like that any more? If you’ve been reading the newspapers this past week you know that the governor of South Carolina, and (closer to home) an ELCA pastor over in Valley City, have both been caught in extra-marital affairs. The word we most often apply to such situations nowadays is the word “mistake.” The governor, the pastor, each made a mistake, which sounds like slipping on a banana peel or not adding up a column of numbers correctly on a tax return.

But there’s another name for this sort of monkey business—a word that comes straight from God. It’s the A-word, as in “You shall not commit adultery.” John the Baptist got tossed into a dungeon because he told Herod he had committed adultery. John was in the slammer for telling the truth about that. (And I’m guessing that John told that truth because he wanted to tell a bigger truth about how God forgives sin, including the sin of adultery!)

The word of God, the truth that God gives, never goes forth without bumping up against opposition. When we try to speak God’s word, God’s truth….when we become caught up in God’s mission….we’ll get sideways with some folks, something will thwart us. In fact, that sort of thing is proof positive--a sure sign that we’re working for God. True gospel-speakers, reliable truth-tellers (like the prophet Amos in our Old Testament lesson) are invariably ignored, opposed or attacked. In the Bible, the only popular prophets are the false prophets!

So, dear friends, if when you are seeking the things of God, if when you are trying to do God’s work, you sometimes feel like you’re spinning your wheels, or swimming in Jello, or facing flat-out antagonism from persons you thought you could count on—be of good cheer. Truth-tellers, faithful missionaries, real prophets are usually in hot water of one sort or another.

3. But here’s the kicker: even when God faces opposition, and even when God’s followers encounter obstacles….unforeseen opportunities and surprising possibilities pop up. That’s the third reason why I love this Mark 6 story on this Mission Sunday.

There’s a fascinating verse tucked away here in this gospel lesson. In verse 20 we read, “When [Herod] heard [John], he was greatly perplexed; and yet he liked to listen to him.” As wicked and selfish and awful as the tyrant Herod was….he was still intrigued by John the Baptist and his proclaiming of God’s Word. I picture Herod perhaps even sneaking downstairs and listening curiously to John the Baptist down in his dungeon!

So also, dear friends, we may stumble across some of our best opportunities to speak a word on God’s behalf, in the midst of perplexity and frustration. God may well send us a chance to tell someone about Jesus, not when the sun is shining and the sky is blue….but in the middle of some crisis, some argument, some disaster. God the Holy Spirit slips us chances to make a difference in the world, sometimes in the oddest, most inopportune times and places.

You have some folks from Zion/Amor who have a passion for God’s mission, especially with people who’ve been through a disaster. These Zion/Amor missionaries give themselves heart and soul to helping out, cleaning up, returning things to normal. But in the midst of that disaster clean-up stuff, they’ve learned to stop and listen to the people they’re helping.

Folks who’ve survived a flood or a hurricane or a tornado need to tell their stories. Your “mission crew” from Zion/Amor understand that we share God’s love when we stop and listen—not just when we speak and act.

4. Finally, this tragic tale from Mark 6 is a great Mission Sunday story because it reminds us how ineffective tyrants like Herod really are. This “flashback” story gives the impression that Herod (or that Herodias, his wife) “won” here. John the Baptist got his head cut off, and his friends buried his body—end of story!

But it wasn’t the end. That sort of thing, in God’s economy, is never the end of things. Despite all opposition, God and God’s Word win out. Herod silenced John, but he could not silence God. When, after John’s murder, Jesus sent out his followers, two by two, setting people free, exorcising devils, healing sicknesses….Herod realized that getting rid of John didn’t mean he had gotten rid of God.

God keeps coming back. Herod shuddered to think that John might have crawled out of the grave—he trembled to imagine that God would not be silenced just because God’s messenger, John, was beheaded and buried.

And even when this world did its worst to the One whose way John prepared….even when the world tried to “shut up” Jesus on the Cross, even when we sinners buried Jesus in a borrowed tomb….God was not done speaking.

God raised up Jesus—for real! And this risen Jesus, in turn, raised up followers…indeed, he keeps raising up disciples like you and me to keep the Good Word moving out into the world—a word that is spoken winsomely and acted out in deeds of caring for Jesus’ sake--a word that still sets sinners free.

That promise, dear friends, stirs our hope on this Mission Sunday. Whatever you say, whatever you do in the name of crucified and risen Jesus, will not be in vain. If as you’re helping someone recover from some disaster in their lives—if you simply stop to listen to them, if you speak Christian hope to them or express care for them in even the smallest of ways, that is a holy moment. God is present, active, and alive in that.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Note: The striking art piece above is by Pierre Puvis de Chavannes (French, 1824-1898), Beheading of St. John the Baptist (La Décollation de St. Jean Baptiste), 1869, oil on canvas, about 48 x 64 inches, Barber Institute of Fine Arts, Birmingham, England.

God Does the Heavy Lifting

Vernes Lutheran Church, McIntosh, MN
125th Anniversary Celebration
Pentecost 2/Year B/Mark 4:26-34/
June 14, 2009

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Do you ever get impatient with God? Do you ever wonder when God is going to make good on all his promises to us?

Do you ever wish God would set the world to rights, once and for all, and usher in the New Creation?

Although we Lutherans tend to be more patient than other branches of the Christian family, even we are nagged from time to time by a kind of “sanctified antsiness”—a longing for God to finish off evil, defeat death and usher in the new creation that Paul sings about in our lesson from II Corinthians.

We get that way especially when the world seems to be going to hell in a handbasket--when we’re weary of terrorism and greed and phony politicians and cancer and family strife and everything else that sucks the life out of us.

Then we wonder: “How long, O Lord?”

Our gospel lesson from Mark 4 is a response to that ancient question, “How long, O Lord?”

It’s a great summer-time lesson, because it beckons us out into our gardens, yards, and fields. It invites us to hit the dirt, quite literally: “Stretch out on the ground, get eyeball to eyeball with a seedling, and observe just how it is that the Kingdom, the Rule, the Reign of God is becoming a reality—despite all our antsiness, all appearances to the contrary.”

The first bit of “horticultural theology” that grabs us in these verses is the utter simplicity of the picture Jesus is painting: “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground, and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how.”

To be honest, I don’t get it either. I studied “plant science” in the agriculture department of Amboy-Good Thunder High School. I still have a vague idea of how germination works. But when my few feeble efforts at gardening actually succeed it’s usually in spite of all my best efforts.

Some years ago I tossed some ancient grass seed on a couple of bare patches in my lawn—never imagining that anything would come of it. But, lo and behold, the stuff came up thicker’n hair on a dog—despite my neglect, despite my lack of a bona fide green thumb.

“The earth produces of itself,” says Jesus—and, boy, is that good news for a poor excuse for a gardener like me!

The earth does such a good job all by itself that I can, for the most part, forget about that seed I planted. God does all the heavy lifting—much of it while I’m snoozing. While I sleep—God is always stoking the miracle of life.

God’s Rule over all things is like a lazy-know-nothing gardener, a less-than-ambitious farmer who lets nature take its course and then shows up—right on cue!—when harvest time rolls around.

What’s the point of this parable? It’s that we farmers, we gardeners can take almost no credit for the bumper crop that results from our planting. The farmer in Jesus’ story spreads no fertilizer, sprays no weeds, pulls no thistles, operates no cultivator. He just dozes in his Lazy Boy rocker while the seed takes off—sprouting, spreading, maturing irresistibly, until harvest comes.

God’s Kingdom, God’s Rule is somehow like that. It doesn’t depend on our best efforts, our noblest endeavors. God isn’t waiting for us to get our act together before God makes good on all his promises to us.

So the question isn’t: will we get busy and do everything we need to do, to help God along?

No. The question, rather, is: will we have a farmer’s faithful patience to trust God to finish up God’s business in God’s good time?

Today we give thanks for 125 years of God being faithful to all his promises to you here at Vernes. In reading your congregational history I was struck by how your parish—like so many churches—has been established and sustained in the face of countless challenges, circumstances that could have destroyed you.

Think of those hardy Norwegian settlers who formed this church in 1884. Imagine them living as a congregation for 15 years without a church building. Recall the hard times they must have faced—the rugged terrain (before we had decent gravel roads), the brutal winters, the always-scarce financial resources. (Vernes ended 1887 with just $2.80 in the treasury…and by 1889 the balance on hand had grown to a whopping $8.50!)

The pioneers who started Vernes were always praying for a pastor to serve them, but for a long time it had to be an “import”—the first six preachers all came from Norway.

In more recent years, many of you no doubt recall the tragic church fire in 1992. Bolts of lightning burned your newly-remodeled church building to the ground. That could have killed your congregation—but it didn’t. God was faithful to you, God is faithful to you. If you are still here, doing God’s work, it is all because of God’s unfathomable faithfulness, making seeds sprout, and grow and bear abundant fruit.

God doesn’t wait for us to do something big and dramatic and decisive for God to set the world to rights and make good on all his promises.

There’s something shocking about that—but also something freeing about that.

It doesn’t all depend upon us.

God doesn’t expect you and me to bring about a heaven on earth. That’s God’s job.

What you and I are good at are smaller things—like trusting God in this moment, loving the neighbor right next to us, caring for the little corner of the earth where God has planted us.

Those are small things, I realize—and small things are often the hardest things for us to do. And yet, the small things are what we’re cut out to do.

In fact, maybe those small things aren’t that small after all!

That’s the promise tucked away in the second little parable here in Mark 4. Once again Jesus beckons us out into nature, to examine the smallest of seeds. It’s just a mustard seed—but don’t let its tiny size fool you. It germinates into a large bush, with branches sturdy enough for birds to roost in.

God doesn’t overlook small seeds and small things—and neither must we. No one and no thing is too small for God to bother with.

God actually prefers small beginnings. God chose the smallest of nations, Israel, to be his precious people. God selected the smallest of ways to enter our world, in Mary’s boy baby, Jesus. God slips into our lives in the smallest of ways—with baptismal water, Communion bread and wine, and the words we share, even in this moment—naming, claiming and sending us.

Vernes Lutheran Church has always been a small-membership congregation. Hardly any of this world’s 6.7 billion inhabitants even know you exist…and yet you are precious—oh so precious!--in God’s eyes.

And over the last century-and-a-quarter God has blessed, God has used so many small things done by you and your ancestors, to foster God’s mission here at Vernes.

Do you know how your first church building was paid for, starting in 1892? By inviting all members to offer up one penny—just one penny!—per bushel of all the wheat, oats and barley that they harvested on their farms. That’s a “mustard seed” stewardship strategy if I ever heard of one!

Think of the old Vernes Luther League kids gathering their coins for world missions, putting up the posts and fence around the old church….Picture the original Vernes Ladies Aid, raising the money to put a basement under the old church, paying part of the cost for bringing electricity to Vernes back in 1948….

And we could go on and on—all sorts of small things, all manner of mustard seeds have been planted by you and your forebears. And God has worked with, God has multiplied all those small efforts, those modest contributions.

So, when you get antsy with God, when it seems as though it’s going to take our Creator forever in setting everything to rights, when impatience with God’s ways and God’s timetable washes over you—remember to do this: Hit the dirt, size up a seedling, and take time to watch a mustard plant grow.

Then, if you still need to work off some nervous energy, take on some small thing. Create something beautiful. Mend a relationship. Say a prayer. Right a wrong.

Do it all in gratitude for God’s grace shown to your congregation for these 125 years. Do it all because you belong to Jesus…Jesus, who has defeated sin, death and the devil….Jesus, who even now is ushering in God’s gentle and glorious rule over all things.

In the name of Jesus. Amen.

Called From the Water

Called from the Water
Matthew 28:16-20
Synod Women’s Organization Convention
June 13, 2009
Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd, Moorhead

“Now the eleven disciples came to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus commanded them, and when they saw him they worshiped him, though some had their doubts. And Jesus stepped forward and spoke to them, saying,
‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
So move out and disciple all nations,
Baptizing them into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
Teaching them to keep absolutely all that I commanded you;
And look! I myself am right there with you all the days, to the consummation of history.’”[1]

The next time you meet someone for the first time, and they ask you where you’re from, why don’t you look them right in the eye and say: “I’m from the water.”

That should get a reaction—don’t’ you think? Either the other person will think you’re a little whacky…or perhaps she’ll be curious and ask you to say more.

“You’re from-- the water? How so?”

And here’s what you might say: My life began not the day my mother’s “water broke” and she birthed me, as amazing as that day was…but rather, my life began in the water of my baptism into Jesus Christ. I really wasn’t much of anything before that day. But all that changed when Christ washed over me. Life really began for me when I hit that other water, the water in the font….when that rescuing, renewing water splashed over me I became a new creation. It was my second birth--when I was claimed by my three-personed God: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

To be called from the water, as our convention theme has it—to be called from the water is to say something about our origin, where it all began for us, where the true story of our life began. Jesus, as he laid the Great Commission on his first followers, articulated how foundational baptism is for all of us.

Twenty-seven years ago this past Mother’s Day, my dear wife Joy celebrated her first Mother’s Day (as a mom, that is) by watching me nearly drown our newborn son.
Mother’s Day seemed like the perfect day for a baptism, so we invited the whole family to our little country church just north of Willmar—to celebrate with us and our one-month old son Erik.
But somehow, as I got ready for the baptism, I went a little overboard (no pun intended).

I remembered how one of my seminary teachers--sort of a wise guy professor of worship--liked to say brash things like: “When you preside at a baptism, make sure you splash enough water around that the janitor has to bring in a mop and clean up afterwards.”

So when we got to that part of the worship service, I scooped up a huge handful of water and poured it—not carefully over my little son’s forehead…..but rather I splashed the water over his whole face and right up his nostrils to boot. Little Erik came up from his baptism, sputtering and coughing, and my wife Joy looked at me with an expression that said: “Are you crazy? After all those hours I labored to bring him safely into this world—are you drowning my precious baby?”

And, of course, I felt about this tall—as I glimpsed in my mind’s eye a horrible headline in Willmar’s West Central Tribune: “Rookie Pastor Accidentally Drowns Infant Son During Christening.”

But that’s not what happened, thank God.

Babies are harder to break, more difficult to do in than we think…and after a few good coughs, sneezes and sputters, Erik recovered from his baptism and all was well with the world.

What if, though—what if persons occasionally died in the baptismal font? That would wake up the sleepers in the third pew, don’t you think?

It’s water, after all….and water can kill you! In fact the New Testament is replete with images of baptism that all imply a kind of death happening, right at the beginning of our lives.

“We were buried therefore with Christ by baptism into death,” Paul says, soberly in the 6th chapter of his epistle to the Romans. “I’m from the water, all right….my life began when I died in the waters of my baptism.”

But isn’t that language a bit overly dramatic? No—not really. This is serious stuff. We come into this world kicking, screaming and showing symptoms of a fatal disease, revealing soon enough that we’re victims of a sin-pandemic sweeping through the whole human family, like a devouring wildfire.

But God, who is rich in mercy, has snatched us out of that wildfire, and washed us with the water of baptism, joining us—lock, stock and barrel—to the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

We are called from the water, all right—that is our origin.

But we can spin this all another way, employing another preposition in our convention theme.

We’re not just called from the water. We’re also called to the water!

“From” bespeaks our origin, but “to” points toward our destination. Our direction, our destiny, is to travel ever deeper into our baptism, every day of our lives, until we’re sunk deep into our baptism on the day we draw our final breath, when we’re laid in our graves, awaiting the resurrection.

We’re called from the water….and at the same time we’re called to the water. We’re baptized in church just once—but we’re born again and again and again as we return, every single day, to our baptism. We hit the rewind button (so to speak), we return to our baptism, whenever someone reminds us of it, even as I am reminding all of you right now.

Friends, we’ve got to get over the idea that baptism is ancient history—that it’s over and done with.

“Um, we’ve come to get our baby ‘done,’ pastor…”

“Sorry, friends—no can do. We can only start her baptism…but it’ll never be ‘done,’ it won’t be finished until the Day of Jesus Christ.”

Baptism just gets us off to a good start, as our life in Christ begins….and what an astounding life it is. We receive a whole boatload of possibilities in our baptism into Christ.

Martin Luther put it this way in his Large Catechism:
In Baptism every Christian has enough to study and to practice all his life. He always has enough to do to believe firmly what Baptism promises and brings—victory over death and the devil, forgiveness of sin, God’s grace, the entire Christ, and the Holy Spirit with his gifts. In short the blessings of Baptism are so boundless that if timid nature considers them, it may well doubt whether they could all be true.[2]

We’re called from the water—that’s our origin.

We’re called to the water—that’s our destination.

And there’s one more preposition we must toss into the mix with our convention theme: we’re called through the water, as well!

It’s a water-way that we’re traveling through life. Baptism doesn’t sit still. Baptism never leaves us immobilized. Jesus, the Risen One, launches us onto a water-route toward God’s new creation. You can’t get there by land—you can’t get there by staying dry, looking good, staying above it all. No—you have to get wet, you have to “go under,” you have to take the water route; it’s the only way to arrive where God is leading us.

Please notice the movement Jesus draws us into here in his Great Commission from Matthew 28. I’m struck by the vivid language of Frederick Dale Bruner’s translation: “Move out and disciple all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to keep absolutely all that I commanded you…”

As usual, the verbs grab our attention here. They’re strong, striking verbs….painting in vivid detail what the water-route of baptism looks and feels like.

Move out, Jesus says to us. Baptism into Christ sets our feet in motion. We’re taken somewhere, driven to our neighbors, dispatched into the world. We’re saved to be sent.

Disciple, Jesus commands us…..that is: get people close to Jesus, help folks get “aligned” with Jesus’ way of life, help persons get behind Jesus so he can lead them from death to life.

Move out…disciple…(those are the commands in the Great Commission)….and to hang some specificity on those commands, two participles get tossed into the mix: baptizing and teaching.

· We might say—clean ‘em up and fill ‘em up!
· Rescue and enlighten.
· Cleanse and equip….so that the whole business keeps repeating itself….as the baptized, taught ones start moving out, discipling, baptizing and teaching others.

That’s how Jesus gets so much done. He refuses to do it all by himself. Jesus keeps commissioning, Jesus keeps giving marching orders, Jesus keeps catching us up in the action!

And because we do none of this under our own power, our Risen Lord wraps up his Great Commission in two breath-taking promises: the promise that all authority in the cosmos has been given to him—to Jesus our Lord….and the promise that we fulfill his Great Commission by his power, never our own power.

For Jesus goes with us—behind, below, above, and always ahead of us…to the end of the age.

Amen.

[1] Frederick Dale Bruner, Matthew, A Commentary--The Churchbook: Matthew 13-28, Revised and Expanded Edition (Eerdmans, 2004), p. 804
[2] Martin Luther, Large Catechism, Part IV.