ALC – Sermon Pentecost 2A

SUNDAY, June 26, 2011

On Matthew 10:40-42

It is green again.

We have journeyed through the dramatic events of Christ’s birth, ministry and passion. We have witnessed the beginning of the church on Pentecost, and then Jesus’ sending of the disciples into the world. And today we are back to the familiar and steady and green season of “Time after Pentecost”. In fact, in some ways, this Sunday welcomes us out of all the drama into the ordinary, and Jesus’ words today fit this moment very well as we are settling into ordinary time.

Jesus’ words to the disciples sound like an echo of what he had told them all along. Words of reassurance, a reminder of his and their mission in the world. Words that they need to hear because the world that they are facing is inhospitable. When reading the entire chapter 10 of Matthew’s gospel it becomes obvious that being a disciple of Jesus and his good news is not easy, but involves great risks and dangers. Just before today’s passage Jesus talks about the conflict in the world to prepare his disciples for what lies ahead of them. He compares them to sheep that are sent out into the midst of wolves, without protection, a second shirt or shoes. Jesus talks about unrest, persecution and martyrdom. He speaks of the good news breaking families and friends apart. Being a disciple of the Jesus movement doesn’t sound very enticing.

Matthew’s words are realistic in regards to the conditions that God’s good news is faced with in this world… then and now. Sure, we live in a part of the world where we no longer have to face the threat of persecution and martyrdom. Instead our resistance to the Gospel takes shape in our busy lives where there so often is no time for God. The Old Adam within us resists God’s good news of grace and forgiveness with boredom and disbelief. In our apathetic comfort we don’t need to seek out God’s help. In our desire for constant distraction and entertainment we consume whatever we can get our hands on. We want to be in control.  In fact, we like to be God in God’s place. We want to be the ultimate authority. And we want to continue on just the way we are, focusing on our own happiness and accomplishments. Our egoism, our self-centeredness is a powerful force in this world. And all this focus on ourselves makes us unwelcoming and inhospitable hosts to the Gospel.

Jesus knows about the human struggle to be a welcoming host. And today he explains once again to the disciples what it means to be his followers, to be welcoming and hospitable.

Hospitality in the ancient world was not lightly given. To welcome someone into the community was to welcome not just an individual, but to welcome the entire community that they represented. If a neighbour from another village was visiting, one welcomed that whole village. If a distant relative was passing through town, then one’s whole extended family was welcomed. And so, the disciples represent the community of Jesus’ followers, and those who welcome God’s messengers welcome God.

And Jesus reminds them what it means to be hosts and beloved guests. He himself has come into this world as a beloved guest. He has lived among the people as host. Jesus was served and a servant. Jesus was welcoming but not always welcomed. And now he prepares them. As the disciples are about to go into the world to baptize and spread the news of Jesus, they would be welcomed or not, and thereby Christ would be welcomed, or not.

By means of four different examples Jesus describes God’s understanding of welcome and hospitality.

Now, welcoming prophets, the righteous and the little ones might sound strange to us today. Yet, when we look closer at these examples it turns out that Jesus didn’t choose them randomly.  Prophets in ancient times had no status. Often they were outside of society, and their reward for proclaiming God’s good news was ridicule and anger.

The righteous in those days were the elite, the temple cast. And they were inaccessible for Jane and Joe Blow. They would never eat with common folks like the disciples, like us.

The little ones were the unwanted subordinates who just couldn’t live up to the standards and expectations of the people around them.

By identifying these vastly different groups of people Jesus encourages the disciples to welcome them all. For in God’s eyes to welcome means to receive: prophets, the righteous, and the little ones alike… they are all welcome.  And the disciples’ mission as beloved guests is to proclaim grace and offer the love of a God who has come into this world as beloved guest.

“The movie “Babette’s Feast” plays in 19th century Denmark. Two sisters live in an isolated village with their father, who is the honored pastor of a small Lutheran congregation that is almost a sect unto itself. Although the sisters each are presented with a real opportunity to leave the village, they choose to stay with their father, to serve him and their church.

After some years Babette, a French refugee, arrives at their door. She begs the sisters to take her in, and commits herself to work for them as a maid, housekeeper, and cook. One day, the sisters decide to hold a dinner to commemorate the 100th anniversary of their father’s birth. Babette who had experienced unexpected good fortune, implores the sisters to allow her to take charge of the preparation of the meal. Although they are secretly concerned about what Babette, a Catholic and a foreigner, might do, they agree to accept her meal and Babette’s offer to pay for the creation of a “real French dinner”.

She leaves the village for a few days in order to return to Paris, as she must personally arrange for supplies to be sent to Jutland. The various, never-before-seen ingredients are plentiful, sumptuous and exotic, and their arrival causes much discussion amongst the villagers. As preparations commence, the sisters begin to worry that the meal will be, at best, a great sin of sensual luxury, and at worst some form of devilry or witchcraft. In a hasty conference, the sisters and the congregatiON agree to eat the meal, but to forego any pleasure in it, and to make no mention of the food during the entire dinner.

Although the stern guests do their best to reject the earthly pleasures of the exquisite and abundant banquet, Babette’s extraordinary cooking breaks down their distrust and superstitions. Old wrongs are forgotten, ancient loves are rekindled, and reconciliation of the community settles over the table.”* In the meal shared by the broken and resistant community, the Beloved Guest restores the relationships of all present.

Like Jesus has come to the disciples as beloved guest and host.

Like Jesus comes to us…  to serve and send us to be beloved guests and hosts. Jesus comes to us as the Church, comes into our midst – no matter where we are at in life. Jesus comes to wash us clean in Baptism and proclaim God’s forgiveness. Jesus comes into our midst to bless and nourish us with his word, to feed us bread and wine, his own body and blood. Not because we have earned this in any way, but because Jesus is the beloved guest and host, giving his love and forgiveness to us freely.

Every time we gather in worship we practice the roles of beloved guest and host. Every time we gather in worship we learn what it means to be the Body of Christ in the world. And so, when the church assembles, and the body of Christ gets together in worship, we – to this day – follow God’s pattern of welcome: God gathers us, we sing, God speaks to us, we pray, God hosts a generous feast, we eat and drink. And strengthened and nourished by God’s meal and transformed by the good news of God’s exuberant love and forgiveness we go out into the world as beloved guests and hosts.

Amen.

* adapted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Babette%27s_Feast

BLCM – Sermon Ascension of Our Lord

SUNDAY, June 5, 2011

On Luke 24:44-53

Today we celebrate Christ’s Ascension. It’s a weird occasion. In fact we don’t talk a lot about it in church. And Luke’s is the only gospel account that mentions Jesus’ departure. Really, what kind of story is this anyway? … before Jesus is done blessing the disciples he is carried up into heaven. Doesn’t that sound more like an urban legend? One of these stories that might have some truth to it but its details have spiraled out of proportion over time.

Well, it was like that for the disciples. Their story had been tough lately. Jesus’ fame had grown over the last few years, and had brought him a triumphant entry into Jerusalem. But after that, things had gone haywire: Jesus’ underhanded imprisonment and unfair trial… his shameful death by crucifixion at Golgatha. The disciples had a hard time getting it all together. It had been too much. Before, they had had the hope that Jesus would change their lives. However, that bubble had burst. They were puzzled about what to do. And then two of their brothers had come to them – and had told them that they had met Jesus on the way to Emmaus. Another strange story in a chain of unfortunate events. They were prepared to leave the Jesus-story behind. No longer were they sure if they wanted to be part of this Jesus movement. They didn’t know how. Events had broken into their lives and tossed them around like helpless leaves in the wind. They felt left behind. And they were scared. Being identified as Jesus’ disciples was dangerous these days.

So, when Jesus appeared to them early this morning they had taken him for a ghost at first. But then he asked for some food. Ghosts don’t eat, do they? And they shared some broiled fish. And now they are sitting around Jesus, and Jesus is talking. It’s almost as it used to be. Them and their Lord… How is that possible?

We can’t blame the disciples for their reaction. Because their doubts and fears, their feeling abandoned and being left behind after Jesus’ death, their withdrawing into themselves is not unfamiliar to us. We, too, have tried to leave some stories of our lives behind. We have tried to pack ourselves in, distance ourselves from circumstances that have become overwhelming, too much, unbearable.

Humans have countless ways of trying to escape life, and even death. When things do not go the way we expect, we are good at moving on. We might hurl ourselves into cyberspace, or hide behind work. We might numb ourselves by taking pills or drowning life in the bottle. A relationship doesn’t work out? Move on to the next. When a loved one becomes ill and dies, we push away the grief and try to pretend that everything is fine. Everything inside us tells us to avoid the pain, ignore the conflict, keep away from the shame. And so we do.

Escapism happens to individuals and entire communities alike. And the Church is not exempt from it either. We might see Church as the haven, a secure place… for life in the world is too hostile. We might use the Bible as an oracle that tells us what we want to hear. We might focus too much on a life after death and the present becomes unimportant.

Or just very recently the world community was gripped by the supposed coming of the Lord. On May 21, 2011 Judgment Day was supposed to happen. Maybe we have shrugged the frenzy off. Or maybe we couldn’t help the tiny uneasy voice nagging us in the back of our head: What if it was true? What if this group of people knew something we didn’t. After all they are Christians… The media had a field day – fuelling the hype. Bad publicity is better than none. It’s not the first time that Christians were ridiculed for their often-obscure claims. And so, some people had anticipated the day. Others were afraid. And others again made a lot of money.

It isn’t easy figuring out what to do when life breaks into our expectations, hopes and dreams… when reality catches up with us, and things don’t fit our plans and ideas and beliefs…

Really, of all people the disciples should have known better, shouldn’t they? All these years and months and days and moments around Jesus… shouldn’t they have been more prepared for what had happened, was happening, and was to come? After all they had seen, heard, tasted and eye-witnessed the new reality that Jesus had brought about.

But they are packed up. And Jesus knows that. Jesus knows about their doubts and fears and questions. And Jesus knows that the disciples need some more preparation for their future without him. Instead of leaving them high and dry, instead of just disappearing Jesus has come back. And he attends to them one last time. He interprets scripture for them one last time, beginning with their forefathers… Moses… the prophets. And he explains to them how he had been there all along. Nothing had happened accidentally, nothing was arbitrary, but everything is embedded in God’s salvation plan. God’s enterprise ‘Salvation of all Creation’ hasn’t failed but had found its completion in Jesus’ own death and resurrection.

Jesus opens their minds and eyes and ears to understand… To understand that God cares for all creation from the beginning of time and always… To understand that the Jesus-movement hadn’t been over, isn’t over, and never will be over… To understand that they are still part of a grand story, God’s story… Jesus opens the disciples up, unpacks them and declares them “witnesses of these things”. He leaves them the promise to “clothe them with power from above”.

And to underline his promise Jesus lifts up his hands and blesses the disciples. And what might seem to be almost too familiar a worship experience for us, the disciples experience Jesus’ blessing for the first time. So far, Jesus had blessed food and little children. But this time Jesus blesses them.

No wonder, that when they return to Jerusalem to wait for things to come, these men are suddenly filled with a wild and freeing joy. They can’t keep from worshiping God. Jesus’ review and prospects for them has changed them. Where they had only seen doom and gloom, grief and despair, abandonment and ridicule, they now can see God with them. Jesus has made them part of God’s new reality. Jesus has given them a story to which they are eyewitnesses. No longer are they afraid but filled with hope and joy and the understanding that they are not alone, that Jesus will stay with them.

And like he has done to the disciples Jesus prepares us, too. For us preparation means planning, organizing, packing, getting ready to go. For God preparing means to linger, to scatter everything, to unpack, to put everything out of the boxes. Like he has done to the disciples Jesus unpacks us and makes us witnesses and blesses us, too.

Being unpacked by Jesus and understanding his promise to care has consequences. We no longer need to escape. We are no longer stuck in some sort of waiting room to get into heaven. We no longer need to sit on packed up suitcases and wait for things to end. Instead Jesus is going through life with us. And life is here and now. And we can look life in the eye. When things become dicey, when life deals us unfairly, when all signs seem to point towards the end of the world, we can cling to Jesus’ ascension promise. With great joy and hope we can trust that no-one and nothing is lost. Because our reality, our life, and our death is shaped by God’s blessing.

And this is what the world needs to hear. We, like the disciples, are embedded in God’s story as witnesses. And being witnesses of and to God means witnessing to God’s accomplished, living, and still unfolding plan for this world.  Being witnesses of and to God means literally witnessing to ALL aspects of life – not the Disney version or the doom-and-gloom-approach… but life in its fullness and richness, including hurts and pain, disappointment and death. God doesn’t help us to avoid and escape death or, as a matter of fact, even life, but helps us navigate through both life AND death. Jesus shows us the difference between packing and escaping and unpacking and staying. Jesus has done and finished the unpacking, and he might be leaving but God is here. And since we are in God’s hands, since Christ is Lord of heaven earth, how can we keep from singing?

Amen.