Passion + Gift = service.

January 31, 2016

Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

 

Jeremiah 1:4-10

Psalm 71:1-6

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Luke 4:21-30

 

Please pray with me, 

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our rock, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen.  

Two years ago, I attended a youth summit meeting in Detroit.  I had the pleasure of sitting in on a presentation by Rozella White, the program director for young adult ministry in the ELCA.  Sitting with a group of youth leaders and high school youth, she addressed vocation…calling…and what it means in our everyday lives.  She talked about how we have passions…things that we do that feed our souls.  And we have gifts, things that we can do without even thinking about it.  

It is when we are able to combine the two…our passions and our gifts….that we are able to live out our vocations in life.  

When I think about combining passions and gifts one name immediately comes to mind: Pete Nelson.  That name may not be familiar to you unless you find yourself watching Treehouse Masters on the Animal Planet channel.  You see Pete builds treehouses for a living.  How cool is that?  But it’s more than just that…you can see the gifts he has for planning and building and the joy that emanates from him as he meets with families, designs these tree houses and helps build them.  He has a great team that he leads to complete these great builds and lots of laughs and fun are had during the build.  

My favorite part, though, comes at the end of the show with the ‘big reveal’.  He walks the couples or families to the tree house…but they can’t look up until he tells them.  And when they do, he loves watching their response to their new treehouse.  It’s so much fun.  

Pete takes his passion for building treehouses and the gifts that he has of leadership and planning and building and combines them to live out his vocation.  Good stuff.  

 

Another way to think about it is this:  

Vocation is when you take what you love and give it to what the world needs.  

Let me say that again, vocation is when you take what you love and give it to what the world needs.  

We can take that the next step, to hear that Vocation…comes from a voice ‘in here’ or from others, that is calling us to be the people that God created us to be.  

Today in our readings we hear about two people being called to serve and it begins with Jeremiah, which echoes, the calling of Moses.  

God’s providential rescue of Moses as an infant eighty years before preceded his commission. God likewise refers here to Jeremiah’s prenatal calling. Like Moses, whose many objections include his own ineloquence, Jeremiah protests that he does not know how to speak.

As with Moses, God does most of the talking, describing sending Jeremiah and giving him words to speak, though not yet mentioning that Jeremiah would be addressing rulers. Jeremiah is appointed the task of nation building. He is given a preview of the rough path ahead. As with Moses, a foreign oppressor will figure prominently in the story. But whereas Moses’ God fought the Egyptians to free the Israelites, in Jeremiah’s time God will use the Babylonians as tools in a conflict with the Israelites themselves. Ultimately, though, Jeremiah’s calling serves to bring the nation to a better place.

This passage, as we hear it today, accompanies the story of Jesus’ own announcement of his ministry in Nazareth. We hear Jesus saying that the scripture is fulfilled in their hearing and at first the crowds are amazed.  But as he takes the time to outline what his vocation, his life of service will be in the world, the people around him get upset.  They are frustrated, actually downright angry that he brings a message of healing and reconciliation to ALL people, including the Gentiles.  

They are filled with rage that the expectations they had of God were not the expectations God had or has for God’s people.  The people are so upset, they drive Jesus out of town and are ready to hurl him off of a cliff.  Somehow he passes through the midst of them, unscathed and goes on his way.  

Like Jeremiah, Jesus is understood as a prophet. Like Jeremiah, he is questioned and rejected by his own people, who attempt to kill him, though he survives to continue preaching.  Like Jeremiah, Jesus gets into trouble over foreigners.

In essence Jeremiah’s calling distinctly echoes the story line of Moses, and is in turn echoed by that of Jesus. At least according to one prominent biblical stream, therefore, to speak prophetically is to follow God into a calling one would not necessarily have chosen, saying and doing things that anger one’s own neighbors, things that, though supported by God, will only be seen as fruitful later on, following trials and tribulations.  

We hear the stories of two individuals called to give their lives in service to God.  Sometimes when we hear these passages, there is a sigh of relief.  Phew….I’m glad God didn’t call me as a child….how would I have answered?  Would I have made excuses?  Would I have tried to get out of it?  

But the reality that strikes us today is that we are all called to give our lives in service to God.  We all have a sense of vocation, a sense of a voice calling us to be the amazing individuals that God created each of us to be.  Just as God knew Jeremiah before he was formed in the womb, God knows us.  And whether or not God approaches us through a burning bush, a voice in the night or through the voices of our friends and family, God calls each of us to a vocation in this world.  

That call to vocation isn’t just reaching for one prize, but hearing and accepting who God has created each of us to be….to see the gifts God has given us and using them in service to others as part of God’s mission in the world.  

Again, maybe you haven’t heard a calling in the night, or haven’t set foot on holy ground by a burning bush, but God has called you.  We remember those words of calling as we celebrate a baptism...God makes a promise with us…and calls us to task.  In the service of baptism, it is the sponsor’s responsibility to see that these questions are answered…but as the child grows older, and as we affirm our faith at our confirmation we answer these questions:  

To live among God’s faithful people,

To hear the word of God and share in the Lord’s supper, 

To proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, 

To serve all people, following the example of Jesus and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.

 

No pressure, right?  But this is our call.  This is our response to the amazing and unending love that God has for each and every one of us.  

The question that remains for us this day…and all days…is how are we living out God’s call in our lives?  How are we seeing the gifts God has given us and listening to the needs around us?  How are we responding to the world around us as baptized children of God?  

Think about your passions…things that feed your soul.  

And look at the gifts God has given you.  

Take time to prayerfully see how you can combine your passions and gifts to care for others around you and all of God’s creation.  

May all that we say and do be a reflection of God’s amazing grace and love at work in our hearts and minds.  

And now may the peace, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and let all God’s people say, amen.  

5 years already?

I began my February newsletter article by quoting the song Watershed by the Indigo Girls.  

I love the line...

And there's always retrospect

(when you're looking back)

To light a clearer path

Every five years or so I look back on my life

And I have a good laugh

I realized I've been at Trinity for 5 years.  Time to look back.  Apparently, the way the article began some folks were worried that I would reflect on the last 5 years and then say....well it's been great, but I'm moving on.  Well, I'm not moving on....I'm so happy at Trinity.  

I keep telling people that I have opportunities to share my passions with the gifts God has given me through service to this congregation and community.   I am truly thankful that my gifts are affirmed in this place and that I have the opportunities to be involved in the lives of the people of Trinity as well as the community of Robesonia as well.  

In this time of reflection and retrospect...I've been thinking about what may happen in the next 5 years (plus).  At Barnes and Nobel this afternoon, I stumbled upon this.  

It's such a cool journal.  I have tried from time to time to journal.  I get into a groove for a while then the habit falls aside.  I think this is a cool way to journal each day.  The book gives you space for one sentence each day. I can handle a sentence a day.  That is completely doable.  Each page has the space for five entries, so this journal will last 5 years.  It'll be easy to look back in 5 years over the adventures, highs and lows and memories.  

Here's to a new daily habit that will probably happen each day as I crawl into bed.  

Today it will be hard to fit the day into one sentence.  It began with a 4 miles run and some pre-bus stop hang out time with my 'niece'.  It involved visits with members in the process of rehabilitation.  There was an afternoon with frozen yogurt, good chats, and a book store.  The day ended with a meeting with our 100 anniversary committee and more opportunities for reflection.  So much happened today.  What a good day.  

+peace

Post marathon and 2015 reflections.

I feel like this post has been a long time coming...well at least since the beginning of the month.
On Dec. 5 I ran the Rehoboth Beach Marathon.  After 17 weeks of training...the big day came.

I finished in 4:22:08.  My goal was 4 hours....at some point in the race I knew I wouldn't make 4 hours and at that point, I relaxed, didn't worry about my pace and I even took a selfie and a picture of the beautiful Cape Henlopen State Park.  I was ecstatic to have my family in many different spots along the course...they kept me running.

The cool thing about this race is that I beat the PR I set 17 years ago.  I got to spend the day with my family walking around Rehoboth.  It was sunny and beautiful.  It was a great day.

I'm pumped that I set a new PR.  I'm also pumped that when I finished I thought, yeah, I can do this again.  (Not anytime too soon, of course!)

The last month has been a little rough.  I had forgotten how much time my body really needed to recover.  Combine that with Advent and now Christmas and December (even without marathon training) has kicked my butt.  I've gone on a few short runs this past week and it feels good to get out there again and kind of nice to just run how ever far I want to that day.

Looking back at 2015 in running...it was pretty great.
I PR-ed a 5K, a 10K, a 1/2 marathon and a full marathon.  The shorter distances were in the spring and the longer ones in the fall.
I also struggled through a hot and humid 1/2 in June and was hit hard by some of the distance training for the marathon.
I ran with my sister.  I ran with Lisa and Kaylee.  I ran a 5K with some awesome kiddos from the youth running club I helped out with this summer/fall.
I got to corral sweaty cross country runners at the finish line of a few home meets.
I volunteered at a local 5K and got to cheer for all the runners and was super excited to cheer for the ones I knew.

I found a new love for running this year.
I enjoy longer distances and serious training plans that push me to see how strong I am.
I love running with kiddos and teaching them about the joy of running.
I love small town races and traveling to see new places.

Who knows what 2016 will bring....but there will be miles of running.  :)

Some goals...
Run a marathon.
Volunteer at at least two races.
Go to a race as a spectator.
Help coach the youth summer running club.
Run a race (any race) with my sister...from start to finish.

Until next year...

Advent 1 - apocalypse now.

November 29, 2015

First Sunday of Advent

Jeremiah 33:14-16

Psalm 25:1-10

1 Thessalonians 3:9-13

Luke 21:25-36

Please pray with me,

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our rock, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen. 

“There have been many losses,” writes Janice Jean Springer, reflecting on the days following her diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease. Among these losses, she counts the erosion of her “self-image as a strong and vibrant woman … ” By contrast, the struggle to keep her balance, to not fall, seems unpleasantly familiar.

She has lost other things as well, but perhaps the most painful loss of all she shares is this, “I’ve lost my illusions. I’ve lost the illusion that I am exempt from the losses and limits that besiege other people.”

She writes that each of us will be confronted by losses that make us wrestle with the question, “[How] can I be faithful in my new circumstances?”

How can I be faithful in my new circumstances? 

A few years back I was visiting with someone whose life had dramatically changed.  They wondered what the future would bring and how to move forward with family and loved ones dealing with a new health concern.  We talked about how to adjust to a “new normal.”  In essence, we were asking the same question, How can I or how can my family and I be faithful in our new circumstances? 

It’s not just a new normal anymore, is it? Our lives our constantly changing and as soon as we think we’ve got things under control, something shifts, and we have to adjust and continue on. 

This is something that Luke touches upon in our Gospel lesson for today. 

Luke lived with the fact that Jerusalem had fallen, but ten or fifteen years later, the Son of Man had not come. He held to the faith that it would happen. There would be a rescue. That is Luke's great insight and hope. When the signs are clear, don't be afraid. They are good news!  "When these things begin to take place, stand up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near." Be alert!

John Petty writes, “The apocalypse is not some future event, but a present one.  Everyone lives in a situation of impending doom—apocalypse—all the time.  …  At one time or another, for every person on earth, everything that used to feel solid and sure will start to come apart.  Paul Tillich called this "the shaking of the foundations." Jesus said to expect it:  "For it will come upon all the ones dwelling on the face of all the earth."

Did you hear that?  The apocalypse is not some future event….but a present one.  I concur that everyone lives in a situation of impending doom – an apocalypse all the time. 

Okay, it may not be as apocalyptic as zombies surrounding our community and taking over the world or some other horror movie situation.  But we do all live our lives with situations that change our lives and bring in a sense of fear or foreboding, or a wonder as to what the future will be like and how we will live our lives in this constantly new and changing world. 

I am a huge fan of Buffy the Vampire Slayer – the TV series that was on in the 90s.  For those who don’t know Buffy was the chosen one, a high school sophomore sent to Sunnydale, California to fight off demons and vampires and all sorts of nasty creatures, but no one was to know that she was the slayer, least of all her mother. 

Well, one night, she knows she needs to go out and fight the forces of evil to prevent an apocalypse, but her mother is worried about her grades and her behavior, so Buffy is grounded.  Buffy says, mom, I need to go out!  Her mom replies, no you don’t, it’s not the end of the world!  (Little does her mom know that it actually could be the end of the world.) 

So maybe we’re not Buffy and we don’t need to fight off evil to prevent an apocalypse, but we do need to get up every day and live in a world that is sometimes frightening and is constantly changing.  And we do so walking in the light of Christ. 

Each week in this season of Advent, the lights will get brighter and brighter as we light more candles on the Advent wreath. 

Each week, we will listen to scripture about how hope Christ continues to carry us and hold us through the dark times that surround us. 

Each week we are continually reminded that even though there will be signs of changes to come we are called to raise our heads up, to see Christ already in our midst and to prepare to celebrate his birth among us. 

The texts that we hear during the season of Advent kind of remind me of a choose your own adventure book.  Did any of you ever read one of those? You would read a story and as you got into it, you got to decide how the story went.  If you want to enter the castle and fight the dragon, turn to page 52.  If you would rather wait outside for back up, turn to page 45. 

Advent seems to present us with texts that may challenge or frighten us and that gives us an opportunity to respond.  As I talked about last week, we have the opportunity to respond out of love or out of fear. 

When we respond out of love, the light of Christ in the world shines brighter and brighter. 

Take a moment to watch this: Good Life Anthem

I know it’s a commercial, but given the fear and danger in the world, we are still called to live our lives.  As we celebrate a baptism at the late service this weekend, we will hear the words, Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your father in heaven. 

Living our lives….for good…is letting that light shine. 

Living our lives…for good….is walking with others as they mourn and grieve. 

Living our lives…for good….is listening to someone when they need to share how they are feeling.

Living our lives…for good…is seeing beyond our own needs and giving our time, our talents and our treasure in a way that benefits the community and world around us. 

The world is a dangerous place. 

But we will continue to live our lives each and every day, knowing that we walk in the light of Christ, and that light will shine into the darkness and light a path for all of God’s children. 

And now may the peace, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and let all God’s people say, amen. 

Christ the King Sermon

November 22, 2015

Christ the King Sunday

Daniel 7:9-10, 13-14

Psalm 93

Revelation 1:4b-8

John 18:33-37

Please pray with me,

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O God, our rock, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen. 

What does it mean to act out of love or act out of fear? 

Think about it, what does it mean to act out of love?  And what does it mean to act out of fear? 

In our Gospel lesson today, we have clear examples of each.  As we hear the dialogue between Pilate and Jesus just before his crucifixion, we see the actions of both of these men.  I think that one acts out of fear and the other out of love. 

Pilate acts or reacts out of fear of Jesus and his teachings and actions.  He may also be acting out of fear as to how the crowds will react if he does not get rid of this so called King of the Jews. 

You see, he’s in a tricky, political situation.  Do you listen to the man standing in front of you?  Or do you listen to the crowds shouting outside of the windows?  Whatever happens with Jesus will greatly impact Pilates’ leadership and future. 

Even though he and Jesus are talking to one another, they seem to be talking on two different levels.  This is nothing new in the gospel of John.  We remember the misunderstanding between Nicodemus and Jesus when Nicodemus talks about being born again and Jesus talks about being born from above. 

We see it when Jesus talks with the woman at the well…she is offering him a drink of water and he wants her to have living water.  

It happens over and over again. Jesus tries to talk to people about who he is in the world and how his teaching, life and death will change the world, and people just don’t get it. 

It’s explained at the very beginning of the gospel of John, in one of my favorite Bible verses, John 1:5, The light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. 

The King James version is this, The light shineth in the darkness, and the darkness comprehended it not. 

You see, Jesus came into the world as the light of the world.  And the darkness of our world cannot comprehend that. 

We cannot wrap our minds around this great love that God has for all of God’s children that Jesus showed us by reaching out and touching the untouchable, the outcast, the sick and the poor. 

We cannot wrap our minds around an all-encompassing grace that comes to us in the form of a man who will conquer sin and death by dying himself.  It’s unfathomable.  And so we, like Pilate, try to comprehend, try to understand what Jesus is up to in our own terms. 

And when thinking about the political future, Pilate reacts out of fear as to what could happen if Jesus were recognized as king.

Jesus, on the other hand, acts out of love. 

He has nothing to prove.  Well, I guess he is going to prove that death can be defeated, and God has the upper hand in all of this, but he will not physically fight the system to prove it.  He will continue on a journey that will take him to his death because he knows that his death is not the end. 

Jesus acts out of love. 

He has no one to fight for prestige or posterity.

Jesus acts out of love. 

Where do we put our energy and our passion and our action in the world? 

Do we act out of fear or do we act out of love? 

We probably ebb from end to end of this spectrum. 

But I’m here to tell you: love wins. 

Love of God through Jesus Christ conquers sin and death and sets us free to love our neighbors and our enemies. 

That’s tough stuff, but that’s love at work in our lives and our world. 

And that’s the tough stuff that we try to wrap our minds around on this day as we remember Christ the King Sunday. 

We try to wrap our minds around Christ as king.  I don’t know about you, but when I think of a king I think of power, riches, castles and big fancy parties and a little lion cub singing, “I just can’t wait to be king!”  Maybe I watch too many Disney movies.  But you can probably see where I’m coming from. 

Yet Jesus as king is the complete opposite.  His kingdom and ruling comes through actions of love and grace, words and touch of healing and compassion.  His kingship is shown as he wraps a towel around his waist and he washes his disciples feet.  He is a servant leader.  He is one who leads by example of going to places least likely, touching people who are deemed ‘untouchable’ and by inviting tax collectors and sinners to dine with him. 

He’s not the king the people of his time were expecting. 

And in a way, he still may not be the king that we are expecting. 

We live in a world dominated by the view that the only answer to violence is more violence.  And the end result of that view is death.  (Lose)

So what does that mean for us as we watch the news and our hearts stir for refuges?

What does that mean for us as we watch the news and our hearts break for cities and nations impacted by violence? 

What does that mean as we see more and more commercials for gifts we ‘need’ to give this Christmas knowing that our local and global neighbors are hungry? 

What does that mean for us as we gather with family and friends this week to share in a meal that gives us a day and some time to give thanks? 

Sorry for all the questions, but I think that’s the challenge with today’s gospel text. 

We can see Pilate and Jesus in this interaction…and we know that love will win and what the final outcome will be. 

But in our own world….we do not know what tomorrow will bring. 

We do not know what the next big news story will be that will change our hearts and our world. 

But in the midst of it all, God is with us.

In the midst of it all, God continues to love us through Jesus Christ. 

God continues to be with us,

To give us strength and grace to witness to Jesus Christ, our Lord and our King. 

I pray that we are able to witness to Jesus who demonstrated power through weakness, who manifested strength through vulnerability, who established justice through mercy, who build the kingdom of God by embracing a confused, chaotic and violent world taking its pain into his own body, dying the death it sough and rising again to remind us that light is stronger than darkness, love is stronger than hate and that with God, all good things are possible.  (Lose)

Let us go from this place,

Strengthened by God’s love and grace,

Empowered by the Holy Spirit,

And fed with the body and blood of Jesus to share God’s love with the world. 

And now may the peace, which passes all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and let all God’s people say, amen. 

16 miles....in perspective.

Week 5 of marathon training ended with some weeping and gnashing of teeth.
I wasn't even 1/2 way into my 16 miler on Saturday and I was spent.  I was nowhere near the pace I had planned on for that run which made me that much more frustrated.
With 5 miles to go, my husband showed up on the bike and received a sweaty hug and many tears. With some fresh water we kept going, albeit slowly....with much walking...but we kept going.

When I got home I didn't even want to look at the results.  Usually I upload the latest workout from my Garmin and look through the splits and the incline and try to remember when and where I felt strong and if that shows in the stats.

I don't think I uploaded Saturday's run until this morning.  I didn't want to see it.  I was constantly reliving it in my head wondering why I just couldn't keep going.

These are the times I wonder why I run.  In the middle of a run that is taxing and heartbreaking I begin to doubt that I can complete a marathon.  I fight my heart and my head to keep moving.  It's down right hard.

I did post my less than stellar run on Facebook and received a ton of comments and mounds of support from runners and non-runners.

A huge shout out to: Laura, Caitlin, Christoph, Cheryl, Anne, Carol/Glenn, Makayla, Kate, Jocelyn, Kathy, Vicki, Bridget and Sarah for your feedback on food, training, good and bad runs and the encouragement to keep on keeping on.

Thanks, too, to the folks at church who embraced me with hugs and words of support on Sunday morning.  And to Darrell, for the packets of fuel for me to try out on my next distance run.

I have gone back to the drawing board....for fuel and nutrition.  I realized that for the longest time I was logging food and exercise with the goal of losing weight.  At this point, I need to eat for fuel and extra energy.  I've increased my daily caloric intake and continue to work on good hydration.

In other areas of training, looking back at this past week, I napped on both Friday and Sunday....I need to work on getting to bed earlier, so my body gets ample rest and recovery time when I sleep.

With all that to think about, I began week 6 of training today.  It's a recovery week, so a few 8 milers and 12 miles at the end of the week (capped off with time with my sister!!)

This morning began with 8 miles with 10X100m sprints and it felt great.  The break in the heat and humidity definitely made a difference.  I tried, too, as much as I could to shake of Saturday's run and think of today as a new day.  I know I will remember the 16miler for a while...and it's good to have challenging, hard and humbling run, when it begins to get in the way of moving forward, I need to just let it go.

So here's to new weeks of training....the reminder from friends and family that while I cover many miles alone, I am not alone in the highs and lows of training and life.

See you out there!

#askingforafriend (this week's sermon)

June 7, 2015

2^nd Sunday after Pentecost

Genesis 3:8-15

Psalm 130

2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1

Mark 3:20-35

Please pray with me,

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O God, our rock, our strength and our redeemer.  Amen. 

My guess is, that as long as people have been around and have wondered about things, they’ve been asking questions.  Now here’s the thing, I can take a guess that there are more than just a handful of us who have wanted to know the answer to something, but may have been embarrassed to ask for ourselves.  So at some point in time, we started phrasing questions with, I have a friend who….or a friend of mine was wondering…

Does this sound familiar? 

For example, many of you know I like to exercise and that I have a weakness for ice cream.  So I may say something like, a friend of mine wants to know if a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream counts as one serving.  You know, it’s an embarrassing question, and if I’m asking, you can better believe that I have already eaten a pint of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream in one sitting…but if I ask in reference to a friend, then it turns the attention away from me. 

Although, truth be told, whenever we start a question like that, we pretty much know that people will think we are talking about ourselves anyway. 

With the popularity of social media, the hashtag askingforafriend has become quite popular. 

#askingforafriend

Here are some questions that you are asking…not for yourself of course but for a friend. 

If no one actually sees you eat an entire bag of Twizzlers do the calories count? 

Just wondering...is it "acceptable" to fall asleep in the dentist chair?

If one intended to make chocolate cake and ended up with brownies, is that considered a fail or a win?

How do you move on with life after Parks and Rec?

Is it wrong to want to be engaged just so that I can go to cake tastings? 

How many cats are too many cats? 

Hypothetically. How many calories do you burn if you sit on the treadmill WHILE eating a piece of red velvet cake?

Say you’re sitting alone in a coffee shop.....even the owner is away in a back room. "YMCA" comes on the sound system.  Do you make the motions? 

I know Jesus said, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemes they utter, but what about whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit?

Let’s hear that one again, I know Jesus said, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemes they utter, but what about whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit?

Because really, that’s the question of today’s gospel reading, isn’t it? 

While there are many different questions that may arise as we read through today’s passage, verse 29 seems to grab our attention, when Jesus says, “but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of eternal sin.”

This is the verse that seems to make us wonder.  This is the verse that even allows us to forget about the verse that came just before it. 

Just before Jesus speaks these words he says, “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter.” 

That’s the good news, my friends.  That is the message to take away today, that people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter.  Period.  End of sentence.  Full stop. 

But, our own human sinfulness leads us to wonder….or to want to ask for a friend….what about that one unforgivable sin….what if I (or rather) what if a friend of mine commits that unforgivable sin, what about them? 

Well, friends, I’m here to tell you that there is a slim to none chance of us ever committing that sin.  Because really, blaspheming the Holy Spirit?  That’s more than using the Lord’s name in vain.  That’s more than saying God I’m mad at your or shouting God, I hate you!  It’s truly coming to the point in your life and your faith that God is no longer a God of love, but all that you’ve reached the point in your life that you see God and all the work that God has done in this world and the gift that God has given us in Jesus is evil.  That’s pretty extreme. 

I pray that even if you are struggling through life and faith, you are still able to see God and the gift’s God has given to you through Jesus and this community of faith of love and support, that you see God at work in your life through love.  

Because here’s the thing, we all fall short. 

We are all in need of God’s grace. 

Heck, we’re reminded of it in our first lesson today.  It’s from Genesis where Adam and Eve had already eaten of the fruit, realized they were naked and they had hidden from God.

If there were social media back in the time of the Old Testament, I bet this would’ve popped up in your feed.

Do you think it is okay to eat this fruit that God commanded us not to eat? 

Okay, maybe not…

But the reality of original sin is here…the reality is…that each of us is imperfect. 

We all fall short. 

We are all in need of God’s grace. 

Sure it’s easy like Adam and like Eve to place the blame on someone else, but we all know that we are not perfect.  We all know and we all carry with us some form of self-hate. 

There is something, within all of us, that we are ashamed of, that we hide from others and try, too, to hid from God. 

No one is immune. 

Look at me….since I’ve been here, I’ve lost 20 pounds and am at a healthy weight…but it is still a struggle for me.  A daily struggle to look in a mirror, to step on a scale and to know what the good and healthy habits are that I should have….but the reality is, I don’t follow them. 

My self-hate is that I don’t like the relationship that I have with food and exercise. 

Maybe your self-hate is that you don’t like the relationship you have with your parents. 

Maybe your self-hate is that you don’t like the way you treat tour children.
Maybe it’s that you don’t like the way you depend on alcohol or cigarettes.
Maybe it’s that you don’t like the way you interact with your spouse.
Maybe you don’t like the way you see yourself in the mirror.
Maybe you don’t like the way you disrespect others.
Maybe you don’t like the way your take out your anger.
Maybe you don’t like the way you spend your money.
You name it…we all come before God…just like Adam and Eve….knowing that we do things that we are ashamed of, that we try to hide from others and from ourselves….and from God.  

So where does that leave us? 

I would say it’s like that show, Naked and Afraid, but it’s not. 

You see, even though we come before God knowing what we’ve done wrong, God has wrapped us in a new baptismal garment, and wraps us in his loving arms time and time again.

We are forgiven. 

We are loved.

We are most certainly NOT alone, because through the waters of baptism we are called into the community of Christ and the family of God.  

And because of this love and this grace, we are freed from trying to be perfect, freed from the sins and self-hatred that try to tear us apart, and we are freed to love and serve others. 

 

This may be a better question:

Freed from sin through the waters of baptism, how can that love be shared with others?

How would you answer that question for a friend? 

How can this love and grace that we receive be shared with others?
Though our words and actions…in the work of this place…as we love and support our graduates as they enter new phases of their lives…as we reach out to feed our neighbors at Opportunity House and City Light Minstries….as we pray for and support the 13 youth of trinity being confirmed this weekend…as we speak out against injustice in our community and nation…as we feed the hungry…shelter the homeless…heal the sick….comfort the sad and lonely….the opportunities are endless. 


Go from this place, freed from sin and death to love and serve others. 
And may the peace, which passes all understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and let all God’s people say, amen.