MANNA: 1/25/13

Matthew 6:27
And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?

There's really nothing that compares to parenting.
I always find it comical when I hear a young couple, pregnant with their first child, making plans for things they are going to do after the baby comes.  It's funny because once the baby comes, all of those plans are most likely going to need dramatic adjustment.  There's no way a person can be prepared for parenting until they are actually parenting.  You see them looking all haggard, sleep-deprived, and you can tell at just a glance the toll that the little bundle of joy is taking on their life...let alone their plans.  Parents learn through experience that survival means accepting that you are no longer in control of your time, calendar, or energy.  No, as a parent you become a servant to your child, and life is turned upside down in an effort to care for the one who is totally dependent upon you.

I have three sons.  The youngest was adopted at 18 months old.  I remember staying up through the night helping my son adjust to his new bed, new surroundings,  new everything.  For about a month he hardly slept at night, so neither did I.  Stressful questions flowed constantly.  Am I doing the right thing?  Is he eating right?  Is he sleeping right?  Should I call the doctor?  The fact that he was adopted at 18 months old meant that I even worried about things I will never know about the first months of his life.  Now, he is six, and I worry about all sorts of other things.

I don't think raising older children is really any less stressful.  My other two are step-sons from my wife's previous marriage.  So, my experience with parenting is that of having both a young child and teenagers at the same time.  I've learned that parents can lose just as much sleep worrying about their older children as they do when they were up all night with the little ones.  How will we pay for college?  Am I too strict or not strict enough?  Where are they?  Why don't they call me back?  Who are they hanging out with?  What are they doing?  Are they making good choices?

Worry feels like holding your breath.

Our heavenly Father allows us to exhale, and breath a little easier.  Jesus says, "Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?"  The other side of the same coin is, "Who, by worrying, can add a single hour to your child's life?"  As a parent, I am going to worry.  It's an unwritten promise.  But, trusting that God has all things in His control, I find the grace I need.  I can do my best and trust in God for the rest.  I am never able to be in control.  Parenting is a process of gradually letting go of control of our kids,  and trusting them into God's control.

It helps to remember that God takes the long view about parenting, or developing people.  Consider the way He worked with Moses.   Throughout his entire life God was there with Moses, raising him into the person he became.  From watching over the baby in the basket, through revealing His almighty power in plagues and the red sea, teaching him obedience with the ten commandments, raising up helpmates when he needed them, and finally showing him how to be graceful when he saw the promised land at the end of his life.  Moses isn't the only one.  Think of people like Jacob, Joseph, Noah, David...all were people parented by God through life.  From early on in their life, God claimed them, and then raised them up through every trial they faced.  God takes a long view of life and parenting.  Our worry is to do with the short view.

When your heart gets heavy with the burdens of life and you find yourself losing sleep or worrying, remember that you were claimed by God the day you were baptized.  Remember that your kids were claimed by God as well.  Consider the long view of life, and trust that God has all things in control.

Now...exhale!  :-)

Prayer
Heavenly Father, you watch over all your children.  Watch over my family this day and raise them through life to accomplish your will.  In Jesus' name.  Amen

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Sermon: 1/20/13

John 2:1-11 The Wedding in Cana

Timing is everything.  It's common knowledge.
For a comedian, timing is the difference between jeers and cheers.
For a man popping the question to his the woman he hopes to marry, timing can be...well the difference between jeers and cheers.
Timing is everything!

Which is what makes this scene at the wedding in Cana so fascinating.  Because at first glance it would seem that the timing is all off.  The wine ran out too early.  Now, at first, that doesn’t sound all that surprising. After all, John tells us that it’s the third day of the wedding banquet. Three days of celebrating and you might expect the wine to run out.  If it were us, we might just duck out and make a quick run to the local wine shop.  But in this time and place running out of wine too early isn’t just a social embarrassment.  Wine is a sign of God’s abundance, of joy and gladness and hospitality. And so when they run short on wine it is a sign of the marriage running short of God's blessing.  Timing is everything.  To the couple who just married, the wine running out before the celebration is finished is like a bad omen.  It suggests that the marriage blessings will run out before the marriage.  This is not just a social concern for the wedding party...this is a tragedy!

Unfortunately, far too many of us today know quite well what it's like when the blessings within a marriage run dry before the fulfillment of the marriage.  It's a tragedy!

To make matters worse, Jesus’ mother doesn’t seem to have much of a sense of timing either. At least that’s what Jesus seems to think. “They have no wine,” she says to her son. She expected her son to do something about it.  But Jesus seems to think this is another instance of bad timing: “Woman, what concern is that to you or me? My hour – my time – has not yet come.”  But Mary knows better. Rather than raise an eyebrow at his tone or offer a counterpoint to his assertion, she turns to the servants and tells them simply and clearly, “Do whatever he tells you.” Now it could be that, like a good Jewish mother, Mary knew her son would come around. Protest he might, but eventually he’ll listen to his mother.  Or it could be that she understood the necessity for good timing a little better than he thought.  Mary recognized that whenever her son was on the scene, time itself was no longer ordinary.  For, with God, timing is always perfect.

Well, you know the rest of the story.

Timing is everything!

In fact, there are two kinds of time at work in this gospel. One is the kind of time with which we count and track the everyday events of our lives. It is the time that is measured in minutes and seconds, hours and days. It is the time we spend standing in lines, or clocking in at work, or waiting at the stoplight. It is mundane, ordinary time and it beats on relentlessly without any care of how well we make us of it.

But there is another kind of time at play, as well.  It is a kind of God's time, where the usual cadence of things that are predictable fade away and the experience of the moment transcends the ticking of the mundane clock of our lives.  This is God’s time, and it breaks forth through the ordinary clock and pace of things in unexpected times and places and allows us to catch a glimpse of the divine. So when Jesus speaks of his “hour” he isn’t speaking of a time and date on his calendar, he’s talking about the time when God will reveal his glory through his cross, resurrection, and ascension, the time when God will be accessible to all, once and for all.

That time, that hour, Jesus says, has not yet come.

Or has it?
Why do you think the apostle John goes to the effort of beginning this story about a wedding with the words, On the third day..."?
Could it be that the gospel writer is giving us a clue right up front, grabbing our attention, that this story isn't really about wine and a wedding, but about something more deeply interwoven with the gospel..., Jesus' resurrection?
Mary seems to think so.
And so do I.
The third day is the day in which Jesus was raised from the dead!
The third day is the day that hope was restored!  At the moment when the disciples thought the blessings of Jesus' mission ran out before the fulfillment of the mission....on the third day, God restored the blessing...and the mission of Christ hasn't stopped since.

Knowing this makes all the difference.  Instead of this being a story about water turned into wine, before its Jesus' time, this becomes a reminder that every moment lived near Jesus is a moment with the capacity to transcend beyond the mundane and into the divine.  For Jesus, turning the water into wine was a relatively simple act...almost a parlor trick.  But, for the wedding party, this simple act was the difference between joy and worry.  For the disciples, this simple act was the difference between believing and not believing.

As it is for us as well.
Think back over the course of your life...and to those moments when your life was hanging in the balance between fear and faith, or scarcity and abundance, or destruction and salvation.  Into those moments, what was it that made the positive difference?  Was it not, a simple act of kindness, generosity, sacrifice from someone else?  These are moments that may have been a simple act to the person offering them, but to you they were moments that caused time to stand still.

In the immortal words of Dr. Martin Luther King, "The time is always right to do what is right!"

There is no such thing as bad timing with things that are eternal.
There is never a bad time for generosity
There is never a bad time for kindness...never a bad time for compassion...forgiveness.  

An ordinary hug can convey unbounded love and blessing. The smallest donation of food or money can tip the balance between scarcity and abundance. A simple act of kindness can make all the difference in the world.  A smile can shed light into the darkest of places.

You see, this sign of water turned into wine revealed something about Jesus. When he is on the scene, anything is possible.  Because, when Jesus is on the scene, so also is God, accessible, adoring, available to all.

It may not seem like much, but when we offer ourselves in kindness, compassion, and generosity to others, to our kids, to our family...to the recipients of that moment of blessing, your timing is perfect!

Amen

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Manna: 1/21/13

Martin Luther had many questions about the Christian faith, and he knew that everyone else did too.  He wrote his Small Catechism on this premise by simply taking each primary statement of the 10 Commandments, The Creed and the Lord's Prayer and answering the same basic question, "What is this?"  His Catechism has served as a central teaching resource for Lutherans for over 500 years.

As Lutherans, then, it is our legacy to ask questions.  Some may say that to ask questions of your faith is to doubt.  Not for we Lutherans.  No, for us to ask questions is to seek the truth, and to seek the truth in faith is to draw nearer to Christ.  Martin Luther would never have written his 95 Theses, and the Reformation would never have happened if it weren't for Christians, beginning with Luther, who had the courage to stand up in faith and ask, "What is this?"  or "Why?"

Recently, it was brought to my attention by a member of my church that it would be helpful if I were to spend a little time, now and again, explaining to our congregation why we do what we do in worship.  So, with thanks to Bob, this is my first installment of "WHAT IS THIS?".  Interestingly, I've called my devotional writings "MANNA" since 2010.  Literally the word MANNA is Hebrew for "What is this?"  Kind of makes you go, "Hmmmmmm" doesn't it?  :-)

I'll start with a question that I hear somewhat frequently from parishioners after worship at Living God.
The Kyrie: What is this?

Kyrie is short for Kyrie eleison, and it is a Greek translation of "Lord, have mercy."  It is an early Christian hymn to Christ.  Known to be in use by the church as early as the third century AD, it is an ancient plea and a prayer.  Various forms exist, including three-,six-, or ninefold petitions of the plea itself.  There are also litany versions, like the one we use in our worship service.  Its cry for mercy, peace, and salvation are especially fitting at the beginning, as we gather, for worship.

I believe elements in worship like the Kyrie are important for us today.  Because of its long tradition, singing it helps us to stay connected to our Christian roots.  While today's church is constantly tempted to eliminate traditional elements in an effort to attract the unchurched, singing the Kyrie keeps us grounded in the cries of the saints and martyrs of the ancient church.  Knowing that their cry of faith for mercy, peace and salvation is, quite essentially, the very same as ours today is a reminder to all of us that God is unchanging.  God still provides the same mercy, peace and salvation to us today.  And, as the world cries out, we hear God's call to respond to it with the same mercy, peace and salvation that was shown to us.

Today, it seems that the world is changing more rapidly than it used to.  Maybe this is just a fact of my own aging process.  But, I can't help but sense that it becomes harder and harder for people to keep up with the changes as each change comes and goes.  As the world continues to change with increasing velocity, I take refuge in knowing that God has not changed over all the centuries.  God's mercy, peace and salvation remain the rock upon which we can stand for meaning, purpose and direction while the sands of life move about around us with the winds of change.  Singing the Kyrie is a simple, but powerful, reminder of what's most important, and of what's eternal.

Prayer:
Kyrie eleison, on our world and on our way.
Kyrie eleison, ev'ry day.  
Amen

Pastor Rich Moore

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Sermon: 1/13/13

Psalm 29

The voice of the Lord is powerful and majestic. It's like a storm that crashes in from the sea upon the land. Whipping up the waves. Ripping the skies apart with thunder. Causing trees to fall.  From the Psalmist’s perspective, everyone knows when the Lord speaks -- just as everyone knows that a storm is thrashing around them. 

Psalm 29 is attributed to King David. When reading, it’s good to take that into consideration. We're not talking about a theological scholar, we're talking about the broken-and-redeemed shepherd boy who became king. David is a guy who wears his heart-on-his-sleeve. He’s a man whose writings drip with existential weight.  So the voice of God wasn't just a powerful symbol for David. Psalm 29 wasn't just a temple song praising God through nature. David heard God speaking! His Psalm was a song about reality. God's voice was as personal as it was powerful, and it was all around him like the weather.

But, not many of us are as deep and personal with God as David. Let’s be honest.   Isn't it safe to say that most of us today scratch our heads over the idea of God speaking to us? Sure David might have heard God's voice -- along with a lot of other extraordinary people in the Scriptures -- but God doesn't speak to normal people like us today .......Right?!

So we'll nod with the preacher about the powerful voice of God, but if we pause to be truly honest, we're left with a ton of questions about the voice of God, or even if God is still speaking today.

My friends, God is still speaking!  

Today's reflection cracks open these questions about God speaking.

As Christians, we must at least begin addressing these questions with our faith, without which we would not be here in church today. This faith, no matter how small, deep, or informed, assumes by its very nature that God is still speaking to us. So, then, the real question isn't so much if, but how. 

The primary means for God to speak to us is through the Scriptures. We call the Bible the "Word of God," and believe it to be God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16). “God-breathed” is a beautiful way of saying inspiration. This isn't a pat theological answer; it's a perspective that should shape how we read the Bible. We should engage Scripture with a practical awareness that these words are the inspiration of God into human history. The Bible is not just conceptual, intellectual -- words that we read as information -- or a collection of wise sayings. The Scriptures are words written by men, but inspired by God.  Reading them is listening to God still inspiring today, the same way God inspired then.  Think of it like this: Bible reading is (1) inspirational first, (2) relational second and (3) informational third.  

Moving beyond the words of Scripture, God also speaks to us by the Holy Spirit.  Some of us may be led by God's Spirit in some specific ways. An internal voice. A sense of conviction. A seemingly inspired reflection. The sage words of someone. Experiences with an inner voice that defy our own selfish agendas, and lead us toward higher purposes, or actions. Some people often describe these experiences as "God speaking" or "hearing God's call, or being led by the Spirit."

But, how do we know the voice we're hearing is God?

The voice of the Lord is powerful and awe-inspiring in Psalm 29, but still and small before Elijah. It’s a voice from the clouds and a dove at Jesus’ baptism. So what would God's voice be like for us? And how would we differentiate God's voice from our own thoughts, messages of culture, or the voices from our legalistic or liberal upbringing? 

We might not be crazy, but we do have a lot of voices in our heads!

First, consider the four primary sources of inspiration: Scripture, Tradition, Reason, and Experience. 

Scripture...self-explanatory

Tradition...All those ways in which we have come to know and understand the character of God through the gifts of the church's past.  The way we've always done it, or understood it.

Reason...The clear sense of right from wrong, necessity, rationality that exists between our ears.  

Experiences...Personal human interaction with the world around us.  

All four of these are sources of information that swirl around inside our heads with each decision we make.  Inspiration from God will often bring these four sources into peace or harmony.  

Next, take in the direction of the movement. God's voice carries substance and weight. It makes an impact -- bringing peace, and inspiring compliance toward the creation of something new. God’s voice will always be toward conformity to God’s nature. It will never tell you you’re worthless, encourage you to lie, or mislead you.  Essentially, when one of those inner voices consoles us—brings peace, calm, assurance, worship, truth, justice, compassion, forgiveness—it’s likely from God. When a voice leaves us confused, chaotic, anxious, angry, hostile, empty—it’s not likely from God. 

Finally, when God speaks, it will always take the form of Law & Gospel.   The law is the reminder of how things ought to be, and how our actions are coming up short.  It condemns, and judges.  This will sound legalistic, moralistic.  That's OK, because it's only half of the message.  God's Word doesn't leave us there.  Hearing the law, opens our heart to hear the gospel.  The gospel is the declaration of what God does to overcome our failings.  The gospel heals, and promises forgiveness.  

God is still speaking.

This leaves us with the last question...How do I listen for God's voice?

Silence, solitude, journaling, mentors and trial-and-error all create the space to listen for God. 

But it takes practice.  You don't sit down at a piano for the first time and bang out Beethoven. You don't wake up and decide to run a marathon. Making a practice of listening for the voice of God leads to better discernment of God’s voice from all of the others in our heads.

As Jesus left his disciples behind, he told them he had much more to say to them. But he left that speaking to the work of the Spirit (John 16). God is still speaking…

His Word is comfort when we are lost and confused.

It is forgiveness when we have fallen from grace.

It is a guiding light in a world of darkness.

It is what we need to hear about who we are, whose we are, and where we are going.

God has given us His Word in the gifts of Scripture, the church, friends and mentors, and He has given us faith to listen.

So, let us listen....and practice listening.

Amen

Manna: 1/8/13

Isaiah 43:1-7

Ahh, those three little words. They can fill your heart so full that you are brought to tears. They can take your breath away with surprise. They can fill up your senses. From a mother as she holds her crying baby, they are soothing. On the lips of a lover, they communicate an intimacy; a shared secret that only two hearts in the whole universe can trust and know. Spoken among friends, they are a bond that says, "I am here for you."

In this text from Isaiah we find the only place in the whole Bible where those three powerful words, "I love you", are on the lips of God. So, what does it mean when God is the one saying these three magical words?

Isaiah 43 is a word of hope to Israel in exile. God's beloved people are starved for reassurance that they have not been abandoned; that they have not been forgotten. Israel cries out daily for comfort, mercy, and redemption. God's "I love you" reminds them that their cries are heard, that they are still His beloved, that they have not been forgotten. God's judgment may have been the reason they were exiled, but God's love is greater than His judgment. When these three little words are spoken to Israel mercy is expected and redemption is promised.

So it is with us as well.

Read this passage out loud to yourself.

Hear the way in which God encourages you with His love where He says, "Do not be afraid."
Hear God's word remind you of who you are, and who you belong to for ever and ever, where He says, " I will be with you." and "You are precious" and "You are mine".

I've heard it said that one could describe the Bible as nothing more than a love letter from God. I think exiled Israel would agree after hearing these words from the prophet Isaiah.

Prayer
Heavenly Father, there is nothing more gratifying than your love. Thank you, for sharing it so freely with the likes of me. Open my heart, that I may hear your word of love for me today. Open my arms, my mouth, my eyes, my feet...that I may share your word of love with others today. Amen.

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Winter Newsletter

Matthew 2:1-4

Magi---such a unique word…even to the Bible.  Tradition has rendered this word to mean kings.  "We Three Kings of Orient are..."  But, this is probably more to do with the way in which the magi are received by King Herod in the context of the story than by actual word study.  Herod treats these sojourners from the east as if they were kings visiting his kingdom, and they appear to be able to gain access to Herod with an equal kind of status.   However, when we study this unique word, apart from context, we come to a different meaning.  Literally, the word refers to men with a special kind of wisdom; wisdom that is likely gleaned from studying the movement of the stars.  In ancient days magi might have been our modern equivalent of great scientists—wise men. 

Whether Matthew meant for us to read his Gospel account as “wise men” or as “kings” we’ll never know.  But, his message about their mission is very clear.  The quest of these men of status and authority was to kneel before this newborn king and worship him.  Matthew’s message?   If these foreign men, esteemed by both the rulers and the wise, are humble enough to lay aside the comforts of their home, and commit to the risks of travelling a great distance for the sole purpose of worshiping this newborn king, then all who hear Matthew's message should do the same.

Herod’s lip-service toward them only further emphasizes Matthew’s point.  Was King Herod actually going to worship Jesus?  Absolutely not!  King Herod was plotting to kill the Baby who had come to bring peace on earth! His heart had no intent of worshiping the Christ Child, even as his mouth formed the words that lied to them.

Matthew’s message places a fundamental question before us; one that challenges us:  Are we taking God seriously, or just giving Him lip-service?  Are you praying for things to change in the world around you, in your life, but then ignoring God’s call to do your part in bringing about these changes? 

As we look toward the future and the start of a new year, what are your plans?  What does your faith mean to you?  Why is your church important to you?…to your children?...to the community?....to the world?  So often I hear members of our church complain about how Christian values are being eroded by our culture, but then list for me their reasons why they are too busy to volunteer or too broke to be more charitable.  I hear the concerns of parents, who tell me that society and the school system are corrupting their kids, but then explain to me that their kids have more important things to do on Sundays than be involved with church.   Will you go about this year giving only lip-service to God’s call, your church, and your faith?  Or, is this the year that you resolve to go deeper in prayer and devotion, step up your involvement; increase your charity?  With your lips will you say that your church, your faith is important to you, your children and the community, but then allow your actions to dictate otherwise? 

The magi Herod had a choice.  Today, that message is the same.  We have a choice.  It may only be a matter of adjusting priorities.  Or, maybe you sense a need for more dramatic change in your life.  You choose whether to worship Him with lip service alone or with the kind of worship that is accompanied by a lifetime of loving actions.

Every year I find it absolutely perfect that the start of a new year comes with the season of Christmas.  Christmas is a time when the motives of our hearts are laid bare before the proof in a manger of God’s willingness to honor His promise and commitment to us.  The birth of Jesus is the birth of a fresh start for all of us.   Oh come! Let us adore Him!