Sermon - The Freedom Paradox (Proper 8C)

This is my last Sunday as a leader in the Stuttgart Military Chapel community. 

Since 2014, I have volunteered in a variety of positions... teacher for PWOC (Protestant Women of the Chapel), Sunday School teacher, Confirmation teacher, and most recently two years as the DRGL (Designated Religious Group Leader) for the Liturgical Congregation. It has been my honor and privilege to preach and preside at the Eucharistic Table for the last two years. In the last eight years, I have baptized eight babies, confirmed 56 youth, taught over 100 adults in bible study, and preached 161 sermons - 90 in the last two years.

A special thanks to the congregation members, the military chaplains who have supported me in this journey, and the Clergy Support Staff &Bishop Holston from the SC Annual Conference of the UMC for giving me permission to use my ordination in such an important way.

Third Sunday after Pentecost, 8C                                                              June 26, 2022

Galatians 5:1, 13-25, Luke 9:51-62                                Panzer Liturgical Service, Stuttgart

As we prepare for Independence Day celebrations, we often think of hotdogs, watermelon, and fireworks… some of my favorite times with family and friends happen around 4^th of July celebrations. But when we drill down to the real meaning of the holiday, I’ll bet the word Freedom is on all our minds. Just a week away, I could not help but think about this uniquely American holiday as I read through the lessons for today. It’s mildly annoying… and challenging… to preach on a topic we think we know so much about, especially when we hold that up against Jesus and Paul’s teachings.

Everybody wants freedom. Whether it’s the end of the school year, graduation, or vacation… kids and adults alike look forward to the freedom that the summer brings. Some of us look forward to more freedom than we will know what to do with as retirement looms ahead.

The dictionary defines freedom as the ability to act without hindrance or restraint. But is that how freedom works? Freedom from all responsibility sounds good for a second, but how long does it take for us to wish for the comfort of our routines? I’m betting that even in the freedom of retirement, we will understand that there are responsibilities… boxes to unpack, community to find, and finding our new sense of self will take effort and planning, not just acting daily on a whim.

As Americans, we think of freedom as one of our inalienable rights. Our forefathers said these rights were granted to us by our Creator – life, liberty & the pursuit of happiness. It’s so easy to slip into a mistaken belief that my life, my liberty, and my happiness are the most important thing. In fact, the world does not revolve around any one of us or our individually held beliefs... And that is not the kind of freedom that Jesus and Paul are talking about.

In his letter to the Galatians, Paul reminds us that freedom is not the absence of responsibility. True freedom is about dedicating our lives to the gifts God gives. Freedom in Christ, no matter where it leads us, means choices that put others' needs before our own. At its core, freedom means a willingness to make sacrifices to serve our country and our communities. As Christians, it means the same.

So how does this happen? Paul writes that in Christ, we are a new creation. We learn about who we are and the responsibilities freedom places on us as we study scripture, experience God in worship & mission, and our life together. Paul was a founder of Christian communities, but he was also a teacher to them as they grew in faith. Through his visits or the reports of his disciples, he observed how people were living and teaching, as he heard reports of their witness.

Most of the writings we have from him were letters of encouragement and correction. The letter to the Galatians was written because the church there was caught up in the controversy over whether or not Gentiles had to become Jews before they could become Christians – in other words, did the men need to be circumcised?

Paul writes that our freedom is not the authority to do whatever we want with no consequence. Love is always the first requirement – not love of self alone, but love as lived in the service of others. Rooting ourselves in God’s love and modeling that love in the world is how our experience of freedom grows. So how does that happen?

The Bible’s best lessons are found as we look at the ways that Jesus and Paul teach us to be in relationship with one another. Kingdom-living is not just about following the commandments found in the Bible’s pages or rules from church life in the past. Reducing the faith journey to a checklist of acceptable and forbidden behaviors gains us nothing, diverting us from our primary mission – to live and love as Jesus’ witnesses in the world.

Fortunately, Paul writes of the freedom that teaches our spirits to live. In Eugene Petersen’s biblical paraphrase, The Message, he translates the fruit of the Spirit into action words, helping us to see how to put each of them into practice.

But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely. Galatians 5:22-23 The Message)

And how do we do those things, day in and out? Paul names those gifts: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and the hardest – self-control. They don’t all come at once, and they are often hard to hold on to, but this fruit – this gift – of the Spirit gives us the courage and strength to follow where Christ leads, and to answer when he calls. This fruit grounds us, centers us, and anchors us in the faith to which we have been called. But what does that look like in practice? Let’s hear what Jesus says in today’s gospel lesson.

The cost of discipleship is the central theme of the Gospel text. If we step back and take a “big picture” look at Jesus’ teachings and interactions with people, we see that he is asking a lot. So when he encountered people on his journey, there were many different reactions. Some of the people were insiders, and most of them rejected Jesus as “not their kind of Messiah.” But it wasn’t enough to say, “No, thanks, he’s not the one.” They needed to crush his reputation and were willing to do anything to make sure he didn’t interfere with their leadership in the Jewish and Roman communities.

To others, Jesus’ message brought them close to God in a new way. This was a new, different way to think about faith. It was also revolutionary, even dangerous. Bur for people who had never had access to the Kingdom of God before, it was a risk they were willing to take. In today’s lesson from Luke, Jesus encounters people who want to test him. The first man said, “Lord, I'm ready to follow you wherever you go.” Jesus replied, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head." Inferred is the requirement that the man would have to accept the same, - to go into a future without a map or timeline in hand.

To another Jesus said, "Follow me," and the man replied, "I'll come along but first I need to bury my father." To this, Jesus replied, "Let the dead bury their dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the Kingdom of God." Now, I think it’s safe to say, our first impression is… wow, that’s harsh! What does Jesus expect? Burying one's father and going home to say goodbye to family and friends are perfectly normal things. Yet in his words, Jesus is making it clear that there is a cost to discipleship.

How hard is it to follow Jesus in this way? In his book, A Conspiracy of Love, Kurt Struckmeyer writes, “Lots of people believe in Jesus. They just love him to pieces. They worship and adore him. They praise his name. They invite him into their hearts and accept him as their Lord and Savior. But not as many people are willing to follow him.”

As modern-day “Jesus people”, we understand his words, but do we stand under them? Are we just worshipers of Jesus or are we followers? Because if we are followers, there is a cost to that kind of discipleship. Our journey, this Christian life, parallels the journey of Jesus to Jerusalem. Jesus tells us upfront that our journey with him will not be an easy one. If we follow in the way of Jesus, we cannot expect to have an easier road than his. Signing on with Jesus means that everything becomes secondary to serving the Kingdom of God. Following Jesus will cost us, but it will also make us free.

The balance of all this freedom comes with practice. And eventually, it changes the way we live every part of our lives. It is hard? Yes! So how can this be done? That’s where Paul comes in… he says, “I know you can’t do this on your own, so let these gifts - this fruit - be your standard and your guide. With this fruit as the foundation of how we think and act, there is no limit to what can be done.

Many days we come to church looking for a word of encouragement. The troubles of life swirl around us. Many of us are smack dab in the middle of caring for our kids and our worrying about our parents and older relatives. Many work every day, late into the night, to keep a balance of peace in the world. We are torn between ignoring the news and becoming fixated on the myriad of crises we see at every turn. We feel our various understandings of freedom butting up against one another. Ultimately, we wonder how to make good decisions to keep ourselves and our families safe and secure. We ask if we are even making a difference.

But if you come to worship to get away from the overly-political nature of our society, I’m going to disappoint you, because I think these lessons about freedom and responsibility aren’t just hypothetical discussions. They are intricate to how we make decisions and how we are going to live. If he is not just our guide but also our Lord, following Jesus means caring for people outside our comfort zones. It means digging deeper into the disturbing news of the day and figuring out what is real and how to respond as people who follow Jesus. It could mean changing our minds as we get new information. It could mean interpreting scripture in new ways. It will always mean working for a world where all of God’s children’s needs are considered and worked toward, not just our own.

Here, we are gathered without regard to denomination. But most of us relate to some ecclesial body in the US or Germany that ministers with the least, the last, and the lost. I’m giving you a homework assignment this week. Find your denomination or church’s website, look for the advocacy or relief section, and figure out how you can be a helper. Maybe it’s giving money. Maybe it’s reading and learning as a family from available resources. Maybe it’s writing to or calling your members of Congress to ask for support for legislation that you and your denomination support. Maybe it’s standing present when others are afraid to be a witness. God is calling us to serve in some new way. Listen to that voice. You’d be amazed what you can do from so far away.

When Shawn retired from the USAF five years ago, he was the one who felt deep in his bones that Germany was not finished with us yet. And so, we stayed, continuing to serve the military and local communities in a variety of ways. These last eight years have been filled with remarkable joys and undeniable sorrows.

When we leave this fall for a new life in retirement in Colorado, we go with full hearts and the belief that our work here has made a difference. And you know what – I think we’re kind of nervous… but the excited nervous, like just before you walk down the aisle, or head to the hospital to meet your new child, or walk across the stage and pick up your diploma, or have someone pin on your rank and swear you into the service of your country.

The paradox of freedom surrounds all the choices and changes in our lives. With our faith in Jesus, God calls us to the freedom of love and service so that everything we do, we do in love. And so as we go from this place today, and begin a new kind of worship in two weeks, I ask us all to be willing to go wherever God calls, always remembering these important words: “For the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against such things.”

Thanks be to God.

Peace, Deb

(c) Deb Luther Teagan, June 2022

Sermon - From the Silence Comes the Word (Proper 7C)

3rd Sunday in Pentecost (Proper 7)                                               June 19, 2022

I Kings 19:1-15a

One of the most positive interpretations of our Old Testament lesson came back to me in the form of a Facebook post I made last year. We were deep in the pandemic lockdown, wondering when life would get back to normal. The quote went something like this:

This is your gentle reminder that one time in the Bible Elijah was like, “God, I’m so mad I want to die.” So God said, “Here’s some food. Why don’t you have a nap? So Elijah slept, ate, and decided that things weren’t so bad. Never underestimate the spiritual power of a nap and a snack. (Joy Clackson @joynessthebrave on Twitter.com)

Of course, it’s not really that simple, this story of Elijah storming off into the desert. Elijah is coming off of a series of what many see as great victories – raising the dead, calling down the fire, overthrowing the prophets of Baal, proclaiming drought, but ultimately standing alone. He is weary, driven more by fear than by love and dedication to God. Ultimately, he begs for death. But God was not finished with him yet.

In her book, The Cloister Walk, Kathleen Norris chronicles her draw to the monastic life of prayer, liturgy, and silence. "What are you doing here?" She kept hearing that question in her head as she spent her first week of retreat at a Cistercian Monastery. Why does a non-Catholic female middle-aged married minister hang out at a monastery? All week she seemed to want some sort of a message - to talk to somebody, to have a reality check about where she saw God working in her life, but what could have just as easily perceived as being a little bit odd. All week, monks were seeking out other guests for conversation, and there she was, trotting silently between the guest house and the church, pretty much unnoticed.[i]

Then one morning at worship, a tall, young, bearded monk read this passage from I Kings 19 - and she noticed something different right away. It wasn’t the translation she was used to, proclaiming God’s word in a “still, small voice.” Instead, God’s word can be in the “sound of sheer silence.” And she felt a little relief, that God could be speaking to her in the silence that she was experiencing. And she prayed a little prayer, “Lord, help me to understand. I am all alone.” And in the silence, she suddenly knew, hearing deep within, ‘You are not alone.’ The silence bore fruit.

Translators have had a hard time with the "still small voice." Other translations read “Gentle whisper, soft whisper of a voice, gentle little breeze, gentle blowing, low murmuring sound, the sound of a gentle breeze.” But the translators of the NRSV understood that it wasn’t so simple that God would speak very quietly. Instead, as hard as it is to understand, sometimes God’s voice comes in the sheer silence, a loud, crushing weight that sits on our shoulders, and which we often avoid at all costs.

Elijah’s complaints are often the same as ours – twice he proclaims himself alone in verses 10 and 14. But God speaking in the silence is a reminder that Elijah is never alone. God’s plans did not rest solely on his shoulders, and the same is true today. We may be unable to bring God’s kingdom into our reality by ourselves, but there is a future, and alliances exist that we do not yet know. Think about it: Elijah still feels alone after being fed by an angel - TWICE! Sometimes, depression and despair can blind us to miracles in our midst.[ii]

Have you ever felt uncomfortable in the silence of worship? We often have rubrics for silence built into the service, but we glide over them for reasons too numerous to list. In the end, I think it’s that we don’t like the silence. It makes us feel alone. At home or in the car, we listen to the radio or podcasts - we turn on the TV for company. Some of us even talk to ourselves. We avoid it because the silence forces us to deal with the turmoil that is going on inside us. And it is the last place that we expect to encounter God.

John Cage wrote a famous piece of music called 4'33", which indicates the length of the performance. The performer enters the stage, sits at the piano, and proceeds to do nothing for 4'33". The "music" is the sounds in the room: the A/C, honk of a horn on the street outside, shuffling feet, nervous coughs, and more. When asked about its purpose, Cage said, "Take time and listen, the sounds around you are music, too.” Didn't Elijah discover the same about God? He expected God's presence in the wind, earthquake, and fire, yet found God's presence in the silence.

There are times when it takes a lot of practice and patience to wait in silence for God to begin a dialog, instead of performing our incessant monologue – our needs, our wants, our predetermined ideas about what God wants by creating God in our image.

This week as Shawn and I were driving back from our vacation, we caught up on the daily devotional podcast, Our Daily Bread. Last Monday’s was based on this 1 Kings passage. Sheridan Voysey of Oxford, England wrote:

I once heard a businessman describe his years in college as a time when he often felt “helpless and hopeless” from bouts of depression. Sadly, he never talked to a doctor about these feelings, but instead started making more drastic plans—ordering a book on suicide from his local library and setting a date to take his life.

The library notified the student when his book on suicide was ready to collect. But in a mix-up, the note went to his parents’ address instead. When his mother called him, distraught, he realized the devastation his suicide would bring. Without that address mix-up, he says, he wouldn’t be here today.

I don’t believe that student was saved by luck or chance. Whether it’s bread and water when we need it, or a timely wrong address, when mysterious intervention saves our lives, we’ve encountered divine tenderness.[iii]

But we must also acknowledge that some biblical scholars don’t see Elijah as the hero in this story. Elijah behaved a little like Jonah, proclaiming God’s words and then mad when it didn’t all turn out the way Elijah thought it would. Yes, Elijah prevailed on God’s behalf, but Elijah also had to run for his life. Not quite the resounding victory Elijah imagined. Whether he is angry or afraid, Elijah gave up. But that was not in God’s plan, and with a nap and something to eat in his grasp, Elijah travels a dangerous road to be reminded that God isn’t just in the big things, but in the microsecond of silence, if we will only pay attention.  Sometimes our ability to lead can only be accessed if we confront our own weaknesses and rely on the Holy Spirit to direct us into places we would not choose ourselves to go.

I don’t know what that looks like for you… it’s looked a lot of different ways for me. Some of the directions my life has taken can only be described as places where only God’s voice – still, small, or in silence, gave me the courage to go forward, even when others said, “stop.”

God’s divine tenderness can be gentle and caring, but God can also hand us a Snickers bar and remind us to have a snack and a nap, and then be on our way… on our way to where God calls, and where we will face our future, unafraid.

Amen and Amen.

Peace, Deb

(c) Deb Luther Teagan, June 2022

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[i] Kathleen Norris, The Cloister Walk, Chapter

[ii] Pulpit Fiction Podcast, Proper 7C pulpitfiction.us

[iii] Sheridan Voysay, Divine Tenderness, Our Daily Bread, June 13, 2022 https://odb.org/DE/2022/06/13/divine-tenderness

 

Sermon - Committing Ourselves to the Journey (Pentecost Sunday C)

Today is Pentecost Sunday and, over the last eight years, we have made a habit of celebrating Confirmation Sunday on Pentecost Sunday. Today we recognized 7 confirmands from our Stuttgart military chapel community. We are especially proud of the hard work they put into making this public profession of faith and excepting responsibility for their own faith journeys. 

Pentecost Window, Cologne Cathedral

Pentecost Sunday – Confirmation Sunday                                    June 5, 2022

Acts 2:1-21                                                                Panzer Liturgical Chapel, Stuttgart

I confessed to the students on our last day of class… I always dread the start of confirmation class. I’m just completing my 10^th year as a volunteer in the Stuttgart Chapels – and my 6^th year in the last eight teaching Confirmation. I started it because parents spoke up and said this process was important to their families. In that first class, there were 8 high school seniors, all baptized as infants, who had missed out on confirmation back home. Tricia Huebschman, Rick Kuenning, and Chaplain Mike Klein “encouraged” me to take up this as my volunteer job. And so, I did.

When we couldn’t find literature that fit our needs, each week I taught lessons I thought teens should have as they prepared to affirm their baptisms and take responsibility for their faith journeys. A few years later, we added the “Sticky Faith” lessons and invited families to enter into the journey with their youth. The next year, the 12 brothers and sisters of those 8 youth became the students Every year we asked if there was interest, and except for 2021 when COVID changed all our plans, teens and their parents responded “yes”. In raw numbers that means that with the seven youth who participated this year, a total of 56 young people since 2015 have made a public profession of faith in our chapel services.

And yet, every year, there’s this tiny piece of me that hopes no one will sign up. This year, I wondered about why that is. Is it because I’m old enough to be their parents’ parent? I graduated from high school 45 years ago this week… maybe I’m worried that I don’t have the most “hip” language to talk to kids about faith… many of my best illustrations and stories are about movies and are very dated. Or maybe this is it: I’m afraid they will learn more about Jesus and God and the church and say, “No, I don’t think all of that is relevant to me at all.”

And then I remember my own confirmation class, as dry and dusty as a cookie that got pushed to the back of a shelf and found getting ready to move. There we were, six 6^th graders, sitting in the minister’s office, talking about the 10 Commandments, the Lord’s Prayer, and the Apostle’s Creed. Let’s just check the box because this is just something you have to do to get the grown-up bible and be recognized before the whole church.

Fast forward ten years, and I was a college graduate who thought she didn’t need church. Yes, I went after Confirmation because all of my friends did. I even went to church in college because the Methodist church was across the street from the Clemson House dorm, where I could eat the fancy brunch on my meal card every Sunday if I brought in a church bulletin. Turns out the long-term bonus was my biology instructor, Dr. Dorie Helms, was also my Sunday School teacher and taught me science and religion are good partners because they are asking different questions about life.

But on my own, I wanted to sleep in on the Sundays I wasn’t working. I thought going to church would cramp my style. That lasted for maybe a year or two until I realized that I missed church. And so, I church-shopped until I found one filled with people who wanted to love me, who needed my service, and who recognized in me gifts I could not see for myself. The rest, as they say, is history…

We celebrate Confirmation on Pentecost Sunday because it’s a day of new beginnings… of the next steps of the journey of faith. After confirmation classes are complete, and as high school and current work assignments are winding down – there are some lessons I want you all to remember.

1 – God loves you just as you are. God created you in God’s image and calls you to worship and service and relationship, despite the mistakes and miscalculations, past and present, we all make. And because God loves you, God believes that you are a member of God’s family. Welcome to worship, welcome at the table, welcome to serve as the hands and feet and voice of Christ in the world. This blessing comes with only one responsibility… LOVE.

2 – God calls us to love. Several times this Spring, we have concentrated on the stories where people quizzed Jesus on the greatest commandment. To each his reply was the same: Love God, Love others, Love yourself. If we believe the bible is a rulebook at best, or worse - a Magic-8-ball that will give us a divine word from God if we just open it to the right page, chapter and verse, we will be disappointed or disillusioned. It doesn’t take long to realize that the more we read the Bible, that doesn’t fit with God’s call to put love first.

Instead, we should think of the bible as a book of family history, with grand stories that draw us in and reflect our own stories within its pages. There, God is always the primary actor. And even though we don’t always understand the ways God’s story is told, we know it is important because it continues to teach us more and more about who God is calling us to be. The same is true when we lead our best faith lives. We don’t serve God to reserve our place in the Kingdom of God… we serve out of thanksgiving and gratitude that we are already invited without having to be worthy.

The first step to understanding God’s story is to remember what Jesus said about love. There were no qualifiers. Jesus lived out that example by meeting, teaching, eating, and working with just about anyone – in fact, with the most outcast people of his day. He was absurdly patient with his disciples and their slow learning comprehension and rightfully annoyed with people who wanted to limit the scope of God’s love. In the end, he gave us a remarkable example by feeding and washing the feet of the people he knew would abandon and betray him and then forgiving the ones who killed him as he was dying before them.

In life, it's easy to love loveable people. And it’s impossible to love everyone by our abilities alone. Loving God, loving others, loving ourselves… we can only do that if we put our trust and faith in the one who gave us the greatest example. That’s the conversation that Jesus and Philip were having in our gospel lesson today.

3 – With love as the foundation, we are called to learn and serve. When we take responsibility for our faith, it doesn’t free us from anything but brings us into a deeper relationship with Christ and with one another. Baptized as infants, we were too young to take responsibility for those promises ourselves. The good news is that we have many chances to say, “I do.” Today is one of those times.

But that doesn’t let us off the hook… saying “yes” isn’t a one-and-done. Our faith journeys, and our continued recommitment to faith for a lifetime, are dependent on our spiritual growth. That growth happens in churches, as we read and study the bible and faith ideas, in deep and honest friendships, in the way we think about and treat others, and in how we serve people and the creation.

The process of active discipleship, like prayer and bible study, can lead us to look for the story of faith out in the world… we can grow our faith and experience of God in books, movies, and music as we see faith outside our own worlds. Growth only happens when we expose ourselves to new examples of faith. Community is dependent on allowing our minds to be changed, and being willing to incorporate others’ faith journeys into our own. On some days, most beliefs will remain unchanged, but on other days, we must be willing to say, “God’s love calls us to a new way of believing and living.”

Peter Storey, a Methodist Bishop in South Africa, partnered with Bishop Desmond Tutu to help the Christian church become integral in the transition from Apartheid to democracy. His words echo the dramatic nature of the event of the first Pentecost Day, when all people who were willing to be swept up were united in the power of the Spirit, God’s promised gift to the church. Storey wrote,

Some tell us that following Jesus is a simple matter of inviting him into our hearts. But when we do that, Jesus always asks, “May I bring my friends?” And when we look at them, we see that they are not the kind of company we like to keep. The friends of Jesus are the outcasts, the marginalized, the poor, the homeless, the rejected—the lepers of life. We hesitate and ask, “Jesus, must we really have them too?” Jesus replies, “Love me, love my friends!”[i]

Peter and the followers of Jesus gathered in the Upper Room to grieve the loss of their beloved leader. I took a picture of a stained glass window in the Koln Dom this week and it showed a little flame over the head of everyone in the picture – men and women alike – everyone got a portion of the Holy Spirit that day. And before the day was done, they were driven into the streets, speaking in the languages of the world, proclaiming the good news of God’s love.

On that day, what was private became public, and that is what we celebrate today. These young people are committing to continue to grow in faith and, to the best of their abilities, to be the church. We affirm their promise by recommitting ourselves to our journeys, too. As we all contemplate the mysterious gift of Christ’s presence with us as we go into the world, please remember this quote from Fr Richard Rohr, author of The Universal Christ:[ii]

The “Christ Mystery” is much bigger than Christianity as an organized religion. If we don’t understand this, Christians will have little ability to make friends with, build bridges to, understand, or respect other religions or the planet. Jesus did not come to create a country club or a tribe of people who could say, “We’re in and you’re out. We’ve got the truth and you don’t.” Jesus came to reveal something that was true everywhere, for everyone, and all the time.[iii]

May we live this truth with love out into our world.

Peace, Deb

(c) Deb Luther Teagan, June 2022

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[i] Peter Storey, Listening at Golgotha: Jesus’ Words from the Cross

[ii] Richard Rohr, Bigger Than Christianity, Center for Action and Contemplation, October 2016, https://cac.org/daily-meditations/bigger-than-christianity-2016-10-31/

See also Richard Rohr On the Mystery of Christ, Seeing God First: exploring freedom in Christ, February 2011, https://maes-seekgodfirst.blogspot.com/2011/02/richard-rohr-on-mystery-of-christ.html

Sermon - Anticipation (Ascension Sunday C)

 Ascension Sunday – Year C                                                                              May 29, 2022

Acts 1:1-14, Luke 24:44-53                                               Panzer Liturgical Service, Stuttgart

One of the great commercials of all time was filmed in 1976 and featured a ketchup bottle and a Carly Simon song, Anticipation. This ad told us that this was ketchup so rich and thick and delicious that it was worth the wait… which is why over 40 years later it’s still the #1 ranked brand of ketchup in the world.

Modern American television focused on this idea of anticipation and gave us the cliffhanger. The present habit of binge-watching a whole season of our favorite Netflix program is amazing, but there is nothing like spending the summer wondering, “Who shot JR?”

Anticipation is a funny thing. We are used to waiting. And the anticipation of a bad thing, for me that would be going to the dentist, often makes us feel anxious or afraid. But the anticipation of good things – that is the best. Our family is anticipating the marriage of our nephew and his fiancé in July. Yes, there might be bumps along the way, but we expect that it will be a joyous and fulfilling experience, and we can’t wait.

As we prepare for new experiences and opportunities, we think about how they might change our present circumstances. But anticipation can only so far because it takes information from our pasts or the experiences of others. It can’t predict the future. What happens when the events unfold in totally unexpected ways? Does our faith give us a foundation to change course midstream and follow the call of Jesus? And what happens when we do?

Time is a funny thing – we know stuff about the past and present, and we base our ideas about the future on what we already know. We know that change is coming, but it’s hard for us to wrap our minds around what that will look like. And then our anticipation turns into knowing. Our new reality starts, and what we have been waiting for becomes our new, big thing. Ready or not, here it comes.

The Ascension marks the time when Jesus’ life comes full circle. He came down from heaven. He lived. He died. He rose from the dead. And he appeared to the ones who loved him, even when they thought it was all over. But surely, they knew he would not be with them forever. They must have felt great anticipation, and joy mixed with anxiety, as their time with Jesus was coming to a close.

But isn’t this what life with Jesus was always like? He redefined expectations all the time. The gospels and the book of Acts document Jesus’ ministry as he was with people looking for the answers to life’s ultimate questions. And Jesus always led them in directions they didn’t expect.

Some examples: Everyone is waiting for a Messiah to come and save Israel, but Jesus tells them that the good news is not just for the Jews, but for everyone. In the pages of Luke’s gospel, we read about the feeding of the 5000, the parables of the Good Samaritan and the Rich Fool, and the healing of both Jews and Gentiles, believers and non-believers. We get instructions not to worry about the future, but also to be prepared. Within these different stories and scenarios, the consistent message is this: Jesus’ kingdom has a place for everyone, for shepherds and kings, for disciples and centurions, and for women and men.

Today, we hear about Jesus’ ascension, described at both the end of Luke’s gospel and the beginning of the book of Acts. It is at the same time bringing the Jesus story to a close and beginning something brand new. In the moments of his rising, Jesus ushers in a new vision of what God's kingdom must be like. After extra 40 days with Jesus, the disciples’ questions will finally be answered. No longer do they have to wonder: "When will it all happen? Now they know: “The time is almost here.”

In this last encounter, Jesus gives the disciples these instructions: "It is not for you to know about the dates and times, which the Father has set within his control. But you will bear witness for me in Jerusalem, and all over Judaea and Samaria, and a way to the ends of the earth" (7-8). And when Jesus is gone and the disciples are still looking up trying to figure out what had happened, two angels appear and ask a question and give an  instruction, “Why are you looking up, he is no longer here – go and wait for the next big thing.” (11)

These two statements help us to ask ourselves three important questions. The questions are When – Where – and How…

These are the big, ultimate questions of life, the big questions of faith: When, where, and how do we make progress on our journey to him and with him.[i]

When? In the immediate aftermath of Jesus’ resurrection, people thought that surely this would usher in the new Kingdom of God’s reign. Many of them were still holding on to the old model – mainly, the desire that Jewish people would retake control of Jerusalem and kick the Romans out. They thought the resurrected Jesus might be the one to usher that moment in. But as Jesus finally ascends, it becomes clear that is not going to happen. Yes, he will return, but you will not know the day and time. So instead of preparing for your salvation, be prepared to receive the Holy Spirit and go into the world to be witnesses of Jesus’ story.

I’m not sure that almost 2000 years later we think much about Jesus’ return – sometime in the first-century people stopped believing that it was just around the corner. Regardless of whether we think it’s near or far away, we must always be ready for his coming. And part of being ready is the duty to be witnesses to Jesus’ story… witness in our words, but also in the way we live our lives.

Where? Jesus’ ministry was always concentrated in a small region of the world. Everywhere Jesus went could be walked to within a few days' journey. But when Jesus leaves, he tells them to widen the circle of understanding… he said, “You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth.” That is a mighty big expansion, and it will take more than the original disciples to make that happen. Many of them recruit new believers to journey with them… Jesus himself called Paul to ministry, a claim which Paul claimed to anyone who challenged his authority.

We have the same struggles, to go to new places to wait for the Spirit to call us into new work for the Kingdom. We are often unable to answer the call to a more purposeful ministry because we experience our anticipation as fear – fear of the unknown – fear of failure – fear of not being enough. The instructions the disciples got are the same ones we get. Be prepared for the Holy Spirit to come and give you power – strength – courage to go into new places, despite the obstacles we imagine. I remember all the pushback I got as I set out on a new journey of faith 35 years ago. Not only did family and friends question my choice, but even as I pushed forward, I remember thinking as my friends deposited me in my new apartment in Durham, NC, “Oh, no, what have I done?” But here’s the good news for each of us – the Holy Spirit does not let us sit in that fear long before giving us the confirmation and courage to that the next step of faith. We just need to be patient, not give in to our fear, and listen.

How? I’m sure the disciples had questions galore… but they waited as instructed, and next Sunday we will celebrate the beginning they were promised. The Holy Spirit not only touched them with wind and fire but pushed them into the streets to proclaim the good news about Jesus, even removing the barriers of language between the many gathered there. No one can explain how that happened – that’s often how the Spirit works.

We also wonder how we can accomplish anything of value for the Kingdom of God. Maybe we don’t think we have gifts to share. Maybe we think the powers of evil and indifference are stronger than our faith. Or maybe we don’t know or have forgotten what that Spirit feels like when it moves within our lives. The whole book of Acts is a testament to the power of the Holy Spirit within them. With that Spirit, the disciples and other followers of Jesus went on to do some pretty remarkable, but unexpected things.

They did not help restore Jerusalem to Jewish rule. They did not run the Romans out of the region. Some of them were martyred defending their faith. But they did spread the word just as Jesus asked them to… in Jerusalem, in the surrounding regions – even ones like Samaria where the people were considered to be the enemy. And with people like Paul, pushing, pushing, pushing on, Jesus’ Kingdom has spread to the ends of the earth.

Such unlikely heroes, our disciple friends… such unlikely heroes are we, too. Christian friends are defending the faith, loving people, confronting crisis, and speaking peace… they serve in places where forgotten people crave knowing, where hurting people seek relief, where starving people need food, vocal where a word of truth must be spoken. They do not do this alone… for the power of the Spirit has compelled them to step out into a new way of life. And with others, they become the presence of Christ in the world.

Author Rachel Held Evan died three years ago before her last book could be published, but her husband asked a close friend to comb through the computer files, post-it notes, and journals left behind to try to bring a new version of the book to life. The last chapter in Wholehearted Faith is called Telos. It feels quite right that our adult study discussed this chapter on Ascension Day last Thursday. She wrote:

So, we have come to the end. But as Scripture reminds us, the end is never quite the end as we typically understand it; it’s only a beginning. One of the biblical words for “end” is telos. This Greek word doesn’t have the air of finality that the English word “end” has. In other words, it’s not a dead end. To the contrary, it’s full of life, because it has a sense of completion and contentment. It carries the satisfaction of doing what you know you’re called to do and the fulfillment of being who you were always meant to be.[ii]

It's easy to think that we don’t have much to offer the Kingdom of God. But that is not true. If we are willing to offer anything, God can do amazing things with whatever we have to share. God can use even our doubt – our insecurity – our lack of vision – our fear… all of these are great gifts we bring if we will only take that first step of faith to believe in what God sees in each of us.

There’s a great 20^th-century hymn that sums this up in a wonderful way. After the death of a close friend, Natalie Sleeth meditated on a line from T.S. Eliot’s “Four Quartets” — “In the end is my beginning…” Inspired, she composed a poem that unfolded in overlapping circles rather than straight lines. Written in 1985, first as an anthem, her hymn is a contemplation of contradictions — death/ resurrection, doubt/ belief, winter/ spring, song/ silence, past/ future. And they are welcome words as we think about the ends and beginnings this Ascension Day represents.

1) In the bulb there is a flower; in the seed, an apple tree;

In cocoons, a hidden promise: butterflies will soon be free!

In the cold and snow of winter there’s a spring that waits to be,

Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

2) There’s a song in every silence, seeking word and melody;

There’s a dawn in every darkness, bringing hope to you and me.

From the past will come the future; what it holds, a mystery,

Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.

3) In our end is our beginning; in our time, infinity;

In our doubt there is believing; in our life, eternity,

In our death, a resurrection; at the last, a victory,

Unrevealed until its season, something God alone can see.[iii]

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

 Peace, Deb

(c) Deb Luther Teagan, May 2022

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[i] Robb Mccoy & Erik Fistler, Pulpit Fiction Podcast, Ascension Day, April 19, 2020

[ii] Evans, Rachel Held; Chu, Jeff. Wholehearted Faith (p. 171). HarperOne. Kindle Edition

[iii] Natalie Sleeth, Hymn of Promise, Hope Publishing, 1986

Sermon - Ripples of Faith (Easter 6C)

 Sixth Sunday of Easter, (Year C)                                                                   May 22,2022

Acts 16:9-15; John 14:23-29                                   Panzer Liturgical Chapel

We got a card from some Army friends this week. The husband is retiring from active duty at the end of June and his wife will become the primary worker in the family. But she isn’t taking just any job. She will become the head pharmacist on one of the Mercy Ships, currently anchored off the coast of Senegal. They are leaving for Africa in August, and for the next two years, Gwen and Brad and two of their four children will live as missionaries to the patients and communities that this medical ship serves, along with the other medical personnel on board. For them, it’s not just a change in status. They understand that this is a total change of reference and identity. Sometimes our faith journeys take us to strange new worlds, indeed.

During this season of Eastertide, we have been following the story of the early church from the book of Acts. We have seen the disciples struggle and grow as they encounter the risen Jesus. We have met Paul, converted from persecuting Christiana as he becomes a teacher and leader. We have seen the struggles to blend the Jewish and Gentile Christian communities, trying to understand how to integrate their past to their identities into one.

Today’s lesson from Acts is a powerful portrait of how Paul is compelled to spread the good news to new people in a new land. Paul’s mission makes its way northwestward, through Asia Minor and onto the continent of Europe. He had tried to go east, further into Asia, toward Ephesus in modern-day Turkey, a cultural and trade center. But several times he was stopped by unforeseen circumstances, which he interpreted as roadblocks from God to sending him to this new mission field.

Paul’s call to Macedonia comes in the form of a vision, which is Luke’s reminder of the extraordinary nature of God’s call. With this dramatic event, the mission to Europe begins. The gospel is moving out of familiar territory where the Pauline gospel is well established into uncharted waters. It is as if the events of Christ’s life, death, and resurrection were a big rock, thrown into a pond, with Jesus’ influence and love rippling out to reach all the world.

We often think of Paul as a hater of women, or at least unappreciative. People have used some of Paul’s words as a proof text that women were not equal to men in the eyes of God or the Church. But this story reminds us that the issues of faith are not always black and white. Paul didn’t speak in generalities – he spoke to specific communities with unique problems and challenges. Called to “do his own thing,” Paul’s journey from Turkey to Philippi in modern-day Greece opens the Christian community in ways no one had imagined. If nothing else, Lydia’s conversion reminds us that God will call whom God will call, and all of us, man, woman, youth, and child, are opening to the changing power of God’s grace.

Lydia was a woman of means, probably a merchant and leader in the community. She encountered Paul and his companions, not in the synagogue, but at a place of prayer by the river. The authenticity of her response is indicated by the eagerness with which she responded to Paul’s sharing of the gospel – the Evangelion, which gives us the very churchy word, “evangelism.” Not only was her life changed, but her whole household was converted. Her immediate response was to offer hospitality to Paul and his party. When they hesitated to accept, she asked them to take the offer at face value, judging her by nothing but the realness of her faith. Spoiler alert, when Paul and Silas are released from prison at the end of Chapter 16, they go back to Lydia’s house and find that faith in the Christian life has already grown in the town and that a house church has been established with Lydia as the driving force.

There are so many aspects of this passage that appeal to me. It reflects the radical nature of the gospel. The message of faith is available to all who will listen and let it change their lives. Before, Paul has been sharing the story of the Messiah within the traditional Judaic framework. Whenever he arrived in a town, he went to the synagogue, because he knew that there would be people there who shared a common foundation with him and with Christ… their belief in the God of the Jews. And he talked to the men, because they were the leaders in that society, and help him gain access to others in their community.

But when Paul got outside the region of Asia, he encountered a different way of life. Here, the place of prayer was not in a synagogue but by the river. And the people, mainly women, were probably not gathered informal worship but sat together sharing stories of life and faith. Maybe it was a shock to encounter a situation so different… maybe not. But Paul and company never debated on whether or not to share the good news. They didn't flinch or hold a conversation about how to handle the situation -- they just sat down and started talking. Lydia was not just a Gentile woman who became the first European convert to Christianity, but in our European-centric congregation, she could be considered our mother in the faith.

For many years, this passage has been lifted up to affirm the ministry and leadership of women in the church. Lydia’s ministry within the community at Philippi gained a good reputation and supported Paul in his further missionary travels. They took care of people in their community. They witnessed the love of God. They used the gifts that God gave them to do the work of Christ. And they set a pattern for leadership that can be followed even today. But Lydia isn’t just a role model for women. She understands the essence of what it means to put faith into action and she spreads that to those around her and gives Paul incentive to keep spreading the word further west and north.

Ministry opportunities come to us in all shapes and sizes. And often we do not recognize them for what they are… divine calls from God. We are so busy, so distracted, by the worries of our world that we do not see the people that God is calling us to walk beside. If we think to ask how someone is doing, we are more than likely thinking of how troubled our own lives are… seriously when you are telling me the struggles that you are going through, I am having to work so hard to not say, “Well, you think you’ve got it hard… here’s what I’m dealing with…”

Too often I am not present enough in my day to ask myself these questions:

      ·    God, how are you speaking to me through this encounter?
·    What am I meant to learn from this?
·    How do you want me to change and grow from this conversation?
·    What do you want me to take with me and what do you want me to leave behind?
·    Where will this encounter with you lead me next?

These questions matter because they make an assumption that most of us forget… that God is traveling with us along the course of our days. Too often, our own inner monologue is drowning out the voice of God asking us to think less about our own need to be center stage and more on hearing and responding to the needs and pain of others.

What will it take for us to hear God telling us to be open to a new plan and new challenges, ones that we didn’t expect or even want for ourselves? Are we willing to hear a call and just go – and are we ready to receive the gifts that come with unexpected encounters and their mysterious way of helping us take new and grace-filled paths?[i]

In our gospel lesson, Jesus gives us the promise of the Holy Spirit, the Advocate, which is an exciting part of the work that the Holy Spirit does. We are able to see the Spirit as Comforter because it’s often our first experience. But to know the Spirit as Advocate, that’s a much more unsettling, but also fulfilling, way to experience God.

The truth is that God still speaks. God calls whom God will call, and in that call, we are to use our spiritual gifts alongside our natural talents and skills. We are the ones who do God’s work in the world. We are the ones who are equipped. Our job is to listen and to respond… to hear the still, small voice of God. And to know that we not just can make a difference, but must be willing to believe that God would choose us to do something worthwhile and significant for God’s kingdom.[ii]

Imagine their surprise when two Air Force Academy cadets discovered that the janitor cleaning up after them for the last two years was actually a Medal of Honor recipient from World War 2. When they asked him if he was the soldier they read about, he replied simply, “Yep, that’s me.” “Why didn’t you tell us?” they asked. He replied after some thought, “That was one day in my life and it happened a long time ago.” At a loss for words, they sped off to class but shared the news with everyone in their flight.

After that, things were never the same. No longer was he “the janitor.” Students greeted Bill Crawford by name in the halls and regularly stopped to talk to him.  Not only did those encounters change the students, but they also made a difference to Mr. Crawford, who seemed to walk a little taller, offering encouragement throughout the year.[iii] When they found out that he had never formally had his medal presented to him because he was in a German POW camp, they lobbied hard, and at The Air Force Academy graduation in 1984, President Ronald Reagan officially presented him the Medal of Honor in front of the graduating class who befriended him. And when he died in 2000 at the age of 81, he was buried in the Academy cemetery, the only non-USAF person afforded that honor.[iv] There are many lessons of leadership to be learned from the story, but it is also a great portrait of what it means to be a person of faith. Mr. Crawford’s heroic actions saved lives in 1943, but his personal integrity continued to make a difference in the lives of Air Force Cadets over 40 years later.

Think of a still pond on a cloudy day. And gradually it begins to gently rain. See the ripples on the water? They reach out and keep spreading until they meet up with another ring, and then they head back to where they started. The history of the church is filled with the stories of people of all descriptions who have lived out their faith in the best way they could. Sometimes we feel like the only drop in the pond. Other times, the rain is coming so fast we cannot see where our rings end and where others begin. Like the Sower in Jesus’ parable, our actions today and tomorrow will be reflected in others in ways we may never know. Lydia’s faith was made strong by listening to Paul tell the story. The town of Phillipi grew strong in faith by seeing the witness of her call. Paul’s letter to the church at Philippi has been preserved as a witness and teaching tool for us, and the story has been preserved in Acts so that we can hear it and grow in our own faith and belief.

What are the ripples of faith that have reached you? Have they changed you enough to help you be a ripple maker? No matter where we are in our journeys, let us be reminded that if we are willing to see them, God’s ripples of love and grace are evidence that we are called to be witnessed and channels of the transforming power of God.

Peace, Deb

(c) Deb Luther Teagan, May 2022

Here are some pictures from Lydia's Chapel near Philippi in Greece

Paul's journey to Philippi

 

Lydia's Chapel

Outdoor Chapel by the river

Chapel interior dome

Paul and Lydia stained glass windows

Chapel Ceiling

Mosiac of Paul's Dream 

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[i] “On Macedonia and Being Open to God's Vision,” Janet H. Hunt, Dancing With the Word, April 24, 2016. http://words.dancingwiththeword.com/2016/04/on-macedonia-and-being-open-to-gods.html

[ii] A Plain Account, Bruce N. G. Cromwell, April 25, 2016,   http://www.aplainaccount.org/#!Acts-16915/bhul0/571e11d70cf26b6d6841eee6   Commentary on Acts 16:9-15, Mitzi J. Smith, May 1, 2016.
[iii] “Leadership and the Janitor,” James Moschgat, USO On Patrol, Fall 2010. 
[iv] www.taraross.com/post/tdih-bill-crawford-moh

See also: https://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=2829