Entertainig angels?

     For Labor Day weekend, the 'unofficial end of summer', the weekend most known for relaxing and picnics than actual labor, has us reading a text all about parties and banquets.  Except rather than talking about what are the best/worst dishes of summer, or what sorts of table decorations to use to make the biggest WOW factor, we have a lesson in where to sit at the table.
     In our gospel from Luke Jesus gives a lesson in honor/humility of seating at a dinner.  Now in our culture, seating at a dinner is often foreign to our experience, other than weddings or other large events.  At these events there is usually a 'head table' and then close to that the tables for the secondarily important people, and then tables out from that for the rest of the guests.  Now I've never actually been to a wedding where someone has the guts to go right up to the head table and have a seat.  Can you imagine what that would be like?  Yet Jesus teaches that people should not sit in places of honor but "when you are invited, go and sit down at the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he may say to you, 'Friend, move up higher'; then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at the table with you. For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."  No one I know (at least I don't think) would have the gall to sit at the head table at a wedding or banquet, even if they inwardly wanted to.  Yet it has also never been my experience that I sat at a table and the bride or groom came and told me to sit at a table closer - it is generally known before the event who will sit where.  So this part of the gospel sounds funny to my 21st century ears.  But that was not the whole lesson. 
     Jesus went on to talk about who you invite to your banquets.  And this is where it gets really surprising and hard.  "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."  What would the guest list for the next wedding you are invited to look like if we took Jesus' words seriously and invited the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind?  I was just at a wedding a couple weeks ago and the guest list included family mostly, but also a few friends.  It has been the same at every other wedding I've been to (including my own).
     Jesus seems to be pushing, once again, at our tendency to turn inward and make the banquet and celebration all about me, my family, and us.  But we are in the season of texts focusing on love of God and love of neighbor, and Jesus is forever pushing us to expand our definition of 'neighbor.'  And in my estimation, this portion of the text especially speaks to our culture today, since Jesus talks about reciprocity.
     In our culture, it seems as if it is often all about reciprocity.  Keeping track of who invited who over last, and whose turn it is to have the party.  Or keeping track of how much this person spent on your present so that when it is your turn to give them a present you can spend about the same amount.  Or deciding who or who not to invite based on if they invited you over since the last time.  I do it, so I am guessing others do it, too.
     This teaching from Jesus really gets us outside of ourselves doing something totally for the sake of someone else, selfless giving and inviting so that someone else feels honored and valued.  Which is what our text from Hebrews talks about when it says, "Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it."  One of my favorite songs is called Angels Unaware by Michael W. Smith, and really gets at these two texts, I think.  We are often so focused on us and our own stuff that we neglect those around us.  This is true at the grocery store, at work, at school events.  Even on Sunday mornings as we gather for worship, we sit with our families, we talk with those we know, we look at the visitor and aren't quite sure how to interact, because maybe they aren't really new and I just don't recognize them. 
      Yet this is what Jesus teaches against - because it is not all about us.  It is not all about status, or being fair, or even, or what others think.  It is about love.  Everything Jesus said and did points at this type of Kingdom love which gets us outside of ourselves and reaching out to others.  I ponder how God calls me out of myself to love others, to live for others, to show hospitality to others.  To help you ponder this mystery, I've included a 5-minute video of Michael W. Smith's song:

Loved enough to be set free?

     So for Sunday’s texts we have a beautiful story of Jesus healing on the Sabbath from Luke 13.  The Sabbath, according to Jewish law (Exodus20.9) is a day for resting on which no work is to be done.  Yet here is Jesus, in the synagogue no less, healing a woman who had been crippled 18 years, which the leaders of the synagogue considered work.  And so the leader (not addressing Jesus directly, but speaking to the crowds) indignantly stand up and tries to correct Jesus’ healing, pointing out that it is work and that really ought not be done on the Sabbath.

     And in typical Jesus fashion, he takes the words of the leader and turns them around on him, pointing out that even they unbind their oxen and donkeys on the Sabbath, making a clear connection from this unbinding of animals and the woman’s figurative bondage to her ailment for 18 years.  Now here is where the Greek comes in handy – and we see something unnoticeable in the English.  The word for ‘untie’ in verse 15 is the same word for ‘be set free’ in verse 16.  The Greek word is actually ‘loose’ and is used only here and two other places in the New Testament in this figurative manner of ‘be set free,’ a literary tool the author chose to force us to see the connection between the two examples.

     Now, what is the point of this connection?  I believe it is to emphasize that Christ came to set free – period.  The Sabbath, the day set aside for praising God (which the woman does in verse 13) is always and only about being set free: the act of God for us, to us, and with us.  If the being set free involves a little work on the Sabbath, it is only for the sake of the gospel and bringing about God’s kingdom.

     Unfortunately we won’t get to hear the verses that follow our text for Sunday, as the lectionary skips ahead next week to chapter 14.  However, right after our story ends Jesus goes on to tell about the kingdom of God.  This story, along with the two parables in 13.18-21, gets at the heart of God’s kingdom, which is freedom from bondage.

     As I look back on my own life and my own experiences of being set free, more often than not it is in worship – maybe not on the Sabbath – but in a worship setting, surrounded by other people, singing songs, hearing Scripture, and receiving Christ’s promise of freedom in Word, water, bread, and wine.  One of the most clear moments I have of being set free was at a women's retreat in college.  I have written about the experience before, but it has been so impactful I will write about it again.   It was just one overnight, and there were about 8 of us ladies gathered.  While I can't remember the theme exactly, I remember that it centered around baptism.  We talked, we read the Bible, we worshiped, we remembered what God had done for us.  And it was in those 18 or so hours that God's promises freed me from the huge weight I had been carrying around.

     You see, I was a hopeless people-pleaser, always saying what I thought you wanted to hear but never sharing my own thoughts.  This was true about religion, politics, food, sports, school; you name it and I could tell you what everyone else in the planet thought - except me.  Meeting God again in that time of rest and worship, I was reminded that God created me - and my thoughts - and that they were good.  And that I didn't need the approval of others by watering down who I was so they liked me better.  Saying this now sounds silly - because I have been freed from those bonds and can't believe I let them contain me for so long.  (Close to the 18 years the woman in our gospel text experienced.)

     So I ponder the mystery of God’s love today.  That God would meet me, free me, and then allow me to tell it to others is the greatest gift I can give the world.  How has God’s love set you free?

Suffering and service?

     This coming Sunday marks our annual Polka Fest!  We are thrilled to gather together with Barefoot Becky and the Ivanhoe Dutchmen and the wider community to worship, eat, dance, and play in order to raise funds for the St. Luke's Child Protection Center.  It is hard to talk about the Child Protection Center because of why it exists.  It makes me sad, angry, and pray fervently for God's kingdom to come.  The Child Protection Center is a clinic that cares for children who have suffered abuse.  The figures are rather staggering:

• Approximately two-thirds of victims are female.
• Over 40 percent of victims are under the age of seven at the time they are seen at CPC.
• Nearly 90 percent are abused by someone they know.   

As we are called to care for the least and last, the most vulnerable in the world, it is our joy to help support this clinic as part of our mission for sharing God's love to those most in need.
     In the reading from Hebrews for Sunday the writer shares about many who were abused, people who "suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned to death, they were sawn in two, they were killed by the sword; they went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, persecuted, tormented — of whom the world was not worthy. They wandered in deserts and mountains, and in caves and holes in the ground."
     Now these were abused because of their faith, which is a different reason than children are abused, but violence is violence; oppression is oppression; injustice is injustice; no matter the reason or the victim.  And these, says the author, are the ones who surround us.  That is how it is with the body of Christ.  The baptized are unified, all being washed with the same cleansing that is baptism, and so we are one body.  The saints - past, present, and future - are joined in the mystical mystery that is Christ's body.  And since "we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith, who for the sake of the joy that was set before him endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God."
     Because of the mystery that is God, we are joined with all who have been, are being, and will be abused.  Because of the mystery that is the body of Christ, when one suffers all suffer and when the body suffers we are called to serve.  And that is what this race is about, I think.
     It is easy to look around at the suffering and begin to lose hope that it will ever be relieved.  It is easy to look around at the abuse which constitutes an approximate 3 billion dollar industry in the United State and begin to think it is futile.  Which is why, I think, we are urged to look to "Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith."  He endured when he wanted to give up.  In the face of abuse and suffering, God was able to work new life and resurrection.  And now it is he who died and was raised who 'has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God.'  Which means that the suffering has been totally redeemed, that the new life is seated in power, that the body, through broken, is made whole.
    It is that wholeness into which we are baptized that we are invited to live.  Jesus was able to endure and run with perseverance the race, and we are joined (tied, tethered, or whatever other joining-verb you care to use) with him in baptism so that his endurance is our endurance, his perseverance is our perseverance, his suffering is our suffering and his resurrection is our resurrection.
     The mystery I am left pondering is this mystical Body of Christ.  Joined together, how am I called to be my part so that as others suffer I can work to serve or to be receptive to others serving me?  And of course there is the great mystery of suffering itself - which is lifted up in the following prayer:

God of liberation, you see works of violence and weep. Relieve the suffering of all who are experiencing/have survived abuse or violence in human trafficking. Grant them peace of mind and a renewed faith in your protection and care. Protect us all from the violence of others; help us to bring offenders to justice; keep us safe from weapons of hate; and restore us to tranquility and peace; through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.

  ~ Evangelical Lutheran Worship Pastoral Care edition

He's coming. Are you ready?

The cross I see every day walking to church.  A sign of God's kingdom come.

     As I read the texts for Sunday, I stand convicted.  The text from Hebrews talks about the faith of Abraham, who though he remained childless for years after God's promise of children, still believed.  I stand convicted because a) I don't have very much patience and b) I don't always believe that the promise of God's kingdom come will happen.  As a pastor, it is difficult to admit this, and is perhaps one of those little footholds Satan has in my faith.  A few weeks ago when we had the reading from Luke 11 on the Lord's prayer, I was reminded that some of this impatience and doubt often comes because I am not praying for the Holy Spirit but rather am praying for something I want, I wish, or some other self-centered prayer.
    Yet Abraham believed the promise that his descendents would be as numerous as the stars in heaven, and this God 'reckoned to him as righteousness.' (Gen 15.6)  And indeed God was faithful, though even Abrah, Isaac, and Jacob never saw this promise come to fruition but rather, 'All of these died in faith without having received the promises, but from a distance they saw and greeted them.' (Hebrews 11.13)
     The distance the writer of Hebrews refers to here is their eternal home with God.  These three fathers of the Abrahamic faiths 'confessed that they were strangers and foreigners on the earth, for people who speak in this way make it clear that they are seeking a homeland...But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; indeed, he has prepared a city for them.' (Hebrews 11.14-16)
     This promise sounds a lot like the promise Jesus makes in the gospel this week from Luke 12 when he says, 'Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.'  I have already admitted that sometimes it seems to me that God's kingdom will not come,  God's will is not done, and no matter how much I pray for this, it is not going to happen. 
     Yet this kind of thinking is exactly what Jesus warns against as the scripture continues, 'Blessed are those slaves whom the master finds alert when he comes; truly I tell you, he will fasten his belt and have them sit down to eat, and he will come and serve them. If he comes during the middle of the night, or near dawn, and finds them so, blessed are those slaves.'
     Often I find with my mindset of God's kingdom not coming and God not doing what God promised, I miss those moments of the kingdom inbreaking my world.  I am a slave who is not alert when the master comes, or another way to say it, if you're not looking for it, you don't see it.  This is true not just of God and God's kingdom, but of anything.  Take for instance, when I was pregnant.  It seemed, in those 10 months of my life, that everyone around me was also pregnant.  Now the month Frankie was born was not an excessively busy month, and there wasn't a bump in births that month, it was just that I was looking for it and easily noticed all the pregnant women.  Or, when I was in my entomology class in college and was working on my final bug collection (which comprised 50% of the grade) it seemed that the world suddenly teemed with all sorts of different insects.  The reality is that there were no more bugs in the world those two months I was working on the project, but my eyes were looking for them.
       It is God's good pleasure to give us the kingdom, if only we have eyes to see.  And Jesus links this directly to selling possessions, giving alms, and putting your treasure in the right place, 'for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.'  Putting your treasure in God's kingdom is a perfect way to notice it in this world.  Giving alms, or using your money to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, heal the sick, and nourish the soul is a perfect way to see God's kingdom in our midst.  For when we spend on ourselves we certainly receive a momentary pleasure but it is fleeting.  Putting your treasure in what really lasts, into God's kingdom, is another story.
     In God's kingdom women in their 90s give birth to children.  In God's kingdom thousands are fed on a few loaves of bread and some fish.  In God's kingdom death is not the end but the beginning of new life.  In God's kingdom moth and rust don't eat away, love and forgiveness abounds, and everything works for the good of those who love God.
     And God promises.  Through Christ, God-made-flesh, we see this kingdom come.  And through our baptisms into Christ, we see the kingdom come.  God has promised and God is faithful.  The mystery of faith we live is a simple one: he is coming.  Are you ready?