God Descends

God Descends
John 13:1-15
Todd Buegler
January 19, 2006
Christ Chapel – Gustavus Adolphus College


Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, and from Jesus, the Son of God, the Rabbi who serves! Amen.

It is an honor to be here with you today. This campus and this chapel were places that were instrumental in my faith and identity formation. Much of who I am today, I can trace to this campus, and this chapel in particular. My parents were both Gusties. My Grandfather was the salutatorian when he graduated from the then 2-year Gustavus Adolphus College in 1921. I spent countless hours sitting up in that sound booth, running the sound system for worship services and events. I often served as the crucifer here in chapel. I was a part of a campus fellowship group that met every other Tuesday night, here in the chapel. As a senior religion major, my first sermon happened from this pulpit. This chapel holds a special place in my heart, and I can trace the roots of who I am now to this place. God uses places and relationships to form identity. It is good to be back.

If the book of John were a movie, our Gospel today would, I believe, use a kind of “slowed down motion” to capture the texture of the last hours of the life of Jesus. You know the kind I mean: In recent years, altering the speed of a scene has become a favorite technique of movie makers to capture the attention of an audience. Think of the slow action sequences in the “Matrix” movies. Of the four gospel writers, John is the only one that goes deeper into the events that occurred in those moments. He is saying, “Wait just a minute, before we go on, I want you to catch the deeper motives running through the heart of Jesus.

You are familiar with the story of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. The shock value of someone washing another’s feet often causes us to stop examining the story at that point…as in “wow…washing feet…that’s pretty radical…serving others…pretty radical…we should probably do more of that…” The problem is, the washing of feet in Biblical times was not radical at all. It was a common practice when a guest entered a home, as a sign of welcome, of placing the needs of the guest above those of the host, and of course, to rid the feet of the smell that came from walking in sandals upon dusty roads that people shared with donkeys, other animals, and their droppings.

The radical thing isn’t the washing of feet, it was who was washing feet. Jesus, as a Rabbi, held a place of significance in Jewish culture. Only the best of the best of the best became Rabbis. And their disciples were oathbound to not only serve them completely, but to emulate them; to try to do what the Rabbi did, and to become like the Rabbi was. For the Rabbi to take such action was a shock. So there had to be a specific intent in what Jesus was trying to teach his disciples when they gathered at the table that night, and Jesus took off his robe and bent down to wash their feet.

First, consider this, when you are going to wash someone's feet, what physical movement do you have to make in order to get close to his or her feet? You descend.
The first motion of a servant is descent. Henri Nouwen put it this way in a letter to a relative, "…how is it that love is made visible in Jesus? It is made visible in the descending way. God has descended to us human beings to become a human being with us. And once among us, he descended to the total dereliction of one condemned to death…each one of us has to seek out his or her own descending way of love.”

Jesus chose the upper room, gathered with his disciples turned friends around a table for these climactic acts of his ministry. Again, God uses places and relationships to form identity. And two millennia of Christians have had their identity as children of Grace shaped by that group, in that room. There's a very simple but powerful message in Jesus’ actions. He descends to you. He comes to you to give of himself the ultimate gift of love and grace. God descends to you.

The second motion of the servant is to incarnate. (Ok, it’s not really a verb, but I wasn’t an English major either…) Mother Teresa defines incarnation this way: "God's love is infinite—full of tenderness, full of compassion. God loves the world through us—you and me. The way you touch people, the way you give to people, that love for one another. It is his love in action through us…"

As Jesus descended to wash the disciples feet that night, he wanted them to realize that God's love must be made tangible through acts of compassion and mercy.

I spent 10 days this past October in Biloxi, Mississippi, living with 45 other volunteers on a church floor. We dug the mud, destruction and mold out of homes so they could be salvaged and served up to 350 families a day at an emergency relief distribution center. Eddie was an offshore oilrig worker made homeless by the storm, whose Father had been hospitalized in New Orleans, though Eddie did not know if he was alive or dead, and there was no way to find out. Eddie was passing through one night and saw us sitting outside of the church after a long work day and walked up, wondering if he could sleep outside in a tent we used to store supplies. Eddie stayed and volunteered. When we left, Eddie sobbed…which of course, opened up the floodgates for the rest of us. As he hugged each of us goodbye, one of my teammates, Phil, took off his watch, and discreetly slipped it into Eddie’s hand. You see, the watch that Eddie’s father had given him had been lost in the hurricane. Phil’s act was one of pure love and grace. In that moment, I saw Jesus incarnate in these two men.

Again, from places and relationships, God creates identity. 18 years ago when I preached in this pulpit, I never dreamed I would be who I am today. It was my grandfather, my mother, my father, my wife, my children, my friends, my congregation, Chaplain Elvee, Garrett Paul, Kevin Byrne, Dennis Johnson, Craig Johnson, Eddie, Phil and many others who God used to shape my identity by descending into them and becoming incarnate to me. Thanks be to God for using them in my life. Thanks be to God for places like Gustavus, and all the other places in my life that have been significant. And thanks be to God for calling me to be who I am.
Out of this place and others, out of this community and others, God descends to become incarnate to you. You may not know who God is calling you to be. But trust that your identity is being shaped. Thanks be to the God who descends to you, for calling you to be who you are, and to be God’s love incarnate to others.

Amen.

What Do You See?

Peter Geisendorfer-Lindgren, my senior pastor, and one of the best pastors I have ever encountered gave a good sermon this morning. He compared what we see an hear, and how we interpret it, to how we see and hear God.

How do we hear God? How do we see God? This in a world that seems determined to drown out God's voice? No, I'm not one of those "stick your head in the sand" kind of people who wants to shout out culture to hear God. Quite the contrary. You cannot shout out culture. Culture cannot shout out God. Because culture is there, we are forced to hear it. Because God is there, we get to hear it. The key for Christians is to learn to listen and recognize God's voice in the midst of the chaos that is life, and then to have the courage to follow.

I'm going to think about this some more...both the question of "how do we recognize God's voice? How do we know what it is when it is?" and also the issue of courage. It's a difficult world we live in.

Useless Trivia for Parties

From Tim Lyles:

• "Stewardesses" is the longest word typed with only the left hand and "lollipop" with your right.
• It's impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
• Maine is the only state whose name is just one syllable.
• No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, or purple.
• "Dreamt" is the only English word that ends in the letters "mt".
• Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears
  never stop growing.
• The sentence: "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog" uses every letter of the alphabet.
• The words 'racecar,' 'kayak' and 'level' are the same whether they are read left to right or right to left (palindromes).
• There are only four words in the English language which end in "dous":tremendous, horrendous, stupendous, and hazardous.
• There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: "abstemious" and "facetious."
• TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.
• All 50 states are listed across the top of the Lincoln Memorial on the back of the $5 bill
• A cat has 32 muscles in each ear.
• A crocodile cannot stick out its tongue, but who really cares?
• A "jiffy" is an actual unit of time for 1/100th of a second.
• A shark is the only fish that can blink with both eyes.
• A snail can sleep for three years.
• Almonds are a member of the peach family.
• An ostrich's eye is bigger than its brain.
• Babies are born without kneecaps. They don't appear until the child reaches 2 to 6 years of age.
• Butterflies taste with their feet.
• Cats have over one hundred vocal sounds.
• Dogs only have about 10.
• February 1865 is the only month in recorded history not to have a full moon.
• In the last 4,000 years, no new animals have been domesticated.
• If the population of China walked past you, 8 abreast, the line would never end because of the rate of reproduction.
• If you are an average American, in your whole life, you will spend an average of 6 months waiting at red lights.
• Leonardo Da Vinci invented the scissors.
• On a Canadian two dollar bill, the flag flying over the Parliament building is an American flag.
• Peanuts are one of the ingredients of dynamite!
• Rubber bands last longer when refrigerated.
• The average person's left hand does 56% of the typing.
• The cruise liner, QE2, moves only six inches for each gallon of diesel that it burns.
• The microwave was invented after a researcher walked by a radar tube and a chocolate bar melted in his pocket.
• The winter of 1932 was so cold that Niagara Falls froze completely solid.
• There are 293 ways to make change for a dollar.
• There are more chickens than people in the world.
• There's no Betty Rubble in the Flintstones Chewables Vitamins.
• Tigers have striped skin, not just striped fur.
• Winston Churchill was born in a ladies' room during a dance.
• Women blink nearly twice as much as men.
• Your stomach has to produce a new layer of mucus every two weeks; otherwise it will digest itself.

The Art of Innovation by Guy Kawasaki

I'm getting tired of writing about lies, so today I'm covering truths. Specifically, the truths of innovation. I hold these truths to not be self-evident; hence we see so little innovation.

1. Jump to the next curve. Too many companies duke it out on the same curve. If they were daisy wheel printer companies, they think innovation means adding Helvetica in 24 points. Instead, they should invent laser printing. True innovation happens when a company jumps to the next curve--or better still, invents the next curve, so set your goals high.
2. Don't worry, be crappy. An innovator doesn't worry about shipping an innovative product with elements of crappiness if it's truly innovative. The first permutation of a innovation is seldom perfect--Macintosh, for example, didn't have software (thanks to me), a hard disk (it wouldn't matter with no software anyway), slots, and color. If a company waits--for example, the engineers convince management to add more features--until everything is perfect, it will never ship, and the market will pass it by.
3. Churn, baby, churn. I'm saying it's okay to ship crap--I'm not saying that it's okay to stay crappy. A company must improve version 1.0 and create version 1.1, 1.2, ... 2.0. This is a difficult lesson to learn because it's so hard to ship an innovation; therefore, the last thing employees want to deal with is complaints about their perfect baby. Innovation is not an event. It's a process.
4. Don't be afraid to polarize people. Most companies want to create the holy grail of products that appeals to every demographic, social-economic background, and geographic location. To attempt to do so guarantees mediocrity. Instead, create great DICEE products that make segments of people very happy. And fear not if these products make other segments unhappy. The worst case is to incite no passionate reactions at all, and that happens when companies try to make everyone happy.
5. Break down the barriers. The way life should work is that innovative products are easy to sell. Dream on. Life isn't fair. Indeed, the more innovative, the more barriers the status quo will erect in your way. Entrepreneurs should understand this upfront and not get flustered when market acceptance comes slowly. I've found that the best way to break barriers is enable people to test drive your innovation: download your software, take home your hardware, whatever it takes.
6. “Let a hundred flowers blossom.” I stole this from Chairman Mao. Innovators need to be flexible about how people use their products. Avon created Skin So Soft to soften skin, but when parents used it as an insect repellant, Avon went with the flow. Apple thought it created a spreadsheet/database/wordprocessing computer; but, come to find out, customers used it as a desktop publishing machine. The lesson is: Don't be proud. Let a hundred flowers blossom.
7. Think digital, act analog. Thinking digital means that companies should use all the digital tools at its disposal--computers, web sites, instruments, whatever--to create great products. But companies should act analog--that is, they must remember that the purpose of innovation is not cool products and cool technologies but happy people. Happy people is a decidedly analog goal.
8. Never ask people to do what you wouldn't do. This is a great test for any company. Suppose a company invents the world's greatest mousetrap. It murders mice better than anything in the history of mankind--in fact, it's nuclear powered. The problem is that the customer needs a PhD to set it, it costs $500,000, and has to drop off the dead, radioactive mouse 500 miles away in the middle of the desert. No one at the company would jump through those hoops--it shouldn't expect customers to either.
9. Don't let the bozos grind you down. The bozos will tell a company that what it's doing can't be done, shouldn't be done, and isn't necessary. Some bozos are clearly losers--they're the ones who are easy to ignore. The dangerous ones are rich, famous, and powerful--because they are so successful, innovators may think they are right. They're not right; they're just successful on the previous curve so they cannot comprehend, much less embrace, the next curve.

Written at Marriott Hotel, San Francisco, California

Behold - A Sermon on Luke 2: 22-40

“Behold!”
Luke 2:22-40
Todd Buegler
December 31, 2005 & January 1, 2006
Lord of Life


Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, and from Jesus, the Son of God and the Messiah who is grace! Amen.

Several years ago, when Lord of Life’s youth Habitat for Humanity team arrived on the site for our first day of work, we were greeted by a construction supervisor, a foundation in place and ready for framing, and a large pile of lumber, trusses, siding, roofing and other supplies. We got to work. On this particular trip, because the family was working “day jobs” to afford their portion of the home, and they worked on the house itself on weekends, we knew that we wouldn’t get an opportunity to meet them until sometime on Friday. The week went well and much work was done. On Friday at 2pm, the house was framed, the roof was on and shingled, and we were three-quarters of the way done with siding.

While we were at work, a car pulled up and a family of 5 arrived, THE family. They walked slowly up the incline that would be their driveway and they just stopped and soaked it all in. Their eyes were wide and you could see the excitement brimming inside.

Gradually, our group noticed them, and began nudging each other. “Look at that! Check it out! Look!” and they watched the family’s reaction to seeing their home standing for the first time. As more and more people noticed the family, the sound of hammers and saws came to a stop.

A couple of the group members and I walked up to introduce ourselves. I shook the Mother and Father’s hand and they continued to stare at their home. The first words the woman spoke are burned into my memory: “Look at that!” and she broke into tears.

Our group did look. And suddenly, for me and our entire group, the transition was complete. Over the course of the week, what had started out as a pile of wood, had become a house. And now, with the simple words “Look at that”, that house had become someone’s home.

There are occasional moments in our lives when what we see or experience is more than what we expect. It is a moment when the Holy Spirit is infused into an experience. This was one of those moments for me. “Look at that!” “Look at that family.” “Look at that home.”

I’ve had other “Look at that” moments. The kind of moment that takes your breath away:
The birth of my children.
The look of those same children when they saw Christmas presents under the tree last weekend.
The look on my face when staring at the instructions for assembling those same presents.
When a homeless person took my hand and said “Thank you, God bless you” after I dropped some change into his coffee can.
When I watched the volunteer missionaries immediately fall in love with the children at Westhaven, the Jamaican orphanage where we work.
Whenever I’ve experienced the presence of God in ways I didn’t expect.

When these moments have happened, my usual response has been to catch my breath, and then to say “look at that!” In those moments, I encountered Jesus.

This is exactly what happened to Simeon and Anna in our Gospel lesson. They knew the Messiah was coming and they waited and prayed for the day to arrive. The prophecy in the Book of Isaiah said that “In the Lord, all the offspring of Israel shall triumph and glory.” They were waiting to see the glory of the Lord. Simeon was even told by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death until he would see the Messiah. Every time parents brought their children to the Temple to be dedicated, and he and Anna were filled with anticipation that possibly one of them was the child they were waiting for. For years, they had been waiting patiently.

Then, one day, Mary and Joseph arrived at the Temple and Simeon and Anna, now an old man and woman, looked and saw something in the face of this child. With the eyes of faith Simeon and Anna saw in this ordinary event, the presentation of a firstborn child, the very salvation of God. This would be the Messiah. Two aged person, whose eyes were no doubt dimmed by time, were able to “see” with clarity unmatched by others the true meaning of what was before them: God’s gracious presence. Simeon took the child up into his arms and praised God saying: “Behold, your salvation!” Now, “Behold” isn’t a word we use too much today. Today that word would more accurately translate to: “Look at that!” But whichever phrase was used, it was clear that the joy of Simeon's discovery far exceeded his expectations.

I had a similar “Behold”, or “Look at that” moment when my own children were brought to the temple, or in this case, our sanctuary, to be presented to God and to receive the sacrament of baptism. Now I had taught about baptism in our confirmation program, our youth ministries, in Bible studies for years. But when I held Nathan at the font, and Pastor Peter poured the water on his head…in the name of the Father, of the Son, of the Holy Spirit…I understood something that had escaped me before. Looking down at Nathan, I remembered the words God spoke: “I have called you by name…you are mine…” and at that moment, I realized that Nathan doesn’t really belong to Lori and me. Nathan belongs to God. God is just loaning Nathan to us for awhile…to tend while he grows, to care for, to love. But ultimately, Nathan belongs to God. Ultimately, I belong to God. Ultimately, you belong to God.

Mary and Joseph were bringing Jesus to the temple, as was the practice, to present Him to God; in a sense, to again acknowledge that “God, this child belongs to you.” The difference in the story of Jesus and the story of my Nathan? When Mary and Joseph presented Jesus at the temple, God, through the words of Simeon, gave Jesus back to us. God is saying “this child is the salvation. Look at that. See my plans for you.”

Even Simeon didn’t know that the child he held in his arms was to have such a dramatic and forceful impact on the course of human history. But he did know that something great and significant was taking place and he was part of it. And he said: “Look at that!”
But at the time, Simeon and Anna were the exception. They were the only ones who saw Jesus this way. The early church leaders looked for a Messiah who would be a revolutionary to set them free from political oppression and would give Israel back its lands. Jesus was the unexpected Messiah. He came, not as a King, but as a child in a stable, born into poverty. He completely defied the expectations and hopes. You see, Jesus’ revolution was not about restoring a nation. It was about restoring a broken relationship between God and God’s people. Look at that!

What do we, today, expect Jesus to be? Much like Simeon and Anna, we are at the temple today, and Jesus is being presented to us. How do we expect Jesus to be working in the world now? What do you expect of Jesus for your own life?

In the Book of Colossians, Paul uses baptismal imagery in saying that Christians, as God’s people, are to “put on” a new Christ-like life and its qualities of compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, patience, forgiveness and above all else, love. In fact, we are completely dependent on God for these gifts. We do not dress ourselves in these qualities. It is God who dresses us.

And what is most revolutionary? That Jesus’ gift of forgiveness is for you.

Your expectation might be that you don’t deserve it. You’re right. Your understanding might be that try as you might, you just can’t earn God’s love. Absolutely. God’s revolutionary idea is that Jesus’ life is given for you. God loves and forgives you unconditionally. God dresses us in these new garments. We are made new by the baby we see today…everyday.

Jesus is not just a child. Jesus is a “Look at that” experience. And Jesus is much more than we would expect:
Jesus spent time with sinners. Look at that!
Jesus healed the sick and resurrected the dead! Look at that!
Jesus fed the hungry. Look at that!
Jesus, the son of God, was crucified…a criminal’s death. Look at that!
Jesus, dead for three days, was resurrected. Look at that!

Like Simeon, we can look and see the life of Jesus and with amazement say “Look at that! This gift is love and promise, fulfilled!” It is amazing…there are no words to describe. It is grace!

Expected or unexpected, Christ comes. The world will never be the same since his coming. Look and see…today, Jesus is being presented, but this time he is being presented to you.

And because of Jesus we can see ourselves, as God sees us, clothed in new garments of love.

Look at that!

Amen .