Big Apple Bash

ALC’s annual Fall Community Event is taking on a new iden- tity and adding opportunities to serve and participate for all
ages. The day will still revolve around Chicken Noodle Soup, Chili, Pie, and a Silent Auction 5:00 – 7:00 p.m. … but, this year we will add:

• an apple theme
• Johnny Appleseed as your master of ceremonies
• games and prizes for the kids … 4:30 to 7:30
• baked apple goods for sale and auction
• concert by Wilma Sundeen of Waverly; an accomplished pianist and poet at 7 p.m.

Sign up sheets for soup ingredients, pies, and work-shifts are out on the fellowship table. There are many ways to get involved and volunteer! Contact Carol Eager with questions. Mark Hohensee will coordinate the Dinner portion of the evening.

Contact Bette McCoy or Gail Strate for information about the Silent Auction. There will be 3 pieces to the auction: 1) Apple goods and products, 2) Crafts, art, new donated items, and services (like golf lessons or other skills …), and 3) Gift baskets of various themes. The Gift Baskets will be auctioned off to benefit the Tanzanian Medical Dispensary Sunday School Goal, while the rest will go to support future Youth Trips at ALC.

Sermon – October 31, 2010

Jeremiah 31            John 8:32            Reformation Sunday

Today, we hear the people following Jesus ask this question, “What do you mean by saying, you will be made free?”

The conversation leading up to this question has Jesus making some pretty bold claims about himself and God, the Father.  They are gathered in the temple during the Festival of Booths (Tabernacles), the Jewish Harvest Festival in which the faithful gather to give thanks for God’s presence and protection, as their ancestors made their way through the wilderness … to promise land.  They celebrated this by lighting candles, drawing water from the healing pool of Siloam, and built booths in remembrance of the Tabernacle, the tent, God had their ancestors build as a transportable dwelling place for God and the ark of the covenant.

To these faithful people, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. I am the living water offered so no one will thirst, and those who continue dwelling in my word will truly be free.  Basically, Jesus declares he is the fulfillment of this festival and through him, God now dwells among God’s people.

Huge, bold statement, … yet, this question of freedom trips the listeners up.  Did Jesus just say he would make us free?  But, I am already free.  Only slaves aren’t free.  And, I am no slave, so what are you talking about Jesus?

Living in the land of freedom, we also may bristle at the idea that we need anyone to make us free.

So, Jesus comes again to us today and offers a word of challenge and promise … while we physically may be free; not behind bars and have never known the oppression of slavery, some in our country once faced. … Jesus’ claim that he will make us free, does cause us to pause and wonder.

Am I really free?

http://lh4.ggpht.com/_Tsx6RfRE4f8/TJ9M9y-ZtxI/AAAAAAAAD7k/z6IqjxnOdvU/painting%20of%20self%20in%20context%20two%20small%20print.jpg?imgmax=800

Do you feel free?

This image is hard to look at, because it does hit too close to home.

In this election season, many are making claims about what is costing us our freedom or who the people are that have enslaved us and are keeping us bound.  But, Jesus would say the power of bondage and the lack of freedom has not changed since he walked this earth … it’s not all that much worse or better, just the way it gets expressed changes over the years.

How do you understand freedom?

Janis Joplin slide

Many might join with Janis Joplin and claim, “Freedom is just another word for nothing else to lose …”

An “eat, drink, and be merry, because tomorrow we all may die” or this attitude of no real ties, consequences, do what I like when I like …

Carefree, I’ll lookout for me … I can make it on my own … and freedom measured by feeling good, going where the most fun can be had in that moment … and the least responsibility involved, means the most freedom.

Statue of Liberty

But those who came to the United States, our grandparents or great grandparents … knew freedom meant something more.  Liberty was not something to be taken for granted …

Economic hardship, famine, social standing or those with different religious or philosophical or ethic background … and with more power, could take that freedom away …

Fighter Jet

That through too many wars and lives sacrificed, … we also know freedom arrived in this country and is secured around the world through the service of our military and the determination of our founding fathers.

Our access to global news and relatively quick travels, open our eyes to the fact that freedom doesn’t mean the same thing to all people … and our own freedom is a gift we need to take care of, if we want to keep.

Which draws us back into that anxiety we felt upon being asked, “Are you free?”

There is this growing unease in the land of the free that maybe we’re not …

Flags

So, in this election season, many are ready to tell us what freedom truly is, who is at fault for endangering it or is taking freedom away, and how we best can protect it.

In this context, freedom is often defined as freedom from something or someone … or freedom of something … that we should be guaranteed as citizens of the United States.

Dollar Signs

Some say we will know true freedom once we get enough money and become financially free.

Pie Chart – Taxes

Which would come much faster if we had freedom from taxes.

Free Speech

Others seek freedom to speak …

Rally

Which then causes us to wrestle with how much freedom to allow in protests and rallies around our values, opinions and beliefs.

Don’t Tread on Me

Others desire freedom from government and regulation over our lives.

Library

Others define freedom as the ability to make choices, have access to an education, and to develop independent thought.

Religious Symbols

And, how do we interpret the founding fathers desire to preserve freedom of religion in this pluralistic world?  Can we coexist?  Should everyone have the freedom to believe what they want?

Billboard

There are many who think true freedom would be insured if there were no religions at all …

Open Road

And, then there is that restlessness deep within that when we think of freedom, we think of getting away from it all …

Harley

Getting that fast means of escape, the fun new toy to play, with the perfect vacation or second home or time outside in God’s creation … away from obligations or aging or work or problems …

Diving Free …  wait 5 sec. Bird Free …  wait 5 sec. Butterfly

MLK

Oh, there are days that we yearn for that … being free like a bird, but even in those moments of escape we know we are not free.

We know we are not free because others don’t even have the means to escape for a few hours …

And, the cries for freedom … like we heard during the Civil Rights Movement

Berlin Wall And, we witnessed as the Berlin Wall came down … challenge us to see what really keeps us bound … and where true freedom lies

Cross with Chains

You see, as Jesus spoke to the crowds, he knew what we still struggle to understand.  It is true, what we suspected all along.  We are not free.  We never have been free and nothing that we do or say will change that.  More money, power, fame, or friends; … more laws or no government at all; one religion or no religions; … bigger fancier toys, more advanced gadgets or living alone in the woods … we are still slaves to sin and we cannot free ourselves.

This sin that yes, we most easily recognize as the “bad things” we do to ourselves or others or to creation, but can’t be as easily solved as just not doing those bad things or wiping it all clean with a quick, “I am sorry.”

No, the sin Jesus is referring to, this power we are enslaved by, is a corrosive insecurity that keeps us from trusting God or each other … and encourages us to secure our future and even our freedom with other devices. (Lose)

Luther described Sin as a turning in on oneself, a self-centeredness that causes us to only pursue our own wants and desires.  Not surprising this was our first definition of freedom – doing what we want when we want.

So, the only way God knew how to free us from sin; this insecurity and self-centeredness was to save us by doing the least self-centered thing; die for us.

Cross with quote

This is the truth.  On the cross, Jesus set you free from the power of sin.  On the cross, God said to the world, I love you so much that I am going to forgive you.  Now, nothing stands between us.  You are free.

So, why do we Christians, who abide in Jesus, God’s Word, still struggle so with this freedom?  Father Robert Capon faults the church:

“If we are ever to enter fully into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, we are going to have to spend more time thinking about freedom than we do. The church, by and large, has had a poor record of encouraging freedom. She has spent so much time inculcating in us the fear of making mistakes that she had made us like ill-taught piano students; we play our songs, but we never really hear them, because our main concern is not to make music, but to avoid some flub that will get us in dutch. She has been so afraid we will loose sight of the laws of our nature, that she made us care more about how we look than about who we are; …. [p. 148]

So, what does freedom from self-centeredness, insecurity, and perfectionism look like?

Open Door If the son has set you free, you are free indeed.

Come on, we have all daydreamed about what we would do if we were really free … isn’t that what planning for retirement is all about?

But, now envision it through the cross … What would you really do with freedom if you had it?  Jesus says you are free.  What do you plan to do? … Or maybe the better question is, “What is freedom for?”

Hands Yes, Freedom in Christ dwells here …

Where the Word became flesh … and dwelled among us full of grace and truth.  And now we are free to reach our hands in worship and praise of God and out in love to this world God so loves.  Yes, let freedom reign!  Amen.

Sermon – October 24, 2010

Jeremiah 14: 7-10, 19-22         2 Timothy 4:6-8, 16-18         Luke 18: 9-14

On Tuesday, I heard a powerful sermon at our Synod’s Theological Conference (time offered the rostered leaders of the church for renewal of mind and spirit each year).  As we seek to hear God’s Word for our lives this morning, I’d like to draw upon the imagery Pastor Linda Walz offered in connection with Paul’s letters to Timothy.

How many of you spent time following the mine collapse in Chile and the rescue of the miners?

This is the place that Pastor Walz took us Tuesday.  To be honest, I hadn’t realized that 69 days had passed since the collapse.  I remember hearing the news of the collapse and thinking, more lives gone.  And asking, “when will we find better ways to keep miners safe”?  I had flashbacks to failed attempts of finding survivors in Utah and Virginia and China.  2200 feet underground?  If they did survive the initial collapse, how could there possibly be enough clean air, food, and water to last until rescuers come?

So, we held our breath and assumed the worse and went about our lives with the busyness and struggles and joys, as summer flew past us and our minds turned to whether or not the school buildings would be ready for students and what fall would bring for our congregation.  But, despite all the odds, 17 days after rock sealed this tomb, good news broke through our coming and going and fast-paced preparations of mid-August; … they found the miners and the Chilean news announced all 33 were alive.  Praise be to God!  We marveled.  We gave thanks.  Our hope was renewed with the promise that the lost had been found; rescue was possible after-all.  But, once I heard they figured out a way to get supplies and communication to the miners, I’ll admit my attention shifted back to Fall Clean-up, preparing for Confirmation and the beginning of Sunday School, weddings, football games, and all the other community stuff (like organizing Crop Walk) legitimate activities, drew my attention, time, and energy other places.

Over a month passed.  Then news feeds caught our attention again. Live interviews came to us from the drilling site, and anticipation rose to the surface again.  An international effort of engineers and drill specialists did what seemed impossible.  On Sunday, October 10, they predicted the first miners would be out in a couple days.  They just needed to stabilize the shaft with steel tubing and test the newly constructed capsule, fittingly named the Phoenix then, one-by-one they would raise the miners from their entombment and reunite them with those they love.  We watched and rejoiced; marveled at their stories, and learned what resurrection looks like.

The miner themselves testified to this.  Mario Gomez, age 63, the ninth miner out said, “I have come back to life.”[1] And, the mother of the youngest miner, Jimmy Sanchez, described the moment when he stepped out of the capsule was like watching him “being born again.”[2] Sixty-nine days entombed and the whole world rejoiced as we watched them rise from the dead.

And yet, most of us here in the Ashland and Greenwood communities, struggled to hold this vision of resurrection in our hearts and minds … as our own prayers for life to overcome death were answered with news (on the same day) that we would not receive the miracle we were praying for.  What do we do with news like this; 26 year old, faithful woman taken by a drunk driver?  How do we make sense of this world where death does still sting, despite God’s promise of goodness and mercy, and His light overcoming darkness, and that in Christ, we do not walk alone, but are claimed by a faithful God, who is steadfast in His love and desires for us all to live life abundantly?  Some might wonder, why were those miners spared (especially the one greeted by his mistress and wife), while Jessica was not?

How do we live in this world of death and resurrection?  I’d like to point us to the place in between; that place, where most of us did not pay attention during the miners’ sixty-eight days entombed in rock, 2000+ feet below the surface.  The moment of death, the entombment, the sorrow of the families, the questions of why and who is to blame, and time when rescue and healing is in the balance; these times all draw our attention.  Also, we are drawn to the moment when people are found or the means of healing is discovered and the impossible is some how overcome.  We grieve and handle crisis and celebrate well.  But, the in between time is where we struggle or forget or turn inward and often lose our way, hope, and purpose.

It has always been this way.  This in between time is what led the Ancient Israelites to ask the questions we hear in Jeremiah and be tempted to think there is an easier way, somewhere place other than in between death and life.  The Pharisee, in Luke’s parable, falls prey to this illusion, as he faithfully practices his righteousness.  It is easy for any faithful person to get trapped; as you commit to a life of prayer, giving, dwelling in God’s word, and trying to make choices in line with God’s law.  God gives these practices as the means for life, so that in following these ways you will meet up with fewer moments of death, broken relationship, and struggle.  Yet, this gives sin a foothold, because we humans are so easily tempted by pride and its desire for us to take all the credit for achieving all the success in our life.  And, from there it doesn’t take much for us to begin validating our lives by measuring ourselves against the failures of others.  Let me tell you, … I am thankful that I am not as judgmental and pride-filled as that Pharisee ….

Some think Paul held on to too much of this pride and self-righteousness, even as he followed Jesus and proclaimed the grace of Christ.  There are many places in his writings that he is none too shy about saying, “use me as an example of the faith, I got it right.”  You can hear it in the passage from 2 Timothy today.  But, the difference with Paul is that he is writing from the place in between.  He himself is in prison.  He has no illusions about how he will get out and what has sustained him in his ministry.  Even though there is a real chance he may be executed by the Romans, he keeps pointing others to the reason he has hope; the grace of Jesus Christ and the confidence Paul has that the Spirit is at work in this world, among God’s people, transforming all the places we experience death, into new life.

For the miners, this meant that during their in between time … the time after they got word they were found and the world hadn’t given up on them … that time after they received fresh supplies and learned there was a real chance and promise for rescue. … This, in between time, buried 2000+feet below the surface, alive but waiting for rescue … when no one knew for sure how or when or if it was even possible … all God gave them for this in between time, between death and resurrection … was a small chute and capsules they called pigeons (kind of like the plastic things banks use in drive-thrus), or doves … a better Biblical image for the bearers of life they received.

Yes, with these capsules, the miners received needed supplies of food, water, and medicine.  As doctors, engineers, psychologists, and others assessed the condition of their emergency shelter, their health, and mental wellbeing, these doves also became the means of instruction, care, communication, and assurance between these two communities.  They established an essential lifeline of relationship.  Into this dark, hot and humid, confining, muddy place, the constant letters back and forth, the sharing of wisdom, trust, and recognition of the miners’ inherent value and gifts, and the news of their well being, being lifted up to their loved ones, pushed back fear and gave the support all needed to live in community with hope, under extraordinary conditions.

Confident in the work on their behalf, the men responded by living as if they were already rescued.  The strengths of every man was lifted up, valued and utilized for the good of the whole.  There were obvious gifts like the man with paramedic training, who took each man’s vitals everyday and assessed their health needs.  But, there were others, like the biographer/poet, assigned to record every moment of their time together and reflect on its meaning or the 19 year-old assigned to be the assistant environmental consultant, who walked the entire cavern, daily recording changes in oxygen levels and the cave’s climate that might put the men’s lives at risk.[3] In this in between time, supported by the love from above, they were able to endure and even live in service to one another, until their promise of rescue was fulfilled.

We too live in this place in between.  This place where we are no longer lost, yet don’t fully know rescue.  This place, where we have experienced moments and gifts of life, but we are not yet fully who we will be.  This place, where sometimes we are too certain of our own capabilities, forgetting our only hope and future belongs with God.  Or this place, where death and darkness feel like they have had the last word, or we have messed up so badly that there isn’t any prayer that will get us out of it, or it all feels so unfair; the thought of a God being present, let alone a God of rescue, sounds like a cruel joke.

Into this place in between, the Spirit keeps coming back to us, dwells among us, and even lives in our hearts to help us remember what God started in Jesus.  The shaft has been dug, the barriers of hardened rock, death, sin, and darkness no longer separate us from God or God’s ability give us what we need for life and community, even in the most dire of situations.  Yes, until that time when God’s kingdom is fulfilled here on earth, we live as if we have been rescued.  We live as if the promise has been fulfilled, because we know our Savior is coming.  And, on those days when we have a hard time believing this is true, God sends us the dove with words of encouragement from our neighbor, acts of love from our family, and the offering of all that we need from outstretched hands of prophets, tax collectors, and strangers alike.  As we wait and work and hope together in Christ’s love poured out for us, we pray, “Lord have mercy on us.  You alone have the words of eternal life.”  Amen.

[2] Ibid.

[3] Jonathan Franklin, “Chilean Miners: A Typical Day in the Life of a Subterranean Miner”; http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/sep/09/chilean-miners-typical-day.

Sermon – October 10, 2010

2 Kings 5:1-3, 7-15c         2 Timothy 2:8-13,          Luke 17:11-19

Someone once asked Martin Luther what true worship looked like?[1] What do you think?

Most of the discussions about contemporary versus traditional have died down, but the search for and desire to draw people into authentic worship goes on.  The most recent discussions and workshops center around what the Emerging Church is exploring.  They seek to remain rooted in our origins – taking the best from our past worship life – and combining it with more experiential, spiritual expressions of our faith.   All of this grows out of a hunger for deeper, more authentic experiences of God. …

The trouble is, this way of answering the question by focusing on the mechanics of worship like: what style of songs, liturgy or not, including use of all the senses, times for silence or opportunity for loud praise, … tend to encourage us think there is a right way and wrong way or better way to worship.  That somehow, true worship can be found in the mechanics, order, and style of what we do together on Sunday morning or what we get out of our time here.

Martin Luther’s answer suggests the answer lies elsewhere.  What does true worship look like?  Luther replied, “The tenth leper turning back.”

Luke is the only Gospel to tell this story of Jesus encountering the 10 lepers.  And, true to Luke’s concerns found elsewhere in the Gospel and the book of Acts, there are details Luke includes to help us better understand what God is up to by sending us Jesus.

First, the location is important.  Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem via the region between Samaria and Galilee.  If you need a more current image to compare, it would be like the region between the Kurds and the Iraqis in Northern Iraq.  And, the tension between Samaritans and the Jewish people could also be compared to (the now fading) tension between the Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland; both have the same ancestry, but due to circumstances of history and differing practices of faith, the two peoples grew to see each other as enemies.  So, the region this story unfolds is a no-man’s land, a place in-between … marginal at best and a place of tension at worst.

In this region, Jesus passes by 10 lepers.  Together, they cry the words we often begin our worship with, “Lord, have mercy on us.” (Kyrie Eleison!)  This marginal region offers the only place lepers could probably make a home.  In scripture, anyone with a skin disease, including the disease we call leprosy today, was declared unclean and sent away from the community.  This was true for both Samaritans and Jews, so the mutual exile from leprosy brought these unlikely men together in this marginal region between the places they would normally call home.  And, there, Jesus hears their cries, as he makes his way to Jerusalem and the cross.

In response, Jesus tells them to go to their priests.  God has heard their cries and they will be made clean, healed of their skin disease and with the priest’s help, restored to the community.  All ten, get up and do what they are told.  They make their way to their places of worship as the law instructs … and on the way, just as Jesus said, their skin becomes good as new.  Hallelujah!  Praise be to God!  Nine continue on home, anticipating the return to their family, work, friends, and their community of faith.  And, one stops; the Samaritan, the foreigner turns back.  This, Luther says is worship.

The Samaritan praises God with a loud voice, falls at Jesus’ feet, and thanks him.  Jesus responds, “Get up and go; your faith has made you well.”  Eugene Peterson in the translation, The Message, offers, “Your faith has healed and saved you.”  In the Greek, what we read as, “were made clean or healed” is a different word than what Jesus uses to describe what has happened to the Samaritan.  Jesus uses a form of the word sozo, which can be translated any of the following ways, “healed, made well or saved”.  Wherever you read the word salvation in scripture, it is a form of the Greek word sozo.  Why is this linguistic lesson important?  Because, it is clear Jesus wants those witnessing this event and us now, hearing this word today, to sense that there is something more than leprosy being healed here.   And, according to Luther, there is more to worship than the place, style, and order.

What about the leper’s faith made him turn around, while the others kept going?  1) The Samaritan saw something the others did not see.  And, 2) Gratitude appears to be the key ingredient for making him whole and drawing him into this expression of worship at Jesus’ feet.

What did the Samaritan see or recognize?  The grace of God at work in his life, through Jesus.  The other nine, probably sensed God at work too, but for some reason did not see the gift coming from Jesus.  Maybe, they were blinded by a sense of entitlement (it’s about time God came through for us).  There is a great example of this in the 1965 movie, Shenadoah.  Jimmy Stewart plays a pacifist farmer trying to raise 7 children after his wife dies.  In an effort to fulfill her wish that the family would continue to be good Christians, he prays at the dinner table the following prayer, “Lord, we cleared this land; we plowed it, sowed it, and harvested it.  We cooked the harvest.  It wouldn’t be here; we wouldn’t be eating it, if we hadn’t done it all our selves.  We worked dog-bone for every crumb and morsel, but we thank you just the same anyway, Lord, for this food we are about to eat.  Amen.”[2]

Maybe, the blindness came from reliance on the ritual and the law … that only after they followed these spiritual practices would they fully be made well.  Maybe, like Namaan, their pride got in the way …and they thought their actions had something do with being healed (praying rightly, repenting long enough, not complaining about their plight, finally living as they ought … or).  Or maybe, they couldn’t imagine how a wandering rabbi could do all this, so they headed to what they knew and the ones they had grown up seeing as being most connected to God to offer their praise.  Whatever it was, they couldn’t see what the Samaritan saw.  10 were healed, but only one was made whole.  Seeing and recognizing God’s faithfulness act through Jesus’ command, it made all the difference for this foreigner.

So, how do we see in the same way?  As simple as it may sound, I think Luke is trying to get followers of Christ to respond to the grace of God, by practicing lives of gratitude.  That in Jesus, we see God is at work in this world calling forth life, out of death; shining light to push back darkness; and tearing down walls of division, so the lost can be found.  Giving thanks always (not just when things are going well), feeds our faith and helps us see God at work at all times in these same ways, throughout this world God has made.  “A guard at the Kingston Pen, where some of the worst criminals in Canada are lodged. He told [a pastor] that the real baddies are those who can never say thank you for anything, whatever you do for them. But once an inmate begins to express gratitude for little favors, and then begins to thank God, change has begun. He may still have more years to serve his time, but there is hope at the end of the road.”[3] I think the Samaritan, living a life of thanksgiving, couldn’t help but see the power of God at work, even though he didn’t share the same religion as Jesus.

Amy, one of the people who went to Tanzania with me, was so taken by her experience that she went back this summer to lead two vacation Bible schools and then stay for a semester studying Swahili and teaching in one of their schools.  She posted the following on her facebook page:  There is a little boy, Elisha, in her class that everyday, comes up to her, takes her hand for a handshake, then kisses her hand and says, see you tomorrow teacha … mlig (which means, My live is good).  He’ll probably have to walk a mile or more home, yet is already looking forward to the gift of school the next day.

It may begin as a structured practice, a planned recording of 5, 10, 15 things you are thankful for at the end of each day.  But, the more you go into every moment with the belief God provides, creates new life, heals, is faithful, forgives, frees the bound and seeks the lost … every moment will become an act of worship; a returning to this steadfast relationship with God, lifting words and deeds of thanksgiving and praise for all God has done and will do by the grace of Jesus Christ our Lord.   Amen.

[1] David Lose, workingpreacher.org, Gospel Commentary Oct. 10, 2010

[2] Hinnant, Olive Elaine, Feasting on The Word: “Pastoral Perspective: 2 Timothy 2:8-15” (Proper 23) pg 158.

[3] http://home.roadrunner.com/~lyndale/Pentecost%2020C.htm