Welcome as Christ welcomed?

     The farther removed we are from Easter Sunday, the easier it is to lose that excitement and anticipation of knowing that Christ is risen from the dead!  Yet we are still in Easter - for another two weeks!  We have the joy of celebrating this momentous and wild mystery that is the foundation of our faith for seven weeks - over 10% of the year. 
     These particular seven weeks are also being spent taking a closer look at our worship in general.  How and why we do what we do.  From God's purpose for us, to Word - in sermons and otherwise, to baptism and holy communion, and now this week to hospitality.   

How we practice hospitality during worship says a lot about what we believe about God, and who God is.  Because of the context of our scriptures - both the Old Testament and the New, hospitality has a different meaning. In the Middle-Eastern context, "to welcome someone to your table was to offer that person your friendship and trust. To share your table was to share your life," ( With the Whole Church, p. 53).
     "Christ Appears to the Disciples at the Table after the Resurrection" Christ Appears to the Disciples at the Table after the Resurrection" by Buoninsegna di Duccio shows what it is to be hospitable.  Opening our doors at worship, sharing our table and sharing our life are themes of ministry to which all the baptized are called - both the tables of our homes and the tables of our sanctuaries.  The texts for this week have a little something to say about hospitality and opening up your tables, homes, and hearts.
     In our reading from Acts 16,  Paul, Silas, and Timothy were the beneficiaries of the hospitality of a woman named Lydia, and because of this the gospel spread throughout the region of Macedonia.  It all began with hospitality at the "place of prayer."  Worshipers were gathered and generously and hospitably welcomed Paul and his friends into conversation. 
     Many of us are familiar with this practice: coming to worship on Sunday and catching up with friends and neighbors.  But are we familiar with engaging the person we don't know?  It is a two-edged sword, hospitality.  We want to welcome guests and help them feel at home, but we also want to catch up on the latest grandkid story, dog story, or serious talk of health and well-being.  In participating in community we want to be careful not to exclude the guest, but in welcoming the guest we want to be careful not to neglect our current relationships.
     And this is perhaps where the gospel lesson from John can shed some light on the issue of hospitality.  Jesus assures his disciples, "Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them...the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you."  The Triune God has chosen to take up residence in those who love Jesus and keep his words.  This seems like a tall order, and you may be asking yourself if this can truly be you?  (I know I ask this question often!)  Except Jesus comes to our rescue again. 
     It is not just Jesus and God who will make their homes in us, but it is also the Holy Spirit, who will teach you everything and remind you of all that Jesus said.  It is the Spirit working in us that gives us faith to love, to believe, to keep Christ's words.  It is God in us who welcomes all as honored and trusted children of God. 

Jesus shows how broad the welcome into God’s kingdom is through eating with tax collectors and sinners. He offers a feast for all who are hungry for God’s grace. Christ’s own welcome and invitation to find God’s forgiveness, mercy, and grace in him reach out from the pages of the scriptures and extend to and through the church in the ministry of word and sacrament. In worship we, too, can know and trust that we are welcomed into life with God. Just as Christ gathered a needy world at his table, he invites us to the table of grace. ~ With the Whole Church, p. 53

      Hospitality - offered to the newcomer and to the established member - is the gift and ministry of simply being church together.  And how we do so shares the love and welcome of God.  So the mystery I have been pondering this week is how well do I welcome?  How does God welcome through me?  And, how do I follow the Spirit so that all people feel Christ's welcome?

How has Christ transformed?

     In our fifth Sunday of Easter we will hear from John 13, and as I hear these words I am transported back in time, to the not-too-distant past of Maundy Thursday.  The gospel we heard on the eve of Christ's crucifixion is ripe with foreshadowing of Christ's death and final words of a teacher to his students to carry on in love, showing they are disciples through their actions. 
     Except we aren't in Holy Week, anymore.  We have journeyed through the sorrow, pain, and the valley of the shadow of death and have arrived past Easter morning.  Christ is risen!  We now have the Easter lens through which to read our texts, casting a different view on Jesus' words with his disciples.  To help us cast this view, our other reading for Sunday is from Revelation 21.  It is often a text read at funerals because of the picture of God's kingdom - a place where God's home is among people, where death and crying will be no more, and where God is making all things new.
     And it is in these two complementary texts that we see the reality of God's kingdom.  Jesus calls his disciples to a life of love, the kind of love with which Jesus loves us.  This is a selfless love, a love which gives freely and generously, a love which welcomes and invites all, a love which knows forgiveness, holds no malice, and always sees the best in people.
     Can you imagine what a world like this would look like?  Can you imagine how God's home would be among us if people loved with this kind of love?  How tears would be wiped away and how death (not the physical, final kind of death - but the kinds of deaths we all die when harsh words are spoken, painful breaks in relationships, and inevitable disappointments of life - death and dying that are experienced as parts of living) would be no more?

     God's kingdom becomes reality through the lives of love lived by disciples of Christ.

Which is great, except that living a life with this kind of love is hard.  Some would say impossible.  And still others would ask why even try, when we live in a world where people are bent on hurting others on purpose and for the fun of it.  Admittedly, I am sometimes among those who scoff and become cynical about the world in which we live.  Especially after weeks like last week, and especially when I am going through a valley of my own.
     By the grace of God, however, it is in these moments that I most experience the love which Christ commanded of us.  Through a word, a prayer, a hug, or a nudge from the Holy Spirit, Christ comes to me in unexpected and mysterious ways.  Which leads us to the theme for our worship assessment.  So far we have looked at how God's mission and purpose comes to us through worship, how being part of worship is central to the life of the disciple, how Christ comes to us through Word (prayer, scripture, sermon, song, etc), and now we come to examine how Christ comes to us through the sacraments.
     In the Lutheran tradition, we celebrate two sacraments: baptism and holy communion.  Martin Luther teaches that a sacrament is a sacred act established by God; uses visible, tangible means like water, bread, and wine; is connected with God’s promise, the Word of God, which gives faith.  The resource With the Whole Church talks about the sacraments in the following way:

When God’s powerful Word is present in water, bread, and wine and when in faith Christians baptize, eat, and drink, God overwhelms us with grace. By water and the Word in baptism, God frees us from sin and death by joining us to Jesus’ death and resurrection. God seals us with the Holy Spirit and marks us with the cross of Christ forever, making us members of the church. God gives us power to live as Christ’s disciples by repenting and receiving forgiveness, loving our neighbors, suffering for the sake of the gospel, and witnessing to Christ in the world.

God’s gifts and promise are so dear that we celebrate them in worship. When we confess our sins and receive  forgiveness and as we begin and end our worship in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we make the sign of the cross. This same name with this same sign of promise was traced on our brow at baptism. Martin Luther taught that this simple act of tracing Christ’s cross over ourselves, as we begin and end each day in God’s name, can be a powerful celebration of the hope and comfort of our baptism.

By the Word in bread and wine, which are the body and blood of Christ, God nourishes our faith, forgives our sin, fills us with new life, and gives us power to witness to the gospel. As we receive Christ’s body and blood in the holy meal, Christ conforms our lives to his own. We participate in God’s new creation and are united with God’s people of every time and every place. The Lutheran confessions invite the church to celebrate communion every Sunday, because of Christ’s command “Do this in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19), in anticipation of meeting Christ, and because God wants to nourish us even when we cannot name or feel our hunger.

In these ways, through water, bread, and wine, God transforms us and makes us able to love others as Christ loved us.  Through our loving, then, God's home is more and more among us, God's kingdom prevailing over the reality of a broken world, giving witness to the hope of our Easter promise.  As I think about these commands, to love others, to eat and drink, to remember, I am left pondering the mystery of love.  How has Christ's love transformed me?  How has Christ's love transformed you?  And how has Christ worked through you to transform others?

How do we hear Jesus?

     For the third week in the worship assessment, the 4th Sunday in Easter, we are once again in John's gospel.  This particular Sunday, no matter the year in the lectionary, is known as 'Good Shepherd Sunday' because the text is from John 10 where Jesus is using the metaphor of him as the shepherd and we as the sheep.  This year, year C in our rotation, the text is John 10.22-30.  There is one reference to sheep, and it is at the point when Jesus is claiming his followers as his own.
     Jesus and his followers are in Jerusalem for the Festival of Dedication.  They come across some Jews who wish to know if Jesus is the messiah: Please, tell us plainly! is their cry.  Jesus' response is interesting because in his he reveals that he's already told them and they just don't believe.  And not only that, but they don't believe because they are not one of his sheep.

My sheep hear my voice.  I know them and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. ²⁹What my Father has given me is greater than all else...

     My sheep hear my voice.  This statement ties right in with our theme for worship this week, "Means of Grace - The Word Preached and Proclaimed."  Many faith traditions put much emphasis on the weekly sermon, and rightly so.  However, even with much emphasis sermons in different places look very different.  As Lutherans, we believe that  the purpose of a sermon is to proclaim Christ.  Not to teach Christ, not to talk about Christ, but to actually proclaim Christ.  In other words, we believe that Christ is transmuted from the mouth of the preacher into the ears, minds, and hearts of those who hear.  That through the Holy Spirit's work, the words of the sermon are means by which Jesus' sheep hear his voice, follow him, and come to believe that they have eternal life.
     This is quite the audacious claim, and I know of not one preacher who doesn't take seriously the task of preparing and delivering a sermon which will connect with the listeners, in order to share Christ with them.  As we said before, this takes on different characteristics in different places - some sermons are 40-50 minutes in length and take a look at a single subject in many places in scripture.  Some are much shorter and only look at a single verse in scripture. Others take into account a single story and flesh out meaning and  Christ's voice in that.  Whatever the sermon looks like, it is the means by which God's grace is given to the hearers.
     As we think about what this means for our worship, and for our worship assessment,  wonder about how you hear Christ in worship each week.  The sermon is not the only place where words are spoken.  We have prayers, songs, creeds, confession and forgiveness.  We have peace and greetings and blessings.  Words are plentiful in our worship.  And the promise we hear from  Christ in John 10 are all about the sheep hearing Jesus' voice.
     How do you hear Jesus' voice?  How do you come to believe?  And what comfort do we get when we know that Christ has claimed us and that no one can snatch us out of his hand! 

Some assembly required?

     This third Sunday in Easter we are once again in John's gospel, enjoying a lakeside picnic and barbecue with Jesus and the disciples.  With another familiar text, we will once again be challenged to read John 21.1-19 with a different lens than usual.  As part II of our worship series, we are focusing on worship as central.  Last week we took a look at how God's mission and purpose is revealed through Christ and through worship.  For Lutherans the church is defined by its worship, the church being “the assembly of all believers among whom the gospel is purely preached and the holy sacraments are administered according to the gospel” (Augsburg Confession, Article VII).
     Our text from John sheds some interesting insight into this definition of church and worship.  It begins with a list of all the disciples who were together, 7 in total.  If the disciples hadn't been together to begin with, the whole story wouldn't have happened.  But because the disciples were together, they witnessed the power of the living Christ.
     Apparently trying to move on with life after the crucifixion and two appearances of the resurrected Christ, the disciples tried doing something 'normal.'  What is more normal for fishermen than fishing?  So Peter decides to go out and the whole group decides to go with him.  Again, if the disciples hadn't been together, the story wouldn't have happened.  But they stick together.
     And it's a terrible night of fishing.  They didn't even haul in one fish - and  then a stranger from the shore suggests they throw their net on the right side of the boat (right as in the relative direction, opposite of left, not the 'correct' side).  Can you imagine the conversation in the boat?  I wonder if they did it - figuring they had nothing to lose, or if they had an argument about whether to waste their time and should just head in.  If it had been me in the boat, I suspect I would have been reluctant to try something a total stranger suggested, and it would take six other people to convince me to try it. And when they do, they catch so many fish they can't pull in the net.
     At that point one of the disciples realizes the man is Jesus and Peter jumps in to greet him.  (Did you notice that Peter puts on his clothes in order to jump into the lake??)  So far everything has been dependent upon the fact that the disciples were gathered together.  And as they are gathered, Jesus appears, feeds them, and gives them a purpose and mission.
     Worship - the place where disciples gather, are fed, and given purpose and mission is central to the life of faith - both for the individuals and the community they form.  Again, as we heard yesterday, God meets us in worship just as in worship we meet God.  And the one thing that makes a community of faith is the people, gathered together.
     Isn't it always about the people?  Apart from a faith community even, the people can make or break anything.  Think about how people impact your working environment.  Think about people and personalities can impact any get together.  It is always about the people.  And yet in worship we are blessed because it is about the people but it is also about God.
     It is about the people of God, the grace of God revealed in Christ, it is about people who gather and 'pretend the kingdom' as a professor of mine is fond of saying.  So when we are gathered for worship, the personalities, the differences, the quirks and the charming qualities are all accepted.  Everyone.  As they are.  Because in God's kingdom, everyone is welcome, everyone has a place, everyone is loved.

     This is a picture of my ordination (right), a glorious and wonderful gathering of friends, families, and yes, even some complete strangers, who came to worship and celebrate God's grace, and God's mission and purpose for my life.   It is one of the worship services that I will always remember - because of the gathering, because of the tangible sense of the Holy Spirit, because everyone there had a place, no matter their views.  It was about the gathering, it was about God's presence in the gathering, it was about mission and purpose in the world.
     Thinking about our John text in this light, I am wondering about the assembly - the gathering.  The assembly is required for worship, and in the assembly God's mission and purpose is fulfilled.  I am left pondering how God is changing the assembly of which I am a part?  How is God's mission and purpose being lived out in our assembly?  In yours?

What is the mission of God?

     Christ is risen!  We have journeyed through the depths of Holy Week to the high of the resurrection dawn.  We have endured the darkness of death and now stand in the light of new life.  It is Easter!  And in these weeks following Easter we hear all sorts of resurrection stories.  Most of them come from John, though there are a few Luke stories, as well.  So, for the next seven weeks we will hear of life, of Christ's love for us, of hope and promise, of mission and vision.
     For my faith community, St. John Lutheran in Ely, we will also spend the next seven weeks taking a careful look at worship.  Using a resource from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America called With the Whole Church we will examine how we worship, why we worship, what we do when we worship, and the importance of worship.  As it happens, this first week examines how worship and God's mission are so intimately linked.

     Now, the second Sunday in Easter is always the story about 'Doubting Thomas.' I have always felt bad for Thomas.  Probably because I identify with those in the gospels who don’t always believe.  But this year I’ve taken a different approach to Thomas.  What if, in these verses from John, instead of focusing on the faith (or un-faith) of the disciples, instead of looking at what Jesus says or does, we look at what these verses tell us about God and God’s mission.
     In John 20 we read not only about Doubting Thomas (and the doubting disciples for that matter), but we read about God's mission for the world.  Based just on these 11 verses, God's mission and purpose are quite ambitious, and from what I see in the text, the following could all be included in God's mission and purpose:

• Giving peace (Jesus said, 'Peace be with you.' vs19)
• Sending Jesus ('As the Father has sent me...' vs 21)
• Sending us to forgive sins ('...so I send you.  If you forgive the sins of any they are forgiven.  If you retain the sins of any they are retained.' vs 21, 23)
• Giving the Holy Spirit ('he breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit...' vs 22)
• Have life in the name of Jesus ('these are written so that you may come to believe that Jesus is the Messiah, and that through believing you may have life in his name.' vs 31)

As we begin to think about worship, this text is a perfect introduction.  The disciples are gathered, much like the body of Christ gathers in any particular place.  The disciples hear the words of Jesus, just as in congregations we hear the words of Christ - in preaching, in scripture, and in the mutual building each other up.  The disciples receive the Holy Spirit just as we receive the Spirit.  The disciples are sent, just as we are sent each week.  The disciples are told to forgive sins, which is something we do each week in the Lutheran tradition with confession and forgiveness.  
     The bigger purpose, then, at the very end, is so that we 'may come to believe that Jesus is the messiah, and that through believing may have life in his name.'  God's mission and purpose, in the end, is for everyone to have life in the name of Jesus.  This takes different shapes in different places, but for us Lutherans, this life begins and ends in worship.  Gathering to worship is the beginning because in worship we come to know who God is, receive God's grace, and discover who we are.  In the discovery, the gathering becomes the sending as God sends us out into the world to share the life of Christ with all of creation.  As we share Christ with those whom we encounter, the sending itself becomes a gathering - not necessarily of the church body, but of people looking for life.  As people discover life in Jesus, we are then invited back to worship and give thanks where the worship becomes the ending.  

     And it all centers around worship where we come to meet the living Christ, where we eat his body and drink his blood, where we share in peace, forgive and receive forgiveness, pray, and become.  The mystery this week, then, isn't so much about God's mission or purpose, but rather, who are you becoming in light of the life you have received in Christ?  How are you living out God's purpose for you?