Two truths, no lie (Sermon 10.28.12)

This sermon was preached on Reformation Sunday, October 28, 2012, at Central Lutheran Church, Anchorage, Alaska. The gospel was John 8:31-36.

Mercy, grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

This language about slavery and freedom in John's gospel sometimes makes our eyes glaze over. Slavery? Didn't we abolish that? Freedom? We're the land of the free and the home of the brave. Next topic, please. The people Jesus was talking to basically did the same thing. We're not slaves, never have been. We're descended from Abraham, very freely, thank you very much. Next topic, please.



Maybe Jesus should have been a little more pointed, to them. Weren't your ancestors slaves in Egypt? Weren't you forced into exile and governed by Babylonians and Persians? Aren't you, as we speak, ruled by and forced to pay taxes to Rome? Maybe that would have been a little more clear.



Maybe Jesus should be a little more pointed, to us. Have you ever felt stuck? Have you ever had a hard time getting yourself to do the right thing? Have you ever struggled to apologize or ask for forgiveness? Have you ever let yourself fly off the handle? Do you ever feel like you don't have enough faith? Do you ever feel maybe God wants you to try a little harder or get your act together?



If you or the people in Jesus' day could answer yes to any of those questions, you have been and are enslaved. You've either been enslaved literally (see: Egypt) or you are enslaved to sin, by which I mean enslaved other people's expectations or enslaved to your possessions and money or enslaved to your own pride or enslaved to your hot temper or enslaved to being right at all costs or enslaved to thinking you have to work your way into God's good graces.



I don't know about you but I don't actually enjoy being reminded that I am a slave to sin. I do not like to be reminded of my failures. I do not like to be reminded about my mistakes. I do not like to be reminded about where I get stuck. I like to think that I am basically a nice Lutheran person from the Midwest. I like to think I basically have things under control and I am basically a good person. I do not really want to come here and have anyone tell me that I am a slave to sin or anything else.



Apparently, I'm not alone. The Pew Research Institute earlier this month released a survey of Americans and their religious preferences, or not. The report, entitled, “Nones on the Rise,” claims 1 in 5 Americans do not identify with any religion. In the last five years, this group has moved from 15% of the US population to almost 20%. The largest percentage of these “nones” isn’t agnostics. It isn’t atheists. It’s those who claim no particular association.



Here's more. Researchers asked: Are you looking for a religion that’s right for you? 88% said no. 10% said yes. Per reports that one third of those under 30 have no religious affiliation (32%), compared with just 9% of those age 65 years or older. Young adults today are much more likely to be religiously unaffiliated as those of past generations at similar stages in their lives.



Why are there so many nones? That's a complicated question and beyond the scope of this sermon. However, other research, for example from Barna Research Group, reports that many people, especially young adults, believe that churches are judgmental and hypocritical. I guess they don't want to come here and hear about how they are a slave to sin, either.



But the truth is, we are slaves to sin. But the truth is, that's only half the story.



When Jesus tells the disciples that they will know the truth and the truth will set them free, he's talking about two fundamental truths: the truth about humans and the truth about God.



Here's the truth about humans. Paul says it in Romans 3:23, “since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” We're sinners. We turn a way from God. We focus on our own needs first. We mess up. We fail. We fall short. And the truth is there is NOTHING we can do to save ourselves. It's like jumping to the moon. You cannot do it.



I had a friend in college who didn't go to church. When I asked her about it, she said she didn't really think she was a sinner. When you don't really think you're a sinner, you don't really need a savior. The truth, the painful truth, is that we really are sinners, but maybe we need to use different words. Maybe we need to talk about brokenness. We could use words like stuck, questioning, disconnected, feeling something missing, feeling like something isn't right. Let us remind ourselves and then share the news with others that worship is precisely the best place to go when you're feeling stuck, out of sorts, disconnected, questioning or just not whole. You can go on a hike or go fishing or go to yoga, but you will not here the truth there about who you are and who God is.



Which brings me to the good news, which really is only good news when you know how much you need it. Or as my seminary pastor used to say, “Did Jesus need to die for you to preach this sermon? If not, don't bother.”



Just after Paul tells us that all have sinned, he continues in Romans 3:24, Paul writes: “they (referring to all) are justified by his grace as a gift, though the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.”



Let me break that down. All who have sinned (everyone) is justified (made right with God) by grace (God's love that we didn't earn) through the redemption (freeing something or someone held hostage) that is in Christ Jesus (see: the cross). You can imagine why Martin Luther, who we recognize on this Reformation Sunday, was pretty darn excited when he discovered these verses. We are made right with God as a gift, not by anything we say or earn or do or buy.



Because that is the second truth for today, the truth about God. The truth about God is that God loves us, loves you. God loves us so much that God chooses to offer us liberation, freedom, not just in the form of eternal life, but in the form of release from whatever enslaves us right now. The Romans text for today even starts with that word, “now.” Right now, the righteousness of God has been disclosed. Right now, God desires to tell you the truth that you are a beloved child of God, that you are accepted, and that you are welcomed into the household with all of your failures, despite all your flaws and even with your questions. You are part of God's family. God doesn't want anyone to throw you out of that house, including yourself.



So we do come here to worship, to this place, to hear the truth about ourselves: We are broken. We sin. We can't do it alone. We come here to hear the truth about God: We are loved. We are forgiven. We are accepted. Our very identity is a liberated child of God. We need to hear week after week that we are so liberated, so freed to love and serve the neighbor, not because God needs those acts of mercy and justice but because someone you know needs them very much. We need these two truths because with them we find true freedom. We find the freedom to enter into painful but necessary and healing conversations. We find the freedom from our own cares through helping someone in need. We find the freedom to joyfully release some of the money or things we hoard.



What might it mean for us at Central Lutheran Church to live as a community that faces up to those truths. Do we look at each other and see the truth about ourselves and God? Do we admit our own mistakes and ask for forgiveness? Do we find the courage to go someone in private and tell them they have hurt us? Do we bear a grudge and gossip? What is the truth about who we are as a family of God? And yet, what is the truth about who God is? Does God love the person in the next pew as much as God loves you? Does God accept the person in the next pew just as he is? Does God have compassion for failures and mistakes woman in the next pew as much as God has compassion for your failures and mistakes?



After all, which is harder to accept? The truth that you are a sinner or the truth that because of Christ you are a beloved son or daughter? Jesus said, “You will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” Amen.

Who do we say that we are?

Central members and friends: What's our congregation all about? What's our focus, mission or reason to be? You might think the answer is Jesus. That's nice, but that's not what I'm asking.

You also might be thinking our mission statement: "The family of Central Lutheran Church comes together in the Word and goes out proclaiming God's presence, love and power. Coming and going, all we do is for the worship of God." That's nice, but that's not what I'm asking.

In our Sunday morning adult education class, we've been reading a book about the adult Catechumenate, Faith Forming Faith, which is about a congregation in Seattle who chose to use this ancient practice of faith formation as the centerpiece of their ministry. They welcome new Christians and mentor them in a year-long process before baptism. The Catechumenate is as old as St. Peter, or at least pretty close!

The author, Paul Hoffman, notes that congregations are always centered around something. There's always a hub around which a congregation's identity focuses, or a lens through which the congregation sees or understands its ministry. For the folks at Phinney Ridge, Seattle, it's faith formation, not just of new Christians but of the long-established ones.

So, Central folks? What's our center? Our hub? Our lens?

Put another way, what is the focus around which we orient everything, like worship, Bible study, fellowship and stewardship? For some congregations, it's faith formation. For some it's social justice or their worship and music life. What's ours?

It's worth noting that I asked this question of two different groups this past Sunday morning. I asked the 7-8 people who were at the adult education class, then I asked the dozen or so folks on church council. No one was in both groups. They each gave me the same answer, almost verbatim.

Here's what they said: Central is a congregation that is intentional in the community. Our central location makes us a hub for community activities. We are known for being active and engaged in our neighborhood and community, as a response to Jesus' command to love and serve. We are defined by a sense of our internal community.

Community, both beyond our walls and within them.

Central folks: what do you think? Agree or disagree, and why?

Anecdotes tell me that this focus on community is true. So often when I tell people where I work I hear, "Oh, you're the church with the Farmers' Market." And other times, "Oh, your church does so much in the community, like the Campfire after school program." Or, "Did I hear you guys are one of the emergency cold weather homeless shelter sites?" Why, yes we are! One of the most recent comments (compliments) I received was from a long-time member of a Catholic church. Aw, shucks. It almost makes a girl from the Midwest blush.

The point is this: many Central folks feel that this focus on community is our center, our hub and our identity. It's not for me to identify or define our hub, but I'm sure proud with what the last two groups have come up with.

What about you? What do you think about who we say that we are?

What we're buying, what we need (Sermon 10/14/12)

A Sermon for the Pentecost 20B, preached at Central Lutheran in Anchorage on Sunday, October 14, 2012. The gospel is from Mark 10:17-31.

 

Does anyone want to get up here and preach about this text? Anyone care to comment on how hard it will be for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God? What about Jesus’ statement that it is easier for a camel to get through the eye of the needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God? Or, my personal favorite: sell all your possessions, give the money to the poor and come follow me. Any takers?

 

In this middle section of Mark’s gospel, Jesus has already set his face toward Jerusalem. He is on his way to the cross. Jesus makes three Passion predictions to explain to his disciples that he will suffer, die and rise again. Our text today is right before the third Passion Prediction.  In these texts between the passion predictions, Jesus explains to his disciples what it truly means to follow him. His words force the disciples to consider what barriers will keep them from following in the Way once Jesus has gone.

 

One of those barriers is love of money or love of possessions. Jesus speaks about money numerous times in the New Testament, far more often than he talks about other things, like sexuality. Money isn’t an evil, per se, but like any good thing it can be misused. It can be worshipped. It’s not so much money that is the problem; it’s our relationship to it and our expectations for it.

What’s our relationship like with money these days? I am suggesting we as a nation have an unhealthy relationship with money and possessions. Many of us (and I include myself) also have unhealthy attitudes about money.  Sometimes we give away our money or possessions out of what’s leftover, as an afterthought, or without a heart filled with gratitude. Sometimes we compartmentalize our money and our lives. We may think God only cares about what we do with 10% tithe of our money, but in fact, God cares about the rest of the 90%, too. God cares about how we spend our money for two reasons. One, because it impacts our neighbor. Maybe this election season we shouldn't ask, “Am I better off than I was four years ago?” Maybe we should ask, “Is my neighbor (think poor, not rich) better off than he or she was four years ago?” The second reason God cares about how we spend our money is that it has an impact upon our own welfare. It has an impact on our soul.

 

Consider unhealthy messages about money and acquisition we hear in our culture. We may say money doesn’t make us happy but we still act like it does. We buy things and expect them to make us happy. At the Luther Seminary conference I attended last week, Preaching Professor David Lose was speaking about possessions. He said his neighbor was going on and on about a new power-washer that he got and how it was going to revolutionize his life. Lose said he walked away thinking, “It may be a terrific power-washer, but you’re still the same old guy.”

 

There's a sociologist at George Washington University, named Amitai Etzioni, who is originally from Israel. He has done a great deal of research about consumerism and what makes people happy. In his Youtube video, “You don't need to buy this,” he talks about a time at a conference, he asked people about what material possessions they really need. He asked people if they really needed inflatable Santa Clauses for decoration. Everyone laughed. Then he asked if people really needed plastic flamingo lawn ornaments. Everyone laughed. Then he asked if people really needed flat-screen TVs. No one laughed. Then he asked if people really needed 4G phones. Again, no one laughed and someone said, “Now, that's enough.”

 Advertisers know how to get us to buy. They know better than to simply advertise that one product is faster, more durable or can out-perform another. Instead, they want you to believe you are not complete unless you buy these shoes or that laptop. Ever notice that in most commercials you often have no idea what they’re selling? They are selling the belief that you are not enough when you don't have enough. It is a lie. It is sick. Yet we are all buying it.

 Because we are all buying it, our economy is becoming more and more dependent on the purchase of consumer goods. Lose told us that 70% of the US GDP is consumer goods, compared to 60% a generation ago. Even though jobs are created when people make more and more stuff that and convince you to buy it, that doesn’t make endless consumerism right. Let us confess that in this nation we have an illness when it comes to our relationship with money and possessions. We are sick. And there is only one cure.

 In the gospel story for today, a rich man comes to Jesus because he knows he is sick. He's not physically ill, but there some kind of dis-ease. If he felt satisfied by his life, possessions and commandment-keeping, he would not have bothered to come to Jesus. But something isn't right. Something is missing. And so he comes. And he kneels at Jesus feet.

 

Every other time in the gospels when someone kneels before Jesus, they are asking for healing. What if we read this story as an account of a man who deeply wished to be healed?

 Jesus gives him an impossible cure: sell your possessions, give your money to the poor and come, follow me. It is the only time in the gospels where Jesus asks someone to follow and they do not.

 I cannot give you a simple answer as to why Jesus was so harsh with this man. Clearly there would be complete economic chaos if every Christian right now rushed out and sold all their possessions. Wealth was this man's stumbling block. It was his sickness. He needed to be healed, and maybe so do we. The rich young man needed to be healed of his sickness around money. But there's another point about money to be made. Jesus didn't ask the man to toss his fortune over a cliff. He asked the man to give the money to the poor, to see the needs of the neighbors around him and to find healing by giving money away, even when it hurts to see it go.

 Much has been made about the poor bruised camel in this passage: the one that keeps trying to get through the eye of the needle. The point is, of course, that it's impossible. No one is good but God alone. No one can actually keep all the commandments. No one can get the poor camel through the eye of the needle. We can't earn or buy anything from God. We cannot purchase our peace of mind, barter for forgiveness or make down-payments on eternal life. It is all a gift, from the God who looks at us in love the way Jesus looked at that rich man in love. God knows we are sick, God knows we have dis-ease. God knows. God sees. And God loves us, right now as we are.

God wants to help us, even if the cure might be harsh. God wants to walk with us as we make choices with our money, so that it works for the good of our neighbors and for the good of our own souls. We also need to be reminded that we have enough. Google “global rich list.” You can see how your annual income measures with the income of others in the world. For instance, I make about $45,000 a year, before taxes. Guess where the Global Rich List puts me? I am the 103,000,000th richest person in the world. I am in the top 1.7%.

The George Washington University sociologist Etzioni says that according to his research, there are only three things that make people happy: relationships, intellectual pursuits (under which he includes Bible study and meditation) and community participation. We do all these things here. You do these things in worship, in fellowship groups at Central, in your own prayer and devotional life. These are all ways that we as a people of faith can bear witness to the alternatives to the culture of wealth acquisition and endless consumption. Here in Christian worship and fellowship we are strengthened in the things that really matter, so that we are not as distracted by all the things that don’t. Amen.