Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!

What is your image of Jesus? When you picture Jesus in your mind, whom do you see? Do you see him as a shepherd surrounded by contented sheep in an idyllic, pastoral scene? If that is the scene, do you see him wearing the garments of two thousand years ago or is he dressed in blue jeans and a flannel shirt? If you see Jesus as a shepherd do you picture him with a sheep over his shoulders, all four legs loosely bound together in front of him as he has one hand on the binding and the other on his staff, as he climbs a rugged, stone and briar filled hillside? Do you see Jesus on the clouds, perhaps ascending to the Father? Or do you see him on clouds coming back in judgment? Do you picture Jesus as he is on the mountaintop, garbed in dazzling white with a shining face, with Moses and Elijah on either side? Or do you picture Jesus on the cross, with a murderer, a brigand on either side of him?

When you think of Jesus, do you think of him as kind, gentle, loving Savior, smiling all the while as you fall, as you turn from him? Do you think of him as a good man who was a wonderful teacher, who lived his life as an example to us all? Do you think of him as the Son of God, or is that more of an intellectual concept in your mind because it is really hard to wrap your thoughts around it? I mean, after all, who has seen God. Who here has seen Jesus? Oh, you have heard me say that we see Jesus in the face of those to whom we minister and serve, that they see Jesus in our faces as we minister to them and serve them, you get the concept, but pastor, you think, those to whom we come, well, they really see us. If you see him as Son of God, as Savior, what does it mean to you? Do you intellectualize the whole thing? Do you know that he died for you and you believe in him, that the belief we call faith is a gift, so you are saved and you can pretty much live life as always?

Well, where do you get the image that you have about Jesus? Where do you get your knowledge of him? Is it from the stories you heard from your parents, teachers, grandparents, pastors when you were young? Is it from reading the Bible? Is it from listening to the pastor on a Saturday evening or a Sunday morning? Maybe your knowledge of Jesus comes from all these things. So then the question becomes one of what do you do with this knowledge? Is it merely an intellectual thing or is it in your heart? Do you take it seriously? I mean is this knowledge of Jesus a way of life for you? Do you consider yourself a disciple of Christ? In other words, are you a "student follower" of Jesus? Because that is literally what a disciple is.

Let us think about this for a minute. Here in this Gospel this morning we have Jesus on the mountaintop talking with Moses and Elijah. The one who brought the Law from God to the people of Israel, and the greatest of the prophets. Law and Prophets are represented - two of the main parts of the Hebrew Bible, our Old Testament. Jesus fills the Law and is the fulfillment of prophecy. It is truly a mountaintop experience and it is so easy to believe when we are on the mountaintop. It is so easy to believe when you are part of something exciting - a new mission church starting, becoming a member of a church, celebrating 50 years of existence. It is so easy to believe when you are on the mountaintop. But then, you come back down from the mountain, you come back down to the plains. Gotta make a living, gotta get the kids to school, gotta get out to the fish house, gotta get to Arizona, Gotta, gotta, gotta. It never seems to stop, gotta all the time!

And here we are at LCC, starting a new adventure together and it is a mountaintop experience. Or is it? Maybe not. What do you mean you are going to be asking for money? What is all this talk about money? Pastor, do you not understand that a balanced budget is the most important thing we have/do/can have? How can we spend money when times are rough? How you ask people for money when they cannot afford to give more? How can you do this without giving everyone an opportunity to be heard and to vote on it? After all, the Kingdom of God is a representative democracy, is it not? Well pastor, I am not sure that you and the council followed the letter of the law here.

Of course, now that you have asked me your questions, I have some thoughts for you. You say that you are a Christian, a Lutheran, a disciple. Okay. You say you are a believer, that is, you believe in Jesus, that he is the Son of God. Okay. You say you want to hold to our traditions. Okay. Of course our traditions go back two thousand years and even more considering our Jewish forebears. Of course one of our most hallowed and cherished traditions happens to be a command of Christ. I speak of baptism of course. Go and make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Of course, another of our most hallowed and cherished traditions happens to another command of Christ. I speak of Holy Communion of course. It is a tradition that hundreds of millions of Christians celebrate weekly, that Martin Luther said he would do every day if given the chance. Two visible signs of the Word of God, baptism and the Lord's Supper, done at Christ's command, conveying forgiveness of sin, the grace of God.

Let us now talk about another hallowed, sacred tradition, cherished by billions of Christians over the past two thousand years. That is hearing the Word of God proclaimed. After all, the Apostle Paul tells us that faith comes by hearing and what is heard comes from the Word of God. So let us go back to that mountaintop, Jesus, Moses, Elijah. Oh, I know, Peter, James and John were there too. But they are weighed down with sleep. And brothers and sisters, I tell you that we too have been weighed down with sleep. It is time to wake up! It is time to hear the voice of God the Father as he tells us concerning Jesus: "This is my Son, my Chosen, listen to him!" "Listen to him!" This is a present imperative if you want to get technical. That means it is a command, it is an imperative, it is imperative that we obey, that means it never stops. Like Baptism, like Holy Communion, celebrated how many billions of times by how many billions of Christians over two thousand years. Listen to Jesus. And what does Jesus tell us? The first commandment is to love God and the second like it, on which the Law and the Prophets depend, love one another as I have loved you.

You have heard me say this before, hear it again. Jesus loved us enough to die for us. Can you love one another, this body of Christ, can you love Christ enough to die for one another, to die for Christ? Can you love enough to put aside your doubts, your fears, your wants, your self-perceived needs to do what you think is the best thing, when it goes counter to the Word of God, when it goes counter to mission, when it goes counter to our purpose in life? Can you love your neighbor enough that if necessary based on your own personal beliefs/convictions, can you love your neighbor enough to get out of the way of his or her following God as God as calling him or her or this congregation? Can you pray for the success in mission of this part of the body of Christ, even if you cannot financially support it? Can your pray that those who can give abundantly will do so, not begrudging them their gift of giving? Can you serve your brothers and sisters by praying for them? Can you extend the hand of fellowship even when you do not agree? Can you get out of the way if that is what is needed? Can you hear Jesus now? Can you hear God telling you, telling us, to listen to him?

You can if you listen with your heart.

AMEN.