Sermon: Stewardship is Discipleship

Stewardship is Discipleship

         It is precarious, whenever multiple things happen on a Sunday, be it Memorial Day and Pentecost falling on the same day or even, as it will be this year—Christmas falling on… a Sunday… competing values crop up pretty quickly

—how do we honor the memory of those who died in battle and the coming of the Holy Spirit, 

or stranger still, how do we honor the family event that Christmas morning has become and also honor the Christian commitment to worship every Sunday to celebrate the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Obviously within the Church, the Christian trumps the cultural / the sacred is honored over days ordained by the secular state, and yet, they do bleed into one another.

         And so too today, we’re commemorating the 499^th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation and at the same time holding Stewardship Sunday—dedicating our pledges of money and service.

         Perhaps you can see how this could be awkward? First I tell you about how Luther fought against the sale of indulgences, second I talk to you about tithing. 

Religion and money bad, religion and money good.

         And yet, what Luther actually says about the sale of indulgences gets to the heart of, of all things, Stewardship… it reminds us that Stewardship is another word for Discipleship.

         Stewardship is another word for Discipleship.

Let us pray

         Luther wrote up 95 points of debate regarding the sale of indulgences back in 1517, sparking what would become the Lutheran Reformation. 

These 95 points can be summed up in 5 points, which you can find in your bulletin.

1.   Christ calls us to repentance, not penance

2.   Indulgences are indulgent

3.   All the Pope can do is point to Christ

4.   Indulgences are indefensible

5.   Indulgences don’t bring peace, but Christ’s cross brings salvation.

One: Christ calls us to repentance, not penance

We are not called to just hold on, so that we can die in a state of grace. 

Jesus Christ doesn’t tell us to sit tight and just don’t make any sudden movements that might get us in trouble with the big guy up stairs until we die and receive our eternal reward. 

The Christian life is not about white-knuckling it until you get to heaven. 

It isn’t about hording get out of jail free cards. 

No, it is about a life changed and transformed by God.

It is about turning around, doing a 180

—you were trying to get to New England from here by driving South, now you are heading North, because you’ve been turned around! You were lost, now you are found.

Two: Indulgences are indulgent

         The Indulgence system started during the Crusades where knights were told that if they died while attempting to capture the Holy Land the punishment they deserved for their sins would be removed. Soon enough this system was monetized, by Luther’s day the worst abusers of the Penance system were essentially selling get out of hell and/or Purgatory cards.

         This whole way of ordering someone’s religious life was too easy, per Luther. It threw out the traditional focus on Alms, Fasting, and Prayer. 

Worse still, some people began to trust in a piece of paper in their pocket, instead of the Gospel in their hearts and on their lips.

Three: All the Pope can do is point to Christ

         This is the crux of Luther’s argument.

 Yes, any punishment the Pope adds to the wrath of God can be removed by the Pope

—so if he says murderers must say an extra 5 hail Marys, he can then say—no you don’t have to… 

but when it comes to actual forgiveness of Sin, the Pope is in the same place as every Christian—all he can do is point to the promises of God and proclaim that Jesus loves you. 

If these get out of jail free cards promise anything more than that, they are promising nothing. 

In fact, Luther adds, the Pope has never offered anything more than Christ crucified and raise, if someone suggests otherwise, they are misrepresenting the faith.

Four: Indulgences are indefensible

         Luther goes on to say it is really hard, as a good Catholic Religious Leader, to defend the faith when people make such strong arguments against indulgences—for example: 

“If the Church can empty purgatory with the snap of a finger, and haven’t, what kind of monsters are running the joint?” 

“If the real reason the Church sells indulgences is for their building project, wouldn’t it be more faithful to sell all the gold stuff the Pope has?”

 and “Isn’t there something wrong with a system in which an unrepentant enemy of God can buy a genuinely godly person out of purgatory?”

--Ouch, right?

Five: Indulgences don’t bring peace, but Christ’s cross brings salvation

         Finally, Luther warns us not to grasp at the false peace of these pieces of paper easily bought, but instead to cling to the Cross of Christ, 

This is an impossible, and yet grace filled thing,

to take up his yoke and find it is light

to count the cost, and find that the price has already been paid,

…to follow him wherever he goes

Yes, to be a follower of Jesus, a Disciple!...

         Stewardship is Discipleship, following after Jesus… 

this is one of the many gifts of this congregation

—our Stewardship Team already understand their job as more than doing this Fall Stewardship Drive, 

more than helping you plan to be generous—and let me be clear in case you misunderstand, learning to be generous is a rich and deep part of the Christian life..

—Stewardship is a year round thing and a whole self-thing

bringing prayer partners together in Lent,

getting us talking about the 7 fruits of the Spirit and what the Spirit is doing in our lives, 

making us aware of others in Christ-like ways.

         Stewardship, conceived simply as money for a budget with religious language attached to it, falls into the same category as Indulgences, it makes the faith too small.

Stewardship isn’t only of the gold and green things of our lives, but our whole lives—

Stewardship is taking care of everything that is ours, figuring out how Jesus’ encounter with us changes all that we have!

Time, Talents, and Possessions as we sometimes say,

What God has first given us—our whole selves given back to us on account of grace.

         Yes, you knew I’d get us there—Grace.

         As Jeremiah writes, God is transforming us from within—now what? / A new heart, so what do we hold within it?

         The Psalmist sings In the thunderstorms of life, as battles rage, we find protection in God, shelter with our savior—what do we do after the storm, knowing the battle is won?

         Paul preaches that The whole world has been given the gift of a Passover—death has passed over us—what do we do with this beautiful precious life we have?

         John insists that we’ve been freed, we were enslaved, now we’re adopted—how are we going to be family?

         God has acted through Jesus Christ for our sake, that means our entire life is a life of ongoing transformation!

How are we going to be good Stewards of all that we have and all that we are? How are we going to follow Jesus—be disciples?

         The Reformation pushes us beyond false assurance and limited commitment; it reminds us that stewardship is another word for discipleship.

A+A

5 Theses from the 95 Theses

5 Theses from the 95 Theses

1.     Christ calls us to repentance, not penance

2.     Indulgences are indulgent

3.     All the Pope can do is point to Christ

4.     Indulgences are indefensible

5.     Indulgences don’t bring peace, but Christ’s cross brings salvation.

Three Theses I've drawn out of “Called forward together in Christ for the sake of the world”

Three Theses from “Called forward together in Christ for the sake of the world”
1. The ELCA will be a healthy and self-aware Church, engaged with society in word and deed, where congregations reflect the communities they are in.

2. Our focus will be on Word and Sacrament, making followers of Christ who lead inside and outside the Church, engaging young people, and tackling the troubles of the world.

3. This will only come about if we have leadership of the whole Church coming from the whole Church and we use God’s gifts to fit God’s vision.

Five Questions about the Leper who gives thanks to God

         Sometimes, when we read a story so familiar, it is worth asking those 5 simple journalistic questions—

Who, what, where, when, and why?

Asking them of the story, and of our own lives.

Who-A Samaritan Leper

What-He Gave Thanks

Where-in the borderland between Samaria and Galilee

When-As Jesus headed to Jerusalem

Why-Because he was healed!

          A Samaritan Leper gave thanks in the borderland between Samaria and Galilee, as Jesus headed to Jerusalem, because he was healed!

Prayer

          Who, a Samaritan Leper.

          Luke’s Gospel is chock full of Samaritans

—Jesus enters a Samaritan village,

He tells his famous story about the Good Samaritan,

and today, only a Samaritan responds with thanksgiving for the good thing Jesus has done for him.

          Remember, the Samaritans were the ultimate Other, the singular Stranger in Jesus’ world.

          The presence of Samaritans should be unsettling—scandalous even! Their presence in the Gospel ought to attack any stereotypes we might hold, attack any instance of prejudice we might participate in. The Gospel disallows it!

          Not only that, the Samaritan’s presence in Acts also reminds us that the Gospel is for everyone, it ought to go out unto all the earth!

After the resurrection, when the Disciples wanted to keep their faith in the upper room, God threw them out onto the streets.

When the followers of Jesus wanted to keep the Gospel as a Jewish only thing, God got Stephen and Cornelius and Paul involved.

When Paul wanted to preach only to people in Asia Minor, God sent him the vision of the man from Macedonia and he and Timothy crossed the Aegean Sea and onto his missionary work in Europe.

When the Gospel went wobbly in Algeria, God sent St. Augustine.

When it stalled in Gaul, God sent St. Patrick.

You get my point here—the Gospel is meant to be shared, with everyone!

          Presented with this Samaritan, representing an attack on prejudice, we ought to ask ourselves, “Who have I pre-judged?”

          Presented with this Samaritan, reminding us of the wideness of the Gospel message we ought to ask ourselves, “Who have I chosen not to tell about Jesus?”

          What? He gave thanks.

          Such a simple phrase, “Thank you,” yet profound in its power. Medical professionals suggest “Thank you” re-shapes our brains for the better, and heightens our level of enjoyment of life. Gratitude makes the things we are grateful for more valuable, it connects the giver and the receiver in a bond of kindness.

          For that matter, just listen to the thanks we give God during Holy Communion, “It is indeed right, our duty and our joy, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks and praise to you, almighty and merciful God, through our Savior Jesus Christ.”

          Surrounded with songs of praise and thanksgiving, observing the thankfulness celebrated in today’s gospel, let’s take a moment to ask ourselves, “What am I truly thankful for?”

          Where? The borderlands between Samaria and Galilee.

          The space between two peoples.

          Look, for a second, who lives there—Lepers, both Samaritan and Jewish—they are united in their misery.

This is a common thing, isn’t it?

People pushed to the sides of life find each other, misery loves company. They value one another beyond race or religion, because they see that spark of similarity in their common suffering.

          And yet, in these spaces—the in-between spaces, we also find Jesus,

Jesus entering in, finding, and healing.

Jesus in the crevasse where loose change settles and lost people find one another.

There they saw one another as humans based on common suffering

—there Christ calls them into a greater unity based on their common humanity.

          Consider a moment one of the tragedies of our modern life. These in-between spaces—what sociologists term 3^rd spaces—are disappearing from society.

Places that are neither home nor work, are going the way of the Dodo,

we’re abandoning them in droves.

Spaces where you might safely meet someone very different from yourself, are disappearing. Elks clubs, Bowling Leagues, Churches… all places to run into lepers of all sorts and maybe entertain Jesus unaware. There is a dearth of them in our present culture.

          Brought to this borderland we might ask, “Where are my third spaces?” “Where have I found myself in unexpected company?” “Where has Jesus met me?”

          When? As Jesus headed to Jerusalem.

          As Jesus journeys to the site of his death, and his resurrection, he brings death and resurrection to these 10 lepers. Their designation as unclean, unable to enter society and mix freely with friends and family

—all this dies, and they rise anew, clean and changed, new people.

Jesus entered their social death and dragged them into a healed life!

          In the face of this dying and rising, we can ask ourselves, “When have I found death and resurrection in my life?”

          Why? Because he was healed!

          Many sermons on this story focus here, on this question, “Why” … but focus in a different way. They ask, “Why him, but not the others?” Sometimes the other lepers are accused of a ridged religious response, going to the priest without recognizing the Christ in their midst.

Other preachers ask the question, “Why didn’t the 9 return?” and shame congregations for lacking attendance

—humiliating those who are not in worship, not there to defend themselves AND making the congregation in attendance feel bad for not having 9 times as many people in the pews…

          But that’s just silly.

The only question we can rightly ask is “why him?”

“Why us?”

          And even more importantly, the only answer we know is: “because he was healed by Jesus, Saved by Jesus!”

And that is our answer as well. A+A

My presidential endorsement with reference to 3 fictional characters Review

So, over the last 10 days I’ve laid out 3 reasons why #I’mWithHer. I did so using the “3 Fictional Characters Meme.”

I’m voting for Hillary Clinton because:

Walter White—If Trump is elected, 57,199,999 of my closest friends and I will lose a key tool to fight against giant insurance companies who have a history of discriminating against us. My personal healthcare costs will grow by 250% and when my heart valve goes I will have no way to pay for its repair. Under Hillary Clinton we will continue to have the tools we need to fight discrimination and I’ll be able to keep my head above water.

Pedro—She has policies that comport with the world in which we live. Donald Trump does not. All he has is an empty slogan, and a bunch of promises that are unworkable and sometimes unhinged. He’ll promise you anything, as long as you don’t read the fine print.

Cartman—She will be president within the framework of American Democracy, she’ll be a mainstream American president. Donald Trump will not. He consistently praises authoritarian rulers abroad, on many occasions he’s said he’ll govern in ways that are unconstitutional and outside the American tradition, and when violent racists lined up behind him he let them know he is on their side.

For these three reasons, please give Hillary Clinton a second look.

My presidential endorsement with reference to 3 fictional characters (Part 3 of 3)

Eric Cartman for Hillary

         I’m endorsing Hillary Clinton because of Eric Cartman. 

         Specifically, I’m endorsing Hillary because I believe Donald Trump has “Authoritah-ian” tendencies.

Trump likes Foreign Dictators

         I first noticed this tendency back in March when Trump started talking about how the Tiananmen Square Massacre was a show of Chinese strength and good government. That didn’t compute to me and at the time I wrapped it, like an albatross, around the neck of the Republican Party. I genuinely assumed the Grand Old Party would snap out of it, after all traditionally they are associated with individual freedom and standing up against totalitarianism… but judging by their nominee the GOP has given up on all that.

         In addition to looking to Chinese repression as a model for governing, Trump has also looked to Russia. Despite what Mike Pence has said, Trump has praised Putin, which should cost him the election, because it endangers western democracy.

Trump Says He’ll Ignore the Rule of Law and Rule as a Warlord

         Trump has also called for the suppression of the 1^st amendment, jailing his opponents, practicing torture, killing relatives of terrorists, and  forcing the army to commit war crimes even if they object. These are not American values or actions, these are the dreams of a third world warlord.

        

Some of Trump’s Followers are Really Scary

         On one hand, you have a group calling itself The Lion Guard who are “Willing to forcefully protect” Donald Trump. Note that their tag line is “Better to be a lion for a day than a lamb for eternity” a mangled Benito Mussolini quote… one of Trump’s favorites.

         On the other hand, David Duke and the Klan support him. And, it would appear, by Trump and his son following and re-tweeting Neo-Nazis, Trump supports these racists right back. In fact, Jews my age and younger are feeling anti-Semitism in a big way as of late, because they are alive in the age of Trump.

This is a Bad Combo

         Take one part Putinism and praise of Chinese Communist Repression; mix it with tossing out American values both at home and abroad; add in Americans praising fascism, Klansmen and Neo-Nazis coming out of the closet, and Trump egging them all on. Then squish it all together in a man who believes he alone can fix what ails America and that he’ll bring Law and Order to America. Let it bake for a few months, and yikes, we have baked our own version of American authoritarianism, or “Authoritah-ianism” as I like to call it.

Finding out what Authoritah-ianism will look like is Rather Risky

         What might this look like? 

A revved up nation wide version of political payback, maybe? 

Or maybe, Huey Long 2.0? 

Or maybe, Sinclair Lewis was onto something?

Or maybe, the next four years will just be a very bad episode of South Park.

         Because giving Authoritah-ianism a try seems like a dangerous proposition, please give Hillary Clinton a second look.