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Sermons Pastor Don's Sermons 2007 Sermon Archives
Easter III Sanctify us through thy truth, dear Lord; Thy Word is truth. Amen. In our first lesson today, we heard part of the sermon preached by Peter. I'm always fascinated by those early sermons because they give us a sense of what was important to them. They’ve just experienced the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. What is it they’re going to say? What did it mean? So let’s listen to Peter: "Repent and be baptized…so that your sins may be forgiven….The promise is for you, for your children, and for all who are far away." And he ends with this admonition: "Save yourselves from this corrupt generation." His comments point us in two directions: Save yourselves from this corrupt generation; and secondly, the promise is for you and your children. It's helpful to remind ourselves that Peter wrote 2000 years ago -- and yet his words seem as contemporary as today's newspaper. Let me recall some stories that have appeared in the news in the last several weeks. Recent article said that parents are increasingly concerned about their young adult children. Many of these young adults have finished college -- have returned home -- but don't know who they are or where they're going. Parents are beginning to say, "I thought I was being a good parent by taking care of my children. Now I'm beginning to think that I made it too easy for them -- they have become too dependent and have not learned to take care of themselves." Another article: 1% of the American population is incarcerated -- 1% of America is in prison. Those numbers are especially concerning when you realize that for African Americans, they represent 12% of the population, but 44% of the prison population. A sad commentary. Another article: 1 in 4 sexually active teenagers has a sexually transmitted disease (STD). Now the article didn't say what percentage of teenagers were sexually active, but it's clear that they are engaged in behavior which will seriously affect their health and well being. Another article: in our major metropolitan areas, only 51% of students graduate from high school. And finally, a comment made by Linda Dobbins. Linda works with LSSI and she was with us several weeks ago for an adult forum. While she works with families, she said that increasingly their work is with children between the ages of 5 and 10. She said the reason for this is, "If we haven't reached the children by the time they're 10, it's too late." We may not always think of this as a corrupt generation, but I think we are increasingly aware that it is a very difficult world in which to raise children. Their values are being shaped by many forces outside of our control. Which says that we as adults and as a church have a tremendous responsibility -- and that's precisely what Peter was telling us: “The promise of God is for you and your children.” And now we assume this responsibility in several ways. If you are a parent and you had a child baptized, you'll remember that at the time of baptism you were asked to assume certain responsibilities on behalf of your children. But let's also remind ourselves, at every baptism service you have attended, a question is also asked of all those in attendance: Will you help this family and these parents in the raising of their children? What that means is, we all have a responsibility for raising the children who are of this congregation. In case you're not aware of it, this weekend we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of our pre-school program. Isn't that amazing? Ten years into the life of our church we felt enough responsibility for our children that a pre-school was started. And this was not just the case of renting space to an outside group who wanted to use our facility. From the beginning we as a congregation saw this as a priority of our ministry: and so we created a Prince of Peace Pre-school. Ever since, this has been an integral part of our congregation's ministry. Linda Dobbins said, "We need to start young." What better place to start than with our pre-school children. To create an environment within the context of the church, that focuses on the emotional, physical and spiritual development of our children. [Just out of curiosity, how many of you were involved in some way in our pre-school -- either as a student or as the parent of a student?] You should also be aware that an integral part of our program is what we call the "stepping stones of faith." Our youth program is centered around these stepping stones:
What we're trying to do now is to upgrade each of these stepping stones. One example: it used to be that we had a one-session baptism preparation class -- and we focused on baptism and what it means. But what we got thinking: what can we do to help parents become better parents? How can we as a church ministry to them in some meaningful ways? Let's talk about the emotional and physical and spiritual components that are applicable to young parents. We started this recently -- in our last class we had seven families involved and what a wonderful experience it was. It was fascinating to hear parents who had two or three children talk about how they had changed with the coming of each child. And do you realize: those parents are going to be seeing each other again and again over the next 20 years if they stay as part of our church. Here was an opportunity to bring them together so that they could begin talking together. We want to do the same for others. Your child is becoming a teenager -- how is your life going to change? What can we do to help you become better parents to cope with these changes that you're facing. What we've come to realize increasingly is that we as adults and as a church have a responsibility for our children and for our parents. This is what Peter was reminding us about. These are difficult times in which to raise children – what he called a corrupt generation. How appropriate that we as a church begin to develop ministries that help our children, and that also help our parents to cope with the challenges our youth are facing. And the place we begin is with our youngest children. And so this weekend we celebrate the wonderful pre-school ministry that has provided 40 years of ministry here at Prince of Peace. Amen. The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Sanctify us through thy truth, dear Lord; Thy Word is truth. Amen. As many of you are aware, we’re in the midst of a series of conversations with our friends from Beth Tikvah and from the Islamic Community here in the Schaumburg area. It was three weeks ago that we met here at Prince of Peace and heard a presentation by Rabbi Weiss. (By the way, there was an excellent write-up of that session that appeared in the Chicago Tribune.) This coming Thursday we’ll be meeting at Beth Tikvah to hear a presentation by Dr. Sami from the Islamic Center; and then, on April 12th, I’ll be presenting an overview of Christianity at the Islamic Center. I’ve got to say, this has been a fascinating experience and, in many ways, a very challenging one. In preparation for each of these conversations, the Planning Task Force raised some questions that they wanted to have addressed. You might be interested in some of the questions they asked about the Christian faith.
Those are fascinating questions – and the challenge will be to try to answer them in 20 minutes. At the first conversation, held here at Prince of Peace, a question was asked of the three participants: Do we really believe in the same God? It reminds me of a famous story of the blind men and the elephant. Six blind men encountered an elephant. The first felt his side and said, “It’s like a wall.” The second felt the tusk and said, “It’s like a spear.” The third felt the trunk and said, “It’s like a snake.” The fourth felt his knee and said, “It’s like a tree.” The fifth felt the ear and said, “It’s like a fan.” The sixth felt the tail and said, “It’s like a rope.” They were all feeling the same animal and yet they all came to different conclusions. The moral: “Isn’t that the way it is with God: We’re all trying to describe what we’ve never seen, but whom we have experienced in very different ways.” [The moral on the web page: “So often in theological wars, the disputants rail on in utter ignorance of what each other means and talk about an elephant not one of them has seen.”] It’s a great story, and it gets at an important insight. Each of our three religious traditions have an experience of God which is different. Now there’s only one reality, but it’s experienced and talked about in different ways. Which means that these dialogues we’re having are important for a variety of reasons:
And so I pose the question for you this morning on Easter Day: why is Easter important? Why is the Resurrection so important to us? What is it we want to share with others about our understanding of God? First we’re saying, in knowing Jesus Christ we have come to a better understanding of the nature and character of God. It was Jesus who said, “To know me is to know my father in heaven.” How can we say that God is a loving God? We can say that because as we’ve come to know Jesus Christ, we’ve heard his words as he’s talked about love and we’ve seen it in his actions as he’s demonstrated that love. But the fact that God speaks to us through his Son, also reveals something more about the nature and character of God. God is not just an abstract being who is far removed from us – but this is a God who cared enough to relate to us in a personal, intimate way – through a baby, through a child. What we’ve discovered is that God is a lover – he cares -- there’s a sense of intimacy that is revealed. But now, on Easter, something very remarkable happens. We begin to realize that the God who acted in history, that the God who revealed himself in Jesus Christ, who is present in our lives today, is also a God who is in control of the future. Even the powers of death were not able to restrain his son. As I say so often in my prayers, “the future is in God’s hands, and what good and loving hands those are.” This is the witness and confession that we have to share with the world. Through Jesus Christ we have come to understand that God cares, that God is a sense of intimacy about God – and that the God who has been with us in the past, will also be the one to lead us to glorious new future. “Christ is Risen. He is risen indeed. Alleluia!” This is what we celebrate: that the God of the past is also the God of the future – and that future is in God’s hands. And so we look to the future with boldness and confidence. Amen Lent II, February 16 and 17, 2008 As part of our lenten program this year, many of you are in the process of reading the book Velvet Elvis: Repainting the Christian Faith by Rob Bell. In many ways the title is misleading. The title comes from the very first story he tells -- and that's the only reference you find to Elvis. What Rob Bell is really trying to do is to get us thinking about our faith in some new and fresh ways. That's why the subtitle is so important: Repainting (or Re-thinking) the Christian Faith -- looking at our faith in new and fresh ways. In his second chapter, which we'll be discussing on Wednesday, he gets talking about the Bible. What he's really wrestling with is the question: what is the Bible and how in the world are we to understand the Bible? And I must say, I find his approach very refreshing. Take this illustration: "Somebody recently told me, "As long as you teach the Bible, I have no problem with you." Think about that for a moment, What the person was really saying is, "As long as you teach my version of the Bible, I'll have no problem with you." And the more people insist that they are just taking the Bible for what it says, the more skeptical I get." I had a phone call the other day from a person who was looking for a church. She wanted to know about our understanding of scripture. In the course of the conversation I made reference to the fact that we had two pastors, the other being Pastor Karen. I knew the conversation was going downhill when she responded: "Oh, dear. Don't you know the Bible says you're not supposed to ordain women." We talked for over half an hour, but it was clear that anything the Bible said was true. She couldn't understand how a Christian could look at things any differently -- which implied, you really can't call yourself a Christian if you don't believe the Bible like I do. Now, I respect the fact that she was taking the Bible seriously. But she also represented everything that I find troubling about that kind of a perspective. In her case, she was very literalistic: if the Bible said it, it was right. There was no ambiguity: something was either right or wrong. This kind of a view is often coupled with an assumption that the Bible is without error, and that truth is unchanging. God has spoken and that’s the last word. It's like the bumper sticker I saw: "God said it; the Bible reports it; I believe it; case rests." I'm reminded of the line from our gospel today: The famous line -- John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that he gave the world …a perfect book." No, that's not what Jesus said. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son." Our faith is not in a perfect book; our faith is in the God who is revealed in the book. Rob Bell puts it well when he writes: "We have to embrace the Bible as the wild, uncensored, passionate account it is of people experiencing the living God." The Bible is testimony literature. It's people having an experience of God and then trying to put that experience into words. Just listen to Jesus in our gospel today: "Very truly, I tell you, we (my followers and I) speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen." This is our experience of God: let us share it with you. And what this means is, the writers are looking at God through their own life experience -- which means it reflects their values and the world in which they live. For example, Paul lived at a time when women played a very secondary role -- and we see that reflected in his writings. Are we then bound by his world view? No, our challenge is to take those same themes of love and grace and forgiveness and relate it to our world and to the issues that we are facing today. What Paul was trying to do was to share with us his understanding of what happened to him when he had an encounter with the living God. And to do it he used the language and images of his day. This is why Bible study is hard work. We first need to ask: what did this passage mean to the person who wrote it? What issues was this person facing? What was his or her view of life and of the world? Then we need to ask the question: now what does this mean for us? How can we take that experience or story of the past and make it relevant in our life situation? Let's just think for a moment about the Bible itself. The Bible didn't just appear, magically -- it evolved over a period of time. And decisions had to be made: is this book to be included or is it not? Luther himself argued that the book of James was an epistle of straw – lit was not worthy of being included. He also had his doubts about the book of Revelation. Luther also argued that certain books were more important than others -- for Luther, it was the book of Romans and John's gospel that were particularly important. It was there that the gospel was expressed most clearly. Who made the determination as to what was to be included? It was decided at times when the church came together, basically in a council. Discussion was held and decisions were made. So the Bible is a very human book -- put together in a very human process: people gathering together, talking it through, and making decisions. And we have every confidence that God’s Spirit was very much present in that decision-making process. I like the way Rob Bell puts it: "The Bible is a collection of stories that teach us about what it looks like when God is at work through actual people. The Bible has the authority it does only because it contains stories about people interacting with God who has all the authority." The Bible is witness literature, people trying to put into words and stories their experience of a living God. Why is the story of Adam and Eve so important? Is it because it tells the actual story of creation and how it all happened? Well, it's fascinating to read and to see how the early church thought about these things. But in many ways, that misses the point. This story is meaningful for us because it is our story. God told Adam, don't eat the fruit; God tells us, obey the commandments. And what we do? We disobey. Adam's story becomes my story. We read scripture and we see ourselves in it. That's when scripture comes alive. And so we're reminded: God so loved the world that he gave us -- not a book, but he gave us his only Son. Our faith is not in the book; our faith is in the God who is revealed through the book. Amen. The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Transfiguration Sunday Sanctify us through thy truth, dear Lord; Thy Word is truth. Amen. This last week, as I was reading the story of the Transfiguration, I was struck by the comment made by Peter. You’ll recall that Jesus has asked his three close friends, Peter, James and John, to go with him to a high mountain. While he was there, as scripture says, “his face shone like the sun and his clothes became dazzling white.” Jesus then talked to Moses and Elijah, and it was then that Peter stepped forward and made the comment: “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” Thank you, for bringing us. I remember many years ago when I was a teenager. My folks had some good friends, the Crocketts, and he was the number four person in the hierarchy at the State Department. Whenever Lyndon Johnson as Vice President went on a trip, he wanted Bill Crockett to be the one who organized the trip. It turned out that the Crocketts were taking one of the ocean liners to England – and they invited my parents to join them for a party on the boat before the liner left. Well I was invited along. What a privilege it was: I met some of the significant political leaders; I had an opportunity to explore this magnificent ocean liner, and it was just an emotional high. And I remember as we were driving home afterwards my dad making the comment, “Wasn’t it wonderful of them to invite us; how good it was for us to be there.” Each year the President will make a presentation to Congress, the State of the Union address. Almost invariably at some point in the speech the President will point out his wife, who is sitting in the balcony, and will then introduce some special guest who is sitting there next to his wife. It may be a soldier, it may be someone who has faced a serious crisis and survived it – and invariably there is extended applause. Just think what that moment means for the person sitting there. “How good it is to be here.” And you can be sure that that moment will live on that family’s history for generations to come. So I think back to that comment by Peter: “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” What did he mean? Why was it so special? Several things strike me about his comment. First, Peter realized it was an honor to have been chosen. Jesus had many friends – he had the 12 disciples – and yet it was the three of them that had been chosen to join him. Now there was a danger – they could begin to feel that they were somewhat special. And you’ll recall that it was indeed James and John who got into a conversation in which they were arguing who should sit at the right and left hand of Jesus in the Kingdom. Clearly they felt they were special. But it was Peter who realized what an honor it was to have been chosen. They also had the unique opportunity to realize how special Jesus was. They knew him as a friend; they had been impressed with his speaking and healing; but now they had an opportunity to realize how truly unique he was. And, of course, that impression was reinforced a few moments later when they even heard the voice of God: “This is my son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him!” And thirdly, you knew that when something like this had happened, that they would want to talk about it. When I got back from my trip to the ocean liner, you can be sure that my friends heard about it the next day. I wanted to talk; I wanted to share my experience. You know that’s exactly what was on the mind of those three men, Peter, James and John. I find it striking that as they were leaving the scene, and as they were coming down the mountain, that Jesus made the comment: “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.” What was he saying? “Fellows, I know you’ve had a great experience, but wait – you can tell others about it, but wait until after the Resurrection; then will be the appropriate time.” Now what does this have to do with us? I think it has a great deal to do with us. My hope is that as you have become involved in the life of our congregation, that you would have the feeling: “Lord, it is good for us to be here.” I hope you have the sense, for example, that it was God who led you to this place – to this congregation. I can assure you, that’s very much the feeling I have. Also, as I’ve listened to people tell their story – how in the world did they find our congregation – that often people have the sense of having been led to this place. I’ve heard people say: we were going to another congregation, but it wasn’t meeting our needs. And one day, out of the blue, we decided to visit – and we’ve never left. And I suspect that many of you have the sense that you have been led by God to become part of this congregation. Peter realized it was an honor to be chosen – to be selected. I hope you have that same sense: that God has somehow chosen you – and call you to be here. Not because you’re better than anyone else, but because God wanted you to be here. And secondly, my hope is that as you experience life in this congregation, that you begin to experience the love of God – that you begin to develop a relationship with your Lord – that you begin to be emotionally connected to God – as our banner says, that you experience God’s Spirit in your life. (I think of Jennifer Fisher who came to us, very much out of the blue, and who is now at the Seminary preparing for ordination.) Her faith life has been touched by being here. And then our hope is, that you experience life in this congregation, that you want to talk about it. You just know that Peter, James and John were eager to get back and tell their friends. We’ve discovered that many times the reason people become part of this congregation is because people talk about it – and they invite others to join them. The place we see this so clearly is with our friends at Friendship Village: we’ve got a bus; why don’t you join us? you’ll enjoy it; you’ll find it to be a meaningful and life changing experience. Peter, James and John were privileged to have a truly unique experience: to be invited to go with their Lord to the mountain top where they experienced the wonders of the Transfiguration. As Peter said, “Lord, is it good for us to be here.” I hope you have the sense about being here at Prince of Peace. “Lord, it is indeed good to be here.” And my hope is, you will tell others what a wonderful place this is – a place where you too can experience the presence of the living Lord in your life. Amen. The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Service of Prayer for Christian Unity Sanctify us through thy truth, dear Lord; Thy Word is truth. Amen. That’s a fascinating passage that Larry just read for us. When you think about it, the image that Jesus is using there is that we are basically “alien residents” here in this world. We live in the world, but we are not of it. We live in this world, but our future is in God’s kingdom. Now that we have all of you here in a Lutheran church, we can use some Lutheran imagery. I’m thinking of Luther’s two kingdom ethic and of paradox.. Basically his understanding is this: we live in two kingdoms at the same time. We live in the kingdom of the world – we are citizens here in the United States. We have an obligation to vote and to pay taxes. But at the same time we know that we are part of God’s kingdom – that eternal life with our Lord is our ultimate destination. And the paradox is, we live in both worlds simultaneously. An old picture image used is that image out of World War II. The crucial battle has been fought: D-Day has occurred and the Allied troops have landed. But the war is not over – and ultimate victory has not yet been achieved. Christ has died and been resurrected; we know that ultimate victory is ours – but the end has not yet come. So we find ourselves living in both worlds simultaneously. That’s why I like the phrase from Jesus’ prayer that Larry read: “I am not asking you to take them (my disciples) out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one.” We know full well that our ultimate future is with God. But in the mean time our Lord is reminding us, our ministry is here – it’s here on the Streets of Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates – it’s here on the Streets of Woodfield. As a congregation here at Prince of Peace, we have tried to take that very seriously. In our mission statement we say: “Prince of Peace welcomes people to worship and nurtures spiritual growth and fellowship so that, in Christ’s name, we may serve those in need wherever they are.” We want it know right up front that we exist for the sake of others. Yes, we gather to worship and to learn and to fellowship, but we do that so that we might serve. In our vision statement we take this one step further: “Prince of Peace will be a community alive in the Holy Spirit…celebrating the growing diversity of our neighboring community.” Rather than being threatened by change, we want to celebrate it and affirm it. And that means being involved in the world around us. This is the arena in which we need to carry out our Lord’s ministry. But we also realize that this is a ministry that is not carried out in isolation. We part of a larger ecumenical community. We share in some unique ways with Lord of Life – under the umbrella of the ELCA, and we also share in ministry with the members of the Schaumburg and Hoffman Estates Clergy Association. One of the things always distressed me about some many pastors and churches is that they develop a fiefdom mentality. They act as if they’re the only church in town. The fact is, we belong together and we need each other. While there are differences that separate, we need to show the world that a faith in a God who acted through Jesus Christ and who continues that ministry in the world through the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit, we need to demonstrate that faith in that God transcends the differences that separate us. We need to share a common witness the world. This year is it our pleasure to host this 100th anniversary of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. And we wanted to do that as one way of expressing our gratitude to you for the support that you have given to us over the years, and as a way of expressing our gratitude for the common ministry that we share together. Yes, we know that our future is with God in God’s kingdom. But as Jesus reminded us, our ministry at this point in time in this world – in the streets of Schaumburg. And our Lord has asked that God protect us as we carry out this ministry together. Amen. May the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Christmas Eve Sanctify us through thy truth, dear Lord; Thy Word is truth. Amen. One of the things I enjoy doing is reading magazines. And one of the magazines I subscribe to is Gourmet. Well, you might that a little bit surprising. The fact is – I never do any cooking – I don’t enjoy cooking -- so it’s kind of a strange magazine for me to read. But I enjoy reading about food – and I have to admit, I love looking at the pictures. Well, in the last issue, the editor in chief, Ruth Reichl, wrote a fascinating editorial. She was talking about gift giving. What I appreciated about the article was that she came up with an insight that I had never thought about before – and the more I thought about it, the more profound I found it to be. Here’s part of what she wrote: “When someone gives you a gift, they are not only telling you that they care about you, they are also revealing who they think you are….As you grow older, the art of giving becomes more precious. Because each time you offer someone a gift, you are really saying to them, “This is who I think you could be.” She tells this story. “When I was in college, at Christmas a boy friend gave me a gift. When I finally opened the box I found it was filled with antique kitchen implements…. What I loved about those things was not that they were so old and beautiful, but that here in this small college town someone had seen the cook inside me.” She adds: “I have been hopeful – and a little frightened – about giving people presents ever since. Because I now know that with each gift you are offering people not only your love, but also your hopes for them.” I find that to be a fascinating line Let me read it again: “I now know that with each gift you are offering people not only your love, but also your hopes for them.” Let’s think about what we’re celebrating here this evening. Christmas is a celebration of gift giving. Yes, of course, we celebrate the gift we give to one another and to our family, but tonight, as we gather in worship, we also celebrate the gift that God has given to us. So often, as I think about Christmas, I tend to think of it in two ways. First, I think of what God has done for us. As we think about Christmas, we think of the love that God is showing to us by giving us such a wonderful gift. “Love came down at Christmas.” But, so often in my preaching, I then focus on the responsibility that this places on us. God, having given us his son, is now asking us to take care of his son. And so it is, in Christmas, we enter into this unique relationship with God: God has given us a gift; it is now our responsibility to take of that gift. But what I appreciate about Ruth in this editorial, is that she introduces another element. God gave us his son, not just because he loves us, but he gave us this gift as an expression of God’s hopes for us. Isn’t this a new way of thinking about Christmas? It’s was God’s intent that as we come to know his son, Jesus, as we develop a relationship with him, that we would learn something about ourselves. God’s hope is that we will grow as persons because of the gift God has given to us. That are some of those hopes that God has for us. By coming to know Jesus, it’s God’s hope that we will learn how to love one another and experience the joy of love. It’s God’s hope that we will experience family love and joy; that we will have good relationships with our parents with our extended family. In I Corinthians 13 we get a sense of the kind of love that God wants us to experience: God that is always more concerned with the other person than with ourselves. It’s God’s hope that we will learn the joy of forgiveness. I think of the parable of the prodigal son: the young man who left home, lost everything, and yet when he returned home was welcomed by his father. That’s the kind of forgiving love our God wants us to experience. God also hoped that we would develop a passion for life: that we would discover those skills and talents that we have that we have. That was what Ruth, the editor of Gourmet, discovered: the gift she received helped her to discover a love that she never knew she had. A friend saw potential in her and gave her a gift that brought it out. God’s hope for us is, that as we develop a relationship with his son, that we will discover those passions in our own lives. And I think that it’s God hope, that as we develop a relationship with his Son, that we will develop a passion for justice – and that we will concerned about those persons who live on the fringes of life. In our Lord’s ministry he was always concerned with the homeless, the needy, the foreigner – the one’s who were rejected by society. In a world of growing diversity, how important that we reach out to the stranger in our midst. And so in this season of gift giving, yes, we want to give thanks for the gift that God has given to us; yes, we want to assume responsibility for caring for his son; and as the editor of Gourmet reminds, this is also a gift in which God expresses his hopes for us. His hope is that as we develop a relationship with his son, that we will grow as persons – that we’ll learn how to love; that we’ll develop a passion for living; and that we’ll be concerned with the strangers in our midst. As she wrote in her editorial: I give you this gift, “because this is who I think you could be.” May you all have a beautiful and hopeful Christmas. Amen. The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord. Epiphany on January 6 2008 Sanctify us through thy truth, dear Lord; Thy Word is truth. Amen. The celebration of the Day of Epiphany always falls on January 6. As a result, we don’t often celebrate this event unless the 6th falls on a Sunday – which is the case this year. It’s really on the Day of Epiphany that it is appropriate to bring the three kings onto the scene. We usually include them in our Christmas celebration, but the reality is the three kings arrived on the scene after Jesus was born. In Isaiah we hear this line: “Nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn.” So what we have here is an event that captures the meaning of that line: even the powerful leaders, the kings of nations, come to worship the child who has been born. To symbolize their respect, they present the child with gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. The imagery of Epiphany is the image of light. The picture image that comes to mind is how moths are attracted to a light. They see the light and respond. Isaiah has this picture image that Jesus, the Messiah, is the light of the world – and the nations of the world will respond to him, like moths being attracted to a light. This is the message of the church: that the world is invited to come to the church to experience the light of Christ. But the trouble is, so often people come to church and experience something quite different. Rather than experiencing the light of Christ, they experience rejection. We’re all familiar with stories of people who turn to church, and are sexually abused. We’re glad to welcome the homeless to our PADS program, but we might feel differently to have our guests joining us each week in worship. It used to be said, and is probably still accurate, that Sunday morning worship is the most segregated hour in America. Those who are gay and lesbian often find that the church is not always a welcoming place. There was a great deal of tensions at the Biennial Assembly of the ELCA here in Chicago – and there was a mean spirit that was close to the surface. We also know that there is a great deal of division within the church community. We still have divisions within the Lutheran church bodies – and there’s often some hostility associated with those divisions. Our Lord’s prayer was that “we might be one” – and yet we realize there are tremendous divisions that separate us. Isaiah’s vision was that the light of God has come into our midst. “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you….Nations shall come to your light.” And the challenge of the church today is to keep that light burning. And I think the question we have to ask ourselves as a congregation is: do we bring hope to the world? As people come to worship with us, do they experience the light of Christ – or do they experience rejection? There are many ways in which we are trying very consciously to bring the light of Christ, the light of hope, to the world in which we live. Some examples:
What we’re trying to do in all of this is to create an atmosphere of love, of acceptance, of mutual respect. We’re trying to bring hope to a troubled world. In a world of darkness, we’re bringing light. Isaiah’s dream and vision was that “nations will come to the light.” Our challenge here at Prince of Peace, as one small part of the Christian community, is to keep that light burning brightly here in our community. Jesus Christ is the light of the world, and in him there is hope. Amen. The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen. Sermon: John the Baptist Sunday Sanctify us through thy truth, dear Lord; Thy Word is truth. Amen. Paul and his companions were on a trip through Asia Minor and they visited a local synagogue. While they were there, the officials of the synagogue asked if “you have any word of exhortation for the people.” So Paul stood up and began to speak. Basically what he did was to give an account of God’s activity over the years. He told how God had acted through their ancestors – how the people escaped from Egypt – he mentioned Samuel and Saul and David and finally the coming of Jesus. But what’s striking is that as he told the story of the Israelites, he did it in two ways:
Just listen to a sample (this from the book of Acts): “The God of this people Israel chose our ancestors…God gave them their land…God gave them Saul…God made David their king….God brought to Israel a savior.” So he did two things: he described the history of Israel by telling the story of people; but in every case, the focus was not on the people – but on God working through those people to accomplish his will. I got thought thinking about that this past week as it relates to Prince of Peace. I think one way of understanding the history of Prince of Peace is to realize how God has accomplished his will here in this place by working through our members. And I thought it would be appropriate today to think of some examples of ways in which our congregation has developed – thanks to God working through members of our church. I remember back in 1996, shortly after I came here as pastor. We had a meeting of the Parish Planning Council and we had a treasurer, whose name I now forget. But I still remember what happened. She and her husband were moving. And she said, “I’m very disappointed in this congregation.” That got our attention. She said, “My husband and I are tithers and we give 10% of our money away. What bothers me about this church,” she said, “is that we keep everything for ourselves.” And the fact was, at that point we had no money budgeted for benevolence – all our money was being spent on ourselves. Well those words hit home. I don’t remember if it was at the meeting or the next that we made a decision. We decided we would begin by giving away 3% of our money – designating 3% for benevolence. We also agreed that we would increase that 1% a quarter, and when we reached 10%, that we would increase 1% a year. I’m not sure that that treasurer every realized what happened – but our benevolence grew until it reached 13%. At that point we realized that was more than we could sustain, but we have pretty maintained our giving in excess of 10%. Looking back I think it’s fair to say: God spoke to us that day through a member of our congregation. Our ministry changed because of what she said. Her comments were important, but to the eyes of faith, it was God speaking through her. I remember the process we went through to become a welcoming and affirming congregation. It happened because Mary Cage was willing to step forward and lift up a concern and to say that it was high time that we went on record as openly welcoming all persons to come and worship with us and to be part of our congregation. We were prodded into action by the bishop of the church – who asked that we take action. But it took the initiative of a member before something happened. Here again, a person was important – but to the eyes of faith, it was God speaking to us through a member. Tonight we have a very special baptism – Gary and Marilyn Howard’s grand-son. Many of you may not realize, and I don’t really the details, but Gary, if I’m not mistaken, you and Grayce Tyszko were the ones who started our Stephen Ministry program. This was about 20 years ago – and Gary, Grayce, Marge Johnson and Pastor Gerald were the first ones to attend the national program. And it was from there that program developed. Today the Stephen Ministry program continues – and we have approximately 15 to 20 Stephen Ministers, persons who are willing to meet with their care receiver once a week for about an hour, to provide ministry and support. How it happen. It happened because God worked through people like Gary, Grayce, Marge and Curt in making it happen. We recently made the decision to start funding Special Olympics. One of the members of the Board of Serving Ministry made the suggestion that this was something we should consider. At first I was thinking, why would we do that. Then we began to think of all the members of our church who have special needs and we realized that we have several who participate in this program. The more thought about it, the more we liked the idea – and funding will now be given, and I suspect will continue to be given. How did it happen? Because God worked through one of our members who spoke up and lifted up a concern. It was Martin Luther who, in his ministry, began talking about the Priesthood of All Believers. Every person is a priest. Now what he meant was: there are some people who are set aside for certain leadership roles within the church – so I’m called to preach and teach and lead worship; but what he meant was, we are called upon to minister – we are called upon to serve. Ministry is not limited to a few professionals, but ministry is the responsibility of all of us. One of my favorite lines in scripture comes for Corinthians – a passage by Paul. “We have this treasure in earthen vessels.” God speaks to us again and again. And how does God speak to us? He speaks to us through one another – he speaks to us through our members. There’s nothing special about us – we’re all ordinary people, and yet the amazing thing is that God speaks to us to accomplish his will. I suspect every one of you can think of persons in this congregation who have impacted your life. They’ve said some encouraging words at a point of need; they affirmed you at a time when you were feeling low; they helped you at a time when you needed assistance. And I hope that we always the sense and spirit that Paul did. He described the history of the church by telling the stories of people – ordinary people. And yet, he understood, that it was God working through those ordinary people that his will was accomplished. It was true for Paul and the early church; the same is true here at Prince of Peace. Amen. The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
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