July 23, 2017
Pentecost +7A

“He put before them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven may be compared to someone who sowed good seed in his field; but while everybody was asleep, an enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and then went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared as well. And the slaves of the householder came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where, then, did these weeds come from?’ He answered, ‘An enemy has done this.’ The slaves said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ But he replied, ‘No; for in gathering the weeds you would uproot the wheat along with them. Let both of them grow together until the harvest; and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, Collect the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.’” Then he left the crowds and went into the house. And his disciples approached him, saying, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man; the field is the world, and the good seed are the children of the kingdom; the weeds are the children of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. Just as the weeds are collected and burned up with fire, so will it be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send his angels, and they will collect out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all evildoers, and they will throw them into the furnace of fire, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let anyone with ears listen!” Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43

“Our lives are littered with situations where there is no clear or easy answer. And yet we rarely talk about these things in church. Maybe we don’t know what to say. Or maybe we ourselves aren’t quite sure how the faith relates to this. But I hear in this parable Jesus’ promise that in ambiguous, challenging situations we have the promise that, in the end, God will sort things out. Which doesn’t mean everything will turn out just fine. Sometimes we don’t choose well. Sometimes things go wrong. The promise here isn’t that Christian faith prevents hardship; the promise is that we are not justified by our right choices but rather by grace through faith. And knowing we have God’s unconditional regard in spite of our poor choices frees us to live in the moment.

The thing is, you see, that we don’t live in an ideal world and each week we’re faced with a myriad of challenging decisions, some small and others large, to which there is no clear answer. Some decisions we’ll get right, others wrong, and still others we won’t know whether we were right or wrong for months or years to come. But we still need to make them. And then, each week, no matter how we fared, we can come back to church on Sunday morning to be reminded that God loves us anyway and promises that, in the end, God will hold all of our choices and all of our lives together in love.” (David Lose, davidlose.net, On Wheat, Weeds and Ambiguity)

According to this parable, weeding in our gardens is good, but as gardeners can tell you, weeding to aggressively can cause harm. And weeding in G-d’s kingdom is not so good, and can definitely cause harm.  You see, when we weed in our gardens, we sometimes can’t always tell the difference between what is a weed and what is not – and that results in pulling out stuff that we didn’t want to pull out. The same can happen in the kingdom of G-d – which, as Jesus wants us to understand, is all around us right now. When we are too aggressive in telling others they are not welcome in the kingdom, we are possibly doing great harm as well. And, this helps us understand an earlier lesson we heard in Matthew’s Gospel, as part of the Sermon on the Mount, when Jesus said:
 
“Judge not that you not be judged – for with the judgment you pronounce, you will be judged – and with the measure you use it will be measured to you.”

And, notice what I have done here. When we are hit with a teaching, or a person who is trying to convince us that their interpretation of scripture is “Real”, and ours is “Fake” — one of the best ways for us to weed out these teachings is to go to scripture – to do your homework, and your fact checking – because as Lutherans we trust that scripture will interpret scripture. Scripture will never let us down, whether we are trying to figure out the ambiguities of faith, or life – if we do our homework and arm ourselves with G-d’s Word.

But sometimes we are confronted with a situation that will just not be that easy to determine which direction we should go – whether we should wait or not – weed or not. Sometimes we just do not know what is in a person’s heart. So, as I read this parable, as soon as we start to weed out people, you know, determine who is “IN” and who is “OUT” of G-d’s Kingdom, we become part of the problem, not part of the solution. And there are a lot of Christians out there who would hear me say that and tell you “Your pastor is a heretic”. It is my opinion that too many Christians seem to have some knowledge where they somehow know who is going to heaven and who is not – who seem to know exactly what G-d is thinking. But this parable, according to my fact checking is about telling us we need to cultivate our own faith soil, sow the seeds of G-d’s word, and get out of G-d’s way to allow G-d to determine the condition of others soil.  

But let me say this also….you do not have to agree with me. You and I can have a talk about G-d’s word, study it, compare scripture texts, and possibly come to the conclusion to agree to disagree because this is what Lutherans do. We are better off letting G-d figure things out, and instead allow the faith soil of others to produce or not – not trying to weed others out – but to share what we know and understand, as Lutherans, about G-d’s farming practices.

And no, we will not always get this right either – because life is not always clear or precise – because we do not always have the patience – and because we do not always have the time or the energy to do the proper fact checking. And so ultimately it comes down to having the faith to know that G-d knows best.

And to remember that we are not judged based on our “Right Choices” –

Instead we are judged through the lens of Grace that comes through our faith, hope and trust in Jesus Christ.

Pastor Dave

July 22, 2017
Devotions: Lutherans in North America: The Arrival of Rev. John Ernest Gutwasser

The Lutheran Consistory in Amsterdam, ignoring the attitudes of the Dutch Reformed pastors in New Netherland to allow other religions to take hold in their territory, the consistory ordained the Rev. John Ernest Gutwasser and sent him to New Netherland in 1657 – much to the displeasure of the Reformed Congregation. Their response was to request he leave immediately. Rev. Gutwasser would write to the Lutherans in Amsterdam reporting to them that the authorities passed ordinances and established heavy fines against those holding private and public meetings, hoping to scare the Lutherans. In fact, Gutwasser was told he was forbidden to preach or conduct any services. Two years would pass before he finally relented and left.

When the English captured the territory in 1664, the way was paved for religious freedom in New Netherland. Articles of Capitulation were written providing that the “Dutch shall enjoy the liberty of their consciences in divine worship and church discipline” – exactly what the Dutch refused to offer the Lutherans. In fact, the new English Governor assured the Lutherans that “They may have liberty to send for one or more pastors” and could “freely and publicly exercise their religion according to their conscience.” It would take five years before Rev. Jacob Fabritius would arrive in New York to lead the Lutherans in New Netherland.

The year was 1669 – and Rev. Fabritius hit the ground running, so to speak. He installed elders and deacons as lay officers and began the planning of a small wooden church to be built in New York. He requested hymnals and Catechisms to be sent from Holland as well. But, all was not roses and sunshine. Soon the congregations were complaining to the Lutheran consistory in Amsterdam about Rev. Fabritius’s love of wine and brandy. He cursed too much – and seemed to like to dress in a soldier’s uniform. He married a woman who had five children and dressed them all in red. And, it appears that he paid little attention to his flock. The request of the congregants was heard in Holland, and Rev. Fabritius was soon preaching his farewell sermon and installing the new pastor – Rev. Bernard Arnzius. Rev. Arnzius was a young, unmarried man described by lay people as “a capable man whose life conforms to his preaching”.

While the pastor in New York, he oversaw the building of church and parsonages in New York and Albany. Rev. Arnzius would pastor in this territory for twenty years until his death in 1691. It would take another eleven years before another pastor would be sent to fill the vacancy.

Pastor Dave