Sermons


	God Bless You! Epiphany IV January 30, 2011 Matthew 5:1-12 There is a sameness to everyday life that can be boring. For instance: When I have driven expressways of major cities....it has been difficult to distinguish one city from another. The buildings on the route from airport to city center are glass and steel... mirrored... unseeing windows of various tints. The restaurants flash by... Bennigans, TGI's, McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's and Taco Bell. Located next to Target and Best Buy - across from Menards and Home Depot. It is hard to tell if you are in Dallas, Mpls, Chicago or Kansas City. But then......once in a while something else pops out. In Austin Texas.....a capitol building with a pink dome In San Antonio....the Alamo In Mpls the Foshay and the Basilica Once in a while....there is a restaurant with a one-of-a-kind name and architecture with not another like it....anywhere. Once in a while.....the sameness is broken and your attention is caught. And quite frankly that's nice. It says..... not all life is the same. There is uniqueness in the world. When that happens I find myself smiling. The texts for this Sunday are about uniqueness in the world. In the midst of sameness... of life that is two dimensional... God enters with his spirit... breathing life into our lives. The Beatitudes from Matthew's Gospel begin the sermon on the Mount. Jesus paints a picture of a unique people. In the sameness of a world that often chooses to live without God he invites those who mourn to be comforted. Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness....to be satisfied The peacemakers to inherit the earth The pure in heart to see God What Jesus is doing.... is painting a picture of what a Community of faith looks like. One of the things that we realize as we read these beatitudes is that God doesn't have a boring image of the world in mind. God has a very clear....exciting image for our lives. He doesn't create boring people. I am going to share two thoughts with you. FIRST...One of the things that keeps us from being boring is that we live life together as God's people. Because we are a community of faith, we are something more together than we can possibly be when we are alone. God has woven the stories of scripture into our lives. Moses and Abraham, Isaac and Peter and Paul course through our veins. Their stories make our personal stories more alive and full of promise. It was because they were part of a faith community that they are alive for us today. Moses needed Aaron. Moses needed the whole people of Israel....who God called him to deliver. Ordinary shepherd Moses became extraordinary because of the community of faith.... who God created. Peter needed James and John.....he needed Paul and later the whole church. Without them he was a fisherman....gone home after the resurrection. With a limited vision of the Gospel's reach. With the community the ordinary fisherman became an extraordinary witness to faith. Luther needed Melancthon....he needed his friends in Wittenberg. The people who preached to him... and sang hymns that he wrote and gathered around his table. In fact the gathered community was so important it is reported that Luther believed that the 3rd sacrament is the conversation of the saints. The Beatitudes give us impossible descriptions to fulfill.....alone. Not everyone is a peacemaker... meek... righteous or merciful. But because there are people in this church who are... then we are all enriched and we can be more than we would possibly be alone. And by the way... it makes all of us much more alive... certainly not boring. My first point... we live together in community... as a church to be something we cannot be without this community of faith. SECOND, and this comes from our texts today... and from the example of the faith community. From Micah: he has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you, but to do Justice and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? The rich life of faith begins with Trust... in a sense... faith is trust. It is to give your heart away to God's promises. To give your heart away. Certainly... when Abraham left the security of his homeland to follow God's invitation, it was a deep trust that was unknown by his peers. He gave his heart away to this God. Abraham did things he would never have imagined. And when it was all over I think he sat back and said to his Son Isaac.. this has been quite a ride. Anything but boring. Jeremiah... tortured by the demands of his Call to be a prophet... persevered. He gave his heart away. Let me tell you a story. In a Small but respectable Kingdom, the king was deeply loved by his people. He was a man of compassion, dignity and vision. Everyone thought they were fortunate to have such a king. The King became ill... so ill that his death was close. The Drs. said only one thing will save the king. He must have a new heart. He will need a heart transplant. The people of the kingdom had gathered in the Square outside of the palace. They waited of news of their beloved King. The prime minister came to the balcony of the King's quarters and told the people... the king is dying and only a transplant will save him. Immediately a young man from the vastness of the crowd raised his hand high and shouted.... take my heart... the king can have my heart... my life. And soon another spoke up... take my heart. And then another and another... there was a chorus of voices... take my heart. The prime minister didn't know what to think. He went back to the king's chambers and stood over the king's bed. There next to the king's head was a feather from the pillow. The prime minister took the feather to the balcony and said... I will drop this feather. And the person on whom the feather lands will be the one to give his heart. The feather dropped and people continued to shout... take my heart... take my heart. It dropped slowly into the midst of the crowd. And as it neared the people they raised their hands, saying take my heart. And then began to blow the feather away as it neared. It is difficult to give your heart away. It is difficult to give our hearts away. But the invitation comes allowing us to do things we never dreamt of doing... even the abandon... the gift of faith. Christ gives us his heart first. Finally it is God in his continuing invitation who makes it possible. And we are made alive in his spirit. Life in Christ is anything but boring. Aand we make discoveries as we live together in a community of faith that allow us to be so much more than we would have been alone. And we are given the trust... the faith to give our hearts to this Lord. And in the giving have life in abundance. No sameness here... unique and alive... in Christ's name. Amen Rev. Glenn Taibl, Interim Senior Pastor Lutheran Church of the Cross, Nisswa, Minnesota
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