Welcoming Sinners

Luke 15:1-10

Jesus had a way of hanging out with broken people.  He took a lot of heat for it.  In this week’s text, the Pharisees and the scribes grumble, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them!”  Jesus did spend a lot of his time with people who were considered sinful or “unclean” by the religious establishment.  Caring for broken, sick, hurting and outcast people was at the very center of Jesus’ ministry.  (In those days, sickness was often attributed to sinfulness.)  Another time when Jesus was criticized for welcoming sinners he responds by saying  “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.”  (Mark 2:17)  

Following the way of Christ, the Church is called to welcome sinners and eat with them too.  Churches are meant to be hospitals for sinners, not clubs for saints.  Faith communities are made up of sinners, even if we have a bad habit of acting like that’s not so.   No matter what it may seem to the casual observer, the people who gather around the altar for Holy Communion are a motley bunch of the broken, not shining examples of the deserving. 

But, what does it mean to “welcome sinners”?   I don’t think it means judging them.  Scolding people and haranguing them for their shortcomings and brokenness is not at all helpful.  But, I also don’t think that welcoming sinners means adopting an “I’m OK, you’re OK” approach that leaves people in their brokenness.   That wasn’t Jesus’ way.  Instead, Jesus welcomed sinners and then transformed them.   In love and compassion, Jesus could push people and speak the truth to them about their hard-heartedness.   He healed the sick and freed people who were trapped in their own brokenness.  Jesus embraced the shunned and rejected, affirming them as beloved children of God.

The Church is meant to be in the transformation business too.  As sinners welcomed by Christ, the Holy Spirit is always at work transforming us into exactly who God created us to be.  The Holy Spirit is about the business of burning off the dross so that we might be made whole, freed from our own brokenness, and embraced as beloved children of  God. 

But, too often, we confuse conformity with transformation.  In subtle and not-so-subtle ways, when someone new comes into our communities, we expect them to become like us.  (As if, somehow, we represent the standard of Christian righteousness!  Ridiculous!)  Then, we act surprised when they do not come back.   Instead, what might happen if we welcomed newcomers as gifts from God whose perspectives and ideas and experiences will renew us and help transform us into the people and communities God intends us to be.   What if we welcomed newcomers as people who need Christ’s transforming power just like we do we do?  And then, what if, we sat down and ate with them…  as sinners together?

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thanks for reading!

The Value of Discipleship

Pentecost 16

Luke 14:25-33

Who are you?   When we meet someone for the first time, we generally start by exchanging our names, maybe what we do for a living or if we are retired, where we live, where we are from, something about our families.  Basic stuff.   But, who are you, really?   Thomas Merton, in his book New Seeds of Contemplation (New Directions, 1961) talks about the difference between our “false self” and our “true self.”   Our “false self” is made up of all those external things we think define us and give us our identity.  Those things that we believe make us who we are.  But, those things can be stripped away from us in a heartbeat by the trials, tribulations, tragedies and struggles of life in the world.  Just read the book of Job!  Our “true self,” on the other hand, is our life in God. 

Frequently, Jesus asks those who follow him to give up things that seem pretty significant to who and what we are.  Here, in this text, he asks the crowds to “hate” their families, give up all their possessions and even life itself.   To those of us with many possessions, and who place a high value on our families this can seem like an unreasonable expectation. This does not sound like good news at all.  The cost of discipleship seems way too high.

Instead of trusting in possessions and family to give our lives meaning, value, purpose and hope, Jesus tells the crowds that they need to “carry the cross.”  This echoes similar advice he gives to his disciples in other contexts.   Again, this probably doesn’t sound like good news either!   The cross was a horrific instrument of torture and death.  Crucifixion was hardly something anyone would aspire to experience.  If cross-carrying is required, the cost of discipleship seems way too high.

 So, if the cost is so high, what is the value of discipleship?   What is the value of this way of life that Jesus invites us to follow?  I think we discover the value of discipleship in the very cross he invites us to carry.   In the cross of Christ, we find evidence of God’s unfailing and unflinching love for us in the face of the violence, anger, hatred and injustice we perpetrate against one another.  In the cross we discover God’s grace, mercy, forgiveness and compassion for us and for all people.   We see that our relationship with God transcends and outlasts every human relationship we may enjoy.  That’s powerful stuff.   It reveals who we truly are. 

But, even more, in the cross, all the violence, hatred, anger and injustice in the world is unmasked as an  empty path.  In Christ’s self-giving, we find different path, a path that leads to life; to real life.  A path marked by justice, reconciliation and peace.   A way of life formed by a love which moves us to embrace all people; especially those who are being crushed daily by the world.  In the light of the cross, we discover that all our possessions, our families and our very lives are not our own (and never have been).  They are gifts.  Gifts to be used for God’s work and God’s glory.

And that is very good news indeed.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Playing By The Rules

Luke 13:10-17

When I began my ministry as the bishop of the Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod,  I was a little surprised to discover that, in my new role, I was expected to interpret, apply and sometimes even enforce the constitutions, policies and practices of the ELCA.  In other words, to help people “play by the rules.”  The truth is, as a child, “lawyer” was never on the list of the many things I thought about being when I grew up.   This aspect of my work continues to be a challenge, and I am grateful for the actual lawyers and other wise ones who regularly advise me in this interpretive task.  Over the past five years, I have come to appreciate and value the governing documents of our church.  Frequently, they give me helpful guidance and direction as I work with individuals, congregations and ministries in the Synod.  

I believe that, for the most part, our governing documents reflect our theology, our understanding of what it means to be the Church, and contribute to carrying out our mission as the Body of Christ.  For the most part.  The governing documents of our church are, after all, human documents that are subject to all the imperfections and limited vision that comes with being human.   That’s why they are always being updated, revised and changed as the world around us changes, and as we consider different or better ways of being church together.   At the recent Churchwide Assembly, we approved a whole range changes to our governing documents.   Hopefully, those decisions will make our governing documents stronger and our ministry more faithful to the Gospel that must – must – always stand at the center of who and what we are as a church.  And that’s the key, isn’t it?  If it is not, then we cease to be the church.   When the rules we play by do not reflect the Gospel we live by, they can become destructive rather than life-giving. 

I think that was what was going on in the synagogue in this week’s text from Luke.   There, as in other places, Jesus is challenged for breaking the rules regarding the observance of the Sabbath.   But, Jesus is really challenging the “governing documents” that had grown up around the Torah, not the Torah itself. He challenges the rules because they no longer reflected the life-giving, steadfast love of God.  Jesus does not reject Torah, but, through his ministry, fulfills its loving intent to establish justice and compassion in our human relationships with God and with one another. (See Matthew 5:17)  That ministry ultimately took him to the cross.

Our conversations about how we live out the Gospel as a church are always ongoing and need to be.   Our governing documents will always be a work in progress.  Through the Holy Spirit, God is always helping us see our imperfections, always reforming us, and always challenging us to play by the rules of Christ’s way of love, compassion and justice.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thanks for reading! 

Dressing for Action

Luke 12:32-48

The year was 1979.  I was a senior in High School.  Iran was holding 52 Americans hostage in Tehran.   Reinstatement of registration for the military draft was being discussed.  War felt immanent.  It was a fearful time.   My girlfriend at the time invited me to join her for church one Sunday morning.  That day, the preacher spoke about the fear.  It was warranted, he said.  The end times were upon us.  Christians should hunker down, cling to one another and to their faith, and wait for the Lord to return.  Even at the time, his advice didn’t ring true to me. 

We still live in fearful times.  I’ve come to the conclusion that, for the most part, we always do.  At least, some always do.  But, is the Christian response to fearful times to hunker down and wait for the end?   I don’t think so.  Throughout Chapter 12 of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus is talking to his disciples about facing the fearful and difficult days ahead (Jesus had told them that they were heading for Jerusalem and a cross).  The whole chapter is full of assurance and hope, a call to reconsider and reorient one’s priorities and to be ready to face whatever comes.  This week’s passage is no different.  The parable in vss. 41-48 expands the idea of watchfulness and preparedness in vss. 35-40.   Jesus adds a call to faithfulness in carrying out one’s tasks  to his call to readiness.  Cowering in fear is not an option.  Why would it be?  We have the promise of God’s Reign.  We have the gift of the Holy Spirit.  We have the death and resurrection of Jesus.

Our response to the fearful realities of life are the same as they always have been.  First, we need to dress ourselves in the very promises I just mentioned.  Through worship, the study of the Word, prayer, devotion and the mutual support of our  brothers and sisters in faith, we clothe ourselves in hope.   But, it is not enough just to be dressed in hope.  Because we know the end of the story, we can be strengthened to live in the story as it unfolds around us – fearful as it can be sometimes.    Like the faithful slave in vss. 40-48, we need to be about our master’s business.   For those who call Jesus “master” (i.e. “Lord”) that means caring for those in need, standing with those who are marginalized, crying out for justice, working for reconciliation and embodying the love God has for God’s world.  It means getting out of our church buildings and engaging the fearful world knowing that there is nothing to fear, because God is already at work “out there”.

Have no fear little flock!  The Kingdom is yours!   Get dressed!  Get going!   Get serving!   God is with you…   to the end of the age!

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thanks for reading.