Category: News

²² Therefore say to the house of Israel, Thus says the Lord God: It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations to which you came. ²³ I will sanctify my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, and which you have profaned among them; and the nations shall know that I am the Lord, says the Lord God, when through you I display my holiness before their eyes. ²⁴ I will take you from the nations, and gather you from all the countries, and bring you into your own land. ²⁵ I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you. ²⁶ A new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. ²⁷ I will put my spirit within you, and make you follow my statutes and be careful to observe my ordinances. ²⁸ Then you shall live in the land that I gave to your ancestors; and you shall be my people, and I will be your God. ²⁹ I will save you from all your uncleannesses, and I will summon the grain and make it abundant and lay no famine upon you. ³⁰ I will make the fruit of the tree and the produce of the field abundant, so that you may never again suffer the disgrace of famine among the nations.  Ezekiel 36:22-30

In the movie Grumpy Old Men, the two main characters both of which are widowers, John Gustafson, and Max Goldman, spend most of the time pranking and fighting with each other in winter Minnesota.  We see fish left in the car overnight creating a stench.  We see snow drifts falling on heads.  We see fighting over high school sweethearts and fighting over a newcomer to the town, Ariel Truax.  Over the course of the movie, these two grumpy old men just pick and fight with each other, each trying to outdo the pranks done to them and neither really winning anything at all.

We just might have a “grumpy” part inside us all.  Perhaps a better term for grumpy might be cynical.  We have become skeptical in a post-covid age, uncertain about what is true and what is political propaganda.  We have become doubtful in a time of conflicting ideas and theories about what is real and what bears integrity.  We have become mistrusting of each other, seeing the “other person” not as neighbors but as rivals trying to get ahead of us or even harm us.  We have become suspicious, seeing conspiracies about elections, vaccines, economics, cashless societies and much more behind every action, every news story, and every tweet on Twitter.  We have become disbelieving in our present age, realizing that for all our desires to “progress” and improve our societies and the lives of everyone, we might really be regressing in respect, in empathy, and in basic human civility.  To put it into words and perspective, we have become “grumpy” cynics.

But when our attitudes become cynical, our actions soon follow.  When we become “grumpy,” we start using labels for people.  When you load your social media applications, you can see the many labels that we use: Boomers, Millennials, Snowflakes, Woke, Sheep, -phobes, Fascists.  All of which serve only to dehumanize the ones opposing us, reducing them to less than human objects which we can hate and destroy.  But a cynical attitude not just reduces our opponents to pejorative phrases, but also allows us to enter rivalries with them, which must be one at all costs; enter the culture wars.  And if we are in rivalries, winning the culture wars is all that matters.  Then we dismiss the viewpoints of our enemies and belittle them in public with as much vitriol and panache as we can muster, to rally our supporters and to earn likes and advertisers for our webpages.  Our “grumpy” cynicism becomes violence and oppression.  Our cynical attitudes become hearts and deeds of stone.

While our world may have many forces encouraging and nurturing cynicism, the Gospel testifies to us of how as Jesus of Nazareth, God is working against “grumpiness,” a new heart I will give you, and a new spirit I will put within you; and I will remove from your body the heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  Quite simply put, God has given each of his children a heart transplant.  The old cynical hearts of stone have been removed and a new heart of flesh has been sewn in.  The soul which is skeptical, doubtful, mistrusting, suspicious and disbelieving has been removed and a new heart has been put in its place, a soft heart of flesh.

But what does that look like?  The easy answer is that a heart of flesh looks like Jesus and his life lived for others.  That life is a life of vulnerability before others.  Jesus is not dominant nor selfish nor miserly nor “grumpy.”  He empowers people at the cost of his own power.  He is vulnerable to others as sheep before the wolves.  He is willing to be authentic and to open himself up to others.  But he is open to others even at the cost of being crucified by those other people.  Jesus does not dehumanize and destroy, but Jesus humanizes the other people and creates, not a cynical heart, but a loving heart.

This new heart changes everything.  This heart of flesh creates and generates instead of destroying and killing.  This heart of flesh anticipates in hope the Kingdom of God instead of sinking in cynicism and despair.  This heart of flesh remains present to all in love for God and our neighbor at the cost of vulnerability and self-sacrifice.  This heart of flesh is the heart of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ and this heart by Grace lives in us.  This heart can become our heart.  The grumpy old men by the end of the movie became not rivals but friends, caring and supporting each other.  Through Christ, so too can we.  The Gospel friends is that the cynical hearts of stone that live in us can become loving hearts of flesh.  As disciples of Christ, we can learn and become those people, not cynics but saints.  Now let it be so and let it begin with us.  Amen.

²¹ Then Peter came and said to him, ‘Lord, if another member of the church^[g] sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?’ ²² Jesus said to him, ‘Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times.²³ ‘For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. ²⁴ When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; ²⁵ and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all his possessions, and payment to be made. ²⁶ So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.” ²⁷ And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt. ²⁸ But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow-slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, “Pay what you owe.” ²⁹ Then his fellow-slave fell down and pleaded with him, “Have patience with me, and I will pay you.” ³⁰ But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he should pay the debt. ³¹ When his fellow-slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. ³² Then his lord summoned him and said to him, “You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ³³ Should you not have had mercy on your fellow-slave, as I had mercy on you?” ³⁴ And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he should pay his entire debt. ³⁵ So my heavenly Father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart.’

We live in a day and age of debts.  We have credit card debt, housing debt, car debt, education debt, and even food debt.  A school in Rhode Island had over the course of the year around $50,000 in unpaid debt from student lunches.  Chobani, the yogurt manufacturer, paid the entire debt in full allowing the students to graduate and receive their report cards.  We live in a day and age of debt, but also a time when people take care of others by paying their, at times, unpayable debt.

When it comes to the debts we have with God, we too owe more than we can pay.  The transgressions, the moments we have fallen short and the times we have missed the mark, all of these are debts in our metaphorical ledger with God.  One of the important images in our scriptures and traditions is that the cross of Jesus pays those debts in full.  By his broken body and his shed blood, all human debts with God are covered and paid in full.

But this idea of debts paid is fine when it comes to my debts with God, but the problem lies in other’s debts toward me.  I want mine paid in full and gone, but I will not let others be paid in full toward me.  This is why we have the parable of the unforgiving servant.  We have a large unpayable debt to the landowner.  We have the servant begging for mercy and the Landowner granting it.  This is normal language in the Church.  God’s boundless mercy, the suffering of Jesus Christ, the begging for mercy, these are all things we know well and accept with ease.

But what happens when someone owes us like the First servant to the Second servant.  The money owed is substantially less to the servant than owed to the landowner.  But what is the servant’s actions, have patience with me, and I will pay you.  But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he should pay the debt.  We beg forgiveness and God gives it.  Others beg forgiveness from us and instead we give them “justice.”  No mercy, no forgiveness, no cancelling of debts, no, “you pay in full, because I am the offended and the victim.”  We have been forgiven, but we fail to forgive others.

In our parable, the servants flee and tell the Landowner about the unforgiving servant and here is the response, you wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow-slave, as I had mercy on you?” And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he should pay his entire debt.  Failing to cancel the servant-to-servant debt, God cancels God’s forgiveness and ensures that the first servant with the unpayable debt pays in full.  Failing to forgive other people results in the loss of our forgiveness from God. 

What we fail to remember is that Christ has paid everything in full.  When someone sins against you, the repayment is Christ’s blood given to you on their behalf and the debt is cancelled.  When someone wounds you, the reimbursement is Christ’s blood given to you on their behalf, and the bill is paid.  When someone oppresses you, the compensation is Christ’s blood given to you on their behalf, and the invoice is revoked.  The debts are paid by Christ to you, and everything is forgiven.  Now we know why Jesus told Peter to forgive not 7 times but 490 times, because Jesus fully intended to pay all debts, even the debts owed to Peter, in his own body and blood.

My friends, no one finds this lesson more difficult than I, but we need to remember that when someone sins against us or incurs debt with us, those sins and debts are paid in full by Christ.  If His body and blood cover ours, they also cover theirs.  To impose those debts despite Jesus’ blood is impose our debts also.  But if we want Jesus’ blood to cover ours, then that same blood covers theirs.  This means that we are a forgiving church again and again.  Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  Now, through the Son and the Spirit, let it be so. 

¹⁹ Therefore, my friends, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, ²⁰ by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh), ²¹ and since we have a great priest over the house of God, ²² let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. ²³ Let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful. ²⁴ And let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds, ²⁵ not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.  Hebrews 10:19-25

Last summer, we received so much rain in such a little time that the road to our house was flooded.  The road has a low spot where the storm drains sit to move the water to the lake and the system can handle so many gallons of water in a minute.  But however, on that day the drainage system could not keep up and the water backed up onto the road completely covering it with about a foot of water.  To get home we would have had to drive through the foot deep flood waters.  I had no confidence whatsoever that I could drive through the road, and the car could stall or the moving waters sweep us away, at the time I could not tell how much was there.  So, we sat on the road for about an hour until the waters receded and we could with what courage we had drive through the water to reach home, and we did safely.

The author to the Hebrews is talking about his congregation having a road that the people could always have confidence in, no matter how much water was flooding the road, since we have confidence to enter the sanctuary by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain (that is, through his flesh).  The road to our house was blocked by water, the road to the sanctuary or house of God is open and permanent.  We had no reason to rely on the blocked road, Christians can have ever reason to rely on the road Jesus paves and cares for because the road was paved in his own blood from his own body.  If he makes and cares for the road, every believer can have the confidence to travel upon it, and no barrier can flood or erode it.

But while we can rely on the road to God because Jesus paves and maintains it; we must still make the journey and go into God upon that road let us approach with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  Through our baptisms, the inner soul and outer body is washed and forgiven and then able to approach the holy God.  Sins are forgiven and we can go in.  But the hitch always lies in the approach.  Quite simply, do we go in at all?  We can rely upon the road, the door is open, our sins are forgiven, but do we take the necessary steps to walk upon and to go in?  Do we have faith that the road will keep, and the door will stay open and even we are forgiven?  Do we approach or do we retreat?  Faith says, let us approach and never, let us go back.

But while we can rely on the road to God because Jesus paves and maintains it; we must still hold fast to the hope that while we are on the way, we are not done journeying yet, let us hold fast to the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who has promised is faithful.  To hope is to anticipate the filling of the promises of God, but in the present not possessing them, or to be on the way, but not finished yet.  We are still travelling as a community upon the road Jesus paves and maintains, but until we are finished, we must keep travelling, we must hold fast to hope and never waver.  Here is the second hitch, the road at times becomes challenging and overwhelming and the despair of the journey urges us to turn around and go back instead of pushing through.  Do we have hope and keep going or do we retreat?  Hope says let us hold fast, never, let us quit.

But while we can rely on the road to God because Jesus paves and maintains it; we must learn what it means to truly walk in the way of Jesus Christ, let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good deeds.  To provoke is like taking a stick and poking a hornet’s nest, the hornets will become angry.  We on the way of Jesus Christ are to provoke one another, but not to anger and offense, but to stir each other up to love and good deeds.  The love here is the self-giving love of God, and the good deeds are compared to the evil deeds or sins from which we are cleansed.  To walk on the way of Jesus Christ is to encourage or provoke each other to greater and greater love and goodness instead of judgment and insult.  Do we provoke each other to greater love and good deeds, or do we make the journey miserable for everybody around us?  Love says let us provoke each other to sacrifice and goodness, never, let us hurt and hate each other. 

But while we can rely on the road to God because Jesus paves and maintains it; we must remember that we can only encourage each other if we gather with each other, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another.  I think the key word here is habit.  We will have circumstances that prevent us from gathering to pray, study, worship and serve, but the hitch is when our staying away from church becomes a habit and not an exception.  You cannot be encouraged, and you cannot give encouragement if you avoid the community.  For the Hebrews they started to drift away into other things because the road became challenging.  We have many more things to pull us away than they did in our society, but it becomes more important to still make church a priority.  Encouragement says, let us meet, never, I have other things to do.

Friends, the road to God has been paved and maintained by Jesus our great High Priest in his own flesh and blood.  This means that we can have confidence to walk and journey upon it.  But at some point, you need to come in by faith and never retreat.  At some point you need to hold fast to your hope that you will finish and never quit.  At some point you need to provoke love and goodness instead of hate and wickedness.  And at no point should your neglecting to gather become a habit.  If we truly are following in the way of Jesus Christ, we will walk in faith, hope, and love, and we will always do so together.  Now, let’s get moving.  Amen. 

¹¹ He said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.’ Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; ¹² and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’ ¹⁴ He answered, ‘I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.’ ¹⁵ Then the Lord said to him, ‘Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. ¹⁶ Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place. ¹⁷ Whoever escapes from the sword of Hazael, Jehu shall kill; and whoever escapes from the sword of Jehu, Elisha shall kill. ¹⁸ Yet I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him.’ 1 Kings 19:11-18

If I have to pull any more weeds from my flower beds and garden, I am going to scream.  I feel like I have done nothing but pull weeds this entire summer and, in a few days, they grow back, plus some that were not there before.  We get a little rain and some warm weather, and they grow in abundance.  Covering them with mulch helped for like five minutes.  Using my Weed Wacker helped for about a week and then I must do it again.  I am at that point where I don’t care what grows and what anything looks like, I am done.  Until the leaves start.  Grrr.

Elijah was also done.  Not done picking weeds but he was burned out from trying to lead Israel from following and worshipping Baal.  He just has his great victory over the hundreds of Baal’s Prophets, but the Queen runs him out of town.  He’s done.  He leaves the country and runs back to God’s Mountain as a tired and frustrated failure of a prophet.  As disciples we can also become done in frustration and burnout.  We tried and nothing worked.  We need more people and more excitement.  We gave of ourselves and nothing much changes from week to week.  The weeds continue to grow, we try new things, and nothing stops.  Like Elijah we are done.

But God is not done with Elijah, nor with us for that matter.  God tells Elijah to meet him on the mountain and Elijah complies.  After the wind, the earthquakes, and the fire pass by, God comes, and Elijah comes out to meet him.  God asks him why he is here instead of being back on the job?  Elijah gives him a reason which looks totally like an excuse: everyone left you/me.  Amid his burnout, Elijah goes from advocating and working toward the goal of a Baal-less society to attending to God.  From working and toiling to conversation and prayer with God.  Instead of focusing on the plan and how to get there, Elijah focuses instead on God and enters a state of attending on God. 

What if we should also, who find ourselves in a similar place to Elijah, cease our fruitless, frustrating, and failed plans to instead attend to God?  What has changed around us and what might we need to change how we do things?  Attending to God and a new possibility and new potentials instead of spinning our tired wheels in the mud in frustration.  Asking ourselves God questions in discernment instead of endless organizational questions, which may not have an answer, about more members, more resources, and more building repairs.  Like Elijah when the plans or programs stop working and maybe never did, we should stop and instead attend to God.

What Elijah gets is a new focus, a new purpose, and a new call.  Instead of fighting the Baal prophets and Queen Jezebel, Elijah is called and commanded by God to go anoint another King, who will rule justly over 7000 faithful Israelites.  What is our new focus, new purpose, and new call?  The plans and programs don’t work, but we do have loving, connectional people.  How do we engage our neighborhood with what we do have?  How do we adjust the leaders and resources we do have?  How do we become covenantal people on mission, not just CEO’s and middle managers of yet another dying institution?  God’s answer is not what we want, but what we need: new focus, new calling, new energy, new tasks. 

We all get tired and burned out as disciples of Jesus Christ.  We all end up exactly like Elijah.  But while Elijah was done, God was not done with him, nor us.  But instead of running headlong to our destruction because we cannot imagine doing things a new way, we can stop the frustrations and life-taking ways from previous times.  Instead of doing things the same old way, we can attend instead to God and a new focus and energy.  Instead of going back to the failed mission, Elijah accepts the new purpose of God and finds renewal.  We can do likewise; to attend to God and to perhaps see and discern the emerging possibilities God is creating.  But we need to attend to God and the new opportunity, instead of putting our heads down and running in mud.  We might be done, but it might be done with the way things were, not the new things that God is doing.  Let us in faith attend to God and God’s emerging Kingdom instead of toiling in the failed enterprise.  God is not done with us, but let us be done with ways things were. Amen.

³ For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of yourself more highly than you ought to think, but to think with sober judgement, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. ⁴ For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, ⁵ so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. ⁶ We have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to faith; ⁷ ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; ⁸ the exhorter, in exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in cheerfulness.  Romans 12:3-8

We find ourselves in football and marching band season once again.  The sounds of the drums playing the cadences.  The sun reflecting off the sousaphones.  The color guard twirling flags and batons.  The brass section providing deep tones while the woodwinds creating a soaring descant.  But for the performance to be moving to the soul, all the performers must mesh.  No one section or group is enough to drive home the music, they must all contribute and do so complementing each other.  When the band works well together the result is breath-taking and soul-forming.  The band must mesh.

Just as it is with a marching band, so too is it with the church.  People and congregations must mesh.  Each person or group or community is insufficient by themselves but must contribute to the greater whole and must do so complementing each other.  Ministers administering Word and Sacraments.  Elders leading in wisdom and discernment.  Deacons giving care and compassion.  Teachers nurturing in patience and knowledge.  Advocates working toward justice and peace.  Each provides an invaluable piece of the whole and only when each contributes and complements each other does the result become breath-taking and soul-forming.  Each must mesh.

But we all too often imagine the connections in our own congregations and how each person must contribute and complement each other.  The dynamics can also be across congregations.  We at Trinity and Eastside have come to learn and perceive this dynamic.  Elders mesh with elders.  Deacons mesh with deacons.  Teachers mesh teachers.  Advocates mesh with advocates.  Cooks and planners mesh with cooks and planner.  Each provides an invaluable piece of the whole and only when each contributes and complements each other does the result become breath-taking and soul-forming.  Trinity and Eastside must mesh.

Over the summer months, we at both churches have begun exploring what it means to mesh as one Church across congregations.  We worshipped together in rotating worship spaces.  We combined mission committees rotating meeting spaces.  We shared our various activities with the other church.  We learned to be hosts and guests to the other church.  We ate together, we prayed together, we assembled around God’s Word together.  We worshipped together and we worked together.  Trinity and Eastside meshed.

In the next six months, how do we continue to mesh and perhaps even expand?  Could it be more integrated worship?  Could it be more fellowship activities?  Could it be sharing duties across boards and committees?  Could it be including the other churches in the city or even county?  Yes, it could be.  But it will take you, and it will take you choosing to mesh with others instead of choosing isolation.  I know too well the anxiety and risk it takes to enter such a space.  But, if we are following Christ in faith, we push through the fear and vulnerability and follow anyway in courage.  And the results might just be breath-taking and soul-forming.  We just might mesh.  Let the Church play on!  Amen.