Advent 2, 2025

 Two first graders were overheard at the Baptismal Font as they crossed themselves with the water on their fingers over and over, “I still can’t remember my baptism, can you?”  We gather at the font this day when John the Baptist is baptizing at the River Jordan.  Some of us can remember and some of us cannot and some have not yet been to the font and yet are still touched by grace.  It’s a confluence of many stories, God’s story of God saving the people through the water, and our story of being washed, our parent’s story of dedicating us or of guilt or of hope, or who knows what other motivations.  It is the ancient story and the new story that gushes forth together in one river, one bowl, one brow.

            Whether we remember our own baptism or not, Can we remember the ancient story?  These are stories so ancient, of the Spirit moving over the waters, of Noah and the flood giving a chance for transformation again, of the Israelites crossing the Red sea from slavery into freedom only to wander in the wilderness for 40 years unready to trust God, and then the crossing of the Jordan river some 40 years later to again begin a new life.

            These are the stories of stones so ancient, that spring from even more ancient myths in which people are created from stones.  Stones are stacked and they fall.  They make walls, they form altars, they shelter kings, they are reliable.  Stones provide temptation to Jesus to make them into loaves of bread to serve himself as he is tempted.

            These are the stories of trees—the tree of life, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  Trees bear fruit, trees give shelter, trees provide leaves that hide nakedness and give healing, trees wither, trees regain strength, trees are cut down, and trees put up shoots again.  And trees bear the Son of God at his crucifixion.

            These are the stories of wilderness, of wandering, of isolation, of learning to trust.  The wilderness is a place to listen for God’s voice, free of distractions, free of comforts.  The wilderness is a place of danger, vulnerability.  It is a place on the margins, where God provides.  From this wilderness a voice cries out, a warning, an invitation, “Prepare the way of the Lord.  Make his paths straight.” 

            These ancient stories converge in this river where wilderness and society converge.  Everything was about to change as Jesus prepares to enter the scene, as he prepares to begin his ministry there at the convergence. 

            On this Peace Sunday, the Gospel seems to have very little peace in it.  John is fiery.  He is warning everyone.  The axe is lying at the root of the tree.  Unquenchable fire is being kindled to burn the chaff.  John calls for repentance and the people actually change direction—that’s what repent means—change directions.  They stop their everyday lives and they come closer to that voice in the wilderness. 

            Why did they come?  Some of them heard a voice they recognized from times of old, that old story of transformation.  Some of them were fleeing the wrath to come—was it a wrath from living their previous way?  Was it a wrath of society that divides and destroys people?  Some of them were curious.  Some of them were hopeful.  Some of them wanted a change.

            It cracks me up because Jonah was a lot like John the Baptist.  He warned the people of Ninevah of the wrath to come.  They repented and then Jonah threw a giant temper tantrum that they actually listened and changed their ways.  John reminds me of this.  The voice is crying out from the wilderness and the people respond.  Maybe not the people John expected, and who knows their motives, but they listen and show up and ask to be washed in the waters of baptism.  So he calls them a brood of vipers—vipers having to do with temptation, maybe.  He asks them who warned them to flee from the wrath to come.  Well, John, you did! 

            John is the full of power.  His voice is powerful.  His message is powerful.  The images he uses is powerful.  He is dressed like the great prophet Elijah, who came with a similar message of repentance.  He walks like a prophet, dresses like a prophet, and eats like a prophet.  He’s probably a prophet.  He is pointing out the hope that is coming into the world, Jesus.  John uses his power to lift up another and to call people to get ready for the Messiah.

            We find ourselves, too, in this crowd listening to John, our story converging with the ancient story, our lives ready for transformation, curious, hopeful, terrified.  What new things was God doing in the lives of all these gathered at the river?  Would any of them meet Jesus, hear him preach, eat of the loaves and fishes?  Would any of them be healed by him?   Would any of them have their whole lives shaken by his teachings?  Would any of them stand at the foot of the cross? Would any of them see him risen from the dead?  Would any of them spread the message of his love and grace, the good news of his salvation?  Would they give their lives to service because of Jesus?  Would any of them be arrested because of their faith?

            We, too, stand on the shores of the river, on the cusp of something new, new life, transformation.  We’re probably here for all kinds of reasons.  Are our motivations pure?  Are any of us really ready?  Maybe not, but God can work with that. 

            Things are changing, ready or not.  Some things are getting chopped down.  They have to go.  Pruning is necessary for health and future growth.  Some habits we can let go of. Some things that are not good for us, distractions can go to make room for what God is doing in our lives.  Some of the chaff, the hard husk is falling away and being burned.  The tough outer shell that keeps people out, the fortifications against enemies are falling away.  The good fruit is exposed. 

This is where the vision takes place of the peaceable Kingdom in Isaiah, where the wolf lies down with the lamb and the child plays over the adder’s den.  Even enemies can find relationship in the kingdom of God.  This is where the vision takes place of the shoot of Jesse comes up from the stump that everyone thought was dead.  This is the invasive tree you tried to chop down and many little shoots started coming up from the roots . 

What we thought was dangerous was not.  What we thought was dead was not.  God is doing a new thing through Jesus.  It is old and it is new.  It is the ancient story of freedom, of hope, of reconciliation, of relationship, of trusting God and starting a journey of discovery, love, and grace.  It is a new story of all the new possibilities, all the new relationship, all the new life that is possible when you clear the threshing floor, making room for Jesus and his upside-down priorities, his sweeping grace, his unconditional love, and his willingness to be cut down, to take our suffering upon himself to free us and claim us.

The axe is at the foot of the tree, has cut down the cross on which hung the savior of the world, destroyed it as a means of doing violence and silencing voices.  Where a dead tree stood, new life will spring up in the community, everyone sharing what they have, generosity bringing life to the community, strangers becoming friends, and the love of God growing in our lives.

Advent 1, 2025

 Last month I spent three hours as Clergy Presence outside of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement building in Portland, also known as the ICE building.  Several of you asked me about it, so I thought I would share with you today.  I attended an online training the month before to understand immigrant rights.  Our immigrant neighbors asked for clergy to be there as a calming, peaceful presence, and a reminder of our to care for immigrants and strangers, to show people that we care community together, and to show up for each other and look out for each other.

I learned a lot and I was moved by what I witnessed there.  I didn’t know what went on at the ICE building before I went.  I was met there by the clergy that was on shift before me and she gave me a little orientation.  There were also about 4 members of PIRC, the Portland Immigrant Rights Coalition.  They help immigrants know their rights and they keep track of who goes in and out of the ICE building and are willing to notify family members if someone does not emerge from the building.  They also take pictures of all the vehicles coming in and out of the parking area and send them to a team to analyze them to see if these are the same cars making raids in the community and bringing people in for questioning and possible detention.

Many immigrants regularly go to the ICE building for appointments to get a green card or turn in paperwork required to live in the United States.  When people went in, they could not be accompanied by family or friends unless they also had the same appointment.  They could not even have a lawyer present or any legal aid.  When people approached the building, sometimes they seemed afraid.  Some were shaking.  The people from PIRC encouraged them.  Most people later emerged looking relieved.  Some had their green card.  Some had taken the next steps in being able to stay in the United States.  So for these people, we cheered and briefly celebrated with them. 

Around the corner at the ICE building, , there was a group of people from the Quaker church protesting.  The protesters stay separate from PIRC and clergy presence to distinguish between our purposes.  The Quakers had protest signs and waved to cars coming down the busy street.  They received lots of honks in support. 

This Gospel story today reminds me of the plight of immigrants in our country, and this is both in Democrat and Republican administrations, that people are whisked away in a moment.  Some are taken and some are left, without a moment to say goodbye.  And that was the same in Matthew’s community.  Some people think this reading is about the rapture, but the rapture was an idea invented about 80 years ago.  It does not exist in the Bible.  What this reading is talking about is that Christians were being arrested, taken because they were seen as a threat to society, because they offered another way of living in love and grace toward others.  Remember  what we read two weeks ago, “You will be dragged before courts and judges…God will give the words and wisdom.  By your endurance you will gain your souls.” 

I’ve often thought about how scary that would be not to know if you could be picked up at any time, whether by ICE or by Roman Soldiers.  Jesus promises his presence when we are hurting or alone or persecuted, and he challenges us to walk with people who are persecuted, he challenges us to walk with the alien in our land and treat them as a citizen.  He knew what it was to be a foreigner in a strange land when his family fled to Egypt to escape Herod.

In this beginning of the church year, the whole calendar sits empty before us.  Holidays and celebration are penciled in, but we have a whole year of possibility.  How do we enter this year?  Maybe in some ways, we enter with dread.  People are out of work and unemployment is rising.  Groceries are expensive.  Tarriffs or the threat of them have raised the cost of many things we might order online.  Our country is divided—we actually share most beliefs, but we talk differently and follow different leaders and so we find ourselves unable to bridge gaps or have difficult conversations.  So dread is one choice.

And we can look at our year with hope.  Hope is the theme of the first Sunday in Advent.  We start out the church year in the darkness of Advent.  It’s a vulnerable moment—quiet, cold, lonely.  I’m thinking of Mary, feeling pretty vulnerable right about now, young and pregnant, not knowing how this is all going to go.  I’m thinking of Joseph, feeling pretty vulnerable right now—did he do the right thing?  What would it mean to be a father to the Christ child?  I’m thinking of families separated and incarcerated in our country.  I think of the people of Ukraine and Gaza.  There are so many possibilities for good or ill and so we with Mary and Joseph, we are getting ready.  The holy family isn’t getting any sleep, so we too get to keep awake.

The command “Keep Awake” is for you plural, so don’t worry, we can take shifts.  We want to be prepared.  There are a couple of levels to preparation.  One is on a practical level.  We want to be prepared to support one another in case of natural disaster.  The flood is specifically named in the scripture.  We’ve been working on this at Trinity, to be prepared to take in neighbors and help each other in case of disaster.  We want to be a blessing.  We’re getting prepared to be a blessing because the world is harsh and there are so many unknowns.

I heard a rumor that some of you don’t intend to prepare because you’re ready to meet God, however, I would like to encourage you to prepare for an emergency because it might not be quick and we’re not going to leave you suffering.  You are part of something greater, the Body of Christ, Trinity Lutheran Church.   We take care of each other, even you, so I encourage you to make some basic preparations beginning with a first aid kit, some food and water, a battery you can charge your phone on so you can possibly communicate with loved ones.

So there is the physical getting ready, but there is another level of readiness, and that is more spiritual.  We begin to get ready when we simply look around us and pay attention.  It’s like getting ready to make a turn when you’re driving.  You are looking close to your car and also up ahead a little way to see what’s coming.  Jesus is asking us to look up and scan ahead.  We want to be on the lookout for dangers but also good things—there very well might be a donut shop where you need to stop, or a friend’s house you want to go to.

We know where we are going, because God has told us to expect it.  We are going where all the tears will be wiped away, where all creation will be drawn together, where peace reigns.  So as we scan we are ready for all the road blocks and dangers along the way, but we go with joy and hope because we know where we are going, and we know it’s going to be good.

God is coming like a thief.  That is kind of a mixed message, because God is good and thieves are bad.  Are we supposed to have dread or hope?  Maybe God comes like a thief because we lock up our house tight against such radical love and welcome.  We can’t imagine this world God promises.  We’re not prepared to change our ways.  But God isn’t letting us stay the same, stay safe and keep our old priorities, so God breaks in and steals our former obsessions with security and wealth and people speaking well of us, and God leaves us relying on each other, building community, helping our neighbors, and living God’s love.

November 17, 2025

 

        Luke 21:5-19       Malachi 4:1-2a                   2 Thessalonians 3:5-13

                When I worked at Hospice, we had a saying you may have heard, “People die the way the live.”  If people were bossy in their life, they were often found ordering everyone around on their death bed.  If they were warm and kind, they were the same as they were dying.  If they were anxious, they were often anxious about death.  And if they were chill, they often died peacefully.

                When we face difficulties in life, we all react in different ways depending on how we were raised and our life experiences and sometimes our genetics and body chemistry.  Some people panic at the slightest thing, and some people can’t be phased by anything.  Some people tighten their control, and other people give it to God.  I think all of us would say, that our Christian faith has helped us to accept some hardships and difficulties and not to panic at any little warning or difficulty.  We have a community at Trinity, for one thing that helps us through hard times, forgives us, loves us, helps us, and hopefully occasionally corrects us.  And we have a bigger story of God’s plans for building the Kingdom of God here on earth, a more just, peaceful, loving world where everyone belongs and everyone’s gifts are needed.

                Today’s readings might sound like a lot of bad news.  Since we’re coming up the end of the church year, the readings are getting more intense.  As we talk about the end of the year, we also consider other endings: The end of the temple, the end of our own church buildings, wars which end many lives, the ends of kingdoms and nations and empires, earthquakes, famines, and plagues, natural disasters, persecutions, arrests, betrayals, and even the end of friendships and family relationships.

                The readings don’t stop with all this bad news, though.  They seem to say there is a bigger picture and something more.  The Gospel starts with a cheerful comment, “Look at the beautiful temple!”  But Jesus points out this is temporary.  It is nice, but it doesn’t last.  Then he goes on with a lot of what sounds like bad news.  Then at the very last he finishes with the real good news, “By your endurance you will gain your souls.”  There is something to be gained that is permanent and matters and worthwhile.  There is good news!

                In the reading from Malachi, too, it’s a lot of bad news.  “The day is coming, burning, people will be stubble, burned up, without roots or branches.”  Bad, bad news.  And then good news, “But, the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings.”  Whoa!  There is a bigger picture, a longer journey through pain and suffering and death, and the story goes on and because of our relationship with God we know new life, and hope, and something lasting and truly beautiful.

                All this bad news might also be seen as good news.  That nations fall and temples are destroyed and people are arrested, isn’t all bad news.  It is good news to any who have been oppressed by the nation, who were kept in poverty because of that nation, who were required to jump through impossible hoops.  That a religious institution should fall would be good news for those who were told by a twisted religion that they were to blame for their illness and poverty, for those who were kept in ignorance of the power structure so they could never challenge it or understand and share in religion’s true liberating power.  It isn’t that people want wars and famines and earthquakes and crumbling nations and people to die, but since these things do happen, can God make something new out of that, and give a fresh start, give life to all the people instead of a few?

                That was the situation for Luke’s audience.  They watched their temple looted and burned.  They watched wars and insurrections take the lives of good and bad people.  They had been betrayed and handed over by family members.  But they knew this was not the end of the story. 

                The good news for this morning is that God has a way of taking what we would call an ending and making new life out of it.  This is death and resurrection.  This is the story of the liberation of the slaves in Egypt and bringing them through the wilderness to new life.  This is the story of Noah and the flood and the new life that flourished after with a fresh start, not only for all people, plants, and animals, but with God promising never to do that again.  This is the story of the woman at the well who was snubbed by everyone in town, and how when it seemed her life was meaningless and hopeless, she met Jesus who told her everything she had ever done.

                Earthquakes—not the end!   War-- not the end! Betrayal--- not the end!  Wildfires-- not the end!  Nations falling-- not the end! Government shutdowns-- not the end!  Church roof leaks-- not the end! Death-- not the end!

                We have God, the Trinity, which cannot be killed.  This Gospel says that people will cry out that it’s the end and they will say they have the answers.  Don’t listen to that.  That makes more anxiety and makes people do things in anxiety that are not the will of God.  Some people have misused this story to justify genocide in Gaza, to justify sending arms that maim and kill, thinking God wants war.  On the contrary, God is with those who are suffering and urging everyone to lay down their arms in the city of peace, Jerusalem, and indeed this whole world.  Instead of moving toward violence and anxiety, stay calm, and remember the God of new life.  Remember all the stories of God bringing the people through crisis after crisis in the Bible.  God is still doing that today. Be calm and speak out on behalf of justice to bring good news to the suffering.

                SNAP benefits cut—not the end!  We will pack boxes for neighbors in need.

                Veterans losing hope—not the end!  We provide places of support where people can meet and work through their trauma.

                Youth drawn in by online pornography—not the end!  We give them opportunities to build community together and find power to change society for the better.

            There is grace and hope in our Savior Jesus and we have the chance to practice that grace with ourselves and our neighbors every day.

Late to a meeting-- not the end!  Forgot someone’s name-- not the end!

                Had a disagreement with a friend-- not the end!   Lost my temper with my kid-- not the end! The candles dripped wax all over the altar cloth-- not the end!

               Knowing these things are not the end, we are bold to proclaim the good news and embody justice in our actions.

                Even divorce and terrible illness, pain, kids who have wandered from the church or made one bad decision after the other, family members not speaking to each other—it’s still not the end!  God is on this painful journey with us and there is still more of this journey to go.  It’s not the end of the story that God is still writing.

                God has written the end of that story and in that story all creation in heaven and on earth are gathered together and united, nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, all tears will be dried, all prodigal sons will coming running home to dad, all the prison doors will spring open.

                It is wonderful to build beautiful places of worship and welcome and to use God’s gifts to repair stained glass, as long as we remember that isn’t the point to benefit mostly ourselves.  God requires that we use the gifts that God has let us borrow for a little while, to relieve the suffering of the little people, the hurting people, the invisible people, the despised.  I do think you’ve got a good handle on that, Trinity, and I’m excited to enter this time with you, that is in some ways an ending, the old year passing by, all the endings, griefs and losses, all the hurts you’ve experienced here and at other congregations, and looking at all of them and saying, that is not the end.  There is new life, there is hope, let’s see what good God is doing, freeing, forgiving, loving, and forming into community.

November 9, 2025

 When I was a young girl, all the movies I saw were one that ended in true loves kiss and happily ever after.  It was a message to girls to find their prince charming or become an old maid and it was a message to boys to be independently wealthy and look for ways to rescue petite, beautiful poor girls who will depend on you for the rest of their lives.  Most of us realized in time how unhealthy this was as well as  unrealistic and that there are many fulfilling ways to live your life, partnered or not.  Jesus never married and he doesn’t seem to put a lot of emphasis on it.

One commentary I read this week called this Gospel story the “matter of the much married woman.” I like that description.  This is third time that these religious leaders have tried to trick Jesus.  Their examples are ridiculous and taken to such an absurd level.  They are making fun of the idea of the resurrection by giving such an absurd example. 

            Lutherans believe in the resurrection of the body, not a disembodied everlasting soul. So the importance of taking care of our bodies becomes important and taking care of the bodies of people around us, is also important.  The resurrection of the body brings up a lot of questions.  Which body will it be, my young body or the one I have now?  Can God resurrect my body if I’m cremated?  And finally the one we have in today’s Gospel, who will I be married to in the resurrection?

           

            Jesus is more than patient even with people who aren’t asking sincere questions.  He says that there are different priorities in this age in the next, and marriage isn’t one to be concerned about in the next.  Marriage is a way to order our society and bring us together in partnership and community, but that won’t be necessary in the resurrection life.

            Jesus speaks of those who are worthy of the next life having different priorities, perhaps making a jab that those asking won’t even have to worry about the details of the next life, maybe they could be focusing more on being worthy.  Jesus says that those that are worthy will be like angels.  Here Jesus is really making a jab at the Saducees, because they don’t believe in angels. 

            But we believe in angels.  We’re about to enter the most angelist time of the year.  Zechariah will be visited by an angel to tell him his old wife will bear a child.  Mary will be visted by the angel Gabriel to get her consent to bear the Son of God.  Soon the angels will be singing over the hills of Bethlehem to the shepherds to tell to go to the baby shower in the manger. 

            Some of have seen angels.  Many of us have been tended to by angels who helped us change a tire by the side of a busy highway or gave us a smile in the grocery store when we were pushing a crying kid in a shopping cart and told us it would be ok and that we are a good mama or dad.  We have had angels who left surprises on our doorstep, or neighbors who invited us for tea, or someone who paid for our coffee, or groceries.  Sometimes our angels are in the form of our furry friends.  When I had a car accident at age 19 my parent’s dog hardly left my side as I convalesced on the couch for 10 days.   Angels are part of our daily lives.  Some have wings and some don’t.

            Jesus says we will be like angels in the resurrection.  We will be giving good news, comforting people, thinking of others, caring, showing love.

            And Jesus says we will be children of God and children of the resurrection.  To be children is to belong, as Jesus says, in the household forever.  To be children is to be innocent and selfless and in the moment.  To be children is to be equal.  When Jesus says there is no marriage in the resurrection, he’s saying there is no jealousy, no possessiveness.  In the time the Bible was written and even in many parts of the world today, a woman has little say in who she marries.  That’s why Jesus says that people marry and are given in marriage. A man marries.  A woman is given in marriage, her father’s property given to her husband to possess.  Equality in marriage is hard to achieve, when one partner thinks they have it, the other will likely disagree.  In the resurrection, there will be equality.  All are children of God. 

            Then Jesus uses the example of Moses, since the religious authorities brought him up, to talk about the burning bush.  If God said to Moses that God is the God of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, and made promises of liberation for them, then for God to keep those promises, they all have to be resurrected.

            Finally, God is God of the living.  Maybe you’ve never wondered if you would be married to your ex in the next life, but you have probably thought about what heaven will be like.  Will our pets be there?  Will it be like everything you wish for?  Will there be people there you didn’t expect to see?  Who will be waiting for you when you cross over? 

            Jesus is saying, when he says that God is the God of the living, that there are some things we just can’t know.  Even Jesus didn’t know the time of the second coming.  Sometimes we can get so wrapped up in what heaven and hell are, warning people against going to the wrong place, that we forget that we are God’s children now.  We all belong to God.  We are all equal in God’s eyes.  We are part of God’s family forever.  And we can be like angels now.  Sometimes we get so wrapped up in being right or knowing what’s going to happen that we forget to make heaven here on earth for people living right now in the depths of hell.  People are suffering all around us.  People are lonely, they are hungry, they are cold and struggling.  They can’t pay their bills. They don’t know when they will see their family again. 

            God’s new life, God’s resurrected life, God’s kin-dom is breaking into this world right now.  We don’t have to die to experience abundant life and the grace and love of God.  We get to be angels right now.  We get to bring good news to people who have lost hope.  We get to bring a loaf of bread and a pot of soup to someone who is sick.  We get to visit someone in prison and share a moment of grace.  We get to clip someone’s toenails who can’t reach their own feet.  We get to be angels right now. 

            Today we’re dedicating our stained glass window.  As work went on, painting the tower, the workers walked by this window every day until someone finally noticed, it was bowing on the bottom.  So these volunteers on the property committee brought this up to the council.  We were going to need to fix this window before it came crashing down, at which time it would be impossible to replace.

            On the window we can see the four quadrants, one for each Gospel.  Matthew is represented by the man.  He is the one who starts his Gospel by giving the geneology of Jesus all the way back to Adam.  Matthew focuses on the humanity of Jesus.  So a man represents him.  Notice a wing there with the man.  The wing is because this image comes from the prophet Ezekiel who had a vision of four living creatures, each one with wings.  Wings also represent the good news each Gospel writer was bringing.

            Mark is represented by the lion.  When he spoke of the one crying out in the wilderness, some thought of a lion’s roar, so that became his symbol.

            Luke is represented by an ox.  He talks a lot about sacrifices, and oxen were often the preferred sacrifice.

            Finally, John is represented by the eagle.  John’s gospel soars, over the waters at creation, and over the whole story of God and God’s people, reaching its peak in the stories of Jesus.

            This window gives us a picture of where to start on our journey of faith.  Look to the Gospels, the stories of Jesus.  Then it gives us a glimpse of what to do with that good news that we receive in the Gospels.  Take all that out into the world and live it in service to others, in community with neighbors, in your work, in your school, in your family.  God is God of the living and God is our living God.  We get to take with  us a living faith, inspired by the hope of the resurrection, and with love in our hearts be the angels, bearing Good news to a hurting world.  Our happily ever after rests in community with each other, and serving those who are in need, and the gracious love of our living God,

All Saints 2025

 Welcome to All Saints Day, saints of Trinity, a day when we remember the direction of God through Jesus’ sermon on the plain.  Today Jesus does something he often does, he comes down.  He comes down the mountain to a level place and speaks to the crowds and his disciples. Many other times Jesus comes down.  He comes down from heaven when he is born in Bethlehem.  He stoops down to wash the disciples’ feet at the last supper.  And after he is transfigured on the mountain and Peter suggests staying up there, he insists on going down to serve the people in need who are waiting for help from them.  

Today Jesus comes down from the mountain to bless people.  That this sermon is in a flat place is significant.  In the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus’ sermon is on the mount(ain) because Matthew is always drawing parallels between Jesus and Moses.  Moses went up the mountain to meet God and receive the 10 commandments.  Jesus goes up the mountain to give his first sermon, his mission statement about what he is all about.  But not for Luke.  Jesus’ sermon on the plain fits for Luke who wrote about Mary singing of the reversal in God’s Kingdom of the lowly being lifted up and the mighty being brought down.  It fits with Luke the physician who knows that people who are sick and hurting are not going to be climbing any mountains to hear Jesus speak.  For Jesus’ message to be accessible, he has to give it in a flat place, where everyone can hear.  

Jesus speaks a word of blessing for just the people who are gathered notice from all of these various places, all brought to a level place.  These are people whose calendar was not full.  They are people who had room for Jesus teaching and God’s love.  These are people who are grieving, hungry, hurting, and in need.  They have been mocked, cheated, and forgotten, but still they have hope to go looking for something, and the something they encounter is God come down, Jesus, teaching, loving, blessing.  

As a physician, Luke has seen people in these conditions mentioned in the Beatitudes.  He’s treated children for malnutrition.  He’s met with the grieving person with no appetite.  He has sat with the dying, the blind, and people who can’t take care of their own needs.  But Luke hasn’t found hopelessness there, he’s found blessing.  He’s found God’s presence there, an openness by people in need to listen for God’s voice, hope in something more, community responding to needs and coming together, new life in the midst of pain.  Luke and Jesus want us to know that these troubled states can also be places of transformation, hope, and blessing.  To be hungry, mocked, and grieving are not states to be avoided, but opportunities for connection, to increase our compassion, so many possibilities for joining God in the Holy Work of transforming the world.

Matthew conveniently skips the woes, but Luke dives right in. Now matter how full or happy we are, that all can change in an instant.  They are not permanent states that we can maintain forever.  Money, health, and to be spoken well of are not states to be worshipped.  So even the woeful will have a chance to be blessed.

We do a lot of blessing at church.  Recently we blessed the animals.  We bless baby kits and windows–we will bless the stained glass window next week and dedicate it to God’s service.  We bless each other at the end of church each week.  We bless meals and backpacks and marriages.  And we bless people who are dying.  Many times I get the privilege of being at a bedside and offering a blessing, marking the cross on the forehead of a dying person, God bless you and Keep you, God’s face shine on you and be gracious to you, God look upon you with favor and give you peace.  This cross on the forehead is a reminder of baptism, you are claimed by God forever in baptism, you are part of God’s family, you come from God and are going to God, you are blessed by God.  There is a bigger story than any grief or hunger.  Even in death we are blessed.  Here is another opportunity to come together as community and help each other.  Here is a chance to tell a person what they have meant to you and will continue to mean to you.  Here is a chance to give thanks to God for friendship, for family, for love, for grace.  

A blessing might seem small in a world full of so much coldness and ignorance, but it is significant to see and honor one another and to acknowledge God bringing hope and new life.  When we move toward those who are dying or in pain, we are following the one who never avoided pain or death, we are following the one coming down from heaven, coming down from the mountain, kneeling down to wash feet, and going out to all who are dying, grieving, hungry and in need.  And when we are dying or in pain, we are not alone.  Jesus is with us and our community is with us.

Dear saints of Trinity, it has been a heavy time of grief for us this year.  Since Audrey died in May, we’ve done 9 funerals in our community, a pace of two a month.  And that’s not even counting the losses in your own lives separate from Trinity and all the losses from the past.  Then there is heaviness and grief from loved ones with dementia or anticipatory grief from those we expect to lose in the near future.  Such losses tend to snowball and grief from one gets rolled into grief for another.  So we come to a day like All Saints.  We’re celebrating and we’re mourning and we’re feeling the heaviness of it all even as we are hopeful.

These saints are the people we sat beside and sang with and worked with and were in circle with.  These are people we cried with, who saw us in our blessings and our woes, at our best and at our worst and are the body of Christ with.  These are people we prayed with.  In their dying, we drew the cross on their brow and assured them they belong to God.  We acknowledged they have been a blessing to us that we will never forget.  God came down to them in their lives and where Jesus is they will also be.  And Jesus even went down into the grave, into the depths to bring together all who have died.  Jesus goes all those places defying every woe, going into all the places of shame and hurt and blesses us with forgiveness and new life.  Death does not have the last word.  Blessing and love never end.

Jesus comes into this world to make saints, even in hard times like the ones were living in.  We get to participate in the blessing.  Jesus is teaching us to come down and bless.  So we give our coats our baby kits our food our love our time our money and our possessions to be a blessing.  We bless by refusing to return violence, by turning the other cheek, by praying for our enemies.  Trinity can be a place where those who are poor, hungry, weeping and excluded can experience the reality of the Beatitudes.  Jesus, in coming down, the apostle Paul says, allows us to do far more than we could ask or imagine.  Jesus gives us the power to also come down and bless.

 

October 12, 2025

 Did you read in the news about the woman who ran the marathon shirtless after a double-mastectomy?  Louise Butcher was training for her first marathon when she got her first diagnosis, ran a marathon within months of her mastectomy at age 52, and has set the record for the fastest marathon time of a woman with a mastectomy.  People who have been newly diagnosed have especially found hope in Louise’s story as they wondered what they might look like with similar scars and what their bodies might or might not be capable of.   Louise likes to call attention to the good things she has experienced since her diagnosis and she is more amazed than ever at how capable her body is at giving her strength and health. 

What did the ones that Jesus healed of a skin disease on this day go through in the days, weeks, and months following?  What scars did they bear and who listened to their story after they were healed?  How did their disease and the healing of it affect them?  How did they feel toward other people who weren’t healed?  How did they experience health, wholeness, and illness later in their lives?

I was reading about the Disability Pride Movement.  Their materials stress that people are temporarily able-bodied. Disability isn’t a flaw in our experience as humans; it’s a natural part of it. We are only partly and temporarily able-bodied.  I remember realizing this when I was pregnant with Sterling going through all the battery of tests for him.  Not only was my body limited by pregnancy but we didn’t know what his limits would be, how his body and brain would fit into our ideas of what should be.  Our bodies have limits, and they wear out.  We all carry our scars, our experiences of losing control, of facing illness.  Mostly we pull through.  What happens after our diagnosis depends on a whole lot of factors, availability of treatment, support network, the aggressiveness of the illness, and so forth.

What comes from these scars that we accumulate as survivors?  What comes from this experience that affects us to our core?  It depends.  Many people will find more compassion toward others because of their wounds and scars and experience of illness. Some will withdraw.  Some will become fearful or bitter.  We all know people, though, who have faced incredible suffering and hardship and turned that energy toward the good of others.  This is truly abundant life, new life born out of death.  It is death and resurrection that is the center of our faith.

What does Jesus’ healing of these 10 people mean?  To me it indicates his intention for all creation is wholeness and relationship and his power to make that happen.  It is a promise of what will be when the universe is set right again, when the Kingdom of God comes to earth.  We will suffer diseases.  Some we will survive and others we won’t.  Along the way we will meet others in various states of health, mentally, physically, and emotionally.  We will have a chance to relate to them or not, make a difference in their lives, be affected by them, be part of the wounded body of Christ together. 

In times of hardship and illness the idea of miracles can be a focus.  Many people never ask a miracle for themselves, but when children are struggling, it is hard to make any sense of it.  If Jesus is capable of a miracle, is he handing them out to some people and not others?  Is Jesus so cruel that he is capable of miracles, but he withholds them from children who are hurting?  No.  These healing stories show us that Jesus’ intention for this world is healing and wholeness.  He wants us to be well, in our bodies, in our connection with others.  He doesn’t want us to blame people for their illnesses or to think it is a punishment for bad behavior.  Disease is not part of God’s plan or a way to teach us lessons.  Disease is part of the temporary nature of our lives and we can sometimes learn something from it to soften our hearts toward others but it is not what God intended for us.  God’s plan for wholeness cannot take place in these temporary bodies, although we can experience glimpses of the love, light, and truth of God while we walk this earth and we can reflect those on to others so they can see it to.  That’s what Jesus’ miracles were, glimpses into the power of God and the intention of God for wholeness that give us a sense of what will be when everything is in proper order, when all things will be drawn to God.  In the meantime we live in this temporary, imperfect, painful world and we get to learn to bear the light.  Which is where this marathon running woman comes in.  Her experience has given her boldness to show other women they are more than a diagnosis and that although their bodies might not look like they were expecting or hoped, but that doesn’t define them.  They have power, their bodies are capable, their scars can help them connect, and give glimpses into the Kingdom of God.

Even those who receive a miracle do not live forever.  The day comes for all of us when we will breathe our last.  Death is not our enemy.  Jesus asks us to take up our cross and follow him and to die to sin and rise to eternal life.  We face death with hope in the more that God is offering in the promise of new life free of disease and pain, when we will be one in the Kingdom of God and be at peace.

Jesus did not avoid disease and woundedness.  His body still bears the scars of the nails and the spear and the crown of thorns and the flogging.  He did not avoid pain and death and disease.  He does not avoid us and our scars and our diseases.  He is with us in our darkest valleys and he invites us to be with others in their darkest valleys.  We walk there with the promise of new life that Jesus gives. 

We are part of the wounded Body of Christ, that took on limits and gave his life that we would have life.  We are hands and feet reaching out for healing, new life, and tending to the suffering.  We are the breasts providing nourishment and life to the little ones.  We are the eyes and ears bearing witness when our neighbors are torn from our communities.  We are the lips that tell of the injustice for people that didn’t have enough health insurance to treat diseases that they faced.  We are the hearts that beat with those who have experienced unimaginable loss and bear those heartbreaks.  We are the arms holding each other when we sob, and the smiles cheering each other on.  We are the bodies that run marathons and bear witness to the possibilities.  We are the hands that wash the broken bodies and we are the defiant faces that get up the next day and start all over again. We are the ones who show up for each other. We are one body, one spirit, and disease and even death can’t take that away, because love joins us together and love never ends.

September 28, 2025

 Week after week Luke has been hammering us with stories, parables, interactions that highlight the relationship between the rich and the poor.  We’ve had the parable of the rich landowner and his steward, we’ve been reminded that life does not consist in the abundance of possessions, in following the rules, or in having the acceptance of your family.  Our other readings remind us that Luke is continuing a long tradition of speaking out against injustice from the Psalms and prophets and especially naming the chasm between the rich and the poor which is a human-made problem, not “Just the way it is.”  Then we come to today which is maybe the most vivid and direct stories related to this topic. 

Because Luke has been so relentless, I picked a book up off my shelf this summer that I must have inherited from a colleague.  I had never even opened it.  It is called “Rich Christians in age of hunger.”  It was written almost 50 years ago.  It is as pertinent now as it was when it was written, and maybe more so.

I’ve always been really careful not to say that bad things happen to us when we fail to do the good things God commands us to.  We all know bad things happen to us whether we do good or bad.  But the author of this book points out is that there are consequences to our actions.  He reminds the reader of the situation in the Old Testament when the wealthy landowners are taking over the farms of the poor and then putting those farmers to work there often for less than what it takes to feed themselves and their families.  He reminds us of all the scriptures that command care for the widow and the orphan and the foreigner in the land.  And he reminds the reader that the people in Israel are conquered and taken into exile and in the scriptures God says that is because they didn’t care for the least in their midst.  There are consequences to neglecting the poor, cheating them, changing the rules to favor the rich. 

So here we have the story of Lazarus and the rich man.  Today we have a story about a chasm between two people who lived actually very near to each other in proximity, but couldn’t have been farther apart in socio-economic means, in access to “the good life,” and in power, the ability to make changes, the ability to act, to do something about their position in life. 

No one ever gets named in the parables except in this story.  .  In all the parables Jesus tells only two characters are ever named and that happens in today’s Gospel.  Abraham is named.  Of course, he is the great ancestor who listened to God and left everything to bridge the chasm between himself and all those on his journey.  The second is of course, Lazarus, a name meaning “God is my help.”  For Lazarus, God was there for him, recognizing his pain and having compassion on him, to give him peace in the next life.  For the rich man, money was there for him, but money couldn’t help him after he died.  Money was a temporary idol, a false God without ultimate power. But God is one who we can invest in and who will show up for us when we need it most. 

The rich man has stepped over Lazarus countless times as he leaves his home and in life doesn’t seem to notice him.  But in death, it turns out he does know his name.  He asks Abraham to send Lazarus to him with some water to quench his thirst.  He notices him when he has a need that he can fulfill.  This rich man is seeing Lazarus, not as a person but as a means to get what he wants.  He’s still focused on himself and his own comfort.  He never apologizes, never repents, never regrets how he treated Lazarus.

The family language is profound in this story.  Father Abraham, the rich man calls out.  It is a reminder that John the Baptist warns those coming out to be baptized in the wilderness who say they have Abraham as their father, said that God could raise up children of Abraham from the stones all around them.  In other words you can’t conveniently call Abraham father whenever you feel like it if you aren’t going to act like children of Abraham in your life.  Abraham compassionately calls him Child.  Yes they are related but the man has such an immature faith and way of seeing the world as revolving around him.  He is only starting to realize that we are all related and that we all come to a time of need which can be a big motivation to have compassion on others.  The man again calls Abraham father and asks that Abraham send Lazarus on another errand to his father’s house to his brothers.  But this man has failed to see the brother that was directly at his gate, Lazarus.  He wants his brothers to be warned and given a chance to live differently.  However, Abraham is reminding all of us that we have the chance now and many multiple chances now to see the chasms, to see the brother, to do things differently right now.  Someday it will be too late.  There is an urgency to action.  There are consequences to our indifference for those we ignore and someday we will be the one on the other side of the chasm, thirsty, in need, hurting. 

            These scriptures are really hard to digest.  They cut really deeply.  What can we do for someone in need?   Having a plan for handing out food, water, and socks. 

Speaking up for programs that support the least of these.  Supporting NAMI and Lutheran Community Services NW.  Saying Yes in my backyard to low income housing and drug rehab. 

Jesus had everything—there at creation, co-equal with God, enthroned on high.  He came into our midst and there we were shivering and covered with sores at his doorstep.  We were pitiful sinners with no hope, no direction, hungering and hurting.  Jesus did not step over us.   He stooped to look into our eyes.  He saw that we are family.   He took us in and dressed our sores, put clothes on our back, a baptismal robe.  He gave us community in which to thrive and food in the form of his own body and blood.  And he gave his own life to give us life.  He had mercy on us and because of that we have new life. 

What are we going to do with that new life?  There are so many people in need that we encounter.  Some we help and some we step over.  The good news is that every day we pass through the gate is another opportunity to notice, to care, to act so that another person can also find new life and hope.  We love because he first loved us and we know what it is like to be redeemed, and we want everyone to know the love and compassion of our savior.