So I am coming off a seminary class called Human Sexuality and Christian Faith. I have to say it was a really really great class! It was 15 hours of pure conversation between 19 students and one professor. We talked about healthy sexuality and what that looks like, we talked about sexual trauma, we talked about clergy misconduct, we talked about cybersex, we talked about so much and it was all practical, real, really good information to talk about.
For my final project, I am going to create an annotated bibliography on the topic of human trafficking. I think this is a very important topic, because most people either don't know what it is or think that it doesn't exist in their area. Well, the state of Minnesota is ranked ten in the US for human trafficking. This is not good. This means that our youth are in jeopardy or could be. We need to be educated in this matter.
I wonder how pastors are capable of handling some of these situations that walk into their offices. I am thankful for the opportunity to at least have had a 15 hour conversation about some of these issues which in no way prepare me. I wonder about the broken state of this world and in turn how broken our souls to are. There is a great need for soul tending out there and I wonder somedays how I might ever be prepared to even attempt such a task. I guess that is where the wonderful God we serve comes in and reminds me/us that we need do nothing alone. We serve a God that promises to always be with us! So on that note, I leave this post.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Sunday, October 7, 2012
Sermon on Mark 10:2-16
Here is the sermon I write and preached today at Our Saviors Lutheran Church in Virginia. They hosted a dinner to help raise funds to pay for seminary. I appreciate this very kind gesture! The sermon is based on Mark 10:2-16
Mark 10:2-16
Grace and peace to you from God our Father, Christ our Savior, and the Spirit that sustains us. Grace and peace to you.
I have start with a confession… when I first found out that the gospel text for today contained the words, man, woman, marriage, divorce… I took a big sigh and wondered how I could avoid a sermon this morning. You see these four words come with so much baggage…. These four words can and do stir up unwanted emotions in people. These four words can and are used to hurt people, have hurt people and continue to hurt people. These words contain a very theo-political message especially right now. I struggled to see that there was any kind of good news among these four words. What could I possibly say that wouldn’t add to the hurt or division that these cause.
And then something miraculous happened…. I stopped focusing on the words man, woman, marriage, divorce and instead asked myself – What is God up to in this text? I thought to myself that certainly God isn’t looking to hurt people or bring about more brokenness. So what is the message in this text?
It was my shift back to focusing on God’s work in the world and not my human abilities to make good use out of hurtful words, that got me thinking about community. The new community - the new reality of God’s surprising activity in Jesus Christ that we have been invited to be a part of and were All are Welcome. Let me share with you how I got there.
You see Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and gets side tracked by another crowd. It is important to realize that Jesus has once again “gone off the beaten path”. Jesus is continuing to go into places that push against the normal boundaries of the time. He is beginning to create an alternative community. A community that is for all people especially the vulnerable, the outcasts and the marginalized. As He was going to meet the crowd, Jesus was not going in with a plan to talk about marriage and divorce, right off the bat in verse 2 it says,
“Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked…”
This is not the first time the Pharisees had been after Jesus to test him with questions about the Law or to try and trap him into saying things that were against the Law of Moses.
Jesus isn’t concerned with the Law, but the Pharisees are. Of course they are, it is what they know and believe. They have not come to follow Jesus. But, we do… we follow Jesus, we believe, we have faith in God who sent his only Son Jesus for us. Jesus isn’t against the Law of Moses, but he does tell the Pharisees in verse 5, “because of your hardness of hearts he wrote this commandment for you.” He continues by reminding them that God is concerned and has been concerned since the beginning of creation that man (humanity) not live alone. That we live in community and relationship to one another.
What Jesus in concerned about in his teaching is that we know about God’s boundless love, God’s inclusivity, God’s salvation for the entire world. You see it was the Promise to Abraham that came before the Laws of Moses and the Promise that was Jesus and the event on the cross will ALWAYS come before the Law.
So then if this passage isn’t focused on the teaching of man, woman, marriage, divorce, what is God up there here?
It is very important that we understand what marriage was in the time of antiquity. Marriage was a contract not between a man and a woman but between two families. Marriage was the way in which families financially and economically survived. Women had no power, they had no options for caring for themselves, they were very vulnerable members of society, therefore if a woman was left by her husband, she became an outcast. She lived on the margins because society would not accept a woman to take care of herself. There would be no opportunity for work, for food or caring for her children. Jesus is concerned about the wellbeing of women here. God’s priority in this new reality Jesus is creating is to care for those in need.
The Pharisees may think they are going to test Jesus with their question, but instead Jesus once again turns the table upside down in his message of support and care for women. You see Jesus has used the law to show the Pharisees that when we live by the law alone, people get hurt, people get left out, people get marginalized and the brokenness of this world continues.
It was the same message when the disciples were shewing the children away. Jesus says, “what on earth are you doing disciples, you still don’t get it.” He tells them that
It is such as these (Children) that the kingdom of God belongs. In Jesus’ time when he reference children he was talking about people that had no status, a group of non-persons. People in our society today that are considered non-persons or have no status might be street people or homeless. In third world countries it might be the indigenous people. The point here being that Jesus again is interested in the vulnerable people, the people that are in need.
This passage references women and children, though there are plenty of groups of people that we are in need and we are very tempted to ignore. It is important that these verses be read together as one so that we can see that the message here is about caring for those in need as well as recognizing that God’s priority in this new alternative community is to care for those in need and not to care for them outside of the community but to know that they have a place in this community that is equal to anyone else’s place. This is a community that no longer is to live under the law, but is to live among each other in relationship with our Triune God.
This new community in which we as Christian’s belong is a community that was founded on the faithfulness of Christ. It is founded on the inclusivity of God’s boundless love for the entire world.
We don’t get to choose who is loved by God and who isn’t.
We don’t get to say you belong to the kingdom of God but you don’t.
We don’t get to put labels on people as sinful or not worthy. That isn’t how it works. Jesus came and took the Parker Brothers rules of the game and turned then upside down.
Jesus came to show us that what matters is our relationship with God and one another. Yes we have rules and there are laws in which we live by so that we have order and respect in the world.
But when we start focusing in on only the law and order of the world, we forget that Jesus came to his disciples, he took bread and he broke it and then he took the cup and blessed it and said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood shed for you and for ALL people for the forgiveness of sins please do this to remember me…
I didn’t hear any exceptions to the ALL people and so if Jesus didn’t have an addendum to the words of institution that excluded people such as women or children or even sinners. How can we? We can’t because we are all sinners. We are all in need of a relationship with Christ and we like the Pharisees don’t get to try and test and trick Jesus. But we do – when we see ourselves as saints more than sinners we think we can start asking questions that exclude people, that hurt people, that continue to create brokenness in this world. We can try and change the message Jesus brings to us, but actually it will never change because all are welcome in the Kingdom of God.
The following words are from the Hymn All Are Welcome that we are about to sing. I want to read one verse because they tell of a place where Christ’s love ends division, a place where forgiveness lives. These words are about the alternative community that Jesus is inviting us to be a part of. The community in which all people regardless or race, gender, age, ethnicity, wealth, sinfulness or status, are welcome. Let’s turn our focus back to God’s surprising activity in the world and ask how we can be a part of what God is up to in our world today.
Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live, a place where saints and children tell how hearts learn to forgive. Built of hopes and dreams and visions, rock of faith and vault of grace; here the love of Christ shall end divisions: All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.
Amen!!!
Mark 10:2-16
Grace and peace to you from God our Father, Christ our Savior, and the Spirit that sustains us. Grace and peace to you.
I have start with a confession… when I first found out that the gospel text for today contained the words, man, woman, marriage, divorce… I took a big sigh and wondered how I could avoid a sermon this morning. You see these four words come with so much baggage…. These four words can and do stir up unwanted emotions in people. These four words can and are used to hurt people, have hurt people and continue to hurt people. These words contain a very theo-political message especially right now. I struggled to see that there was any kind of good news among these four words. What could I possibly say that wouldn’t add to the hurt or division that these cause.
And then something miraculous happened…. I stopped focusing on the words man, woman, marriage, divorce and instead asked myself – What is God up to in this text? I thought to myself that certainly God isn’t looking to hurt people or bring about more brokenness. So what is the message in this text?
It was my shift back to focusing on God’s work in the world and not my human abilities to make good use out of hurtful words, that got me thinking about community. The new community - the new reality of God’s surprising activity in Jesus Christ that we have been invited to be a part of and were All are Welcome. Let me share with you how I got there.
You see Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem and gets side tracked by another crowd. It is important to realize that Jesus has once again “gone off the beaten path”. Jesus is continuing to go into places that push against the normal boundaries of the time. He is beginning to create an alternative community. A community that is for all people especially the vulnerable, the outcasts and the marginalized. As He was going to meet the crowd, Jesus was not going in with a plan to talk about marriage and divorce, right off the bat in verse 2 it says,
“Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked…”
This is not the first time the Pharisees had been after Jesus to test him with questions about the Law or to try and trap him into saying things that were against the Law of Moses.
Jesus isn’t concerned with the Law, but the Pharisees are. Of course they are, it is what they know and believe. They have not come to follow Jesus. But, we do… we follow Jesus, we believe, we have faith in God who sent his only Son Jesus for us. Jesus isn’t against the Law of Moses, but he does tell the Pharisees in verse 5, “because of your hardness of hearts he wrote this commandment for you.” He continues by reminding them that God is concerned and has been concerned since the beginning of creation that man (humanity) not live alone. That we live in community and relationship to one another.
What Jesus in concerned about in his teaching is that we know about God’s boundless love, God’s inclusivity, God’s salvation for the entire world. You see it was the Promise to Abraham that came before the Laws of Moses and the Promise that was Jesus and the event on the cross will ALWAYS come before the Law.
So then if this passage isn’t focused on the teaching of man, woman, marriage, divorce, what is God up there here?
It is very important that we understand what marriage was in the time of antiquity. Marriage was a contract not between a man and a woman but between two families. Marriage was the way in which families financially and economically survived. Women had no power, they had no options for caring for themselves, they were very vulnerable members of society, therefore if a woman was left by her husband, she became an outcast. She lived on the margins because society would not accept a woman to take care of herself. There would be no opportunity for work, for food or caring for her children. Jesus is concerned about the wellbeing of women here. God’s priority in this new reality Jesus is creating is to care for those in need.
The Pharisees may think they are going to test Jesus with their question, but instead Jesus once again turns the table upside down in his message of support and care for women. You see Jesus has used the law to show the Pharisees that when we live by the law alone, people get hurt, people get left out, people get marginalized and the brokenness of this world continues.
It was the same message when the disciples were shewing the children away. Jesus says, “what on earth are you doing disciples, you still don’t get it.” He tells them that
It is such as these (Children) that the kingdom of God belongs. In Jesus’ time when he reference children he was talking about people that had no status, a group of non-persons. People in our society today that are considered non-persons or have no status might be street people or homeless. In third world countries it might be the indigenous people. The point here being that Jesus again is interested in the vulnerable people, the people that are in need.
This passage references women and children, though there are plenty of groups of people that we are in need and we are very tempted to ignore. It is important that these verses be read together as one so that we can see that the message here is about caring for those in need as well as recognizing that God’s priority in this new alternative community is to care for those in need and not to care for them outside of the community but to know that they have a place in this community that is equal to anyone else’s place. This is a community that no longer is to live under the law, but is to live among each other in relationship with our Triune God.
This new community in which we as Christian’s belong is a community that was founded on the faithfulness of Christ. It is founded on the inclusivity of God’s boundless love for the entire world.
We don’t get to choose who is loved by God and who isn’t.
We don’t get to say you belong to the kingdom of God but you don’t.
We don’t get to put labels on people as sinful or not worthy. That isn’t how it works. Jesus came and took the Parker Brothers rules of the game and turned then upside down.
Jesus came to show us that what matters is our relationship with God and one another. Yes we have rules and there are laws in which we live by so that we have order and respect in the world.
But when we start focusing in on only the law and order of the world, we forget that Jesus came to his disciples, he took bread and he broke it and then he took the cup and blessed it and said, this cup is the new covenant in my blood shed for you and for ALL people for the forgiveness of sins please do this to remember me…
I didn’t hear any exceptions to the ALL people and so if Jesus didn’t have an addendum to the words of institution that excluded people such as women or children or even sinners. How can we? We can’t because we are all sinners. We are all in need of a relationship with Christ and we like the Pharisees don’t get to try and test and trick Jesus. But we do – when we see ourselves as saints more than sinners we think we can start asking questions that exclude people, that hurt people, that continue to create brokenness in this world. We can try and change the message Jesus brings to us, but actually it will never change because all are welcome in the Kingdom of God.
The following words are from the Hymn All Are Welcome that we are about to sing. I want to read one verse because they tell of a place where Christ’s love ends division, a place where forgiveness lives. These words are about the alternative community that Jesus is inviting us to be a part of. The community in which all people regardless or race, gender, age, ethnicity, wealth, sinfulness or status, are welcome. Let’s turn our focus back to God’s surprising activity in the world and ask how we can be a part of what God is up to in our world today.
Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live, a place where saints and children tell how hearts learn to forgive. Built of hopes and dreams and visions, rock of faith and vault of grace; here the love of Christ shall end divisions: All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.
Amen!!!
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Wondering about a few things tonight...
Well, the T-ball season is over for another summer. The kids won their first game this morning but lost the second. It was a fun season! Zach will move up to Pee Wee's next summer. He is really excited about that. Hannah... well we will see. She really is not very competitive. Maybe she will just want to cheer her brother on?
I am wondering if I will ever get my history final done? I really need to just make myself sit down and do it. Maybe well I get done writing here, I can try and get through a few more questions. I have four left. It really is just a matter of getting started.
Tomorrow will be another day on the boat! It is supposed to be 87 and sunny! We have been on the lake a lot in the last week which is wonderful! I am getting my vitamin D stored up for the winter! I think it will be just us tomorrow. We can swim and tube and probably use our first place prize from the Fourth of July boat parade to eat supper out.
Exciting news, we have decided that Zach and Scooby will both go on the Guatemala trip this October! It will be such a wonderful experience! Wish Hannah could come too, but she is just too young. Zach is mature enough to handle the new culture as well as the physical labor. I am really excited!
I am working at getting my focus and balance back at work. I have allowed myself to let a few situations and people get me off balance. The trick is finding focus once again that doesn't included the situations and people, but instead includes God and the ministry at hand. The Guatemala trip, the trip to New Orleans next summer, formation of a youth and family ministry board will be great focuses! Part of me actually wants to just run away and not fight to get the focus back, but realize that running doesn't really get you anywhere in the end. Fighting to get my focus and energy back will be more rewarding, it will be a great learning opportunity and in the end will be successful!
I am wondering tonight too about how I will work at contextual ed to be a new experience for me. I look forward to seeing what new ministry opportunities there are at Trinity that I can experience, lead, learn and grow from. We shall see!
Well, we have a family movie playing tonight so I am going to sign off to watch a little of the movie as I sort through some church history.
Until next time...
Thursday, July 7, 2011
All Registered for Fall classes
Got up early this morning to get registered for Fall classes. I will be taking four classes this fall. One of the classes is a half class and the other three are full classes. I will be studying the Demonic in Christianity. Yep the devil!
A class that will focus on spiritual practices with some studying of Luther and Bonhoeffer. This is an independent study class that a few from our cohort worked hard at getting set up with Dirk Lange while were at Luther for summer classes. It will be a great class for me as the focus will have a self care component within the spiritual practices. I am learning very early on and in some cases not early enough that self-care which is helpful when it included a spiritual practice is really important! So I am looking forward to the class. It is only open to 15 students so it will be a nice smaller group and I imagine will mostly include folks from Cohort 4.
One of the core requirements in a Synoptic Gospel in Greek so the Gospel for the Fall is Luke. Professor Barreto who taught us Greek on line last Fall is teaching this class. I look Luke in English in the Spring, so it will be fun to go back through Luke with a Greek focus this time. I hope all the work in the English sections pays off! I think it will!
Then I will be taking Foundations of Pastoral Care. The professor is Janet Ramsey and I have heard great things about her! I think he may be retired or almost retired so was glad to be able to take this class with her now, because when it comes up for us in our scheduled time to take it, it most likely won't be her.
Now the next exciting step is to wait for the course books and syllabi to be posted! I love ordering course books!!
I have three projects to finish up yet from summer session in June and then it will be nice to be able to do some reading for fun for the month of August! Or NO reading at all!!
That's all for now.
I wonder if I will make any progress on my history final today??
Saturday, June 25, 2011
I wonder if there will be more days like today yet this summer...
WOW! What a great summer day it was today! We worked around the house this morning and then headed out to the lake to take the pontoon out. We tried fishing a little but that turned out to be a disaster. So the kids jumped on the tube and away we went. The sun was shining and it was warm! Hannah came in first off the tube because she got water in her eyes. Then it wasn't too much longer and Zach waved to come it too. He was cold. We fished a little more and went to comes friends on the lake's place and had a BBQ. It was a beautiful night to be on the lake. The kids each took a turn at driving the boat. Now it is time to hit the hey and start again tomorrow.
Church is at 8:30 so that means we will have to rise and shine early. I have to work for a while at the Lion' million dollar sale tomorrow and then a funeral in the afternoon.
Until next time...
Friday, June 24, 2011
Lots to wonder tonight...
Just got back this evening from two weeks at Luther Seminary for summer intensive classes. I took three classes in two weeks! WOW! The easy part was sitting in class for 7 hours a day, the works now begins! Each class has a final paper due sometime between July 10th and August 15th. I better get started right way or I am sure I will be pushing the August 14th time frame!
For two weeks we learned about early church history. We studies Augustine, Aquinas and Anslem; of course there were a lot more ... but I think they have already left my mind... Professor Sundberg was fantastic! His passion for the church and its history was obvious and made it fun to learn from him! We were given a list of 12 questions at the beginning of class. The answers to all twelve questions were given in the lecture and powerpoints over the last two weeks. The task now is to answer six of the twelve questions by writing a three page paper on each. I did two questions earlier this week so I have four to go and better get to that sooner than later!
Then I took Mission 1 which was mission of the Triune God. Basically an introduction to mission in the church. This was a good food for thought class. Most churches (or at least the ones that I have had experience in) really don't have much mission. Mission isn't the occassional mission trip or left to the missionaries the church may or may not support. Mission is about reaching outward. Mission is about share the love of Jesus with our neighbors, friends, families and others that don't know Him or His love. For the final for this class we had two choices. The first was to pick a topic related to mission and right a research paper. The second and the one I picked, was to interview 5 - 10 people in your congregation on mission. There will be some data collection on the history of the church, the interviews and then reflecting on the findings. I decided to so the congregation study because I am not sure that the church I service in now is very "mission" oriented. We are embarking on a long awaited renovation project and all resources, time and energy are (and have been for a long time) focused inward on our own project. I hope to invoke some interest and curiosity within the congregation on how we can start to turn more outward, even as we are building. Why wait? There have been mission trips in the past and there are a few very mission minded folks in the congregation, but the congregation as a whole I would say lack any kind of mission mind. I wonder what I will find? I am looking forward to sitting with folks and interviewing them on this very important aspect of Christianity and the church! I am be very surprised! I hope to get interviews set up this week!
The third class I took was Mission 2 and it was World Religions with a focus on African Traditions. It was a great class! We were blessed to have about 7 international students all from Africa in our class! We took a trip to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts one day to spend time with African art. We were to find a piece of art that brought about a reaction. What drew you in or scared you? How did you feel? What were you thinking? It was really a great experience! We did case studies and the group I was in had to make a decision about whether we would marry a couple that came to the Protestant Pastor as a compromise. The bride is Roman Catholic and the groom was a form Christian but now is practicing traditional African Spirituality. They was some of the traditional African rituals to be a part of the ceremony. There is a lot to think about here. What I learned about myself through this case study is that I am pretty liberal! Our final project is to find an African community and interview someone from the community about traditional rituals with the hope of possibly being invited to experience a ritual or practice. I am thinking that unless I drove to Duluth, there will be no such community near Cook. I asked the professor if I could visit the Native American reservation near by. I hope this works out and I know I can experience a Pow Wow, but hope to be able to see some other rituals and traditions too. I have started making contacts for this project already so hope by early next week to have something set up!
I am LOVING school, the learning, the stretching of my mind and self discovery that is happening! I think I would go to school for the rest of my life if I can!
There is a lot of wondering and wandering to take place the next few days as I continue to process all the information from the last two weeks.
A very big loss for not only our faith community, but for the community as a whole has happened while I have been gone, so there will be a lot of wondering going on the next few days as we prepare to celebrate the life of a very loving, caring and gentle man. What a tragic loss.
It is time to turn in! It was so great to be greeted tonight will lots of hugs and loves from my family! I sure missed them and boy will my own bed feel great tonight!
I wonder if I can sleep past 6:37 am tomorrow? My guess is YES!!!
Until next time...
Sunday, April 17, 2011
I wonder...
Well, the semester is coming to a close! It is hard to believe that we only have two more weeks of postings and then on to the final papers. I wonder how these weeks have managed to go by so fast! I have learned so much this semester. Three full classes has been a lot of work! Good, fruitful work nonetheless!
There is so much going on at work as well. Change, change, anxiety, change, transition, anxiety... The congregation has filly got their "real" pastor. It has been three Sunday's now that the "real" pastor has been with us. An interim. Sorting through the hurtful label of what the opposite of "real" is (FAKE), has been tough. Giving my heart and soul to the congregation, making every effort to lead worship with respect, reverence, maturity, an enormous love of God and them, and get nothing but a slap in the face about how offering will rebound as well as attendance as soon as the "real" pastor arrives. Well.... I wondered how long I could keep that in. If they only knew how much it hurts. I guess I am just chopped liver to them.
I wonder if I will look back and think about how great of an experience this was and how much I grew from it? Or I wonder if I will always be bitter when looking back? I found some permission to let myself be hurt. I have found permission to feel angry and even feel sorry for myself. I have always figured that I should have done something different or tried to be better so it must be my fault. Instead, I am trying to allow hurt and pain so that I don't carry bitterness.
I wonder if there is any chance my first call will be to a congregation that respects, loves, prays for, embraces, that will walk along side me? I pray for the congregation that happens to be my first call. I don't know who you are, but I pray for you. I pray that we will be ready for one another. I pray that we will have mutual respect. I pray for you...
I wonder what the next few months will bring. My heart is heavy and today as I say in worship, I wanted to pack my office, and slip out the back door where no one would have noticed. I wonder if things will improve of the next months? I wonder if I am just in need of a true vacation from the office?
I know though, that I don't have to wonder about God's love for me. I know that I am a child of God and that nothing or no one will ever take that away from me!
~Blessings this Holy Week...
There is so much going on at work as well. Change, change, anxiety, change, transition, anxiety... The congregation has filly got their "real" pastor. It has been three Sunday's now that the "real" pastor has been with us. An interim. Sorting through the hurtful label of what the opposite of "real" is (FAKE), has been tough. Giving my heart and soul to the congregation, making every effort to lead worship with respect, reverence, maturity, an enormous love of God and them, and get nothing but a slap in the face about how offering will rebound as well as attendance as soon as the "real" pastor arrives. Well.... I wondered how long I could keep that in. If they only knew how much it hurts. I guess I am just chopped liver to them.
I wonder if I will look back and think about how great of an experience this was and how much I grew from it? Or I wonder if I will always be bitter when looking back? I found some permission to let myself be hurt. I have found permission to feel angry and even feel sorry for myself. I have always figured that I should have done something different or tried to be better so it must be my fault. Instead, I am trying to allow hurt and pain so that I don't carry bitterness.
I wonder if there is any chance my first call will be to a congregation that respects, loves, prays for, embraces, that will walk along side me? I pray for the congregation that happens to be my first call. I don't know who you are, but I pray for you. I pray that we will be ready for one another. I pray that we will have mutual respect. I pray for you...
I wonder what the next few months will bring. My heart is heavy and today as I say in worship, I wanted to pack my office, and slip out the back door where no one would have noticed. I wonder if things will improve of the next months? I wonder if I am just in need of a true vacation from the office?
I know though, that I don't have to wonder about God's love for me. I know that I am a child of God and that nothing or no one will ever take that away from me!
~Blessings this Holy Week...
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