Resurrection Life

Gotta love a good Lukan head-fake: A sermon for Advent 2 2012

2 Advent 2012

Luke 3: 1-6

Pastor Chris Enstad


Being a Christian follower of Jesus is at the same time the easiest and the hardest thing to be.  Easy in that one need merely declare oneself a Christian and there you are, a Christian.  Maybe, then, you buy a cross to wear and find a church to attend.  And there you are, a Christian.

And for most of us that is where our following ends.  I mean yes, we give to the church, we volunteer to make programs and services work but, even then, it is typically around 10 to 20 percent of a congregation’s membership that makes church happen for the other 80 or 90 percent of us.  

But, if we show up enough eventually the Word that we are hearing starts to make a claim on us.  We start to hear words like repentance, confession, transformation, and purification.  And then, one day, at the call of the Holy Spirit, we wake up and realize that hey, that Book, that Bible, those Words that are written in there are talking about things going on out here in the world, they are talking about me  and my life.  And that’s when things start to get hard, but the work that God calls us to in following his Son, while not easy, is definitely filled with joy and, as we are reminded in our theme for this week, it is a life filled with peace.

Advent is a season of preparation for the coming of Jesus Christ.  We spend these weeks making things ready for the birth of Christ.  This space is gradually being transformed to the festive and cheerful sanctuary where we will soon sing, “Hallelujah!” Our homes are being transformed as well, our tree is up, the lights are lit, our girls have discovered the thrill of wrapping little presents for each other to the joy of the wrapping paper industry, we discovered that our internet radio station has not just one but eight different 24 hour Christmas music channels from country to family Christmas music all the way to my new favorite “peaceful holidays” channel... yes, our homes are ready for Jesus to come.

But Advent doesn’t exist for any of those reasons.  Advent is a season of preparing our own lives for the coming of Christ.  We are accustomed to taking all of the good feelings that come with this season and forget one important truth: Christ is coming!  Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote that “It is very remarkable that we so calmly face the thought that God is coming, whereas people previously trembled at the day of God, and the world fell into trembling when Jesus Christ walked over the earth.”  

For you see, God coming so close to us in the form of an infant child was not so that we could gather around his manger and fawn over him, God comes close to us to lay claim to us and to sever our relationships with all of the things of this world that we so falsely believe will give us the security, status and prestige that we long for.  And so, yes, while we do get excited about the birth of Christ, this season let us also reconnect with our fears and questions: if you were to hear that Christ was coming to your house tomorrow, that you could expect a knock on your front door, what would your first reaction be?

Listen to how Luke sets it up for us today:  In the fifteenth year of the reign of Emperor Tiberius, when Pontius Pilate was governor of Judea, and Herod was ruler of Galilee, and his brother Philip ruler of the region of Ituraea and Traconitis and Lysanias rulers of Abilene, during the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas...  the word of God came to John, son of Zechariah in. the. wilderness.

Luke firmly roots this story not only in the historical facts of who was ruling and when, but after this long list of the high and mighty, naming the political and religious elite, he then, pulls our gaze away from Jerusalem to the woods.  Not to Caiaphas and Annas the high priests, but to John, the son of... who?  Zechariah?  

And, John began to preach, he preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins: Prepare the way of the Lord, make his path straight.  Every valley will be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight.”

God is coming near, today is the day to prepare your hearts and your lives for his arrival.  What in your life needs straightening out?  What valleys of resentments do you need to fill up with the love and grace of God?  What mountains of ego and accomplishment need to be leveled out in the perspective that it isn’t about you and that we can’t all exist together if we are all at the center of our own little universes?

That’s where my thoughts go when I hear that Jesus is about to arrive, the fully human fully divine Son of God coming near to us in the form of the exact opposite of what we would expect from God, not another mighty ruler, not another religious elite, an infant child, sent to us in judgment, God’s judgment that we cannot be saved on our own.  We need help.

But, then, we give thanks for in coming to us as one of us God’s judgment on us came also with a gift, a gift of salvation wrapped up in the body and the blood of this little baby boy.  We do not have to do this stuff alone for we now know that God is with us.

And that, my friends, is Advent, the coming of the Lord.  That’s why Carrie and I love the joy in our girls’ faces when they hang the ornaments on the tree and sing Christmas carols and are nearly popping out of their bodies counting down the days until Christmas, but it is also why, after they are asleep, we catch ourselves sitting by that same tree with a different kind of joy, the joy of knowing that through all of our struggles in this last year since the last time the tree was up, God has also showered us with all sorts of goodness.  And we know that if Christ knocks on the doors of our home or the doors of our hearts, we would turn and see that yes, it is still pretty messy in our house and it is definitely messy in our hearts and yet we will open our doors regardless to worship the God of judgment and mercy.

May our Church reflect those same truths, may our mission and ministries be done in the fervent expectation that we do them always to be ready for Christ to come again, and may we find ways to open our doors to Christ who comes to us unlike anything we could expect, may we welcome him into our homes, into our church, and into our life together.

Amen.

Let the children come, Let Thy kingdom come

19 Pentecost 2012

 

October 7

 

Mark 10: 2-16

 

“Let the Children Come, Let Thy Kingdom Come”

 

Pastor Chris Enstad

 

Brothers and sisters, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Amen.

 

“Let the children come to me”

 

Children have been elevated nowadays to the point that adults almost worship childhood in unhealthy ways.  One only needs to turn on Here Comes Honey Boo Boo to get at that idea.  Children have such a high status in our culture and society today that it is often hard for us to remember that it was not that long ago that children had absolutely no status in society at all.  There was a time not long ago that children had to work at hard jobs, daylight saving time was instituted to allow children, in part, to get home from school in time to help in the fields, children were to be seen and not heard.

 

That is the culture into which Jesus is speaking today.  The culture where children were an annoyance, where they had a status less than human, where they were a distraction and drag on families until they were old enough to contribute to the chores and the family purse.

 

Jesus was receiving children that were being brought to him by the people but the disciples found it to be a distraction.  They rebuked the crowds.  But Jesus, when he saw that, was indignant and said to them, “Let the children come to me; do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of God.  Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it.  And he took them in his arms and blessed them, laying his hands on them.”

 

Let the children come to me; do not hinder them.

 

Jesus invited the least and the lost and the lowly into his presence elevating their status by lowering his to be with them just as he lowered his divine status to come and live with us in the first place.

 

In a culture that is so hung up on status and power it is a telling thing to watch how our Lord and Savior acts with those who have been relegated to the outside of society by their status.  Children, women, non-Israelites, all were treated as less than human but then Jesus comes along and not only gives women the right to divorce but then commands his disciples to let the children come to him for to such as these belongs the kingdom of heaven.

 

Whoever does not receive the kingdom like a child cannot enter it.

 

That phrase has caused a lot of problem in Christianity throughout history, maybe not as much trouble as it should have caused, but problems nonetheless.  You see we can intellectually acknowledged what it means to receive the kingdom of God like a child.  Oh, sure, we just need to remember that faith is simple and no matter how many questions we might have about God we should just suck it up and act like a pure unpadded uncynical little child.

 

But when the phrase is translated using a better work for “like” from the Greek word, “hos” we get another truth altogether:

 

Whoever does not receive the kingdom as a child cannot enter it.

 

Whoever does not receive the kingdom as a child cannot enter it.

 

Ahh, you see, where we always like to make these Gospel teachings about us, more often than not Jesus turns those expectations on their head and makes us think more about God and the kingdom of heaven.

 

For just as children were relegated to the sidelines of society with no status or regard, so is the kingdom of heaven.  If we cannot get over the fact that our God has chosen to act in the simple way of sending his Son to die on a cross, and that the kingdom of God will enter into our lives and world with little regard, little status, and little for people to get excited about, if we cannot wrap our brains and our hearts around that truth then we will not enter into that kingdom.

 

God comes to us in the form of the opposite.  The opposite of just about everything we could ever expect.  He comes to us in the form of a prisoner, someone we would rather put away and forget about for thirty years, he comes to us in the form of the homeless, the hungry, the ultimate outsider, asking us for our hand and our blessing.  My brothers and sisters, if we cannot figure out how to lay our hands on the least and the lost and the lowly, then how can we ever fathom the truth of the kingdom of God, and how will we ever enter it?

 

Ask yourselves in this coming week where the outsiders are in your lives?  Where have you come across the least and the lost, how have you withheld your blessing and attention from someone or something that seems beneath your time and energy?

 

And then give thanks to God that he has not done the same thing to you and to me for while we were outside God sent his Son to die for you and for me.  Let us share that blessing with those in our own lives beginning today and in all the days to come.

 

 

Alleluia!  Alleluia!

 

Thanks be to God.  Amen.

"It is Finished": A sermon for Good Friday

Good Friday 2012

Meditation on the Cross


“It is Finished”


And so this is what it has come to… in the end this day is about the news of a death is it not?

And after these last years of war and death and famine with the nightly news showing us picture after picture of what human beings are capable of doing to each other do we really need to be confronted by one more casualty of human sin and brokenness?

This evening, here in this place, we are gathered in order to contemplate the crucifixion of our Lord, Jesus Christ.  We gather to contemplate and to see what it is that we have done to this innocent man, this teacher, this friend to the friendless and comforter to the afflicted.

Together we contemplate this cross and the body that hangs upon it.  Does this scene depress you?  Does it scare you?  Or does it give you hope?

“It is finished.”  These are the words uttered by Jesus in his last breath on the cross.  We don’t often pause to think about what these words mean for God or for us. “It is finished.”  What is it?  And how is it finished?

What we are confronted with this evening is not a picture of how our worldly wisdom defines success, it is not a picture of how our individualistic culture defines leadership and it is certainly not how the American version of Christianity defines salvation is it?  A successful man knows how to manipulate the political process and can hob-knob with the elders and the politicians to get what he wants.  A true leader knows how to fight evil and combat the forces of darkness does he not?  A true savior shields us with his strength and defends us with his might.  A true Christian would not have stuck out of the crowd enough to get killed for his views.  

But we will contemplate this cross and the body that hangs upon it.  We cannot run, we cannot hide, we cannot pretend that something else happened to our Lord and Savior.

When you look upon this cross what do you think about?  Do you perhaps understand with your head but not your hearts?  Do you seek to distance yourself from the reality of Jesus’ suffering and death as though it were some act that happened too long ago to affect us?  

Can we dare to pretend that we do not know this young man?  Will we deny Jesus Christ?  Will we deny that it is through suffering and death that we were won from suffering and death?  

You know this man, brothers and sisters, you know him intimately.  You were there when he was born in a manger to an unwed mother who held him tenderly in swaddling clothes do you remember that?  You were there, remember, when he was baptized in the River Jordan?  You were there and watched his ministry to the outcast, the helpless, the excluded… you have seen the miracles he performed bringing the dead to life, feeding the masses, changing water into wine.

Listen to what I am saying to you, you know this man, brothers and sisters… and he knows you.  Tonight we can no longer pretend that the crucifixion was a distant act in a distant time in a distant land.  When we look at this cross this evening we must be reminded that the sons and daughters of God are being killed every day… they are killed in war, they are killed by hate, and they are killed in prisons both with and without walls.  Every time the status quo is threatened to be upset it happens, again and again.  

Remember tonight that it wasn’t Jesus’ enemies that did him in; it was his friends.  Remember tonight that it was not unbelief and lack of order that killed this man but it was the religious authorities working in conjunction with a very well oiled Roman government that nailed him to the cross.  

As we meditate on the cross… a pilgrim church gathered around the hill at Golgotha do you see yourself there?  In his crucifixion and death, Jesus Christ draws us all to himself… each and every one of us.  In his body hanging on this cross do you see yourself looking back?  In Jesus Christ, our perfect mirror, we are confronted by our own sin and suffering.  

We are reminded that when confronted by evil God fought back not with evil but with longsuffering love.  We are reminded that in Jesus’ love for the world we must confront our own hardness of heart, in Jesus’ ministry to the sick and the poor and the hungry we must be confronted by our own hoarding of wealth, our endless pursuit of honors and glory, our striking out at those who might hurt us in the name of protecting what we have.  We are reminded that this body hanging on the cross is someone we know… it is us.

In drawing us to himself on the cross Jesus Christ draws all of who we are… our entire sinful selves.  What of you will be left on this cross this evening?  Contemplate that.  This is the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world… including yours.  What are they?  

Know in your heart that just as sure as Jesus was nailed to this cross 2000 years ago so he is nailed to the cross each and every day in our transgressions against God and each other.  When we are confronted by the pure light his body reflects back at us our instinct is to hide from him or smash him into nothingness.  Every time we choose to stand with the strong against the weak, every time we keep our mouth shut in the presence of injustice and inequity we nail him to this tree.  

Contemplate this cross this evening brothers and sisters and ask yourself what you see reflected back at you.  Do not turn away, make yourself look… you cannot get away from this tree today though you may choose to ignore it the rest of the year… look at what lengths God will go through to win you back for himself.  Do not run, do not hide.

I stand here to proclaim to you that tonight Christ draws you to him, he takes all of your sins on himself, and he gasps one last word… “It is finished” It is accomplished… leave your sins on this cross tonight brothers and sisters for they have no more power over you… they are done… we are done… we now belong to God, we now belong to one another.

Thanks be to God.

Challenge: Try preaching 1000 of your best words this Sunday

In listening to a singer-songwriter speak about his craft recently, he said something that struck me as quite poignant.  A woman asked, "How do you know a song you are working on is 'done'?"  His response, "When I am making an album I know that I have to say everything I want to say in 3 1/2 minutes, that kind of economy forces me to be creative with what I am saying and how I am saying it."

As preachers we have often been led to believe that we should preach until we are done, but there are often no brackets around the sermon moment.  Often preachers circle the landing field three or four times before landing the plane, as they say.  

And so I have been challenging myself to paint my sermons as though the canvas is only so wide and so high.  I have been crafting sermons that have a limit.  In self-limiting the sermon I believe two things are happening: I am making my points in a clearer, more succinct way and two, I see fewer glances at the wristwatch.  

How am I doing this?  By challenging myself, each week, to limit myself to 1000 of the very best words I can use to preach on any given text.  1000 words is a lot of words, why not try it and tell me how it goes?

When I mentioned this challenge on my Facebook page it ignited a small firestorm of pushback from several of my ordained colleagues but several more "attaboy" thumbs-ups from my friends who have to sit in the pew and not stand in the pulpit.  I wonder if preachers were to challenge themselves to hone their craft on a more consistent basis, more like a singer-songwriter, if we might not find ourselves with a cadre of energized, talented preachers rather than burned out, dried out, emptied out ones?

What do you think?

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