"If You Could See What God Sees"

“If You Could See What God Sees”
Matthew 6:25-33
Todd Buegler
October 27 & 28, 2007
Lord of Life

A sermon for confirmation


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

Let me be the first today to say “congratulations” to all of you on this chance to affirm your baptismal vows. For most of you, baptism happened somewhere around 16 years ago, when your parents made promises for you. Today, it is your turn. And we are all very, very proud of you!

What we’ve been a part of here is about God’s work in your lives. We’d never want to reduce it all to cold, hard statistics. But, sometimes I get a little curious, so I’ve done some math and want to share with you all some statistics about this group of young people. There are a total of 167 of you being confirmed this weekend in four services. You were a part of 22 different small groups that met on Wednesday nights and on retreats for a total of 74 hours of time together. Add up all that time your class gave to small groups in your faith journey and it comes out to 11,990 people hours. Together, you have all given (and this is a conservative estimate), 5,130 hours of service to people in need, and to the church. You have turned in a total of 5,130 worship notes. (actually, the number was 5,127, but as soon as the 3 of you still turning in the last ones on this sermon do so, it will be 5,130.) Finally, and perhaps most remarkably, over three years, your class personally ate 1,233 large Domino’s pizzas.

When all is said and done, however, confirmation ministry at Lord of Life is not about numbers and statistics. It is about a single word, and an opportunity. That word is “yes.”

Yes, is a powerful word. We don’t think about it often, but we all love to hear the word yes. There are so many different ways that we want to hear this: “Can I use the car tonight?” Yes. “Can I stay over at my friends house?” Yes. “Can I go out with my friends after the football game?” Yes. “Will you go out with me?” Yes. That’s a biggie! And as we get older, our questions become bigger…will this college accept me? Can I succeed in what I want to do for a living? Does he, or she love me? Yes, is maybe one of the most important words in the English language…and it is a word that universally, we all love to hear. Yes, is a powerful word.

In particular, there are two “yeses” I want us to think about today. The first is the one that was said to you in your baptism. Now, most of you were too young when you were baptized to remember. But back then, you were brought here, to a font very much like this one. Your parents, or your Godparents, held you over the font, and the pastor poured water over your head three times: “In the name of the Father…in the name of the Son…in the name of the Holy Spirit…” and you were baptized. In that baptism, God spoke a word to each of you. That word was “yes.”

I don’t remember my baptism. I was something like six weeks old. But I do remember bringing my two sons, Nathan and Samuel, to this font for their baptism. And I remember holding Nathan over the font. I remember Pastor Peter pouring the water. And a very profound thing happened for me: I remember at that moment, thinking to myself…”Nathan isn’t mine. He belongs to God. He is on loan to me to care for…but he really belongs to God.” And God says, “Yes, he belongs to me.” And in that moment, God makes promises. He says “yes, he will have eternal life. Yes, I will forgive you all of his sins and brokenness. Yes, I will know and love him wherever he is, and yes, he will be a part of a family of others that I’ve also said yes to.

God does this for all of us. You all belong to God. In the waters of baptism, God says “Yes”, to each of you, and God claims you as his own. They all belong to God. God has said “yes” to them and claimed them as well. We all belong to God, and God says “Yes.”

God says this because God looks at us differently than we see ourselves. Now, let’s just have a moment of total honesty: When we stop to take a look at ourselves, we don’t always like what we see. Here, I grabbed this mirror. Could you hold this for me? Thanks! When I look at myself in the mirror, do you know what I see? Wow. I have a lot less hair than I used to. And I really need to give some serious thought to getting into shape…this robe has never made me look very good…I wonder if I can get one that makes me look thinner. When I look in the mirror, I see my faults. I see my insecurities. I see my fear. I look in the mirror, and I don’t always like what I see.

When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Do you see the same kind of things? Do you see your faults and your insecurities? Does it remind you that you might not be completely happy with who you are? That’s normal. That’s part of the brokenness that is who we are.

When we look at ourselves, we aren’t always happy with what we see. Sometimes, we look and say to ourselves “no, that’s not how I’d like to be…that’s not who I want to be…or what I want to be like.” But do you know what God says when God looks at us? God looks at you and says “yes!” God says “You belong to me…you are who I created you to be.” Every single day since the day of our baptism, God has looked at each of you and God has said “yes.” And do you know what? Nothing you say or do can change that. And I really believe that if we could look in a mirror, and could see ourselves the way that God sees us, our lives would be totally different.

Our Gospel for today reminds us of this. It’s pretty straightforward. In God’s eyes, you are precious. Jesus is teaching us that the things that cause us stress…the things that worry us about ourselves, are all things that will pass away. Our concern about how we look, how we act, what we do or don’t do, about whether we fit in or not, about our self-esteem…even worrying about the strength of our faith…all these things…at the moment, they might worry us, but we have to keep them in perspective. All of these things pale in comparison to God’s faith in us. Jesus says “You are much more valuable than all of these things.” When we look in the mirror and see uncertainty, fear and doubt, God looks at us and says “Yes! Child of God. You are mine. I love you! Don’t worry about these things! Look at yourselves the way I look at you.”

The phrase we use for what we are going to do together in just a few minutes is “affirmation of baptism.” That means that we are going to together say “yes” to God’s “yes.” We have the opportunity to respond to God’s yes to us by saying yes to God. You will have the chance to say “Yes, I believe.” Yes, I believe in the father…yes, I believe in the Son…Yes, I believe in the Holy Spirit. Is this the only time you’ll have the chance to do this? Of course not. Every single day we can do this. Martin Luther taught that every morning, when he washed, and the water hit his face, it was a reminder that in baptism, God had said yes to him, and that he could say yes, back to God.

And if you don’t have this whole faith thing completely figured out…if you still have doubts and questions, does that mean you shouldn’t say yes? Of course not. None of us have it completely figured out. That’s why we call it faith. We all have questions. This is also an affirmation of your faith. Asking questions and having doubts is healthy, because faith is a journey, not a destination. Church is a place not for people with all the answers, but for people who say “Yes, I believe, and we’re figuring it out together.”

Our hope and prayer is that C3 has been full of “yes” moments. Moments where you experienced God in a new way. Moments where God’s love for you came alive. We seek these moments. I believe that our greatest need, the thing we strive for more than anything else, is a relationship with the God who seeks a relationship with you. We spend our lives looking for how to have this relationship. We sometimes try to fill the void with other things…success, ambition, greed, chemicals, whatever it may be…but nothing can fill that “God sized” hole in our heart like the presence of Christ. And the grace of God is for each one of you. It is a constant. It is always there.

So say “yes”, and open your eyes and read the scriptures. When we hear the story of the God who loves us unconditionally, our eyes are opened to recognize Him.

• Say “yes” to the bread and wine of communion. When we receive the meal, when we receive God’s grace, when we come into contact with the Holy, we are able to experience Jesus.
• Say “yes” to community. I read your faith statements and your C3 evaluations. I know how important your small groups have been to your faith. Remember that there are always people in the Christian community to connect with. You are always welcome.
• Say “yes” to serving others. It is when we humble ourselves and care for others that we experience the kind of giving that Jesus speaks of.

Today, at your confirmation, God stands behind you, leans forward and whispers in your ear: “Yes! You are mine. See my work in your life. Be in relationship with me.” But remember that this is not a one-time event. Now it is your responsibility is to remember that every day, when your feet hit the floor in the morning, God says “Yes, I believe in you!” And everyday, when you look in the mirror, God wants you to see yourself as God sees you…as a precious, valuable child of God. And you have the opportunity to say “yes” to that love that God gives to you.

May your faith journey be rich, full of the grace of God, and as God says yes to you, may you say yes to God.

Amen.

Mercy

“Mercy”
Matthew 5:1-2 & 7
Todd Buegler
October 13-14, 2007
Lord of Life


Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, and from Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, who is mercy. Amen.

And Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy.” This week’s beatitude, in our sermon series on the beatitudes, seems pretty simple and straight forward. Blessed are the merciful. Those who give mercy, shall receive mercy, right? All we have to do is show mercy…not pile it on…not run up the score… mercy! It sounds simple! Let’s all just do it. Ok? Now I’ll just say “amen, sit down and we can be on our way. All in favor? Well, maybe not.

It’s just not that easy. Each of the beatitudes that we have been looking at gives us a glimpse into the Kingdom of God. This one is no exception. And like the tip of an iceberg, we know that there is a lot more below the surface for us to explore.

Our first step in trying to figure out what Jesus means in this beatitude is to figure out what exactly he means by the word “mercy.” To be honest, in our culture, I believe that we confuse the idea of “mercy” with the idea of “pity.” Mercy and pity are not the same thing.

A quick example: growing up in south Minneapolis when I was 8 years old, I played on our park board soccer team. We were pretty bad. No, we were really bad. Good kids, good coaches, and we had fun, but soccer just hadn’t really caught on in the city, and we didn’t really know what we were doing. I was playing goaltender once and punted the ball back over my own head and scored on myself…The coaches reply: Well, at least someone scored. that kind of stuff. We’d play against these big suburban teams, and we’d just get blasted off of the field. Often, when the other team would lead by more than 8 points, the game would be called. They called this the “mercy rule”. I remember losing one game this way, and overhearing our coach talking to one of the parents and saying “they really should call it the pity rule…”

He was right. It was pity, not mercy. When we came off of the field at the end of our shortened game, the pity from the other team and the parents was obvious. You could see it in their faces. There was no question about which was the superior team. And to be honest, they were right. They were the better team. And we were all 8 years old. Ultimately, we didn’t really care. We were much more interested in the ritual Dairy Queen stop after the game. But looking back now, I can see that the game wasn’t shut down because of mercy. It was ended because of pity.

There is an important difference. You see, mercy is something you share with someone else. Pity is something you give to someone else. Mercy is given between people who share in a relationship. Mercy is about focusing on the other. It is looking at someone, seeing who they are as a child of God, wherever they live, whatever they look like, looking at them eye to eye and giving them what they need.

Pity, on the other hand, has little to do with relationships, or with putting someone else on the same level as you and being able to look them in the eye. We pity someone who is “below” us. When we show pity, it has nothing to do with helping them, it is all about making ourselves feel better, or feel superior.

When I pity someone, it makes me feel better. Because I am in a position to give pity, I can somehow feel superior. It’s almost as though I can pull myself up the emotional ladder by stepping on someone else. It satisfies my insecurities. It can make me feel better about myself.

To be honest, we do this all of the time, often without even knowing it or thinking about it.
We respond to commercials that illicit pity for children who are hungry in economically disadvantaged parts of the world. Now, there’s nothing wrong with giving our resources, time or money when we focus on the children in need. But often, we can do it from a position of superiority and judgment; we think to ourselves “at least my life isn’t like that!” So we write checks to make ourselves feel better.
We might show pity to the homeless person panhandling on a street corner, but we do so from a perspective of feeling superior about how we’ve lived our life. And if we give them any change at all, and usually we don’t, we try to avoid eye contact, and avoid their humanity.
We even find ways to pity fallen celebrities Britney Spears, or Lindsay Lohan for the train wreck that their lives have publicly become. But we do this from sitting in a posture of judgment; as in “my life may not be perfect, but at least it’s not like that!”

If we show pity towards someone else, ultimately it is about making ourselves feel or look better. “look at what I’m doing…I feel so good about what I’m doing.” The subject of the sentence is always “I”…”me”…

This is not what Jesus is talking about in this beatitude. He did not say “blessed are those who show pity.” He said “Blessed are the ‘merciful’”, for they shall be shown mercy.”

Michael Yaconelli tells a story of mercy. He was the pastor of a small church in Yreka, California. He had been preaching about loving people who are different than themselves. One day a sixteen year old girl came to a church meeting and said “I was thinking that if we are supposed to love outside the lines, I have an idea of how we might do it.” She explained that in three weeks the Siskiyou county fair was coming, and with the fair come the “carnies”…the itinerant workers who operate the rides. Every year the carnies were the talk of the little town. Most of them were tough looking and scary, with lots of tattoos, huge muscles and hard-looking faces. People always made negative comments about them.

The girl continued, “I was thinking that instead of making fun of the carnies, maybe we should have a dinner and welcome them to town.” There was silence. Then there was resistance.

But finally, the church agreed and the girl organized the entire event. She called the manager of the fair for permission; she called the owner to see if they wanted a dinner. The carnival owner suggested lunch just before the fair opened. She asked how many to expect? After some thought, the owner said to expect fifty.

The day of the lunch, around 20 from the church were there to serve and there was enough food for 70. At 12:30 when the lunch was scheduled to start, there were only 4 carnies. By 1:30, however, over 200 carnies had been served. When it looked like they were running out, she turned to the pastor and yelled “go get more food!”

But it wasn’t just a meal. It was conversations. It was new relationships. It was laughter. It was towns people and carnival workers sitting at the same table, eye to eye, connecting and understanding each other for the first time.

When the lunch was over, many of the carnies came over to the girl and thanked her. One older woman said “I have been doing carnivals for forty years, and this is the first time I have ever been welcomed to a town.” The Yreka “Carnie Lunch” is now an annual tradition.

Do you know what this is? This is mercy, in its purest form. This is mercy as Jesus was speaking about it. It started out with unequal relationships. The townspeople had disdain for the carnies. And the carnies were used to being looked down on. And the relationship could have just continued that way for years. Or, maybe it could have turned into pity. That would have been easy too. Someone could have said “let’s do something for ‘them’”. They could have done something that would have been a nice, symbolic gesture, and would have made themselves feel really good.

But this 16 year old girl demonstrated a kind of naïve grace that showed itself in the form of mercy. She focused on the Carnival workers. She worked the schedule that would work best for them…she had people there to greet and welcome them. She made sure there was plenty for them to eat. She got the townspeople to talk with them. It wasn’t unequal at all. It was done with respect. It was eye-to-eye. And it was pure gift. This girl taught an entire community how to show mercy.

Our culture is not one built on mercy. Our culture is built on status. Social scientists tell us that the divide between the “haves” and the “have nots” is growing. The late Henri Nouwen, wrote that compassion “grows with the inner recognition that your neighbor shares your humanity with you. This partnership cuts through all walls which might have kept you separate. Across all barriers of land and language, wealth and poverty, knowledge and ignorance, we are one, created from the same dust, subject to the same laws, destined for the same end.” In all the ways that matter, we are alike.

We are more alike than we are different from that hungry child in the third-world nation, from the street person asking for change, or even from Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and all the others who struggle with issues around chemical use and lifestyle choices.

To be able to give mercy, we have to be willing to set ourselves aside: our egos, our baggage and our insecurities, and to focus on and experience the other. Mercy isn’t so much an activity, as it is an attitude and a motivation. It isn’t what we do as much as who we are.

In John 12:24, Jesus says that “unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” We call this “dying to ourselves.” That means we set aside our own wants, desires and sometimes our needs, to focus on someone else. It means that by focusing on someone else, we are freed to put ourselves eye-to-eye with someone in need, to look into their heart, to build a relationship with them and to be literally be mercy.

The beatitude says “Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy. If we reverse those two phrases so that it says: “Blessed are those who have been shown mercy, for they shall be merciful,” well, that teaches something too.

It teaches us that because Jesus Christ has been merciful with us, we can be merciful with others. Jesus did not come to show pity. He came to show mercy. There is nothing self-centered about what Jesus did. He came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life for each of you. His love, his grace, his gift is for each one of you. Focusing on you and me he gave up his life to give us mercy.

Because of this, we can’t help but be merciful with those we encounter. The merciful are all those who have an attitude of such compassion towards all people that they want to share gladly all they have with one another and with the world. As Christians, God calls us to set aside our own wants and desires, to “die to ourselves”, and to focus on those in need, so that we can follow his example and live lives that bring mercy to others.

And we do this because Jesus did not choose the path of pity. He did not choose to look down upon us. Rather he chose to lift us up, to look into our eyes and our hearts, and then to lower himself to die the death of a common criminal on our behalf.

Because of that mercy, we can be merciful. And because of that mercy, we are blessed.

Amen.

Hands

Today I was serving communion, and I was struck by the difference in people's hands. People come forward for the bread and the wine, and we serve by intinction. So we place the wafer (styrofoam poker chip) into their hands and they dip them into the wine.

I don't know why today I noticed, but I did. Sometimes, people come forward, with their eyes on the floor, and their hands cupped in front of them...a position of receiving something.

Sometimes they clutch their hands closed after I place the wafer in their hands...as if it's something they don't want to lose.

Sometimes they "pluck" the wafer out of my fingers as I take it towards them...as if in a sense of anticipation.

Sometimes they hesitate in taking the wafer...as if they're not sure they should.

In our tradition, we don't commune children until they've completed "First Communion Instruction" in fifth grade. (Don't get me started on this one...) So we do a blessing of the younger children. I do this by making the mark of the cross on their forehead and reminding them of God's baptismal promises to them. But my favorite thing is when these children, who do not necessarily understand the praxis of the church, reach out to grab a wafer...as if they are claiming something that belongs to them...which, of course, they are. (once again, don't get me started...)

I see young hands...old hands...gnarled hands...large hands...calloused hands...gentle hands...these hands represent th;e very different places in life that people are at. It also reminds me that God's grace is for everyone.

Hands.

Where Will the Network Be in 5 Years

I was asked the question: What will the Network be like in 5 years? Great question! My answer: "I don't Know." Only God knows. And the Holy Spirit will take the Network where it goes.

But I have dreams, visions and ideas. I know what I want it to look like. So here are my thoughts on what the Network would look like in September of 2012, if I could draw the blueprint. These ar not in any particular order:

There would be 2000 paying members of what is a "guild" of youth and family ministry professionals and volunteers. These people would be from a vast and diverse collection of congregations. Urban, surburban and rural.

• The Network would be the proactive element in determining goals, strategies and resources for effective youth and family minstries. We would be in partnership with resource providers, but the practitioners would set the agenda. Qualititaively, members of the Network would be eqipped to determine their own needs and the resource providers would work to provide materials to meet those needs. This represents a significant shift in how resourcing happens.


• The Extravaganza would remain the Network's primary product, and actually would grow in importance. It would continue to bring the best in educational resources and make them available affordably. It's role as the central Networking and gathering place would grow as the number of participants grow.


• A community of mutually supportive, caring colleagues will exist that provides support and mutual resourcing will grow.


• Lively discussion and theological reflection will be triggered by paper and online issues of "Connect."


• Every year, 200-250 leaders from a variety of congregational settings will participate in dynamic online training opportunities that will include theological training as well as practical "how to" information.


• This culture of inquiry and learning will increase the flow of congregatinoal leaders seeking advanced, degree oriented training in our seminaries.


• Likewise, the number of people entering into ELCA candidacy will increase as Network training programs are recognized as fulfilling educational requirements for candidacy.


• The Network will become the primary delivery system for new research and acadeic thinking, as it is interpreted for the practitioner.


• A web of Networks across our church will form, and existing Networks will be strengthened as a stronger sense of belonging is fostered.


• Local and regional training events that supplement and interpret the work of the Extravaganza will happen throughout the year.


• A thematic focus will be developed each year. This theme would be introduced and interpreted at the Extravaganza, and supporting materials (content and publication/marketing) will be produced and distuibuted through the website and through Connect. This theme and its associated materials would be "given away" to congregations to use as themes for retreats, camps, confirmation programs, year-long themes for sr high or jr high ministry and for Bible studies. Synods could use this theme and its related materials for their youth gatherings and other events.


• Youth and family ministry volunteers will seek to meet and maintain minimum professional standards. Every year these standards will be affirmed as best practices for individuals at the Extravaganza.


• The Network, primarily through the Extravaganza, will become the common gathering for other Networks that related to youth and family ministry. This would include (but is not limited to) colleges with Y&F majors, the ELCA seminaries, network built around ministry form (urban, suburban and rural), outdoor ministries, parachurch organizations, resource providers, the SYMBOL Network and others.

Is this vision comprehensive? No. Is it all destined to be? Doubtful. God's Holy Spirit, I believe may have different dreams, and perhaps much larger dreams.

More to come...

Thoughts on 20 Years

On my calendar from Sept. 1, 1987, there were two words written: “Start Work.” I was a new college graduate, and I had just received my first call, to Lord of Life Lutheran Church in Maple Grove. I had grown up in South Minneapolis and had gone to high school in Edina. I didn’t even really know where Maple Grove was. In fact, when I drove out for a first interview, and turned west on Bass Lake Road from 494, I drove past farms and barns. I thought to myself “a rural call?”

Twenty years ago, I never expected that I’d still be at Lord of Life today;
I never expected that the congregation would have experienced the incredible growth we have undergone;
In 1987 I believed that someday I might become a pastor, (I went on to change my mind about that…twice…) but I never expected that I would be serving here, in the place I started;
I never expected that Lord of Life would relocate to our current facility. That’s so uncommon in the church;
I never expected to get to work with the gifted and tremendous people who are my colleagues. Lord of Life is blessed with an incredible staff.
I never expected all of the amazing things God would do in this place, with this community. Pastor Peter has said that in the last 25 years, his tenure, it’s like he has really served in 5 or 6 different congregations. A 1000 member church, a 2000 member church, and so on… He’s right. To say that the one constant in my 20 years has been “change” is incomplete. It has been 20 years of growth. We are a wider church: we have experienced over 350% growth since I’ve been here. We are also a deeper church: As a community, I believe we have a deeper understanding and appreciation of God’s love and grace.

Mostly, I never expected that I would grow to love the people of Lord of Life and of Maple Grove so deeply. That is why I am still here. I believe God has called me to this place and I love the community here. You have been a gift from God to me and my family. And I am grateful.

Where will I be in 2027? I have no idea. I’ve given up having expectations. I’ve learned to ride the wind of the Holy Spirit. I do know this: Wherever we go and whatever we do, God will go with us. We are not alone. And God will continue to bless Lord of Life. We will continue to grow both wider and deeper. Not because of anything we do, but because God blesses this community with His Spirit, and God calls our ministry to grow.

Keep dreaming dreams of what God may do here!

Peace,

Pastor Todd.

"Be Thou My Vision"

“Be Thou My Vision”
Luke 13:10-17
Todd Buegler
August 25-27, 2007
Lord of Life
Homily for a “Hymn Sing”


Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, and from Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

I have to admit that when I was growing up, I wasn’t really a “hymn singing” kind of guy. I think it’s because I grew up in an extremely traditional, older congregation in south Minneapolis. Let me be clear, I love my home church.
But when it came to worship, Diamond Lake Lutheran was extremely traditional.

Their idea of contemporary music was simply to play the organ a little louder. And the organist, as good as he was (and he was very good), well, he only had one speed for his hymns…slow.

So, I think mostly because of the speed and the repetitiveness, I didn’t develop an appreciation for the hymns of the church until I went to college. The chapel at Gustavus was also very traditional. And the Chaplain loved his hymns and his liturgy. But one day he was talking to a group of students, and I heard him say that each hymn tells a story, and that each hymn is a confession of our faith. Each hymn says something about what we believe. So he reminded us to “pay attention” to the words. “Don’t sing it if you don’t mean it!” And he said, “to remember: God is listening.” Well, how can you argue with that? So I started to pay attention. Instead of just singing, or more frequently, doing the “Lutheran Mumble” (you know what I mean) I started really reading the words as the congregation sung them. The first hymn I paid attention to after I heard the Chaplain was “Be Thou My Vision”. I fell in love with that hymn…and its story:

Only one missionary is honored with a global holiday, and only one is known by his own distinct color of green. Of course, I’m referring to St. Patrick, a missionary priest to Ireland.

Patrick was born in AD 373, along the banks of the River Clyde in what is now called Scotland. His father was a deacon, and his grand father a priest. When Patrick was about 16 years old, Irish raiders descended on his little town and torched his home. When one of the pirates spotted him in the bushes, he was seized, hauled aboard ship, and was taken to Ireland as a slave. There he gave his life to the service of Jesus Christ. “The Lord opened my mind to an awareness of my unbelief,” he later wrote, “in order that I might remember my transgressions and turn with all my heart to the Lord my God.”

Patrick eventually escaped and returned home. His overjoyed family begged him to never leave again. But one night, in a dream, Patrick saw an Irishman pleading with him to come and to evangelize Ireland.

It wasn’t an easy decision, but Patrick, now about age 30, returned to the land of his former captors with only one book, the Latin Bible, in his hand. As he evangelized the countryside, thousands of people came to listen. But the superstitious Druids opposed him and sought his death. Patrick’s preaching, however, was powerful. He became one of the most fruitful evangelists of all time, planting about 200 churches and baptizing over 100,000 converts.

His work endured and several centuries later, the Irish church was still producing hymns, prayers, sermons and songs of worship. In the eighth century, an unknown poet wrote a prayer inspired by the work of St. Patrick. Patrick had asked God to open his eyes and to be his vision; he asked that he could view the world as God would view it. He asked God to be his Vision, his Wisdom, and his Best Thought by day or by night.

IN 1905, Mary Elizabeth Byrne, a scholar in Dublin, Ireland, translated this ancient Irish poem from Gaelic into English. Another scholar, Eleanor Hull of Manchester, England, took Byrne’s translation and crafted it into verses with rhyme and meter. Shortly thereafter it was set to a traditional Irish folk song, “Slane,” named for an area in Ireland where Patrick reportedly challenged local Druids with the Gospel.

I think that sometimes we all enter worship with the wrong frame of mind. Growing up, I assumed that the point of worship was to keep me interested, and if the pastor, or the music weren’t entertaining enough, I’d check out. I assumed that sitting in the pews, I was the audience.

In worship, as in much of life, God turns the tables on our expectations. God, or the pastors are not the performers. God is the subject of worship. We…all of us… are the ones on the stage, giving our prayers and praise to the one who created us and redeemed us. And as the Chaplain said, “God listens.”
God listens.

We know the power of great hymns. You can see a physical reaction in people when they sing “How Great Thou Art” at the funeral of a grandparent. I’ve led worship in nursing homes and have seen people who couldn’t track with anything we were doing, suddenly lock in to the worship when we started singing Amazing Grace. At the end of a long day on an AWOL mission trip, or on Mission Jamaica, I’ve seen the emotion when we’d gather for a campfire, or for devotions, and would sing together. There is a spiritual power to singing.

And “Be Thou My Vision” is a great hymn of the church. More than that, it is a prayer and a request to God. Like St. Patrick, we ask that God blesses us with his vision. We ask to see the world, and to see each other, through the same kind of eyes that God sees. We ask to look upon each other and all of creation with vision of grace and love. We ask for God’s wisdom. We ask for assurance of God’s presence. We ask for the promises God makes to be true in our lives; and for us to see them come alive within us. And we are reminded that God delivers on his promises…to each one of you.

At Lord of Life, sometimes we sing the great, old hymns of the church. Sometimes we sing the new, contemporary worship songs. Sometimes we sing with piano, or with a synthesizer with an organ setting. Sometimes it’s with guitar, bass and drums. Ultimately it doesn’t matter. Ultimately, worship is about living out and expressing our relationship with God. I believe God loves it when we sing, however we sing. I believe God hears our music. The very act of singing is a confession of our faith and strengthens our belief.

God, in this hymn, we ask you to be our vision…our wisdom…our inheritance…our treasure…

And God, we know that when we sing, you listen.
Amen.

God for Dummies

“God for Dummies”
Luke 10:25-37
Todd Buegler
July 14-16, 2007
Lord of Life


Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, and from Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

I love bookstores. I love books. I normally could spend hours wandering through bookstores, browsing. However, in the last year or two, I’ve noticed something. Every time I walk through a Borders, or a Barnes and Noble, I can’t help but almost feel almost overwhelmed by the yellow-covered paperback books with black print proclaiming that I am dumb, and borderline helpless on whatever the particular topic might be. An entire industry has sprouted up around us, the American public, being dummies. When I first saw the “Fill-in-the-blank for Dummies” books, I thought “that’s pretty clever…and probably helpful.” But it feels like we’ve entered “dummies overload.” What startles me is the sheer number of titles…here’s a quick sampling of titles I found when I wandered Barnes and Noble last week. I wasn't even looking very hard:

Economics for dummies
Mutual funds for dummies
Office for dummies
African American history for dummies
Mortgages for dummies
Guitar for dummies
Reading for dummies (so how do you read the book?)
Ipod for dummies
Puppies for dummies
Auto repair for dummies
Investing for dummies
Networking for dummies
Sailing for dummies
Fishing for dummies
Investing for dummies
English grammar for dummies
Home buying for dummies
Catholocism for dummies
Golf for dummies
Buddhism for dummies
The bible for dummies

The list goes on and on and on…There are literally hundreds and hundreds of titles. There are things about which I am dumb, that I didn’t even know existed.

I don’t know, they probably serve a purpose. In a world where we have to put labels on things like hair dryers that say “Do not use while sleeping”, or on an iron that says “Do not iron clothes while wearing”…well, maybe we could all use a little smartening up.

Sometimes the dummies books are helpful, sometimes not. I once bought the book “Financial Planning for Dummies.” When I finished reading it, Lori asked me “what did you learn from the book?” My reply? “Hire someone else to do it.” Apparently, I am too dumb for the dummies book.

The same thing is true of these reality home improvement shows. One that I’ve become hooked on in the last three months is “Flip this House.” Maybe you’ve seen it. A real estate investment company will purchase a run down, gross or desolate home at a rock bottom price, and then over an amazingly short amount of time, anywhere from 3 to 7 days, will completely renovate the home, and then will sell it for a much higher price, earning a ridiculous profit. Of course, the fun begins when, after buying the house, they discover some other major problem with the it…something minor like…the foundation is sinking…as I’m watching the show, my internal monologue saying something like “Ha! I knew it…they never saw this coming…there is no way they’ll recover from this!” But of course, they always figure out a way to solve the problem and make their sale.

Lori just rolls her eyes at me. The amount I know about home renovation wouldn’t fill 15 seconds of a tv show.

The problem with self-help books or do-it-yourself guides is that in real life everything is so much messier. It is never as simple as the books or TV shows make it.

The good news is that the “Anything for Dummies” books, and these home renovation shows, remind us is that human beings are perennially optimistic. We figure we will eventually get it--whether it's how to ride atwo-wheeler, drive a car, get a job, pay the bills, be a good spouse,raise some kids.

The bad news is...though we may be optimistic, there are things that we simply cannot do alone. Books and TV shows can only go so far. We need help. Human beings are communal creatures. We need companionship, advice, input. We need help. It’s how we’re wired. Even those of us who are “I” for introverts on the Myers-briggs scale, need to be around people and to be in community. It is how God created us to be.

In today's Gospel text, from the Book of Luke, Jesus answers a lawyer's "how to" question. "How to..." inherit eternal life. It is a trick question: If Jesus answers in a way that violates the law, he can be arrested. But Jesus’ answer of “Love God and Love your neighbor” trumps the lawyer. So the lawyer comes back with another: “Well then, who is my neighbor?”

In his answer, Jesus is giving as basic an understanding of God as there is in all of scriptures. Jesus offers as his answer the "Good Samaritan" parable. In one story Jesus demonstrates how unflinching and unbounded human love can bewhen we allow 3 loves: loving God, loving one-self, and loving your neighbor to be woven together and fill the soul to overflowing. The parable of the Good Samaritan is, quite simply, “God for Dummies.”

In this "God for Dummies" story, Jesus is raising the bar for the Jewish people and ultimately, for all of us. Jesus’ “God for Dummies” parable is powerful: it allows for no margin of safety and no holding back. Jesus is telling us that God is to be loved "with all"...

...with all your heart,
...with all your soul,
…with all your strength,
...and with all your mind.

Now, a quick word about each of these:
With all your...heart: You can't just feel for God with your emotions. But to be obedient to God your being must tremble with a heart felt faith. The quest for eternal life isn't just a journey laid out according to some litany of laws. This is a loving relationship. We have a God who loves us and asks for our love in return. One theologian describes this by saying that we know we are in love with God when God’s heart and ours beat in sync.

With all your...soul: You can't just wishfully long for God with your immortal soul. But our world doesn’t pay much attention to the soul. After all, we've got a busy schedule, a stressful job, a long “to-do” list. The Psalmist knew how deep the soul's craving for the holy could be. The 42nd Psalm begins with the words:

As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God.My soul thirsts for God, for the loving God. (Psalm 42:1-2)

As Christians, we recognize that our soul longs for something more…for the presence and life that comes from being in the presence of God.

With all your...strength: You can't just muscle your way through life.
But neither can you serve God only with your words. Your "strengths" arethose special gifts God has give to you alone. Your gift of strengthis intended for heavy use. Are you physically strong? Build homes for the homeless. Are you good at comforting? Offer your time as a counselor to the troubled. Do you love to share knowledge? Become a teacher. Do you feel music through your fingers even when they are opening envelopes?Perform or produce music for the world. Whatever your gift, whateveryour strength, flex it. Tone it. Use it.

And finally, with all your...mind: You can't just avoid the "real" world by living in your mind, no matter how smart you may be. Love of God must interact with every thought you think, every idea you entertain, every discipline you study, every judgment you make. Every "life of the mind," must draw its energy and insight from God’s love.

None of these four should exist in a vacuum…alone. When heart, soul, strength, and mind work together in symmetry, the whole of life is richer, deeper, fuller. To love God with every facet of your being isn’t just works. It enables you to experience God’s love. It is a manifestation of God’s grace.

Jesus gave us the Good Samaritan parable to show that love of God, by itself is not enough. God calls us to turn that love outward in radical ways. In the parable, only grace, the love that is shown by God and then is shared by the Samaritan saves the injured Jewish man. The Good Samaritan parable tells of love extended to one who is different from you…from your family, your circle of comfort.

According to Jesus, to love our neighbor is to live outside ourselves…it is to care for those we might not want to care for…it is to live lives of compassion…it is to put ourselves and our resources on the line…

The Good Samaritan cares for the wounded man by using up some ofhis own traveling provisions. He takes the injured traveler to thenearest inn--although inns themselves could be quite dangerous places.He not only entrusts the unknown innkeeper with money to care for thehurt man, but tells the innkeeper to run a tab-putting himself atconsiderable monetary risk. All this for a man he can see is Jewish, abitter enemy. The Samaritan loved with his whole heart, soul, mind and strength. This is God-love; It is grace, turned outward

God does not just ask for our heart, or only our soul, or simply our mind, or exclusively our strength. God asks for our whole self. God asks this because God has already done this for us.
God loves you…each of you…which his whole heart…the heart that sacrificed his son for you.
God loves you with his whole soul…the soul that longs to be in relationship with you.
God loves you with his whole mind…the mind that thinks of you and knows you.
And God loves you with his whole strength…the strength that created this world for you, and then went to the cross and suffered for you.

What must we do to inherit eternal life? Not a hard question. Thelawyer already knew the answer. You already know the answer. LoveGod. Love your neighbor. But how to live the answer? Now that's another question.

We need to remember that Eternal life is more than a destination for our future, it is a lifestyle for today. And in this parable, Jesus calls his disciples…all of us…to live the gift of "Eternal Life" every day. You experience this every time you love God and your neighbors with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your strength, and all your mind, and every time you and I love our neighbors as we love ourselves.

Erwin McManus, the pastor of Mosaic Church in Los Angeles, was ridingdown the highway with his wife Kim and little girl Mariah. Suddenlyhis wife turned to their daughter and said, "Mariah, I love you topieces." Whereupon Mariah responded, "Mommy, I love you whole."

How do we inherit eternal life? Remember that God loves you whole. God makes you whole. And God enables you to love Him, and to love others whole. This, my friends, is God-for-Dummies.

Amen.

A Jesus-Based Economy

“A Jesus-Based Economy”
Luke 9:51-62
Todd Buegler
June 19-July 1, 2007
Lord of Life


Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, and from Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen.

This past Wednesday night, around 7:00pm, there were approximately 40 people gathered in the parking lot of the church. They were awaiting the return of the first of the summer’s sr. high AWOL trips. AWOL stands for “A Work Of Love.” These mission teams spend a week working with Habitat for Humanity, volunteering time and energy to build a home for a family in need.

So, after being on the road for 12 days, 19 of us, 16 youth and 3 “adult” leaders, pulled into the parking lot, did the traditional victory lap and then piled out into the arms of loved ones and friends. Of course, we hadn’t been able to shower in a couple of days…let’s just say, the hugs…while well intentioned, were a little abbreviated.

Let me just say this: I have never been prouder of a group of young people.

The team worked with the Charlottesville, Virginia chapter of Habitat for Humanity on behalf of a woman named Debra. Debra is a single mother of four who works as a medical assistant on the 1pm-9pm shift. She has four children, a 16 year old, 13 year old, and two 9 year old twins. She is a Somali immigrant who brought her family to the United States a few years ago in hopes of a better life. Because of her work schedule, she is only able to volunteer on her own home on the weekends. But one week day, before work, she came by the house to see us. She is a woman of strong faith. After she walked around and saw our progress, her eyes teared up just a little, as she told me: “God brought you here to help me…thank you. Thank you.”

I tell you this story not because I just want to show off how great our young people are, though they are. I tell you this story because our group experienced something different, and powerful this past week. Our AWOL team experienced a different kind of Christian faith; a completely different way of thinking. You see, all people live in what I might call an “economy” of relationships. There is a give, and a take. This is true in our relationships with each other, and in our relationship with God. The young people in this group experienced a “Jesus-based economy.”

John Stott, in his book titled Christian Counter-Culture” wrote that “No comment could be more harmful to the Christian than the words, ‘but you are no different than anyone else.’” Followers of Jesus Christ, he says, must be different from anybody else – different from both the nominal church and the secular world…”

For these two weeks, our young people chose to be different. To give up almost two weeks of their summer vacation, to give without expectation of repayment, to live on church floors, to go days without showers, to live out of a duffel bag and a van, to eat their own cooking…which was an adventure, to lose time with family and friends, to take time off of work, to incur the wrath of coaches because some of them missed games or tournaments. Plus, most had never done anything like this before; it was long, hard, hot work. For some, they had never been away from home for this long; they were stepping into the unknown. They chose to be different, to swim against the cultural currents. To be as God called them to be. Was it fun? Absolutely! We had a blast. But there were other choices they could have made; easier choices that might have had a greater short term return on their investment of time and energy.

In our economy of relationships, they chose to live in one that was “Jesus-based.” What is a Jesus-based economy?

First, In a Jesus-based economy, we receive. God gives, and we receive. God gives the gift of eternal life; of forgiveness of sins; of His presence; of community; of creation…the list goes on and on. God gives us these things with absolutely no thought that we will ever be able to repay. It is pure gift. God gives, and we receive.

Second, In a Jesus-based economy, we give and others receive. We give of our time, our energy, our effort, and our finances. We give, with no hope of receiving in return. Trying to model ourselves after Christ, we give.

Today’s Gospel reading is an example of that kind of economy: the disciples are offended by their traditional enemies, the Samaritans. They have gone into the Samaritan town ahead of Jesus to prepare the people for his arrival. Not surprisingly, the Samaritans weren’t excited about their arrival. The disciples were livid. They returned to Jesus and asked “Do you want us to call down fire from heaven and destroy them?” Can we wipe them out? Can we equalize the economy, and return hate with hate? Can we use this God power you have and teach these rotten, no-good Samaritans a lesson? Can we? Can we? Pleeeeease?

Jesus rebukes them. “No.” The way of revenge, the way of anger, is not his way. His path does not lead to retribution. His path leads to faith. The Jesus economy does not pay back offense with anger. The Jesus economy returns offense with love. Elsewhere in the Gospels he uses the phrases “turn the other cheek”. Up until the time of Christ, the people had lived in an “eye for an eye” economy. Jesus responds to this by saying “but I say to you…love your enemies…” Jesus is changing the system by which we think about justice, and about faith.

A Jesus-based economy makes absolutely no sense in the cultural ethic of our world today. We don’t live in a Jesus-based economy. We live in an “ebay economy.” The ebay economy is about barter and exchange. It tells us that we shouldn’t give something up without getting something in return. An ebay economy is about gain. It use phrases in our culture like “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps”, “climb the ladder”, “no pain, no gain”, “you get what you deserve” and “work hard and you’ll get your reward.” A Jesus-based economy is different. Jesus gives to us, expecting no tangible return on investment. We could never work hard enough, long enough, or pay enough for God’s grace. Jesus then asks us to give to others, expecting no tangible return on our investment.

Abraham Lincoln was widely considered one of the finest and most spiritual of all our presidents. During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln was being criticized for not being harsh enough and severe enough on the soldiers of the South. One time after a battle, a general from the North came up to him and said: Why don’t you destroy your enemy? Wipe them out? And President Lincoln answered with those famous words: “Do I not destroy my enemy by making him my friend?” By all the accepted rules of war; by the rules of culture, in an ebay economy, Lincoln would have been justified in wiping out the southern army and burning all their cities. But the Word of God had touched Abraham Lincoln’s heart. Lincoln chose a different kind of economy; one that focused on building up, rather than tearing down. He made a different choice…he was living out of a “Jesus-based economy.”

This begs the question for us: in our lives, what kind of economy are we living? Is our faith one that is willing to do these things? Are we willing to step outside of our comfort zones? Let me be clear: We don’t have to live in a Jesus-based economy. God’s love for you does not depend on that. God’s love for you is constant. And the goal of the faith…the goal of the church is not to “guilt” you into “doing more.” Rather, it is to call you to “being different.”

Because when all is said and done, a Jesus-based economy is about the ultimate win-win scenario. The Jesus-based economy brings about a much more significant return on investment than an ebay economy could ever hope to bring.

Rachel, one of the girls on the AWOL trip, talked in our last night’s worship about a sense of separation she’d been feeling from God. She said that “for the last year or so, it felt like God had abandoned me…I couldn’t find Him…so I quit looking. I abandoned God. Now, here, I feel like I’ve found God. In this experience, I feel like I’ve found God.”

Was God lost? Of course not. Had God moved away from Rachel? Not a chance. What was different? Rachel drifted. From time to time, we all do. But on AWOL, Rachel experienced living in a different economy, one that received God’s grace, with no expectation that she pay it back, and then gave it to someone else, with no expectation that she be repaid. This renewed her, and drew her back to rediscover the faith that she had been missing. When she said she had rediscovered God in her life, I heard in her voice, the joy of one who receives an unexpected gift.

My friends, God has not moved away from you either. God is present. Your God is deeply in love with you, and it is not within your power to change that. The question becomes “how do we respond to that love?” Like a parent who looks at their child and sees the beauty and joy of who that child might become, I believe God looks at us, and calls us to something more. In the midst of our brokenness…of our sinfulness, God is calling us to live in a different, Jesus-based kind of economy.

The ultimate AWOL, the ultimate Work of Love is always God’s work of love. And in God’s economy, it is a completely free gift, for each of you. It is Christ’s journey to the cross, on your and my behalf. You do not need to live in a bus on a mission trip for two weeks to experience this kind of economy. And there are Debra’s all around us who are in need. It just takes a recognition of the gifts God gives to you, and a willingness to give with no expectation of a return. The Holy Spirit will do the rest.

My friends, risk. Live and dwell richly in God’s economy. Receive, and then give. Be changed and transformed. Be who God calls you to be.

Amen.

On the Road

Saturday morning, I'll be loading up the church bus with 18 friends, and we'll be taking off for Charlottesville, Virginia. The trip goes like this:
Day 1 - Drive
Day 2 - Drive
Day 3 - Recover/orient/decompress
Day 4 - Work
Day 5 - Work
Day 6 - Work
Day 7 - Work
Day 8 - Work
Day 9 - Worship and Camp
Day 10 - Camp
Day 11 - Drive
Day 12 - Drive

It's an intense, focused, but really fun experience. My theory is that people can "hold themselves together" for 9, or maybe 10 days. But a 12 day trip? The real part of who a person "is" begins to show itself. We can get to some real stuff in that time.

So I'm looking forward to really getting to know some people, and really getting known. There is something powerful that happens in Christian community when people either let down their barriers, or else just become too exhausted to maintain them anymore.

That's one of the reasons I love these trips. I think that they are just about as close to what first century Christianity was like...maybe even the way God intends it.

A group of people (2 or 3 are all we need)
Living together
A focus on mission
Great attitudes
The hope that comes from Christ

Put it all together. It is church.

Pray for our journey. Please.

Thinking about Vision

Been thinking about Vision lately...just kind of random thoughts.

Vision.

Important...needed...necessary.

"Without vision, the people perish."

There is a small but subtle difference between vision and dreams. Isn't there? To me vision seems a little more "driven." A vision is something then that you have to/need to work towards. We have vision...we do "visioning"...we cast a vision...we discern a vision. Vision has become a verb more than a noun.

But dreams. What are our dreams? Even those who study dreams aren't exactly sure why and how we dream. Dreams express something, but we're not sure what. There are good dreams and bad dreams. Dreams of joy and dreams of terror.

Much has been put on the interpretation of dreams. People know and understand the significance of dreams and have sought out others who have the gift of intrepeting them. Daniel's ability to interpret dreams would have cost him his life albeit the intervention of God.

What are the dreams of God? Is part of our role to interpret the dreams of God? Is that what it is to bring the "Kingdom" (I usually don't use kingdom language, but in this case...) to earth?

If a theme for a journal was wrapped around the idea of vision, could we actually couch it in dreams?

What are our dreams for ministry?
What are our dreams for the Network?
What are God's dreams for us?

Could a theme for the Journal be "Dreams"

Random thoughts...

Lutherans are accused of having a non-demonstrative faith, and often with justification. We could all stand to be a little more honest about the amazing role God plays in our lives. No doubt.

On the flip side, I have seen faith that is over demonstrative. Demonstrative faith is not bad…far from it. The question becomes “why do we deomonstrate?” If it is a genuine expression of an experience of grace so powerful that we cannot help but share it, that’s great. If it is to place ourselves/our faith/our identity as a child of God on a pedestal, well, that’s a different story.

Faith that demonstrates to show ourselves becomes idolatrous, and places ourselves squarely in the center of that faith. If the root of human sin is the desire to be God ourselves, then the risk is great and periolous.

Treading that line….finding that way to be honest and genuine…that is the challenge.

Cinderella man

The DVD sat on my kitchen counter for probably a week. I wasn't in a hurry...it was from Netflix. It could go back at anytime.

I just wasn't that interested in seeing the movie...a boxing movie didn't interest me that much. We finally got around to watching it on Friday night.

Wow. Was I wrong. What an amazing movie. It really isn't a boxing movie. Not at all. Not even close. It is a movie about life, tragedy, glory, family, values, and what it is to be a good man. A really good man.

I wonder sometimes about men losing their role models for how to be men. I wonder how generations learn how the values of providing for, and caring for their loved ones. This is a great movie all about men living up to their responsibility...doing what is difficult when it is right.

The best line? When Braddock is asked about why he's suddenly turned his career around for the better he says "Now I know what I'm fighting for." "What's that?" asks the reporter. Pause. "Milk." In a depression era film, it makes all the sense in the world.

What are men's responsibilities now? It's not just to work, though that is what we sometimes think. That is a role confusion...it is the tail wagging the dog.

Much to think about.

Chemo Round 1

The first major step is over. My Mother had her first round of chemotherapy this morning/afternoon. There were some initial tests that had to be run first, but then around noon she sat down in the chair for the treatment.

It was a fairly surreal experience, sitting with her. Kind of like I was outside of myself "looking in." The staff and nurses at Fairview Southdale were great, and did a nice job reassuring her and answering her (millions of) questions.

For the first hour or so, a guy came into the treatment room and played guitar. He never really played anything, he just sort of noodled around. It was kind of funny...nobody seemed to pay any attention to him...he just did his thing. To be honest, I never even really noticed when he left.

I've noticed a desire in my Mom to want to pull back and isolate herself. I've seen this before in people I have worked with who were in similar situations of crisis. My sense is that they want to isolate others (and possibly themselves) from the emotional and psychological pain that they experience. I haven't really noticed it before in such an intense way...I haven't walked through this with a family member before.

The reality of suffering is a little more vivid for me right now. The power of emotional pain is tangible.

The treatment went well. Many of the understandings I had are old and out-of-date. It's not a picnic, but it's not, according to the nurses, as acute as it used to be in terms of reactions. However, that's easy for me to say.

I find myself looking for theological meanings in this experience. But they are not clear to me yet. I think it's all just too new.

A Punch to the Gut

It is cancer. My Mother has cancer.

They don't know much in the way of details yet. Test results are coming. But they think it is an aggressive form.

I've spent much of the last two days kind of in a daze. It feels like I've been punched hard. When Mom called with the initial test results, it kind of sucked the breath right out of me. It doesn't feel like I've caught up again.

Emotions? Sorrow...anger...confusion...fear...

Much to work on.

That word

My mother received a possible diagnosis this morning. The word: cancer. It's a word that I've never heard before in regard to a member of my own family. It's a word that puts a shiver down the spine. It's a word that brings fear.

Today it's a word that I heard in connection with someone I love.

It's not a done-deal. There is the inevitable waiting for tests results. However we think we'll know more in 24 hours.

Mom is...shall we say...on the edge of frantic. The problem is, as an RN, she knows just enough to make her dangerous, at least to her own psyche.

So there are no answers, and there is surprisingly little to grip/clutch/hold on to. We pray, but this is going to be a very rough ride.

Want to be a Sheep?

“Want To Be A Sheep?”
Matthew 25:31-46
Todd Buegler
March 3-4, 2007
Lord of Life


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

As a young boy, probably 7 or 8 years old, I feared the moment. It was the moment I’d have to face my parents. It hadn’t even really occurred to me when my friend and I crouched down to use a stick to write our initials in the fresh, wet concrete of the sidewalk that it was a bad idea. We didn’t do it out of malice. It was wet, shiny and huge…a giant eternal chalk board. It seemed perfectly logical to me at the time. And we were so intent on doing a good job with our handwriting that it totally took us by surprise when the owner of the home, who had walked up behind us, cleared his throat. Immediately my “fight or flight” reflex activated and I wanted to run. Unfortunately, I’ve always had slow reflexes. His hands came down on each of our shoulders and lifted us up. We were so busted.

The worst thing was when Mom said “we’d talk about it when Dad got home.” So I sat in my room waiting in a kind of a “pre-grounding” mode. I was guilty…no question. I sat there like a criminal awaiting judgment.

I’ve always had anxiety about being judged. Moments like that, awaiting the inevitable, or any of the other thousands of times I got caught doing something I wasn’t supposed to be doing. And there are other forms of judging: taking tests, an institutionalized form of judgment, was always stressful for me. I remember playing piano in the state “contest”, or trying out for a “chair” assignment in band…reciting memorization when I was in confirmation…interviewing for jobs…defending a master’s thesis…pitching a new proposal…all moments of fear and anxiety. Being judged makes me nervous.

I don’t think that I am unique in my nervousness around being judged. I’m guessing it’s a pretty universal response, and that many in this room share my anxiety.

Actually, the more I think about it, maybe it’s not the moment of judgment that makes me nervous, but rather is the separation that comes at the end of it. Separation into winners and losers…into the good and the bad…into the “first chairs” and the “also rans”…into the smart and the not so smart…into the guilty and the innocent… We’ve even turned it into entertainment. “American Idol” is based on judging and separating people into the talented and the untalented, with the untalented becoming the victim of Simon’s wrath. None of us like to be separated. We all want to be included. It is one of our base hopes and needs. Nobody likes to be excluded.

Unfortunately, that’s just not how the world works. Humans are experts at separating ourselves: Not only into winners and losers, good and bad. We find other ways to separate ourselves: by economic class, by race, by religion, by region, by gender…we make judgments and separations all of the time. We judge every single day.

During the season of Lent, we are looking at “Servant Sayings” of Jesus. The words he spoke that told us about serving others, and ultimately, serving him. Our Gospel for today is one of those texts. But there’s more to it than a simple and easy, “hey, you should serve.” There is an element of judgment that ties into it, and frankly, that makes me nervous and a little uncomfortable.

Jesus is speaking about the “final judgment”, when God will separate us. The analogy Jesus uses is “sheep” and “goats.” And he makes it clear which one he wants us to be. Jesus is telling us that we will be judged based on how and who we have served. If we have done well, we are sheep, and we will be blessed. If we do not, we will be goats, and Jesus will say to us (and I quote): “Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” Wow. No pressure there!

Why sheep and goats? People who lived during Jesus’ time knew exactly what Jesus meant: It was good to be a sheep. It was bad to be a goat. Sheep were animals that people wanted. They were easy to care for, they produced wool, and at the end of their usefulness, they were tasty. Goats? Not so much. They were difficult to care for and required time and patience. They didn’t listen or mind as well. They were unpleasant. They didn’t have as much hair and were more susceptible to the cold. That required extra work. Every night the shepherds would have to separate the goats from the sheep and move the goats to shelter, out of the cold. Because they were lower on the social “food chain”, they were used as a sacrifice to God to pay for people’s sins. Goats would be placed on the altar and killed to pay for the sins of the people. It was believed that God demanded a blood-sacrifice. This is, by the way, where the phrase “scape-goat” came from. Because of the goats, they would “escape” punishment. Nobody wanted goats when you could have sheep…and certainly no one wanted to be compared to a goat.

Jesus is quite clear that his call for us is to be concerned for the hurting people in the world. We know that when we care for the hungry, thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned, we are actually taking care of Jesus. And in this piece of scripture, Jesus is describing how the final judgment will go. Jesus is going to gather the people and is going to ask a simple question: “What have you done?” And on the basis of the answer to that question, we are going to be separated: Sheep and goats.

I’ve got to be honest…this is kind of a difficult text for us. Lutherans have never been comfortable with the idea of God as judge. We much prefer the image of God as Savior. We know that we are saved by grace alone; that we do nothing to inherit eternal life; that none of us dare brag about our good works because we know down deep inside that we are sinners who are saved by grace. Lord of Life spent the entire last year studying and learning about grace. And we know that if we make it through the pearly gates, it is only because God is good, not because we are good. It is God’s goodness that saves us. We can never do enough to merit eternal life. It is pure gift. We know this. It is deep within our Lutheran DNA.

But this judgment scripture still hangs out there in front of us. Jesus doesn’t make it easy for us; he doesn’t let us off the hook! There is still judgment ahead. So how do we reconcile God’s grace and God’s judgment? If we take seriously Ephesians 2:8, which says “For by grace you have been saved through faith, it is not your own doing, it is a gift from God”, then what’s the deal about being separated into sheep and goats? It’s about God’s grace and our belief, not about what we do. Right?

Yes. It is about God’s grace and our belief. But what Jesus is saying in this text is that what a person does for the poor and the suffering reveals what, and in whom, they believe. If a person believes, they obey. If a person believes in Jesus Christ as God and Savior, they live as God would have them live.

I had a teacher once who used to say that the two best indicators of a person’s values are their calendar and their wallet. He would say “show me where a person spends their time, and where a person spends their money, and I can tell you what they believe.”

In Jesus’ words, he is calling us out. He is saying “yes, your salvation is dependent on grace through faith. Show me your faith…show me what you believe…Do you really believe what you say? Are you all talk? Are you putting your money, or your calendar where your mouth is?”

When Jesus judges, he will ask “what have you done?” The answer will reveal our faith. When Jesus asks us the question, “What have you done for the least of these, my brothers and sisters”, this does not contradict the grace of God, that salvation is pure gift. It is a question that asks for evidence of our faith in that belief.

Let me illustrate: I love my children completely. Is that true for anyone else here? Do any of you love your children to the unconditionally? To the extreme? Immensely? Graciously? That is just the way it is. I would do anything for them. I would die for them. But I still ask them “did you do your chores?”, “did you remember to make your bed?” “Did you pick up your toys?” “Were you good for Mom today?” My love for the boys is great, but I still ask the question: “What did you do today?”

This is also true of God. God’s love for you is great, but God still asks you and me the question: Did you do your chores today? Did you take care of the sick, the poor, the orphans, the starving, the thirsty, the refugees, the homeless, the hungry, the lonely in the nursing homes? Have you done your chores today?” That God asks you that question does not mean that God does not love you. It is just the opposite. Because God does love you unconditionally, God then asks you that question.

“What did you do for the littlest of people? What did you do for those in need? What did you do for the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick, the imprisoned.” Whether we like it or not, Jesus tells us that he does judge. Jesus will separate us: the sheep and the goats. We all want to be included with the sheep, the blessed.

But here’s the truth: We all fall short. If the question is “what did you do?” The point of that question isn’t a list of our activities. The point of the question is “do you really believe…enough to do what I ask? In reality, none of us can measure up. We are all goats. We are all deserving of punishment.

Let’s fact it: I do not serve like Jesus asks…you do not serve like Jesus asks. I want desperately to be a sheep, and I try. But I fail. If all Christians who believe in God served as he asks, there would not be hunger…no one would be homeless…no one would be lonely…

Jesus knows this. And Jesus knows that we are bound by sin and cannot free ourselves. Jesus knows that we cannot make ourselves sheep. So he judges, and he asks the question “What did you do?” Like a guilty child facing a judging parent, we know that nothing we can say can justify ourselves to God. And so Jesus judges. He says “you are a goat.” But then he does something amazing. Instead of casting us out...instead of cursing us…he himself becomes a goat…the ultimate scape-goat…he is punished for what we have done, and for the things we should have, but haven’t. For three days he suffers that pain of ultimate separation on our behalf. On the cross, when he says “My God, why have you forsaken me” he’s not just wondering where God is…he is experiencing the ultimate separation from the God of love.

He experiences this, so that we do not have to. And ultimately, through his resurrection, he defeats death. Because of Jesus, we are all made sheep. We are all made worthy.

And so we serve. We care for people. We do this not because we fear being separated from God, but because God has already promised that when the separation comes, we will be included with the sheep…the blessed…the inheritors of eternal life.

My fellow sheep, we serve, not because we fear judgment, but because we are grateful.

Amen.

Thoughts on a Question

Thanks for your note!

Regarding your questions: Good ones...ones I wrestle with all the time.

I don't think kids necessarily select a particular issue to rally their energy around as to why they don't continue in/join a church. I've never even heard a kid say anything about the war in Iraq or "religion is behind all wars" as an argument. I think they are sophisticated to differentiate between religion and religious extremism.

Rather, I think there is a broader theme. I think young people do not continue in a faith community or join a faith community because there is a sense of "it's not for me." If it's not relevant...if it doesn't address the issues and questions that are important to them... if they don't relate to the worship experience... then they don't engage.

Young people's time is valuable (like it is for all of us). If they don't engage, they don't feel like they would want to spend their time their. (Time is their primary form of currency.)

I feel like the church has done a disservice to young people in two ways:

1. We haven't adapted our faith communities to make them feel engaged, vital and important. We don't "involve" them in worship in ways that are meaningful (as a leader or a participant), we don't invite them into other ministry roles, and we perpetuate the one-eared mickey mouse.

2. We haven't taught them that the fundamental question should not be "is this engaging to me?" but instead should be "how can I engage?" The point of worship is not entertainment, but we fall into that trap. Then, when we don't entertain and they don't participate, or even show up, we act surprised.

If we treat young people like they are an audience, then that's how they will react. If we instead treat them that in worship, they are a primary actor in the worship of God, and it's not there for them to be entertained, I think they would react differently.

I'm not sure if this is helpful or not, merely my mental wanderings as I've been thinking about your e-mail.

I hope all is well!

Peace,

Todd.

Amazing Place

I'm writing this from Bozeman, Montana where I'm out with a group of sr high youth on a ski retreat.

Being out here every year is an amazing experience. I am reminded of the breathtaking nature of creation. Really...it is amazing...

I know that this kind of beauty exists elsewhere...why don't I have eyes to see it? Do I just take it for granted? If I lived here, would I lose my appreciation?

Back again

I think I'm just going to have to come to terms with the fact that I am not very disciplined about my blogging. I definitely write in streaks.

Things I'd like to blog about and might try to get to:

- How cool the Extravaganza was.
- Some thoughts on leadership
- Kendall Payne: An amazing musician I just tripped over
- Some response to Hal's thoughts on passive aggressive behavior in the church.

I'll get to it...

President Bush on Global Warming

To Teach

I begin teaching again today. Prepared? No, not really. But it's going to happen anyway. The course is "Congregation as Confirming Community." It's usually intersting conversation. It usually generates thoughts... More will come.

"You Have Arrived"

“You Have Arrived”
Luke 2:41-52
Todd Buegler
Dec. 30-31, 2006
Lord of Life


Grace and peace to you from God our Creator, and from Jesus, the Son of God, the gift who dwells within! Amen.

Beginning (Monday) tomorrow, we will all be faced with the annual challenge: learning to write the new year date on all our important papers, letters & checks. '06 will become '07. As much as we sometimes want to resist the idea, New Year’s reminds us that time continues to march on.

Every parent here can testify how much of a difference one year makes in a child. In one year a child can shoot up with 4 or 5 inches of new growth, speak up with a new voice and with new insights and knowledge. Our boys, Nathan and Samuel, who are 5 and 4, are constant reminders to us that God continues to create. Nathan now has a half-year of Kindergarten behind him, and every day I am surprised by new things he’s learned…The kid is doing calculus…who’d have thought it! And as kids enter adolescence, one short year can transform a child into a young man or a young woman in body, mind and spirit.

This week's gospel is a sneak peak into Jesus' childhood. In our gospel last week, Jesus was a new-born. Next week, he will be a grown man. This is the Gospel’s only up-close and personal view of Jesus as a boy not a baby, as a child not a messiah. And we all can understand the emotions experienced by Mary and Joseph in today's Gospel.

Have you ever lost track of a child? Traveling together in the safety of a family caravan, at the end of the first day's travel back towards Nazareth, Jesus' parents are horrified to discover that their son is not among them. Immediately Joseph and Mary turn around and travel back to Jerusalem, frantically searching for Jesus.

Think of all the possible scenarios that must have haunted the panicked parents on that return trip to Jerusalem. The possibility of being lost, or of having someone you care about be lost, is, one of our base fears. When lost, we simply feel too far out of control.

I hate feeling lost. When I travel, and have to rent a car, I now always select the “NeverLost” option. Have you seen these things? This talking GPS interactive map literally guides me from place to place. It tells me, “Turn right on highway 7 in two miles…” or to “Keep to the left, in ½ mile…” Occasionally I’ll hear “At your first opportunity, please return to the highlighted route…” (which is it’s polite way of telling me, “you’re lost”) and my all-time favorite, “You have arrived.” “You have arrived” means my journey is over. I am there. I’ve made it. NeverLost helps me get from place to place in a strange city. But even more importantly, it makes me feel more comfortable when I am, off of the map. At least someone (or something) knows where I am!

There are times when I think that it would be nice to have a NeverLost system for the other parts of our lives. Family? Career? Education? Big decisions? For us to have a voice, a guide that could tell us the direction to go when faced with difficult choices. It could spare us from the angst that comes from the process of deciding: What should I do after high school? “Go to a 4 year school”. What should I study? “Get a degree in math.” What about this relationship I’m in? “Marry your childhood sweetheart” and when we have made the right decision, “You have arrived.” With a guide like that, we’d always feel connected. We’d always feel watched over. We’d never feel lost. But we don’t have such a guide. We have to figure out these things on our own.

And Jesus’ parents didn’t have NeverLost either. They didn’t know where Jesus was. For them, there was no comfort.

Three days after they first left Jerusalem on the way home, Mary and Joseph find Jesus in the temple, calmly sitting there, absorbed in learning at the feet of his elders. An emotional Mary said "Son, why have you treated us like this? Your father and I have been anxiously searching for you."

Jesus' response to his mother's furious outburst is full of a refreshing (if aggravating to parents) adolescent honesty: "Didn’t you know I’d be in my Father’s house? Why were you searching for me?"

Why? DUH!?! You’re 12 years old!

The first words the young Jesus utters show the unique intimacy of his relationship with God. Even at the age of twelve, Jesus felt the embrace of divine love, the special closeness of God the Father. Jesus understands that he must be "in my Father's house." There, in the midst of the holy temple, Jesus felt God's presence most fully and as a result felt completely at home. Jesus response, in classic NeverLost style, was “Calm down Mother, I have arrived.”

The twelve year-old Jesus revels in the relationship that he feels between himself and his divine Father. He knows that wherever he is, whoever he is with, he is always in the presence of God, His father. He literally “has arrived.” He feels at home. He knows that being in the presence of God is the right place for him to be. In a time when the rest of Jewish culture was focusing on trying to be worthy of being in God’s presence…of trying to follow the directions…of trying to live up to the law…of working, striving to be worthy of God’s love, Jesus knew that God’s love didn’t work that way. Wherever God’s people are, God’s love would come to them. It wasn’t a matter of following directions: They didn’t have to do works to receive God’s love. They had already arrived in God’s love.

Yet despite Jesus' words, despite the sense of rightness he felt in the temple, Jesus left the temple with his parents. The gospel says he "was obedient to them". Although the twelve year old child could not understand his parents' frantic search for him, later, the adult Jesus surely understood how powerfully their love for him had driven them.

Let's try a little experiment, shall we? Let's read Jesus' story of the lost sheep, from Luke 15, keeping this temple experience in mind.

So Jesus told them this parable: "Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them 'Rejoice, with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.'"

Mary and Joseph taught Jesus how hard love will search for the lost. As an adult, he took the knowledge of this intimate, unbreakable bond between himself and the Father on the road.

After his trip to the temple, Jesus had learned to take his Father's house with him wherever he went. Jesus could never be lost or alone:
Even as he argued with the scribes and Pharisees he used to learn from, he knew he had arrived.
Even as he separated himself from his confused and doubting family. He knew he had arrived.
Even as he felt the heat of the political power's anger. He knew he had arrived.
Even as he faced his betrayal by those he loved most. He knew he had arrived.
Even as he hung on the cross at Golgotha. He knew he had arrived.

Always and everywhere Jesus was at home. “He had arrived” because he was always in God's presence and love. Everywhere Jesus went was home. Everyone he encountered was family. He abided…lived in…God’s grace.

And this same Jesus wants to make his home in us -- in you and in me. Jesus wants you to know that wherever you are, wherever you go, you too have arrived...you too abide in God’s grace. We receive this gift because in the same way Jesus lived in the presence of the Father, we live in the presence of the Christ. Quite literally, “you have arrived.”

Our family spent Tuesday with my extended family, all visiting my grandmother, who lives in a nursing home in Trimont, Minnesota. My grandmother is 98 years old, and until 3 years ago, spent her entire life on the farm. As I watched Nathan and Samuel interact with their great grandmother, I was struck by the powerful contrast. Samuel the four-year old sat on her lap, and stroked her hand with his. These two people are at very different points in their life journey. Yet there is one thing they both have in common: My grandmother received the promises of God, and first heard “You have arrived” in her baptism 98 years ago in Story City, Iowa. Sam received the promises and was first told that he had arrived four years ago, here, in our font. Yet they both heard the promise. They both received the gifts of God. None of us will fully understand what it is to arrive until we are reunited with God in death and resurrection. But we hear the promise, and the promise does not depend on who you are, how old you are, or what you do.

Whether you are 4 like Samuel, 12 like Jesus, 41 like me, or 98 like my grandmother, this New Year, is the perfect year to begin a fresh journey in your own unique relationship with God. The life, death and resurrection of Jesus the Christ took down the barrier of sin that keeps you separated from God. Christ makes it possible for you to experience that same immediacy, that same intimacy, with the Divine as Jesus himself did throughout his life. The gift of relationship with God, it is for you.

Travel boldly through 2007, then. Don’t be afraid of being lost. Wherever you may journey -- through adolescence or assisted living, on wilderness walks or urban commutes, into your first home or into your last resting place -- God goes along with you. Jesus says to you "I will never leave you or forsake you. Wherever you go, you are here with me." Feel the presence of God and be reminded of His promise for you: “You have arrived.”

Amen.