e-vo for week of April 16

Dearest e-votees-

Call: Christ is risen!
Response: ____________

I trust you now how to fill in the blank. But perhaps it is seeming a little out of place. Wasn’t Easter over almost 4 weeks ago?!?

We are actually just about halfway through the 50 days of the Easter season. May God bless us as we continue to linger around the truth of the empty tomb even when the world starts trying to draw our eyes towards Professional Administrator’s Day or Mother’s Day or new episodes of our favorite TV shows now that the writers are back at work or __________. (I trust you know how to fill in that blank too)

The world can be a distracting and a troubling place. Our risen Lord Jesus continues to speak peace into it and into us. May we have ears and hearts to hear.

Peace,
Karl

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“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way to the place where I am going." Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

John 14:1-6, NRSV

The text above is a portion of our assigned gospel text for this Sunday. It is a text is brought to bear on many funerals.

Death and grief and despair and separation and unresolved tension can have a deep troubling impact on our hearts.

The disciples are hearing from Jesus that he is going to be leaving them. Jesus has just washed their feet, sent Judas off to do his dirty deed and told Peter about his denial. It is just started to dawn on them the scope of the death and grief and despair and separation and unresolved tension that is coming their way.

Soon after the week of the passion begins Judas fully embraces his troubled heart by ending his own life.

Soon after the week of the passion begins Peter shows the depth of the troubles in his own heart by weeping bitterly after doing just what he said he wouldn’t fulfilling Jesus’ words. But he hangs on long enough (by God’s grace) to hear words of restitution and forgiveness at the breakfast on the beach.

In our liturgical year we are still pretty soon after the week of the passion. Are we more akin to Judas or to Peter? Is despair winning the day? Or by God’s grace are we hanging on knowing that Jesus will do as he said to come back and take us to the place he is preparing?

Our troubled hearts indeed need the peace that Jesus offers. In the midst of our own places of challenge and struggle are we able to hear the good news that Jesus brings?

Jesus has deep and abiding words to say to things like death, grief, despair, separation and unresolved tension. Jesus is indeed the Word that unseats death, grief, despair, separation and unresolved tension from their unholy thrones. When the world and our images in the mirror and the devil say “Lost!” and “Liar!” and “Death!” Our risen Lord Jesus still speaks “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life!” We can certainly give our ears and our attention to either side but only one is ultimately true.

Jesus, give us courage and strength to face that which is hard. Give us grace and compassion to reach into the lives of others to help them face what is hard. Help us trust in your ways and your truth and your life. You are risen! You are risen, indeed! Amen.

e-vo for week of April 9

Dearest e-votees-

You might not hear our appointed text from 1 Peter preached on this weekend. The shepherd imagery in John 10 and Psalm 23 are quite attractive to us preacher types.

May your continued celebration of the empty tomb fill your days and encourage your souls.

Peace,
Karl

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For it is a credit to you if, being aware of God, you endure pain while suffering unjustly. If you endure when you are beaten for doing wrong, what credit is that? But if you endure when you do right and suffer for it, you have God’s approval. For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you should follow in his steps. “He committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.” When he was abused, he did not return abuse; when he suffered, he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly. He himself bore our sins in his body on the cross, so that, free from sins, we might live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed. For you were going astray like sheep, but now you have returned to the shepherd and guardian of your souls.

1 Peter 2:19-25, NRSV

This text is a dangerous text. All scripture is powerful and in a sense dangerous. I wasn’t kidding the time I handed out spiritually explicit content warning stickers out at a children’s sermon for them to put on their Bibles—READER ADVISORY: SPIRITUALLY EXPLICIT CONTENT.

Hebrews 4:12 talks about scripture being a two-edged sword that can divide us—our souls from our spirits; our joints from our marrow. That is cutting deep. When we play with sharp things there is great potential for injury. I can still show you my trophy scar from trying to whittle the center out of a golf ball when I was in second grade. If a little pocket knife handled recklessly can leave a mark for a lifetime how much more can scripture handled tritely leave a lasting wound?

God’s living word is not something to be treated lightly. Do you ever wonder what damage might be done when scripture is quoted one bumper sticker at a time? Or too glibly in a hastily scrawled and endlessly forwarded e-mails? Or when it is quickly lifted out of its context to be forced onto another circumstance? Remember someone bending scripture for his evil purposes out in the wilderness for 40 days?

Our scripture from Peter this week has great potential to be used abusively. The careless read could easily be:

• If you are suffering because you have done wrong, shut up and endure it. You deserve it.
  
  
• If you are suffering when you have not done wrong, shut up and endure it. You will be blessed with God’s approval.

Of course we know that sometimes things happen to us that we have brought upon ourselves. Sometimes there is nothing to do but to endure the consequences of our choices.

Of course we know that sometimes things happen to us for wholly unjust reasons. How we might endure things that never should have happened to us might be an opportunity for God to be glorified—there is long history of martyrs who have done so.

But the default mode is not to quietly endure suffering. Our counsel to others who suffer is not just to sit and stew in it because that’s the way it has to be. When we talk like that we sound eerily similar to Job’s friends. Not so good.

If we suffer because of our actions there may be possibility for repentance and reconciliation.

If we suffer because of evil being worked upon us we can step out of that when the opportunities present themselves.

When others suffer we are called to reach out in love and compassion. We are called to speak out against injustice. We are to bind that which needs to be bound and loose that which needs to be loosed. Suffering and abuse do not get the final victory.


God, we thank you for Jesus’ suffering on our behalf. Teach us to handle your scripture well. Help us to dismantle abusive systems. Give us courage to face all things that press upon us. Draw us more deeply into the shepherd and guardian of our souls—Jesus. Amen.

e-vo for week of April 2

Dearest e-votees-

For the world Easter is done and Mother's Day and Memorial Day are bearing down on us. In the church we are just getting started celebrating the empty tomb. May your week be blessed as the risen Christ blows the Holy Spirit into your days.

Peace,
Karl

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If you invoke as Father the one who judges all people impartially according to their deeds, live in reverent fear during the time of your exile. You know that you were ransomed from the futile ways inherited from your ancestors, not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without defect or blemish. He was destined before the foundation of the world, but was revealed at the end of the ages for your sake. Through him you have come to trust in God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are set on God. Now that you have purified your souls by your obedience to the truth so that you have genuine mutual love, love one another deeply from the heart. You have been born anew, not of perishable but of imperishable seed, through the living and enduring word of God.

1 Peter 1:17-23, NRSV

Our text starts out with a stern warning. If we are going to invoke God’s judgment on others we best make sure we are living well. We ought to be reverently fearful about what might happen to us before we call on God to give them their just desserts. If we expect others to endure “God’s righteous frown” (as many of us just sang about recently in “What Wondrous Love is This”, LBW #385) are we willing to endure that same scrutiny? I doubt it. This way of trying to live holy enough lives and deflect attention to others when we falter are some of the “futile ways inherited from [our] ancestors”.

Thanks be to God we have been liberated from that hopeless downward spiral. We weren’t saved by silver or gold or an interest rate adjustment by the federal government or by a wise investment on our part or a gracious benevolent insertion by grant agencies or caring parents. Money and possessions don’t do much when it comes to our souls (although they can serve as pretty good barometer now and again). What our souls needed was what only Jesus could bring to pass.

• It is in Jesus that we have faith and hope.
  
• Jesus is the truth that we are learning to heed
  
• It is in Jesus that we are born anew
  
• Jesus is the spotless lamb who heals our blemishes
  
• It is in Jesus that we encounter the living and enduring word of God
  

Since all this has happened through Jesus’ faithful work we are able to grow in responding in mutual love (the Greek word is “philadelphia” literally “love of brother”). We can love one another as siblings because we have all been graciously adopted into God’s family. None of us deserve to be here. As to those who we may say are not in God’s family (do we really presume to know such things?—we ought to regard that stern warning again)—perhaps we ought to regard those folks as adoptees in the process of coming in and offer them mutual love as well.

The parallel track of “mutual love” (literally “love of brother”) is “hospitality” (literally “love of stranger”) which can both be found in Hebrews 13:1-2:

Let mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.

Hebrews 13:1-2, NRSV

God, you have paid for the whole world in the precious blood and innocent sufferings of Jesus. Help us grow in our love to you and to all. Help us entertain angels and everyone else we encounter—since we have trouble sorting them out very well—to your glory. Help us learn to give away what you have so generously given to us—your beloved Son, Jesus. Amen.

e-vo for week of March 26

Dearest e-votees-

I am out of the office for a few days and I wanted to send this before I left town.

Have a blessed Easter season celebration. "Christ is risen!"

Peace,
Karl

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Protect me, O God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the Lord, “You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you." As for the holy ones in the land, they are the noble, in whom is all my delight. Those who choose another god multiply their sorrows; their drink offerings of blood I will not pour out or take their names upon my lips. The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; I have a goodly heritage. I bless the Lord who gives me counsel; in the night also my heart instructs me. I keep the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul rejoices; my body also rests secure. For you do not give me up to Sheol, or let your faithful one see the Pit. You show me the path of life. In your presence there is fullness of joy; in your right hand are pleasures forevermore.

Psalm 16, NRSV

This is the appointed psalm for this coming Sunday. It is also the source material for Peter's quote in Acts 2:25b-28 when he is talking about Jesus.

The people had put many hopes on King David and his lineage. Peter makes reference to the fact that his tomb is well known to the audience. David wasn't able to do much for the people anymore. But someone in David's line would. Someone David wrote about himself in Psalm 16. Someone who did not end up stuck in Sheol or in the Pit.

David's tomb is full--Jesus' tomb is empty.

David lived a life of faith that was stained with sin--Jesus lived a faithful life and stained a wooden cross with his innocent blood for our sin.

David wrote beautiful words about the Messiah--Jesus is the Word, the Messiah, through whom all things came to be.

David offered hope--Jesus is our hope.

God, we thank you for the life and witness of David. We praise you for the life and death and restored life of Jesus. Help us witness to that hope. Amen.

e-vo for week of March 19

Dearest e-votees-

I hope and trust and pray that your Holy Week has been blessed. May God be with you and us all as we gather around the Last Supper, the basin and the towel, the garden and the trial, the cross and the empty tomb.

There are lots of permutations for the lessons for this Sunday in the lectionary. For this e-vo we’ll hone in on the option from Colossians.

Peace,
Karl

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So if you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth, for you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life is revealed, then you also will be revealed with him in glory.

Colossians 3:1-4, NRSV

The first thing to note is the construction "have been raised with Christ." The verb is in a construction called aorist which is an event that has been brought definitively to completion in the past. The verb is also passive meaning that it is something done to us rather than our own accomplishment. In other words it is a done deal and we didn’t do it.

We were connected with Jesus’ death and resurrection most particularly in our baptisms. God is the one at work in our baptisms not us. In other words it is a done deal and we didn’t do it.

The construction "So if you have been raised with Christ" isn’t calling into question our having been raised with Christ. It has the sense of "If you have been raised with Christ-- which you have--..." It is more of the flavor "Since you have been raised with Christ..." (see NIV as an example).

All this is to say that God has definitively connected us to Jesus’ death and resurrection in our baptisms. This should continue to be active and at work in our lives as the rest of the Colossians text suggests. Because God has acted definitively in our lives in baptism we are freed to respond through the leading of the Holy Spirit.

When faced with choosing between things above and things of this earth (not everything falls into such clean binary categories) we are encouraged to choose those things of above. When we are unsure the Holy Spirit can help us discern. When we choose poorly the Holy Spirit can redirect our paths.

Our life is hidden (from others and even from us as times) with Christ in God. There is a mysterious piece to this new life with Christ in God. It hasn’t all been revealed yet.

When Jesus comes (now in part and once and for all at the end of time) our glory will be revealed too. (future, passive--it will happen and we won’t be the prime actors).


God, help us trust that you have raised us with Christ and that you have hidden our lives in you through Jesus. Give us patience and faith to trust your promises especially when they are hard to see. Reveal yourself to us and to the world and bring your glory. Amen.

e-vo for week of March 12

Dearest e-votees-

We are bearing down on Holy Week. My hope and prayer is that we would find many opportunities to linger around worship during the days ahead. It is worth walking through the days and abiding in the week as it unfolds.

Rather than try to digest the entire week (the Passion narrative from Matthew) or considering the Christ hymn in Philippians 2:5-11 we will take a look at the Isaiah text that is appointed for Sunday.

Blessings on your day.

Peace,
Karl

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The Lord God has given me the tongue of a teacher, that I may know how to sustain the weary with a word. Morning by morning he wakens—wakens my ear to listen as those who are taught. The Lord God has opened my ear, and I was not rebellious, I did not turn backward. I gave my back to those who struck me, and my cheeks to those who pulled out the beard; I did not hide my face from insult and spitting. The Lord God helps me; therefore I have not been disgraced; therefore I have set my face like flint, and I know that I shall not be put to shame; he who vindicates me is near. Who will contend with me? Let us stand up together. Who are my adversaries? Let them confront me. It is the Lord God who helps me; who will declare me guilty?

Isaiah 50:4-9a, NRSV

This text sets the stage well for Jesus’ final week of his mortal existence.

Jesus has indeed the tongue of a teacher. He inspires the crowd with his parables and his confounding of those trying to entrap him. He has spoken to Nicodemus and the Samaritan woman in the past few weeks. And he has spoken to us as well as we have been listening in.

He wakens not only our ears but the dead as well. As Jesus called Lazarus out of the tomb Jesus calls to the dead places in us. Life comes where stench and despair were found before. We are brought into the resurrection hope as Jesus calls for us to come forth.

In spite of his teaching and his healing ministry—perhaps even because of them—humanity turns on Jesus. In spite of Jesus’ teaching and healing ministry in our own lives—perhaps even because of them—we turn on Jesus. We insult him and spit on him and pull on his beard. We are the ones nailing Jesus to the cross (Mel Gibson did his best work in The Passion by acting as the one nailing Jesus to the cross). We contend with God. We are God’s adversaries.

In spite of our rebellion—perhaps even because of it—Jesus turns towards humanity with a compassionate and forgiving heart. Jesus prays for us and for all “Father, forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.” Jesus offers forgiveness to the thief on the cross (traditionally named Dismas) and to us.

We can say with Isaiah: “It is the Lord God who helps me; who will declare me guilty?” Thanks be to God.


Jesus we praise you for this week you underwent on our behalf. Bless our times of worship as we remember how you didn’t forget us. Give us hearts and thoughts and actions that are pleasing to you. Amen.

e-vo for week of March 5

Dearest e-votees-

This week the appointed gospel is the familiar text of Jesus bringing Lazarus back from the dead—a powerful account that speaks to people deeply particularly at funerals and other times of profound mourning. That account will no doubt be the focus of many a sermon this Sunday.

We will explore the appointed text from Romans as the focus of our devotions this week. It has much to say to us as well.

Peace,
Karl

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To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace. For this reason the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law—indeed it cannot, and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh; you are in the Spirit, since the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him. But if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through his Spirit that dwells in you.

Romans 8:6-11, NRSV

We are made in the image of God. We are also creatures made of flesh. Being made of flesh is not a problem. Jesus was God and also a fully fleshed out human being. Jesus was able to faithfully live out his days fully submitting to God’s laws. Jesus was flesh and spirit and lived in a way that pleased God.

Paul, in this text, raises the issue of what is the focus of our mind. If the mind is set upon tending to the flesh then it is death. If the mind is set on the spirit of God there is life and peace. Where we put our mind matters.

One way to think of God is the one to which we give our utmost attention or the final say. If our decisions are ultimately based on the needs and desires of our flesh then our own fleshly instincts have usurped God’s rightful place and become a surrogate god. If our decisions are ultimately based on the promptings and teachings of the Holy Spirit then God remains on the throne.

God does not desire suffering for suffering’s sake. God doesn’t disregard our needs and our desires as fleshly beings. God made the beings out of flesh and regarded them as good in the book of Genesis. But the desires and the needs of the Holy Spirit must trump the desires and needs of the flesh when in tension. There are times when we must forgo the fleshly impulses for the Holy Spirit’s sake.

The Holy Spirit at work in us gives life that the gratifications of the flesh never can. The world dangles sensory fulfillment of the flesh. God calls us to a deeper fulfillment by the Holy Spirit. The world beckons us toward the “good life” but really calls us towards death like the mythological sirens. The Holy Spirit stirs us towards “the Way, the Truth and the Life” which sometimes looks like a cross—an instrument of death. Through that cross, however, the truest life there is can be found.

Jesus, help us to set our minds on your Holy Spirit. We thank you for that Spirit poured into our lives in the baptismal font. Help our flesh give way to the things that will ultimately bring about your kingdom in us and in this world. Amen.