Sermon for Sunday, August 22

Day of the Church Year: 13th Sunday after Pentecost

Scripture Passage: John 6:56-69

When I first read this passage from John this week, the image that flashed through my mind was me at age 21.  In college.  In chapel.  I went to a Lutheran college where we had chapel services Monday through Friday at 10 am.  Being a church girl, I regularly attended these chapel services and participated in a variety of campus ministry groups and activities.  I was also majoring in religion, being challenged by my professors, and having my mind expanded by all I was reading and discussing, especially feminist theology.  So, chapel was tricky.  Twenty minutes of song, Bible reading, prayer, and sermon, and I got stuck on the patriarchy of the Bible and masculine metaphors used for God.  Twenty minutes, and I was infuriated by what I considered bad theology in the liturgy.  Only twenty minutes, yet I sometimes got up and left before the end.  It was just too difficult.

After Jesus shares the hard teaching we have heard and studied the last four weeks, about eating his flesh and drinking his blood, the followers of Jesus complain.  The teaching is too difficult.  Many of Jesus’ followers turn back and no longer travel with him.  And then, Jesus asks those who remain: Do you also wish to go away?

When I was 21 and excusing myself from worship on the regular, I thought that I might leave the church.  I despaired of the injustice I saw woven into our liturgies.  I wondered if there was a place for me in the church with my questions, doubts, and anger.  In truly humorous fashion, that very same year, God called me to serve as a pastor.  On my least favorite day of the church year, Good Friday, in the middle of worship, actually at the point when I was devising a plan in my head about how to respectfully exit the worship space, I suddenly knew that God had called me to serve as a pastor.  And I knew the decision had been made and that it was the right decision because God had made the decision and not me.  Over twenty years later, I realize it’s a given that the church is going to fail to some extent in following Jesus because the church is the people.  And we are going to fail.  But this need not deter me—or us—from following Jesus.  To forgive and love people as we are is, indeed, a large part of following Jesus.  I no longer wish to go away.

Lutheran doctrine states that we are saved by grace through faith apart from works for the sake of Christ.  There is nothing we can do or not do to be saved.  Whether we follow Jesus or not has no bearing on our salvation.  And so, Jesus’ question is genuine and even kind: Do you also wish to go away?  Because you can if you wish.  God will not love you less.     

Following Jesus does not mean an absence of questions, doubts, or struggles.  We know from the gospels that Jesus’ first followers had plenty of questions, doubts, and struggles.  They frequently did not understand what Jesus was talking about in parables.  Judas betrayed Jesus.  Peter denied him.  Every one of them abandoned Jesus when he needed them most on the night of his arrest.  Still, as they pondered Jesus’ complex parables, they also literally followed him as he traveled and ministered.  Still, over what we now call Holy Saturday, the time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, the disciples gathered in the upper room, together, to live among God’s faithful people, as we would say two thousand years later.  After Easter Sunday and Jesus’ ascension, the disciples received the Holy Spirit and got to work building the church: preaching, teaching, gathering community, healing, caring for those in need.  And for all this, they received in return persecution, skepticism, and conflict about the inclusion of Gentiles, meaning non-Jewish people, among those who followed Jesus. 

Jesus asks his disciples today: Do you also wish to go away?  Because life following Jesus is honestly difficult, for the disciples, a life of persecution, for them and all of us, a life of forgiveness, loving our enemies, working for justice and peace, serving all people, giving up our ego and practicing humility.  Jesus’ question is for all of us.  Do you wish to go away, to no longer follow Jesus?  If the answer is yes, it is understandable.  Not only does Jesus compel us to give of ourselves, we live in a world where bad things happen to good people, where we are beset by pandemic and violence and natural disaster, where illness and death are ever present, where we have lots of questions and many fewer answers.  In this world, perhaps following Jesus just doesn’t make sense.

In response to Jesus’ question, Peter says neither no nor yes but instead asks: Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.

My last year of seminary, I did not have any commitments or obligations on Sunday mornings.  I remember thinking: This is the last time until retirement I’ll be able to sleep in on Sundays.  Still, each Sunday, I got up and walked across 55th Street to attend worship at Augustana Lutheran Church.  To be honest with you, very few of my classmates attended worship that year, and I was annoyed with myself, asking myself: why are you going to worship?  Very soon, you will have to go to church every Sunday morning!  But I couldn’t help myself.  I needed to hear the words of eternal life.  I wanted to follow Jesus.  I still do.  For no one else has the words of eternal life.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Sermon for Sunday, August 15

Day of the Church Year: 12th Sunday after Pentecost

Scripture Passage: John 6:51-58

The pyramids of Egypt, the cathedrals of Europe, vast oceans, mountain ranges extending hundreds or even thousands of miles, the noblest of capitols and monuments.  These and others are, for us, some of the most grounding, solid places into which we sink our feet.  As we rotate on the axis of Earth and spin through space around the sun, as we consider the reality of where we are in the grand scheme of physics and human history, we feel appropriately small and appropriately awed by all that stands the test of time, like the tide that has come in and gone out every day for billions of years.

On a smaller scale, we recognize and celebrate longevity: 50th wedding anniversaries, Grace’s centennial, 245 years we have been seeking life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the United States of America, 2000 years that Jesus’ followers have told that old, old story of Jesus and his love. 

I would venture to guess most of us consider this planet one of the most enduring aspects of our lives.  At least in our solar system, it appears that no other planet is as conducive to human life or life at least as we define it than any other planet.  However, with the release of the UN climate report this week, we may no longer ignore Earth’s fragility.  While Earth itself will likely adapt to the changes wrought by rising carbon emissions, humans’ ability to live on Earth, at least with relative ease, is diminishing in unprecedented fashion.  Suddenly, Earth as home to humans is not something to take for granted.  To put it simply: even the most steadfast aspects of our lives are temporary.  Buildings crumble.  Relationships end.  People die.  Nations divide.  Institutions collapse.  Even Earth changes dramatically, and one day, the sun will no longer burn which will bring an end to our solar system (not for 5 billion more years.  Don’t worry). 

And that is why Jesus’ words in the gospel of John—not just today but throughout the gospel—astonish us and ground us.  When Nicodemus visits Jesus at night, Jesus teaches: For God so loved the world that God gave the Son so that whoever believes in him may not perish but may have everlasting life.  When Jesus meets the Samaritan woman at the well, he tells her: The water that I will give will become in those who drink it a spring of water gushing up to eternal life. Today, when the Jewish leaders question Jesus about eating his body and drinking his blood, Jesus says: The one who eats this bread will live forever.

In the gospel of John, when Jesus talks about eternal life, he talks not just about afterlife, not just about what happens after we die.  He talks about life now, right now, and life into the future, the future beyond death.  Eternal life, according to Jesus, looks not like the heavenly vision of Revelation 21, a city of pure gold adorned with jewels.  In the gospel of John, eternal life is not a place at all but a relationship, a relationship with God where we abide in God and God in us.  Our relationship with God that begins now continues through our lifetimes and after, beyond the stretch of our family line, beyond life on this planet, beyond any time that we can measure. 

Jesus invites his disciples into relationship, into eternal life because, remember, eternal life begins now.  Jesus teaches the disciples: “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them.”  For the disciples, abiding in Jesus was clearer, simpler because he stood before them.  What might it mean for us to abide in Jesus?  To remain engaged in relationship with Jesus? 

We discussed this as a group.

For me, Jesus’ words through these four weeks of the Bread of Life Discourse have steered me toward Holy Communion.  In Holy Communion, we receive bread and wine, yes, but also Christ’s body and blood.  We take Christ’s own body into our bodies.  Christ abides in us. 

I confess I am late to the party on a key theological point here about how we, then, abide in Christ.  Post Jesus’ ascension, we are now the body of Christ on earth.  I mean, I knew this mystically, but I didn’t get it until just yesterday that we, physically, literally are the body of Christ on earth.  Not individually but communally.  Together, we are the hands and feet of Christ.  So we abide in Christ by living among God’s faithful people, by simply entering into relationship with one another, by building community.

Jesus invites the disciples to abide in him not in order to receive eternal life, not as a quid pro quo arrangement.  NOT we come to worship and receive communion and THEN Jesus gives us eternal life.  No.  The abiding itself is the eternal life—according to Jesus in the gospel of John. 

The invitation to abide that we may enter eternal life now and into the future, even beyond death, means that the lives we live right now have profound meaning, means that we are not simply biding our time until we meet God face to face in heaven one day.  We meet God every day.  For as we abide in God, God abides in us.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Fall Prayer Retreat

Our annual fall prayer retreat at Emmanuel Pines Camp near Prescott will be Friday, October 1-Sunday, October 3. We will study the beatitudes under the theme “Plan B: Faith in Motion.” Cost per person is $120. Please RSVP ASAP to Carol Staffieri or Pastor Sarah.

Summer Journey 2022

We will consider mission trip/soul journey/spiritual adventure possibilities for summer 2022 for people of all ages on Sunday, August 29 at 12:30 pm in the North Room and via zoom.  Come with ideas, friends, and enthusiasm!

Zoom Link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86283851139?pwd=YUswZkVaYURJbW5oenoxcGVUUlQyZz09

Meeting ID: 862 8385 1139

Passcode: 572642

Daily Outreach Ministry

Our daily outreach ministry will continue in a minimal form in order to ensure the hydration and basic comfort of those in our community.

Water Ministry & Bathrooms Available / M, T, W, Fr / 9:00 am-12:00 pm / NW gate

Sandwiches & Snacks / M, T, W, Fr / 11:30 am-12:00 pm / NW gate

If you have a morning available when you would like to tend the water and sandwich & snack ministry or monitor the restrooms from 9:00 am until 12:00 pm, please be in touch with Adrienne at officemanager@graceinthecity.com.

The GLOW Show: How Can I Keep From Singing with Joey & Gabe

Over summer 2021 on The GLOW Show, we hear about the favorite hymns and songs of members of the Grace community. Hymnody and praise music are two ways we articulate our faith and have our faith formed. If you would like to share about your favorite hymn or praise song, please be in touch with Pastor Sarah. Today, Joey Lay and Gabe Saldivar share about their favorite spiritual songs, Shout to the Lord and Poor Wayfaring Stranger. Enjoy!

Sermon for Sunday, August 8

Day of the Church Year: 11th Sunday after Pentecost

Scripture Passage: John 6:35, 41-51

Way back in Exodus chapter 3, Moses turns aside from his shepherding duties when he arrives at Mount Horeb—for a bush on the mountain burns but is not consumed. God calls out to Moses from the burning-yet-not-burning bush and instructs Moses to go to Pharaoh and deliver the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. Moses is hesitant, of course, and asks several questions, one of which is: What is your name, God? And God replies: I am who I am. To be clear, if God were at a party and everyone wore nametags, God’s nametag would read: I Am who I am.

In Hebrew, God’s name, I am who I am, is pronounced Yahweh, simply a form of the verb “to be.” Out of reverence for God’s name, however, the word Yahweh typically does not appear in translations of the Bible. Instead, you may have noticed while reading the Old Testament that, quite often, the word Lord appears all in short capitals that are set apart from the rest of the typeface. This design of the word Lord denotes where, in Hebrew, the name Yahweh actually appears in scripture. Some of our Jewish sisters and brothers do not ever say the name Yahweh aloud, and some will not write it. In fact, this is how the word Jehovah began being used as a substitute name for God. Jehovah is actually the consonants of the word Yahweh combined with different vowels so is a word that does not appear in the original documents of scripture but used as a substitute for God’s name. I share all this to underline how reverently both Jews and Christians approach the name of God.

In the gospel of John, Jesus declares himself the bread of life, the way, the truth, the life, the good shepherd, the light of the world, the resurrection and the life, the vine. In each instance, he says: I am—the bread of life. I am—the way, the truth, the life. I am—the light of the world. Jesus is saying: I am God. So, this morning, when Jesus says: I am the bread of life, yes, he refers to the way he feeds us in Holy Communion. But that is not all. Jesus is saying: I am God, and my bodily presence, historically, concretely, tangibly is God’s presence. I am the One Moses met in the burning bush, the One who created the heavens and the earth, the One beloved by King David, the One who sent Jonah to Nineveh. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the One who calls disciples and is baptized by John.

Now, Jesus’ identity as God is not without controversy. Then and now.

Upon hearing Jesus’ claims, the Jewish leaders in today’s reading complain about Jesus and ask among themselves: Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven?’ Jesus’ human family is well known to the Jewish leaders, and they do not believe what Jesus says about himself. They, probably better than others, understand the implications of his “I am” statements for they know the Torah—the first five books of the Bible--with its story of Moses standing before the burning bush.

Three hundred to four hundred years later when the church fathers argued the core theological beliefs of the church in order to write the Apostles’ Creed and Nicene Creed, this question about who Jesus is or was in relation to God was perhaps the most hotly debated of all questions. Some theologians thought Jesus was simply human, others that he was simply God and only appeared to be human. Some believed God adopted Jesus as God’s son at his baptism while others argued for what has become doctrine: that Jesus is fully human and fully divine.

Today, both theologians and people of faith at large wonder, just like the Jewish leaders and the church fathers: who is Jesus? Scads of theological articles and book chapters address this topic, and I hear people of faith from many corners discuss it—usually in hushed tones because to question Jesus’ identity feels a little scandalous. I cannot provide the “right” answer to this question for we are people of faith, not certainty. But this I know: in today’s reading and throughout the gospel of John, Jesus declared himself the I Am. Jesus declared that God entered time in a living, breathing, historical person. In the 4th century, St. John of Chrysostom preached most vividly on Christmas a vision of the incarnation. He preached:

God is now on earth, and man in heaven; on every side all things commingle. He became Flesh. He did not become God. He was God. Wherefore He became flesh, so that He Whom heaven did not contain, a manger would this day receive.

God is now on earth. St. John of Chrysostom’s words ring out: God came here to be with us in Jesus—and is with us still through the body of Christ on earth. This past week, I had the opportunity to visit people in the hospital, to pray with people over the phone, to sit on the floor of a front porch and discuss the struggles of this life. When we are unsure or scared, when we are weary or disoriented, there are no easy answers. I wish there were, but there are not. Instead, we mostly just don’t want to be alone. And my dear friends in Christ, we are not. We are not alone. God is now on earth, first in Jesus and still through the body of Christ. Today, Jesus says: I am the bread of life. What he means is: I Am God, and I am here. You are not alone. Thanks be to God! Amen.

The GLOW Show: How Can I Keep From Singing with Lori

Over summer 2021 on The GLOW Show, we hear about the favorite hymns and songs of members of the Grace community. Hymnody and praise music are two ways we articulate our faith and have our faith formed. If you would like to share about your favorite hymn or praise song, please be in touch with Pastor Sarah. Today, Grace member Lori Cecil shares about her favorite hymn, How Great Thou Art. Enjoy!

Community Building Goal

During August and September, our community building goal is to call each other by our first names any time we are here at church, and we all have a free pass at asking what someone’s name is. No guilt, no shame!

50th Anniversary of Women's Ordination

The ELCA—the church body of which Grace is a part—and its predecessor church bodies have ordained women since 1970. Last year, the ELCA celebrated 50 years of ordaining women to the Ministry of Word and Sacrament, to the role of pastor. If you would like to read stories of God’s call by female pastors of the ELCA in celebration of this anniversary, click on the link below.

Proclaiming_Reforming_Celebrating_Stories.pdf (elca.org)

The GLOW Show: How Can I Keep From Singing

Over summer 2021 on The GLOW Show, we hear about the favorite hymns and songs of members of the Grace community. Hymnody and praise music are two ways we articulate our faith and have our faith formed. If you would like to share about your favorite hymn or praise song, please be in touch with Pastor Sarah. Today, Pastor Sarah raises up hymns that inspire hope shared by members of Grace Andrea Sigala and John & Linda Erickson, This Is My Father’s World and Abide With Me, respectively. Enjoy!

Mask Use Required

Following the guidance of the CDC, the Grace council has decided that we will require the use of masks over the nose and mouth while inside church buildings, regardless of activity, in order to help stop the spread of the Covid-19 delta variant. For those who remain unvaccinated, please speak with your doctor about your questions and concerns regarding the vaccines and consider getting vaccinated. This is one simple way we can love our neighbor as receiving the vaccine protects others as well as ourselves.

Sermon for Sunday, July 25

 Day of the Church Year: 9th Sunday after Pentecost

Scripture Passage: John 6:1-21

Today, we begin a 5-Sunday exploration of John’s Bread of Life discourse.  In the gospel of John, Jesus always has a lot to say about...everything, and over the next 4 weeks, we will hear Jesus speak at length about today’s feeding of the 5,000 story.  The feeding of the 5,000 is one of the few stories that appears in all four gospels, but the details of the story and the meaning ascribed to them is very different in John compared to Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  Matthew, Mark, and Luke regard the feeding of the 5,000 as a miracle in response to the physical hunger of a crowd who gathers to listen to and receive healing from Jesus.  In John, the feeding of the 5,000 is a sign, and signs in the gospel of John point people to the presence of God.  From the gospel of John’s perspective, Jesus feeds the crowd not because they are physically hungry but because they are spiritually hungry to see and know and love God.  Jesus feeds the crowd not barley loaves and dried fish but, instead, himself.  Jesus does not wait until the night before his death to pour out his body and blood as he does in Matthew, Mark, and Luke through the last supper but instead gives of himself throughout his life, including in the feeding of the 5,000.  (Some scholars call this story John’s Last Supper.)

When Jesus feeds the crowd barley loaves and dried fish, when he himself distributes the food to the masses, God shows up to the crowd.  Contrary to Matthew, Mark, and Luke where God is most clearly revealed in the cross, in John, God is most clearly revealed in signs throughout Jesus’ life.  The feeding of the 5,000, sight given to the man born blind, water turned to wine, the healing of a boy, the raising of Lazarus from the dead point to God’s presence in Jesus.  It is in living life, doing ministry, loving people that God is revealed in Jesus.  Yes, of course, at the end of John’s gospel, Jesus dies, but while on the cross, he says: It is finished.  The incarnation of God is finished.  God shows up in the life of Jesus, not the death of Jesus in the gospel of John.  And so, the signs in John’s gospel take on greater importance than similar kinds of stories of healing and feeding in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  For the feeding of the 5,000 is not just a nice story about a gracious God who tends to the physical needs of those living in poverty or even about a community who share with each other.  The feeding of the 5,000 is about a God who shows up in the daily lives of people who feel forgotten and abandoned.  The feeding of the 5,000 is about a God who gives of God’s own self for the sake of ordinary people.  The feeding of the 5,000 is about a God who is here, now, present not in some distant, heavenly, or spiritual realm but really, fully present right where we are.     

Does this make sense?  The difference between John’s telling of the story and Matthew, Mark, and Luke’s telling? 

When I was in seminary and taking a class on the gospels, we discovered with stark clarity the differences between each of them—to the point that our exams included verses whose origin we had to identify just by looking at the content of the verse.  After receiving clarity between these different visions of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection presented in the four gospels, I remember one of my classmates raising their hand and asking our professor, David Rhodes, “Do you mean to say that we will preach different theology based on whether we are preaching from Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John?  Will we preach Matthew’s theology on a passage from Matthew, Mark’s theology on a passage from Mark, and so on?   How do we do that?  How do we make sense of multiple theologies and remain Lutheran?”  And Dr. Rhodes replied: “I don’t teach that class.” 

As Lutherans, we believe the Bible is the inspired and authoritative word of God, so what do we do with the multiple visions of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection offered to us in the four gospels?  The differences are not simply a matter of detail but instead wholly different conceptions of what it means to follow Jesus, believe in God, and be led by the Spirit. 

What helps me is to realize that the diversity of visions has always been present within Christianity.  Multiple meanings of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection lie at the very heart of our religion, in our scripture.  Those inspired by God to write Jesus stories passed down orally were inspired to tell different stories with different meanings about the One we call Son of God and Savior.  These multiple meanings have always been present within Christian community.  We need not agree in order to follow Jesus, and in fact, multiple meanings enrich and widen our faith.

Jesus offers himself as food and drink to the crowd.  God shows up in real time among people sick and hungry and tired to offer life, life abundant.  In Holy Communion, in the word proclaimed, in the embrace of community, God shows up among us, today, here, now.  Thanks be to God!  Amen.