MY NEW PLACE OF MINISTRY & HOMETOWN

What would the Bible be without journeys?

What would the Hebrew Bible be without the many journeys to which its authors witness? 

·      Without Adam and Eve’s journey from the Garden of Eden?  

·      Without Noah’s 40-day journey on board the ark? 

·      Without Abraham and Sarah’s journey from the land of Ur? 

·       Without Abraham’s journey up Mount Moriah? 

·      Without Jacob’s journey to his uncle Laban and back? 

·      Without Joseph’s journey to Egypt? 

·      Without the freed Hebrew slaves’ journey out of the land of Egypt, to Mount Sinai, through the desert, and into the Holy Land? 

·      Without the journeys of kings Saul and David during which they fought their Philistine enemies and each other? 

·       Without the journeys of the exiled Judeans into captivity in Babylon and back home?

What would the New Testament be without its many journeys?

·      Without the journeys of Joseph and Mary from Nazareth to Bethlehem?

·      Without the wise men’s journey from the East as they followed the star? 

·      Without the adult Jesus’ journey to the River Jordan, the Judean wilderness, Galilee, Samaria, Sidon, and Jerusalem?  

·       And what, finally, would our entire Christian faith be without Jesus’ obedient journey to the cross, without Paul’s journey to Damascus, or without this apostle to the gentiles’ missionary journeys?

It is, indeed, impossible to tell the story of God’s salvation without telling stories of many journeys.

And if the story of our faith is one of GOD calling people onto journeys - away from their home, away from their familiar surroundings, values, ways of seeing and doing things, what then is the journey onto which God is calling YOU right now?  From what is God calling you away and to which future is God calling you? I invite you to use these remaining weeks of Lent to ponder the question of your own life's journey with God.

These days, for obvious reasons, I am reflecting a lot about journeys, journeys to which God’s calls people.  In fact, the concepts of faith and journey are so closely intertwined in my mind that I cannot event think about faith without also thinking about journeying.

I am sure that you will hear a lot more over the next few months about why I felt called to trade Bethel for an unknown future in India.  For now, I just wish to thank you for being good companions during the past five years of journeying together in ministry. 

For those among you who wish to explore my future place of work and the Global Missions work of our denomination, here are links to the website of Henry Martyn Institute in Hyderabad the ELCA Global Missions Unit.

"DEADLY SINS" LENTEN SERMON SERIES

Those who have been at Bethel last Sunday and listened to Pr. Ben’s “Pride” sermon, will know that our Sunday worship services this Lent are designed around the theme of the “deadly sins” (also known as cardinal sins or mortal sins): pride, envy, anger, sloth, and greed.

It all began when I was planning our Palm Sunday services.  One thought let to another, and – bam! – there the idea of focusing on the so-called “deadly” sins was born. As there are five Sundays in Lent, we will be looking at only five of the seven behaviors that comprise that list.  The two that we won’t talk about are gluttony and lust. 

The moment, though, that I began working on this week’s sermon, though, I began to feel severe pangs of regret.  What had I done? Where is the Lutheran element in such focus on a list of really bad sins?  How can this amount to more than judgmental, hypocritical finger-wagging. We might not agree on everything as a congregation, but my assumption is that we share a common focus on grace, God’s grace.

If we say that God is gracious and deals graciously with us, we mean that God shows us unmerited favor and bestows on us unmerited blessings.  God came to us in the form of a human being to save us from eternal damnation and to open to us the way of everlasting life -- to a life with God that begins in the here and now and a life with God that extends into eternity.

The notion that God’s blessings are unmerited assumes that - left to our own devices - we cannot save ourselves.  We cannot be in right relationship with God, with our neighbors, not even with ourselves.  To help us accomplish all of this, to help us be in right relationship and experience shalom, God came to us. God’s actions always precede any human aspirations and efforts, as we can witness on so many occasions in the stories of the Old Testament. Any genuinely Lutheran faith begins with the awareness that God is reaching out to us, more than we are reaching up to God.

So what about sins, more specifically the famous “list of seven.” To us Christians, sin is more than messing up, missing the mark. To us Christians, sin is an offense against and rebellion against our Creator. Sin is that which separates us from God.

At the same time, it is good to notice that all seven of those sins are very closely related to what makes us human, to some of the best aspects of being human.  Take, for example, the sin of lust.  It is closely related to our human desire and ability to feel love and intimacy, to become close to another human being.  Similarly, ambition can be the shadow-side of greed or envy. Sloth the can be the shadow-side of rest. Wrath/anger can be the shadow-side of taking a courageous stance against injustice. And gluttony can be the shadow-side of the ability to experience pleasure in life.

Wagging our index finger and chiding one another to commit sin is not a Lutheran approach to speaking of God and reflecting on Christian living.  Rather, our calling is to witness to God’s grace, to speak of God’s forgiving love, and to encourage one another – by word and example – to live loving, gracious, just lives, lives that build up the body of Christ, rather than tear it down.

Nevertheless, there has to be room in our Lutheran belief system for talking about sin – simply because sin is real and sin is powerful.  Even if we want to be good and loving and kind, so very often we cannot do so.  As a community, it helps us to name evil and sin to give us the tools and the power to fight it within ourselves.  I am not calling to a Christian witch-hunt or finger-pointing.  Reflecting on sin means that I begin by reflecting on the power it holds over myself.

This Sunday, we will look at the sin of envy during our worship services.  I invite you to read the Scripture passages in advance that we will listen to during worship:   Genesis 4:1-8, 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, and Matthew 20:1-16.  (Simply click on these passages and it will take you to the BibleGateway, an online Bible website.)  If you are able, read these passages and reflect on how you may have experienced envy in yourself and in others and how that envy has the power to separate you from God.

I look forward to seeing you at Bethel this Sunday.