The Meaning of Life

Luke 12: 13-21 and Animal Sunday  

What is life really for? What is the meaning and purpose of life? Even if we weren’t gathering on a Sunday morning as people trying to discover who God is, what Jesus invites us to do with our lives, even if we don’t really grasp the Holy Spirit in our midst… even then, we might still have these deeper questions about what life is about from time to time.

And as we’re divided as a nation, as a globe, and as families about the answers to those persistent questions.  Is life about sharing? Well, sharing is good… but when someone in the crowd says to Jesus, “Hey Jesus, tell my older brother to divide the family inheritance with me!” Jesus doesn’t say anything except he’s not going to judge on that. That feels a little surprising, doesn’t it? Especially if we think that’s mostly what God and church is about… to help us be better people, more loving, more sharing… it seems weird that Jesus won’t weigh in on what seems like a pretty simple justice issue like that. Share with your brothers and sisters—a no-brainer, right?

But instead of giving a common sense kind of answer, Jesus tells a story that digs deeper. The parable is about a rich farmer who has such an enormous harvest that he can’t even fit all the crops in the barns he already has… in that way, he is rich. Finally, finally, he feels like he has enough to “relax, eat, drink, be merry.” He’s been waiting his whole life for this moment, putting off enjoyment until finally, finally, he has more than enough.

But in another way, this parable is about the poorest man we meet in scripture… until his encounter with God that night, there is not one other person in this parable, he is completely isolated. We don’t know if his pursuit of wealth got him to this place of being utterly alone, but we’ve certainly heard stories like that before.  He talks to himself in the third person. There is no apparent thought about who he might share this abundant harvest with… there’s just him. And when God shows up, the conversation is about how this poor guy’s priorities were just utterly messed up.

Hoarding stuff or dividing stuff in order to make up for the relationships that are broken will just never work. That’s the hard truth that rings out in this story. Life is short, too short to give power and meaning to things that are not lasting, but we are surrounded (and evidently, have always been surrounded) by so many voices that tell us something else.

One pastor at text study cited a study from some years back that whatever people’s income level, when polled, they consistently answered that if they just had 30% more than they have right now, they would be alright. Don’t you think that for everyone… from the poorest, the middle (or the new middle) class, to the wealthiest to be convinced that we need just this much more means that we must be drinking that message in constantly, almost like it’s pollution in the water we drink, the air we breathe.

So, how do we live a different story, given that very powerful dominant story of not quite enough, not ever quite enough?

Well, maybe one unexpected answer is in our practices each Sunday…

            We relax, eat, drink, and find reasons to be merry—wait, what?

We breathe in peace, we share a meal, we find reasons for joy… all along the way of life, struggling against isolation by coming together in imperfect community, before we’ve got life all figured out, before we have more than enough…

We share—not only a portion of our resources to do good in the word, but we share our highs and lows, our milestones with one another.

We read a Bible verse or story.

We talk about how the story we’ve read might relate to your highs and lows.

We pray for one another’s highs and lows.

And we bless one another—with a meal, with words and good touch, and words of peace.

Share, read, talk, pray, bless.[1]

It’s what we do on Sundays, but given that powerful counter-stories are in the air and water all around us, maybe Sunday isn’t enough… and so here’s the suggestion I hear this week. We need to do these 5 things—some call them the “Faith 5” every night, in every home. Maybe that means around the supper table or five minutes before bedtime… whenever you have 5 to 15 minutes to give to the others in your home. If you live alone, maybe that means calling up another person from church as a partner in ministry so that everyone that gathers here on Sunday would have the opportunity to listen and be listened to every day of the week. How might that change our lives?

Well, the Faith 5 website says this, “When done over time, the FAITH5™ carries the power to enrich communication, deepen understanding, aid sleep, and promote mental, physical and spiritual health.” Rich Melheim, who developed this resource, pointed out how important the last five minutes of our day is for our brain health. Whatever we are reflecting on during those last minutes, move through neuro-connections all through the night. Those last thoughts each day circle through our dreams; they are with us in wakeful moments throughout the night. So, what if the words and stories of the Bible, the highs and lows of our loved ones, the prayers and blessings we’ve shared were the bedrock of our brain’s work all night? Just that thought alone makes me want to try it…

Add to that, that praying for and blessing one another, holding one another’s hands is vitally important for physical health—and if that sounds weird to do, which it might, if we’re out of practice (or if we’ve never tried it), but physiologically, good words and good touch send positive endorphins throughout our bodies and help cortisol go out our bodies. I’m not sure exactly why or how… but turns out, there’s evidence for that as well. Why would we not want to do that for ourselves, and for those we love? Why wouldn’t we want to practice that, not just on Sundays but every day?

And then, one other detail… think of the time we give each day to other kinds of pursuits, to social media, to TV or news… yes, we’re busy, but are we really too busy for 5 to 15 minutes daily for these activities with the people we love the most? With the God who loves us more deeply than we can even comprehend?

Here’s what I know… my family has tried something like this practice during Advent, and it is powerful and good each year. Why not a daily practice? We’re not too busy to try… and if we try and some days we can’t do it, wouldn’t it be worth it to keep trying for any day we could?

This parable of Jesus about a man who had everything but was about to lose it all, a person who had no one else to share life’s questions with reminds us that there is an urgency to the good news of Jesus Christ… of God’s steadfast love…

We don’t want to be stuck thinking that the meaning of life is about gathering and heaping up a lot of stuff or experiences or whatever else is less important than the body of Christ and the work of Christ… and we need practices that can help us know God and practice faith and community in our lives every day.  Relax, eat, drink, and be merry… that might be one surprising way to think about what we do each week together. The Faith 5 – another possibility for practicing our faith together, with intentionality in a culture that often teaches us to prioritize the wrong things…

In Jesus Christ, we have been set free—to be in relationships where we share, read, talk, pray, bless—and through the power of the Holy Spirit, God invites us discover the meaning in this kind of life.

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[1] The Faith 5 – www.faith5.org and www.faithink.com

God holds the future

Ordination of Wayne Van Kauwenbergh 

Present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God… Be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God… and use the faith and gifts that God has given, gifts that differ from person to person to build up the whole body.

As Paul wrote to the early followers of Christ gathered in Rome, he was not necessarily thinking about this day of your ordination, Wayne, but it certainly seems like a wonderful word for today. As you journeyed to seminary, you brought your whole self. You made dramatic changes to your life, moving across country. You diligently studied in a theology program that is certainly about testing and stretching, renewing and expanding minds, and you have brought your heart, faith, and gifts to the practical side of ministry as well. Although I’m sure that your internship congregation experienced this much more deeply, we’ve had a taste of you sharing your gifts here at Christ as you’ve preached and taught; as you’ve used your truck to bring people to and from worship, carted canned foods to the food pantry, and brought ample baked goods to the CLC Women’s bake sales. You’ve cleaned the nursery; you’ve given generously; you’ve sung in the choir. At least once or twice, you’ve given of yourself and your time with such abundance that along with my gratitude, I’ve wondered how things will be for you as you move into congregations as their pastor. Will you work yourself too hard? Will you be disappointed if people don’t pitch in with the same gusto? Will people drop their tasks into Pastor Wayne’s capable hands and leave you bearing a responsibility too big for any mere mortal to carry? These are the concerns of an overly protective colleague in ministry…

This week with Bishop Narum and 400 church leaders, I have been attending a conference at Luther Seminary called Rethinking Sunday Morning. Church is no longer the church of the 1950s, 60s, 70s, or 80s. The role of pastor is ever-evolving. Here’s what I’ve been re-thinking over these days in this gathered learning community: in view of very quickly changing contexts of ministry, how do we learn and re-learn what our job is as pastors and as the whole people of God… not working harder and harder to try to save those things which are no longer serving Christ’s mission as they once did, but listening in this Spirit-filled moment for how God is calling us to use our diverse, God-given gifts in ancient and new ways.

It seems like no mistake, then, that in the gospel reading you chose for this day, Jesus is sending laborers to every place where he himself intends to go. Jesus invites followers to travel light, an act of dependence on God. Jesus invites us to share peace and accept hospitality of the new communities we enter. Jesus invites us to be healers in their midst. Jesus even says there are consequences for those who don’t welcome God’s disciples, and gives disciples authority to do powerful things, but with this caution…

“Don’t rejoice when you have power over the enemy, over principalities and powers… rejoice that you are claimed by and beloved of God, that your future with God is secure.”

This is for both pastors and all of us, called by God from the moment of baptism. No matter whether we are feeling victorious or dejected, whether we think we are succeeding or failing, no matter whether our work seems fruitful or in vain, we are still claimed by and beloved of God, our future is secure.

Wayne, just as you have entered this community in Saint Paul, and specifically Christ on Capitol Hill, as a student and servant, generously sharing yourself, your time and your skills with this community of faith, now… Christ sends you. You don’t go alone. You don’t go just to fill a gap where a pastor is needed, but you go to re-imagine with the people of the Grenora-Zahl parish of the Western North Dakota Synod how to share peace and hospitality, how to be healers in the midst of a community that is growing and changing. As a newcomer and stranger, for a short window of time, you will have an eye for how newcomers experience the congregations… during this time, you’ll be able to wonder together how long-timers and newcomers can come together and be transformed through Christ who lives in us.

Then, as you get settled in and cultivate trust through sharing in Christ’s ministry of love and service in the world, as you are entrusted with the office of word and sacrament… over time, you will see transformation and you will be transformed. In many small ways, and sometimes in ways that seem very significant, you’ll see God operating in just the ways that Paul describes for the Romans. You’ll see prophecy—the person who had a great vision but had to wait until it was the kairos moment for it to happen (but then it does)! Or you’ll see great teaching—in formal and informal ways. Or you’ll overhear an exhortation—“Pastor, you take that well-deserved vacation!” Or you’ll become aware of an exceptionally generous gift of time or money, a gift that makes you cry. Or, the Council will work through an important decision with incredible respect for the differing views at the table; or the people will surround a family with a newly adopted child or the loss of a spouse with love-in-a-dish, every night of the week. Who knows what wonders lie ahead? And I don’t mean to sugar-coat what can sometimes be a hard and lonely calling… after all, Jesus does also say, “I’m sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.” There will be times like that, too. There are ways in which pastors, who are by definition temporary (however devoted, however loved)…they are always strangers, travelers, reminders to the gathered community that God shows up in many, not just one.

But… as I have gotten to know you, and resiliency and humbleness that you already show, I imagine that gratitude will be one of the best gifts you share with your congregations over the years you serve with them. Gratitude for these moments of the body of Christ being the body of Christ, gratitude for God’s leading and guiding you to places where Jesus intends to show up (and is already), gratitude that your name (and the names of the people you will serve—including those who are not there yet) are written in heaven.

That is good news as we move into a future that is unknown—that God holds the future—and that just as God has been faithful through each twist and turn of the past, just as God is faithful today, God will be faithful into the future. Do not fear.

As we gather around you today to pray for the Holy Spirit to rest on you, Wayne; and then as we share a meal around the table where you will share with us the body and blood of Christ; we rejoice that God has called you to offer your whole self, your life, your faith and gifts and has called you to do that with the people of Grenora-Zahl. God with good courage, knowing that God’s hand is holding you and God’s love supporting you through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Teach us to pray

Wilderness Sunday

Here’s the story—in a certain place, Jesus was praying. Midway through Jesus’ ministry, midway through the disciples’ journey with this amazing teacher, they notice… Jesus prays, and amazing things happen. And suddenly, they’re filled with curiosity. Huh! I wonder… I wonder if we could do that?

You know, John taught his disciples to pray… why not us?

It reminds me of a story that I heard this summer about the great musician and teacher Shinichi Suzuki. He had an adult student whose 3-year-old son came to listen to his violin lesson and soon, this tiny child was begging to play the violin, so much so that his father asked Dr. Suzuki if he could teach him. At first, Dr. Suzuki was skeptical. How could a 3-year-old play the violin? It’s a very complicated instrument. But as he thought about it, he realized that 3-year-olds could speak Japanese, a very complicated language. How did they do it? They watched, they imitated, they learned bit by bit. And so he began to break down the tasks of playing violin into parts so small that with practice, even a 3-year-old could begin. This week, set your feet. Got that? Now this next week, we'll move the bow up like a rocket, down like the rain… later we’ll hold a box under the chin. My mother-in-law, a violinist an violin teacher herself, describes how she was skeptical about tiny children playing until in 1985 she met Dr. Suzuki, and heard him teach, and suddenly, she saw the Suzuki method in a whole new light, realizing how it used the gifts that children already bring to help them do amazing things.

I imagine this is what it must have felt like when Jesus taught the disciples to pray. It’s not that these ideas didn’t exist before this moment. The prayer that Jesus taught is actually a beautiful compilation and distillation of ideas that are all throughout the Jewish scriptures and would have been present in Jewish life… but Jesus gathers them together, and teaches them in a way that opens up an accessible relationship with God in a beautiful, fresh way.

From the waters of Baptism, from the moment we receive the bread, from the first moment of prayer (whether musical, spoken, or danced) God invites us into a new, fresh relationship, with God… and then with all of humanity and all creation. Lutherans are fond of saying, this is God’s call to people from birth, from baptism, this is God’s lifelong call to each of us. Whether we feel qualified and capable or not, God calls people and makes us capable. Each one of us, as we go out from worship, might be the only gospel that a neighbor or stranger hears… so the call to us all is vitally important.

God’s call, God’s love, God’s abundance can be difficult to believe when we’re in the wilderness.  Some of us have felt deeply in the wilderness this week… through the extreme heat of summer, through the words being thrown around in our political life, through personal struggles, deep grief that goes on and on, through painful recovery from injury or accident…. Through poverty and hard work for little money… through worries about lay-offs and trying to find new work… through anticipation of life-changing events that are ahead… our lists go on and on… it is easy to get in touch with the metaphorical, mental and emotional wildernesses of our days.

And… some of us can also bring to mind easily the beautiful wilderness that we also celebrate today… being outside, way outside, where all those difficulties that I just mentioned fade to the back burner because frankly, when you’re way out in the wilderness, in a canoe or hiking a mountain pass… some things are simpler, more basic. Do we have food, shelter, safety through the night? And it can be a gift, when those things are in place, and things are just… simplified.

Whether you’re moving through a difficult wilderness time or a stunningly stark and beautiful wilderness time, there will almost certainly be days and weeks and months when you will breathe deep and wonder about God in all this?

As Jesus teaches followers about prayer, Jesus promises that God is fully and actively present with you right where you are, even when it’s deep in the wilderness. Jesus says this about prayer.

Knock, and the door will be opened to you.

Seek, and you will find.

Ask, and it will be given to you.

And there will most certainly be times when you’ll think in sadness and doubt, “I just wish I could believe that!”

Jesus is making an amazing claim about God—that God is right here waiting to open, to reveal, to give not only we really need but even the desires of our hearts.

Even though we keep forgetting about God, worrying about God, imagining God shaking a finger at us, or laughing at our mistakes… Even if we say the false mantra “be careful what you pray for!” (as if God is ready to fool or punish or give us a poisonous snake or a stinging scorpion)… Jesus claims that God is not like that at all.

In sharp contrast to our experiences of betrayal in life, God gives good gifts. A fish, not a snake. An egg, not a scorpion. Bread enough for today, forgiveness of our debts, and opportunities to practice forgiveness. God persistently gives good gifts, when we’re right at home, and when we’re going off to adventures unknown.

So, what can we pray for you today? What wilderness are you in or are you facing—a hard wilderness journey? An exciting wilderness trip ahead? We practice praying Jesus’ prayer nearly every Sunday (and we will today, too) but we also need opportunities to pray for specific things together. What are your unmet needs? What door are you knocking on? What are you seeking? What are you asking today? Turn to a neighbor and tell them one short response to any of those questions where a response came to your mind…

What did you learn? Take a minute to commit to your mind the one prayer that you’ll pray for the neighbor you spoke with each day this week.

It’s a gift to have the opportunity to get together here with a beautiful variety of people and hear a different story here than the ones that dominate the rest of our week… here, we learn a counter-story and that good news centers around a giving and thoroughly loving God, a God who bows to us and teaches us to honor one another.

We give thanks to Christ who has taught us to pray so simply and so completely… so that we can grow to embody and preach and teach that good news. We give thanks to God who will provide open spaces, questions, answers, and gifts in new and fresh ways. We give thanks to the Holy Spirit who calls us to go out each day with good courage, knowing that God’s hand is leading and God’s love is supporting us through Christ our Lord. Thanks be to God.

Teach us to pray (A)

 

Ordination of Carol Seilhymer

Good afternoon, let me begin with a few words of thanks. I am so grateful to Carol and Steve for this invitation to preach on this milestone day in your life, and I’m so grateful to Pastor Mark (Ziemann) for welcoming me to have this role today. It was a joy to serve LCP as your interim pastor a few years back, and to work with Carol here at that time; and now, it’s a joy to be your neighbor… a close enough neighbor to run into you from time to time and get to celebrate days of celebration with you. So, thank you.

Here’s the story of Jesus that Carol has chosen for this day—in a certain place, Jesus was praying. Midway through Jesus’ ministry, midway through the disciples’ journey with this amazing teacher, they notice… Jesus prays, and amazing things happen. And suddenly, they’re filled with curiosity. Huh! I wonder… I wonder if we could do that?
You know, John taught his disciples to pray… why not us?

It reminds me of a story that I heard this summer about the great musician and teacher Shinichi Suzuki. He had an adult student whose 3-year-old son came to listen to his violin lesson and soon, this tiny child was begging to play the violin, so much so that his father asked Dr. Suzuki if he could teach him. At first, Dr. Suzuki was skeptical. How could a 3-year-old play the violin? It’s a very complicated instrument. But as he thought about it, he realized that 3-year-olds could speak Japanese, a very complicated language. How did they do it? They watched, they imitated, they learned bit by bit. And so he began to break down the tasks of playing violin into parts so small that with practice, even a 3-year-old could begin. This week, set your feet. Got that? Now this next week, we'll move the bow up like a rocket, down like the rain… later we’ll hold a box under the chin. My mother-in-law, a violinist an violin teacher herself, describes how she was skeptical about tiny children playing until in 1985 she met Dr. Suzuki, and heard him teach, and suddenly, she saw the Suzuki method in a whole new light, realizing how it used the gifts that children already bring to help them do amazing things.

I imagine this is what it must have felt like when Jesus taught the disciples to pray. It’s not that these ideas didn’t exist before this moment. The prayer that Jesus taught is actually a beautiful compilation and distillation of ideas that are all throughout the Jewish scriptures and would have been present in Jewish life… but Jesus gathers them together, and teaches them in a way that opens up an accessible relationship with God in a beautiful, fresh way.

This is what you, Carol, will be asked to do… to teach and preach, to administer the sacraments, to help open up an accessible relationship with God in a beautiful, fresh way, and you are and will be wonderful at it.

But this is not only Carol’s task as she becomes pastor. You know this because you’ve walked with Carol on the days up to this day… she’s been practicing this for quite awhile, and she’s been doing it in communities where many are called to do this… not just those ordained to the ministry of word and sacrament.

From the waters of Baptism, from the moment we receive the bread, from the first moment of prayer (whether musical, spoken, or danced) God invites us into a new, fresh relationship, with God… and then with all of humanity and all creation. Lutherans are fond of saying, this is God’s call from birth, from baptism, this is God’s lifelong call to each of us. Whether we feel qualified and capable or not, God calls people and makes us capable. And that’s not to minimize at all the reason we’re gathered here today, to celebrate this intentional Word and Sacrament ordained ministry that Carol has prepared to do and will do in Montana, but it’s just to say that God calls pastors and God calls us all. Carol is called to preach the gospel, using words when necessary,[1] and each one of us, as we go out from worship, might be the only gospel that a neighbor or stranger hears… so the call to us all is vitally important.

God’s call, God’s love, God’s abundance can be difficult to believe when we’re in the wilderness. As someone embarking on a great adventure to the west…Montana’s northwestern parts with mountain ranges in view… leaving to serve congregations that are most certainly different than here, where you have been loved and nurtured… As someone going as a stranger into the wilderness of ministry…. There will almost certainly be days and weeks and months when you will breathe deep and wonder where is God in all this?

In those moments, you may think back to times at Lutheran Church of Peace, Prairie Star ministries, and Redeemer Lutheran Church in White Bear Lake, and you’ll remember them as havens of goodness and abundance… sometimes, if we aren’t sucked into nostalgia or escapism, the memory of God’s faithfulness in the past can ground us as new challenges emerge.

But what will really sustain you is not only the memory of God’s faithfulness in these beloved places of your past, but the promise that God is fully and actively present with you right where you are, even when it’s deep in the wilderness. Jesus says this about prayer.

Knock, and the door will be opened to you.

Seek, and you will find.

Ask, and it will be given to you.

And there will most certainly be times when you’ll think in sadness and doubt, ”I just wish I could believe that!”

Jesus is making an amazing claim about God—that God is there waiting to open, to reveal, to give not only we really need but even the desires of our hearts.

Even though we keep worrying about God, imagining God shaking a finger at us, or laughing at our mistakes… Even if we say the false mantra “be careful what you pray for!” (as if God is ready to fool or punish or give us a poisonous snake or a stinging scorpion)… God is not like that at all. In sharp contrast to our experiences of betrayal in life, God gives good gifts. A fish, not a snake. An egg, not a scorpion. Bread for today, forgiveness of our debts, and opportunities to practice forgiveness. God persistently gives good gifts, when we’re right at home, but maybe especially when we’re going off to adventures unknown. Carol, as you are ordained today and become officially a pastor in our midst… as you head to Montana to offer your gifts with the people of First Lutheran in Plains and Our Saviour’s In Thompson Falls, we give thanks to Christ who has taught you to pray so that you can embody and preach and teach that good news. We give thanks to God who will provide open spaces, questions, answers, and gifts in new and fresh ways. We give thanks to the Holy Spirit who calls you to go out with good courage, knowing that God’s hand is leading and God’s love is supporting you. Thanks be to God.

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[1] Words from St. Francis