Reflections on the ELCA churchwide assembly

As some of you may be aware, the ELCA recently voted to “recognize publicly accountable, lifelong, monogamous, same-gender relationships.”  In other words, while the Churchwide Assembly did not endorse homosexuality nor give monogamous same-gender relations the same status as heterosexual marriages, it did state that homosexuality is not inherently sinful.  Now, this is a hugely controversial thing to say, even when you’re trying to be even-handed and take a middle of the road coarse (which the ELCA is trying to do).  This is particularly controversial for a church body, and there is a great deal of confusion as to the scriptural basis (or lack thereof) on which the decision rests.  There are also a great many accusations from both sides of the argument that the other side is acting based on their own personal prejudices and politics rather than the will of God.  There is also a great deal of confusion on what it was exactly that the ELCA voted to do.  What happened can be explained fairly easily from the ELCA FAQ on the subject.  The theological basis on which those decisions rested are a bit more complicated.  Here’s a helpful article by Timothy Wengert:

“If there is one rule we need to follow in the wake of the ELCA Churchwide Assembly, it is this: Do not break the eighth commandment (against false witness) in order to defend the sixth (against adultery and other sexual sins).  Both those who supported the changes in policy and those who did not need to remember this.  We must speak what we know and not cast aspersions on those who disagreed with us.  Luther’s comments on the eighth commandment in the Large Catechism are helpful here.  Even when forced by one’s office to speak out, one must not lie or distort the truth.

“In light of some implied (and explicit) attacks on the decision, however, it is also necessary to make one thing clear.  The change in policy was grounded in Scripture.  In fact, the calls for justice toward gays and lesbians in committed relationships and the recitation of examples of healthy same-gender relations, as important as these are to some folk, finally do not in themselves constitute a complete standard for changing church policy, since even calls for justice must for Christians be grounded in and normed by sound interpretations of Scripture as God’s Word for us….”

Timothy Wengert is an outstanding theologian of the church.  He is an expert on Luther and the early Lutheran church, having been one of two editor/translators of the latest edition of the Book of Concord (the collection of documents that form the basis of the particularly Lutheran understanding of Scripture and the Christian life, of which the Augsburg Confession is a part). He is a professor of Reformation History at the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Philadelphia, and a regular contributor to the Journal of Lutheran Ethics.

Sixth Sunday after Epiphany

Sunday, February 15 2009

2 Kings 5:1-14

Psalm 30
1 Corinthians 9:24-27
Mark 1:40-45

Preached by Vicar Anna C. Haugen

First Evangelical Lutheran Church, Greensburg, PA

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of my heart be acceptable in your sight, O Lord.

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

I knew a girl in college who would never allow a guy to pay for anything, particularly if they were out on a date.  She didn’t want to be vulnerable, didn’t ever want to feel obligated, so she used her money as a shield to keep herself in control of whatever they did together.  She liked knowing that she didn’t have to depend on anyone else.  When dealing with guys, she was a control freak.  Money is a potent form of power, and she knew how to use it.

Naaman wanted to use his riches to be in control, too.  Being told of a prophet of God who might be able to cure his disease, Naaman’s first action wasn’t to go to the prophet and ask for healing.  No, Naaman wanted healing on his own terms.  So he went to his king, and got a huge sum of money to bribe the king of Israel into helping.  Naaman also got a letter from his king to the king of Israel that was harsh enough to panic the king of Israel, and a powerful military escort.  Chariots were the tanks of their day, the most effective way of projecting power on a battlefield, requiring much money and skill to maintain and use.  It was the old carrot and stick approach: if you do what I want and heal me, Naaman said, you get a king’s ransom in gold, silver, and costly garments.  If you don’t heal me, my king-who is more powerful than you, with a larger and better equipped army-will be very unhappy.  So you’d better do what I want.  Naaman demanded a miracle of healing, rather than ask for God’s grace.  He wanted God to work by his rules, rather than try to work by God’s rules.

The prophet Elisha heard about it, and called Naaman to be cured, telling him simply to wash in the Jordan river.  Naaman should have been happy, right?  He got what he wanted: to be cured from a horrible, disfiguring, wasting disease.  But no.  Instead of being grateful, Naaman was insulted that the prophet’s instructions were so simple.  Naaman was a powerful man, a rich man, come with a huge entourage and lavish bribes to demand a huge miracle.  He wanted a big show, something worthy of his status, something that he could do to heal himself.  He wanted something that acknowledged his power and that of the king he served.  Aram, what we now call Syria, was mighty and rich, much more so than the piddling little country of Israel.  Coming to puny Israel for help, admitting that they had something Aram didn’t, was already an affront to Naaman’s pride.  Then to have the prophet of God refuse to deal with him directly, refuse to play to Naaman’s pride, refuse to give him some Herculean task and showy ritual to mark the importance of the occasion-that was intolerable.  To have come all that way, just to be told to bathe in a river, something he could have done at home?  Naaman wasn’t going to put up with that.  He turned away and almost rejected the miraculous healing God was offering him.  He had to be convinced to allow God to help him!  It seems incredible to us, almost unbelievable, that anyone would reject God’s help and healing because their pride was offended.  It seems incredible that anyone would turn away from God with the gift they so desperately need right there in front of them.  And yet, we do it all the time.

Nobody likes feeling vulnerable.  We like to feel we have control over our own destinies.  Think about how much respect we give to “self-made men,” those who take a bad situation and use their own abilities and ambition to rise above it, creating a better life for themselves.  We Americans also tend to take a lot of pride in being self-reliant, take care of ourselves.  Think about how much time we spend planning out our futures.  Think about how afraid people have been lately about the economy, about the threat of lost jobs and pay cuts.  Is it really about money, at the heart of it?  Or is it about something deeper, about knowing that one of the foundations of our society is shaky and unpredictable?  Even those people with relatively secure jobs are afraid and unsure.  People who have already been laid off, whose lives have been completely changed by forces beyond their control-I can only imagine what they must be feeling.

I know when I feel vulnerable, I try not to show it, try to pretend everything’s going fine, try to take control of the things that are most important to me.  Like Naaman, when I’m weak I try to look strong, try to keep the situation in terms that are familiar to me, on my own home turf.  For Naaman, the home turf was wealth and military posturing.  For me, the home turf is academic debate and nitpicking.  There are many defense mechanisms, ways to try to compensate for feeling weak and vulnerable, but everyone has them.  Sometimes, we don’t even realize we’re using them.  What are yours?

Admitting that someone or something else has power over you means that you are not in control.  It means that you are vulnerable to them.  It can be very scary.  But here’s the thing: no matter what we do, no matter how much power we have, we are not in control of the world.  God is.  God is the one who created the world, who redeemed it through death on a cross, who brings us out of the pit of sin and despair and makes us whole.  None of that is our own doing.  All of it belongs to God and is done by God.  It is not our will that determines the course of our lives, but God’s will.

But do we really believe that God is in control?  We say it all the time in worship, in hymns, we read it in the Bible and hear it preached.  We pray it in the Lord’s Prayer, asking for God’s will to be done on earth as it is in heaven.  But all too often, we don’t mean what we say.  When things go right, we look back at all the little things that happened, everything we did, that helped make things turn out the way we wanted them to.  We attribute things to chance, luck, other people, everyone but God.  We don’t look for all the little ways God has intervened to help and guide us, the ways God has shaped events.  When things go wrong, we want God to step into our lives and fix everything, but fix it on our terms.  God gets the blame for tragedies-children dying, jobs lost, homes destroyed-but we don’t often give God the credit for all the things that go well.  Like Naaman, we try to keep control of our lives by keeping God’s presence within boundaries of what we consider acceptable.  And it’s a lot easier for us than for Naaman; we don’t have a prophet of God like Elisha to point out our mistake and make us relate to God on God’s terms rather than our own.

We live in a world broken by sin.  I don’t mean just individual sins, bad things done by individuals.  Sin has invaded every aspect of our lives.  Each individual sin takes us further away from how God wants us to live our lives.  All those little-and big-things we do wrong add together to create ever larger problems.  Because we are flawed and sinful people, the things we create-like institutions, groups, and cultures-are also flawed and sinful.  Just as our bodies get sick because of diseases and germs, our minds and souls get sick because of sin.  But while our bodies can fight off minor ailments and doctors can cure us of many serious illnesses, the only one who can save us from sin is God.  Like leprosy, sin is a long-term wasting disease that affects our entire life, something we can’t cure ourselves.  Like Naaman, our only hope is the grace of God, a miracle of healing given for us.  Like Naaman, we need to be washed clean.

But like Naaman, we want to be in control.  We don’t want to admit we have a problem, don’t want to admit we can’t fix it ourselves, don’t want to admit we’re vulnerable.  We come up with reasons why we don’t need God’s help.  We convince ourselves we’re not doing that badly, that we’re no worse off than anyone else.  We worship God on Sundays and try to leave him safely in church behind us when we leave instead of looking for his influence and guidance in our daily lives, until something bad happens and we want God to fix it just the way we prefer.  We turn away from the love and salvation God offers us through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, just like Naaman turned away from the healing he was offered in the waters of the Jordan river.

It’s hard to be vulnerable, to put our trust in God to take care of us and heal us.  It’s hard to admit that we need God’s grace so desperately.  But here’s the good news: we have been washed clean by the waters of baptism and redeemed out of the hands of sin and death by our Lord’s sacrifice.  Even living in a world broken by sin, even when we turn away from God, God never turns away from us.  Baptism isn’t just a matter of splashing a bit of water on a baby’s head.  Baptism is a fundamental cleansing, a drowning of the old, sinful self.  Each day of our lives as baptized children of God, we die to sin and rise to new life in Christ Jesus.  We are sinners, yes, but we are also saints claimed and made holy and whole by God.  This is why for the last few weeks we’ve been using the Remembrance of Baptism in place of the Confession of Sins we normally use.  It’s a reminder that baptism isn’t just a once-in-a-lifetime event but a daily reality, a way of living in God’s grace our whole life long.

We don’t need to be afraid to let God work within our lives.  We don’t need to be afraid to admit we need God’s help.  We don’t need defense mechanisms to try and prove we have control or hide our own fears.  We don’t need to control God’s actions, because God loves us and cares for us and won’t abandon us.  Even when things aren’t going the way we want them to, even when we’re afraid of the way things are going, God is still with us, still healing us from our sin and working to make us whole.  God washes us clean from the illness of sin in the waters of baptism.  All we need do is open our hearts and minds to God’s work in our lives and stop turning away.

The Beginning of Wisdom

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” (Psalm 111:10, Proverbs 9:10)

That never made sense to me.  It’s a common theme in the bible, occuring twice in those words and many, many times in other variations.  And it’s one of those pithy statements that I heard occasionally growing up from elderly Christians of my aquaintance.  But I was taught in Sunday School about a God whose greatest characteristic is love for all creation, especially his children.  God was a loving father, we were taught, who saves us and heals us and takes care of us.  Why should we be afraid of him?

I know some Christians believe in a terribly wrathful God just looking for excuses tocondemn and smite people and send them to Hell, but that’s never been part of my personal piety.  After all, no matter how angry God sometimes gets, no matter what we do, he still loves us.  17“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:16-17).  Or, in the words of Jesus Loves Me (verse two), “Jesus loves me when I’m good/When I do the things I should/Jesus loves me when I’m bad/Even though it makes him sad.”  Another favorite hymn growing up was “What a Friend We Have in Jesus.”  Why should I fear my friend, my father, the one who created me and loves me and takes care of me, even when it costs him?

Why is the fear of the Lord the beginning of wisdom?  Psalm 111 was the Psalm of the week last Sunday, and it got me thinking about this.

Yes, God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.  Yes, Jesus loves us, and loves us so much that he died to save us.  Yes, the Holy Spirit surrounds us and guides us in love all the days of our lives.   But the problem with focusing on our loving relationship–God our Father, Jesus our dear friend–is that it’s easy to lose track of the fact that God is not just a nice person living up in the sky.  He’s not just a human who really likes us.  God is greater than that.   God is greater than we know, greater than we can know.

Consider the mystery of the Trinity–Father, Son, Spirit, three distinct persons who yet make up one indivisible God.  When Saint Augustine, one of the greatest theologians ever, tried to understand this mystery, he was given a vision of a little boy digging a hole on the beach and trying to fill it with water from the ocean.  Of course the water all drained out through the sand, and the sand kept filling in the hole as the edges of the hole collapsed.  “You have set yourself a difficult task,” Augustine said.  “No more difficult than your self-appointed task of trying to understand the Trinity,” the boy replied.  If we can’t even understand the form of God, how can we understand deeper things about him?

Familiarity breeds contempt.  When all we remember about God is that he loves us, when we think we understand him, it’s too easy to think of God only as God fits into our own needs and desires.  But God can’t be limited that way.  “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  It doesn’t mean that we have to be afraid that God will abuse or abandon us.  It means, instead, that we need to remember that God is beyond our understanding.  We see through a glass, dimly; God sees all.  We cannot know what God intends for our lives and the whole world.  We can’t control God’s power.  If a little awe at God’s greatness helps us remember this, that’s a good thing.

Don’t worry: Recession and the God of Abundance

Matthew 6:25-34. ‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? ²⁶Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? ²⁸And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, ²⁹yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. ³⁰But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? ³¹Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?” or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” ³²For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 ‘So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.’

In the novel The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams, one of the reasons the “Hitchhiker’s Guide” referred to in the text is so useful a book is because it has inscribed on its cover in large letters the words “DON’T PANIC.”  It seems to me that these words are useful to remember in more times and places than just the book, and now is one of them.

Let’s be honest: the economy is in the tank, and won’t be bouncing back in the next couple of years.

Let’s be even more honest: We have been and are still incredibly blessed by God.  If you have access to a computer and the internet to read this post, you have access to more resources than most people on this planet have ever had, no matter how hard you have been hit by the recession.  If you live in the “first world,” then you almost certainly have a safety net of social programs (both secular and religious) to help when things are at their worst.  They may not be ideal or as good as they should be, but they are still better than the majority of the world’s population has ever had access to.  God has given us many blessings, and he gives them abundantly.

In some ways, we’ve been too blessed.  We are used to having so much that as a society we’ve forgotten how to tell the difference between wants and needs, between things that are handy and cool and things that truly sustain our bodies and souls.  The world around us tells us that we need the newest iPhone, the hottest car, the biggest TV, the fastest computer, the biggest house, the latest tech toy, trendy clothes, to go out to eat all the time.  Thinking like that gets people into financial trouble, by encouraging them to spend more than they can afford, leaving them no savings to fall back on in times of trouble.  But even worse than that, it causes spiritual trouble in both good times and bad.

In good times, our cultural addiction with spending money encourages people to turn away from God by promising happiness through material things.  We take the abundance God has given us and depend on it without ever thinking about the one who gave it to us.

When things turn bad, our response is even worse.  Because we’re convinced that the abundance God has given us is the minimum necessary for survival, we panic at the idea of having to get by on less.  And in our panic, we turn even further from God, grasping at anything that might keep us in the style we have become accustomed to.  I’ve seen a lot of that lately, both within and outside of the church.

DON’T PANIC.  Or, as Jesus puts it in our Gospel today, don’t worry.  Don’t bury your head under the sand, either, but don’t worry about all the things that might go wrong.  Remember how much abundance you have been given.  Then take a good hard look at how you have used the abundance God has given you–your time, your talents, your posessions.  Have you used God’s gifts as a faithful Christian, or have you used that abundance selfishly?  Have you fallen into the trap of thinking material posessions lead to happiness?  If so, what can you do to change your thinking and your way of life to be more faithful and wholesome?

DON’T WORRY.  You are in God’s hands.  You have been in God’s hands all your life.  God knows what you need.  Many people in this world will need to change their spending habits because of the financial crisis, or take other actions to deal with the situation.  But don’t do so out of panic or worry over all the bad things that might happen, over the fact that you might not be able to do and have all the things you wanted.  Do so in faith that God will help you meet your needs–your true needs, not your wishes.  Know that God loves you, and will never abandon you.

No one can lengthen their life or affect the world’s economy by worrying about it.  No one can make themselves happier by worrying.  The world and we ourselves are where we have always been: in the hands of a God who loves us, and loves us abundantly, and has given us many gifts.  And who will never abandon us, no matter how much we despair.  So don’t worry.

Since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, God decided, through the foolishness of our proclamation, to save those who believe.  22 For Jews demand signs and Greeks desire wisdom,  23 but we proclaim Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles,  24 but to those who are the called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.  25 For God’s foolishness is wiser than human wisdom, and God’s weakness is stronger than human strength.  26 Consider your own call, brothers and sisters: not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth.  27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;  28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, things that are not, to reduce to nothing things that are,  29 so that no one might boast in the presence of God.  30 He is the source of your life in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption,  31 in order that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 1:21-31)

Paul divides the world up into two categories in this passage: the “Jews” who want signs of God’s power to prove his existence and their own righteousness, and the “Greeks” who want to prove God’s existence through wisdom, which they can then use to enhance their standing in society (“wisdom” being highly valuable in Greek culture).  Now, obviously our world does not fall into the neat ethnic categories of Jew and Greek today … but the two basic mindsets of how people approach religion are still much the same.  People generally want religion for one of two reasons.  Either they want a sign of God’s power (preferably one that benefits them in some way–wealth, healing, political or military power, etc.) or they want some special wisdom that will enlighten them, help them climb up the path to heaven.  (Remember when I talked about up religion and down religion?  These are the two main forms of up religion.)

But God the deepest and most powerful way in which God shows Godself to us is not through great wisdom and great power (or, at least, not what the world counts as great wisdom and great power).  God came down to earth and took on human form.  Then he allowed himself to be arrested for a crime he was innocent of, and died one of the most gruesome deaths imaginable, naked and broken for all the world to see.  This does not look like power, and it does not look like wisdom.  At least not what we think of as power and wisdom.

Yet through that cross, through that weakness, that foolishness, God broke the power of sin and death and the hold it had over the world.  This is the way God works in the world: through weakness and foolishness, things that we humans would normally try to avoid at all costs.  The cross is what God’s power and wisdom truly look like.  So if we truly want to see and experience God’s power and wisdom, we can’t rely on our own views of what power and wisdom should look like.  We need to let God show us what “Christ crucified” looks like in the 21st century.  We need to stop boasting in ourselves or the things we think we can get from God, and start paying attention instead to what God is doing in us and through us in things that look weak and foolish.

We need to start seeing every person through the lens of the cross.

Give to God the things that are God’s

I know I’ve talked a lot about money and God and stewardship lately, but the text this last Sunday was so perfectly on that topic that I had to speak on it. Next week will be on a different topic, I promise.

Matthew 22:15-22

‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ It sounds fairly simple. Yes, Christians are to pay taxes and be good citizens, while at the same time staying faithful to God. You might say we have dual citizenship—we are citizens of our country here on earth while at the same time we are also citizens of God’s kingdom, which will be fulfilled on earth when he comes again. We need to be good citizens of both heaven and earth, and that means participating in all just requirements of citizenship in our earthly country, including taxes.
But there’s more to this passage than simple advice to be good citizens of both kingdoms. ‘Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.’ There’s a lot of political debate in our country about what and how much should be taxed, how much should be “given to the Emperor” in the words of today’s lesson, and just about everyone I know has a strong opinion on the subject one way or the other. Here’s something we don’t think about as often: what should be given to God? I know that time and talent sheets have been mailed out, so you’ve probably given this a little bit more thought recently than you usually would. Here’s something to keep in mind.

Jesus divides it up that if it belongs to the emperor, it should go to the emperor, and if it belongs to God it should go to God. But wait a minute. Doesn’t everything belong to God? God created heaven and earth. God created everything, from the planet we live on to the stars and sun that shine above us, to the plants and animals we share the planet with, to our very lives. God created us and everything around us. Everything we have, from our lives to our families to our possessions, is a gift from God. Our salvation through Jesus Christ, the presence of the Holy Spirit in our midst, the faith that brought us here today and sustains us through our lives, all are God’s gifts to us. We acknowledge this in our offering prayer, but have you ever really stopped to think about what that means?

We like to think we’ve earned everything we get. Study hard in school, work hard at your job, and you’ll get ahead and earn money to buy things with. But the intelligence that helped us learn and the health that helps us work are both gifts from God, for our use. And the things we buy with our money were all made from resources God has given us. The fabric in our clothing comes from plants and animals created by God, the metal in our cars comes from the planet created by God, the plastics that are in just about everything these days were created from materials given by God using knowledge gained by chemists using the intelligence God gave them. Everything we have comes from God, one way or another. And we have so much.

The Pharisees knew that everything comes from God. That’s what they based their question on—the Romans were foreign overlords who wanted them to worship Roman gods. They didn’t think it was lawful to give anything that belonged to God—including the money for the tax—to the people who ruled them and didn’t want them to remain faithful to God. But at the same time, they were looking at the whole thing from a purely political standpoint, as if God were merely a rival king and paying taxes to his rival were treason. They missed the deeper truth that God is not a petty ruler looking to consolidate his power at the expense of everyone else’s. God gives us everything he gives us because he loves us and wants us to have an abundant life, and he wants us to learn to love and share that abundance he has given us. Giving to God is not just about paying your share of the church’s bills, it’s about taking care of the people all around us, sharing our abundance so that all of God’s children here and around the world can live happy and healthy lives.

When we forget that everything comes from God, when we think of everything we have as things we earned on our own, it’s harder to be generous. We worry about not having enough, about not earning enough and saving enough, particularly when the economy is troubled. So when we do give things to others, we base it on needs and expectations. The church needs to make its operating budget and we are expected to contribute so we figure out what we can comfortably spare. The school band needs money for new uniforms, and we are expected to support them so we buy a sandwich or two. We do what we need to do to stay members of the community in good standing. It’s not bad, but it’s not particularly good, either.

Give to God the things that are God’s. When you find yourself having trouble with that, remember this: Everything in heaven and on earth belongs to God, and God has given to us everything we have. God will continue to give to us, though perhaps not always in the ways and quantities he has in the past. God wants us to give generously—not just with money but with time and talents, too. God wants us to give, not because it’s expected of us or simply to fill a need, but cheerfully and with love because we have so much to share.

Stewardship isn’t just about paying the bills on time. Stewardship means taking care of the things that have been entrusted to you. It means using them where they will do the most good and passing them on to the next generation. It means recognizing that in the end, everything belongs to God. Including ourselves.

If you have any questions about Christianity, please comment and I will answer them.

Be still, and know that I am God.

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? 28 And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you– you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What will we eat?’ or ‘What will we drink?’ or ‘What will we wear?’ 32 For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. 33 But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 “So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today.” (Matthew 6:25-34)

“Be still, and know that I am God!” (Psalm 46:10)

It seems like everyone’s worried about something these days. If you’re not worrying about the economy, you’re worried about politics. If you’re not worrying about politics, you’re worrying about the environment or the world hunger crisis or international relations or your health or the way kids these days behave or the way adults just don’t understand or your job or your spouse/significant other or …. the list is endless. We work frantically to try and fix whatever problems we think are fixable, or work frantically to try and ignore the ones we think aren’t. We try to drown out our worries in work or play. We get so caught up in our worries that we don’t have room for anything else, and that takes a toll not just on our mental and spiritual well-being, but on our physical well-being.

Here’s the thing: we don’t have to worry, and we shouldn’t worry. When we worry, when we turn problems over and over in our head and agonize over what can or can’t be done to fix them, we enclose our minds and souls until they are only big enough for the problem we’re worrying about. We don’t leave room for God to work in us and through us. The fate of the world does not rest on our shoulders alone, but on God’s as well. Things will not always go well. But whether things go well or badly, God is always with us, and he’ll take care of us if we let him. This doesn’t mean we shouldn’t do whatever we can to solve our own problems, but it does mean that the problems shouldn’t consume our attention, and when we fail it’s not the end of the world. Do what you can, and trust God–in whose care the entire world rests, including you and me and everyone else–to take care of the rest.

When you find yourself worrying, don’t give in to the temptation to frantic action. Don’t give in to the temptation to turn your worries over and over in your mind. Instead, stop and take a deep breath, and remember that God cares for the world and everything in it. In the words of the Psalm, be still and know that God is God. Then take time to pray or meditate. Turn your worries over to God to deal with. Find something to be grateful for, something to rejoice over, and lift that up to the Lord. Then ask God for guidance and help dealing with whatever it is you’re worried about. Then act.

No Other Gods

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.” (Deuteronomy 5:6-7)

Thus begin the Ten Commandments, the laws given by God to his people to teach them how to live good lives.  This commandment is the first because without a strong foundation, without knowing who our God is who is the basis of our faith, everything else becomes relative, shaky, a house of cards ready to fall.  After all, look at the story that follows the Ten Commandments: while Moses is up on Mount Sinai talking to God, the people of Israel get afraid and make an idol to worship to reassure themselves.  This is quickly followed by the people of Israel breaking just about every single one of the Ten Commandments they’ve just been given.

It sounds so simple to follow.  When we go to church on Sunday, it’s pretty clear who we worship: all the songs, scripture, preaching, etc., point to God, and it’s pretty easy to avoid going to the worship services of other religions which would involve the worship of other gods.  So it’s easy to read the story and condemn the Israelites for a lack of faith.  What we don’t realize is that idolatry is easy to spot when it’s wrapped up in a golden calf.  It’s a lot subtler in its modern forms, and we are very guilty of it.

Martin Luther said that our god is whatever we put our trust in.  Think about that: your god is whatever you put your trust in.  It’s not just about what you worship in formal ceremonies, it’s about what you rely on in your day to day life.  And watching what’s going on in America today, it’s pretty obvious that even in a nominally Christian nation, what we put our trust in is not the God who led our ancestors out of slavery and sent his only son to save us and make us whole and who has promised to be with us no matter what.

From the reactions to and panic about the banks and the stock market, it’s blatantly obvious that the thing in which many Americans put their trust is the nation’s economy.  And I’ll bet most Western nations have similar attitudes.  When the financial system falters and people start hearing the word “recession,” people feel nervous because the thing in which they put their trust–their god–is failing them.

From the reactions to and talk about the Presidential race, it’s blatantly obvious that the thing in which many Americans put their trust is their political party or specific political candidates.  America has problems; so does every other nation on earth.  People believe that a political ideal, or a political party, or a certain politician can fix those problems and make things right; that’s what they put their faith in.

Now, I’m certainly not saying that having a working economy is bad, or that participating in and caring about politics is bad.  Both are necessary to a functioning society.  But you always have to ask yourself: what do I put my trust in?  What is my God?

If your ultimate trust is in any human institution, you are doomed to disappointment.  All humans have flaws; all humans have problems; all humans have limitations.  Every human society and institution since the beginning of history has eventually collapsed in one way or another, because of those human failings.  If they are what you put your ultimate trust in, what will you do when things go wrong?  When the economy fails or the politician turns out to be just like all the others that came before or the ideology that sounds so great in speeches turns out not to work in real life?

All humans eventually fail.  But God, the one true God who created us and loves us and redeems us, will never fail.  You can put your trust in God whether things are going well or badly, whether the economy is strong or fails, whether politicians keep their promises or not.  God will never abandon you.

If you have any questions about the Christian faith, please comment and I will answer them next week.

Mary and Martha: what really matters

Luke 10:38 – 11:1 ³⁸ Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. ³⁹ She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” ⁴¹ But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; ⁴² there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

I’m sure you’re all familiar with this Bible story. Jesus comes to teach, and one sister stays to listen while the other sister takes care of the hospitality. The sister who works is jealous of the sister who doesn’t, and tries to get Jesus to come in on her side and make her sister help. This passage has been used many times over the centuries to argue that study and contemplation are holier and more worthy than working; more troublingly, this passage has been used to dismiss the contributions women make to the church and to society at large. After all, the argument goes, the traditional main role of women is to support and care for people—just as Martha says—and Jesus says that the role of religious study and contemplation is more worthy.

But let’s take a closer look at this passage. Jesus does not condemn Martha’s actions, but the way in which she carries them out. Martha is worried and distracted by many things. Martha is more worried about the work to be done than she is in why it needs to be done.

Let’s be realistic. There’s a lot of support work out there that needs to be done, whether it falls under the realm of “women’s work” or not. No church, family, or community can long survive without it. But all too often, when we do the support work that everything else depends on, we get so caught up in the details that we forget why we’re doing it. We can’t see the forest for the trees. We get worried and distracted by many things, just like Martha.  Here in the church office, it’s easy to get so caught up in finding a new coordinator for the food pantry, dealing with building renovations, scheduling visits with shut-ins, and such, that we forget why we as Christians need food pantries, buildings and people who can’t come to church.

We need to remember that the details that distract us are not the big picture. No matter how important they may be to daily life, they are not the ultimate goal of life. As Christians, our focus is in the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. We are freed from sin and death to become children of God, and are called to spread the Good News of God’s redeeming love to all the world. When life’s distractions get overwhelming and we find ourselves worried by many things and many responsibilities, we need to take a page out of Mary’s book and take the time to remember what our true center and focus is.  We run food pantries because of God’s saving call for justice and healing for all including (especially!) the poor.  We need buildings to provide a base for our worship of God and our spread of the Gospel.  We need to care for shut-ins because they are still our brothers and sisters in Christ, members of the body of Christ.  What distractions do you have in your life?  How do they keep you from remembering the “big picture”?

If you have any questions about God, Christianity, or the Christian faith, please comment and I will address them next week.

Truth, not facts: how to read the Bible

The saying goes like this: “The difference between fundamentalists and Lutherans is that fundamentalists read their Bibles but don’t think about it, and Lutherans think about their Bibles but don’t read them.” It’s actually pretty accurate in my experience, and a crying shame, because both groups miss out on a vital part of their faith life. So I’m going to talk a little bit about the Bible today, and how to read it and think at the same time. God gave us brains for a reason, and God also gave us the Bible for a reason.

First, let’s talk about what the Bible is and is not. The Bible is a testament to the faith life of the people of God; a collection of stories about the actions of God in the world; God’s self-revelation to the world. The Bible is not and was never intended to be a science textbook, nor a history textbook. Nor is the Bible the Living Word of God. Jesus Christ is the Word; the Bible is a collection of words about that Word. The Bible speaks to us and to our lives today; but it was written for and by people who lived thousands of years ago in a specific place and time, and that has shaped it in pretty profound ways. The Bible is extremely important to our faith, and can shape and guide our faith lives and our understanding of God, and for that reason everyone should read it. But please, by all means, keep your brain turned on while you do so.

Let’s talk a little bit about the difference between “truth” and “facts.” “Truth” is about the deeper reality, about (hopefully) profound insight into the way things are. “Facts” are the surface things, the things you can see, hear, touch, measure, and prove beyond the shadow of a doubt. For most of human history, truth has been far more important than facts, so much so that the accuracy of facts was sometimes unimportant, as long as the deeper truth was preserved. It is only in the Western world since the seventeenth century and the beginning of the Enlightenment that facts have become more important than truth. Because of this, we look at the world very differently than the ancient Hebrews or the Jews of Jesus’ day did. We think that facts can reveal the truth. They thought that truth determined facts, and only facts which supported the truth mattered.

All Western people of the last several centuries have been trained to think in a literal, fact-based manner. Given that mindset, people often read portions of the Bible and find it too incredible, too unrealistic, too unlikely to ever be true. If they are faithful, they tend to either find “natural, realistic” explanations for miracles, or ignore their incredulity and insist that everything in the bible must be literally fact. If they are not faithful, they dismiss it as too fantastic to have any factual basis—and if there is no fact, there cannot be any truth either. The ironic thing is that people on all sides of the issue—the ones who doubt, the ones who cling to literal interpretations, and the ones who try to find natural explanations—all have a tacit agreement that the facts are what is most important. And there are only two ways to argue the Bible as a faithful record of God’s word and actions in history based solely on factuality: to turn off our God-given brains and ignore everything that science tells us about the world God has given us, or try and force pseudo-scientific explanations on the miracles God has given us. Both attempts ignore the richness and vitality of God’s creative and redeeming work.

How does this affect our reading of the Bible? It means that when we read a Bible story, our focus should not be on the facts but on the deeper truths they reveal. For example, take the creation story. Whatever your beliefs on the theory of evolution, the most important thing about the account of Creation in Genesis is not whether or not it took exactly six twenty-four hour periods to accomplish. Here are some of the important things, the deeper truths, that we learn in the story of Creation:

• That God did create the world, and God created it to be good (Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31).
• That humankind, male and female, is created in the image of God, and that the world was given to us to tend and care for.
• That God worked through a process in Creation, doing one thing at a time, always building and continuing on what had come before.
• That everything was perfect until it was broken by sin.

When we focus on facts like the amount of time it took and the exact order everything happened in—whichever side of the evolution debate we are on—we lose track of the truly important truths.

Here’s an exercise to help you focus on truth instead of facts when you read your Bible. Ask yourself these questions: What does this passage say about God? What does it say about the way God works? What does it say about God’s relationship with the world and with people? What does it say about humankind? What does it say about the world? What does it say about my life and relationship with God?