Year C
\u00a0Deuteronomy 26:1-11
\u00a0Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16
\u00a0Romans 10:8b-13
\u00a0Luke 4:1-13<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our reading from Deuteronomy today\u2026 is more than just a story\u2026 it’s a liturgy of thanksgiving\u2026 it establishes the ritual remembrance of God’s liberating act\u2026 it instructs God’s people\u2026 to remember their status as aliens\u2026 and as slaves\u2026 and tells them\u2026 when you come into the land that God is giving you\u2026 take some fruit\u2026 and put it in a basket\u2026 and go the place where God’s name dwells\u2026 and say these specific words to the priest who’s there\u2026 and set the basket down\u2026 and bow before God\u2026 and then\u2026 you\u2026 and the Levites\u2026 and the aliens who reside among you\u2026 go and party for all you’re worth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And this last part\u2026 about those who reside among you\u2026 catches my attention\u2026 include in your celebrations\u2026 the aliens who reside among you\u2026 whatever it is that makes them different from you\u2026 that’s OK\u2026 don’t make them conform to who… or how you are\u2026 before you think them worthy to be included in the festivities\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And our reading from Romans expands on this idea\u2026 that there is no distinction between Jew and Greek\u2026 the one God is God of all\u2026 and is generous to those who call upon God’s name\u2026 and calling upon God’s name means leaning into\u2026 and trusting in\u2026 God’s reputation\u2026 I have a list of twenty-seven names for God\u2026 though there may be more\u2026 one that we’re most familiar with is Immanu-El<\/em>\u2026 God with us\u2026 but three others are\u2026 El-Rachum<\/em>\u2026 the God of Compassion\u2026 El-malei-Rachamim<\/em>\u2026 the God of Mercy\u2026 and El-Emmet<\/em>\u2026 the God of Truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n I was in Israel for eight weeks in the summer of 1971\u2026 I spent three weeks on an archeological dig in the northern part of the Negev desert\u2026 in Be’Er Sheva\u2026 up on the Tel\u2026 we uncovered coins\u2026 and pottery\u2026 and the most amazing blue iridescent glass perfume bottle with a stopper that was in perfect condition\u2026 but by 11:00 every morning\u2026 it was about 105\u00b0\u2026 and we were done for the day\u2026 but in the nearby town of Omer\u2026 there was a public pool\u2026 and you could get a ride from someone\u2026 or you could walk across the desert directly to the edge of town where it was\u2026 and walking across the desert\u2026 that mile or so\u2026 was a walk in a hot and dry land\u2026 barren of anything but sand and silence\u2026 it’s no wonder the desert Mothers and Fathers found God there more easily\u2026 the silence is broken only by the sound of the wind\u2026 and it reminds me of what Jesus said to Nicodemus in John’s Gospel\u2026 the wind blows where it chooses\u2026 and you hear the sound of it\u2026 but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes\u2026 so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pastor Martin Billmeier writes\u2026 that walking in the wilderness\u2026 is a necessary part of the spiritual journey\u2026 it is an inevitable part of life\u2026 and the wilderness teaches us of our need for God\u2026 but notice that it’s the Spirit\u2026 and not the devil\u2026 who leads Jesus out there\u2026 and so the wilderness is one place where we meet all three\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n And little did I know\u2026 that years later\u2026 I would embark on my own wilderness journey with God\u2026 that brought my actual walk across the desert front and center\u2026 God and I were going out together into what was for me totally uncharted territory\u2026 and I could do nothing but trust totally and completely in God’s compassion\u2026 mercy\u2026 truth\u2026 and love\u2026 to get me where I needed to be\u2026 and I was willing\u2026 when I arrived on the other side\u2026 to be empty and empty handed\u2026 but I also believed I\u2019d be better for it\u2026 I realized that I had to die to the life I had\u2026 in order to be born into a new one\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n When we are baptized\u2026 we die to self and are reborn with Christ\u2026 and we are all driven out into the wilderness\u2026 our lives are lived in a different kind of wilderness\u2026 there’s temptation all around\u2026 but in Eastern Europe this week\u2026 more than 1.5 million Ukrainians have been driven out of their homeland\u2026 into wilderness\u2026 maybe not literally empty-handed\u2026 but carrying only what they could gather in the moments before they had to flee\u2026 maybe not whole and better for it\u2026 maybe traumatized\u2026 and certainly wondering what kind of new life they were being born into\u2026 and the welcome they’re receiving in these countries reflects God’s welcome\u2026 but they were not driven by the Holy Spirit\u2026 but by evil\u2026 by one who is said to be the wealthiest man in the world\u2026 by one who worships geopolitical power and authority and is willing to use division and accusation to get it\u2026 and who would threaten the world with hints of nuclear war\u2026 and those who are fleeing\u2026 have become aliens in the countries which are receiving them\u2026 and while there may be grieving instead of celebration\u2026 what’s available is being shared with them regardless of condition or conformity\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n You see\u2026 God cares little about the distinctions we make\u2026 distinctions between Jew or Greek\u2026 slave or free\u2026 Russian\u2026 Ukrainian\u2026 European\u2026 American\u2026 God doesn’t care how we vote\u2026 or who we love\u2026 God doesn’t care about our education or occupation or income\u2026 where we live or vacation\u2026 God doesn’t care about whether we’re single\u2026 married\u2026 or divorced\u2026 but\u2026 God\u2026 does\u2026 care\u2026 that we love God with all our heart\u2026 soul\u2026 strength\u2026 and mind\u2026 and that we love our neighbors as ourselves\u2026 that we honor the vow we made at our baptisms\u2026 to seek justice and peace for all people\u2026 and respect the dignity of every human being\u2026 and to stand firm by the answer we gave to this question then too\u2026 Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? I will, with God’s help\u2026 <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n And this question anticipates that we will fall into sin\u2026 so it’s not a question of IF but of WHEN\u2026 but not so that God has an excuse to punish us\u2026 but so that so we can learn what we need to know\u2026 to grow more into the stature of Christ\u2026 who shared our humanity\u2026 and yet was without sin\u2026 the temptations we face may be different than those we faced when we were younger\u2026 but temptations remain\u2026 Pastor Jennifer Moland-Kovash wrote\u2026 and one of the biggest temptations we face during times of struggle and wilderness wanderings\u2026 is the temptation to believe that we’re all alone\u2026 part of it is the myth of self-sufficiency\u2026 a myth often upheld and perpetuated by our society<\/em>\u2026 but Jesus is with us\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are marked with the cross of Christ in baptism\u2026 in the wandering\u2026 desolate places of our lives\u2026 in our failures and failings… that mark remains\u2026 and in Genesis 4:7\u2026 there was another mark\u2026 the one that God put on Cain\u2026 after he became angry that God accepted Abel’s sacrifice\u2026 but not his own\u2026 and God warned Cain that\u2026 sin is lurking at the door\u2026 it’s desire is for you\u2026 but you must master it<\/em>\u2026 though Cain falls to temptation anyway\u2026 and murders his brother\u2026 and perhaps one purpose of the mark was so that no one would take vengeance on him\u2026 but so he’d have a lifetime to contemplate what he’d done\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And I pray that any one of us\u2026 who has violated God’s will\u2026 and that anyone or anything which has encouraged or enabled the evil we’ve seen this week\u2026 to stop their actions\u2026 and take the opportunity to find whatever it is they need\u2026 to feel deep remorse\u2026 to seek true repentance\u2026 and to experience life-giving renewal\u2026 for their sake\u2026 and for all our sakes\u2026 Holy God\u2026 make it so\u2026 Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year C\u00a0Deuteronomy 26:1-11\u00a0Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16\u00a0Romans 10:8b-13\u00a0Luke 4:1-13 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 Our reading from Deuteronomy today\u2026 is more than just a story\u2026 it’s a liturgy of thanksgiving\u2026 it establishes the ritual remembrance of God’s liberating act\u2026 it instructs God’s people\u2026 to remember their status as aliens\u2026 and as slaves\u2026 and tells them\u2026 when you come into the land that God is giving you\u2026 take some fruit\u2026 and put it in a basket\u2026 and go the place where God’s name dwells\u2026 and say these specific words to the priest who’s there\u2026 and set the basket down\u2026 and bow before God\u2026 and then\u2026 you\u2026 and the Levites\u2026 and the aliens who reside among you\u2026 go and party for all you’re worth\u2026 And this last part\u2026 about those who reside among you\u2026 catches my attention\u2026 include in your celebrations\u2026 the aliens who reside among you\u2026 whatever it is that makes them different from you\u2026 that’s OK\u2026 don’t make them conform to who… or how you are\u2026 before you think them worthy to be included in the festivities\u2026 And our reading from Romans expands on this idea\u2026 that there is no distinction between Jew and Greek\u2026 the one God is God of all\u2026 and is generous to those who call upon God’s name\u2026 and calling upon God’s name means leaning into\u2026 and trusting in\u2026 God’s reputation\u2026 I have a list of twenty-seven names for God\u2026 though there may be more\u2026 one that we’re most familiar with is Immanu-El\u2026 God with us\u2026 but three others are\u2026 El-Rachum\u2026 the God of Compassion\u2026 El-malei-Rachamim\u2026 the God of Mercy\u2026 and El-Emmet\u2026 the God of Truth\u2026 I was in Israel for eight weeks in the summer of 1971\u2026 I spent three weeks on an archeological dig in the northern part of the Negev desert\u2026 in Be’Er Sheva\u2026 up on the Tel\u2026 we uncovered coins\u2026 and pottery\u2026 and the most amazing blue iridescent glass perfume bottle with a stopper that was in perfect condition\u2026 but by 11:00 every morning\u2026 it was about 105\u00b0\u2026 and we were done for the day\u2026 but in the nearby town of Omer\u2026 there was a public pool\u2026 and you could get a ride from someone\u2026 or you could walk across the desert directly to the edge of town where it was\u2026 and walking across the desert\u2026 that mile or so\u2026 was a walk in a hot and dry land\u2026 barren of anything but sand and silence\u2026 it’s no wonder the desert Mothers and Fathers found God there more easily\u2026 the silence is broken only by the sound of the wind\u2026 and it reminds me of what Jesus said to Nicodemus in John’s Gospel\u2026 the wind blows where it chooses\u2026 and you hear the sound of it\u2026 but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes\u2026 so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit\u2026 Pastor Martin Billmeier writes\u2026 that walking in the wilderness\u2026 is a necessary part of the spiritual journey\u2026 it is an inevitable part of life\u2026 and the wilderness teaches us of our need for God\u2026 but notice that it’s the Spirit\u2026 and not the devil\u2026 who leads Jesus out there\u2026 and so the wilderness is one place where we meet all three\u2026 And little did I know\u2026 that years later\u2026 I would embark on my own wilderness journey with God\u2026 that brought my actual walk across the desert front and center\u2026 God and I were going out together into what was for me totally uncharted territory\u2026 and I could do nothing but trust totally and completely in God’s compassion\u2026 mercy\u2026 truth\u2026 and love\u2026 to get me where I needed to be\u2026 and I was willing\u2026 when I arrived on the other side\u2026 to be empty and empty handed\u2026 but I also believed I\u2019d be better for it\u2026 I realized that I had to die to the life I had\u2026 in order to be born into a new one\u2026 When we are baptized\u2026 we die to self and are reborn with Christ\u2026 and we are all driven out into the wilderness\u2026 our lives are lived in a different kind of wilderness\u2026 there’s temptation all around\u2026 but in Eastern Europe this week\u2026 more than 1.5 million Ukrainians have been driven out of their homeland\u2026 into wilderness\u2026 maybe not literally empty-handed\u2026 but carrying only what they could gather in the moments before they had to flee\u2026 maybe not whole and better for it\u2026 maybe traumatized\u2026 and certainly wondering what kind of new life they were being born into\u2026 and the welcome they’re receiving in these countries reflects God’s welcome\u2026 but they were not driven by the Holy Spirit\u2026 but by evil\u2026 by one who is said to be the wealthiest man in the world\u2026 by one who worships geopolitical power and authority and is willing to use division and accusation to get it\u2026 and who would threaten the world with hints of nuclear war\u2026 and those who are fleeing\u2026 have become aliens in the countries which are receiving them\u2026 and while there may be grieving instead of celebration\u2026 what’s available is being shared with them regardless of condition or conformity\u2026 You see\u2026 God cares little about the distinctions we make\u2026 distinctions between Jew or Greek\u2026 slave or free\u2026 Russian\u2026 Ukrainian\u2026 European\u2026 American\u2026 God doesn’t care how we vote\u2026 or who we love\u2026 God doesn’t care about our education or occupation or income\u2026 where we live or vacation\u2026 God doesn’t care about whether we’re single\u2026 married\u2026 or divorced\u2026 but\u2026 God\u2026 does\u2026 care\u2026 that we love God with all our heart\u2026 soul\u2026 strength\u2026 and mind\u2026 and that we love our neighbors as ourselves\u2026 that we honor the vow we made at our baptisms\u2026 to seek justice and peace for all people\u2026 and respect the dignity of every human being\u2026 and to stand firm by the answer we gave to this question then too\u2026 Will you persevere in resisting evil, and, whenever you fall into sin, repent and return to the Lord? I will, with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[90,97,40,96],"class_list":["post-1542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons","tag-lent","tag-reborn","tag-repentance","tag-wilderness"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1542"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1543,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1542\/revisions\/1543"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}