November 1, 2021 – All Saints Day

All Saint’s Day is also known as All Hallow’s Day, Hallowmas, Feast of All Saints, or the Solemnity of All Saints – it is a distinctly Christian festival celebrated in honor of all the saints, known and unknown. It is celebrated on November 1 by the Roman Catholic Church, Anglican Church, Methodist Church and the Lutheran Church among other Protestant churches. Christian celebration of All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day stems from a belief that there is a powerful spiritual bond between those in heaven (also know as the Church Triumphant), and the living (those we call the “Church Militant”). In Roman Catholic theology, the day commemorates all those who have attained the vision of Heaven.

“Jesus is deeply mysterious. This isn’t just because, like any figure of ancient history, we don’t now as much about him as we might like. Jesus is mysterious because what we do know—what our evidence encourages us to see as the core of who he was and what he did—is so unlike what we know about anybody else that we are forced to ask, as people evidently did at the time: who, then is this? Jesus puzzled people then, and he puzzles us still.” . (“The Three Puzzles”, Simply Jesus,  N. T. Wright, p. 9)

Why would some consider Jesus mysterious? You may think that you know enough about Jesus to form your own opinion, and if that is the case, I give you a lot of credit. Me, on the other hand, I continue to read and research Jesus because I want to know more about this mysterious “Son of G-d”. But getting to know Jesus will require getting to know the context in which he lived, including his worldview and the Jewish “spiritual” worldview. Each carries their own effort – both of which there is plenty of written material to review. We know who the Roman Emperor was at the time Jesus lived: Tiberius – we know who the Roman prefect of Judea and Idumaea was when Jesus was tried and convicted: Pontius Pilate – we know who the Jewish Tetrarch of Galilee was when Jesus was tried and convicted: Herod Antipas — and we know who the “high priest” was at the time of his death: Caiaphas. These are historical facts.

Things really become mysterious with Jesus when he appears seemingly “out of no where”, somewhere in his thirties, to do quite remarkable things, which led the Roman and Jewish authorities to send him to his death on a cross, seemingly as a way to keep him from claiming the title “Son of G-d”. Yet we today, as had so many over the centuries, call Jesus “Son of G-d”. They never saw anyone do the things Jesus did – we have not seen anyone do the things Jesus did. But the more I study, pray, and discern the works of Jesus, the more I appreciate the mystery, the majesty, and the love of Jesus.

Pastor Dave

October 31, 2021 – Reformation Sunday

“Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” They answered him, “We are descendants of Abraham and have never been slaves to anyone. What do you mean by saying, ‘You will be made free’?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, everyone who commits sin is a slave to sin. The slave does not have a permanent place in the household; the son has a place there forever. So if the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.” John 8:31-36

Reformation Sunday – what does it mean to us anymore? What does it matter to you or to me that Martin Luther, in 1517, nailed the 95 Theses to a door on a church in Wittenberg? Who cares that he did this on October 31 – isn’t that All Hallows Eve – don’t we do more to honor Halloween than we do one single act that sparked the greatest movement in the 16th and 17th let alone the 21st centuries? It was a foreign place in foreign times, in an era we just cannot imagine or even make sense of today. But we can relate to his intentions. Martin Luther was a deeply religious man – even a little superstitious – and he was searching for peace in his life. He was searching for peace and some sense of G-d’s love in his life — but it appears he could only find the wrath of G-d. Of course, in this day and age of Covid-19 and political intrigue and in-fighting, wild fires and closed businesses — aren’t we all looking for some sense of peace and love?

Luther must have been looking for some peace in his life. His father was not happy when he learned his son had left the university and his law studies – after all he was hoping Luther might continue in law school so he could help with the family finances. The black plague had been ravaging Europe (it even killed his best friend) – and of course there was the whole lightening bolt incident. Luther had finally reached a point of existential frustration, so he made a bargain with G-d – and soon he entered a monastery to fulfill his promise. Yet, he was still hoping he might find a G-d of love. But, perhaps he was looking for love in all the wrong places.

Luther, after all, was being trained in the Catholic church of the 16th century – where “doing things” was the emphasis of a relationship with G-d. If you did this, or did that, and did it often enough, then you could earn G-d’s love. The more you denied yourself, punished yourself, the more money you gave to G-d, the more you would earn G-d’s love. Luther would starve himself, sleep on cold, wet floors – and he still felt unworthy of G-d’s love. His sense of his own unworthiness was so deep, and profound, it was like a wound – and nothing he could do would heal those wounds. He believed he was a sinner condemned.

Today there are so many wounded people all around us. There isn’t anyone sitting in this congregation that does not bear the marks of some kind of wound from the last ten months, if not from their lives (no matter how long or short that life might have been). By the time I was three I had already been hit by a car – and burned my arm on a large kerosene heater. But these aren’t the only kinds of wounds I am talking about. We all bear the scars of different wounds. I see it every week – I see it in families, in decisions of governments, I see it in the inhumanity of one group of people against another. And sometimes, we are the ones wounding people — and unfortunately, we have no idea we are doing it. It can be as simple as whether or not we take the time to engage someone outside our church, and by engage I mean listening to their story – it can be how we engage each other inside the church. It can be how we view or treat a group of people who are proclaiming they are tired of centuries of injustice. We are broken, we are surrounded by broken people, and we can be the instruments of that broken-ness. We are fallible, wounded people who will fail time and time again to “do” the right thing, say the right thing, to love each other like we should – and to love G-d the way we should. We will never, can never do enough for each other, or for G-d – to earn love – at least the kind of love G-d has for you and for me.

If you are wounded today – I don’t care if it is from someone who is sitting in the congregation with you this morning, someone from your family, someone you work with, or something that has happened here or in your life somewhere, anytime, anywhere — today, I want you to toss that wounded-ness in the trash – and I want you to remember that your value comes in your relationship with Jesus Christ – that began in your baptism. Because of the cross of Jesus, G-d sees (not our sin) but sees our very value as a loved, child of G-d right down to the molecules that make you – you ….. and me – me. When G-d looks at you and me, he sees us through the lens of the cross of Jesus – so that G-d does not see the trash that makes up our sinfulness, but the righteousness that comes through Jesus.

Pastor Dave