Sunday Sermon: February 5

Sermon of Christ Lutheran Church, Staunton, VA February 5, 2017

Pastor Robert McCarty

Preaching Texts: Isaiah 58: 1-12 Matthew 5: 13-20

Being right with the law is a good thing, but it will not save you.  Being right with the law is not the same as being right with G-d.

And yet being right with the law is a good thing.  Jesus reminds those who will listen today, Do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets, I have not come to abolish, but fulfill.

Undoubtedly you hear the nuance, the law and the prophets, which includes all of the Hebrew Scriptures, all of the Old Testament, which includes the commandments and yet so much more.  

The gospel lesson today, paired with the Isaiah reading, gives you a glimpse of what the righteousness of G-d looks like and what the righteousness of G-d does not look like.  

Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount explains the righteousness of G-d in ways that many struggle with.  This gospel passage today continues the sermon that began last week with the Beatitudes.  Today, you hear that you can break aspects of the Holy law and even teach others to do the same and still be called least in the Kingdom of Heaven.  You get in; at least.  The passage ends with the reality that you can dedicate your life to keeping the fine details of the Holy Law and still miss out on the Kingdom of Heaven.  Good works that glorify G-d means something more than dedicating your life to the law.  What righteousness is not. 

Again, that nuance of Law and Prophets stands out.  In the Hebrew Scriptures you will find the story of G-d acting with justice and mercy, faithfulness and grace.  Even within his commands, you can find the gift of the Father’s compassion.  You can find passages within the Old Testament that are both law and grace.  That mixture makes up the righteousness of G-d.

I will show you two example of how to see G-d’s compassion and grace even within his commands and law.  The first example comes from the book of Leviticus, a book largely associate with the Law.  Leviticus is full of commands and instructions.  Sadly, we hardly look at more than a few of them.  Then I will show you a second example from one of the prophets.  Actually, it comes from todays Isaiah reading.

You will find in the book of Leviticus this command regarding the harvest.  “When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap the corners of your field, or gather the gleanings of your harvest; you shall leave them for the poor and for the alien: I am the L-rd your G-d.”  (Lev 23:22).  This is a command of G-d and you could ask the question how big of an area counts as the corner.  How much area in the corner can I not harvest?  Does that include the edges of the field? because that is actually another way of translating the word for corner.  Can my reapers place their basket on the ground to catch some of the heads of grain that fall?  That is being concerned with the details of law.  But to ask those questions is to miss the point of this command, which the text states plainly, “you shall leave them for the poor and the alien.”  G-d is compassionate toward the poor and the foreigner.  The Pharisees seek to honor G-d by making sure they honor the edges and the corners.  But they ask the wrong question.  The question they ask is “How small can I make my corners and edges and still honor G-d?”  Jesus and Isaiah seek to help all people see the poor  and foreigner who glean and collect what is left.  This verse of Law in Leviticus reveals not G-d’s love of the law, but his concern for the vulnerable, the poor and those without a land to call their own.  The passage reveals divine grace and mercy, which seeks to change the question to “How much of my field can I leave so that the glory and grace of God can be seen in this field?”  This difference begins to describe the righteousness described in the Sermon on the Mount. 

You see this again in our Isaiah passage, most obviously when the prophet talks about fasting.  To those who fast and feels like G-d does not notice (verse 3), the prophet responds for G-d, “Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,”

And then on the top of the next page

Is this not the fast I choose:

to loose the bonds of injustice

to undo the thongs of the yoke,

to let the oppressed go free,

and to break every yoke?

Is it onto to share your bread with the hungry,

and bring the homeless poor into your house;

when you see the naked to cover them,

and not hide yourself from your own kin?

Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,

and your healing shall spring up quickly;

(Isaiah 58: 6-8)

To fast just to deny yourself food and honor G-d misses the point.  Fasting seeks to build awareness towards the poor and to build up hunger for justice and righteousness for all people.  For the Israelites, the fast connects them to their past and reminds them that they were a foreigner in the land of Egypt and G-d lead them out with a mighty hand and an outstretched hand.  

You can also see this on our Souper Bowl table.  We have a table set up with the Patriots logo on one half and the Falcons logo on the other half.  And we have invited you to bring cans of food and place them on the table of either your favorite team of the two, or the team you think is going to win the game tonight.  I really do not care how you choose where to place your cans.  You hate Matt Ryan so you place your cans on the Patriots, great.  You walked in and placed your cans on the Falcons because they are closest to the door when you walked in.  Not a problem.  Your best friend is cheering for the Falcons, and you really do not care, so you placed your cans on the Patriots with a big grin on your face just to kid them, push their buttons a little.  Good for you.  This is only in part about the game, but what it is truly about, just like the Leviticus, is sharing in G-d’s concern for those who are hungry.  What this is truly about is helping place food in the hands of the hungry and giving G-d the glory.  And if we can do that with a smile on our face, all the more better.  Righteousness is not about picking the winning team.  Righteousness is about the table and the banquet.  If you believe the Kingdom of Heaven has a banquet table, then you have to know that God wants those who will eat there to eat here on earth.  

Returning to the Sermon on the Mount, the Kingdom of Heaven is now.  Wherever Jesus is, there stands the Kingdom of Heaven.  Our gospel today continues the lesson Jesus shared last week when you heard the Beatitudes.  (You might want to go back and read the beginning of Chapter 5 this afternoon.)  In the Beatitudes, Jesus lists those blessed by G-d, and the blessing of G-d had nothing to do with the Law.  Jesus explained that the blessing of G-d comes to the persecuted, the peacemakers, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, and even at the beginning the poor of spirit.  Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.  The Kingdom of Heaven happens now as well as in you future.  Wherever you find Jesus, there stands the Kingdom of Heaven.  And when the blessed gather and where the blessed gather and reveal both the glory of God and the compassion of God, in that moment righteousness happens.  Salvation comes from Christ; His righteousness lives in you.  

Amen

Thoughts from the Pulpit

Pastor McCarty's Sunday Sermon

Christ Lutheran Church, Staunton, VA

December 6, 2015 Luke 3: 1-6

2^nd Sunday of Advent

Tags: Luke 3

The world is messy, you understand that reality. In the midst of this messy world, God has provided this worship service to remind you of his affection for you. I will return to that point.

First, I encourage you during this advent season to sit down and read the gospel of Luke from beginning to end. You probably can read it in two to three hours.

You know the best way to start studying the Bible?

This is a joke by the way. I tell you that so that when I give you the punch line you know you have permission to laugh.

My younger son brought home from school a random acts of kindness calendar for the month of December. Wednesday was “Tell a person a joke and make them laugh.” So we sat around the table for breakfast Wednesday morning and told a bunch of light bulb jokes. (How many charismatic pentecostal missionary children does it take to change a light bulb?) I will save those for Epiphany.

This joke is appropriate for today. What is the best way to start studying the Bible?

You Luke into it? You (Look) into it?

So again (anyhow, I will work on my delivery) I encourage you to break open your Bible during your preparations for Christmas and read the Gospel of Luke in the next two weeks. As you read the Gospel of Luke, you will get this sense that even as God works in the world, something bigger is about to happen.

God is at work setting something up and building anticipation.

The first chapter of Luke begins with the Angel Gabriel appearing in the temple to Zechariah and telling Zechariah that his and Elizabeth's prayers have been answered and they will have a son, who they will name John, and John will be great in the sight of the Lord. And then next Gabriel goes to Mary and calls her blessed by God, and she to will conceive a child. Then the pregnant Mary and the very pregnant Elizabeth get together and the child in Elizabeth leaps at the arrival of the mother of our Lord. And Chapter 1 of Luke ends with the birth of John and Zechariah's song of praise that we read in the place of our Psalm this morning.

A lot happens in Chapter 1 of Luke, 80 verses, 4 different scenes, three ordinary people that God chooses to work through—Mary, Elizabeth and Zechariah. One extraordinary person, John the Baptist who leaps in the womb upon the arrival of Mary. And even this extraordinary prophet, pales in comparison to the one who is to come. A lot happens in Chapter 1 of Luke, but we have this anticipation that something even bigger is about to happen.

This brings us to Chapter 3, the beginning of John the Baptist's ministry. Chapter 3 begins with a litany of names of almost extraordinary people, almost extraordinary except for the fact that they behave in less than ordinary ways. And behaving in less than ordinary ways, they have made a bit of a mess of the world in which this story takes place. Almost like the start of a joke: an emperor and four governors were lost in the dessert. Or a father and a son went to church one day. (Annas and Caiaphas, the two high priests were father and son in-law. The story is that Annas was forced into retirement by Tiberius.) If this is the start of a joke, it is the start of a bad joke. The Emperor of Rome, the Governors, the high priest of the temple and the former high priest had the power and position to do something incredible. They had power to save lives. Instead the word of God comes to John in the wilderness, in the middle of nowhere and that gives start to something incredible. His words and the prophet's Isaiah words prepare the world to receive the Messiah.

And you and I know if the word of God is active in someone, something great is about to happen. When I set up the joke at the beginning of the message, you may have had this sensation, anticipation, that you were going to be either mildly disappointed or somewhat amused. When God sets things up, when you see God active, when God is active in someone and you know something great is about to happen, we call that hope. The hope of God acts as a powerful force in the world.

The world even two thousand years after Tiberius, Pilate, Herod, Philip, Annas, and Caiaphas, (the world) is still messy. We can no longer blame that on them anymore. We find ourselves waiting for the next explosion or gunshots or frightening medical diagnosis. In this world God acts for good. His word is on the lips and in the hearts of thousands and millions of men and women. They gather for worship because they know God cares, and we refuse to live in a messy world without hope. This worship is a reminder that hope is for you as well. His holiness, his affection is for you. The coming Savior is for you. With everything going on in the world, be reassured that God is there sharing his love and offering his hope. And yet still, God is here with his hope and his affection for you today and always.

Amen.

First Sunday of Advent

Pastor McCarty's Sunday Sermon

Christ Lutheran Church, Staunton, VA

1^st Sunday of Advent

November 29, 2015

Luke 21: 25-36

Tags: Peace, Quilts, Advent, Luke 21

This Sunday we have with us three peace quilts that were made by the people of Staunton as part of last years Peace Rally in Gypsy Hill Park. These quilts are the joint effort of children and adults, some adults parents, some adults grandparents and some of the adults who have yet to have or never had children. When I saw the quilts I recognized some of the names on them. [Read some children's names from quilts. Acknowledge two adults whose names are on the quilts]. I will read some of the quotes later, yet...

As you hear our scripture passages for today, you need to have the context of peace in your heart and on your mind. Because when you have peace in your heart and mind, then you will understand why Advent begins the first week with the anticipation of Christ's second coming. You celebrate this first Sunday of Advent in anticipation of the return of the Prince of Peace.

The attacks in Paris have made people uncomfortable, again. Heightened security surrounded the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade. I would guess heightened security in our airports as well. People are nervous.

Closer to home, Chicago Illinois has been on edge this week as a 13 month old dash cam video of a police shooting was finally released. City residents and officials feared protests would turn to riots.

Before you lament how the world is changed, remember how on edge the world was before World War II, or at least what you heard about that time. The world was on edge when Nazi Germany was building military forces and annexing Austria and occupying Czechoslovakia and commandeering Jewish businesses and homes and destroying Jewish lives.

And before that worldly trauma, how the depression engulfed this country in deep poverty.

And also, for more of you, in your life how civil rights protesters were not always welcomed in communities where they marched.

It has been 150 years since Staunton experienced the ransacking and fires associated with war, which means not in our life times. And over those 150 years, this community has forgotten what that occupation and destruction was like. Though in other ways you have experienced the tribulation and uncertainties connected with having family members go overseas to fight.

Luke writes a gospel passage, the one that we read this morning, that is as fascinating as it is unsettling. Few Christians doubt that Jesus predicted the destruction of the temple. Even if Luke writes this after the temple has been destroyed, Christians do not question that Jesus prophesied the destruction as part of his teachings. None of Jesus' predictions however describe the horrible onslaught against human lives connected to the temple's destruction. In his book the Jewish Wars, the Jewish historian Josephus records the brutality of the siege by Rome by participants from both sides of the conflict as well as residents starved out during the siege. All I can say is worse than the destruction of the World Trade Towers, worse than Sherman's march on Atlanta, worse than Gettysburg or Antietam. When the first Christians heard what Luke wrote, they wouldn't need to be reminded of what happened in Jerusalem.

They had their Jerusalem. We have France, the World Trade Towers, WWII, the depression, civil unrest and discrimination. We have our own unrighteousness and slowly over the next thousand years these too will fade from memory. What will last? Verse 33 tells us what will last. “Heaven and Earth ill pass away,” Jesus says, “but my words [Jesus words] will not pass away.” These words proclaim truth and grace, reality, forgiveness, and hope. As your redemption draws near, as the second coming draws near, as peace draws near, the words of Jesus will stand strong. And these words, his words, will inspire.

Here are some of those quotes about peace.

Peace is when you are free of fear.      Nancy with drawing by Rony

Share your Birthday presents.      Camryn

Birds chirp a peaceful song.      Samantha with drawing by Lele and Nalia

If you chop down trees, plant new ones.       Sydney with drawing by Charlotte

All of us who live and have faith understand that part of our ministry is to work for peace that will only fully arrive in the return of Christ the savior. We will see fruits of that peace, like panels on these quilts and you will receive words of hope that remind you that you are not alone.

Knowing and Loving our Neighbors,

   even if we don't really like them.       Beverly with drawing by Julian

Peace is no fighting. Everything is Awesome.

   Everything is Awesome.       Carter with drawing by Emmitt.

I am fairly certain I have said this before. The liturgical church year begins right where it ends: with readings focused on the end times, the eschaton. In Advent, this focus reminds us as we prepare to celebrate Jesus nativity, that we also await his coming again. We want [desire] Jesus to come again. We want all of creation to experience the peace that God intended.

Peace is a new generation of children who are taught to choose love.

      Emily with drawing by Andrew.

Amen

John the Baptist and the Voice of God

Pastor McCarty's Sunday Sermon

Christ Lutheran Church, Staunton, VA

July 12, 2015  Mark 6: 14-29

Tags: Mark 6, Baptist, Sin

John the Baptist and the Voice of God

The beheading of John the Baptist seems preposterous; an extravagant tale that comes to you straight out of Game of Thrones, or Outlanders, or the Mad Max saga.  Except, except you who are wary of the world know better than to think or to say this could never happen today.

Newspaper stories or gossip of love triangles where one rival tries to take out, squeeze out, push out their competition.  Maybe they do not go to the point of death, but of course it has gone that far, and not just in the movies.

Likewise you hear of modern attempts to silence ones biggest critic by various means: scandal, imprisonment, or death.

The story of Herod, and Phillip, and Herodias, and her daughter, and John the Baptist seems exaggerated to the point of grotesque ridicule.   And yet you know, whether or not you are willing to admit it, that you too deal with this crud to some lesser extent.

Maybe you have a rival? If not a rival someone to gets on your nerves, annoys you--maybe at work, maybe a cousin, maybe a boss or someone who became your boss.  Maybe they are confrontational, maybe they are a bit too perfect, or a bit too perky, or a bit too lucky, or a bit too problematic.  Someone you just wish would go away. You don't want to cut off their head, just cut them off or cut them out.  That is what this story is about.

Maybe someone you love and who loves you back, did something for you that they really should never have done?  They did something they didn't have to do, but they did it anyhow because of love.  Maybe they looked the other way.  Maybe they gave something to you on the side.  Maybe they stood up for you even when you were dead wrong.  That is what this story is about.

Maybe you said something you regret?  Maybe even as soon as it was said, you realized this is going to come back to haunt you?  That is what this story is about.

Maybe you have seen your own sin in your children as if they learned it from you?  That is what this story is about.

Maybe you have partied just a little bit too hard.  And maybe in the frivolity or jubilation of the moment, you came this close to doing something you regret.  Or maybe did something that haunts you even today?  That is what this story is about.

This story is about sin.  John the Baptist spoke clearly against sin, and he is dead.  Trust me when I say there are others relieved to not hear him anymore.  They wished him to go away rather than to get killed, but now at least John is no longer confronting them with his righteous way of living.

Remember, John prepared the way.  Remember what John proclaimed, “A baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.”  Repentance and also urgency when you remember that he said that “The one who is more powerful than I is coming after me.”  Preparation, repentance, and urgency, that message was silenced in the death of John the Baptist.  Death silenced John.

Death, however, did not silence God.

Jesus steps forward from the moment of his baptism and proclaims a message of repentance and forgiveness and faith, and does so with power.   People are healed.  The multitude are fed.  The message pours forth throughout Galilee in the proclamation of his followers.  And the voice of God silenced in John by Herod, still reaches his court and his ears.  The voice of God lives on in Jesus and in his ministry.

And more than Herod will hear, and some again will desire the voice to go away.   Again death will rear its ugly head in the form of the cross.  Death, however, does not, will not silence God.  Even Herod knows what is coming, imagine that.  Herod knows someone is going to be raised from the dead.  He guessed wrongly that it was John.  But he knew it was going to happen.  You and I know that Jesus was raised from the dead.  And the voice of God in the Son of God continues in his ministry and this ministry even today.  And, no maybe about it, his voice is in our voice when...

We praise God that God will not be silenced. 
We sing His praises. 
We give thanks with our voices. 
We speak His word, His Holy Word, with care. 
We speak for justice. 
We lift up, encourage and support the poor. 
We forgive sins. 
We ask others to helps us. 
We teach our children the stories and the practice of faith. 

And when we stand together the voice of God will not be silenced so long as there is a church with breath to sing His praises.

Amen

So They Will Know God...

Pastor McCarty's Sunday Sermon
Christ Lutheran Church, Staunton, VA
July 5, 2015
Tags:  Ezekiel 2, Mark 6, Transitions, Evangelism

So They Will Know God...

[Sermon began with some transitions in the lives of congregation members.  Omitted here.]

Transitions happen quite often in our lives.  Some major transitions, like moving out of state.  Some minor transitions.  Some transitions whose significance you are not quite sure of at the time, like starting high school.

Our gospel lesson has a couple of transitions. You hear how the hometown struggles with the transition of Jesus from rabbi or religious teacher, to prophet. If they cannot accept him as prophet how will they ever be able to accept him as Son of God. You also have Jesus' disciples being sent out on their own, without bread or money in their bag, or an extra tunic just in case. They will be the ones casting out demons, and anointing the sick and even healing them.  They will trust in the generosity of people they have yet to meet to provide for them on their journey.

Transition. I want to take just a minute as we prayerfully consider these transitions and consider the book of Ezekiel. Our scripture this morning included a small portion of the call of Ezekiel.

So far in our summer scripture reading program we have had 4 or 5 days of reading Ezekiel. Depending on today's reading you are somewhere around Chapter 7 or 9. Of those of you reading, how many are already tired of Ezekiel?  One of my pastoral colleagues said of reading Ezekiel, "I guess you need to do it once."

Ezekiel begins with 24 Chapters of judgment, 24 chapters of doom followed by 24 chapter of support and hope. And even those first 9 chapter of supposed hope involve oracles of doom against Israel's enemies, which we do not read as all of that hopeful today. The oracles of hope or restoration begin somewhere around Chapter 33 or 36. For those of you reading, they will come. You will get there.

Today's passage from Ezekiel offers just enough of a platform to proclaim the grace of God to a stubborn people. Some times stubborn is a good thing, occasionally. For example if you stubbornly persist in your reading of Ezekiel, that is a good thing. But most of our stubbornness, frankly works against God. When one stubbornly refuses to come to worship in the Lord's house, or read the scripture, or to thoughtfully examine one's behavior and identify what sins truly need to be confessed. God sent Ezekiel to a stubborn people, not just stubborn, but a nation of rebels living in a land of exile. God will place words in Ezekiel's mouth and give him a message to proclaim and many will not listen to him. [But,] But, eventually they will know and come to realize that there has been a prophet among them, a prophet of the most high God.

When they realize that, they will know that God has not forgotten them. Ezekiel is bizarre, but this bizarre prophet with his apocalyptic like imagery, and visionary use of descriptive language stands as a reminder of the love of God for his children.

The same can be said about Nazareth, Jesus hometown, where he grew up and matured from a child to a teenager to an adult. Eventually, they will know that there was a prophet among them, and not only a prophet, but someone who loved them unto death, and brought them into life.  One day, some of them will realize just who Jesus is, and then they will know God and God's love.

The same can be said about the disciples sent out in pairs to neighboring villages and homes. Even those places where they shook the dust of their feet, one day people in those villages might just realize that God sent to them an ambassador of His love.  And then they will know God.

The same is true with your invitations to friends and neighbors to come to worship or to read scripture or to be faithful or to believe in Christ and be baptized. You invite them, not that they will respond right away. You will invite them to be here next week. They may not come. You will lend them a bible, or give them a bible, they may not open it this year. They might not respond even when you are alive. You invite them however, you encourage them, so that when they come to believe then they will know.  When they come to respond, their eyes will open and they will see in you that God has been with them all along.  Then they will know that God has sent messengers to them all along and that God has loved them all along.  Then they will know that God has believed in them always, since that moment you first said a Christian word in their hearing, since the moment they were born.

Ezekiel is worth reading, stick with it, be persistent, a prophet among us even today.

Amen.

A Subtle Moment Jesus Won't Let You Miss

Pastor McCarty's Sunday Sermon

Christ Lutheran Church, Staunton, VA

June 28, 2015  A Day of Remembrance and Mourning in the ELCA

Scripture: Mark 5: 21-43

Tags:  Mark 5; Day of Repentance

(This sermon was preached with descriptive sentence fragments and at least one really long run-on sentence that I rushed through in speaking. My English major friends will cringe at these grammatical choices. My friends in rhetoric and theater will recognize the practice of rhetorical tropes and figures in public speaking.  I tried to clean some of it up for posting, but it became less the message that I proclaimed on Sunday.  Consequently, I left much of it intact even though it looks awkward in written language.)

Chapter 4 of Mark begins with Jesus teaching beside the sea. He teaches in parables to a crowd so large that he needs to stand in a boat and lecture while the very large crowd listens on the shore.

Chapter 4:35, the reading for last week, begins with Jesus telling his disciples, “Let us go across to the other side.” Jesus and his disciples in boats on the sea at night are almost swept away by the wind and the rain. Jesus sleeps in the stern of the boat and the disciples, frightened awake him, and he asks them have you no faith.

They finally arrive on the other side of the sea at the beginning of Chapter 5, but that only lasts until today's reading when Jesus crossed again in the boat to the other side.

And in Chapter 6 after today's lesson Jesus will leave this place and go to his hometown.

[The scripture is full of] Movement, coming and going and back and forth and crossing over and crossing back and going home.

Even in our lesson this morning, not only is Jesus moving, people are moving around him. Jairus comes, and Jesus goes, and the crowd follows and presses in.

Even in our life of faith, the life of Christ the congregation, we have people being sent out this week and new members joining. And [we have] people who weren't here last week coming back, and people who were here last week, not here, and my nephew visiting from Dubai sitting with his cousins, but only for a little bit because after lunch we are taking him to Pennsylvania. And for all these lives, coming and going and traveling, we surround them and support them with prayer.

So much movement, Jesus crossing over and back, and over again; the people coming to him; and he goes to people; and the crowd swarms and presses in. And our movement happens on top of that.

You almost might miss it. And really does it matter if you miss it. It would be quite natural for you to overlook, or not stop, just keep on moving. So much power. Jesus has so much power, what does it matter if a little bit of that power goes out from him in a touch amongst the pressing of the crowd and the movement of the people and the urgency of Jairus whose daughter is dying.

[The woman offers] A bold touch, a bold and yet discreet touch with all of Jesus coming and going and the frantic crowds surrounding him. This woman in need. This faithful woman. One might come close to missing this faithful woman in need. A faithful woman, who for a really long time, twelve years has been considered unclean, like a leper, dirty. Imagine being told, you cannot come to church and you need to stay away from those people who do go to church. For twelve years, you have no church and no Christian people in your life. Sin will do that to you, make you feel unworthy. [Keep you,] keep people away from this place because they feel unworthy, even if it is exactly the place [you] they need to be. She, the unnamed woman in our Gospel, lived like that, or at least with those instructions, to keep your distance. She boldly and yet discreetly reached out to Jesus from the camouflage of the crowd and touched Jesus. Perhaps her touch is like our prayers. Boldly and yet discreetly, we pray for ourselves and what ails us, and we reach out to God, with everything going on in the world and here in the church. Praying like this woman and how she reaches out to touch Jesus.

You almost might miss it. With the comings and the goings, the back and forth and Jairus daughters and funerals in Charleston and attacks in Tunisia and France, and the Women's World Cup. And really does it matter if you miss it. [Of course it matters.] It would be quite natural for you to overlook one woman, or not stop, just keep on moving. So much power. Jesus has so much power, what does it matter if a little bit of that power goes out from him. A touch amongst the pressing of the crowd and the movement of the people and the urgency of Jairus whose daughter is dying.

Jesus stops. Actually he doesn't stop, he turns about. “Who touched my clothes?” His cloak. If the governor was in Staunton, would you put your arm around him to have your picture taken with him. Probably not the best example, some of you wouldn't think anything about it. If the president was in town, or the former president, how close do you think you could get. Pope Francis, can you picture the masses lining up wherever is caravan might be driving just to catch a glimpse. When he was cardinal in Argentina, he would ride the bus. Not anymore. What was it like when the Statler Brothers brought Johnny Cash or Reba McEntire to Staunton for the 4^th of July and people crowded the city for a free concert and celebration. They estimated 92,000 for Reba, which is almost 4 times the normal population of the city all crowded in around Gypsy Hill Park.

Jesus turns about and searches out for one person in need, for one lost sheep among a thousand. And with everyone looking around, this woman takes another bold and yet humble action. She comes forward and confesses what she has done. The Lutheran Church does not boldly practice confession, putting people on the spot, like this woman has been singled out. We trust in the act of confessing at the beginning of worship that people will be repentant. We trust that they will recognize their sin and perhaps give reflection regarding what sin in their own lives they need to change.

This woman boldly comes forward to acknowledge that she who is unclean, whom scripture and society would have forbade contact with a priest or Levi or a man, has touched Jesus. She was like the wounded man on the side of the road in the parable of the good Samaritan. The Levi and the priest passed on the other side fearing contact with the man who was as good as dead to them. She has touched Jesus en-route to a potential miracle and taken some of his power from him.

She comes forward boldly and humbly when it would have been easier to stay back. And Jesus pronounces her well. Just like he pronounces you well when you sincerely confess your sins. And this woman needs to be pronounced well. This faithful woman who for 12 years has faced this disease needs the assurance that she has been healed and that she can continue to reach out to other faithful people and be in fellowship with them.

You almost might miss it in the goings and the comings, the crowds and the pressing, and Jairus' daughter dying.

You almost might miss it with the comings and the goings, the crossing over and back again, and Jairus' daughter and funerals in Charleston and debate over an old symbol that Southern states dusted off to protest the Supreme Courts ruling in Brown verses the Board of Education, and the Supreme Court this week making marriage of same gender couples the law of the land and attacks in Tunisia and France and Kuwait, and the Women's World Cup, and prisoners escaped in New York, and shark attacks in North Carolina.

It would be easy to miss, the discreet practice of boldness lost in the crowd. [It would be easy] to just move on. A faithful person confessing and being pronounced well. Except it is not just one woman. This is about more than one woman. Here today in this worship someone, or someones, or all of you, have confessed and reached out to Jesus. You have boldly yet discreetly confessed. And by the command of our Lord Jesus Christ, I pronounce the entire forgiveness of all your sin.

God almighty has made you well.

Amen

Living in Eager Anticipation

Pastor McCarty's Sunday Sermon

Christ Lutheran Church, Staunton, VA

March 1, 2015

Tags:  Mark 8; Eager Anticipation

Living in Eager Anticipation

Jesus instructs his followers this morning to “Take up their cross and follow me.” That statement stands as a statement of deep faith. Perhaps deeper than many Christians find themselves ready to engage in. To tone the statement down a bit, consider this catchphrase, “drop everything and go.” Both statements suggest that what you are currently doing might not be as important as what you could be doing. Actually, you may have heard “drop anything and go” in advertising and marketing. “Drop everything and go to Crazy Harry's discount emporium,” which of course is not what we are talking about. So to our statement of faith, “drop everything and go” we will add another statement of faith:

“Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.”

Those who were here for Ash Wednesday worship will remember as we gathered around the communion rail to celebrate the Lord's Supper, we proclaimed the mystery of faith. “Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.”

The Christian Church has taught belief around this proclamation. You believe Christ died. You believe Christ rose. And I hope you believe that Christ will come again.

Again the Christian Church has anchored our proclamation on this truth. This confession within the confession. Where, perhaps, the church has missed the boat is the extent of our hope. You believe these words, but do you eagerly anticipate this. Eagerly anticipate it to the point of “drop everything and go.” One might think that eager anticipation might guide our expectation of Christ's return, but probably not.

How might these words sound different if you surround them with eager anticipation:

Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ will come again.

Are you looking for Christ now? What does it mean to pick up your cross and follow Christ now. I will answer that question for you. It means Christ is here, now.

Sometimes the news provides lousy examples. You may have seen two this week about what has gotten people ready to “drop everything and go.” This week in the news you may have heard about or read about teenagers from Canada and three teenage girls from the United Kingdom flying to Syria by way of Turkey. The fear is that they are going to become a part of ISIS.  Some people will drop everything and go.  Though it might frighten us as to where they are going.  Pray for these girls, also a couple of boys from Canada, pray for them and their families.

Here is a less troubling example: a pool of a hundred people have been gathered from thousands of applications for a one way trip to settle Mars. A one way ticket, where the first settlers of Mars will likely have a life expectancy of about a hundred days. And the hundred in the pool eagerly anticipate the chance to be pioneers, to be remember as the first to settle Mars. Eager anticipation such that you leave everything and go.

But take these examples and wonder about this, what would make you in your teenage years, young adult years, what could the church have done to get you excited, and if not run away, move away in eager anticipation that Christ is here now or that Christ is coming soon. Actually it happens in the Lutheran Church, the ELCA has a program called Young Adults in Global Mission, where a young adult, aged 19 through 29, applies to live internationally for a year and do ministry in God's name.

YAGM Luke Hanson lives and works in rural eastern Rwanda, he teaches children at an elementary school organized by the Lutheran Church. He recently wrote: "One of the important themes that has colored my life in the last few months is that of “waiting well.” ....I’m learning from Rwanda that waiting well is about trusting— about
relinquishing the fear of uncertainty and pain and 
brokenness that breeds urgency and impatience—
waiting poorly. As it happens, my Rwandan village 
neighbors have been excellent teachers.... Things which initially caused me such great impatience and frustration are no longer such a huge deal ..."

(from www.ELCA.org)

I like the paradox of not being urgent or anxious from Luke's blog cast against our eager anticipation of God's return. We wait patiently for Christ to return and yet we eagerly anticipate his return as well. We eagerly anticipate Christ's return so much that we look for it here on earth.

Perhaps this just might be the conundrum of the church. The church lifts up the resurrection as eager anticipation because of death. The closer one gets to death, the more one latches on to the hope of the resurrection. But for youth who have little reason to think about death, and middle aged adults as well frankly who do not want to think about their own mortality, the church needs another message.

To help them, young and old alike, we all can open our eyes and hearts to eager anticipation of Christ's return, not because death is a painful reality, not because you think the world is so messed up. Open your eyes and heart to the coming of Christ with eager anticipation because heaven is such glorious place, a wonderful place. And that heaven is so good and wonderful and glorious that it is overflowing onto earth now. Christ is here now.  The goodness and the glory of heaven overflow to you today, to us today and to the world today. And Christ tells you where to look to find him and the goodness of heaven, “pick up your cross and follow me.”

Amen