A Place at the Table

Prayer of the Day

Almighty God, your Son came into the world to free us all from sin and death. Breathe upon us the power of your Spirit, that we may be raised to new life in Christ and serve you in righteousness all our days, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

Ezekiel 37:1-14

¹The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. ²He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. ³He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” ⁴Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. ⁵Thus says the Lord God to these bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. ⁶I will lay sinews on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
 ⁷So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied, suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. ⁸I looked, and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. ⁹Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” ¹⁰I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.
 ¹¹Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ ¹²Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. ¹³And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. ¹⁴I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”

Psalm 130

 ¹Out ^| of the depths
  I cry to ^| you, O Lord;
 ²O Lord, ^| hear my voice!
  Let your ears be attentive to the voice of my ^| supplication.
 ³If you were to keep watch ^| over sins,
  O Lord, ^| who could stand?
 ⁴Yet with you ^| is forgiveness,
  in order that you ^| may be feared. 
 ⁵I wait for you, O Lord; ^| my soul waits;
  in your word ^| is my hope.
 ⁶My soul waits for the Lord more than those who keep watch ^| for the morning,
  more than those who keep watch ^| for the morning.
 ⁷O Israel, wait for the Lord, for with the Lord there is ^| steadfast love;
  with the Lord there is plen- ^| teous redemption.
 ⁸For the Lord shall ^| redeem Israel
  from ^| all their sins.

Romans 8:6-11

⁶To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. ⁷For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, ⁸and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.
 ⁹But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. ¹⁰But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. ¹¹If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

John 11:1-45

¹Now a certain man was ill, Lazarus of Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill. ³So the sisters sent a message to Jesus, “Lord, he whom you love is ill.” ⁴But when Jesus heard it, he said, “This illness does not lead to death; rather it is for God’s glory, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” ⁵Accordingly, though Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus, ⁶after having heard that Lazarus was ill, he stayed two days longer in the place where he was.
 ⁷Then after this he said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” ⁸The disciples said to him, “Rabbi, the Jews were just now trying to stone you, and are you going there again?” ⁹Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? Those who walk during the day do not stumble, because they see the light of this world. ¹⁰But those who walk at night stumble, because the light is not in them.” ¹¹After saying this, he told them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I am going there to awaken him.” ¹²The disciples said to him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will be all right.” ¹³Jesus, however, had been speaking about his death, but they thought that he was referring merely to sleep. ¹⁴Then Jesus told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. ¹⁵For your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” ¹⁶Thomas, who was called the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

 ¹⁷When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. ¹⁸Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, ¹⁹and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. ²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. ²¹Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.” ²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” ²⁴Martha said to him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, ²⁶and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷She said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.”

 ²⁸When she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary, and told her privately, “The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹And when she heard it, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰Now Jesus had not yet come to the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹The Jews who were with her in the house, consoling her, saw Mary get up quickly and go out. They followed her because they thought that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³²When Mary came where Jesus was and saw him, she knelt at his feet and said to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who came with her also weeping, he was greatly disturbed in spirit and deeply moved. ³⁴He said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵Jesus began to weep. ³⁶So the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” ³⁷But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

 ³⁸Then Jesus, again greatly disturbed, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹Jesus said, “Take away the stone.” Martha, the sister of the dead man, said to him, “Lord, already there is a stench because he has been dead four days.” ⁴⁰Jesus said to her, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” ⁴¹So they took away the stone. And Jesus looked upward and said, “Father, I thank you for having heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I have said this for the sake of the crowd standing here, so that they may believe that you sent me.” ⁴³When he had said this, he cried with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with strips of cloth, and his face wrapped in a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

 ⁴⁵Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what Jesus did, believed in him.

Sermon – Pastor Meggan Manlove

Death walks with Jesus in today’s Gospel as he moves in measured pace toward his own suffering and death.  The raising of Lazarus is the final and greatest sign of Jesus, a symbolic narrative of his victory over death at the cost of his own life.

Love and life are woven throughout the narrative. Hear again the message to Jesus from Martha and Mary, “Master, the one you love is ill.” Then we read John’s editorial comment, “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.”  No other passage in the New Testament speaks so often of Jesus’ love—and of his grief later. 

Though the story is commonly called the raising of Lazarus, the most profound moments are the conversations with Martha and Mary.  The sisters are models for disciples on their own journey following Jesus.  Martha meets Jesus and greets him with simple faith in his power as a miracle worker, “Lord if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Yet she has deep trust that God will grant Jesus’ request. Jesus goes further and says, “Your brother will rise.” 

Jesus’ reaction, which stands at the very center of the whole story, is to speak those words that bring such consolation and hope: “I am the resurrection and life; whoever believes in me even if he [or she] dies will live, and everyone who believes in me will never die.” Jesus says to Martha, “Do you believe this?” 

Somewhat strangely, Martha’s answer has no direct connection with resurrection. She confesses Jesus in language stunningly similar to Peter’s confession in Mathew’s gospel: “You are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world.” In this manner, we are told that to experience Jesus as the true life that conquers death; one must accept him as God’s anointed Son.

The story then shifts to the meeting of Mary and Jesus— moving and powerful.  Mary was home weeping but rose to greet Jesus with the other Jewish mourners. Falling down, she worships him but speaks the very same words of simple faith as Martha. Jesus does not respond immediately, but we are told that Jesus was “perturbed and deeply troubled,” strong language that expresses Jesus’ anger at death’s power and sorrow over its ravages. Jesus goes to the tomb, and—in one of the most extraordinary incidents in the New Testament—at the door of death, now the barrier between himself and one he loves, “Jesus wept,” shedding tears of loss over a loved one.

Arriving at the tomb, Jesus is again perturbed and orders the stone to be removed. Martha reappears. In the colorful words of the King James Version, she says, “Lord, by this time he stinketh,” which, like the realism of Jesus’ anger and grief, enhances the horror of death. After praying to his Father, Jesus cries in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out.” “The dead man” emerges totally wrapped in the burial shrouds. 

The larger view includes the narrator’s later note that the raising of Lazarus didn’t please everyone. Instead, it became the best reason yet for destroying not only Jesus, but also Lazarus. How odd that Jesus would raise his friend from death only to enroll him in a brief venture that would get them both killed. Jesus might as well have shouted into that tomb, “Ready or not, here I come! Get ready for some company, Lazarus.” That’s precisely where Jesus was headed. In a few more days, Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus would lay Jesus in a tomb, dead as a doornail but at the same time glorified almost beyond recognition.

Lazarus will die again, but Jesus, whose burial cloths are left in the tomb, is the giver of life who will never die. Jesus offers “eternal life,” which begins with faith, or trust, now and lasts forever. “Eternal life” in John is not primarily unending life, but authentic life, or life in its fullness, abundant life.  

Thinking about what authentic, full, and new life looks like, I kept returning to the story of Rubin “Hurricane Carter,” made famous by Bob Dylan’s song and Denzel Washington’s portrayal. Rubin, a champion middleweight boxer, is imprisoned for life for murders he did not commit. After exhausting every possibility for appeal, he tells his wife that he wants her to divorce him and to move on with her life, saying, “I’m dead. Forget about me.” The Hurricane uses his prison time to read, study, and eventually write a book about his life — a book that is published and becomes a best seller, but which is then soon forgotten. 

Years later, a Black teen from the ghetto finds a copy of the Hurricane’s life story at a used book sale and buys it for a quarter. Moved by what he read, the young man, Lesera Martin, writes a letter to the prisoner, and begins a relationship and a process that eventually leads to the overturning of the conviction. 

At a pivotal moment, the Hurricane notes that it was “no accident” that Lesera had come across that book. He makes note of the boy’s name, Lesera, a form of the name Lazarus, the one raised from death. The Hurricane tells Lesera that hate had killed Rubin and buried him, forgotten, in the prison walls, but Lesera’s love had raised him and given him life once again.  

 To us, Jesus’ summons at the tomb where each of us will one day lie sounds something like this: “Come out of there, friend.  Come with me. We’re going up to Jerusalem. So much for ordinary dying from disease, accidents or plain wearing out. So much for living with the sole agenda of not dying and desperately extending our days. Let’s go instead to where we can give our lives away. Come die with me.”

Of course, this command comes not merely in some final moment in a grassy graveyard, but every day of our lives. We die every day, as each day wears us down, defeats us and brings us ever closer to the first tomb Lazarus knew. But we also die in the waters of baptism. We die with Christ.

As one scholar (Neidner) wrote, “here the story of Jesus and Lazarus becomes an allegory about baptism. Like Lazarus, the baptized also rise and respond to the call to head out for some place in space and time where we can give away our lives. We find ourselves terribly hindered, however, by the grave clothes that still bind us. We can’t walk the walk of the resurrected when we’re still bound by the old habits that the fear of dying has taught us so well.”

Thankfully, you are in a community to which Jesus can say, “Unbind him. Let him go.” These verbs don’t merely refer to a way of undressing someone from an ancient burial dress in a baptismal rite. We find them as well in several of Jesus’ directives to go out and make the forgiveness of sins and love of neighbor the new calling of the community. So now the community, the body of Christ, assists us daily in stripping off the binding remnants of the old life in death’s power.

Prayers of Intercession

Sustained by God’s abundant mercy, let us pray for the church, the world, and all of creation.

A brief silence.

You have breathed into us the breath of life. Enliven your church. Deepen our partnerships with our companion churches around the globe (specific synods, dioceses, or congregations may be named), and bless the work of missionaries who accompany them. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Your spirit brings life to creation. Enliven the natural world and restore ecosystems in need of healing (local natural places may be named). Uplift prophetic voices that turn us to the needs of the soil beneath our feet and the air all around. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

You redeem the world and its peoples. Free us from systems of oppression. Unbind nations and societies from the sins of racism, sexism, and homophobia. Raise up leaders at all levels of government who work to promote the dignity of every human life. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

You weep when we weep. Be present with those who grieve or who are troubled by illness (especially). You hear us when we call to you. Deliver us from the depths of our despair, and free us from the worries that bind us. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Your Spirit of life dwells in our assembly. Bless the music ministries of this congregation (specific ensembles may be named) and all who lead us in hymns of praise and thanksgiving and in songs of lament and prayer. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

You are the resurrection and the life. Even though we die, we will live. With thanksgiving, we remember all your saints who now live in your eternal love. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

We lift our prayers to you, O God, trusting in your steadfast love and your promise to renew your whole creation; through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Amen.

Prayer of the Day

Bend your ear to our prayers, Lord Christ, and come among us. By your gracious life and death for us, bring light into the darkness of our hearts, and anoint us with your Spirit, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

1 Samuel 16:1-13

¹The Lord said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul? I have rejected him from being king over Israel. Fill your horn with oil and set out; I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have provided for myself a king among his sons.” ²Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” And the Lord said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the Lord.’ ³Invite Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do; and you shall anoint for me the one whom I name to you.” ⁴Samuel did what the Lord commanded, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?” ⁵He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to the Lord; sanctify yourselves and come with me to the sacrifice.” And he sanctified Jesse and his sons and invited them to the sacrifice.
 ⁶When they came, he looked on Eliab and thought, “Surely the Lord’s anointed is now before the Lord.” ⁷But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look on his appearance or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.” ⁸Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” ⁹Then Jesse made Shammah pass by. And he said, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” ¹⁰Jesse made seven of his sons pass before Samuel, and Samuel said to Jesse, “The Lord has not chosen any of these.” ¹¹Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your sons here?” And he said, “There remains yet the youngest, but he is keeping the sheep.” And Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and bring him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.” ¹²He sent and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and had beautiful eyes, and was handsome. The Lord said, “Rise and anoint him; for this is the one.” ¹³Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the presence of his brothers; and the spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward. Samuel then set out and went to Ramah.

Psalm 23

 ¹The Lord^| is my shepherd;
  I shall not ^| be in want.
 ²The Lord makes me lie down ^| in green pastures
  and leads me be- ^| side still waters.
 ³You restore my ^| soul, O Lord,
  and guide me along right pathways ^| for your name’s sake.
 ⁴Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall ^| fear no evil;
  for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they ^| comfort me. 
 ⁵You prepare a table before me in the presence ^| of my enemies;
  you anoint my head with oil, and my cup is ^| running over.
 ⁶Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days ^| of my life,
  and I will dwell in the house of the ^| Lord forever. 

Ephesians 5:8-14

⁸Once you were darkness, but now in the Lord you are light. Live as children of light—⁹for the fruit of the light is found in all that is good and right and true. ¹⁰Try to find out what is pleasing to the Lord. ¹¹Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them. ¹²For it is shameful even to mention what such people do secretly; ¹³but everything exposed by the light becomes visible, ¹⁴for everything that becomes visible is light. Therefore it says, 
 “Sleeper, awake!
  Rise from the dead,
 and Christ will shine on you.”

John 9:1-41

¹As [Jesus] walked along, he saw a man blind from birth. ²His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” ³Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him. ⁴We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work. ⁵As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” ⁶When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made mud with the saliva and spread the mud on the man’s eyes, ⁷saying to him, “Go, wash in the pool of Siloam” (which means Sent). Then he went and washed and came back able to see. ⁸The neighbors and those who had seen him before as a beggar began to ask, “Is this not the man who used to sit and beg?” ⁹Some were saying, “It is he.” Others were saying, “No, but it is someone like him.” He kept saying, “I am the man.” ¹⁰But they kept asking him, “Then how were your eyes opened?” ¹¹He answered, “The man called Jesus made mud, spread it on my eyes, and said to me, ‘Go to Siloam and wash.’ Then I went and washed and received my sight.” ¹²They said to him, “Where is he?” He said, “I do not know.”
 ¹³They brought to the Pharisees the man who had formerly been blind. ¹⁴Now it was a sabbath day when Jesus made the mud and opened his eyes. ¹⁵Then the Pharisees also began to ask him how he had received his sight. He said to them, “He put mud on my eyes. Then I washed, and now I see.” ¹⁶Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not observe the sabbath.” But others said, “How can a man who is a sinner perform such signs?” And they were divided. ¹⁷So they said again to the blind man, “What do you say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” He said, “He is a prophet.”
 ¹⁸The Jews did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they called the parents of the man who had received his sight ¹⁹and asked them, “Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How then does he now see?” ²⁰His parents answered, “We know that this is our son, and that he was born blind; ²¹but we do not know how it is that now he sees, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him; he is of age. He will speak for himself.” ²²His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews; for the Jews had already agreed that anyone who confessed Jesus to be the Messiah would be put out of the synagogue. ²³Therefore his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.”
 ²⁴So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, “Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.” ²⁵He answered, “I do not know whether he is a sinner. One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.” ²⁶They said to him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” ²⁷He answered them, “I have told you already, and you would not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you also want to become his disciples?” ²⁸Then they reviled him, saying, “You are his disciple, but we are disciples of Moses. ²⁹We know that God has spoken to Moses, but as for this man, we do not know where he comes from.” ³⁰The man answered, “Here is an astonishing thing! You do not know where he comes from, and yet he opened my eyes. ³¹We know that God does not listen to sinners, but he does listen to one who worships him and obeys his will. ³²Never since the world began has it been heard that anyone opened the eyes of a person born blind. ³³If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” ³⁴They answered him, “You were born entirely in sins, and are you trying to teach us?” And they drove him out.
 ³⁵Jesus heard that they had driven him out, and when he found him, he said, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” ³⁶He answered, “And who is he, sir? Tell me, so that I may believe in him.” ³⁷Jesus said to him, “You have seen him, and the one speaking with you is he.” ³⁸He said, “Lord, I believe.” And he worshiped him. ³⁹Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment so that those who do not see may see, and those who do see may become blind.” ⁴⁰Some of the Pharisees near him heard this and said to him, “Surely we are not blind, are we?” ⁴¹Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.”

Sermon – Pastor Meggan Manlove

We turn the pages in the gospel and go from Jesus’ longest conversation recorded, his conversation with the woman at the well to his longest absence, while the man born blind talks with everyone about Jesus. 

When Jesus and his disciples first encountered the man, the disciples assumed the man’s blindness was some kind of punishment for sin. If we think this mindset went away after Jesus’ resurrection or after the Holocaust, when 10s of thousands of people with disabilities were executed, we are sorely mistaken. Disability and sin are still linked together in weird ways.

Jesus clearly rejected this idea in John 9:3, saying “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” Some people interpret this to mean the man was born blind so that Jesus could come along and perform a miracle for all to see. But this interpretation robs the man of his humanity, reducing him to a mere prop in the story.

 Even the use of the word “healing” to describe this miracle implies that there was originally something “wrong” or “broken” about this man’s blindness, which seems the opposite of what Jesus was saying in verse three. A bind pastor  [Duane Steele] commenting on this text, wrote, “I have to admit I don’t like being blind sometimes, especially when it prevents me from doing useful things like driving a car, but Jesus made it clear that blindness does not prevent us from doing God’s will.”

Healing today does not look like the ancient practice of mixing saliva and mud and rubbing it on people. True healing happens when those of us accompanying people living with disability learn to truly love and welcome them; when we realize what they think and say and do matters; when we quit assuming people living with disabilities need to be fixed to contribute to the inbreaking reign of God.

Back to our story. The religious authorities were especially suspicious because Jesus had done this sign on a Sabbath day, which they considered a violation of religious law. Some of them said, “This man is not from God.” But the man born blind said, “He is a prophet.”

The man’s own parents cowered before these powerful religious leaders, fearing the consequences of questioning the status quo, but the man born blind responded more and more boldly to each question the authorities asked. He claimed his right to connect with the leadership of his community, but they rejected him and his belief in Jesus.

The man born blind was driven out of his community as punishment for his witness. When Jesus heard about this, he welcomed him as one of the many disciples who were spreading the Good News. Once again, Jesus chose a person whom society had rejected. 

For those of us gathered here today, the story of John 9 is about paying attention to the perspectives of people who have often been ignored, including people who have been marginalized under the label “disability,” but I don’t want us to focus only there, important as it is. 

For me this story does two things at once. It help us examine the ableism so prevalent in our culture and interrogate it through our faith in a loving Jesus who welcomed all, commissioned all, brought all into the fold. This story is also about each of us who has heard the voice of the Good Shepherd.

Our Bibles have a big chapter break after Jesus says “If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.” But if you look at the text, Jesus simple takes a breath and continues, “Very truly, I tell you, anyone who does not enter the sheepfold by the gate but climbs in by another way is a thief and a bandit.” On he continues with his good shepherd analogy. 

Instead of having us read the gospel of John chapters 9 and 10 today, those who crafted our pairings of scripture passages gave us Psalm 23. The man born blind is going to be part of this flock, with the shepherd, and all the comfort and assurance that such belonging holds. What exactly does this particular shepherd do? 

Most important seems to be the fact that “I shall not be in want.” There is also restoration of life and continued companionship. The psalmist uses imagery which reminds people of The Good Shepherd, the Lord, has healed and saved the entire community in the past.

It is true that The Good Shepherd cares for the entire flock, but let’s be honest. What makes this metaphor so powerful is the focus of the shepherd’s care on one person; it’s intimate. The individual dimensions of trust and grace are lifted up. Our congregation, which cares a great deal about communal identity, might wonder if this intimacy is okay. It is more than okay. 

The psalm prepares us for the story of the shepherd who does leave the flock to go on a search for one lost sheep. The earliest Christian said, “The Lord is my shepherd” and understood Lord to also be the title of Jesus. In John 10:11, Jesus says directly, “I am the good shepherd.” 

In our rereading of the psalm, Jesus, as the shepherd is the one who restores our souls, leads us in the paths of righteousness, accompanies us through danger, spreads the holy supper before us in the presence of sin and death, and pursues us in his gracious love all the days of our lives.

Another author [Brueggemann] writes that “it is God’s companionship that transforms every situation. It does not mean there are no deathly valleys, no enemies.” But we are not alone. We are still the Lord’s beloved. Our relationship with the Lord is transformative. Psalm 23 knows that evil and illness and brokenness are present in the world, but they are not feared. Psalm 23 knows the isolation and shame and loneliness of the man born blind. Confidence in God is the source of new orientation.

This does not mean that we can do whatever we want, and God will take care of us. It means that when we are on the other side, we will be able to see, that the Lord was The Good Shepherd even as we walked through this dark valley. 

One scholar claimed, and I think he is right, that this psalm is essential for daily life, for how we can be faithful for life Monday-Saturday. We might think of what this psalm began to mean for the man born blind after he really knew who Jesus was and Jesus said he was the good shepherd. How did Psalm 23 speak to the man? How does it speak to us today?

In some moments, we might cling to the main metaphor, “The Lord is my shepherd.” On one day the green pastures and still waters give me rest; they come tangibly through the voice of a friend in the middle of the country who asks, “How are you? I meant, how are you really?” 

On another day you might ponder the “paths of righteousness.” Despite all the things happening in our community and the world, you might read about acts of love and mercy in Nampa and beyond, and you are able to breathe easier. 

There are other times when I rest on my comfortable sofa and hear the words, “thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over” from my grandmother Jenny’s King James Bible, and I am somehow able to trust that God’s love is bigger than everything else. It is abundant and every flowing and life-giving. The love of The Good Shepherd does not get divided into pieces as though there is a finite amount. There is more than enough of this love for all the sheep, every single one. I remain a beloved child of God and so do each of you. It is true that we will face dark valleys, but it is also true that we, like the man born blind, will never be alone. 

Prayers of Intercession

Sustained by God’s abundant mercy, let us pray for the church, the world, and all of creation.

A brief silence.

Eternal God, you seal us by the Holy Spirit and mark us with the cross of Christ forever in baptism. Inspire us by your love as together we strive for justice and peace in all the earth. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Creating God, by your word you have made all things, and you hate nothing you have made. Teach us to perceive the beauty of the breadth of your creation, from the grandest mountain range to the smallest springtime bud. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Powerful God, you anoint kings and establish rulers. Guide the work of heads of state and elected officials (specific leaders may be named). Encourage them to lead with justice and to remove barriers that impede the well-being of all. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Shepherding God, you lead us beside still waters and restore our souls. Keep watch over those who weep; tend all who are sick and comfort those who grieve (especially). Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

God our host, you fill us at your table with more than we could ever ask. Feed us with hunger for justice. Equip the feeding ministries of this congregation and community (especially). Nourish us so we can nourish our neighbors. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

God of history, with thanksgiving we remember our ancestors in faith who cared for your people (especially Joseph, Guardian of Jesus). We praise you for the ways they formed the faith of others and continue to inspire us. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

We lift our prayers to you, O God, trusting in your steadfast love and your promise to renew your whole creation; through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Amen.

Prayer of the Day

Merciful God, the fountain of living water, you quench our thirst and wash away our sin. Give us this water always. Bring us to drink from the well that flows with the beauty of your truth through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

Exodus 17:1-7

¹From the wilderness of Sin the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lordcommanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ²The people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” ³But the people thirsted there for water; and the people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” ⁴So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” ⁵The Lord said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.” Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Psalm 95

 ¹Come, let us sing ^| to the Lord;
  let us shout for joy to the rock of ^| our salvation.
 ²Let us come before God’s presence ^| with thanksgiving
  and raise a loud shout to the ^| Lord with psalms.
 ³For you, Lord, ^| are a great God,
  and a great ruler a- ^| bove all gods.
 ⁴In your hand are the caverns ^| of the earth;
  the heights of the hills are ^| also yours.
 ⁵The sea is yours, ^| for you made it,
  and your hands have molded ^| the dry land.
 ⁶Come, let us worship ^| and bow down,
  let us kneel before the ^| Lord our maker. 
 ⁷For the Lord is our God, and we are the people of God’s pasture and the sheep ^| of God’s hand.
  Oh, that today you would ^| hear God’s voice!
 ⁸“Harden ^| not your hearts,
  as at Meribah, as on that day at Massah ^| in the desert.
 ⁹There your ancestors ^| tested me,
  they put me to the test, though they had ^| seen my works.
 ¹⁰Forty years I loathed that gener- ^| ation, saying,
  ‘The heart of this people goes astray; they do not ^| know my ways.’
 ¹¹Indeed I swore ^| in my anger,
  ‘They shall never come ^| to my rest.’ ” 

Romans 5:1-11

¹Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, ²through whom we have obtained access to this grace in which we stand; and we boast in our hope of sharing the glory of God. ³And not only that, but we also boast in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, ⁴and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, ⁵and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.
 ⁶For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. ⁷Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. ⁸But God proves his love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. ⁹Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from the wrath of God. ¹⁰For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more surely, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life. ¹¹But more than that, we even boast in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

John 4:5-42

⁵[Jesus] came to a Samaritan city called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.⁶Jacob’s well was there, and Jesus, tired out by his journey, was sitting by the well. It was about noon.
 ⁷A Samaritan woman came to draw water, and Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” ⁸(His disciples had gone to the city to buy food.) ⁹The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask a drink of me, a woman of Samaria?” (Jews do not share things in common with Samaritans.) ¹⁰Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ¹¹The woman said to him, “Sir, you have no bucket, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? ¹²Are you greater than our ancestor Jacob, who gave us the well, and with his sons and his flocks drank from it?” ¹³Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, ¹⁴but those who drink of the water that I will give them will never be thirsty. The water that I will give will become in them a spring of water gushing up to eternal life.” ¹⁵The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may never be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
 ¹⁶Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come back.” ¹⁷The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, ‘I have no husband’; ¹⁸for you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true!” ¹⁹The woman said to him, “Sir, I see that you are a prophet. ²⁰Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain, but you say that the place where people must worship is in Jerusalem.” ²¹Jesus said to her, “Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. ²²You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is from the Jews. ²³But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such as these to worship him. ²⁴God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” ²⁵The woman said to him, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When he comes, he will proclaim all things to us.” ²⁶Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking to you.”
 ²⁷Just then his disciples came. They were astonished that he was speaking with a woman, but no one said, “What do you want?” or, “Why are you speaking with her?” ²⁸Then the woman left her water jar and went back to the city. She said to the people, ²⁹“Come and see a man who told me everything I have ever done! He cannot be the Messiah, can he?” ³⁰They left the city and were on their way to him.
 ³¹Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” ³²But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you do not know about.” ³³So the disciples said to one another, “Surely no one has brought him something to eat?” ³⁴Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. ³⁵Do you not say, ‘Four months more, then comes the harvest’? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. ³⁶The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. ³⁷For here the saying holds true, ‘One sows and another reaps.’ ³⁸I sent you to reap that for which you did not labor. Others have labored, and you have entered into their labor.”
 ³⁹Many Samaritans from that city believed in him because of the woman’s testimony, “He told me everything I have ever done.” ⁴⁰So when the Samaritans came to him, they asked him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. ⁴¹And many more believed because of his word. ⁴²They said to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Savior of the world.”

Sermon – Pastor Meggan Manlove

I have been listening to a relatively new podcast called The Planning Commission. One of the hosts led the health assessment of the city of Nampa pre-pandemic. Their episode this past week introduced me to a new phrase, though not a new concept: place making. Here’s a bit of a definition: As both an overarching idea and a hands-on approach for improving a neighborhood, city or region, placemaking inspires people to collectively reimagine and reinvent public spaces as the heart of every community. Strengthening the connection between people and the places they share, placemaking refers to a collaborative process by which we can shape our public ream in order to maximize shared value.

In today’s gospel from John, Jesus becomes the ultimate place maker and equips the woman at the well to become one as well. It is a fabulous encounter because of the role Jesus plays, but equally because of the Samaritan woman at the well.  She has gumption, personality, conversation skills, and courage. We never even learn her name.  And yet, Jesus’ conversation with her is longer than with any of his other conversations recorded in scripture.  This is an encounter worthy of our attention. It’s quite a contrast to the story that comes before it.

The Pharisee Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. To Nicodemus, Jesus pronounced, “God so loved the world that he sent his only son.” Now Jesus is walking the talk—crossing every possible boundary. He speaks to a Samaritan, who by rule did not associate with Jews. This Samaritan is a woman, another boundary.  And finally, this woman is ostracized by her own community. We know this before getting her personal background because she can’t even draw water at normal hours, when respectable townsfolk come to the well. 

What do we really know about this woman at the well?  Five times she has been either widowed or abandoned.  Likely she was infertile, or perhaps too uppity.  We will never know.  But neither does it say, even though many interpreters have delighted to assume, that she was a tramp.  

Jesus shows his knowledge of the woman’s former husbands and the man now in her life.  Notice that he does not attempt to shame or judge her.  Such judgment has been projected onto the text, but I don’t hear it.  No, instead Jesus expresses intimate knowledge of her pain—rejection, loss, vulnerability, impermanence.  He sees her, all of her, and he knows her.  

Being seen is a powerful thing.  I love that moment when you hold an infant who is looking at everything around the room, suddenly your eyes lock, you both smile, and she knows in her tiny little heart that she is loved.  But the need to be seen does not end there. 

I have witnessed people become invisible in their grief, all sorts of grief. Grieving a death, a loss of a job, the end of a relationship, the sale of a home, people disappear literally or hide in themselves. The truth is that if you live long enough you will go through some time when you believe no one on the planet truly sees you, truly knows who you are.     

To know that another human being has truly seen you, understood you, received you for who you really are, that is pure grace. It is being seen.  Most of us would do anything for it. Human beings long for communion, for deep connection. When we don’t have it, we literally waste away—from isolation, anger, depression, addiction. To use Jesus’ own image from today’s text, we find no quenching for our thirst and we dry up.

Jesus and the Samaritan woman talk with one another about water. Whether it’s clean water out of a tap that we take for granted, a spring of water in the desert, water from your water bottle on a long dusty walk, splashing into a mountain lake in the summer, water is truly life giving. That’s what makes it such a powerful image.

What’s more, the need for fresh water unifies living things. It is necessary for life. The same is true about being truly seen.  Is there anything else so necessary for the health of our souls?  That is just what Jesus does—he sees her. And I think we can confidently finish what the woman says to her townsfolk, “Come see a man who told me everything I ever did…and loved me anyway.”  

It’s quite a contrast to the main character last week. Nicodemus is a Pharisee—an insider, a leader of the Jews.  He is a man, he has a name, but he comes to Jesus by night. The woman is a Samaritan—a religious, social, and political outsider.  She is a woman, she has no name, but she meets Jesus at noon, in full daylight.  

No one introduced to these two individuals would assume that the woman at the well would be open to what Jesus has to say, for her to identify Jesus and then to converse with him.  And yet it is she who testifies to Jesus, she is the one who gives her testimony. It is so easy to make assumptions about who is and who is not ready for Jesus’ living water, so easy to think we know who or who is not thirsting to know the Good News of Jesus Christ.

What conscious or subconscious assumptions do we make about people we would talk with about our faith, invite to worship or social events?  Do we seek out only those who look like us? Are our eyes and ears open to other possibilities, people who can almost seem invisible? From whose brokenness do we turn away even though he might be the one person who most needs to be seen? What oddball has been on the outside for so long that he does not even notice his need to be seen and loved?  

The truth is that each of us here is in some way broken, odd, has felt invisible in some way. By the grace of God, we were told or shown that God sees us and loves us. Maybe it happened long ago on a grandparent’s lap or in a Sunday School classroom or around a campfire. Perhaps it took place recently in a conversation with a friend, in the solitude of a long walk, or when you came to the Table for the first time or for the first time in a long time. Maybe it happened through something we simply cannot explain.  

How do we respond to such a claim on us—of being seen by a loving God? The Samaritan woman moves outside of her religious expectations to engage Jesus in a theological debate. The woman at the well hears the actual name of God, “I am.”   The last words of the woman at the well are “He cannot be the Christ, can he?” lead her to witness to her whole town.

When I speak with friends about preaching in this space, I acknowledge the wonder and challenge I experience. I am sure it is true of most congregations, but we come, each one of us, with such diverse stories. Yes, there are of course some threads of similarity but our backgrounds, trials, celebrations, daily lives are quite varied. 

What that means on a day like today is that some of you need to hear that Jesus sees you and loves you, just as he saw that Samaritan woman with her broken family. Jesus loved her enough to journey to the cross and die. And then God defeated even death in the resurrection. Full stop. 

Others of you know this truth so well, it floods you, quenches your thirst. You need to be reminded to share that gift. “Come and See!” Those are the words with which you can begin your testimony, your story of faith. Most of you need to hear both of these things. You are seen and you are loved just the way you are. Now go tell someone else that the same is true for him. Amen.

Prayers of Intercession

Sustained by God’s abundant mercy, let us pray for the church, the world, and all of creation.

A brief silence.

We pray for your church. Bless partnerships with other Christians and inter-religious dialogue. Guide the daily work of denominational and congregational leaders. Strengthen our combined witness for the sake of the gospel, that all experience your life-giving love. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

We pray for the universe. All creation teems with life, from the depths of the earth and seas to the skies above. Fill us with awe and reverence for the diversity and preservation of life. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

We pray for the nations of the world. Topple the dividing walls that separate us from our neighbors. Form us into your beloved community where diversity of gender, race, language, ability, and ethnic origin is celebrated and affirmed. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

We pray for those who suffer in mind, body, or spirit. Be present with all who are lonely, and give courage to all who are afraid. Comfort those who live with chronic illness or other sickness (especially). Give them your living water always. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

We pray for this congregation, especially those preparing for baptism (at the Vigil of Easter/on Easter Day). Nurture their faith and pour your love into their hearts. Inspire our community by their testimony to God’s grace in their lives. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

We give thanks for the lives of all your saints (especially Gregory the Great, whom we commemorate today). Their hope in you sustained lives of faith and service. Encourage us with the hope they shared in you. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

We lift our prayers to you, O God, trusting in your steadfast love and your promise to renew your whole creation; through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Prayer of the Day

O God, our leader and guide, in the waters of baptism you bring us to new birth to live as your children. Strengthen our faith in your promises, that by your Spirit we may lift up your life to all the world through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

Genesis 12:1-4a

¹The Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. ²I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. ³I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
 ^4aSo Abram went, as the Lord had told him; and Lot went with him.

Psalm 121

 ¹I lift up my eyes ^| to the hills;
  from where is my ^| help to come?
 ²My help comes ^| from the Lord,
  the maker of heav- ^| en and earth.
 ³The Lord will not let your ^| foot be moved
  nor will the one who watches over you ^| fall asleep.
 ⁴Behold, the keep- ^| er of Israel
  will neither slum- ^| ber nor sleep; 
 ⁵the Lord watches ^| over you;
  the Lord is your shade at ^| your right hand;
 ⁶the sun will not strike ^| you by day,
  nor the ^| moon by night.
 ⁷The Lord will preserve you ^| from all evil
  and will ^| keep your life.
 ⁸The Lord will watch over your going out and your ^| coming in,
  from this time forth for- ^| evermore. 

Romans 4:1-5, 13-17

¹What then are we to say was gained by Abraham, our ancestor according to the flesh? ²For if Abraham was justified by works, he has something to boast about, but not before God. ³For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as righteousness.” ⁴Now to one who works, wages are not reckoned as a gift but as something due. ⁵But to one who without works trusts him who justifies the ungodly, such faith is reckoned as righteousness.
 ¹³For the promise that he would inherit the world did not come to Abraham or to his descendants through the law but through the righteousness of faith. ¹⁴If it is the adherents of the law who are to be the heirs, faith is null and the promise is void. ¹⁵For the law brings wrath; but where there is no law, neither is there violation.
 ¹⁶For this reason it depends on faith, in order that the promise may rest on grace and be guaranteed to all his descendants, not only to the adherents of the law but also to those who share the faith of Abraham (for he is the father of all of us, ¹⁷as it is written, “I have made you the father of many nations”)—in the presence of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls into existence the things that do not exist.

John 3:1-17

¹Now there was a Pharisee named Nicodemus, a leader of the Jews. ²He came to Jesus by night and said to him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher who has come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do apart from the presence of God.” ³Jesus answered him, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God without being born from above.” ⁴Nicodemus said to him, “How can anyone be born after having grown old? Can one enter a second time into the mother’s womb and be born?” ⁵Jesus answered, “Very truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God without being born of water and Spirit. ⁶What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit. ⁷Do not be astonished that I said to you, ‘You must be born from above.’ ⁸The wind blows where it chooses, and you hear the sound of it, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” ⁹Nicodemus said to him, “How can these things be?” ¹⁰Jesus answered him, “Are you a teacher of Israel, and yet you do not understand these things?
 ¹¹“Very truly, I tell you, we speak of what we know and testify to what we have seen; yet you do not receive our testimony. ¹²If I have told you about earthly things and you do not believe, how can you believe if I tell you about heavenly things? ¹³No one has ascended into heaven except the one who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. ¹⁴And just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, ¹⁵that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
 ¹⁶“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.
 ¹⁷“Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

Sermon – Pastor Meggan Manlove

I was drawn to our scripture passage from Genesis, the call of Abram and Sarai, this Lent because of our emphasis on baptism. It’s true that the story of Nicodemus and Jesus carries heavy tones of baptism as well. But when I stop to consider for myself or teach a group of people about how our God is a god of covenants and promises and faithfulness, it is the story of Abraham and Sarah that I turn to first.

If you are reading along in Genesis, there is an obvious literary break at this point in the narrative. This break in the narrative distinguishes between the history of humankind and the history of Israel (the people, not the nation). 

The God who calls the world into being now makes a second call. This call is specific. The call is addressed to aged Abraham and Sarah and the purpose of the call is to fashion on alternative community in creation gone awry. As one scholar [Brueggemann] says, “It is the hope of God that in this new family all human history can be brought to the unity and harmony intended by the one who calls.” It is clear from the verses we read today that the call to Sarah and Abraham has to do not simply with the forming of Israel (the people, not the current nation), but with the re-forming of creation, the transforming of all nations.

There are two themes central to this story and central to our Lenten theme of living into our baptisms: promise and faith. Promise is God’s mode of presence in this story. The promise is God’s power and will to create a new future sharply discontinuous with the past and present. The promise is God’s resolve to form a new community shaped only by miracle and reliant only on God’s faithfulness. And then faith is the response to God’s promise. Faith is the capacity to embrace the future God announced.

We Lutheran Christians gathered in sanctuaries for worship today are not the only ones who turn to this story to remember the relationship of God’s promises and the response of faith. Our Jewish friends turn to this story with us.

On February 24 an email was sent from our presiding Bishop Elizabeth Eaton about a spike in anti-Jewish hate and that extremist groups were planning a national day of hate for the 25^th, targeting Jews. If we think for a minute that anti-Jewish hate and anti-Semitism exist only in major urban areas or on the coasts, we only need remember the anti-Semitic language etched on the stones of the Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial in Boise in 2017 and swastikas that were found painted on historic Boise buildings and in the underpasses on Boise’s Greenbelt in 2021.

This is a modern issue with ancient roots. I’m particularly aware of my own responsibility to not perpetuate the problem in this moment because we are spending a year in Matthew’s gospel and much of Lent and Holy Week in John’s Gospel. It is bad readings or misinterpretations of these two gospels especially that have led the Christian church itself to be ani-Jewish and anti-Semitic. 

Too often we have easily lost track of the inter-Jewish disputes occurring in the gospels. Instead, we have read, or been told, that Jesus was rejecting all Jewish law and customs. Further, and even more damaging, the church has blamed the Jews for Jesus’ death on the cross instead of seeing Jesus’ crucifixion as Rome’s decision, Rome’s power, and Rome’s form of execution. 

Interpretations of the Apostle Paul’s letters have also been problematic at least and harmful at worst, which brings us to today’s reading from Romans. First let’s remember that Paul’s mission to the gentiles was to announce that the same relationship, the relationship Paul called faith, had become available to non-Jews through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Gentiles, that’s you and me, could be part of the people of God, Israel (the people, not the nation), alongside the Jews.

As Paul worked to build up the Jesus community, the central conflict developed around this question: whether non-Jews in Jesus communities also had to live as Jews. Paul insisted they did not. He saw Abraham’s faith relationship to God as prior to circumcision and prior to the faith practices of the Torah given at Mount Sinai. 

Paul also knew that God’s saving power in the Exodus, through the Red Sea, came prior to Mount Sinai and the Torah. Paul never challenges the Torah-shaped life of Jews. He does affirm that Torah life follows God’s creation of a relationship with Israel. 

Let me put this another way. God redeemed the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt, where they had been Pharoah’s people. The revelation of the Torah came as an answer to the question, “How shall we live, now that we are God’s people?” God redeemed non-Jews, gentiles, through Jesus’ death and resurrection. Whereas Jews are guided by the spirit of God into the lifestyle of Torah, we are guided by the gifts of the Spirit into the lifestyle, or law, of love. To state it plainly, Christians are not the “new Israel” or the “true Israel.” According to Paul, when gentiles come into Christ-faith through God’s grace, they become “those who share the faith of Abraham” (Romans 4:16). We have been “grafted in” to the holy root, part of the dough that is made holy by the holiness of its first fruits (Romans 11:16-17).

Given this relationship with the Jewish people, the anti-Jewish and anti-Semitic hate in Christian history is heartbreaking. Our own Lutheran tradition bears extra pain, which the ELCA acknowledged in 1994 and again 2021through A Declaration of the ELCA to the Jewish Community.

One paragraph from the document reads, “In the spirit of … truth-telling, we who bear [Martin Luther’s] name and heritage must with pain acknowledge also Luther’s anti-Judaic diatribes and the violent recommendations of his later writings against the Jews. As did many of Luther’s own companions in the sixteenth century, we reject this violent invective, and yet more do we express our deep and abiding sorrow over its tragic effects on subsequent generations. In concert with the Lutheran World Federation, we particularly deplore the appropriation in our day of Luther’s words by modern anti-Semites for the teaching of hatred and incitement to violence toward Judaism and the Jewish people.”

It is statements like this one that actually give me hope. I have deep and abiding hope that the Holy Spirit is at work through new scholarship, through inter-faith relationships, and through individuals and groups of people who say no to anti-Semitism. The rise in anti-Semitism in the past few years has me on alert and it is surely part of the reason I preached this sermon today, and yet I can see that the Holy Spirit has been at work. In our ecumenical tradition we do not perpetuate anti-Semitism as unconsciously or consciously as we did in the past. 

Still, there is more to do. There are more ways in our families, our circles of friends, and our larger community where we can stop the spread of anti-Semitism and affirm the blessedness of the Jewish people. I invite you to ponder those small and large actions as you leave this space.

I take comfort in the fact that since the earliest chapters of Genesis, God desires a thriving and diverse creation. We read in those earlier chapters of Genesis that divine intentions are repeatedly corrupted (think the Garden of Eden, the Great Flood, the Tower of Babel). Human hearts remain perpetually wicked. However, and this is the big however that keeps repeating throughout scripture, instead of quitting, God decides on a different strategy such that “all the families of the earth shall be blessed” through Abraham.

First comes the call. God calls Sarah and Abraham to a land God will show them. The call is followed by the promise. God will make of them. God will bless them. God will magnify their name. God will bless those who bless them. Notice that the future to be received by the people Israel is no accomplishment or achievement of their own. It is a gift by the one who is able to give good gifts. 

Abraham and Sarah may not be able to conjure up these gifts, but they can receive them. They can and do concede that the initiative for life is held by this other one, by God. Abraham believed the promise. He obeyed. He asked no questions. Trusting the promise without any visible evidence is what is meant by faith, itself a gift from God.

This is the gift given to us in the waters of baptism, not by anything we do to initiate the gift. We, like our ancestors of faith, are recipients. Our church professes that baptism brings forgiveness of sins, redeems us from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation or healing to all who trust the promise.

We follow a God of promise, a God of relationship, who has continued since the very beginning of beginnings to desire relationship with creation. God desires a thriving and diverse creation, with multiple life-giving relationships. Some days that can be a utopic vision seemingly out of reach. Today let it be the world we help create because our God is faithful, strengthening us for the work, and is always accompanying us.

Prayers of Intercession

Sustained by God’s abundant mercy, let us pray for the church, the world, and all of creation.

A brief silence.

O God, you so love your church. Raise up leaders who care for your people. Bless lay theologians, seminary and college professors, and all who are called to the ministry of teaching, that they form and inspire us for the work of the gospel. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

O God, you so love your creation. Breathe new life into our planetary home. Guide the work of researchers, scientists, and activists who love your earth and who inspire us to care for the natural world. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

O God, you so love the world. Uphold leaders who resist tyranny and oppression. Strengthen organizations that promote peace and harmony (especially). Direct their work to alleviate human suffering and to address its root causes. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

O God, you so love your people. Draw near to all who live with mental illness, depression, or addiction, and accompany them in healing and recovery. Hear the cries of those who look to you in their distress (especially). Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

O God, you so love your children. Bless the young in our midst, and delight us with their joy, wonder, and curiosity. Revive our ministries with children and youth and equip us all for faithful discipleship. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

O God, you so love your saints. As our ancestors in the faith have been a blessing to us, so inspire us by their example of holy living to be a blessing to those who come after us. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

We lift our prayers to you, O God, trusting in your steadfast love and your promise to renew your whole creation; through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Amen.

Prayer of the Day

Lord God, our strength, the struggle between good and evil rages within and around us, and the devil and all the forces that defy you tempt us with empty promises. Keep us steadfast in your word, and when we fall, raise us again and restore us through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

Genesis 2:15-17; 3:1-7

¹⁵The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it. ¹⁶And the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; ¹⁷but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die.”
 ^3:1Now the serpent was more crafty than any other wild animal that the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God say, ‘You shall not eat from any tree in the garden’?” ²The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden; ³but God said, ‘You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the garden, nor shall you touch it, or you shall die.’ ” ⁴But the serpent said to the woman, “You will not die; ⁵for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” ⁶So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. ⁷Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

Psalm: Psalm 32

 ¹Happy are they whose transgressions ^| are forgiven,
  and whose sin is ^| put away!
 ²Happy are they to whom the Lord im- ^| putes no guilt,
  and in whose spirit there ^| is no guile!
 ³While I held my tongue, my bones with- ^| ered away,
  because of my groaning ^| all day long.
 ⁴For your hand was heavy upon me ^| day and night;
  my moisture was dried up as in the ^| heat of summer. R
 ⁵Then I acknowledged my sin to you, and did not con- ^| ceal my guilt.
  I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord.” Then you forgave me the guilt ^| of my sin.
 ⁶Therefore all the faithful will make their prayers to you in ^| time of trouble;
  when the great waters overflow, they ^| shall not reach them.
 ⁷You are my hiding-place; you preserve ^| me from trouble;
  you surround me with shouts ^| of deliverance.
 ⁸“I will instruct you and teach you in the way that ^| you should go;
  I will guide you ^| with my eye. R
 ⁹Do not be like horse or mule, which have no ^| understanding;
  who must be fitted with bit and bridle, or else they will ^| not stay near you.”
 ¹⁰Great are the tribulations ^| of the wicked;
  but mercy embraces those who trust ^| in the Lord.
 ¹¹Be glad, you righteous, and rejoice ^| in the Lord;
  shout for joy, all who are ^| true of heart. R

Second Reading: Romans 5:12-19

¹²Just as sin came into the world through one man, and death came through sin, and so death spread to all because all have sinned—¹³sin was indeed in the world before the law, but sin is not reckoned when there is no law. ¹⁴Yet death exercised dominion from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sins were not like the transgression of Adam, who is a type of the one who was to come.
 ¹⁵But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if the many died through the one man’s trespass, much more surely have the grace of God and the free gift in the grace of the one man, Jesus Christ, abounded for the many. ¹⁶And the free gift is not like the effect of the one man’s sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brings justification. ¹⁷If, because of the one man’s trespass, death exercised dominion through that one, much more surely will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness exercise dominion in life through the one man, Jesus Christ.
 ¹⁸Therefore just as one man’s trespass led to condemnation for all, so one man’s act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all. ¹⁹For just as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous.

Gospel: Matthew 4:1-11

¹Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. ²He fasted forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. ³The tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” ⁴But he answered, “It is written, 
 ‘One does not live by bread alone,
  but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’ ”
 ⁵Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, ⁶saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written, 
 ‘He will command his angels concerning you,’
  and ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
 so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
⁷Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ”
 ⁸Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; ⁹and he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” ¹⁰Jesus said to him, “Away with you, Satan! for it is written, 
 ‘Worship the Lord your God,
  and serve only him.’ ”
¹¹Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him.

Pastor Meggan’s Sermon

The season of Lent emerged in the early Christian church as the final, intensive time of preparation—of instruction and formation—for people who would be baptized at Easter. Remember that during the first centuries of the Christian Church, baptism was for adults. Lent was designed to lead baptismal candidates to their baptismal waters. Preparation was long and full of instruction. As the final time of preparation, Lent was chiefly a time of Christian formation.  

We moved our baptismal font for the season in the attempt to draw new attention to the baptismal waters and promises. We will spend time during this season considering what it means to walk wet, as baptized children of God, in Nampa, Idaho in 2023. Freed by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, what’s next?  Nothing was required of us to come to the font, to receive the promises of forgiveness and abundant life. And yet the Sacrament of Baptism includes promises and declarations of our own which can inform our living today. All of the Old and New Testament texts assigned for the Sundays of Lent this year help us in the baptismal journey.

The question today then is why is Jesus’ encounter with the devil in the wilderness an important story for people about to be baptized into the Christian faith? Why is it an important story for Christian formation? This is our backdrop as we enter this morning’s narrative. 

Today we see and hear Jesus reacting to his own set of tensions. Alone in the wilderness, fasting for 40 days, he also is locked-in in his own way. How will he react to his conditions? What direction will his life take? How will he choose to live? In Jesus’ case, the answers to these questions will not only shape his life, but the whole of humanity.

This is not a temptation scene. This is a scene in which an appointed agent tests Jesus’ solidity. The tester is a prosecutor, not a demon. He is an inspector with official responsibilities before God. He is not a cosmic force arrayed against God.  He is not Satan; he is the satan, the inspector and tester. We might consider the book of Job in the Old Testament, and the figure of the satan that is found there—that is the character.

The first thing to notice is that Jesus is brought to the place of testing by the Holy Spirit.  That means that no matter how things finally come out, Jesus is not ambushed. He is examined. The next thing to observe is that this examination begins with a ritual weakening of the candidate. Jesus fasts for forty days and forty nights. We are told that at the end of this rigorous fast he was hungry.  This may seem obvious, but it is significant.  

Hunger is not simply a biological state.  It is an index of what it means to be a human being. Jesus, as a result of his ritual fast, has become fully alive, a human being at the most basic level, capable of the greatness and depravity that hunger brings to life. It is in this state of basic human life that the tester approaches him.

The tempter asks him to turn stones into loaves. The real test is whether Jesus will desire to leap above being a human being and claim status as a son of God. The tester is testing to see whether Jesus will expect privileges, expect the laws of nature to change so that he will have bread to eat without relying on someone to bake it, someone to grind the meal, someone to harvest the grain, someone to plant the grain. Will Jesus ask something of the world that it does not give?

Then the tester takes Jesus to the temple in Jerusalem and says, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down,” for angels will rescue you.  Spectators are not mentioned, but the temptation must be for Jesus to make some sensational demonstration that he is the Son of God. Jesus refuses, not because of any lack of faith in God’s power and care. He refuses because honoring God excludes every kind of manipulation, including putting God to the test.

The third test is for Jesus to rule the kingdoms of the world, to assume the role presently played by the Roman emperor. The test is to do it by surrendering to the devil’s kingship. The tester’s command challenged Jesus to accept the current state of the rebellious state of the world. With Jesus’ power, he could have it all. But Jesus will not deviate from worshiping the one true God, even for the noble-sounding purpose of taking over all the kingdoms of the world. 

In this fourth chapter of Matthew, we see Jesus’ earthly life as that of one who fully shares the weakness of our human situation. The picture of Jesus as the obedient Son of God does not abolish or compromise the image of Jesus as truly human.  Jesus is both Son of God and Son of Man.

Those preparing for baptism in the early church who asked: “Why should I believe in Jesus?” are given answers in today’s text. Jesus is a model of obedience to God.  He emerges victorious from his combat with the tester. He can safeguard and maintain his honor and avoid shame. Until his arrest, trial, and death, no one—human or spirit—succeeds in shaming him, tripping him up, or causing him to fall from his ministry. This is the consequence of unflinching obedience to God.

In our service of Baptism in 2023, the baptized, or the parents and sponsors, participate in what we call the “Profession of Faith.” The Profession begins with something we do not often discuss, a three-fold renunciation. Three-fold, the same pattern we hear this morning in Jesus’ trial with Satan. The pastor asks, “Do you renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God?…Do you renounce the powers of this world that rebel against God?…Do you renounce the ways of sin that draw you from God?” One definition for renounce is to reject.  I like combining reject with a slightly different translation, “to give up.”  

We do not renounce them of our own power, but with the power of the Holy Spirit. The message from today’s story in the wilderness is not to go and be like Jesus, renouncing the devil. Instead it’s a reminder that in baptism we are united with Christ, who can in fact reject, or give up, the powers of this world.

We are saying that, united with Christ, we give up all of those things that defy God; that we give up everything else which we serve: money, power, privilege.  We renounce them and yet we know full well that most of us will bow down to one of these in our lifetime, if not this very afternoon. So why is this part of Baptism? 

Because in the waters of Baptism our old self is drowned and we are united with Christ, and Christ truly did give up and reject the devil and the powers of this world that rebel against God. And so, we come up from the waters forgiven, free, and with new life.

Jesus’ time in the wilderness is also a prelude to his entire ministry. Jesus refuses in the wilderness to turn stones into bread, but soon he will feed thousands in the wilderness with just a few loaves and some fish (Matt 14:17-21; 15:33-38), and he will teach his disciples to pray to God for their “daily bread” (Matt 6:11).

Jesus refuses to take advantage of his relationship to God by hurling himself down from the heights of the Temple, but at the end of his earthly ministry he endures the taunts of others (Matt 27:38-44) while trusting God’s power to the end upon the heights of a Roman cross (Matt 27:46).

And Jesus turns down the devil’s offer of political leadership over the kingdoms of the world. Instead, he offers the kingdom of the heavens to all those who follow him in the way of righteousness.

All of this should have us asking: What does it look like to trust God? What are appropriate uses of authority and power that serve the world by serving God? These questions can guide our living and formation just as they guided early Christians preparing for baptism. How should we live out our faithfulness in the realities of daily life, empowered by “Emmanuel, God with us?”

Overwhelming and desolate as our wildernesses may seem, today’s gospel reminds us of something essential: Jesus has already gone ahead of us, even to the most forsaken places of the wilderness. Jesus meets us in the most difficult tests of our lives. No place is so desolate, so distant, or so challenging that Jesus has not already been there. And no temptation is so great that Jesus has not already overcome it.

Prayers of Intercession

Sustained by God’s abundant mercy, let us pray for the church, the world, and all of creation.

A brief silence.

You alone are God. Sustain your church in times of wilderness. Give vision and wisdom to bishops, their staff, and all entrusted with the ministry of administration (especially). Counsel all who faithfully lead your people into the future. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

You create verdant gardens and expansive deserts. Tend to the needs of every living creature. Bless those who work in fields and orchards (local sources of food and food distributors may be named), that the world is nourished by the fruits of their labor. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

You know our temptations. Sustain those who govern and legislate. Instill in them a sense of your justice and righteousness, that equity and peace would pervade all the regions and nations of the world. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

You are a hiding place for all in distress. Draw near to exiles, and accompany all refugees and immigrants, especially children who travel alone. In times of trouble, trauma, or illness, surround your people with your steadfast love (especially). Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

You offer abundance to all. Bless the ministries of hospitality in this place. Care for those who tend to the needs of others, especially worship greeters, coffee hour hosts, and nursery attendants (other ministries of care and hospitality may be named). Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

You alone are God. We praise you for the faithful departed in every age. Unite our prayers with theirs, until our wilderness journey is complete, and we rest in you. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

We lift our prayers to you, O God, trusting in your steadfast love and your promise to renew your whole creation; through Jesus Christ our Savior.

Amen.

 

Joel 2:1-2, 12-17

 ¹Blow the trumpet in Zion;
  sound the alarm on my holy mountain!
 Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble,
  for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near—
 ²a day of darkness and gloom,
  a day of clouds and thick darkness!
 Like blackness spread upon the mountains
  a great and powerful army comes;
 their like has never been from of old,
  nor will be again after them
  in ages to come.

 ¹²Yet even now, says the Lord,
  return to me with all your heart,
 with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
  ¹³rend your hearts and not your clothing.
 Return to the Lord, your God,
  for he is gracious and merciful,
 slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love,
  and relents from punishing.
 ¹⁴Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
  and leave a blessing behind him,
 a grain offering and a drink offering
  for the Lord, your God?

 ¹⁵Blow the trumpet in Zion;
  sanctify a fast;
 call a solemn assembly;
  ¹⁶gather the people.
 Sanctify the congregation;
  assemble the aged;
 gather the children,
  even infants at the breast.
 Let the bridegroom leave his room,
  and the bride her canopy.

 ¹⁷Between the vestibule and the altar
  let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep.
 Let them say, “Spare your people, O Lord,
  and do not make your heritage a mockery,
  a byword among the nations.
 Why should it be said among the peoples,
  ‘Where is their God?’ ”

Sermon – Pastor Meggan Manlove

Today’s Old Testament lesson comes from one of the shortest books of the Bible. Taken from the second of its three chapters, the prophet Joel speaks of the blessing that is possible for Israel, if only they would repent. Considering the blessings that come with repentance, we might think that the people would eagerly, without hesitation, run to God’s open invitation for penitence. But despite its potential for blessing, the Israelites of old resist repentance with every ounce of their being.

Why? Why are people so reluctant to repent when they know that blessings are waiting? Well, repentance necessitates recognition and admission of guilt, of having done wrong, of being sorry for the hurt one caused another. Individually or collectively, people would rather live in denial than have a contrite spirit, admit they are mistaken, and say “I’m sorry. I was wrong. Please forgive me.” And if sin is about being separated from God, who wants to admit that? 

Joel is among the biblical prophets who repeatedly, to no avail, encouraged Israel to turn to God and leave its faults and failures, its sins, behind. We are not confident about the context that this particular prophet lived during. What we can be sure of is that he writes to warn Israel that communal sin has consequences.

I confess that I am coming to Ash Wednesday this year informed by a discussion series I led on Brian McLaren’s book, Do I Stay Christian? Although in the second half of the book McLaren gives compelling reasons for being Christian, the first half is disheartening to say the least. It is a blunt retelling of systemic sins in the name of Christianity. Readers are reminded of them all: Christians killing non-Christians in the name of religion, Christians killing Christians in the name of religion, slavery, colonization, the destruction of indigenous cultures in the name of relgions, upholding patriarchy leading to the harm of countless women, and anti-Semitism.

These sins are not limited to one geography or centuries past. I will never forget the way my heart broke when I watched the news about the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in the summer of 2017. The participants claimed to follow the same Jesus we do. How is that possible and, more importantly, what is our responsibility and what can actually be done?

First, we belong to a long tradition of repenting for the collective sins of our ancestors. The Lutheran Church has made specific public apologies for Martin Luther’s anti-Semitism. More recently, we have apologized for being complacent in the doctrine of discovery, a belief system which displaced thousands of Native Americans across the United States. 

There is justifiable criticism for apologies that are not followed by concrete actions. However, when action follows, then formal and public repentance can be a powerful step towards reconciliation with our neighbors and with God. It is always a good time to repent, but I am thankful for a liturgical season that calls us to take the practice of repentance particularly seriously for a period of time.

So let us return to our Old Testament text. Joel uses the image of an invading army of locusts to get the attention of a nation, whose short-term perspective made it oblivious to the dangers that lay ahead. To get the full impact of this imagery, one needs to hear Joel’s words in Chapter 1, “What the cutting locust left, the swarming locust has eaten. What the swarming locust left, the hopping locust has eaten, and what the hopping locust left, the destroying locust has eaten” (Joel 1:4). The image is clear—all is lost and there is no hope for restoration. The situation is so hopeless that even the animals groan and cry out to God. 

In our reading today, Joel returns to the call to repentance issued earlier. This time the sense of hopelessness is replaced by a glimmer of hope in God, who is, according to Joel, “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (2:13b). There is, however, a catch. Reprieve is a contingent blessing. It depends on how Israel responds to God’s call to return. Joel makes it plain that a change of heart and a commitment to follow God are the requirements for the reprieve. With a cry of desperation that one more appeal could make a difference, God pleads, “Yet even now, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing.”

With a strong sense of urgency, Joel calls on Israel, even though there is no guarantee, but “Who knows whether God will not turn and relent and leave a blessing behind” (2:14a, b).

Joel calls for the entire community to gather, suckling infants, children, and aged alike, to fast, weep, and plead for God’s mercy. This appeal to God is accompanied by a reminder to God that Israel is God’s heritage. The reminder seems foolish since Israel has not followed God’s commandments and can only hope that God will respond with an undeserved kindness—a kindness based on God’s grace and character.

In this season of Lent, is not Israel’s plea our plea as well? Should we not also fast and cry out to God? Should we not recognize that any reprieve God gives is neither earned entitlement nor priceless privilege? Instead, God’s forgiveness is a manifestation of God’s grace, of God’s love and care for humanity.

In an online clergy group, another pastor said someone from a different tradition now at his congregation did not want to receive ashes. The pastor inquired, what else can mark the start of Lent besides Ashes? Now, I love and appreciate that our service tonight includes the Imposition of Ashes, and that ashes remind us of both our mortality and of our sin and brokenness. And yet Joel reminds us that the long confession and the invitation to the discipline of Lent are also crucial to this day and this entire season. 

On Ash Wednesday it is more than enough to return to God and know God’s presence: in our worship, in our long prayers, and in the meal. Our brokenness and our community’s brokenness are never the final word. God loves the world too much to let our sin be the final word. We trust a God who makes all things new.

Prayer of the Day

O God, in the transfiguration of your Son you confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the witness of Moses and Elijah, and in the voice from the bright cloud declaring Jesus your beloved Son, you foreshadowed our adoption as your children. Make us heirs with Christ of your glory, and bring us to enjoy its fullness, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.

Exodus 24:12-18

¹²The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and wait there; and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” ¹³So Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. ¹⁴To the elders he had said, “Wait here for us, until we come to you again; for Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.”
 ¹⁵Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. ¹⁶The glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the cloud. ¹⁷Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. ¹⁸Moses entered the cloud, and went up on the mountain. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.

Psalm 2

 ¹Why are the nations ^| in an uproar?
  Why do the peoples mutter ^| empty threats?
 ²Why do the kings of the earth rise up in revolt, and the princes ^| plot together,
  against the Lord and against the ^| Lord’s anointed?
 ³“Let us break their ^| yoke,” they say;
  “let us cast off their ^| bonds from us.”
 ⁴God whose throne is in heav- ^| en is laughing;
  the Lord holds them ^| in derision. 
 ⁵Then in wrath God ^| speaks to them,
  and in rage fills ^| them with terror.
 ⁶“As for me, I have anoint- ^| ed my king
  upon Zion, my ^| holy mountain.”
 ⁷Let me announce the decree ^| of the Lord,
  who said to me, “You are my son; this day have I be- ^| gotten you.
 ⁸Ask of me, and I will give you the nations for ^| your inheritance
  and the ends of the earth for ^| your possession. 
 ⁹You shall crush them with an ^| iron rod
  and shatter them like a ^| piece of pottery.”
 ¹⁰And now, you ^| kings, be wise;
  be warned, you rulers ^| of the earth.
 ¹¹Submit to the ^| Lord with fear,
  and with trembling ^| bow in worship;
 ¹²lest the Lord be angry, and you perish in a sudden ^| blaze of wrath.
  Happy are all who take ref- ^| uge in God!

2 Peter 1:16-21

¹⁶For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we had been eyewitnesses of his majesty. ¹⁷For he received honor and glory from God the Father when that voice was conveyed to him by the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, my Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.” ¹⁸We ourselves heard this voice come from heaven, while we were with him on the holy mountain.
 ¹⁹So we have the prophetic message more fully confirmed. You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts. ²⁰First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, ²¹because no prophecy ever came by human will, but men and women moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.

Matthew 17:1-9

¹Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves. ²And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. ³Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. ⁴Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I will make three dwellings here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁵While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud a voice said, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!” ⁶When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. ⁷But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.” ⁸And when they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.
 ⁹As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”

Sermon – Pastor Meggan Manlove

For weeks we’ve been up on a mountain with crowds of Jesus’ new followers. We listened in as Jesus spoke about what it means to follow him. This morning we skip ahead in the story and go up a very different mountain with the inner group. There is no long sermon or speech. It has the form of a historical narrative, but its content is so otherworldly that it is hard for us to accept its historical authenticity. 

No matter how we read it, the story points us to mystery, a mystery beyond the reach of historical reconstruction or scientific verification. Scholars can talk about Jesus the historical figure. But none of it tells us anything about the mystery of Jesus’ as it was experienced by the community that grew up around him. The story of the transfiguration attempts to draw us into that mystery.  

The Gospel writer Matthew refers to what occurred on the mountain as a vision.  He does not mean an inner psychological experience. He does mean that the “seeing’ is not a natural function of ordinary eyes but is God-given. God grants the disciples the power to see what otherwise would have been invisible to mortal perception.

The inside troika, Peter, James, and John are asked to see before listening, to see past it all–Jesus’ words, his ministry, his teaching, his healing, his preaching, his friendships, his prayer, his wisdom. Jesus invites them now to see through and beyond all that. He invites them to see something that can be apprehended most accurately not by ear or eye, but by the heart and soul: his true identity. “And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white.”

The transfiguration comes at a critical point in Jesus’ life, a point of major transition. Here he shifts from his active ministry among the people and toward Jerusalem, the place of his death and resurrection, the place where human and divine will intersect. And knowing how hard it would be for his disciples to understand and witness this, Jesus takes his closest disciples and heads up a mountain.  

There they come into the presence of God in a new way. Their hearts and souls are opened to see what their eyes can barely believe. Their friend and teacher, the very human Jesus, is transfigured before them. The appearance of his face changes.  His clothes become dazzling white. They sense the presence of Moses and Elijah. And God perceives their fear and responds by speaking to them. God wants them to begin to understand how this Jesus, fully human, is also fully divine.  

The story of the transfiguration of Christ functions, according to one writer [Henri Nouwen], as something of an icon. The transfiguration offers access through the gate of the visible to the mystery of the invisible. There, high on the mountain, the familiar face of their beloved friend and teacher is revealed in a new light, and in that light their hearts can hear the voice of God saying: “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”  

Icons have long been important to the Orthodox churches of the Christian family.  Painted in egg tempura on wood, these tools for prayer and liturgy most often depict scenes of Christ, Mary and the saints. Created according to rules handed down from generation to generation, icons are venerated as representations of the divine, windows through which the soul can see the realities of the kingdom of heaven. Their purpose is to pull one into the image in order to see through it and beyond it to the heart of God, to the reality of the great Mystery.

The story of the transfiguration becomes a luminous narrative icon, a painting in words that points beyond the text to the true reality of Christ, the light of the world.  Its aim is to help us see beyond Jesus of Nazareth, the Galilean, to see him radically transformed into the Son of God, the fulfillment of the law and the prophets. Only then will we begin to take in the foreshadowing of his resurrection and future glory.  

This moment on the mountain will sustain the disciples in the weeks ahead. We might assume it grounded Jesus once again in his identity and gave him what he needed has his ministry changed. Transfiguration Sunday is always celebrated the Sunday before Ash Wednesday. No matter where we are in the three-year cycle of assigned readings, we stop reading about Jesus’ teaching and healing and head up the mount of Transfiguration before beginning the Lenten journey. The vision of Jesus’ glory is meant to sustain us for the forty days.

It has been a bit strange really to remember where we were three years ago when we were reading these same verses, about to enter into the strangest and hardest Lent of my time as a pastor. And yet I am so grateful for all the glimpses of God’s glory that I and we collectively experienced before we closed the church. All sorts of icon moments and glimpses of God’s glory sustained our community. As we are about to embark on another Lent, I invite you to ponder for a few moments what glimpses of glory have sustained and will sustain you in faith: it might be a verse or story from scripture, a sacred song, relationships, or something in the natural world. Close your eyes if you’re comfortable and let something surface. Pause.

Give thanks for whatever came to the surface. Put it somewhere accessible in your heart or mind. The transfiguration is about God’s presence. God repeats the words spoken at Jesus’ baptism, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased,” and then God adds, “Listen to him!” We hear of the intimacy that marks Jesus’ relationship with God.  

The transfiguration is a means of grace, an event in which God is present. It is sacramental. How does this event shape Jesus’ first disciples? Peter offers to make three dwellings, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. He wants to make the event permanent. But the transfiguration, like whatever you came up with in your mind’s eye, cannot be made permanent. It is mystery. It is a glimpse. Peter is interrupted by the voice from the cloud. After God speaks, the disciples fall to the ground and are overcome with fear. Jesus touches them, they are healed. Jesus tells them, “Do not be afraid.”  

These are hard times in which to see clearly.  A murky human-made smog of dreams deferred, of violence, confusion and fear stings our eyes and blurs even what is closest to us. Where God would bring light, we linger in the darkness of ignorance and fear. Our reading from 2^nd Peter this morning is speaking directly to us: “You will do well to be attentive to this as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts.”

God’s gift is in the transfiguration icon, the intense light that allows vision and insight. God permits us from time to time to see through to the heart of the matter.  God permits us to see purpose and future, hope and possibilities for meaningful action and participation. And God’s gift is that God is there, waiting to be seen.  God is the reality behind the icon. The challenge to us is to be committed enough and bold enough to keep our eyes open. Will we dare to look, to pass through the gate of the visible to the mystery of the invisible, and then to accept responsibility for everything we see. 

The truth is that every time we gather around the table for the Lord’s Supper, we enter into a bit of a mystery. I have studied scripture, church history, and numerous theologians, and still I am overwhelmed with the mysteries of both sacraments: Baptism and the Lord’s Supper. How can water and a few words bestow such great gifts as forgiveness of sins and abundant life? How can these great gifts be given so freely through words and ordinary bread? Because Christ promised it would be so. God chooses to bestow God’s grace through these mysterious and marvelous sacraments. Baptism and Communion are means of grace. All of this is true, and I can explain it to some extent but when I try to expand on it I usually end up pausing and proclaiming—it’s a marvelous mystery. 

Like the Transfiguration, this meal is a glimpse and then it is over. Never was I so mindful of this as when on internship with campus ministry at Eastern Washington University. Every Saturday evening after worship I was responsible for disposing of the remaining elements. I dutifully went out the back door and poured the wine on the ground and broke up the bread for birds and other critters. Sometimes our gatherings were so wonderful that, like Peter, I wanted to create a marker, but disposing of the bread and wine was a reminder that we were meant to go back down the mountain and keep welcoming the reign of God. So it is for us in this place. After Communion we give thanks for the healing that springs forth abundantly from this table and ask God to renew our strength to do justice, love kindness, and journey humbly with you. 

Prayers of Intercession

Called together to follow Jesus, we pray for the church, the world, and all in need.

A brief silence.

Embolden your church as it witnesses to the majesty and mercy of your Son. Equip lay preachers, deacons, and pastors. Move us to share our stories of your faithfulness and forgiveness; may our lives proclaim your greatness. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Dwell with your whole creation, from the tallest mountain peak to the deepest valley. Bless the work of conservation organizations and protect vital habitats (locally threatened waters or lands may be named). Support the work of disaster relief agencies around the world. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Guide and give wisdom to all in authority: our mayor (name) and local leaders, our governor (name) and state legislators, our president (name) and national legislators. Bring freedom and justice to all nations. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Give shelter to those lacking safe homes. Spur communities to work for fair housing for all. Protect our neighbors whose dwellings do not keep out dangerous cold or heat; accompany with your touch those who are homebound, sick, or isolated (especially). Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Make us eager to receive your Word in scripture. Help us recognize Jesus’ voice in the needs of our neighbors; make us confident to follow the way of the cross. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

Receive our thanksgiving for the holy ones who have guided us in faithfulness and gathered even the unlikely as your people. With our forebears in faith and all who have hoped in you, teach us to wait with courage until the promised day dawns. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

We bring to you our needs and hopes, O God, trusting your wisdom and power revealed in Christ crucified.

Amen.

Prayer of the Day

O God, the strength of all who hope in you, because we are weak mortals we accomplish nothing good without you. Help us to see and understand the things we ought to do, and give us grace and power to do them, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

Amen.

Deuteronomy 30:15-20

[Moses said to the people:] ¹⁵See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, death and adversity. ¹⁶If you obey the commandments of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, by loving the Lord your God, walking in his ways, and observing his commandments, decrees, and ordinances, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land that you are entering to possess. ¹⁷But if your heart turns away and you do not hear, but are led astray to bow down to other gods and serve them, ¹⁸I declare to you today that you shall perish; you shall not live long in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess. ¹⁹I call heaven and earth to witness against you today that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Choose life so that you and your descendants may live, ²⁰loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and holding fast to him; for that means life to you and length of days, so that you may live in the land that the Lord swore to give to your ancestors, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.

Psalm 119:1-8

 ¹Happy are they whose ^| way is blameless,
  who follow the teaching ^| of the Lord!
 ²Happy are they who observe ^| your decrees
  and seek you with ^| all their hearts,
 ³who never do ^| any wrong,
  but always walk ^| in your ways.
 ⁴You laid down ^| your commandments,
  that we should ^| fully keep them. 
 ⁵Oh, that my ways were made ^| so direct
  that I might ^| keep your statutes!
 ⁶Then I should not be ^| put to shame,
  when I regard all ^| your commandments.
 ⁷I will thank you with ^| a true heart,
  when I have learned your ^| righteous judgments.
 ⁸I will ^| keep your statutes;
  do not utter- ^| ly forsake me. 

1 Corinthians 3:1-9

¹Brothers and sisters, I could not speak to you as spiritual people, but rather as people of the flesh, as infants in Christ. ²I fed you with milk, not solid food, for you were not ready for solid food. Even now you are still not ready, ³for you are still of the flesh. For as long as there is jealousy and quarreling among you, are you not of the flesh, and behaving according to human inclinations? ⁴For when one says, “I belong to Paul,” and another, “I belong to Apollos,” are you not merely human?
 ⁵What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you came to believe, as the Lord assigned to each. ⁶I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. ⁷So neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth. ⁸The one who plants and the one who waters have a common purpose, and each will receive wages according to the labor of each. ⁹For we are God’s servants, working together; you are God’s field, God’s building.

Matthew 5:21-37

[Jesus said to the disciples:] ²¹“You have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not murder’; and ‘whoever murders shall be liable to judgment.’ ²²But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment; and if you insult a brother or sister, you will be liable to the council; and if you say, ‘You fool,’ you will be liable to the hell of fire. ²³So when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, ²⁴leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift. ²⁵Come to terms quickly with your accuser while you are on the way to court with him, or your accuser may hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the guard, and you will be thrown into prison. ²⁶Truly I tell you, you will never get out until you have paid the last penny.
 ²⁷“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ²⁸But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart. ²⁹If your right eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. ³⁰And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away; it is better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to go into hell.
 ³¹“It was also said, ‘Whoever divorces his wife, let him give her a certificate of divorce.’ ³²But I say to you that anyone who divorces his wife, except on the ground of unchastity, causes her to commit adultery; and whoever marries a divorced woman commits adultery.
 ³³“Again, you have heard that it was said to those of ancient times, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but carry out the vows you have made to the Lord.’ ³⁴But I say to you, Do not swear at all, either by heaven, for it is the throne of God, ³⁵or by the earth, for it is his footstool, or by Jerusalem, for it is the city of the great King. ³⁶And do not swear by your head, for you cannot make one hair white or black. ³⁷Let your word be ‘Yes, Yes’ or ‘No, No’; anything more than this comes from the evil one.”

Sermon: Pastor Meggan Manlove

I want to say at the top of my sermon that if your attention landed on those verses about divorce you are likely not alone. I will address those verses briefly but maybe not to everyone’s satisfaction, but I love theological conversations so please call me if you leave today feeling a bit unresolved about any of this.

As Jesus gets deeper into his Sermon on the Mount, his words today remind me of the first time I got a letter from the local regional hospital hospice while serving as a pastor in rural Iowa. A parishioner had been admitted and the letter went something like—at the end of this person’s life we want to care for the whole person—body, mind, and spirit. To that end, we are wrapping around the person with medical staff, pastor, social worker, family, and volunteers. Hospice knew how to care about the whole person.

As part of ushering in the kingdom of heaven, which actually comes to us in Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is showing people again what it means to live in community. I say “again” because this is not new. God did something quite similar after he brought the Hebrew people out of Egypt and gave them the 10 Commandments. The commandments were a gift more than anything else. Because of our sinful nature, people need rules for how to live well together. They are the side bumpers that help us thrive. They are the mother telling us not to touch the hot stove. They are the speed limit and stop signs that help us navigate living in the world together. Collectively, good laws, whether civic or from God, have the goals of wellness and wholeness for the collective body.

Because of our sinful nature, it was never enough to say, “be nice to one another.” To return to the body image, think of the doctor who is with a patient who says, “I’m experiencing pain.” For a good doctor, that is not enough. A good doctor probes physically and with verbal questions until the source of the pain is found. The remedy must fit the condition. Likewise, the body of Christ needs specificity. 

Further, like the practice of medicine itself, as the world changes, as societies evolve, the law needs new interpretations. This is what Jesus does when he takes up adultery and divorce, already addressed in the Old Testament. Jesus’ teachings reinforce the dignity of women and warns against a culture of male privilege. We know today that there are other good reasons for both women and men to ask for divorce. And, to return to the goal for the collective, many of those divorces are good for the entire body, the entire community, even if they initially cause pain. 

Those of you who grew up memorizing Martin Luther’s Small Catechism, know that Luther followed Jesus’ example when he wrote his explanations to the Ten Commandments. It’s his Large Catechism that I want to lift up today, particularly his explanation of the Fourth Commandment, to honor mother and father, which is again about the collective body.

After writing several paragraphs about how children ought to treat their parents, Luther writes “In addition, it would also be well to preach to parents on the nature of their responsibility, how they should treat those whom they have been appointed to rule.” He argues later, “therefore let all people know that it is their chief duty—at the risk of losing divine grace—first to bring up their children in the fear and knowledge of God, and, then, if they are so gifted, also to have them engage in formal study and learn so that they may be of service wherever they are needed.” Do you hear how Luther, in the spirit of the Sermon on the Mount, is interested in the wellness and wholeness of the entire body, the society, the beloved community.

I admit that the verses in our passage that I am most interested in for our own time are those about oath keeping. Jesus’ suggestion to let one’s “yes” be “yes” is essentially an encouragement to ensure that one’s spoken word is so authentic and so in line with one’s intentions that it is already above question just on its own, even without an additional strengthener. In other words, then, Jesus is calling for his audience to demonstrate the highest possible level of trustworthiness and integrity, not only in their dealings with other humans, but also in their dealings with God.

Oh that the Holy Spirit could come among us as at Pentecost and give us new rules for interacting with the internet. But seriously, what does the kingdom of God look like in the face of algorithms that are continuously connecting our data and then filling our feeds accordingly? I cannot, with complete confidence, draw a line from Matthew 5 to a new catechism for the Digital Information Age, but I think it’s something the church needs to consider, and I have these wonderings. 

First, the incarnation is at the center of our Christian faith. God came to earth and decided to live as a human being. The most obvious and faith inspired anecdote to the internet is to live an embodied life. It’s one reason I celebrate ten of our members being on retreat this weekend up in the mountains. Go on a walk, have coffee with a neighbor, hug your grandkids, fold your hands and pray to God, sing aloud in your home, in the car, during worship, feast on the Lord’s Supper. God made us embodied, and our bodies are truly remarkable. Live an embodied life.

That said, it’s hard for even the oldest or most technology resistant among us to avoid the internet. And even if we do, friends, neighbors, and relatives are impacted by the internet. We are all living in the Digital Information Age. And it has a huge impact on the concept of truth and information sharing.

So, know what’s going on and have some understanding for how it all works. People are living in different “fact world” described by a variety of narratives. If it feels like you and your neighbor have completely different understandings of what is going on in the world or community, you very well might. These often-conflicting narratives are reinforced by Computerized Recommendation Systems (algorithms) which encourage reactive responses. They reinforce a particular world view (no matter what it is). And these world views are one dimensional and lack any nuance. And, as someone said, know that when you go out to research something on the internet, the internet has already researched you. 

In a discussion about all this, a woman lamented that when she switched her newspaper subscription to an online subscription, she noticed how her reading patterns changed. The online subscription knew which headlines to feed her. Before, she would occasionally end up reading an interesting sports story, but now that doesn’t happen. I think you can still get some papers to send you an exact digital replica of the physical paper, but that may take an extra effort. What she was illustrating was how algorithms stifled her curiosity. She now has to be more intentional about nurturing and feeding her curiosity. 

What is in our power to respond to the algorithms, in addition to living an embodied life and nurturing curiosity? What response might help usher in Jesus’ reign in the Digital Information Age? Become aware of your own patterns of reactivity. Stay in relationship with those you disagree with, no one said reign of God work was easy. When you bump into resistance it may be that you are on the right track, though you may not be. Understand that other people may be living in a different “fact world” than you.

Nothing in this scripture passage says that we are going to, in this lifetime, create a world without sin, pain, or suffering. But we can ask for less violence, more actual truth, less retaliation, more generosity, more embodiment, more curiosity, and more true empathy.

Someone in my text study asked, where is the good news in any of this? I admit that it’s hard to hear much of God’s promises in this particular passage from Matthew. And yet, for those of us who know the whole story, it should be very clear that Jesus does not ask of us anything God does not do. For example, Jesus calls us to practice of nonretaliation because that is the form that God’s care of us took in his cross. In like manner we are to give more than we are asked to give, we are to give to those who beg, because that is the character of God. We are to be honest in relationships because God is honest with us.

But there is more good news, really. For the sake of this new collective body Jesus is forming, Jesus’ own body was broken on the cross. Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “The sign of that body, which was given for us, and communion with it provide the disciples with the strength for [all] Jesus commands.”

Luther himself says the Lord’s Supper “is given as a daily food and sustenance so that our faith may be refreshed and strengthened and that it may not succumb in the struggle but become stronger and stronger. For the new life should be one that continually develops and progresses. But it has to suffer a great deal of opposition…. For times like these, when our heart feels too sorely pressed, this comfort of the Lord’s Supper is given to bring us new strength and refreshment” (LC). So come to the feast as the Holy Spirit shapes us as the body of Christ.

Prayers of Intercession

Called together to follow Jesus, we pray for the church, the world, and all in need.

A brief silence.

Inspire your church that it may be a sign of life throughout the world. From the exploration of faith with children and new believers to missionaries and bishops, shape lives of faithfulness, so that all find abundant life in your ways. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Nourish your creation. Accompany all who plant and water. Bless the work of farmers; provide for subsistence farmers facing drought and climate change. Guide the work of agricultural scientists toward sustainable ways to feed the world. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Give growth where there seems to be no hope for life. In nations and regions where reconciliation seems impossible (especially), empower peacemakers with your Spirit. Where death holds sway through violence, disease, and hunger, equip relief workers to bring hope. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Nurture all in need (especially). Bring healing to all who experience trauma caused by systems of injustice and destructive relationships. Give courage to those struggling to repent and those seeking reconciliation. Sustain all who work for restoration (local restorative efforts may be named). Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Encourage this congregation. Call us to a common purpose and keep us from quarrelling. Turn our hearts toward you and guide our leaders, so that our choices may be lifegiving for all. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

Here other intercessions may be offered.

Thanks be to you for the lives of all who have died in Christ. Teach us to follow them in your ways and gather us with them into the promise of eternal life with you. Merciful God,

receive our prayer.

We bring to you our needs and hopes, O God, trusting your wisdom and power revealed in Christ crucified.

Amen.