Rev. Sanders the Tentmaker

So, you are probably wondering why I have a picture of a deerhead on this blog. I just wanted to show you where I work when I'm not at church. I work as a contract database administrator in a St. Paul suburb. The story goes that one of the engineers, who ususally works remotely, is an avid hunter. His wife didn't want him keeping his "trophies" in the house, so he brought them here. There's another deerhead in his cubicle too.

At least, I can always remember where my desk is, kitty korner from the Deerhead.

I bring all this up to share I'm one of those rare ministers that has a job outside of church. The fancy word for this is

bivocational ministry. While it's not as common in mainline Protestantism, it is pretty common in more evangelical circles. Since Community of Grace is a small congregation and new, I don't get paid at this point. So, having this job helps.

At times I wonder if God is calling me to this kind of ministry. I remember being fascinated at the story in Acts 18 about a Paul and Silas doing ministry in Corinth. He met a couple named Aquilla and Priscilla who were tentmakers and since that was also his trade, he joined them while also doing ministry. The passage goes:

After this, Paul left Athens and went to Corinth. There he met a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, who had recently come from Italy with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. Paul went to see them, and because he was a tentmaker as they were, he stayed and worked with them. Every Sabbath he reasoned in the synagogue, trying to persuade Jews and Greeks.

Being a tentmaker has its advantages and of course, disadvatages. The advantages is that you have your foot in the same work day world as do the people you worship with. The second is being able to be a witness to Christ in the workplace. Now, I don't mean your going bring a Bible bigger than Texas in and beat people over the head to bring the to Jesus. Witnessing or evangelism, means being who you are and allowing your life to speak. And having a gay minister be honest about who he is is bound to make people see another way to be a follower of Jesus besides the Bible Thumpers.

But like I said, there are disadvantages. Church structures, at least in mainline churches, are designed for full-time pastors. Pastoral meetings take place in the daytime when I'm at work. You also don't get the same respect. I remember when I was still in seminary and I asked a Regional Minister about part-time opportunities. He looked at me as if I was from another planet.

I don't know if I will always be a tentmaking pastor. But for now it works. It's my hope that more mainline Protestants open up to this option. A good number of churches can't afford a full time pastor and this is one way for them to get pastoral help. Time will tell if the church is willing to see this as a viable option.

On Prayer

For the two of you who follow this blog, you know that the church I'm a part of Community of Grace, meets in the evenings. In the mornings, I attend Lake Harriet Christian Church in Minneapolis. I interned there during seminary, and came back in 2004 as a member. Since the fall of 2004, I've been part of the bell choir which has been fun. We've started a practice of ending our Wednesday night rehersals with prayer. And when the time comes to pray, guess who get's asked?

Well, not just me, but the other another person in the room who is the associate minister.

I don't have a problem with praying. But I always find it interesting that people have a problem with praying in public. I think that we're all afraid to say the wrong thing, and people will get angry, or maybe that God will strike us down for saying the wrong words or something like that.

I have to admit that I worry about saying the wrong things. But you know what? Prayer is a lot like walking, you put one foot in front of the other. You pray that those who are ill find comfort and strength. You show solidarity with those looking for work because you've been there too. Just because I'm a minister, doesn't mean that it's easy to pray, but you learn that it isn't as hard either.

I would love to hear some of my fellow bell ringers pray. I don't expect fancy words, I expect heartfelt words coming from people who care for one another and I know this community does care for each other.

Just some thoughts to share on a Wednesday night...

Sunday Sermon- Second Sunday of Easter, April 23, 2006

Hello, it's been a while since I posted. This is the sermon I gave yesterday at Community of Grace yesterday. It's been rough at the church lately, and some of that is reflected in the sermon.

“The Spectacularly Unsuccessful Church”
John 20:19-31
April 23, 2006
Community of Grace Christian Church
New Brighton, MN

I want to start off reading you something. It’s from a pastor in Texas by the name of Gordon Atkinson. He writes a blog called Real Live Preacher. Com and I happened to stumble upon a column he wrote for the magazine Christian Century. It’s from November of 2004 and it’s entitled, “How to find a Church.” Since it’s short, I’m going to read it in its entirety. It starts:

I keep getting e-mails from people who say, "Your church sounds nice. I wish I could find one like that."

Let me guess. You're looking for a cool church, filled with authentic Christians who aren't judgmental but also have convictions, and are hip and classic in just the right mixture. A church where people forgive each other, love children and worship in meaningful ways. A church with a swingin' preacher who makes the Bible come alive, tells great stories, is a wonderful inspiration—and plays too. A church that isn't liberal or conservative, but seems to transcend weak-ass categories like those. A church where the hunger for truth is honored, and people can disagree but still love each other and share a plate of tacos. A church where people are committed to "The Christ Life"—and it shows in the fabulous and creative ways they love the world.

That what you're looking for?

I got ya. I understand.

Here are some tips to help you in your search:

• You won't find that church.

• Open the yellow pages. Tear out the entire church section and burn it. Offer prayers for your journey while warming yourself at the fire. Dance if that's your thing.

• Surely I don't need to say anything about churches that have billboards and commercials featuring preachers with $200 haircuts.

• Dedicate yourself to this quest.

• Call denominational offices in your town and ask if they know of any spectacularly unsuccessful churches. Explain that you do not want a church that is huge and famous and full of all the right kind of people. Tell them you are looking for a ragged bunch of pilgrims who might be meeting in a laundromat or someplace like that.

• Try the Quakers. You'll have a hell of a time finding them, but that's the point.

• Find out if there are any "house churches" in your area. Not every house church is what you're looking for, but your odds are better. These are Christians who have decided not to have buildings. They put a high premium on authenticity and relationships. Think guitars, Ritz crackers and singing Jesus songs with a baby in your lap.

• Let's talk about my first tip again. As I said, you won't find the church you're looking for. Go ahead and grieve. You'll have to make do with a silly bunch of dreamers and children, prone to mistakes, blunders and misjudgments.

• Find some people you can hang with—people you can trust. Be patient. You'll change them and they'll change you. You'll meet somewhere in the middle.

• Relax. It's all good. God might use this journey to teach you something. If you don't find what you're looking for, you might pick up some friends along the way and start your own church. All you need is coffee, a Bible and a couple of kindred spirits.

• Don't skimp on the coffee. Get the good stuff.

This column came to me at the right time, because I’ve been thinking a lot about what it means to be church, and to put it more precisely, what it means to be Community of Grace Christian Church.

You know, I’ve learned something about starting a church: it’s damn hard.

Okay, you probably didn't expect a pastor to use the word “damn” in a sermon, but the fact of the matter is, planting a church is hard. It’s hard for a lot of reasons, but mainly because those involved in planning the church have such grand visions. I had hoped tons of people would show up and that our denominational bodies would give us tons of money to help us get started. In a way, I’m like the person Gordon Atkinson is talking about: I wanted to create this really cool church with a swingin’ pastor that would just be kick-ass.

What happened? Rev. Sanders got introduced to little thing called reality. Lot’s of people haven’t shown up. Some have stayed for a while and then moved on. Others made tons of excuses. As for the money, the denomination isn’t in the position to give us loads of money, though the money we have received has been helpful. To top things off, I worry about my colleague and fellow co-pastor who is trying to look for work and keep his financial ship from sinking. I can remember preparing wondering worship services with mind-blowing sermons and only two people show up. And there are times when I feel that no one cares about Community of Grace and no one would miss us.

Maybe that's why today's gospel text is so important for me, and someone must have thought it was an important word for the Church to hear, because it's the only text that appears during all three years of the revised common lectionary. As the story opens, ten of the disciples are in a locked room in Jerusalem. They were scared. The religious leaders and the Romans had succeeded in killing Jesus and they were probably fearful that they were next.

Now, what's interesting here is that they knew something was up. We didn't read the earlier parts of John 20, but let me give you a recap: Mary Magdalene went to the tomb on that first Easter morning and found the stone rolled away. She tells Peter and the disciple who Jesus loved, that Jesus was gone. They both go to investigate and it's true; the body is gone. Mary stands outside the tomb weeping and then in time sees the Risen Christ. Of course seeing your friend, alive and well isn't something you keep to yourself, so she went to tell the disciples saying, “I have seen the Lord!”

Now, being on the outside of this story, I would think that if someone tells me a friend that was dead was now alive, hiding in a room wouldn't be my first impulse, but even after they had heard the good news, the disciples locked themselves in a room in fear.

You know, this text includes the story of the disciple named Thomas, who has forever been given the name “Doubting Thomas” for refusing to believe the disciples when they saw Jesus was alive and well. But Thomas wasn't the only one who doubted. Mary Magdalene had told the disciples that Jesus was alive and well and yet they still locked themselves in a room. And yet, even in spite of their doubts, Jesus appears to them and gives them peace.

You know what’s interesting about this? These were the people that were entrusted to start the Church. These scared and doubting people were the ones that the Son of God picked as the ones to spread the Gospel.

You have to wonder what the heck Jesus was smoking.

But if you read this again, it brings hope to me and I hope to you. You see, this is what the church is all about. I don’t care how great the pastor is, or if the church has 1000 members and a Grammy-winning choir, at its core, a church is filled with people who are scared, full of doubt and sometimes dumb as a post. And the wonderful thing is that Christ is in the midst of us and brings us peace and love and grace.

You know, if one were to look at Community of Grace, they might think this is a failure. We have very little in the bank. None of our staff is paid, and Lord knows we want to be. We have very few members and it seems impossible to get new members. We seem like a big flop. But as I re-read the article by Rev. Atkinson again, I realize that we don’t have to be the perfect church. We are basically a ragged bunch of pilgrims who are silly bunch of dreamers. And we are also people who come together and we learn from each other and teach each other. This is a long way of saying, we are a community, and frankly, there are a lot of churches that act more like country clubs instead of the community that loves each other as Jesus says.


The Risen Christ bypasses the locked doors of my expectations and does something wonderful out of something that at first glance seems so insignificant.

It hasn't been easy being on staff. Not because of the other staff, Bryan and Dan are great colleagues and friends. What has been hard is expecting the church to be bigger than it is-filled with people on Sunday evening. I read stories about new churches that start with 200 hundred people and I wonder, what am I doing wrong?

And yet, God has done something with the small gathering of believers. God appears in this group that includes the beleaguered and those on a quest and gives us peace. I've seen God at work here. I've been in other churches and I've never seen such honesty and such Spirit as I do here. We are all struggle with doubt and yet, that's okay- we are welcomed by God and God still works through us.

I have seen resurrection happen here. I've seen people, who were long estranged from the church, come back. I've seen people who might not agree on tax policy, pray for each other and befriend each other during dark times.

The ending of this chapter explains that these stories of Jesus are written that we might believe. Belief here isn't about certainty. It isn't about having the facts or proof of Jesus. Instead, these stories are written so that we might believe, to rely on Christ, to place our trust in Christ. These stories are here to remind us during the dark times of our lives that Jesus is with us and we can place our trust not in a dead god, but the Risen Christ.


You know, if you are looking for a large church where you can be anonymous, that has a big choir and a beautiful building of its own, then this is not your church. If you are looking for a church where the cool people go, then this isn’t your church. If you want to belong to a church that has a massive endowment, then this most certainly isn’t your church.

But if you want a church where you are part of a community of fellow pilgrims, welcome. If you are looking for a church where people are who they are, warts and all, then this is your church. If you want to church that knows it isn’t perfect, but knows that it’s loved by God, then this is your church. If you want a church that doesn’t have all those bells and whistles but where Christ is present, then this most definitely is your church.
And maybe that's what makes this all worthwhile: despite all the mistakes and less than perfect lives, we get to see how God works in us and how God can change lives.

As I said, starting a church isn’t easy. It is frustrating and sometimes I want to give up. But in the midst of this mess that calls itself a church, the Risen Christ is present, changing lives and giving us peace. And maybe in the end, that’s all we need.

Thanks be to God.

Second Sunday in Lent-March 12, 2006

There weren't that many people in church this Sunday due to a number being on vacation. (Let's just say it really lived up the old saying, "where two or three are gathered.) Here it is:

“Roses Around the Cross”
Mark 8:31-38
March 12, 2006
Community of Grace Christian Church
New Brighton, MN

As is the case when you prepare a sermon, you tend to go through a few ideas before one idea comes through all the clutter. I kept focusing on the idea of “taking up your cross” and what that meant. Growing up, I learned that it was all part of Christian discipleship and I still believe that, but as I thought about the text, my mind wandered to a work of art that made expanded my idea of discipleship.

It will be eight years this summer that I went on a two week vacation to Europe. It was one of the few times in my life that I had a tidy tax return and I used it to go to Spain, France and England. Of course in Europe, I went to a ton of gallaries and saw paintings and sculptures I had only seen in books before. I saw the Mona Lisa at the Louvre in Paris, as well as several paintings by the Impressionists, like Monet, Serrat and Van Gogh. In Spain, I went to the world famous Prado and saw all the great old masters like El Greco. I also went to the gallery Reina Sofia in Madrid which housed serveral of Spain's modern artists like Salvador Dali, Jao Gris and Pablo Piccasso. I was looking forward to seeing one particular painting, Piccasso's Guernica. It's a famous painting and as you can see, I chose it to be the bulletin cover today. I remembered seeing in Spanish class and and found it interesting, but didn't really know the context. Before I left for Europe, I had learned that Piccasso painted this in protest of the boming of the Spanish village of Guernica by the German Luftwaffe during the Spanish Civil War. The Germans bombed the village while many were out shopping. In that context, this painting is quite horrific. It shows the pain of the people, horses running and screaming- it just seems as if God was not present.

There's something you should know about the actual painting. It's huge; spanning from the near the floor to near the ceiling. If the Mona Lisa seems small, then Guernica is large. You feel swallowed up by this painting and feel the emotion.

As I started to think about how this related to our text in Mark, I was reminded that this gospel today is about suffering. Guernica is one of the best examples of suffering in art, and the painting reminded me that what Jesus is talking about is suffering.

The Gospel text today starts with Jesus asking the disciple what people think about him. They give him various answers: John the Baptist, Elijah, one of the prophets. Jesus then asks what who they think he is. Peter answers that Jesus was the Messiah, the Annoited One. That's when Jesus starts to tell the disciples that he would have to face a horrible ordeal: he would undergo great suffering, be rejected by the religious leaders of the day, be put to death and then rise again. Peter decided this was all crazy talk and rebuked Jesus for trying to scare his friends. What does Jesus do? He rebukes Peter tell him that attempted to not hear the truth to silence it, was satanic. The Jesus says that if anyone wants to be a follower, the need to take up their own cross and follow him.

That sounds nice.

I think that if we really knew what Jesus was talking about here, we may not want to be a follower of Jesus, or we would try to find ways to soften the message. And we do soften the message. I don't know if this is a product of the West or American society, but we don't like to focus on the suffering of Christ. Heck, we don't like to deal with suffering period. I remember in seminary a student did a presentation about the cross and about how goulish a figure the cross is. She based the presentation on a theologian who saw Christ death on the cross and Christianity's focus on it as sort of sick. The student thought that instead of seeing the cross or crucifix as the the central part of the faith, we should focus on something more pleasant, like a happy child.

I could understand the student's displeasure of the cross. It isn't pleasant, but then it's not supposed to be. It is an instrument of death, after all, a method of execution.

The fact is, like that student, and like Peter, we want to gloss over the cross. It's hard for us to wrap our minds around the fact that God, in the form of Christ, came to earth and had to face humiliation and death. This was God, after all and gods don't die.

If you talk to to people who become agnostic or atheist, they will say that the reason they lost faith was because the couldn't understand how a just God could allow suffering in the world. Like many people of faith, the expect God to be some sort of holy Superman that will come in and save the world from the evil villian.

But that isn't how God works. God in Christ, didn't come down and simply defeat evil; God in Christ entered suffering. This wasn't a god that was unaffected by the sin of the world, but chose to be treated as a common criminal and to die on a cross.

It bothers us to see Christ humiliated. We want to cover up the cross with roses and focus on the fact that there was a greater purpose or we get rid of the cross altogether. We want Christ, the wise sage, or revolutionary, or Christ the Mighty King, not the weakened person who was tortured, wrongly accused and executed. That Christ is embarrassing, troubling and scary.

And it gets even more scary because Jesus says that to become a follower of Christ, one must take up their own cross. Yikes. That means that to follow Christ, we will have to face suffering of our own. We will have to enter suffering.

Does this mean that we have to face the same fate Jesus did? I don't know. Some have, not all. It does mean that we have to be willing to enter into the suffering of the world. It does mean that we have to dare to speak out against injustice and face the consequences.

Many of us in the congregation face the daily discrmination based on sexual orientation. We know what it can be to suffer. But there is more. We need to be aware of those around the world who deal with persecution, poverty and hunger and work to end their suffering.

Like Chist, we are called to enter suffering and also trascend it, or find ways to make sure evil doesn't have the last word. Christian martyrs like Deitrich Bonhoeffer and Martin Luther King realized the suffering of others and sought to find ways to end it.

In our community today, there are young teenagers being taunted because they are gay. Do we enter into their suffering? There are those dealing with the ravages of depression and other mental illneses. Do we enter into their suffering? There are those who have no home and are trying to find shelter from the elements. Do we enter into their suffering?

Picasso empathically felt the pain of those who suffered during the bombings and his masterpiece was the result. We need to enter the pain of the world, carry the cross, and follow Christ. It's not an easy thing to do, but remember that God is our Emmanuel, and has gone through this before us. The God who suffered and died is a God that we can relate to.

I want to leave with one thought. As many of you know, I love science fiction and especially Star Trek. I remember one episode of the Original Series called “The Empath.” Now it wasn't a great episode, in fact it was kind of hoky, but what was interesting was this one character who said nothing; she was mute. However, she had healing powers in that she could take the physical wounds of others and they would for a time show up on her own body. In short she was bearing the pain of others.


That is what we are called to do as followers of Jesus; to bear the pain of others and find ways to end suffering.

We can't escape suffering, but let us rejoice that we worship a God that knows what we go through and is with us every step of the way. Amen.

A Meditation on Risk

I volunteered to write a meditation on risk for a Lenten booklet being produce by Lake Harriet Christian Church. My apologies to Karin Pettijohn, the church adminstrator and editor of this project for not getting in on time.

Scripture: Matthew 25:14-30

The year was 1979. I was nine years old and had won my school's spelling bee and went on the next level. I was a great speller. At some point, it was my turn and I was given the word "subtract." I spelled it wrong.

The thing is, I threw the match. I knew how to spell subtract and if I had spelled it correctly, I had a good chance to win the spelling bee and go on to the Regional. But I was afraid of being successful, so I mis-spelled it on purpose.

And I've regretted that moment ever since.

The Parable of the Talents in Matthew is an odd one. I used to feel sorry for the final servant who was treated so harshly by his master. I mean, he had taken good care of the talent and gave it back to his master. It's only been in recent times that I've realized that this parable is about taking risks. The other servants were given talents and did what they could to make more money. This final servant was afraid. Maybe he was afraid of being successful. Or maybe he was afraid of failing. Whatever the problem, he decided to play it safe and faced the consequences.

Followers of Christ are called to live risky lives, just as Jesus did. Jesus was willing to offend the sensibilities of those in power in order to God's work in the world. He did it at the risk of his own life. Risk is really another word for faith. Faith and risk aren't based on certainties, but on trust. When we risk our lives for Christ, we know that God is with us.

When I was in seminary a few years ago, I had the feeling that I need to help plant a church. I tried to ignore the urgings, thinking that I didn't have what it takes to start a church. In 2004 I took a risk and heeded the call from God and helped start Community of Grace Christian Church. The road has not been easy. As the co-pastor of a new church, you have to deal with a tiny budget, little or no pay, and trying to get people interested in coming to church. And yet, I've seen God at work: people who were estranged from church, have come back to the fold and we have given a large amount of our money and time to worthy causes.

I still don't know if I have what it takes to be a new church pastor, but God has worked through me because I placed faith in Jesus and that has made all the difference.

What about you? Are you playing it safe or are you taking a step of faith and trying to follow Jesus?

Now if I could just adjust the space-time continuum to go back and correctly spell "subtract..."

Christ, our Immanuel, God-with-us, forgive us when we are filled with fear and fail to do your work of healing and justice in the world. Give us bold hearts to take a risk, and remind us that you are always with us, every step of the way. Amen.

Sunday Sermon-February 12, 2006

Second Kings 5:1-17
Mark 1:40-45


“Mr. Sanders' Opus”
2 Kings 5:1-14, Mark 1:40-45
February 12, 2006
Community of Grace Christian Church
New Brighton, MN

Anyone who knows me, knows that I'm not one that sheds tears easily. I know friends who can watch a movie start bawling, while I remain dry. It's not that I'm not moved by movies, but I just don't cry a whole lot.

There have a been a few movies that do produce a little of the water works. One of those was a movie that came out a decade ago called “Mr. Holland's Opus.” It was the story of a young composer who is writing an opus and ends up treaching music at a California high school in the 1960s in order to pay the bills. The movie goes through 30 years of his life, as he teaches countless young people music and about life in general. At the end of the movie, Mr. Holland finds out that his job has been eliminated. He is lead into the gym where a huge crowd has gathered, many of them his students from the past three decades. Among the guests was the Governor of California, who was one his former students. Because of Mr. Holland, she pushed herself and got to where she was.

Mr. Holland may have thought that he wasted the past 30 years teaching in a West Coast high school, but the crowd of people around him in that final scene reminded him that he had made a difference in many people's lives.

Do you think you can make a difference in people's lives? There are days that I wonder. There are times when I think that I'm not that smart or organized or rich, or what have you to affect the course of history. I would have to guess that there are times that you all might feel the same way. Small, insignificant, flawed.

I can't speak for other cultures, but we Americans like things big. We drive big SUVs, live in big houses and eat big meals. All any of us has to do is drive down the road a bit to the Mall of America which basically your regular but on steriods.

This desire to be big makes itself known in the church as well. Mainline Protestants are constantly reminded of their declining memberships, and look with some jealousy at the mega churches that pack them in by the thousands and sometimes tens of thousands.

The contrary is that we think anything that is small is insignificant. People disdain small cars, believing them to be unsafe. We don't like small houses and tend to think small sizes of food are more suited for children than for an adult.

The thing is, the Bible tends to remind us that big isn't always better, that small isn't always week. It is sometimes the small things that do mighty works for God and make a difference in the world.

Our Old Testament text for today deals with Naaman. Now Naaman was the generalissimo or the kingdom of Aram. He had the ear of the king and was a masterful warroir. But this powerful man was hampered by a skin disease. He had probably went to all the doctors in Aram to see what they could do and they couldn't help him. Now in his household was a little Israelite girl who had been captured in a raid. She made a slave to serve Naaman's wife. You have to imagine one day Naaman is sitting in living room dejected, when the little girl walks into the room probably singing a song to herself. She looks at Naaman who is sitting there moping and says, “if only my lord were with the prophet in Samaria. He would cure him of his leperosy. Naaman could have told the slave girl to shut up since she was just that-a slave. It wasn't her place to talk with such boldness to her master. But Naaman didn't do that. Instead, he tells the king of this man in Israel. The king then sent a message to the king of Israel about Naaman and that the king needs to cure him.

Interesting, you'd think the King would have sent the letter to Elisha the prophet, instead of the king of Israel. Anyway, Elisha finds out, and tells the king to bring Naaman to him. “Let him come to me, so that he knows there is a prophet in Israel.” Elisha wasn't trying to make himself important, on the contrary, he was saying that Naaman was going to find out that the God of Israel is the God of all, including Naaman.

Naaman arrives at Elisha's house full of “bling” as they say. He was a man of means and wanted to pay Elisha handsomely. He probably expected Elisha to come out and bow since Naaman was such an imporant man. However, Elisha didn't even bother to come out and greet Naaman. He sends his servant to tell Naaman that he is to bathe in the Jordan river seven times and then he will be made clean.

Naaman got angry. It was bad enough that this Elisha person didn't bother coming out and greeting him, but then he tells him to bathe in less than welcoming river. Naaman was ready to take his entourage back to Aram.

It is the slave girl again that steps in and asks if Elisha had asked Naaman to do something hard, he would have done it, so why not try it. Again, Naaman could have ignored her, but he didn't. He went and bathed and was healed.

In Mark, we meet a man who also have leperosy. He is begging to be healed. Unlike Naaman, he was probably a poor person, and one that according to Jewish law had to be separated from the rest of society because of his condition. Jesus was filled with compassion (or anger as some translations say) and healed the man. Jesus had told him not tell anyone but to go show himself to the preist. But he goes and tells people anyway. How could he not? He had been healed, brought back into community.

The decisive characters in both stories are people who by the world's standards were considered unimportant. The slave girl was a nobody and yet it was her prodding that allowed Naaman to be cleansed. The leper in Mark was also a nobody and yet he shared his story of healing with others and they came to Jesus seeking healing.

These passages are important for us to remember here at Community of Grace. I don't know about you, but there are times I fret that we aren't big enough and wallow in doubt about how small we are. Pastors do that at times, at least this pastor. However, God reminds us that even though we are small in number, we have made a difference in the world. This church is the first congregation in the Upper Midwest Region of the Christian Church that openly welcomes gays and lesbians into the community of faith. I've heard the stories from many of you that were estranged from the church and are now back worshipping God with others. We raised over $1000 for the Minnesota AIDS Project, given clothes to the Hallie Q. Brown Foodshelf, sent towels to those affected by Hurricane Katrina and many other acts of kindness. There are larger churches with bigger budgets that don't do nearly as much as we do. Mission is supposed to be at the heart of the big c Church and we certainly try to live that out.

There is much to do. We not only need to do acts of justice outside the walls of this church, but we also need to tell and live lives that witness to the Christ who heals. Like the man healed of leprosy, we need to go out and tell others that Christ has healed us from sin and that God loves us all with no exceptions. The United Church of Christ pastor and writer, Anthony Robinson says that mainline Protestants tend to follow Jesus command not to tell anyone about what difference God has made in our lives. This is one time when we might have permission to “disobey.” There are people out there who have been shut out of the church for one reason or another, thinking that God hates them. I am reminded of the pastor who once told me a member of the congregation was mad at him for not telling her son who was gay that he was hellbound. Who will tell this young man the good news that God loves him and so do we?

We are called to be healers just as Jesus was a healer. Jesus calls imperfect people to do this mighty task. You might say we are what the late Catholic writer Henri Nouwen called the “wounded healers.” We aren't called to be perfect or to have all the answers, just to be present and bring healing in the world.

Now, you might think that all this talk of God using the small and insignificant is just the stuff of nice Bible stories and has nothing to do with real life. Oh, really? Remember that it was a seamstress by the name of Rosa Parks who sparked the modern civil rights movement for refusing to give up her seat to a white man. It was a young pastor named Martin Luther King who became on the movements leaders. Raoul Wallenberg was just a Swedish diplomat in World War II and yet he saved many Jews from the death camps as did Oskar Schindler, a German industrialist. It was the common everyday people in Eastern Europe who took to the streets and brought down the Iron Curtain. It was an Anglican bishop by the name of Desmond Tutu who put a face on the anti-aparthied movement in South Africa that lead to aparthied's demise. One person can make a difference.

Mr. Holland thought he had wasted his life as a teacher when he could have been a great composer. But he found out that he had more impact as a teacher than he ever imagined.

I want to see Community of Grace grow in numbers. I want to see us have more people in worship. But I want God to constantly remind me that it isn't simply numbers that matter, but our impact, that's what matters.

The tagline for “Mr. Holland's Opus” goes, “It's not about the direction you take. It's about the direction you give.”

This church is about living Christ's message of welcoming every one, no matter where they are in life. That is the direction we give, even with only 8 members.

That is our opus. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Cancelling Christmas

The New York Times reports that some megachurches, like Willow Creek in exurban Chicago, are not having church services on Christmas since it falls on a Sunday.

Their reason? It's keeping in line with their "family friendly" policies. The
Times reports Willow Creek will hand out DVDs to families with a "heatwarming" Christmas tale.

There is something wrong with this.

For one thing, these churches seem to have forgotten what Christmas is about. They have placed the family as the center of everything. It's become an idol. Instead of celebrating the coming of the Christ-child, the Immanuel or God-with-us, these churches are telling people that what's important is the family. God is a side issue.

A friend of mine talked about how this "Norman Rockwell" view of family counts out those who don't have families to spend the holidays with. If they go to these megachurches, where do they go on this holy day?

Jesus didn't place that much emphasis on family. Luke 8:19-21 sums this up:

19Now Jesus' mother and brothers came to see him, but they were not able to get near him because of the crowd. 20Someone told him, "Your mother and brothers are standing outside, wanting to see you."
21He replied, "My mother and brothers are those who hear God's word and put it into practice."

Jesus wasn't saying families don't matter, but he was stressing that we must see beyond our familes and see our connections to the wider community. Churches aren't supposed to be "family friendly." Instead, they are communities where the idea of family is expanded.

As many of you know, I recently lost my secular job. What has been wonderful is finding people in the congregations I'm a part of sending me cards and letting me know they are praying for me. I also remember the time my father had a heart attack and subsequent open heart surgery and how my parent's church rallied around us during that trying time. Jesus taught again and again that we are to care for the stranger, to love the outsider, and to go beyond the safe boundaries of family. That is what a church should be doing.

What Willow Creek and others are doing is catering to a mindset that says, families first. It caters to the belief that Christmas is a "family holiday" instead of a religious holiday about the birth of our Savior.

This Christmas, I will be visiting my parents in Michigan. I love spending time with my parents, especially as they get on in years. But on Sunday morning I will visit an Episcopal Church in town and celebrate Christmas. And I will celebrate with those who have families and those who are alone. I will remember the One who came and freed us from the bondage of sin, and taught us to look beyond family and care for all.

Christmas isn't cancelled in my book

Sunday Sermon-November 27, 2005

“Acts of God”
Isaiah 64:1-9; Mark 13:24-37
November 27, 2005
Community of Grace Christian Church
New Brighton, MN

Over the holidays, I was asked by an smart young man what was my favorite movie. There were a lot for me to choose from. Being a Star Trek fan, I love the second movie, The Wrath of Khan. I could have said that, but instead, I chose one from my childhood, one that I still love today: The Sound of Music. My mother loves the movie, and when I was young she sat me down and made me watch the movie. I was hooked and looked forward to the later part of the year when the networks would show this charming story of a young nun who tries to bring some life in the a family lead by Baron von Trapp.

Now, had I been asked what was the worst movie, or in this case, the worst musical, I could tell you without thinking much on the subject: it's Cats.

While I'm not someone who can tell you about every Broadway musical ever made, I know enough to say that I don't like Cats. I remember when I first saw it. The year was 1988 and I was a sophomore at Michigan State. I was looking forward to this event, my first live broadway show. I sat down all excited: and was sorely dissappointed. I kept waiting for some kind of story line, some kind of plot. And nothing happened. What I saw was a bunch of people in cat costumes dancing and singing, with no purpose.

Maybe it's just me, but I thought the show was terrible. What the heck was the story? Where was the cast of thousands breaking into song? I didn't get it. I understood shows like My Fair Lady, South Pacific or even Grease. But this? No. I still don't understand why it was on Broadway so long and why its considered as highly as it is. But then, these are just the rantings of a curmudgeon who is a best a “theatre novice,” so take them with a grain of salt.

My experience with Cats reminds me that sometimes life isn't what we expected. We expect bright lights and bells and whistles and what we get isn't near what we had hoped for. This anxiousness for something big to happen in our lives filters into how we view God. For far too many people, myself included, we see God as some sort of superhero who comes to the rescue and saves us from harm just in the nick of time. But we know that life isn't like a Spiderman movie. Sometimes God seems silent or uncaring. Sometimes we are dissapointed by God.

In today's text in Isaiah, the writer laments the silence or hiddeness of God. The writer opens by asking God to tear the heavens assunder and bring down the mountains. He recalls Israel's past, when God would do big things that showed God's existence and power. He probably remembered how God led her people out of Egypt and how he drowned the mighty Egyptian army in the Red Sea and how he provided food for them in the form of manna falling out of the sky. However, the writer notices that God is silent these days. There are no mighty works from God.

The writer of this text, often called “Third Isaiah” is seeking God's help for a reason. Israel is now a defeated nation ravaged by neighboring powers. The “glory days” of David and Solomon are long gone. The writer wants God to set things right again. He pleads for help as God's child calling God “Father.” He calls to God remembering God's goodness and asking for forgiveness.

Sounds familiar?

I think we all have been in a situation where we wonder where God is. We pray for God's guidence and there is silence. We want immediate relief and there is none right away. We are expecting delieverance.

And that's what the writer of Isaiah is about, expectations. He wants his problem solved now and it isn't happening.

It's fitting that we read this text today, being that it's the first Sunday in Advent. Advent is about expectations. As Christians we too are expecting God who comes into the world in the form of Jesus Christ. On an intellectual level, we are expecting Jesus, but what are we really expecting here?

Too often we expect God to come into our lives like a superhero and solve all our problems and when that doesn't happen, we wonder what is going on. What we forget, is that God is God and comes at God's choosing and more often than not comes in ways we don't expect.

As I said before, Advent is a time of waiting. The Jews who lived in Palestine during the time of Christ, we hoping for someone who would deliver them from their dreaded Roman Occupiers. What did they get? They got a baby born to a poor teenager in a manger. How was this baby going to save them? Later on, when Jesus was an adult he read the Scriptures in his hometown synogogue and talked about how he would free the captives and heal the sick. Again, no one could believe this simple carpenter's son could do what he was talking about. How could someone from a backwater town be their savior?

As I read today's gospel about being ready for the coming of the Son of Man, I wonder if the writer and Jesus had in mind that the fact that we need to look for God in unexpected places instead of expecting God to come Broadway-style. God might be the still small voice instead of the choir.

In our modern culture, we expect things to be done quickly. These days, I can download a song in seconds to my iPod. I can by my Christmas gifts online in seconds or talk to a friend on the other side of the country of the other side of the world for that matter in real time. All around us, things are done in an instant and made to order to suit our expectations. So, then we encounter this God who doesn't do things in an instant and who doesn't necessarily meet our expectations. We get frustrated and angry and wonder why God is so silent. But maybe God isn't silent, we just aren't listening.

As many of you know, I was let go of my secular employment a few weeks ago. It was, well it is a traumatic experience. One moment, you are working on a project and getting ready for the weekend, and the next, you are giving up your badge and being escorted out of the building. I have prayed many times for God to give me a job quickly, and I still hope God does. I wonder about my finances and how will I get by. I could wonder why God allowed this to happen, why God isn't getting me a good paying and soul fufilling job fast enough, but then I would be missing the many ways God has spoken. God spoke in the many phone calls and cards I received from friends. God spoke in the way my boyfriend was supportive and was able to help me get through those first few rough days. God spoke in the way some have given me job leads. God spoke in the way that many of you have been praying for me. Has God given me a job out the blue? No. I wish it would happen that way, but it hasn't. But God is not silent. God has spoken in the actions of those around me.

The God we worship is one that comes in unexpected ways. The young baby born in a manger was the One who set us all free.

So, what does this all mean? I think it means that we shouldn't look for God in the big things in life, but keep watching for God in the small and the seemingly insignificant. God isn't our heavenly Jeeves that gives us what we want, but instead, God is Immanuel, or God with us. God promises to never leave us or forsake us, and that is important in those dark times. That might not rent the heavens, but it strenghtens us in ways we can't imagine.


I want to leave you all with this final thought. Whenever something big weatherwise happens, insurance companies tend to call these happenings, be they hurricanes, fires or earthquakes as 'acts of God.' Knowingly or not, the insurance industry tends to view such big events as something God does. I recently walked past an advertisement, by the Salvation Army that seemed to counter that assessment. As you know, one of the things that the Army does is respond to natural disasters, by providing relief. The Salvation Army ad was memorable in that it said, “We respond to natural disasters with Acts of God.”

In their view, God was not behind the tragedy, but was found in the acts of love and charity provided by countless people. God wasn't found in Hurricane Katina, but in the response of people who gave money and time to help those who from the Gulf Coast.

In this season of expectations, let us look for God among us and with us. Amen.

Why Theology Matters

In the mail today, I recieved a mailing from the Disciples Peace Fellowship, the peace and justice caucus within my denomination, The Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). The newsletter had a quote that struck me. It said:

"No amount of theology about God and the Bible and ethics and theology is equal to the smallest amount of action taken in behalf of another human being.

I thought about that, because I'm someone that has always loved to think about the Christian faith. Does this mean theology has no place in our faith when it comes to helping our fellow man? If this means that all that we have to do is treat our neighbors right, then why bother with church or God?

I posed the question to my housemate and best friend, Erik, who is a frustrated theologian working as a help desk worker. He noted that theology is important because as Christians we have to know why we do what we do. As I thought about it, it made sense. I've been involved in several things that might be considered peace and justice. I'm the head of the state chapter of Log Cabin Republicans working for the equality of GLBT persons. I helped start a church that is welcoming to gay and lesbians. I don't do these things simply because it's the nice thing to do. I do it because in the Bible I've learned of a God who cares for the poor and needy. I read about God revealing himself in the person of Jesus Christ, who made friends with the outcast. I do what I do because I've learned it from what God has done.

Some people think theology happens in seminaries far away from the pain and suffering of the world. What good is it to think about God when there are hurting people, they think. In my view, theology and action, have to go together. Simply thinking about God and doing nothing to help your brother or sister in need is faith with no substance. In contrast, doing action with no thought about faith can lead to taking care of the physical needs without feeding the spiritual needs. Anglican blogger Barry Vaughn explains it a tad better than I can:

Isn't loving our fellow men and women the only way to love God?

There was a time when I would have said that it was redundant to say "Love God and love your neighbor", but I'm no longer sure about that.

I think that Jesus identified the "great and first commandment" as "love God" and then followed quickly with "and love your neighbor as yourself" because it is possible to love others or at least be concerned with the needs of others without taking into account the spiritual, the transcendent, dimension of human life.

There are those who are passionately concerned with the care of the hungry and the homeless who nevertheless have no awareness of the spiritual nature and spiritual needs of human beings. I honor them for their actions and fierce commitment to justice. However, I think that they are making an error which will prove very costly in the long run.

Rabbi Harold Kushner points out that "the difference between a person who relies only on himself and a person who has learned to turn to God for help... is not that one will do bad things while the other will do good things. The self-reliant atheist may be a fine, upstanding person. The difference is the atheist is like a bush growing in a desert. If he has only himself to rely on, when he exhausts his internal resources he runs the risk of running dry and withering.

"But the man or woman who turns to God is like a tree planted by a stream. What they share with the world is replenished from a source beyond themselves, so they never run dry." (Who Needs God? quoted in The Reader's Digest, Nov. '96, p. 90)

Finally, note what Jesus did not say. He did not say "serve God" or "obey God"; he said "love God".

From first to last the Bible is a love story. It is first the story of God's love for Israel and then of God's love for the church. First, God's covenant people are wooed and then they are invited into relationship.

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind" is less commandment and more invitation. It is an invitation to love One who has always loved us. It is, in fact, an invitation to become more human. For we were created in the image of God for one reason above all others -- that we might love God and others as God loves us.

Can one do good things and not talk about God? Yes. But for Christians who know the story of God's love for us, why would you want to?

Just a thought.

Rosa Parks: 1913-2005

Into your hands, O merciful Savior, we commend your servant, Rosa. Acknowledge, we humbly beseech you, a sheep of your own fold, a lamb of your own flock, a sinner of your own redeeming. Receive her into the arms of your mercy, into the blessed rest of everlasting peace, and into the glorious company of the saints in light. Amen.

Healer of Our Every Ill

At the end of the service last night, our guest musician (who happens to be my boyfriend) played as his postlude the music from the Hymn, "Healer of Our Every Ill" by Marty Haugen. For some reason, that hymn has spoken to me. It seems to give hope in a dark time.

I'm halfway tempted to use this is some way as an Advent theme. Here are the lyrics for the uninitiated:

Healer of Our Every Ill

Refrain:
Healer of our ev’ry ill,
light of each tomorrow,
give us peace beyond our fear,
and hope beyond our sorrow.

You who know our fears and sadness,
grace us with your peace and gladness,
Spirit of all comfort: fill our hearts.

In the pain and joy beholding
how your grace is still unfolding,
give us all your vision: God of love.

You who know each thought and feeling,
teach us all your way of healing,
Spirit of compassion: fill each heart.

Give us strength to love each other,
ev’ry sister, ev’ry brother,
Spirit of all kindness: be our guide.

Sunday Sermon-October 23, 2005

“Just an Old-Fashioned Love Song”
Leviticus 19:1-18; Matthew 22:34-46
October 23, 2005
Community of Grace Christian Church
New Brighton, MN

Most of those who know me know that tend to be somewhat, okay I am a curmudgeon. I tend to be cranky, short-tempered and a stick-in-the-mud. It’s no accident that one of my favorite Sesame Street characters growing up was Oscar the Grouch. I tend to be a serious guy that doesn’t have time for touchy-feely stuff.

So, it might come as a surprise to you that I love the Carpenters. Yes, curmudgeonly me loves a group that wore its heart on its sleeve. Ever since I was a small child growing up in the early 70s, I loved to hear songs like “Close to You,” which is one of my favorite songs. I also have a place in my heart for the song “Sing” which Karen Carpenter sang on a Sesame Street album.

What I love about the Carpenters is that they wrote songs about being in love and I can understand that. There was something about them that made you feel that they were writing what you were feeling. It didn’t hurt that Karen Carpenter’s alto voice was alluring and made you want to listen.

The Carpenters music is still influential all these years later. In 1994, several alternative groups like Sonic Youth, did a tribute album filled with their interpretations of Carpenter songs.

Of course, this group that brought people so much joy in 70s and onward did not live the most happy life. Richard Carpenter dealt off and on with drug addiction and Karen battled anorexia, which took her life in 1983. It is one of life’s mysteries that this brother and sister duo whose music was played at countless weddings 30 years ago, were not themselves happy.

When we think about love, we tend to think about it in the context of a relationship. We think about the giddy feelings and how we want to be with that person. We want to do nice things for our loved one because...well, we have feelings for them. We send each other flowers and cards to remind each other that we love the other.

It’s interesting because when we see the word love in the Bible, we tend to think it means loving someone in the same way we would love our parents or that special someone.

For instance, look at today’s gospel text. Jesus is asked by the Pharisees, the religious leadership of his day, what is considered the greatest commandment. Jesus said you must love God with everything that you have; your mind, your soul, your heart. Then Jesus threw in another commandment: love your neighbor as yourself.

Now, in the English language, when we think of love, we thing of the love between to people, which is all emotion. You like that person. You really like that person. So, we look at this text and think that we must become sentimental in our relationship with God and with others.

But that is not what Jesus is talking about here. You see, in Greek, the language the New Testament was written in, there are three meanings for love. You are already familiar with two of them. The first is eros, where we get the word erotic from. That is love between two people that is usually expressed sexually, of course. The second is called phileo. Part of that word is used in the name of a major American city, Philadelphia, which means, the City of Brotherly Love. This is love could be expressed as love between friends. But Jesus isn’t talking about either of these two. Both express some kind of emotion towards someone. Instead in the Greek, Jesus uses the word agape. This form of love is not as much emotional as it is behavioral. It is the love that God loves us with. It is a love that is demonstrated in action. So when Jesus says we should love God and love others, he is calling us to love God and neighbor by our actions, not our feelings.

Jesus isn’t asking for sentimentality here. Instead he is asking that we love by what we do in our daily lives.

Too often, preachers tend to misinterpret what it means that God is love or to love our neighbors and enemies. We tend to think it means love as in feeling. So we hear sermons about how we should love (feel) people who do horrible crimes. After the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, there were many who said we need to love the terrorists meaning we need to have loving feelings toward them and toward those who sent them. However, that is next to impossible. No one can expect someone who has lost a love one to murder or war to have loving feelings towards those who committed the crime. We are human.

However, this doesn’t mean we give into our feelings. What means is that we treat others as we would want to be treated, whether or not they are deserving. What does this mean? The answer lies in our text in Leviticus. Over and over the passage calls for the people of Israel to be holy for God is holy. What the writer is saying is to follow God’s actions. Jesus is saying the same thing. God sent Jesus to bring salvation to the world not because God had sentimental feelings for us, but because God is holy. God was troubled by how humanity had turned away from God and lived lives that only pleased themselves and not others. And yet, God sent Jesus, to bring us freedom from sin.

This is what Jesus means when he calls us to love God and others. If you want to love God, do it by following God’s commands. If you want to love humanity, do it by treating others, both good and bad with respect.

In Leviticus, God is demanding that we be holy people by our actions. This seems like a tall order because you and I know that we will fail. Sometimes we will ignore the person in need. Sometimes we will not love our enemies. We are human and we fail. That is the effect of the law or commandments of God: we fall short. That is why we have grace. God knows we will fall short but loves us anyway. That gives us hope to go and love as God loves knowing that when we fail (and we will) there is still love abound for us. Poet W.H. Auden said it best:

O stand, stand at the window
As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbor
With your crooked heart.

We can only love our neighbors with crooked hearts. That’s all we can do.


It’s interesting that in planning for this sermon, the lectionary skips whole chunks of the Leviticus text which details they way we are to live holy lives. I think it is too easy in our day and age to make Christianity or any faith for that matter, something that is sentimental, that makes no demands on us. For those of us who come from religious backgrounds that were very strict, it seems like a reminder of the bad old days. However, to expect to be a follow of Jesus and expect that there are no expectations is to have a very cheap grace. God demands our whole lives, not just some of it. Yes, there is grace and forgiveness when we fall short, but that doesn’t mean that we do whatever we want. We can choose to ignore God’s demands, but then that makes us an ingrate, taking God’s salvific action in Jesus for granted.

Loving others isn’t easy. It means treating people who in our eyes doesn’t deserve a scintilla of respect. We have to see the bigoted person who hates gay people as a child of God. God may call us to do things we don’t like.

I think an example of what it means to love as God loves was borne out in South Africa in the late 1990s. We all remember the historic 1994 elections which brought a multiracial democracy to this African nation for the first time. The apartheid-era government which treated the majority population like second class citizens was finally over-dead and buried. However, there needed to be an accounting. Many crimes had been committed on both sides during the apartheid era and they needed to be brought into the light so that the nation could move forward. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission was set up that allowed those who committed human right abuses and those who were the victims of those crimes to tell their stories. For the perpetrators, there was a promise that amnesty might be considered. It was chilling to hear how the perpetrators did their works of darkness and sad to hear the victims’ sad stories. There were some relatives of those who had died under the apartheid regime who didn’t think it was right that some people should walk free for their crimes. That is understandable. I would gather that it had to be hard to sit through and hear some of these crimes. But there was a larger reason as to why this was being done. South Africa was basically a new nation after the ‘94 elections, and for this new government to survive, there had to be a dealing with the past and some chance to allow for reconciliation. The commission steered a middle path between those who wanted retribution and those who wanted to forgive and forget. A quote sums up the commission nicely, “it is necessary to both remember and judge and forgive.”

The people behind the Commission were not interested in nice, feelings. How can you ask a mother who lost her son in the middle of the night to have loving feelings for the thugs who tortured him and the killed him? They were interested in a truthful telling, responsibility and finally forgiveness. They treated all with respect, from the victims to the perpetrators. You might disagree, but I think this is what Jesus was talking about in loving our neighbors. It means remembering the victim of a crime and hearing their pain. It means forgiving (not excusing) the perpetrator of his crime. Justice is ultimately about setting things right, not about exacting vengeance.

Love God. Love neighbor. It is not an easy thing God call us to do. But that is what God is calling us to do; not by our feelings, but by our actions. Let us go out and love God as God loves us. Let us go and love our neighbors even the ones who hate us. And let us do through the grace of God.

Thanks be to God. Amen.

Loving All Our Neighbors

Matthew 22:34-46

Whenever I write a sermon, I spend a good part of the week thinking about the text. This week's gospel seems like a slam dunk. I mean, the sermon could supposedly write itself: love God. Love others. Let's have communion and go home.

But as I thought about the text yesterday while sitting on the dental chair getting work done, I really thought that this is a hard text. In fact, it could be downright impossible.

We pastors don't really present it that way. We love to use this passage to show the folks on the religious right that this is what religion or faith is all about. There is a certain amount of smugness as we show off this text and pat ourselves on the back. We tend to think that while they are busy trying to expel gay people from churches, we are who don't follow their exclusive ways are the good and faithful ones, fulfilling the call to love God and love others.

But it isn't that easy. Life isn't that easy. We live in a world where there is sin and evil and that can make it hard to love our neighbor, especially if he is a power mad dictator.

This week the trial of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein began. What was interesting was the reaction of those who suffered under his harsh rule. Many were calling for his head-literally.

The whole thing left me with mixed feelings. I was bothered by the calls for death, but then I also know that if I were in their place and had either been tortured by Saddams thugs or had one my relatives killed in his prisons, I might be demanding vengance as well.

Then I thought about other acts of human rights abuses. I thought about those who suffered during the aparthied era in South Africa. I thought about how those who know the three civil rights workers who were murdered in Mississippi so long ago felt about Edgar Ray Killen, the man who was convicted for the crime. You didn't hear much love or forgiveness coming from the victims.

The truth is, it is hard to love our neighbors when they mean us harm. It's easy to talk about loving others when its in the abstract, but when they are flesh and blood and might mean to hurt you or your loved ones, it becomes a lot harder.



Pastor Dan , a Lutheran pastor in Alaska notes that loving others isn't about feeling as much as it is about action. He notes:

In the Christian sense, love is not primarily an emotion, but an act of the will. When Jesus tells us to love our neighbors, he is not telling us to love them in the sense of responding to them with a cozy emotional feeling. You can as easily produce a cozy emotional feeling on demand as you can a yawn or a sneeze. On the contrary, he is telling us to love our neighbors in the sense of being willing to work for their well-being even if it means sacrificing our own well-being to that end, even if it means sometimes just leaving them alone. Thus in Jesus’ terms, we can love our neighbors without necessarily liking hem. In fact liking them may stand in the way of loving them by making us overprotective sentimentalists instead of reasonable honest friends.

Loving others doesn't mean liking them but looking out for their well being. No one can expect to have warm, fuzzy feelings for someone who harmed a loved one. But as Christians we are to treat them with respect as a child of God.

I think back to the trial of Saddam. The judges involved seemed to have treated him with fairly, something he didn't do when he ruled the Iraq. Maybe that's a clue of what it means to love others.

There is still a lot more to mine from this sermon and well, I still have to write it. More to come....

Godspeed.

Sunday Sermon

This was the sermon I gave at Community of Grace yesterday.




“The Welcome Mat”
Matthew 22:1-14
October 9, 2005
Community of Grace Christian Church
New Brighton, MN


Being that this is Minnesota, we have all at sometime been invited to a potluck. Now, I both love and hate these events. I love them because it’s fun to cook for others. But why I hate them weighs more heavily than why I love them. Let me tell you a story. Every year a Bible Study that I attend has a Thanksgiving meal. We all bring different parts of the meal and it’s always a good time. Well, five years ago, I decided to be creative and make bannana bread and my favorite, maccoroni and cheese. I spent a few hours making both items causing some problems with my back in the process. I took what I made to the potluck and....neither was hardly touched.

That, is why I hate potlucks. You spend time trying to make something people might like and it ends up not being eaten. After that time, I started not bringing such elaborate parts to this meal. One year I brought pop, last year cranberries, but I guess I still hold a bit of a grudge because I came home five years ago with a ton of bread and mac and cheese. I guess it still feels like a slap in the face.

Today’s sermon is about a king who feels somewhat like I did...or do. The king had prepared a banquet to celebrate the wedding of his son. You can imagine he had spent a lot of time planning things to make sure they were just right. We he finally sends his servants out to spread the good news and invite the guests, they refuse, in some cases violently. The king them asks his servants to bring in the poor and the lame and the servants do as they are told and invite them to the feast. Here is it was, people who had no business being in the king’s palace were no welcomed with open arms.....or so it seems.

The end of the parable is about one that had no wedding clothes on and was cast out into the darkness. It was a rather dark ending to what seems to be a wonderful story.

So what does this all mean? Well, first this is another one of Jesus’ parables about what the kingdom of God is like. Remember that parables are not moral tales, but instead of are insight into who God is and what God’s world is like. In this story, Jesus likens the kingdom to a king (in this case, God) who invites people who seem to know the king to a great banquet. Now, these people who were probably stand-ins for the religious leaders of Jesus’ day knew the king. They were personally invite to have dinner with the king. And yet, they refused. The king then asks his servants to bring in the poor and lame, the outcasts of that day. They come in, but one doesn’t have on wedding clothes.

Now a point of note is in order here. It was custom during Jesus’ time for guests to receive wedding clothes when they attended a wedding. The host would provide them with these clothes. So if you decided to not wear the clothes and keep wearing the clothes you wore on the street, you were not treating the host with must respect. This is why the guest was thrown out of the banquet.

This is a story about God. God invites all of us to commune with God. Some who know God refuse for whatever reason. They get busy with life and ignore the wonderous gift God has given us. Some react with hostility. Others who, are hungry for grace and for love come to God and are welcomed. Finally, there are some at the banquet who want to believe they made it there on their own with out God’s help. Of course, this is tantamount to coming to dinner party and eating food you prepared instead of the host’s meal.

So, where are we in this story? Have we become so busy with life that we have ignored God’s love? Are we trying to pretend we can get to God with no help from God? Or are we like the poor and lame who are starving for some attention and wanting to wear the clothes of grace God has given us?

This morning, I along with Eva, spoke at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Minnetonka. It was Solidarity Sunday, a day that they celebrate GLBT persons and welcome them to their congregation. What I remember from our time together is something my host, Jeffrey Hatcher said: that we need to get our welcome mat from the stoop and out into the streets.

As Christians, we have been shown the radical love of God in the person of Jesus Christ. That is what this parable reminds us. There is nothing, nothing we can do to get into God’s good graces, that has already been done. We are welcomed into the banquet, where we can wear good clothes and eat a sumptous meal.
Because we have been shown grace, we then should live a life of gratitude. And that is what was wrong with the guest who didn’t wear his wedding clothes. He was an ingrate. As ones who have been shown such grace, we should also be welcoming to the outcasts who are among us.

Community of Grace is over a year old and our central message is that we welcome all to the table to sup together. In a time when religious leaders are telling gays and lesbians that they aren’t welcomed in God’s church and bound for hell, we dare to present another message.

As Christians, we are called to go into the highways and byways to share the good news of Christ with those who are starving for it. GLBT folk are dying to be told that they belong and we need to let them know they are loved by God and welcomed to come to the banquet.

By the way, some people do like my cooking. This past year, I made a Southern Favorite, Hoppin’ John, that was gobbled up by my friends. How graceful.

Welcome!

Hello. I wanted to welcome you to my blog, Oscar the Pastor? First, a little about myself. My name is Dennis and I'm an ordained minister in the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), a mainline Protestant denomination. I'm the co-pastor of Community of Grace Christian Church outside of St. Paul, Minnesota. Politically, I'm a moderate Republican involved with many moderate and centrist Republican groups like Log Cabin Republicans (I happen to be the president of the state chapter.) I also run another blog called the Moderate Republican.

Theologically, I tend to lean more neo-orthodox. That is opposed to fundamentalism, just so you know. Some of my favorite theologians are people like Karl Barth and Reinhold Niebuhr.

So, why the name Oscar the Pastor? Well, because I tend to be a bit of a curmudgeon and who is the most famout curmudgeon than Oscar the Grouch?

Anyway, I hope this blog will give you something to think about. Happy reading!