A Sermon after Charlottesville

Thus says the Lord: Maintain justice, and do what is right, for soon my salvation will come and my deliverance be revealed. Happy is the mortal who does this, the one who holds it fast, who keeps the sabbath, not profaning it, and refrains from doing any evil. Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, “The Lord will surely separate me from his people”; and do not let the eunuch say, “I am just a dry tree.” For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me and hold fast my covenant, I will give, in my house and within my walls, a monument and a name  better than sons and daughters; I will give them an everlasting name that shall not be cut off. And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord, and to be his servants, all who keep the sabbath, and do not profane it, and hold fast my covenant— these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer, their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples. Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.

- Isaiah 56:1-8

Grace, peace, and mercy are yours in the Triune God. Amen.

The book of Isaiah traces a long stretch of the history of Israel. The first thirty nine chapters deal with the prophet declaring judgment and a future hope on Jerusalem. During this time the Israelites were conquered and sent into exile. Chapters forty through fifty five provide the community with comfort and encouragement that one day their people would go back home and salvation would come. And then we have the third movement in this book, the return home, which contains further messages of comfort and warnings not to go back to old ways.

Our passage this morning begins the movement back to Jerusalem. Yet things are not as they once were as the Israelites are faced with rebuilding their nation from the ground up. And here enters the prophet Isaiah with a charge from God as to what this nation should be grounded in. To paint this message in broad strokes one could say that through the prophet, God invites all to enter into God's salvation, while calling on Israel to turn from idolatry and inauthentic worship, to share their food with the hungry, and to repent of their oppression of others and their revolt against God.

But if we look closely at our text we discover that God is calling the people to be active participants in the salvation of the world. Technically salvation and deliverance have already come for the Israelites as they were going home, but on the other hand there is more to be done than just bringing a group of people home. God’s purposes of salvation are still being worked out, and the people’s lives are to reflect that end. Isaiah declares that this ongoing work of salvation is to help bring about justice and righteousness for all people whether they are within our outside of our community or nation.

Now I am not sure what Pastor R.S. preached on or addressed last week as I was on vacation visiting my family last week, but as you all know some disturbing events took place in Charlottesville, Virginia. As your pastor I feel that I must respond instead of continuing a church culture of neutrality that comes off as dismissive, indifferent, or even out of touch. In case you don’t know the events of last weekend, let me briefly summarize them:

On August 11^th, White nationalists holding tiki torches marched through the University of Virginia campus in Charlottesville ahead of the so-called "Unite the Right" rally, a gathering of white supremacists staged in part to demand protection for the statue of Robert E. Lee.

The men chanted "white lives matter," "you will not replace us," and the Nazi-associated phrase "blood and soil." Some white nationalists brawled with counter-protesters at the scene of the rally.

Police arrived on campus, declared it an unlawful assembly, and ordered the crowds to disperse. But the skirmishes, as well as images of the marching that were posted on social media, contributed to an atmosphere of tension that opened up into violence the next day.

Although the "Unite the Right" rally was scheduled to start at noon on August 12th, violence between white nationalists and counter-protesters began in the morning. State police reported injuries, and soon after, the city declared an unlawful assembly at Emancipation Park. Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe declared a state of emergency shortly before noon.

Then at 1:42 p.m., an Ohio man rammed a car into a crowd of people who were demonstrating against the white nationalist gathering. About an hour and a half later, it was confirmed in a tweet that at least one person had died in the day’s violence and at least 19 others were injured.

Later that day two Virginia State Police troopers, Lt. H. Jay Cullen and Trooper-Pilot Berke M.M. Bates, died while lending air support to respond to the deadly violence unfolding in Charlottesville. Their helicopter crashed seven miles southwest of the city. Since then vigils and marches of solidarity have been held throughout the country in remembrance of the officers and against white nationalism.

I do not care if you are republican or democrat, liberal or conservative, the idea that one person is better than another based upon the color of their skin or their country of origin is simply wrong. More than that it is racism, and racism is a sin.

St. Paul area synod Bishop Patricia Lull wrote in a statement:
“Our country’s strength is reflected in the rule of law in which free speech and the expression of divergent opinions are undergirded by a common respect for every racial and ethnic group within this vast nation. When hate-filled speech is borrowed from the Nazi and fascist movements of the 20^th century and parades of protesters armed with clubs and torches and other weapons march through a college town as an intimidating show of force, we are far afield from the principles of our nation’s democratic ideals. White supremacy is wrong. Anti-Semitism is wrong. An Islamophobic attack on the Muslim community in this country is wrong. Ignorance of and disrespect for the Native American community is wrong. But all these are more than wrong in the sight of God. They are sinful and evil. As people of faith we know that every one of our neighbors is created in the image of God. Any political ideology which places one race as superior to others is a form of idolatry. In response to such hate we are called to be the church, to be the body of Christ, and to not be silent.”

Isaiah shows us how to be the church in times such as these.

Being church begins with cultivating relationships with all people. The people in Isaiah and us are to respond to God’s gracious acts by developing and maintaining a sound relationship with God and also with other people. That means we are called to listen, learn, and respect people even if their culture is completely different from ours.  In doing so we realize that our story and the story of another person are not divided by boundaries, but are both reconciled within God’s story. We are not just called to love those who love us, who “get” us and understand us because we are very much alike. Rather we are called to love and be loved by those who are not like us, whom we might have to work quite hard to understand, or who may not understand us at all. God’s reconciliation goes across borders and boundaries.

You might want to dismiss this message as that of a young idealist pastor, but this is not. And this goes to my second point, this is something that you all claim to believe as people of this congregation. Our mission statement declares that all are welcome. And if we as a people claim that, then it is high time that we live into the community that Isaiah declares helps to bring about God’s salvation. We are called to be a people that welcome those different from us, those with different skin colors, those with different ideas, those with different backgrounds. For in the community that Isaiah is preaching, God’s kingdom is one of fantastic diversity. The same is true of us today as it values diversity if we truly mean that all are welcome.

Finally, I think being the church means that we need to take a cue from God and be a place and a people that give out grace lavishly. In Isaiah, God invites people from the margin to the center of the covenant promises. This means that our God is not about exclusion or claiming one person is better than another, our God is about inclusion, so radical that it reshapes our entire lives.

This is tough work isn’t it? It is a lot easier to assume that God is on our side, looks like us, favors our positions, and endorses our views. The real problem is when we imagine God is only like us. When we do this, we probably find God made manifest in Jesus on the other side. Here’s what we need to remember, and know, and live: God’s love is in fact for all. God is working in us, and with us, and through us to make this world a more just and equitable place; God grants us courage and grace to meet the struggles of the day; and that when we stand with and for those who suffer or are persecuted, we encounter God in a powerful way.

That’s what God’s salvation looks like: a kingdom that is inclusive, that is full of grace, and that is about good relationships. It is a life changing truth that Isaiah gives us. It is a reminder that God loves all people and bids us to stand against those who deny human rights and dignity to anyone. God is working God’s purposes of salvation out, and God’s people are to participate in what God is doing for the sake of justice and righteousness. May we live into that dream of equality that many have dreamed, including our own God. Amen.

Be Nasty

To My Dearest Little Girl,

As I gather my thoughts to pen this letter to you I lay restless in bed with your best four legged friend sleeping peacefully between your mother and I, and you are going about the business of growing in the dark utopia of your mother’s womb. I write to you two months before your due date because tonight the country in which you will be born and live has just elected a new president whom your mother and I did not vote for, and part of me fears for you and our country at large.

You see this man has been known to make sexist comments about women that degrade them to mere objects to be possessed by men. He has made racist statements that make immigrants fear for their lives or that they might be kicked out of this country whose very foundation is based on accepting people from other nations as a safe haven. It’s fairly clear he does not care for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender communities through his support of very conservative Supreme Court judges, let alone the views of his running mate. He blatantly rejects people’s religion that are not his own, specifically Islam because of terrorism around the world (not that he really even claims a religion other than living out his own egoism). He makes fun of reporters with disabilities. He claims to be a victim of smear campaigns. He is also a billionaire that proclaims to be the leader of a movement to make America great again. Yet I am not sure that he even knows what it is like to live in the middle class, or to live pay check to paycheck like you mother and I do (student loans suck).

All of this hurts for your mother and I because your family has at least one person in each of the groups that he terrorizes.

I think this man was elected not because he was the most qualified or because he has the best ideas about global, economic, or domestic policies. I think he was elected out of fear. We currently live in a country that is divided on just about every issue. Many live with an attitude of “my way or the highway” while others are crying in the streets and on the prairies for justice and equality. At only 27 years old, this entire election cycle has me exhausted and craving something better for the world and for you.

In the last presidential debate, the now president elect called his opponent a “nasty woman.” This woman has served communities as a fighter for kids when she was a lawyer. She has been a senator, a first lady, and the secretary of state. Yet we live in a world where an unqualified man can still get a job before an over qualified woman. I think much of this country was afraid of this woman and the power she represents.

This is my promise to you, I will raise you to be a nasty woman. Every single day I will empower you to reach for the stars, to strive to achieve your dreams. I will never tell you that you are not good enough, smart enough, or you are not of the right sex for a vocation. You are my little girl, and you will be a courageous, brave, honest, loyal, and nasty woman.

You don’t know yet, but I am a pastor. Basically that means I care for people’s spiritual needs through the highs and lows of life while also reminding the world that God is present and active right here and now. I hope that I can live a life that shows you this, but I also hope that you will grow up with a holy imagination to discover God’s marvelous work in the world. I firmly believe that we are called to start living the Kingdom of God that Jesus talks about in the Bible where the poor, the hungry, and those who weep are blessed. A world that God turns upside down from our expectations and ideas in order to bring about healing and restoration for literally everything.

Yet it seems as if this country has cemented the idolization of fear, greed, and indifference through this election. Not that either candidate fully embodied God’s Kingdom, the winner most certainly was the least concerned with a world God dreams of for all of creation. I think we have turned from God’s peace, joy, love, and hope. Nevertheless, God’s divine arms still embrace us as we figure out where we are going as a nation.

Your mother and I will not let this country’s current state of being scare us enough to leave for Canada or Europe. I will and must stay here to lead congregations spiritually and also to live out the Kingdom of God as best I can for a country that needs to hear of God’s mercy, grace, and love more than anything. Your mother will stay because she strives to help kids learn and grow despite their own learning disabilities (she also is an unapologetic voice for kids who need an advocate).

We also stay because of you. We stay because we believe in you and all that you will be capable of. We believe that the future will not be so dark when you are born and when you discover who you are, your voice, and your passions. We believe that you will be tough, powerful, dynamic, and unafraid to call people out for their bigotry and their senselessness.

Until then, grow little one. We, and the world, wait for your coming and the gifts you will bear to us all from God. Grow, and be a nasty woman.

Forever yours,

Dad 

The Greatest Story Ever Told

On May 1, 2011 the New York Mets were playing the Philadelphia Phillies. It was a tight game with each team knotted at one in the ninth inning. As ESPN continued their broadcast with miscellaneous details about each of the players as pitcher and batter dueled it out for a hit, the crowd started chanting, "USA! USA! USA!" The news story had just leaked that Osama Bin Laden had been killed by US Special Forces.

People around our country took to the streets in celebration, they bombarded social media, they listened to President Obama's address to the nation, and a whole lot more. People's reactions were as if this was the best piece of news they had ever heard. But that is not true.

The greatest story ever told is the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. In Christ, death has lost it's sting, it no longer holds us captive, we all have received eternal life. That my friends is the greatest story ever told.

God loves you so much that God was beaten for you. God loves you so much that God was mocked and ridiculed for you. God loves you so much that God endured betrayal for you. God loves you so much that God died for you. And not just a death in one's sleep or a passing away in the blink of an eye. God loves you so much that God felt the nails penetrate the divine hands and feet as a crown of thorns adorned his head, blood freely flowing. God loves you so much no matter who you are or what you have done.

This is the greatest story ever told.

And that is not where it ends. God loves you so much that God refuses to let death have the last word. God came back from the dead to show us that from the darkest times there is a force greater than sin and death. God loves you so much that God is out and about in the world in the resurrection business. God loves you so much that God is resurrecting Paris, Brussels, broken relationships, abuse, racism, hatred, greed...you get the picture. God loves us so much that God is always resurrecting not just on the last day, but here and now.

And we get to participate in that by loving one another. As one of my friends who used to live in Brussels posted on social media, "We must stop hating and just love. Love louder. Love harder. Share love around the world." That is God working right now to resurrect a horrific situation with the hope and promise of new life.

I invite you to experience the greatest story ever told once again as churches around the world celebrate Holy Week. Come and see what God has done for us. Come and see the extent to which God goes to give us and show us God's love.

"Why do you look for the living among the dead? He is not here, but has risen." Luke 24:5b

-Tom

The Results Are In!

I am not much of a social media poster, but this past Advent I took on the challenge of posting a picture a day for an assigned word. This awesome spiritual discipline was created by the South-Central Wisconsin Synod. Here are the results!

 

Wait, Wasn't Jesus a Refugee?

Photo by Magnus Wennman, http://www.refinery29.com/2015/
11/97460/where-syrian-refugee-children-sleep#slide-10

Last week our sisters and brothers in France were wounded in a brutal terrorist attack claiming the lives of 129 people and wounding over 350 more. This, like all other such attacks, have a blatant disregard for life...a heinous crime that can never be condoned or supported by anyone in their right mind. My congregation held them up in prayer on Sunday as well as teaching our young ones about God's presence in the midst of pain and suffering. Across various social media platforms I witnessed people changing their pictures to have a watermark of the French flag, plenty of #prayforparis posts, and yes...lots of prayers offered up to God. 

And yet this event also provided a proof for people to reject refugees from Syria on the basis that they might be letting in a terrorist. Such sentiments stem from one of the cancers of humanity, fear. I agree that we do not want any sort of attacks...ever. But are we willing to turn away from people in need?Will we tell people there is no room in the inn? I get it. We are scared of the possibilities of what could be, but that doesn't excuse us from being disciples.

North Dakota has been struggling with this issue. Lutheran Social Services of North Dakota has been facilitating the resettlement of refugees since the 1950s, yet just this year people have been voicing strong opinions against such activity. In fact, it has been such a heated topic in the area that police squad cars have had to watch over the executive director of LSS ND's house because of  threats to her and her family.

But here is the thing...

LSS is not taking as many as they can get in order to earn as much money as they can get, these new Americans have been placed here by the U.S. government. These new Americans are not sucking up all of the social services funds and resources, in fact according to Cass County, only 15% of  county assistance goes to New Americans. These new Americans are not hurting our economy, they are helping because they are taking the jobs that nobody wants! Yet that does not stop that insidious and infectious part of humanity we call fear.

So perhaps it is because of the fear of rekindling the flames of protest against the work of resettlement, or maybe it is because ND does not have a Syrian population in which to connect new immigrants, Lutheran Social Services of ND has made a statement that they are requesting not to have any of the Syrian refugees placed in this state. Instead they want to focus on settling the people they have in recent decades (people from Bhutan, Sudan, Iraq, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Somalia, Cuba, Liberia, Rwanda, Burundi, Sierra Leone, and Ethiopia). While both may likely be driving factors, it seems as though LSS of ND has taken the easy way out of this conversation.

So what should the church do? 

We should live into our baptismal identities as God's children, as God's agents in the world, as God's disciples. 

You see discipleship is all about going out of the church walls and into the world to answer the cries of our neighbor. It is a deepening of engagement with the world, not a personal achievement. It is the Triune God who reshapes all of us in our baptisms to follow the new obedience of Jesus Christ and not our own wants, or fear for the matter. German theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote:

But because Jesus' disciples act in simple obedience to their Lord, they view the extraordinary as the only normal act of obedience. According to Jesus' word, the disciples can do nothing else but be the light that shines. They do not do anything to accomplish this; they are the light while following Christ, looking only to their Lord. (Discipleship, 150)

Indeed, such an obedience to minister to people in need as that of refugees may seem to be extraordinary to the world, but for Christians is should not be. Not so much that this is a common occurrence, rather that the call to go to this neighbor is something which is readily and willingly done. This is because all cries from our sisters and brothers are met by the obedience of disciples in their calls of service.                                                                                                                       

But for those who need a refresher, here's what Jesus says in the Gospel of Matthew about what it means to serve God and the world:

...for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’

Now is the time to look at ourselves and take an inventory of what we are doing in our discipleship. Are we going to lock our doors, our hearts, our minds, our borders, our lives from those who so desperately need God's love? Are we going to declare to people that there is no room in the inn when we could find some? Now is the time for the radical hospitality of God. To see that lived out in a frightened world is going to to take bold and courageous action.

We are called to be the light that shines.
     W are called to be disciples.
          We are called to love our neighbors. 
               We are called to love the least of these.

I pray that as we look to the coming season of Advent, a season of hopeful waiting for the coming of God, we find ourselves welcoming the refugee infant. The lowly babe born in a manger, Jesus.

-Tom

Come Out!

Let’s not sugar coat the issue of the All Saint's Day text, death sucks. The prospects of the process of dying scare us because we do not want to suffer and we do not want to leave our loved ones in pain. Death seems like the ending point in our lives because we will cease to exist as our minds can fathom. Death certainly seems like the end.

This is the sort of attitude that the disciples, Mary, Martha, and the gathered community were operating with at the time of Lazarus’ death. They cry and weep before Jesus, “If you only you had been here to save him…” These people who have been following Jesus around Judea had seen miracle upon miracle and they certainly believe that he has powers, but they couldn’t understand what kind. Jesus turns water into wine, Jesus heals a blind man, Jesus walks on water. But they could not grasp the idea that death could be defied. They could not envision Jesus as the resurrection and the life overcoming death’s stronghold. It’s no wonder that Jesus cries, because they simply do not understand what is going on…why Jesus is here…

Who do you identify with in this gospel reading? My guess is that we all feel like Mary and Martha more often than not. We believe in a loving God that is gracious and merciful and can do miraculous things. Yet when it comes to death we lash out in lament. Why did you let all of those people die? Why is there so much suffering and pain in the world? Why don’t you do anything? Why didn’t you come and save my brother? Why?

Such a way of life, of looking to the future without hope, is attractive because it does not require us to move out of our grief and pain. We find it comfortable to wallow in despair, but that is not the life God calls us to.

To make his point Jesus goes to the place where they had buried Lazarus. Why? Because he is going to show the people that he doesn’t have the power to stop death. God has the power to overcome death. “Lazarus come out!” These three words crack open the door, enough for us to peek through and catch a glimpse of what God will be up to in the resurrection. God is giving us new life not just after our deaths, but in the here and now.

Where does God beckon you to come out? Which one of death’s relatives keeps you behind a stone? What sin keeps you from living into discipleship? How does despair pin you down? How does division separate you from God’s love? How is our community trapped in old ways that keep us from participating in God’s mission in a new time and place? Lazarus, come out!

This call is a call of resurrection that God is not afraid to offer to me and to you in all of the dark, dank, stench ridden places of our lives. God goes to such extents not to usher us into heaven, rather to lead us to a life of service. If we look at the end of the passage, Jesus calls for the community to come to Lazarus to unbind him from his burial wrappings. Jesus calls for us, the community, to enter into the miracle in order to finish it. That is the life we are called to.

On November 1^st we celebrated All Saints Day. It is a day where the church gathers together to remember with honor those who have died in the last year. But why do we call them saints? Simply put saints are people who have been declared holy. Now I do not mean that a special committee gets together to decide who is holy and who is not, rather, it is God who declares us holy. You see we are not holy by any merit or work of our own, rather God does because it is God who sets us apart in the world to do God’s work in the world. All Saints Day then takes on new form, it honors those who have been living into their various vocations in service to God and it encourages us to continue our journey of faith and life.

You see whatever we do in faith is considered holy. And when we do it…we can see moments of God’s transforming presence. We can see miracles today. We can see resurrection. We can hear the divine voice calling, “Lazarus, come out.”

When I coached high school football in Minneapolis, some of the coaches who were teachers and myself would hold a study hall for those struggling academically. And there is one young man in particular who I will always remember. His family immigrated to the U.S. from an African country and he adjusted well to the US culture, but academics were a tough road to travel for this young man. We would sit together for the entire study session going over math problems where I would have to put it in terms that he could understand…football terms.

It was an awesome sight to see him catch on and eventually excel in math and other subjects. It was an awesome sight to see him develop into a stellar high school football player. And it is now an awesome sight to see him fulfilling his dream of playing college football at a division one school. Looking back I have no doubt God was working a miracle in this man’s life. And it took a community of family members, football coaches, and teachers to make this miracle happen. He heard God beckoning to him, “Lazarus, come out!” And he did. And there was a community surrounding him to help God finish the miracle.

All Saints Day celebrates those who have done that work and have died. All Saints Day directs us not to look up to heaven in the hopes of resurrection, that will come. It directs us to look at our neighbors, the ones who are left on the margins of society, the lonely, the hungry, the least of these. All Saints Day, is a day in which we are reminded of our baptismal calling of new life in Christ and creating such a way for others.

All Saints Day is a reminder that we shouldn’t be perpetually stuck like Mary, Martha, and the other disciples. Rather we are called to a faith that trusts that Christ is the resurrection and the life, a faith that hears the call to come out of our own tombs where death wants to keep us trapped, a faith that works with one another to do God’s work. Indeed we are called and we must respond. Lazarus come out.

-Tom

Coaching as a Model for Pastoral Leadership

My colleague in ministry, Pastor Nate Luong of Trinity Lutheran in St. Peter, MN, and I wrote this article for Word and World during our last semester. Yes, we were able to write an article for publication during senior slide...a true miracle! Coaches and sports fans please read and comment!

Coaching as a Model for Pastoral Leadership

Best,
Tom