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Submit Your Own! How to Pray/Live By David von Schlichten Sermon on Luke 11:1-13 At St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, Youngstown, PA On Sunday, July 25, 2010, Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, The Reverend Dr. David von Schlichten
How to Pray/Live (word count: 926)
I almost can’t remember a time when I did not know the Lord’s Prayer. My father taught it to me when I was little, about four or five. It’s one of those prayers that we know so well that it is easy for us not to know it. Given that unfamiliarity arising from overexposure and given the prayer’s importance and given that a version of the prayer is on our gospel for this morning, let’s meditate on this beautiful and profound prayer. By the way, there are two versions of the Lord’s Prayer in the Bible. One is in Matthew 6, the other one is here, in Luke 11. The Matthew version is the one most of us know best, but there is this whole other version right here in Luke. It is this version that we will focus on today, which is pretty similar to Matthew’s version. In the Book of Concord, Martin Luther offers reorienting insights about the Lord’s Prayer. For instance, in response to “hallowed be your name,” Luther explains that God’s name is hallowed or holy even without our praying for it to be hallowed or holy. So if God’s name is already holy, then why are we asking God to make his name holy? Luther explains that we are asking God to guide us to treat God’s name as the holy entity that it is. “Hallowed be your name” really means, “Teach us to treat your name as holy.” In addition, when Jesus teaches us to pray for God’s name to be treated as holy, Jesus is also teaching us that we are to treat God’s name as holy. In other words, the Lord’s Prayer shows us how to pray, but it also shows us how to live. Think about it. If Jesus is teaching us to pray, “Lord, teach us to treat your name as holy,” then he is also telling us to treat God’s name as holy. What we are to pray for reflects how we are to live. The Lord’s Prayer is not just a guide on how to pray. It is a guide on how to live. [Pause] Consider, “Your kingdom come.” Luther teaches in the Book of Concord that God’s kingdom, or reign, will come even without our praying for it. So why pray for God’s kingdom to come if it’s a sure thing? Luther explains that “Your kingdom come” means, “Help us to bring about your kingdom.” In other words, help us, kingdom-citizens by baptism, to live according to God’s kingdom. Once again, the Lord’s Prayer teaches us how to live. “Give us this day our daily bread.” Note that this petition, as with the rest of the prayer, is in the first-person plural. Jesus does not teach us to pray, “Give me this day my daily bread” but “Give US this day OUR daily bread.” The whole prayer goes that way. Isn’t that something? Jesus does not teach me just to think of myself, including my need for daily bread. Rather, Jesus teaches us to think of all of us. Give, not just me, but ALL of us this day our daily bread. Moreover, as we pray for all of us to receive our daily bread, it makes sense for us to ask, “Who among us does not have her or his daily bread?” Give US this day our daily bread. Who among us is doing without daily bread, and what can we do to help that person receive daily bread. Sometimes the Spirit uses us to help be the answer to our own prayer. Once more, as we pray for God to give US, all of us, this day our daily bread, we also ask, “How can I help others to have their daily bread?” The Lord’s Prayer teaches us how to pray and how to live. How about the next part of the Lord’s Prayer? “And forgive us our sins, for we ourselves forgive everyone indebted to us.” We forgive others; therefore, God, forgive us. Did you hear that? The prayer assumes that we are forgiving others. God’s going to forgive us in response to our forgiving others. So how are you doing with that? How am I? How forgiving are we? Luke’s version of the Lord’s Prayer ends with, “And do not bring us to the time of trial.” Help us to be strong against the forces of evil. We pray for this, and we strive to live accordingly. The prayer teaches us how to pray and how to live. “God, help me against evil,” and then we go out there and strive to live according to that prayer. Actually, the whole Lord’s Prayer is a prayer against evil that also instructs us on how to reject evil and embrace God. “Help us – not just me, but us – against evil, Father. Help us to treat your name as holy. Help us to live according to your kingdom. Help us to feed others the daily bread. Help us to be more forgiving. Help us, Lord.” [Sing, “Whoa, heaven let your light shine down.”] And God replies, “I will indeed help you. I help you by reminding you of your baptism. I help you by forgiving you. I help you through the Bible. I help you through the sermon. I help you through holy communion, the body and blood. I help you through other people, even people you do not like or know.” Then the Spirit shows us the cross, and we hear Christ declare, “I am helping you. You will live forever.” Agapic Praxis By David von Schlichten Sermon on Luke 10:58-42 At St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, Youngstown, PA On Sunday, July 18, 2010, Eighth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, The Reverend Dr. David von Schlichten
Agapic Praxis (word count: 814)
“Don’t just sit there. Do something!” You’ve heard that saying. That statement calls people to action. Action is important. There’s work to be done. Frequently we are in a situation in which we need to take action. Do something. It is important for us human beings to get things done. Life is short and precious. Let’s get moving. Committees, for instance, sometimes discuss and deliberate month after month, on and on, and get nothing accomplished. Work remains undone. The poor remain uncared for. The planet continues to be abused. The project just sits there unfinished. Quit talking and fussing and worrying about every little thing that could possibly go wrong and get busy. Take action. At the same time, we in our society tend to over-emphasize doing at the expense of reflecting. If we take time to reflect, then we often feel like we are not getting anything done. We Americans place heavy importance on being busy. “Oh, I’m so busy. Look how busy I am. I must be really important, because I have so much to do.” Sure, we grow weary of busyness, but when we don’t have a lot to do, we often feel guilty and unfulfilled. We fixate on busyness, but, in the course of insisting on busyness, we neglect reflection, listening, taking time to be still. As a result, more often than not we end up focusing on the wrong things. One reason for going to church is that doing so helps us to reflect and focus on what really matters. Attending worship redirects us, recenters us, on God, love, caring for the neighbor, rejecting self-centered, stuff-oriented values. There are other reasons for attending Sunday worship, but one reason is that, here, the Holy Spirit, reminds us of whose we are and what we are really to be about: love. [“Softly and Tenderly” refrain.] In our gospel, Jesus directs us baptized to the importance of taking time to sit and reflect under his guidance. To learn. To sit at Christ’s feet and learn what it means to love God and one another. That’s what Mary is doing in our gospel. She is sitting at Jesus’ feet to learn from him. She is not rushing around doing. In her day, women were expected to do what Martha’s doing: cook and serve the guests while the men sat and discussed important matters about life, God, and truth. But Mary is not rushing. She is sitting still, taking the traditionally male role. She is sitting and listening, focusing on Christ, and doing that, Jesus says, is the better part. {“Softly and Tenderly”] Don’t just sit there. Do something! Often that is wise advice, but given this passage from Luke, even wiser advice is the opposite of that saying. Instead of “Don’t just sit there. Do something!” how about, “Don’t just do something. Sit there!”? That statement was presented to me as an expression of Zen Buddhism, and it is also wise for us Christians to heed, as well. Don’t just do something. Sit there! If all we do is act, do, be busy, then we do not take time to reflect on, listen to, learn from God about what all the doing is ultimately about. Mary is sitting still, eyes and ears on Jesus, and she has chosen the better part. So then is Jesus rejecting Martha’s doing? Of course not. Doing is essential. If all we do is sit and focus on Jesus, then the poor will not be fed, the building will not be cleaned, children will not be cared for, the planet will not be tended to. In the gospels, Jesus is certainly a doer. He heals. He teaches. He raises the dead. He argues with religious leaders. He cleanses the Temple. He carries the cross. Jesus also takes time out to sit. We hear repeatedly of him going off by himself to pray. We also hear of him going to people’s houses to share a meal with them. Jesus does. Jesus reflects, sits, prays. Jesus does and reflects, does and reflects. Both, back and forth. Mary and Martha. Martha and Mary. Back and forth. Not either/or, but both/and. “Oh, I can’t go to church. I’m too busy.” That’s all the more reason to go. John Wesley, who founded the Methodist Church, said, “I have so much to do that I spend several hours in prayer before I am able to do it.” To focus on God, to pray, learn, listen, reflect, have God remind us of what we are truly about and who we deeply are. We are the baptized, saved by Christ, called to respond to our salvation by loving God, neighbor, planet, and self. Love in response to God’s love. That’s what we are to be about. [Walk to different parts of chancel and altar: font, Bible, altar, end with cross. Sing chorus from “Softly and Tenderly.”] Hypocrites in the Church? Yes, But By David von Schlichten Sermon on Luke 10:25-37 At St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, Youngstown, PA On Sunday, July 11, 2010, Seventh Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, The Reverend Dr. David von Schlichten Are There Hypocrites in the Church? Yes, But (word count: 934) I teach a couple of religion courses online for Seton Hill. The other day a student sent me an email in which she complained that the Church is full of hypocrites. That’s a common criticism, even somewhat of a cliché, that the Church is full of hypocrites. The top two reasons people give for rejecting organized religion is: A. if there is a good and loving God, then why is there so much suffering; and B. organized religion is full of hypocrites. Those are good points. Let’s focus on the second one, because it relates well to our gospel, Luke 10:25-37, the story of the Good Samaritan. In this story we have a beaten man lying on the side of the road. Now, what does religion teach us to do? It teaches us to care for a person in need, right? So when a priest walks by and sees the injured man, you would think that the priest would stop to help the man. I mean, he’s a priest, for crying out loud, yet he does not stop to help. Many people have speculated as to why the priest doesn’t stop, but the bottom line is that we don’t know why. The point is that he doesn’t stop. Why he doesn’t stop does not matter. In other words, he has no excuse. So also with the Levite, who passes by next. He is an expert on God’s law – that’s what a Levite was – so surely he knows that God’s law commands him to help a person in need, yet he does not. Again, we are not given a reason why, so apparently the reason for not stopping does not matter. He should have stopped. He has no excuse. So then, are the priest and the Levite hypocrites? To some degree, they are, because their religious beliefs dictate that they are to help someone in need, yet they do not. Hypocrites. The Church is indeed full of them. Some people show up for worship every Sunday but then gossip, cuss, and backstab in the parking lot afterwards. There are those who are faithful church-goers but then drink too much and love too little. There are pastors who are great at praying but lousy at doing. Someone lies injured beside the road, and the pastor has a dozen excuses for why he cannot stop to help. “I am too busy.” “If I take time to help everyone in need, I’ll never get anything else done.” “I am running late.” “What if this person isn’t really injured and is just trying to con me?” So the pastor keeps on driving, maybe says a quick prayer for the person. Yes, the Church is full of hypocrites. But isn’t the term “hypocrite” simplistic? There is hypocritical behavior, sure, but most of us are too complicated to be thrown into the hypocrite pigeonhole? For example, you may have a person who is in church every Sunday but then cusses and is impatient with her children and is sometimes rude to people. Is she a hypocrite? I suppose, but that’s not the whole story. This same person also volunteers at the Blackburn Center and donates blood five times a year. Sometimes she is rude, but other times she is polite and patient. Sometimes she loses her temper with her children, but she also plays with them and attends all their soccer games and band concerts. So is she a hypocrite, or is she a good Christian, or is she both? She may have hypocritical behavior, but the label “hypocrite” does not do her justice. She is not only a hypocrite. She is both saint and sinner, like the rest of us baptized believers. Indeed, a key teaching among us Lutherans is that we are saved, we are saints, because of our baptism into the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, but we are still sinners. We don’t get it right all the time. We still fall short of God’s glory. As it says in 1 John 1, which is part of our worship service, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” Is the Church full of hypocrites? Sure it is, but we are not merely hypocrites. We are saints because of our baptism into Christ, and most of us, by the Spirit’s power, manage to live up to that saint-status at least some of the time. The allegation that the Church is full of hypocrites is correct, but it is incomplete. Most of us are a mix of virtue and vice. This point is driven home in the shocking twist in the story of the Good Samaritan. The twist is that it is a Samaritan who ends up doing the right thing. In Jesus’ community, Samaritans were considered scum. The people of Jesus’ community did not believe that a Samaritan was capable of being good. Saying that a Samaritan was good would be like saying a terrorist could be good, yet it is indeed the Samaritan who ends up doing the right thing. Isn’t that something? According the stereotype of the time, Samaritans were good-for-nothing, but this Samaritan does not fit the stereotype. Then again, stereotypes are notoriously unreliable. The stereotype of all Christians being hypocrites isn’t reliable, either, because it’s incomplete. Sure, we Christians do hypocritical behavior, and we should be criticized for such behavior. However, we are not merely hypocrites. We are, thanks be to God, saints through baptism, and, by the power of the Holy Spirit, quite a few times we manage to do the right thing. Satan's Fall By David von Schlichten Sermon on Luke 10:16-20 At St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, Youngstown, PA On Sunday, July 4, 2010, Sixth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, The Reverend Dr. David von Schlichten
Satan’s Fall (word count: 820)
“I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.” Jesus says that this morning in our gospel from Luke 10. “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.” What a muscular statement. What does it mean? Many people think that Jesus is referring to an event that happened long ago. The belief is that, long ago, Satan was an angel who thought he was better than God. In response, God cast Satan out of heaven, so when Jesus says that he watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning, he is referring to that event, the time when God cast Satan out of heaven. It may be that God did cast Satan out of heaven and that that is the event to which Jesus refers, but I’m not sure. After all, in today’s reading from Luke 10, Jesus says nothing about God hurling Satan down from heaven. Jesus does not say, for example, “Long ago, when Satan became too full of pride, God cast Satan out of heaven, and I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.” Jesus says nothing of the sort. He says nothing that indicates that he is talking about a fall from heaven that happened long ago. All Jesus says is, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.” What is Jesus referring to? I don’t know. Hm. To understand Jesus’ statement better, it makes sense to consider the statement’s context. Jesus makes this statement about watching Satan fall from heaven in response to the disciples, who have just come back from traveling about in local towns to do God’s work. They have been preaching and healing the sick. Now they have returned from their mission trip. They’re all excited. They say to Jesus, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” Wow! Even demons are obeying Jesus’ disciples. In response, Jesus states, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.” Then he goes on. He declares, “I have given you authority to tread on snakes and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy; and nothing will hurt you.” In other words, when Jesus says he watched Satan fall from heaven, he is saying that in the context of talking about the power the disciples have over evil. So then, when Jesus says, “I watched Satan fall from heaven,” perhaps what he means is, “Satan is weak; you are strong, because of me.” Jesus is not describing some event that happened long ago; he is describing something that happens now, all the time. Satan falls. Demons run away shrieking. And why? Because Jesus has given power to his disciples to triumph over evil. Satan falls now, today. Why? Because Christ gives power to his disciples, and we are his disciples. Christ gives power to us. Satan keeps trying to climb back up, back up, back up out of his abyss. Satan keeps trying to climb back up to heaven so he can overthrow it, destroy it, and kaboom! By Christ’s power you and I, the baptized, keep knocking him down back into his slimy pit. Satan climbs, climbs, climbs, trying to take over, trying to destroy earth and heaven, and kaboom! By Christ’s power, we keep knocking him down! Perhaps that is what Jesus is talking about when he says, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.” Jesus isn’t describing an event that happened once long ago. Jesus is describing an event that we disciples, by Christ’s power, make happen every single day. How do we make this happen? How do we make Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning? The same way the disciples do in Luke 10. When someone lies sick and heavy-hearted, lonely and broken, and you visit her to lift her soul to happiness – kaboom! Satan falls from heaven. When people are judging one another based on skin-color, religion, gender, age, or disability, and you stand up for that person by being his friend, providing food, offering a job, refusing to take part in the belittlement – kaboom! Satan tumbles from heaven into the Pit. Of course, it is not our power but God’s power working through us that causes Satan to fall. Jesus makes that point in our gospel. That power of God is especially obvious in baptism. When we pour the water over the baby’s head in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – kaboom! Satan freefalls back into hell, shrieking. The power is especially obvious in holy communion, too. In a few minutes, when God comes to you through the bread and the wine of holy communion, when you receive the real presence of Christ, if you listen carefully, you will hear Christ say, “I watched Satan fall from heaven like a flash of lightning.” Out of the Coffin, Eyes and Ears Opened By David von Schlichten Sermon on Luke 9:51-62 At St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, Youngstown, PA On Sunday, June 27, 2010, Fifth Sunday after Pentecost, Year C, The Reverend Dr. David von Schlichten Out of the Coffin, Eyes and Ears Opened (word count: 836) On this date, June 27, in 1880 Helen Keller was born. When she was nineteen months old, she contracted an illness that left her deaf and blind. Can you imagine? Thanks be to God that Helen received much care from others, especially Anne Sullivan, who was about twenty when she started working with Helen, helping her to learn sign language. Eventually, Keller would go on to earn a bachelor’s degree, to publish twelve books, and to become a world-renowned speaker and social reformer. She died on June 1, 1968, a year before my birth. You and I, all of us, without God’s love, are worse off than being deaf and blind. We are trapped in a coffin, buried alive, the air stuffy and hot, our eyes and ears sewn shut, Satan waiting to devour our souls. Because of God’s love, however, we are free. Christ died and rose, busted out of the tomb. Then he stood over us and shouted down to us, “Lazarus, come out!” and through baptism, we were carried out of the coffin and into the light of the risen Christ. You and I have life eternal, out of the tomb, free, not because of our efforts, but because Christ has sprung us from the coffin. Christ has opened our eyes and ears. “See! Hear! Lazarus, come out!” In response to Christ opening our eyes and ears to life, breaking us out of the tomb of deafening darkness and solid silence, we are to commit ourselves to him. We are to focus on God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We are to be single-minded in our devotion. That single-mindedness is the point of our gospel, Luke 9:51-62. The passage sounds rather harsh. For instance, one person wants to bury his father before following Jesus. That’s reasonable. In our first reading, Elijah allows Elisha to go say goodbye to his parents before following him, so shouldn’t Jesus allow this other man to bury his father before following Jesus? Aren’t we supposed to honor father and mother? We are, but Jesus replies to the man by saying, “Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” What kind of answer is that? This man should not bury his father but should drop everything and follow Jesus? That doesn’t seem right. What does Jesus mean? What he means is, “Be single-minded in your commitment to me. I died for you. I have given you eternal life. Now you respond by focusing on me, being devoted only to me.” Be single-minded. Point your opened eyes and ears to Christ alone. This single-minded focus on Christ is what Galatians is addressing with all its talk about life in the flesh versus life in the Spirit. Life in the Spirit is focused single-mindedly on Christ, a life that bears the Spirit-grown fruit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Embracing those qualities is life in the Spirit, life single-mindedly focused on Christ. Life in the flesh is not focused on these things. Life in the Spirit is a life with eyes and ears on Christ. Life in the flesh is a life with eyes and ears easily distracted. Understand that rejecting the flesh does not mean rejecting the body. Paul makes a distinction between the flesh and the body. Flesh is Bible-talk for sinfulness, but the body is good. The body is part of God’s creation. We are to reject the way of sin, the way of the flesh, but we need not reject the way of the body as long as the way of the body is part of the way of the Spirit. Body is to align with Spirit. Body is to be open to the Spirit, to Christ. So then, eating too much junk is the way of the flesh, but eating itself can be holy, part of the way of the Spirit. Adultery and casual sex are part of the way of the flesh, but love-making with the right person is fantastic and is part of the way of the Spirit. Wasting or hoarding money is part of the way of the flesh, but using our money for the benefit of others and the glory of God is part of the way of the Spirit. In other words, our bodies and material things are not necessarily evil. Whether we use them for the flesh or for the Spirit is what makes our bodies or material things good or evil. Helen Keller said, “Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose.” Christ has opened our eyes and ears, sprung us from the coffin. Let us respond by being single-minded, focused on the worthiest of purposes, life in the Spirit, life in the love of God. Single-minded, eyes and ears open, focused. Focus right here [point to cross]. [First Page] [Prev] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 [Next] [Last Page] Return |
