Advent 1 sermon 12/03/06

Heres the sermon for today...on the day I actually preached it. I think it came together okay...
still working on posting my backlog....
-Chrisy

Luke 21:25–36

²⁵There will be signs in the sun, the moon, and the stars, and on the earth distress among nations confused by the roaring of the sea and the waves. ²⁶People will faint from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world, for the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ²⁷Then they will see 'the Son of Man coming in a cloud' with power and great glory. ²⁸Now when these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near."
²⁹Then he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree and all the trees; ³⁰as soon as they sprout leaves you can see for yourselves and know that summer is already near. ³¹So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near. ³²Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until all things have taken place. ³³Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
³⁴Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly, ³⁵like a trap. For it will come upon all who live on the face of the whole earth. ³⁶Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man."

Grace and peace to you from the Father, the Holy Spirit and our Lord, Jesus Christ as we begin our journey of waiting for his birth. Amen

Reading this text for today makes me want to quote from a very popular show of the 80’s Different Strokes. I don’t know how many of you have seen it, but Different Strokes was a show about two young kids Arnold and Willis who lived in Harlem and are adopted by Mr. Drummond and gain a new sister Kimberly. One of Arnolds favorite phrases was...Whatchu you talking about Willis? Willis would come up with all these crazy ideas as to what he and Arnold were going to do to have fun or get out of whatever scrap they found themselves in…or when Willis was just talking and not making any sense…whatchu you talking about Willis

This text makes me want to say…whatchu talking about John and whatchu talking about to the people that decide what order the lectionary texts are in. In other words…what in the world were the people that decide which Sunday we are reading certain Bible passages thinking when they started advent with a text that sounds a lot like the second coming of Christ? Aren’t we supposed to be preparing for the birth of Jesus? Aren’t we supposed to be lighting the first candle in the advent wreath and some time during advent singing songs like Oh come Oh come Emmanuel and Light One Candle to watch for Messiah? What in the world are we doing talking about fear, foreboding and guarding our hearts? At the start of Advent…Why are we reading about and talking about the end?

Lots of people seem to be talking about ends these days. It doesn’t take much to find some spiritual leader warning his or her flock that they need to do good thing x, y and z or else when the rapture happens they might not be selected to go to heaven. They in a real sense might be left behind. Speaking of being Left Behind…the Left Behind book series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins was a pretty popular set of books a few years ago and in some circles still are. I will admit I have never read any of the books in the left behind series nor do I plan to any time soon but they certainly got a lot of people talking about end times and the rapture. In more recent years, we have Dan Brown; author of both the Davinci code and Angels and Demons that spurned more talk about the rapture and conspiracies and all of that.

Ends are constantly on our mind. We mourned the end of life here in this sanctuary this week. We remembered the life of Linda Mortensen here on Monday. I mourned the end of little 7 year old Maddie Trudel’s battle with cancer this past week when I read of her death this past week in the Detroit free press.

And I am sure some of you were thinking about ends last night…would we end up with enough fruit soup? When would people end their eating and talking and go home? When would the mountain of dishes be washed and put away? When would the days and weeks of preparation for the Scandinavian Dinner end?

In this what are you talking about text this week…we are reminded of endings…or in this case THE ending. Signs in the night sky. Fear and foreboding across the earth. The son of Man coming in a cloud. We are told to be alert and watchful for the end that is coming. To not get caught up in life’s worries….to be watchful and expectant.

That is certainly easier said than done this time of year…worries and wonder of what are we going to do when we have snow…who is going to get up earlier than normal to shovel snow and plow driveways? Is work going to slow down when it snows? Will it pick up? What to do with the kids if we have a snow day. What are we going to have for Christmas dinner? Where are we doing to have dinner? Let’s see….do I have presents for Bear, Rebecca, Ethan, Lisa, Jim and Carol…hmmm…No, some, yes, yes, no and no…got get working on that…holiday concerts, St. Lucia, council meetings, budgets…there’s no time to be watchful and expectant….

Wait… ³⁴Be on guard so that your hearts are not weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life, and that day does not catch you unexpectedly…. It all makes sense now…

This is a season of beginnings…a season of watchfulness and expectation in the midst of our endings, business, fear and frustration. This is a time where we get all tied up in our worries, our plans and our stuff. It makes sense that we are reminded to be watchful and expectant…because if we aren’t reminded… Christmas could very easily just become another day… of family, friends and all out craziness. and since we aren't literally expecting Jesus as a baby, we take this time in advent to remember the promises God makes to us...we know that through Jesus we have new beginnings...new life… we all have the new beginning of this world’s end when Jesus will come again... and we have the new beginning each day when we wake up and feel and see the love and care of God through Jesus all around us.

The end that is written about in this text for today is truly a beginning…a beginning of life eternal for all; just as the baby born in a manger 2000 years ago was. We watch, we expect, we wait, we hope. In the midst of our lives, our plans and our craziness. In the midst of not having all the presents we think we need bought or our house not yet looking quite right for Christmas. In the midst of barely being in winter, and barely having snow on the ground. We look ahead to spring and to the new life that we know we will see all around us in trees, flowers and many living things. We watch, we wait…and living in Wisconsin…well we wait longer than others…but know new life is coming. We know in some small way whatchu talking about. Amen

Christ the King sermon

Sermon from Christ the King Sunday. I think I might have driven into what my preaching professor Dr. Loy refered to as my favorite driveway in this sermon...the driveway of Christian doctrine...I leave for your perusal and critique...Chrisy

Gospel: John 18:33-37 33 Then Pilate entered the headquarters again, summoned Jesus, and asked him, "Are you the King of the Jews?" 34 Jesus answered, "Do you ask this on your own, or did others tell you about me?" 35 Pilate replied, "I am not a Jew, am I? Your own nation and the chief priests have handed you over to me. What have you done?" 36 Jesus answered, "My kingdom is not from this world. If my kingdom were from this world, my followers would be fighting to keep me from being handed over to the Jews. But as it is, my kingdom is not from here." 37 Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

Grace to you and peace from the one who is and who was and who is to come; and from the faithful witness, the ruler of kings on earth. Amen

Misunderstood Titles, conversations and situations can often lead to trouble. I have been doing some reading for fun and stumbled across this book called Wicked: the Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire. In it readers learn that the Wicked Witch... well she really wasn’t all that Wicked. She has a name…Elphaba…She had a sister, Nessa, whom she looked out for and took care of…she was best friends with Glinda the Good Witch while they were in school. Elphaba stood up for her principles and thought the wizard wasn’t taking care of OZ well enough while Galinda did whatever the wizard told her to do in a effort to be popular. When Elphaba decided to turn the wizard down on his offer to join him of the ranks of those that were popular…and be independent and defy gravity…then the story began to change…then rumors abounded about Elphaba being mean and scary, and turning people into tin and straw on purpose when in reality she had just been trying to protect her friends. Glinda in an effort to be popular capitalized on the people of oz’s fear… she said all the right things and did all the right things and became more and more popular and it made everyone think that Elphaba was the exact opposite…She even told the people of oz when they asked her about Elphaba that she knew her but she wasn’t friends with her. Was Elphaba really wicked? Was Glinda really good? I can’t answer that…but stories like these really make one think

“Are you the king of the Jews” I really have to feel just as perplexed as Pilate at this moment. At least I imagine him to be very perplexed. Here is this man…Jesus…a man that did nothing wrong to Pilate’s knowledge, yet the Jewish people and all of the chief priests had handed Jesus over to be punished. Pilate had to be perplexed…and because of that Pilate was trying to figure out what Jesus could have done to upset his own people so much that they would hand him over. Perhaps in this conversation that is our text for today Pilate was trying to get Jesus to say he was a king so Pilate would have something to charge him with. In antiquity, only a person elevated to the level of a Caesar would be a position of power and wealth high enough to claim kingship. Jesus was obviously not a Roman official nor a Caesar. If Jesus admitted kingship then Pilate could actually do something. But Jesus did not admit kingship for if he was a King in this earthly world than all of his followers would be trying to save him…instead of denying him three times like we remember Peter doing in the passion story before Easter…

Jesus was not an earthly king…for if he had been surely someone would have stormed the gates of the headquarters on horseback; sword swinging, mounting a rescue…not betraying him to the guards with a kiss like Judas after the last supper

Jesus was not an earthly king… for if he had he would not have been mocked, beaten or offered a sponge of sour wine as he hung from a cross slowly loosing the strength to draw another breath

Nope…Jesus couldn’t be a king… cause that would mean well Jesus was the highest of the high, the be all and end all, the one calling all the shots and making all the decisions…and here he was captured by guards and handed over to Pilate by his own people who were calling for his death.

³⁷ Pilate asked him, "So you are a king?" Jesus answered, "You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth. Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice."

Jesus is and was and will be a King…King of the Jews, King of Creation, King of life everlasting. Jesus came into the world to be called King…and to testify to the truth of his Kingship! It is not of this world. He was not bound to this earth and to its limitations on titles or positions of power. Jesus was so above and beyond that that is not in the realm of our comprehension. Not mine, not yours, not Pilates.

Jesus is the Alpha…the beginning, the firstborn, the savior born in a manger. Jesus is the light and hope we look to and toward when we start our journey of preparation in advent.

Jesus is the Omega… the end…the man standing in front of Pilate knowing exactly what he was facing and facing it in spite of that knowledge. Jesus knowing that the end for him was literally a matter of hours away. Jesus the light that no darkness could over come; even the darkness of death. Jesus is life everlasting.

A question now for us in this time and world is not Are you the king of the Jews? But how will and how are we responding to the Lord’s kingship? How are we are part of the kingdom belonging to the truth and listening to his voice?

I was driving home from Michigan yesterday trying to figure out how to wrap this sermon up… I mean really…I have a sermon with Jesus and Pilate talking about kingship and the wicked witch of the west… that was one of the oddest combinations in a while…I had driven across the Mackinaw bridge and decided to take a break by the water for a bit…stretch my legs, clear my head and just be with God for a moment. Give thanks for the wonderful time I had been able to spend with my family, thanks for the friends and church family I was headed back too…when it hit me…
As I listened to the Wicked soundtrack… I had always thought the Wicked Witch was just that… Wicked… I gave no thought or question to her being anything else…. And Glinda was always the beautiful lady in the pretty pink dress with the wand floating into munchkin land in a bubble…I didn’t question it….and even though I didn’t questions that, at the same time I was just like Pilate…day after day…I had been asking all this week… Jesus are you really a king? Jesus are you really that master and ruler all the earth? If you are king what does that mean that I should be doing….what does that make me? Did you really 2000 years ago die for me even though my sins are part of the reason you died on that cross?

I looked out over the water…I listened to the waves lap at the shore. And all of the sudden…sunlight burst thought the cloudy gray sky and enveloped me in light. Creation all around me…a creation that was beyond my comprehension in how it was made…nature in all its glory showing me that Jesus was, is and will be truly my king…my savior…my beginning and my end. Jesus who is, who was and who always will be King…my King, your King, Pilates King, King of the people condemning him to death….king….forever. Amen

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Today(12-1-06) and Everyday

Rest in Peace Maddie

Since this past summer, I have been following the story of 7 year old Maddie Trudel and her father Paul. Maddie has been battling cancer and fighting it with the spunk that only a very special girl could have.

Several weeks ago I preached a sermon at both of my internship congregations about Maddie and her dad. It is posted below. This evening as I checked the Detroit Free Press website, I read that Maddie died.
Free Press article

I do not know Maddie, Paul or any of her family...but her story touched my heart. My thoughts and prayers go out to Paul and Maddie's entire family. I have been blessed by Maddie's presence in my life and know she was a light to all of you. May you be blessed with the prayers, thoughts and support of your family and friends and all of the people in the world who were able to share a little bit of your life. Maddie was a very special little girl.

10/22/06 Internship Sermon

I have been horrible at keeping this blog up to date... I have at least a 1 month backlog at posting sermons and such...so I thought I had better crawl out from under my rock and post this weeks before I start with the backlog...so here it is...ignore any obvious spelling and grammer errors... I'll catch them later...

Chrisy

Sunday Oct 22, 2006
Gospel: Mark 10:35-45

Coming from Michigan, I grew up reading the Sunday edition of the Detroit Free Press. Well to be honest, as a child I really didn’t care about the Detroit free press but I really liked reading the comics every week. We would get home from church, change our clothes, eat lunch, watch the football game and read the paper….My Mom grew up in the Detroit area so she would usually read the paper cover to cover while my brother and I would each get a page of the comics to read and then we would trade with each other. As soon as we were done, we had to give them to Dad so he could read his “funny papers.” Dad would read the comics like Doonesbury, Prince Valiant and the Lockhorns, ones that we never read and didn’t understand. As we got older, we stopped getting the paper as often as before but when we did, Bear and I would read the comics and sports section but that was about it, other than the occasional article Mom might point out to us about something where she grew up.

These days, I find myself reading the Detroit Free Press almost every day online…among other newspapers online. It helps me to keep up on what is going on in my home state and has great coverage of my favorite hockey team, and of course these days my favorite baseball team. Since this past summer the paper has been publishing stories about Maddie Trudel and her father Paul. These stories began with a feature article about Paul on father’s day and his life now as a single father with a 7 yr old daughter with bone cancer. Maddie’s mother Alison had died 4 years ago with an unrelated ailment. Maddie is a very sick little girl….she has 6 tumors in her lungs and has had to have one rib removed. She has been though chemo, radiation and spends 75% of her time in the University of Michigan’s Mott Children’s hospital. The love between Paul and Maddie jumps off the page and they are very honest with each other. More than anything Paul just wants his daughter to be well, and if it were humanly possible Paul would take on the cancer and fight it for Maddie. He never wanted to be anything but a great Dad and a hard worker to be able to support his family. But Paul knew and knows that taking his daughters cancer away and battling it himself is not an option…still it doesn’t stop him from wanting it to happen, and it doesn’t stop him from wanting to ask god for a favor…

As Maddie got sicker this past summer she expressed her wish to go to Disney and see Cinderella. Two days before Maddie, Paul and her two brothers were scheduled to leave on the trip arranged by the make a wish foundation, Maddie was so weak she could barely lift her head up off the hospital pillow. She was heartbroken not to be going so Paul and many of the hospital employees tried to bring a Disney party to her…cake, 50 relatives and friends and even two Disney characters…but it wasn’t Maddie going to Disney…it was everyone thinking they were saying goodbye…after the party, Maddie, her dad and several of Maddie’s friends from Mott went on a limo ride around town… for Maddie to be able to see the city one last time as it appeared she wouldn’t make it through the night…

In today’s Gospel text, James and John came to Jesus asking him for a favor….a request that Jesus seemed pretty agreeable to at least initially . Jesus was a teacher, and he had many people that he was teaching, and many people making requests of him…just two Sunday’s ago, we had the Pharisees asking him about divorce, and last week people wondering what they would have to do to get to heaven and experience eternal life.…when James and John made this request of Jesus, he probably figured it couldn’t be any harder than those requests… until he found out what they were asking for…

Somehow the disciples have finally figured out that Jesus will one day be king, but it doesn’t seem to have sunk in what it will take to Jesus to take on the mantle of kingship…the disciples seem to be forgetting the part about the crucifixion and resurrection… They apparently still believe that Jesus will become an earthly king with a physical kingdom--these disciples are still the ones with the most knowledge but the ones that understand the least…they are still the men that not only want to figure out which one of the them is the greatest, but now two of them want to sit right beside Jesus when his is king. If they only knew what that meant.

Jesus tried to tell them…that they would have drink the same cup that he drinks and experience the same baptism that he was baptized with…James and John tell Jesus that they are able…they essentially say…See Jesus, we can already do all of that…won’t you please please please take us with you when you become king…Jesus responds that that decision is not his to make… Jesus has no control over who those people will be because those places have already been prepared.

Jesus then goes on to reemphasize a point he had already made. Who ever wants to be great must be a servant and whoever wants to be first must be a slave to all... we’ve heard that before…just this month…the last shall be first and the first shall be last. It’s not about who get to see at the right or the left hand… its about serving instead of being served, its about going outside of yourself and your little world and seeing what is going on around you and helping in any way you can. The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve…Jesus didn’t tell James and John that they would have to wash his feet 20 times and get him the best honey and locusts around and then after they had served him, he would do as they requested…No…. he reminded them that he was there to serve and in my opinion implied they were also…and serve Jesus did…the Son of Man came…to give his life a ransom for many. Jesus knew what his path was….that in is serving, he would be crucified…that when he was crowned King…the persons to his right and left were going to be criminals. Jesus came to serve and that is exactly what he did.

In many ways, just as Paul Trudel is doing right now…and Maddie and all of the people that surround this family. Paul is a tool and die supervisor at a Mercedes Benz parts supplier in the Detroit area, and went into the company office to fill out family leave paperwork when Maddie got sick. When Paul’s bosses found out what was going on, they told him not to worry about his job….work when he could, but take care of his daughter whenever he needed too. Paul estimates that he has missed 2/3 of his days scheduled to work and his paycheck has never changed. He says the people he works for and with are amazing. Paul’s company is serving Paul in a way they have the ability too…keeping food on his table and a roof over his head for the times when Paul is either able to get away from the hospital or the rare times that Maddie can leave and go home. Paul is an embodiment of Jesus’ love for humanity in the way he loves and cares for her daughter. He would do anything for her and will continue to do so for as long as she is on earth. And Maddie is serving too…she cares for friends at Mott, and tries to keep their spirits up when they are sicker than she is, she teaches the readers of the free press what it is like to be a child of the world facing almost insurmountable odds, but facing it with her game face on most of the time and being a scared little kid crying for her dad at others. And Maddie keeps on serving and fighting… She was released from the hospital Oct 10 and made the journey to Disney in Orlando. She brought two pictures that she colored to give to Cinderella in the hopes that she would see her. After going on several rides, Maddie met a Disney greeter by the name of Nancy who arranged a very special meeting for Maddie. In the middle of a room while Maddie and her family were resting away from the hot sun, Cinderella walked in and greeted Maddie and told her that she was a princess. Maddie was able to give both colored pictures to Cinderella, who exclaimed that her fairy godmother would love them and that she had the perfect place in her room for them. Maddie was on a high for two days, until the pain from her cancer and treatment returned…Paul gave her a higher dose of pain medication, and they flew back to Detroit the next day, taking the donated limo straight back to Mott hospital. Paul and Maddie can only hope and pray that the tumor behind her lung is not growing again. And I can only hope and pray the same thing for them, just as many people and churches are doing for Maddie and Paul.

Paul Trudel knows about serving…and knows that Jesus is right there serving with him, suffering with him, hoping with him. Paul gets strength from God. He describes himself as deeply spiritual. He prays so hard that "you can actually feel it coming out of your stomach, through your heart," he said. "There have been a lot of churches, in other states, praying for her." Today we, this church can serve God by serving the Trundels a little today, and join the cloud of witnesses lifting this family in prayer…Serving doesn’t have to be a huge bells and whistles event. It often isn’t. Many times, serving happens when we can’t do anything…when we feel helpless…when we like Paul can’t take Maddie’s cancer away… but we can always pray or think a good thought or smile at someone walking down the street…and we can have faith that Jesus is right there with us serving us… in our times of joy and pain…of perfect health, aches and pains and a 7 year olds with cancer. The Son of man came not to be served but to serve.
Amen

Ug!

Well its good to know my alma mater hasn't lost it's touch....that is it's ability to take an almost certain win and somehow lose...that's right folks, MSU has snatched defeat from the jaws of victory once again in its lose to Notre Dame 40-37... sigh... okay off to sleep for me...I'll hopefully post some more sermons at some point...i have about a months worth of backlog...

MSU we love thy shadows when twilight silence

(even when we lose)

sing our love for alma mater and thy praises MSU
Chrisy

The 2 x 4 list

With many many thanks to DJ Dent and his People who should be Punched in the Face list and David Hively and his People who should get Rabies list and any other brilliant people I might be borrowing this idea from, I begin my own People who need to be hit upside the head with a 2x4 list

My first resident on this list: The person who built my laptop. As of tommorrow Tues, 08/29/06, my dell laptop will be making its third trip back to Dell for repair and/or waiting for parts to be sent. Now this might not be that big of a deal...and the second time when the LCD had to be replaced I accept responsibilty for but this computer is less than a YEAR old...I had to replace my hard drive in April and now its being sent back because this past Saturday, the display went on the fritz...I could use the keyboard, and hear sound and see that the hard drive was working... I could even IM(just as David) but i couldn't see the screen cause nothing would appear....Sigh and since then it has been working relatively fine....i guess I just need to be nicer to the computer gods...or send a 2x4 to dell...hmmm

chrisy

The Roads in Wisconsin

So I come from a small town, in a rural county in Northern Lower Michigan...we have odd things, like anyplace in the country...so I expected there to be odd things in Wisconsin too...But the roads here...holy cow... I am used to roads with names, like elm or college or walenjus... or even US 23 or M66...but I get to wisconsin and i find roads with "names" like 7 5/8 or 31 and 4/5ths....you think I am kidding... take a look...

Weird...

My internship churchs

The first one is
Barronett, where i often spend my sundays and the second one is Augustana, in Cumberland which is where my office is and where I am at most of the week

Internship Sermon 08/06/06

In the midst of a few sermons about bread, I am pretty happy how this one turned out....
From last Sunday 8-6-06

Wow. Jesus can’t catch a break. For three weeks now we have had Jesus and his disciples slipping away or just being gone from where they were to presumably get some rest and recharge. And each time the crowds track them down and pepper Jesus with requests for healing or knowledge or in the text for today signs….signs that Jesus is really the person that God the father has set his seal upon and that they may see Jesus and what he is going and believe.

Now wait a minute here…were these not the same people that Jesus had just spent all that time teaching? Sheep without a shepherd…and Jesus became a shepherd for them. And were they not the same people that Jesus has fed with 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread. 5000 people not even counting the women and children!!!How many more signs do these folks need? Now they want bread from heaven like their ansectors? The ancestors who didn’t even know what it was when the dew dried and had to have Moses tell them….They want a sign like that so they can believe…Good grief…and the disciples really weren’t any better….Jesus had done all of these things in their presence as well as walk on water and quieted storms and they still had trouble believing Jesus was anything other than a very good rabbi…They were hungry and searching for something to fill them up…all of them…why else would the crowds continually be following Jesus asking for more and more…a sign so they know for sure even though they have seen so many signs already

And we… you and I… are searching as well…looking for a sign that we too can believe in this Jesus who lived some 2000 years ago….searching for some tanglible thing that will let us believe. Searching for something that will let us know the love of God and will fill us up, that will satisfy our hunger and our thirst. Typically what we find to temporarily satisfy our hunger is not what we need to live….But society is ready to give us what we think we need and keeps feeding it to us so we think we feel full. Take a look around your house when you get home….there are lots of labels and signs that we have been told would make us feel good….the billboards we see driving down the road, the brand names on the TV and radio…As I sat and wrote this sermon, I could see the labels on my cereal boxes, my fun care bear and star wars band aids…the target logo on my allergy medicine box…the Ziploc storage bags…Augburg Fortress bookbags, the dell computer I was typing on, even some the decorations at my house…they are full of labels…Lord of the Rings, Detroit Red Wings, Michigan State University. All of these things that for one reason or another I bought or someone gave to me…all of these things with signs all over them. All of these things to make me happy and to make me fulfilled. And then you can’t get away from it the minute you turn on the TV or radio…the best knives that not only can peel tomatoes, but cut through a block of wood and lead pipe….the ones that will help you make a stir fry faster than ever….the space saver storage bags that will help you store all of your winter sweaters in less than a quarter of their normal space so you have more room for all of you other stuff. The cleaning product that will magically take away all the spots, mold and mildew out of your bathroom instanteously so much so that your bathroom sparkles…and most of the people you see on TV are slender good looking people…they wear a certain kind of clothes and likely can tell you who they are wearing…they by a certain brand of makeup or water or dog food and if we buy the same things we can be just like them…and who wouldn’t want to be….with their perfect hair, and perfect smile and perfect life. They must certainly be happy and fulfilled….right

Right….perfect no problems, a great car and a great family, all the money in the world…fulfilled and happy…wrong….We have certainly been hearing a lot about people who supposedly have it all and should be fulfilled Someone like Mel Gibson comes to mind and he is very much in the news these days, Mel Gibson the actor, producer, director…Mel Gibson., the husband and father, Mel Gibson, the happy Hollywood star and even a religious man…so religious he is daring enough to make a movie like the Passion of the Christ…and then we hear about how he was pulled over by police on Pacific Coast highway going about 80 MPH in his new Lexus with a blood alcohol level over the legal limit….his alleged Anti Semitic comments to officers…His ongoing problems with alcohol…the alcohol he was likely trying to find fulfillment in when it seemed he had everything and more…The alcohol no matter the brand that he was looking for a sign in….and…I am sure I could pick out anyone here and tell a story about how they are not or were not fulfilled at one point in time in their lives…How they, How we were left hungering for something, thirsting for something… something that we couldn’t see and couldn’t name and didn’t know how to find. We look at all things we have, all the amazing marvelous things and we think we are happy…and we are for a time…until that knawing hunger for something more returns…something beyond our comprehension… a sign wanted from God so we can believe.

Jesus in our text for today doesn’t give the crowd another sign, another miracle, another healing, another feeding of 5000 people…No, what he does is give himself. He tells the crowds “I am the bread of life” he tell them that like the manna that rained down from heaven for their ansectors, He IS that manna for them… he is their bread that will keep them from hunger, he is their drink that will keep them from thirsting. He is their sign and he is their very fulfillment. He is the bread that will never perish and he is their eternal life. And the crowds have to do is believe and come to him. Come to Jesus with their hunger and their questions and their pain. Come to Jesus for unperishable and ever sustainable food. Come to Jesus for their fulfillment instead of filling it with things that will perish… come to Jesus and know that He is their life. Come to Jesus and know that the sign has been given.

As for you and I, we too already have that sign. Jesus is our bread of life. Jesus is our hope and promise for life eternal and we will never hunger or thirst if we have faith in him. Jesus is our fulfillment…Now because we are human and sinners, it is very hard for us to believe and know in Jesus… a jesus and a god we can’t see touch or smell… so keep looking for signs and fulfillment in other things….Now don’t get me wrong…it’s perfectly fine you have the best stereo system that money can buy or lots of land or lots of stuff…. And its good to get a high school or college diploma. But all of that stuff is perishable. Jesus is not and the sign of him is all around us… in the grass that is getting greener after much needed rain…. In the smell of a new born baby grandchild, in the voice of a friend you haven’t heard from in a while…and in the co worker that just drives you absolutely crazy or the loved one you are watching fade away…Jesus is there right in front of, behind and all around us. Jesus grants us life eternal each and every day and Jesus grants us our sign each and every day. Because Jesus is our sign… In our struggles and pain and our happiness and joy. We have been and will continue to be given the bread of life that fill us up, and it will satisfy our hunger and our thirst. Amen.

Internship Sermon 07/30/06

Not really happy with this one... i think it lacks focus and direction...I don't know what it is that sent it off the good sermon path...but anyways..here it is for your perusal...comments are welcome...good, bad and ugly

Chrisy


^NRS John 6:1 After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias.
² A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick.
³ Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples.
⁴ Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near.

⁵ When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?"
⁶ He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do.
⁷ Philip answered him, "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little."
⁸ One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him,
⁹ "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?"
¹⁰ Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all.
¹¹ Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.
¹² When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost."
¹³ So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.
¹⁴ When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, "This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world."
¹⁵ When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
¹⁶ When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea,
¹⁷ got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them.
¹⁸ The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing.
¹⁹ When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified.
²⁰ But he said to them, "It is I; do not be afraid."
²¹ Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

Grace and Peace to you from the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

If someone were to put a trumpet in my hands, I could play it…. I know where to put my hands and what to do with my mouth and I would huff and puff and get some noise out of it…but put that trumpet in the hands of Wynton Marsalles or the Stoneback Sisters who are down at Augustana and its beautiful music for hours. Give me a bunch of cattle and a barn and I’ll get them there eventually, but a couple of people on horses with a dog will likely get them there a lot faster… Pastor Halaas and I went to Hansel’s open house yesterday…and there was a lot of wonderful food to eat there and we had a great time but if 5000 people came to Boyd and Terri’s door, my guess is there would have been issues.

We hear very familiar words today in our Gospel text and this is the only miracle of Jesus that can be found in all four gospels. …Jesus feeding 5000 people, and that’s not counting the women and children with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. We’re not talking 5 loaves of Subways 5 foot long sub bread and 2 giant 100 lb fish but 5 little loaves of bread likely no bigger than a fist and fish about the size of sardines…

This text began much in the same place we were last week…Jesus with the disciples, and the crowds near the sea. It does not say what time of day it was but my guess is it was near mealtime given Jesus asking Phillip where they were going to get bread to give to the crowd. Phillip had no idea where they were going to get bread and he knew none of them had the money to buy it. Andrew suggested a young boy’s meager meal of 5 barley loaves and 2 fish but wondered aloud what are they among so many people? In fact who were the disciples among so many people and who was Jesus among so many in a crowd.

Jesus was indeed someone for all of these people had heard stories of his healing the sick. They, the crowds, were probably thinking hmm, I wonder who this Jesus fellow is and if he can really do what my neighbor heard about. Others likely had heard the teaching of Jesus and wanted to hear more. Some probably thought he was some kind of magician or wizard and my guess there were more then a few who thought this Jesus guy was a total crock and just wanted to get a glimpse of Jesus not doing anything all the special and be able to report back to their neighbor that Jesus was nothing more than an average guy with a lot of people following him around.

Even the disciples didn’t know Jesus completely. They knew he was their teacher and a man who did marvelous things. They had seen many things that Jesus had done but even they weren’t quite sure how Jesus was going to pull off feeding 5000 people. But he did just that.

There are many theories as to how this actually happened…one was that once people saw that Jesus was handing out food, they too got out the food they had and shared it with those around them. It is highly unlikely that all of these people would have left their homes and followed Jesus across the country side without bringing some food with them. The other is that some how some way, Jesus with the power of God somehow made 5 loaves and 2 fish feed 5000 people. I certainly don’t know how Jesus accomplished what he did but either way it was pretty awesome. Everyone ate their fill and there were 12 baskets of leftovers!!! What an awesome power of God that Jesus was showing the people this day. Jesus through God has given these 5000 people what they need and given them so much that they have leftovers. We could learn a lot from this.

Often we find ourselves in a situation where all we can see is the situation in front of us. We are confronted with homelessness, hunger, drug and alcohol issues. We find ourselves spending beyond our means, spending too much time at work away from our families and wondering how we are going to buy new shoes for our kids. We find ourselves in Phillips role looking at our situation and not seeing any way out and not being able to look at the situation any differently than our viewpoint. We see a need and know our solution to that need but don’t stop to consider that there might be other ideas or solutions. Someone has handed me a trumpet and all I can do is huff and puff rather than consider that I might and should try a different instrument.

We need to have faith that Jesus can take the little we have and multiply into something much more. Jesus can take my one or two dollars and add it to yours and yours until there are dollars from 40000 youth that adds to more the 1 million dollars raised for various ministries throughout the world. Jesus shares bread and plants gifts in people so that those same People become foster parents from children needing homes. People come together to share ideas and thoughts about what to do with their communities drug and alcohol problem because they know they can not handle nor change the situation by themselves. People will have ideas to help families with children in a pediatric Emergency situations and a benefit like a shooting stars program will be held, now in its third year

The disciples, especially Phillip didn’t have any clue how Jesus would handle feeding this mass of people. Andrew saw something in that little boy and Jesus took what little the boy had and turned it into much more for a whole lot of people. We are given each and every day so much from God. It is now our turn to give our fives loaves and two fish back and watch what Jesus does with them. We may never see something as awesome as 5000 people being fed, but Jesus is and will continue to use whatever we give in whatever way he can. Amen.

intership Sermon 07/23/06

^{Mark 6: 30-34; 53-56. Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Year B.}

³⁰ The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught.

³¹ He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat.

³² And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves.

³³ Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them.

³⁴ As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.

Feeding of the 5000 with 5 loaves and 2 fish. Jesus walking on water

⁵³ When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat.

⁵⁴ When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him,

⁵⁵ and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was.

⁵⁶ And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.

Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and his son, Jesus Christ our Lord!

Have you ever just wanted to get away and find a moment of peace and quiet? Perhaps you had been hosting your grandchildren all week…lets say ages 3-12…all 5 wonderful grandkids…and you love them and want to spend time with them but you are practically on a dead run from the moment you rise to the moment you literally fall back asleep in bed…and you would love just a moments peace…other than in the bathroom, which doesn’t stay peaceful for long. Or perhaps your house is the gathering space for the entire family….your parents, your siblings, your kids, your in-laws….you get home from work and everyone is there just hanging out… and don’t get me wrong you love your family but you don’t need to see them ALL the time. Or you live or work on a farm…you would think that on a farm there would be moments of peace and quiet…but as soon as the sun is up, you get up, and you need to feed the animals and if they don’t get their food when they want it, they will let you know; the longer they wait, the louder they become…. And then hay needs to be baled, or the corn needs water, and the wagon needs to be welded and all the sudden the pto shaft snaps in two…your busy day just became crazy and you will be lucky if you have a moment to eat before the sun goes down, not to mention your constant worry as you watch your crops shrivel up before your eyes with not a rain cloud in site

I can imagine the apostles must have felt overwhelmed, tired and probably hungry. They had been out teaching and preaching and doing what Jesus told them and wanted them to do. It says in our gospel text that so many people were coming and going that they didn’t have time to eat. Jesus saw their exhaustion and felt compassion for the apostles and wanted to take them away for just a short while, so they would have a bit of time to relax and recharge so they could then continue to care for all of the people. I know if I had been one of those apostles I would be looking forward to this short period of quiet time…. I would have gotten in the boat with my colleagues and imagined the peace and quiet for a while. And when the boat got to the other side, what there to meet us? Peace and quiet? Hardly… for all of the people had seen us get in the boat and had hurried on foot to where the boat was going.

And as much as the apostles secretly hoped Jesus would send all these people away so they would get peace and quiet, they knew Jesus would not send them away for Jesus had compassion for the crowds, just like he had compassion for the apostles. Jesus went into the crowds and taught them many things. Jesus compared the crowds to lost sheep and he became their shepherd.

Now, as many of you know I grew up on a farm. We had a total of five sheep over the years…Fergie, Andrew, Rambo, Lambchop and PG. I don’t know if our sheep ever felt shepardless but they sure liked to get out of their pen and follow us around. Lambchop would constantly be found with her head inside the dog food bag munching away and PG would always come up to you and try to head butt your hip to let you know he wanted to play.

However since I grew up on a dairy farm, I have a lot more experience with cattle than sheep. And cattle much like sheep need a shepherd or herdsperson to help them along the way…perhaps to walk them into a new pasture field and show the cattle that the electric fence that had been there a day before wasn’t anymore…or to make sure the water tank had enough water in it or to herd them all into the barn if a storm was coming. The center of the cattle’s world is that herdsperson; just as the center of the crowd’s world was Jesus.

In the past two weeks; I had a chance to feel like one of those cattle being herded by people with more wisdom and knowledge then I. I, also like one of those cattle sometimes just blindly followed along the person right ahead of me. At the same time I was reminded how much Jesus is at the center of my life and the lives of all of those people around me. Jesus was and is calling me to be a sheep, his sheep, but he is also calling me and all of us at the gathering, not to mention here in Wisconsin and throughout the world to be one of his shepherds and to show compassion to those around me.

We arrived in San Antonio Tuesday afternoon and after checking into the hotel, went out to dinner. The herds around us weren’t that big then but those of us who hadn’t been in San Antonio before followed our shepherds who got direction and had maps. The collective herd we were apart of grew and grew until there were 24000 of us waiting outside the Alamo dome in 100 heat. The doors opened and like cattle in a stockyard we went pouring through the doors to the blessed coolness and the unknown that lay in front of us. We were greeted with music and song… a conga line that never quit fabulous speakers, great Bible studies and many many stories of people as sheep and shepherds. We heard stories of people from Mexico, Guatemala, the Sudan and many more…powerful stories of escape from violence and oppression, and people who had had the strength and courage to walk across their county with just one leg. People who like those crowds 2000 years ago knew Jesus was their shepherd and followed him. We were taught to pray (Orando) to God in our hurt and pain (tus penas y dolor) or when we just wanted to talk to God. (hablar con dios) by an old Mexican women who sang this song every morning when she woke up. We listened to Tony Campolo who is the founder of the Evangelical Association for the Promotion of Education, St. Davids, Pa., and author of 28 books tell us that we are the new generation to rise up with hope, vision and dreams and make a difference. We heard Jim Wallis editor of Sojourners magazine tell us that “Your job is to clear up the confusion about faith," Faith is the substance of what we're waiting for," he said, adding that "you are the ones we've been waiting for. A church is waiting for you. The nation, the world is waiting for you. Your generation has come," and "we have a lot invested in you." And after I got to be a very proud chaperone watching our Barronett and Augustana youth open worship as part of a marvelous procession as dove fliers and bouquet wavers, we all heard presiding bishop Mark Hanson remind us of God’s entrance into our lives when we were born and when we baptized….when our foreheads were marked with the cross of Christ and sealed with the holy spirit forever….and in that we were reminded that while we are sheep, God’s sheep, that we need to be shepherds at the same time that we need to let people know the love of God that has been shared with us through Jesus…through his death on the cross and through the meal we will share in just a short while. And that we as shepherds should proclaim this gospel of love, serve our neighbor, seek justice and to be Christ for and to others…. And in our moments of need of peace, of rest, of solace, we will find it in Jesus and the light of God that we see in each other. We will find it like the crowds at Gennesaret and where ever we meet Jesus… at a national youth gathering… in the eyes of our grandchildren… in the laughter of our family right after the work and in the grease and dirt as we fix machines or walk in a field of God’s creation. Amen

So I am here in Columbus and currently a couselor for Seminary Sampler with 12 wonderful high school students/graduates. They are an awesome and fabulously talented group of people. America, Stephanie and Emma are the women I am rooming with.

This week we are running a VBS camp at First English Lutheran Church about 2 miles West of the Seminary. The little kids there are really special and it really brings back memories of my days substitute teaching.

In a little under 2 weeks I head for Brian and Bekkah's wedding in California and then up to Cumberland to start internship. After that I think I am off to San Antonio for the National Youth Gathering...Its going to be a busy month.

Crazy Busy Chrisy

ahhh... slowly making the switch to Blogspot... gonna keep my livejournal for a while just because I am in so many groups.... But Welcome to my new blog!

later