Sarcastic Lutheran

Palm Sunday Sermon

 
 

^{Luke 19}

²⁸After he had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. ²⁹When he had come near Bethphage and Bethany, at the place called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of the disciples, ³⁰saying, “Go into the village ahead of you, and as you enter it you will find tied there a colt that has never been ridden. Untie it and bring it here. ³¹If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ just say this, ‘The Lord needs it.’” ³²So those who were sent departed and found it as he had told them. ³³As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” ³⁴They said, “The Lord needs it.” ³⁵Then they brought it to Jesus; and after throwing their cloaks on the colt, they set Jesus on it. ³⁶As he rode along, people kept spreading their cloaks on the road. ³⁷As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, ³⁸saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” ³⁹Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, order your disciples to stop.” ⁴⁰He answered, “I tell you, if these were silent, the stones would shout out.”

⁴¹As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, ⁴²saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!

“The peace of Christ be with you all”

(and also with you)

It’s one of my favorite moments in the liturgy when someone offers us a blessing of peace and we lob it right back at them.  The 40 teenagers who visited us a couple weeks back mentioned how moved they were by the fact that we all mull around hugging and greeting everyone during the passing of the peace.  For all you non-Lutherans out there – the reason they commented on this is because in the majority of Lutheran churches it looks more like left-right-front-back…sit.  It really doesn’t take long.  But the youth groups from Iowa kinda liked how long it takes us to pass the peace.

 

In our text today we hear of a passing of the peace…but it took even longer than it usually does here at House.  It took over 30 years.

³⁷As he was now approaching the path down from the Mount of Olives, the whole multitude of the disciples began to praise God joyfully with a loud voice for all the deeds of power that they had seen, ³⁸saying, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven, and glory in the highest heaven!” Peace in heaven.

 

I wonder if this multitude of disciples knew they were basically the second half of a cosmic call and response?

Because listen to this reading from Luke Chapter 2

But the angel said to them, ¹²This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.’ ¹³And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host,^* praising God and saying,
¹⁴‘Glory to God in the highest heaven,
   and peace on earth!’^*

Decades before Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, The angel describes Jesus’ first triumphal entry – his entry into the wolrd….. the Christ child wrapped inelegantly in bands of cloth and laying without dignity in the feed box of a barn animal. This is a sign for you says the angel. Here’s the Glory of God. Here is God come to redeem the world as a tiny vulnerable newborn.  And then a multitude of the heavenly hosts say  “peace be with you” to us in Earth.

Then in response over 30 years later the multitude of disciples say back to the multitude of the Heavenly hosts “and also with you” As this Lord rides triumphal on a donkey into the sacred city of Jerusalem Here again is the Glory of God. 

Here is finally a king to bring peace.  When the multitude of the disciples pass the peace with the multitude of the heavenly hosts they praise God with loud voices, Luke tells us, “for all the great deeds of power they had seen”   Power.  Power to heal the sick, power to raise the dead, power to finally fix some things up in here.  Here is the king they have been waiting for.  The disciples are so over the top with the laying down the cloaks and the praising God and giving glory for their new king that it all makes me wonder… did they notice he was on a donkey? …the one who will bring us Glory….the one who will “fix it” is riding in on a joke on an animal. Yet we wave our branches singing Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord. Our triumphant conquorer, unlike us, is not limited by such things as human weakness and physics and the Roman empire.  With such power good things…wonderful things can happen.  Maybe even peace.

They blessed heaven and sang Hosanna assuming that Jesus’ power would bring peace.

The shouts of adulation and hope are barely gone from the air when this King who rides a donkey looks over the sacred city and weeps saying “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace!” It is said that in the cultural imagination of the Jewish people, that Jerusalem is the place where heaven and Earth touch.  And as this cosmic drama unfolds it is more like heaven and earth collide.  Our need for a celebrity savior collides with God’s need to interrupt our plans to bring salvation…even if that means being killed at our hands. So on this Palm Sunday we stand in the presence of a King who accepts the Hosannas of his friends knowing they will betray him and then he turns his face to Jerusalem and weeps.

Stuart told me recently that there are plays and musicals you can attend where the audience itself chooses the ending.  The cast must be rehearsed in a number of possible outcomes any of which might occur depending on the will of the crowd.  And the will of the crowd is not to be underestimated. as it so quickly, so easily turns from “Hosanna” to “crucify him”.

I suspect this is because, as Jesus said when he cried over Jerusalem, we do not recognize the things that make for peace.  Especially when our equation is that Peace is to be had through deeds of power.  We can only make peace if we are more powerful than our enemies.  After all, we are the country who came up with such things as the Peacekeeper missile.

So maybe it’s not such a stretch to see how disappointing their king will be to them and ultimately us.  This king, this Lord, this Messiah who refuses to meet hate with hate – who refuses to meet violence with violence. He simply won’t use our equation of conquering force with force.  Instead he voluntarily submits to treachery and abuse not even lifting a finger to condemn, much less over power, those who crucify him. 

The beautiful Christ Hymn from Phillipans we heard today puts it like this:

though he was in the form of God, Christ Jesus did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, ⁷but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness. And being found in human form, ⁸he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross. ⁹Therefore God also highly exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, ¹⁰so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father

 

My friend Debbie Blue says “Listen, Glory doesn’t shine….it bleeds”

The glory of God is found on the cross.  It’s as offensive to us today as it was 2,000 years ago.  A vulnerable God, a weeping King, a Helpless Lord.  When people ask if I really believe this stuff in the Gospels is true I’m like, Yeah.  Who’d make THIS up?  Nobody would choose this ending. nobody.   because it simply offends us.  But the truth is that Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem is his entry into our own dying…our own vulnerability and it’s hard to have a God who instead of smiting my enemies and glorifying me chooses to empty god’s self out and take the form of a slave.

You know, the great poet W.H. Auden was asked once why he was a Christian, instead of a Buddhist or a Confucian, since all these religions share similar ethical values. And Auden said, “Because nothing in the figure of Buddha or Confucius fills me with the overwhelming desire to scream, “crucify him.”

 

 

A pastoral letter to House for All Sinners and Saints

 

Dear Church,  

A couple of months ago a Lutheran campus ministry pastor contacted me.  He wanted to bring a group of 10 college students to HFASS this week which I assured him, would be no problem.  Then I get a call from him last week indicating that they are combining their trip with another campus ministry group and there would actually be 20 now.  I hemmed an hawed until finally saying that I’d prefer if they split up as a group…there are some other cool churches to check out in Denver; maybe 10 could go to The Wilderness at the cathedral.  As you all know, we get a lot of what I call “church tourism”; people wanting to come see what we do but who aren’t looking to join because they are either visiting from out of town or are members at other churches.  Obviously we are use to this and actually welcome it unless it overwhelms us and totally changes what we are doing.   Then yesterday I find out that there is a youth group from Iowa who is also planning as part of their service trip to come and visit HFASS this week. And there are 28 of them. Are you kidding me? I thought.  At some point the observer changes what is being observed, you know? I love that people are so interested in our funky little church but it feel like we are zoo animals if there are more of them than us.  I mean, if that many people came we’d have to take down the prayer labyrinth, and I’m not even sure we have that many extra chairs.  Plus, I’m not even there this week.  Matthew is covering for me.  

But… then I thought shit.  Is radical hospitality about saying “please join us…that is if we aren’t inconvenienced and we don’t have to change anything from the way we like it”?  So I want you to know that I have repented from my original impulse to protect and preserve HFASS so that all the people who really belong there won’t feel uncomfortable or inconvenienced. It’s not our tent.  It’s God’s tent. (http://tinyurl.com/y8heo4v )  

So this Sunday yes, we won’t be able to have the prayer labyrinth and maybe there won’t be enough chairs and maybe it won’t feel just the way we like it and we’ll need extra cookies and communion bread. And yes, we will have to change what we do. But I ask that you embrace this holy interruption.  Show up.  Meet these people.  Worship with the assembly. Gather around a bigger table than we have ever had.  You never know when you may be entertaining angels.  

It’s an honor to be your pastor.  

Grace,

Nadia

Why are there so few solo church planters who are women?

Church planting is it's own weird thing.  It takes a certain personality to think you might, just might, be able to (with tons of help from God) start a church from scratch.  There is a somewhat particular constellation of personality traits needed for such a task.  These traits may allow one to be suited for church planting but be horribly ill suited for many other things...let's not pretend otherwise.  So at the risk of sounding like I'm indulging in self-flattery let me attempt to list some of these traits.

a church planter usually is:

self-motivated

creative

charismatic

independent

connecting

can inspire others to do stuff

responsive and adaptive

someone who can hold a vision of what's possible

OK I'm sure there are other things but these come to mind at 6:30a this morning. 

Are these characteristics simply found in more men than women?  Maybe...but if so then why?  And if not then why aren't more women doing what I do?  I bet there are 30-40 church plants of all different ilks in Denver and I am the only solo female church planter I know here.

Here are some reasons I thought of:

*Obviously some Christian traditions don't allow women to be pastors

*There are a lot of women who are married with children who don't have the kind of family and spousal support that I have in my life. (2 of the 3 other solo church planters I know are single women)

*Thinking back to my youth group and other co-ed groups from when i was a teen, it seemed like the really funny charismatic people whose plans and ideas other people got on board with were all male. Young women are not as likely to be rewarded for being that kind of person.

What percentage of solo church planters you know are women?

What factors have I not considered?

Baptism

We had a baptism at House for All Sinners and Saints last night.  OK, so there are some weird things, some pain-in-the-ass things, some tiring things about being a pastor.  But these are entirely over shadowed by the reality that it is an HONOR to be a pastor.  I got to baptize a child last night.  I am invited into the beautiful and devastating details of people's real lives.  I get to be a part of the transitions and joys and sorrows in people's real lives.  To be invited into this is an honor and nothing short of.  My prayer every day is that I be made worthy of this calling.

Here's the sermon, based on Isaiah 55:1-9 and Psalm 63: 1-8

Ingrid, child of God, today you begin your baptismal journey.

 

As the waters of baptism still glisten on your head may you know this: You had about the same chance of choosing your God as you had in choosing your parents.  This God has chosen you…claimed you and named you as God’s own.  It’s a wonderful mercy.  A wild mystery to have a God who comes down to claim you in water and the word. 

 

The promises of God are forever bound to you Ingrid.  It’s what we call a “done deal” You can’t escape them.  These promises will hunt you down and bring you new life as you die and are raised to new life again and again in your baptismal walk. 

 

I hope this happens for you as much as possible Ingrid; this death and new life in baptism.  I hope when you grow up that if someone asks you “when were you saved?” You can say “Just again this morning”.  Because you have  today been baptized into the death and resurrection of the Christ.  You have been baptized into an entire life of death and re-birth which will daily be your reality.  I hope that you grow to love metanoia – returning to God.  We call this repentance which is Greek for changing your thinking.  When you begin to think that you have the answers, when you think it’s all figured out I hope you experience metanoia…for in the act of repentance there is the hope of new thinking, new acting, new life which you simply don’t get when you still think you are right about something.  Don’t listen when people say that following Christ means being right.  To follow the crucified and resurrected one is to live as a people who get to be wrong – who get to be wrong and die to our ideas our pride our despair and be re-born to new life in Christ.  I hope you are often wrong Inga …so that you might know deeply this grace of God which makes all things new.  Because the baptismal life is a life of returning.

And all of this from water and the word of God.

I hope in your life to come that when you encounter water - this common substance surrounding land and comprising our bodies…I hope when you drink it in; when you dive deep in a pool; when you wade in a stream; when you play in the rain; that you know the wild wonder of God’s promises all around you. I hope that water in your life be a reminder of the promises of God.  Promises of new life.  Promises that God is with you.  Promises that there is more than this life - and yet the eternal is always contained in the present. I hope you see how these promises are for the restoration of all creation.  When you encounter water, this most common of substances may you be reminded of this God who is so imminent, so present as to be the host of a meal in which you and indeed all who hunger are called. May you see how present God is in water and bread and wine and community – the salt of tears shed, the leaven of bread shared and the mercy of forgiveness granted.

 And when you encounter water, the most common of substances may you be reminded of a God who is also transcendent…. a God whose ways are not your ways and thoughts are not your thoughts as to be the Great mystery of the unknown.

 

I hope in this journey you are embarking on that you go often to the words of the fierce and uncontainable prophet Isaiah.  He will serve you well Ingrid.  today as this community gathers around your baptism we hear these words: everyone who thirsts come to the waters and you that have no money come buy and eat Come, buy wine and milk

         without money and without price.

  ²Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,

         and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

 

 

And Ingrid, when you do spend your money and spend your time and spend your self on that which does not satisfy, and trust me on this, you will…when you do, you are still on your baptismal journey.  May you see the empty calories of consumerism and Western individualism for what they are and turn again to your God who today has claimed you in these waters.  May you return frequently to the abundant and free feast of the Eucharist.  When you have crashed from the empty calorie sugar high of self-reliance may you come often to this table where God offers you and all people the feast of life.  May you not neglect to gather around the table in the community of Christ with all the other blessed and annoying sinners and receive that which you are called to be – the very body of Christ in this hurt and broken and beautiful world.

And when voices other than Christ’s try to tell you your value and trust me, this will happen, but when it does may you go to Isaiah who bids you listen so that you might live.  Listen to the Word of God which claims you as God’s own child. Nothing else gets to tell you who you are.  Nothing.

And when you feel as though your needs are too great.  When you feel that there must be more to life than this.  When it seems like you hunger for more justice, more meaning, more connection know that you are right.  But know also that your God placed this need in you.  And that this hunger, this longing is actually what qualifies you to sit at the feast of God’s table.  Lean into this longing because it is for the one who has called you beloved. 

 

And then go to the Psalms Ingrid….may the Psalms be your place of comfort and lament.  They have worked pretty darn well for 4,000 years.  Lean into these songs of your ancestors.   You now stand in a long line of the faithful who have sung of their thirst for God in the words of the Psalms.  

my soul thirsts for you writes the Psalmist, my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there ^| is no water.

My whole being ^| clings to you;

         your right hand ^| holds me fast.

My sister in Christ, may your whole being cling to the one who has claimed you as their own.  For their hand surely shall hold you fast.

And hold on.  Because no doubt it’s going to be a wild ride.

Amen