| |
|
|
| |
Easter V May 1-2, 2010 John 13:31-35 I have now witnessed four rummage sales since I have been here at LCC. For a variety of reasons I was amazed at the first one and the same holds true for those since, including the one that just ended. People show up early and stay late, people sometimes work shifts, go home for lunch and come back, or often stay here for lunch and do not leave. Men and women, young people and older people, at least one high school student and her mom, moms with younger kids tagging along, couples, singles, widows and widowers. Grandmas and granddaughters, people working outside and in the narthex, people carrying stuff dropped off by others, people in the halls, in the celebration center, in the classrooms off the celebration center that have been converted to specialty shops, in chapel hall also called the Oval Room, people working one place and then going to the kitchen to prepare snacks, coffee or a meal, or maybe people who come in and prepare meals for those who are working. And the meals, and of course the desserts, you can tell we are Lutherans by the quality and quantity of the food, all of it good and plenty of it. People who for the most part are members, but also former members and people, come and join friends working the rummage sale because of the mission, the socializing, and maybe because of the food. One of the things I have consistently noticed, and believe me, I do notice it, is how everyone pretty well gets along. Someone watching from outside, say an observer of some sort, might actually see that this is a Christian community that comes together in love to work on a common mission and have a lot of fun doing it. Now this week something else is happening as we host IHN, Interfaith Hospitality Network. There will be people here setting up, and taking down in a week. People who come in to prepare meals, who drive our guests back and forth, people who come in to play games with our younger guests and talk, play games or watch movies with our older guests. People who spend the night. Many of these people will be our members, some have served faithfully in this ministry of outreach since we started doing it, before I came. Some of these people are from other churches who come here to help out. Why if someone were watching from outside, say an observer of some sort, why they might actually see that this is a Christian community that comes together in love to work on a common mission and even have fun doing it. Now this brings to mind our reading this morning from the book of John, the one you heard just a few minutes ago. It is a reading in which we find both Law and Gospel, and like most Lutheran pastors I try to preach both Law and Gospel, I am going to do just that. Jesus says to his disciples: "A new commandment I give to you. Love one another." This is Law. There is no getting around it, it is a commandment by Jesus' own word, it is an imperative, and like the rest of the law, the other commandments, we cannot do it on our own, by our own power, might and will. Like the Ten Commandments, we break it all the time even when we do not realize we are doing so. Think of how easy it is to break one of the Decalogue..not honoring the Sabbath, taking God's name in vain, bearing false witness even in the form of gossip, stealing which might include cheating on income tax or in school, not respecting or obeying our parents or putting something else before God. Well, it is just as easy to break this new commandment given us by Jesus. We have Law - love one another - and now we have Gospel, "just as I have loved you." It is Gospel because this is the love that enables us to love. So how did Jesus love us? Let us look at the beginning of this reading. Judas has just left and Jesus is telling the remaining disciples that God will be glorified, that he Jesus will be glorified. The glorification comes on a cross, it comes through a cross, this is the glory of the Christian, the Lutheran Christian in particular because we practice what we call the "theology of the cross." This is how much Jesus loved his disciples, and us, he loved us enough to die for us on the cross. And here is the secret, brothers and sisters, it is this very love of Christ, of God, that enables us to love as we have been and are loved by God. It is this love that, as the Apostle John tells us in his first epistle, that enables us to love, that gives us love, love that flows through us, filling us and overflowing from us. Law and Gospel. And something else. Jesus adds "By this they will know you are my disciples, that you love one another." I suppose in some respects you could say it is a test, a test by which the world is looking at us, at Christians, at Lutherans, at the ELCA, at LCC, and at you and me. The world may not realize it, but it is there anyway. And when we break apart, fail to serve, are split by dissension, then to the world there is no witness, none that matters anyway. Now let us go back to our rummage sale. What we have just finished is an example of love of brothers and sisters. Oh, you may not think of it that way when you are working in it, but I do, because that is how I see it. Not everyone agrees on every little thing and that is okay, they do not have to agree on every little thing. But overall, people are treated with a healthy respect and concern and people are working together for something greater than themselves and having a great time doing it. Then how about IHN? Well, in the first case we have examples of disciples showing their love for one another by working together, yeah, we have that in the second too. And in each case we have love of neighbor as well as love of fellow disciples, and in each case, mission, that is outreach, takes place. We are called, commanded by Jesus to love God, to love our neighbors as ourselves, and we are commanded to love one another as he has loved us. God loved the world enough to send Jesus to die for it, but not all believe. By the love of Christ, we can reach out to those who do not believe, those who are in need, by our service, and also by our love for one another, flowing from God, overflowing us. Imagine what we might do if we started doing mission trips, adult mission trips as a congregation to our sister synods in Russia and Honduras. Imagine what we might do if instead of our senior high and a few adults going on a mission trip to Montana, half the congregation went. Imagine what we might do if everyone who participates in mission while wintering in Arizona or Texas or Florida also participated in a mission while up here. Imagine what we might do if, if, if we let go and let God love us, love through us and do it in a way we have never before done. Imagine. Wow. Just imagine. Amen Lutheran Church of the Cross, Nisswa, Minnesota |
|
|
See the index of our online sermon collection |