A Place at the Table

Prayer of the Day

O God, you have prepared for those who love you joys beyond understanding. Pour into our hearts such love for you that, loving you above all things, we may obtain your promises, which exceed all we can desire; through Jesus Christ, your Son and our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.Amen.

Acts 10:44-48

⁴⁴While Peter was still speaking, the Holy Spirit fell upon all who heard the word. ⁴⁵The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astounded that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles, ⁴⁶for they heard them speaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter said, ⁴⁷“Can anyone withhold the water for baptizing these people who have received the Holy Spirit just as we have?” ⁴⁸So he ordered them to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they invited him to stay for several days.

Psalm 98

 ¹Sing a new song to the Lord, who has done | marvelous things,
  whose right hand and holy arm have | won the victory.
 ²O Lord, you have made | known your victory,
  you have revealed your righteousness in the sight | of the nations.
 ³You remember your steadfast love and faithfulness to the | house of Israel;
  all the ends of the earth have seen the victory | of our God.
 ⁴Shout with joy to the Lord, | all you lands;
  lift up your voice, re- | joice, and sing. 
 ⁵Sing to the Lord| with the harp,
  with the harp and the | voice of song.
 ⁶With trumpets and the sound | of the horn
  shout with joy before the | king, the Lord.
 ⁷Let the sea roar, and | all that fills it,
  the world and those who | dwell therein.
 ⁸Let the rivers | clap their hands,
  and let the hills ring out with joy before the Lord, who comes to | judge the earth.
 ⁹The Lord will judge the | world with righteousness
  and the peo- | ples with equity. 

1 John 5:1-6

¹Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child. ²By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. ³For the love of God is this, that we obey his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome, ⁴for whatever is born of God conquers the world. And this is the victory that conquers the world, our faith. ⁵Who is it that conquers the world but the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?

  ⁶This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth.

John 15:9-17

[Jesus said:] ⁹“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you; abide in my love. ¹⁰If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. ¹¹I have said these things to you so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be complete.
  ¹²“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ¹³No one has greater love than this, to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. ¹⁴You are my friends if you do what I command you. ¹⁵I do not call you servants any longer, because the servant does not know what the master is doing; but I have called you friends, because I have made known to you everything that I have heard from my Father. ¹⁶You did not choose me but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit, fruit that will last, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask him in my name. ¹⁷I am giving you these commands so that you may love one another.”

Sermon – Meggan Manlove

Today Jesus builds on his simple metaphor: he is the vine, and we are the branches. The imperative is quite clear: love. I find that there is so much in the passage from John’s gospel that is corrective to what ails the world, balm for our wounded communities, a tonic that could clear our vision. 

My sermon preparation began last Saturday afternoon when I attended my first Eagle Scout Ceremony. Ryan Beeson is the young man who organized the building of the pergola for the Trinity New Hope gathering space. He and another scout were the two being celebrated for earning the highest honor—the Eagle. 

There was one line in the ceremony that really stood out to me: “I charge you to be among those who dedicate their skills and ability to the common good.” I had not read or heard that phrase for a long time. It almost brought tears to my eyes, this idea of the common good. I have heard much more about what is good for me. But the common good? So I starting thinking about the common good in relation to John 15. 

Then this Thursday morning I led a prayer during the Kiwanis Club’s Nampa Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast. Our keynote speaker was Doug Armstrong, who was the executive of KTVB and is now the chaplain of the Idaho Senate. Doug told us how became a man of faith as an adult. But first he talked about his goal had to run a business. He told us how influential a particular book had been for him in his twenties: Robert Ringer’s 1970s best seller: Looking Out for #1. 

Now, it’s always a challenge to talk about something in our culture that not everyone is familiar with. Plus, I have not read this book, but I read several summaries. Here’s one: “Looking out for number one is the conscious, rational effort to spend as much time as possible doing those things which bring the greatest amount of pleasure and less time doing whatever causes pain.” That, to me, is quite a contrast to the notion in the Eagle Scout pledge of dedicating our skills and ability to the common good. It also is a contrast to our gospel passage.

Jesus says, “My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.” In this specific case he is referencing, at least metaphorically, a specific kind of fruit—grapes. How do we know this? Because the first seven verse of the chapter are all about how Jesus is the vine, and we are the branches. The fruit we will bear if we abide in God is love, pure and simple. 

How are the vine and branches related to the common good, besides the obvious command to love? The metaphor of the vine is non-hierarchical. There is no me getting ahead. There is not even room for church hierarchy—bishops, pastors, laypeople. The vine and branches metaphor is also stark in its anonymity. What I mean is that the visual image of the branches lacks any and all distinctions in appearance, character, or gifts. The question of “how do I look out for #1?” just does not fit into the picture.

The anonymity is also a contrast to other metaphors in the New Testament itself. First Corinthians 12, with its church as the body metaphor, is irresistible in the anatomical fantasy it puts before the early church: talking feet and ears, entire bodies composed exclusively of ears or eyes or noses. The Apostle Paul points to the place that his or her individual gifts occupies in the body. Paul holds together the oneness of Christ and the diversity of gifts and members of the body. And that metaphor can be helpful and life-giving. I know. I have preached and taught this metaphor a lot. 

But that’s not our focus today, and I am ever grateful for the vine metaphor. It undercuts any celebration of individual gifts in exchange for a clear focus, a directive for absolutely everyone. There is only one measure of one’s place in the faith community—to love as Jesus has loved—and everyone, great and small, ordained and lay, young and old, male and female are equally accountable to that one standard. 

What would happen if the church were to live as the branches of Christ? Well, individual distinctiveness would give way to the common embodiment of love. The distinctiveness of the community would derive solely from our relationship to God and Jesus, not the characteristics or even gifts of its members. And the mark of the faithful community would be how it loves, not who are its members. There is only one gift, to bear fruit, and any branch can do that if it remains with Jesus. 

A follower of Jesus is someone who, in every situation, tries to respond to other people with the love of Jesus. There may be responses to the world which, in the world’s eyes, “Make sense,” or which can simply be justified by reference to, “everyone else is doing it.” But Christians are those who, through baptism, have signed on, have publicly committed themselves, to obey Jesus. And Jesus has commanded us to love. 

The practice of obedience can make us Lutherans bristle when it sounds like we are obeying so that we will be loved and forgiven.  But in fact, we are all about obedience; we obey God’s commands because God has already claimed and loved us.  

Whether our obedience to Jesus’ command will make the world a better place, or lead to deeper human understanding, or help to win friends and influence people, we don’t know. We only know, in today’s scripture as well as so many other places in the New Testament, that this is clearly what Jesus commands us to do. 

It is not always easy to know exactly what loving one another means. This is where community, those other branches, can be helpful with discernment and accountability. There are some times our love needs to be that sort of “tough love.” Yet hate, violence, revenge, and the other means through which the world gets what it wants, are not options for Jesus’ people, people who are commanded to love, to bear fruit. Sometimes love means a day of discomfort when a perfectly healthy adults gets vaccinated, to help drive a virus away for people who absolutely cannot get vaccinated. Whatever it looks like, love remains the imperative.  

There is a second wonderful corrective that this passage from John addresses. Sometimes, especially in the Treasure Valley, we face a binary when it comes to following Jesus. There are Christians who will ask me, “are you a believer?” For them, I think, faith is completely a matter of the heart or mind. It is about where we put our trust, or in the words of our text today, what we abide in. 

If I am feeling just a little self-righteous, I want to respond to these Christians by asking them, “are you a fruit-bearer?” What I mean is, have you put your faith into action by feeding, clothing, visiting people in prison, welcoming the foreigner? How have you been bearing fruit?

But the truth is neither of these approaches is fully faithful and today’s gospel gets right to the heart of it. We cannot bear fruit if we are not abiding with Jesus. If we only bear fruit without abiding in Jesus, we will dry up and die OR our fruit will not resemble Jesus. And, if we only abide in Jesus, without bearing fruit, we are not actually abiding. 

However, if we truly abide in Jesus, which means abiding in God’s love, we will not be able to help ourselves. Fruit will come. Acts of love will be spontaneous. The love of God will simply spring forth like a big juicy grape.

Abiding has sometimes been a challenge in the past year. Lots of us depend on in-person communal worship to be nourished and reminded of Jesus’ love. Many of us have pivoted and adapted so much so that we are now even sick of those words—pivot and adapt. But if you have have found new ways to abide in Jesus’ love this past year, please do not let them go as we live into the new normal. Let them continue to nourish your life of faith and, in turn, our community.

Likewise, if there were habits or parts of your daily routine that you have let go of that did not help you abide in Jesus, please do not pick them up again. Just keep pruning. Be mindful of what helps you abide and what helps you bear fruit. Be mindful of love, not sentimentality or romance, but that sustaining abundant love that come from God. It will naturally become love of neighbor and yes, even love of self. 

We are part of a big world and it is easy to feel quite small and insignificant. But maybe especially when we feel powerless, the Holy Spirit reminds us through scripture passages like this one that all of us are already fruit bearers because we abide in the love of God through Jesus. 

Prayers of Intercession

Alive in the risen Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, we bring our prayers before God who promises to hear us and answer in steadfast love.

A brief silence.Loving God, you call us to be your fruit-bearing church. Strengthen the bonds among all Christian churches. Today we pray for the Moravian Church, giving thanks for the life and witness of Nicolaus Ludwig von Zinzendorf, renewer of the church and hymnwriter. Hear us, O God.Your mercy is great.

Creating God, the earth praises you. The seas roar and the hills sing for joy. Fill the earth with your love so that by their song, all creatures of land and sea and sky, burrowing and soaring, may call us to join with them in praise. Hear us, O God.Your mercy is great.

Faithful Savior, you conquer the world not with weapons but with undying love. Plant your word in the hearts of the nations’ leaders and give them your Spirit, so that the peoples of the world may live in peace. Hear us, O God.Your mercy is great.

We praise you for the gradual lessening of the pandemic and for your gift of vaccines. Wherever the virus still rages (especially India, Turkey, and South America), wherever medical resources are depleted, wherever medical advice is rejected, extend the power of your healing hand. Be present with all who today will die, and visit all who are sick or suffering. Hear us, O God.Your mercy is great.

We praise you for the loving support of mothers to their children. Bless mothers, stepmothers, foster mothers, godmothers, and all of each gender who give mothering care. Protect mothers in societies where women have few rights. Comfort those who grieve because they cannot mother a child. Wherever children are deprived of mothering, provide responsible and affectionate care. Hear us, O God. Your mercy is great.

Here other intercessions may be offered.Gentle Redeemer, all who die in you abide in your presence forever. We remember with thanksgiving those who shared your love throughout their lives (especially). Keep us united with them in your lasting love. Hear us, O God.Your mercy is great.

In the hope of new life in Christ, we raise our prayers to you, trusting in your never-ending goodness and mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen.

Prayer of the Day

O God, you give us your Son as the vine apart from whom we cannot live. Nourish our life in his resurrection, that we may bear the fruit of love and know the fullness of your joy, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Acts 8:26-40

⁶An angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” (This is a wilderness road.) ²⁷So he got up and went. Now there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of the Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, in charge of her entire treasury. He had come to Jerusalem to worship ²⁸and was returning home; seated in his chariot, he was reading the prophet Isaiah. ²⁹Then the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to this chariot and join it.” ³⁰So Philip ran up to it and heard him reading the prophet Isaiah. He asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” ³¹He replied, “How can I, unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to get in and sit beside him. ³²Now the passage of the scripture that he was reading was this: 
 “Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter,
  and like a lamb silent before its shearer,
   so he does not open his mouth.
 ³³In his humiliation justice was denied him.
  Who can describe his generation?
   For his life is taken away from the earth.”
³⁴The eunuch asked Philip, “About whom, may I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?” ³⁵Then Philip began to speak, and starting with this scripture, he proclaimed to him the good news about Jesus. ³⁶As they were going along the road, they came to some water; and the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is to prevent me from being baptized?” ³⁸He commanded the chariot to stop, and both of them, Philip and the eunuch, went down into the water, and Philip baptized him. ³⁹When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. ⁴⁰But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he was passing through the region, he proclaimed the good news to all the towns until he came to Caesarea.

Psalm 22:25-31

²⁵From you comes my praise in the | great assembly;
  I will perform my vows in the sight of those who | fear the Lord.
 ²⁶The poor shall eat | and be satisfied,
  Let those who seek the Lord give praise! May your hearts | live forever!
 ²⁷All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn | to the Lord;
  all the families of nations shall bow | before God.
 ²⁸For dominion belongs | to the Lord,
  who rules o- | ver the nations. 
 ²⁹Indeed, all who sleep in the earth shall bow | down in worship;
  all who go down to the dust, though they be dead, shall kneel be- | fore the Lord.
 ³⁰Their descendants shall | serve the Lord,
  whom they shall proclaim to genera- | tions to come.
 ³¹They shall proclaim God’s deliverance to a people | yet unborn,
  saying to them, “The | Lord has acted!” 

1 John 4:7-21

⁷Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. ¹⁰In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. ¹²No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
  ¹³By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. ¹⁵God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. ¹⁶So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. 
  God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. ¹⁷Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. ¹⁸There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. ¹⁹We love because he first loved us. ²⁰Those who say, “I love God,” and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. ²¹The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

John 15:1-8

[Jesus said:] ¹“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. ²He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. ³You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. ⁵I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.”

Sermon – Pastor Meggan Manlove

The Holy Spirit was on the loose in the early church.  The Book of the Acts of the Apostles could rightly be named, “The Acts of the Holy Spirit.”  Before his Ascension, Jesus tells his disciples “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”  

Our story today has a whole lot to do with witnessing, pointing to the good news of Jesus Christ, to abundant life, to never ending love, to acceptance and belonging, to mercy every flowing. The Holy Spirit is present in the lives of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch and is present in our lives as well, often in the most surprising ways. 

I have loved the story of Philip and the eunuch for a long time. Growing up in the West, where distances are vast, I appreciate that the story takes place on a road, which is, as one scholar [WJ Jennings] says, a place of “survival, moving from one place to the next and searching for life possibilities or at least running from the forces of death. . . . This is a God who wills to be found on the road in order to transform it, collapsing near and far, domestic and foreign onto the body of the Son. There on the road that leads from Jerusalem to Gaza, from the near and known to the distant and unknown, Philip will again witness a God whose love expands over every road and transgresses every bordered identity. The Spirit is Lord of the road.”

In a way, we have all been on a road this past year, from lock-down to the new normal. I know, as your pastor, that our members have been all sorts of other roads as well—the road of medical diagnosis, the road of grief, the road of my loved one is several states away and I feel helpless, the road of job searching, the road of coming-of-age. And, chances are, we all know someone who is on the road, searching, transforming, discovering. Can you picture those friends, neighbors, relatives in your mind this morning?

Bring those people along with you as we enter our story from Acts Chapter 8, a powerful story of witness, of pointing to a God of love, of providing hope, of interpreting Scripture. Philip demonstrates with his words and actions how one can make a passage of Scripture deeply relevant and meaningful to another person. 

But before we get to Philip’s witness, let’s pause for my favorite part of this story, the character of the eunuch himself. The Holy Spirit brings Philip to a road in the wilderness where he encounters an Ethiopian riding a chariot. He was well employed—a minister of Candace, the queen of Ethiopia. He is educated enough to be reading Greek. He has dark skin. And he had come to Jerusalem to pray. But he could never have gone into the inner temple. Deuteronomy 23 makes it plain that no eunuch could be admitted to the assembly of the Lord.

This is who Philip meets on the road. The encounter is what Gloria Anzaldúa “would call a borderland moment, where people of profound difference enter a new possibility of life together in a shared intimate space and a new shared identity.” His ethnicity, his blackness, and his sexuality made the eunuch an outsider. “This Ethiopian eunuch is the outer boundary of the possibility of Jewish existence, and there at that border God will bring that difference near, very near, to hearth of home in the Spirit.” 

According to another scholar [Jennings], “the eunuch asks of the passage from Isaiah, who is this person in pain and suffering, humiliation and shame? . . . It is a question that shadows every biblical text and every fledging interpreter, inviting us to see the One who would bind together exegesis of text to exegesis of life to illumination of new life in the midst of sorrow. . . . Now the body of God will be seen where no one would have imagined or dared to look, at the place of humiliation and pain and on a eunuch’s chariot.”

And then Philip preaches an intimate sermon in which he brings the eunuch “into a future promised especially for him, one in which he will not be in the shadows or at the margins of the people of God, but at a center held together with strong cords that capture our differences, never despising them but bring them to glorious light and life.”

“God has come for the eunuch precisely in his difference and exactly in the complexities of his life. He matters, not because he is close to worldly powers and thus a more appealing pawn. He simply matters, and he is being brought close.”

If the eunuch had only the written words of Scripture, wow can he know what is true? Is it Deuteronomy or Isaiah? Is he in or out? How can he understand unless someone guides him?  What he needs is someone who knows the God of Scripture.  He needs someone to teach him who has felt the embrace of God, who can read the cold ink on the page in the warm light of God’s Spirit.  He needs Philip and Philip needs the Holy Spirit.

Finally, the eunuch asks Philip, “What’s to prevent me from being baptized?”  Philip could have answered, “Everything!”  You are a foreigner, not from the land of Israel.  You are a eunuch, a violation of purity codes.  You’re a member of the queen’s cabinet, so you’re loyal to the wrong sovereign—wrong nation, wrong sexuality, and wrong job.

But Philip heard the Holy Spirit speak a different answer, “Absolutely nothing.”  So, the eunuch commanded the chariot to stop.  He was baptized on the spot.  Walls of prejudice and prohibition that had stood for generations came tumbling down, blown down by the breath of God’s Holy Spirit.

The story of the Holy Spirit, Philip, and the eunuch balanced well our beautiful readings this morning.  In John’s Gospel, Jesus introduced the metaphor of the vine and branches.  In First John we are told to love one another, because love is from God. What’s more?  God abides in us.  These passages paint a picture of what it means to be the church.

The story of Philip and the eunuch on the wilderness road reminds us that the church exists for people outside the church.  We live as an Easter people, celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ—knowing that we have new life, abundant life, here, now, today.  We come into the sanctuary, we gather around the table for bread and wine.  Here we are transformed to, as we say during the dismissal, “Go in Peace and Serve the Lord.”

We cannot tether the Holy Spirit.  Philip is a servant of the Spirit, not a gatekeeper.  Which role do we choose?  Philip was attuned to the Holy Spirit.  He was a great evangelist who got sent to the wilderness road.  But when the Spirit snatched him up he didn’t fight it.  And what fruit the encounter bore.  The Ethiopian eunuch goes on his way rejoicing.  

 We need the Spirit to empower us and guide us still today. It is the Spirit that will help us discern how we should be the church for the world in 2021. I am left to cling to the hope that it is the Spirit-filled church that does the work of God; to bring wholeness to our lives and break down the oppressive barriers that continue to subjugate people.

The Holy Spirit has always been the mover and shaker of ideas and action. The different ways in which we imagine the Holy Spirit can challenge some of our assumptions in Christianity. They can provide a liberating understanding of the Spirit that allows us to work for social justice.

The Spirit challenges the status quo. The work of the Holy Spirit that ceaselessly stirs us will also motivate us to work toward new kinships with God that are sustainable, just and whole. It will help our churches so that we can welcome everyone to the table to break bread.

Prayers of Intercession (from Sundays and Seasons)

Alive in the risen Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, we bring our prayers before God who promises to hear us and answer in steadfast love.

God of all fruitfulness, you abide in your church and your church abides in you. Cleanse us by your word and give yourself to the whole church on earth so that it bears fruit and witnesses to your love. Hear us, O God.Your mercy is great.

You have created the heavens and the earth. As we wonder at the beauty of creation, may we seek vital connections among all that depends on the earth for life. Hear us, O God.Your mercy is great.

You rule the nations with justice and love. Give the leaders of the earth assurance of your abiding presence, that they lead not by fear but with love for those they are called to serve. Hear us, O God.Your mercy is great.

You have loved us so that we can love others. We pray for all in need of your love: those who are poor, lowly, outcast, weak, or fearful. Provide for the needs of all, especially those suffering in India. Hear us, O God.Your mercy is great.

Here other intercessions may be offered.You gather us with all the saints by the power of your Spirit (especially with Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria and those we name before you). With them, may our hearts live forever in your keeping. Hear us, O God.Your mercy is great.

In the hope of new life in Christ, we raise our prayers to you, trusting in your never-ending goodness and mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Opening Lament

I do not want to be a downer on this beautiful morning when we are gathered together in person. I also do not think it is faithful for people of faith to ignore what is going on in the world.

Here is how it went in my head when I thought about what to say during worship about world events:

Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo–killed by police officers. What does this do to law enforcement in my own family? To law enforcement officers I have gotten to know in Nampa? Mass shootings in Boulder, Atlanta, Indianapolis. The eight-year-old girl killed in Emmett, Idaho. The West Middle School student who committed suicide. Our lack of mental health resources in Idaho. Our lack of work force housing in the Treasure Valley. All of that is domestic. I have not gotten to the global stuff. We are called to action–to help bring in the reign of God however we can. Prayer is not enough. Prayers are also not nothing. So this morning, join me in this prayer of for our our community, nation, and world.

Gracious God, keep us working and praying for the day when your justice will roll down like waters, and your righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. Replenish our strength and stir up our hope as we look for signs of your coming reign. And fill us with the peace that passes understanding—the deep peace of Jesus Christ our Savior, in whose holy name we pray. Amen. (All Creation Sings, Prayer of Lament)

Prayer of the Day

Holy and righteous God, you are the author of life, and you adopt us to be your children. Fill us with your words of life, that we may live as witnesses to the resurrection of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.Amen.

Acts 3:12-19

¹²[Peter] addressed the people, “You Israelites, why do you wonder at this, or why do you stare at us, as though by our own power or piety we had made him walk?¹³The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, the God of our ancestors has glorified his servant Jesus, whom you handed over and rejected in the presence of Pilate, though he had decided to release him. ¹⁴But you rejected the Holy and Righteous One and asked to have a murderer given to you, ¹⁵and you killed the Author of life, whom God raised from the dead. To this we are witnesses. ¹⁶And by faith in his name, his name itself has made this man strong, whom you see and know; and the faith that is through Jesus has given him this perfect health in the presence of all of you.
  ¹⁷“And now, friends, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did also your rulers. ¹⁸In this way God fulfilled what he had foretold through all the prophets, that his Messiah would suffer. ¹⁹Repent therefore, and turn to God so that your sins may be wiped out.”

Psalm 4

¹Answer me when I call, O God, defender of my cause;
  you set me free when was in distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer.
 ²“You mortals, how long will you dishonor my glory;
  how long will you love illusions and seek after lies?”
 ³Know that the Lord does wonders for the faithful;
  the Lord will hear me when I call.
 ⁴Tremble, then, and do not sin;
  speak to your heart in silence upon your bed. 
 ⁵Offer the appointed sacrifices,
  and put your trust in the Lord.
 ⁶Many are saying, “Who will show us any good?”
  Let the light of your face shine upon us, O Lord.
 ⁷You have put gladness in my heart,
  more than when grain and wine abound.
 ⁸In peace, I will lie down and sleep;
  for you alone, O Lord, make me rest secure. 

1 John 3:1-7

¹See what love the Father has given us, that we should be called children of God; and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. ²Beloved, we are God’s children now; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. ³And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.
  ⁴Everyone who commits sin is guilty of lawlessness; sin is lawlessness. ⁵You know that he was revealed to take away sins, and in him there is no sin. ⁶No one who abides in him sins; no one who sins has either seen him or known him. ⁷Little children, let no one deceive you. Everyone who does what is right is righteous, just as he is righteous.

Luke 24:36b-48

^36bJesus himself stood among [the disciples] and said to them, “Peace be with you.” ³⁷They were startled and terrified, and thought that they were seeing a ghost. ³⁸He said to them, “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts? ³⁹Look at my hands and my feet; see that it is I myself. Touch me and see; for a ghost does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” ⁴⁰And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. ⁴¹While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering, he said to them, “Have you anything here to eat?” ⁴²They gave him a piece of broiled fish, ⁴³and he took it and ate in their presence.
  ⁴⁴Then he said to them, “These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you—that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.” ⁴⁵Then he opened their minds to understand the scriptures, ⁴⁶and he said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, ⁴⁷and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. ⁴⁸You are witnesses of these things.”

Sermon – Pastor Meggan Manlove

There is much to relate to in today’s story from Luke’s gospel. The vaccine may be giving some of us mental peace of mind, but there are still the variants. There is still so much we do not know about how this pandemic will end. We got through a turbulent election cycle, but some doubt the results. I look at our own state legislative session and though I know some important bills passed, it seems that a lot of their collective actions were motivated by fear. Fear of what? I am not entirely sure I can name it, but I think it’s a collective sense that the world is just going to keep on changing—quickly. This change is liberating for some. For others, the change feels frightening. On top of this, most of us are just plain tired. In a committee meeting earlier this week, one of our members named that all of this has led to a general hesitancy in people. I think she is right.

I enjoyed almost all of last week away in the mountains. It was just enough rest that some of my self-awareness returned. Reading my emails, I came across one from Luther Heights Camp Director Kelly Preboski about the rostered leaders retreat in the fall. She has changed the dates for this retreat to before the Confirmation Retreat. Only for the purposes of this sermon will I tell you that my reaction to this email was so disproportionate to its contents. The rostered leaders retreat is always after the Confirmation retreat! It’s been that way forever (like six years), but it feels like forever. How could Kelly do this? How can we relax if we are anticipating the weekend with junior high kids? How will I ever get parents to drive the kids up on Friday? On and on it went in my head. My fear was real, even if unfounded. 

I know myself well enough to never respond to emails that push my buttons right away. A few hours later I was laughing at myself and fine with the change. This is a vignette about a small matter with unjustified fears. But I assume most of you can relate. Further, most of you have current fears or doubts, or know people who do, which are much bigger than my story. Fears might be related to a diagnosis, a job search, the death of a loved one, too many news cycles, conspiracy theories. Whether or not we judge the thing causing someone’s fear and doubt, the emotions are real. Not all fear is unfounded or bad. More on that later.

So, it’s not much of a stretch to imagine the emotions of those disciples behind locked doors. They are afraid that the authorities will come after them. They struggle to take in strange reports of Jesus’ resurrection sightings. Even if they had hoped he would be raised from the dead, dead people are supposed to stay dead. If he has been raised, what does that mean? Then, Jesus is there in their midst, “opening their minds,” and setting them free from their fears.

The disciples gathered in the room are already on edge. When Jesus appears in their midst, they are “startled and terrified.” They think they are seeing a ghost. Earlier, the women talked about the empty tomb, sharing the news that Jesus had been raised. The two from Emmaus have told their own story of Jesus being revealed to them in the breaking of the bread. Still, no one was ready for Jesus to materialize behind those locked doors.

It is telling how Jesus responds. His first words are, “Peace be with you.” Jesus both understands and challenges their fears. “Why are you frightened, and why do doubts arise in your hearts?” Jesus meets the disciples where they are, fears and doubts included. Then he invites them to touch and see. He even eats some fish with them. In all of this, he encourages them to move beyond where they are. 

What does this lead to? We read, “While in their joy they were disbelieving and still wondering.” Joy, disbelief, and wonder. If we have ever asked, how can I feel multiple emotions at the same time, this line of scripture puts us in good company. In response, Jesus uses familiar words of Scripture to remind them of the prophecy. Jesus opens their minds to begin to see that death is not the final word. Set free from those bonds, they are commissioned to become witnesses. The seeds are planted that will bear fruit on Pentecost.

It is hard to escape our fears. I don’t think we can. I cannot say precisely which metaphorical locked doors each of us is hiding behind. As I mentioned earlier, some of those fears and doubts might be incredibly personal. Some of our fears are more communal. You may not have them now, but I am quite sure that you have had fears and you will again. Some fears help us to be mindful. It is not necessarily getting rid of them that’s the goal. The goal is to not be held captive by them. When we are captive, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to witness to the great joy that is ours in Jesus’ resurrection.

Witnessing to the joy of the resurrection, to the deep hope that is ours, is motivated by courage and whole heartedness, but not fear. Yesterday I participated online in a teach-in session. One of our teachers, Rozella H White, said, “Fear and anger cannot be the foundation of a movement that is sustainable, liberating and life-giving.” Let me repeat that, “Fear and anger cannot be the foundation of a movement that is sustainable, liberating and life-giving.” We, here at Trinity Lutheran, might feel small and insignificant. But we are in fact invited into a movement as followers of Jesus. The foundations of this movement are love and courage.

Freedom from being captive to our fears is possible. Transformation can happen. Closed minds can be opened. The potential is for a release—a powerful release. God call us to deep peace rather than security. One pastor said that this passage asks us, “How are we to be released from those fears in order to be a proper witness?”

Dorothee Soelle was born in Germany in 1929 and grew up during the years of Hitler and the Nazi regime. Her writings are theological reflections on coming to grips with the horrors of the concentration camps and life after World War II. She realized that her heritage of Protestantism had failed to stop both the Holocaust and the war. She challenges the human tendency for wanting to feel safe, to feel secure from any threat, by seeking that from God. 

Now you could make a quick jump and say, we are captive to the fear of the virus. We should take off our masks, crowd up and trust God. But remember that fear can help us be mindful—and we are mindful that even with the vaccine, the pandemic is still happening even here in Idaho. And we have used the tools of communal discernment to move forward slowly. We bring mindful people together and make plans with new information and old guideposts. We still do not want to overwhelm our healthcare system. We still want to care for the most vulnerable among us. But we are not captive, we are moving forward, even if it is slowly. 

God provides the inner strength and security when we do things that look crazy to the world around us. Dorothee Soelle wrote, “because you are strong [in Christ], you can put the neurotic need for security behind you. You do not need to defend your life like a lunatic. For the love the poor, Jesus says, you can give your life away and spread it around.” (Jesus’ Death).

I am not saying that what Soelle suggests is easy. To take risks like implementing COVID precautions a little longer or going into affordable housing or standing up for the neighbor everyone derides or questioning family norms after generations. And where exactly does the strength of Christ come from this many years after his Ascension? It comes from the strength of Christian community, the nourishment of the sacraments, the solace of prayer, the words of scripture, and the power of the Holy Spirit. It is not easy, but it is faithful.

Jesus suddenly appeared in the midst of his early followers. He brought change to their lives as they moved from fright and alarm to joy mixed with disbelief to open and understanding minds and hearts. The shift in the core of their beings led them forth to take great risks, witnessing to the risen Christ. Jesus did not bring them security. Instead, they risked all in following this call. For they had come to understand that Jesus had conquered the ultimate threat, death itself. Their fears were groundless. Jesus’ own words, “Peace be with you!” came true in their own hearts.

I’m going to end a little differently today, with a prayer for Courage by Meta Herrick Carlson. Let us pray:

The world is filled with good reasons to hide, to turn away or inward to preserve some distance and dignity.

But the struggle remains, and justice beckons your attention to come alive and together for the here and now. The Spirit of God stirs, even in fear, so you might keep moving through thresholds with hearts wide open to heaven revealed in good courage. Amen.

Prayers of Intercession (Sundays and Seasons)

Alive in the risen Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit, we bring our prayers before God who promises to hear us and answer in steadfast love.

A brief silence.Living God, in the midst of Easter joy we are still filled with questions and wondering. Open our hearts and minds as we encounter the scriptures, so that the church embodies repentance and forgiveness in the name of Jesus to all nations. Hear us, O God.Your mercy is great.

Creating God, like a master artist you have fashioned the universe out of your love and delight. Heal your creation where it is in need of restoration (local concerns for creation may be named). Provide all the inhabitants of earth a peaceful and sustainable home. Hear us, O God.Your mercy is great.

God of all, the nations hunger and thirst for your righteousness. Many call on you for guidance and strength. Answer their hopes with the peace of Christ and give your lovingkindness to national, state, and local leaders of people. Hear us, O God.Your mercy is great.

Healing God, you hear the cries of those in need and answer them in their distress. Grant to those who are sick and suffering your compassion and nurse them back to health and wholeness (especially). Be close to the hearts of the lonely. Hear us, O God.Your mercy is great.

Loving Parent, you have given us such love that we should be called the children of God. Reveal yourself to us so that we in this community of faith will become more and more like you in our mutual love and bold witness. Hear us, O God.Your mercy is great.

 Lord Jesus Christ, your own mother looked on when your life ended in violence. Our hearts are pierced with grief and anger at the deaths of Daunte Wright and Adam Toledo. We commend the slain to your wounded hands, and their loved ones to your merciful heart, trusting only in the promise that your love is stronger than death, and that even now, you live and reign forever and ever. Hear us, O God. Your mercy is great.

God of all times and ages, those who have died in you now see you as you are. We thank you for their lives among us (especially). Assure us of the peace you have promised, that we may join them in everlasting life. Hear us, O God.Your mercy is great.

In the hope of new life in Christ, we raise our prayers to you, trusting in your never-ending goodness and mercy; through Jesus Christ our Lord.Amen.