Joy Practices: Gratitude

October 29^th, 2017          “Joy Practices: Gratitude”      Rev. Heather Jepsen

Psalm 105:1-6 and Matthew 6:25-34

          This morning we are continuing our stewardship sermons series by embracing new “Joy Practices” in our lives.  We are combining scriptures from the Bible with lessons from the “Book of Joy” to help us reframe the idea of stewardship.  Last week we discussed forgiveness and tried to understand that forgiveness is a gift given to us by God.  It is a gift that we can offer to each other and to our very own hearts.  This morning we are going to look at gratitude, and try to understand that to thank God for every day is good stewardship.

          Like our sermon last Sunday, we are going to be watching short video clips and doing a meditation as part of the sermon.  Let’s start with our first video.

          (watch #BookofJoy video)

          I love these video clips and this book because these two fellows are so happy.  As the Dalai Lama states in the video, all people have a desire to be happy.  And yet somehow, it seems that so many of us are unhappy.  We get down on all the bad news in the world and we lose our sense of joy.  This is not good stewardship.  We know that both of these men, the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop have lived lives marked by suffering.  From the trials of apartheid in South Africa to fleeing the homeland of Tibet, these men have experienced lives full of suffering.  And yet, those sufferings, those experiences of darkness, haven’t stopped them from being happy.  The secret to their happiness??  Gratitude!

          Gratitude is to give thanks for all the little things we enjoy in life.  From the strictly Christian point of view, gratitude is to give thanks to God for all the blessings we have received.  In our Psalm for this morning, the whole worship community is called to give thanks to the Lord.  Everything else in that Psalm flows from the first statement, the first act, the giving of thanks.  Singing, praising, rejoicing, and sharing our faith all come from spaces of gratitude.  We can do these things when we acknowledge our gifts from God and when we express thankfulness for those gifts. 

          Another important part of this Psalm is the act of remembrance.  The people of faith are called to remember the wonderful works of God.  It is when we remember what God has done for us, it is when we re-tell the stories of our relationship with God, that we can most easily tap into those feelings of gratitude.  The Psalmist also reminds people to seek God out.  When we are looking for God in the world, when we are hunting for things to be grateful for, we will find them. 

          I think that is what Jesus is talking about in our gospel lesson for today.  This is a tough lesson for modern Americans because we are worrying champions.  Mothers, can I get an Amen??  We worry because we care, we worry because we love, but we also know, perhaps better than anyone, that our worrying does no good.  We are well aware of the truth behind Jesus’ question, “who by worrying can add a single hour to their life?”  No one of course!

          While Jesus is trying to teach us to trust in God for our well-being, the tool he uses for his lesson is gratitude.  I think that is why he is pointing out all the beautiful things in life.  From the birds of the air to the lilies of the field, there are countless opportunities to notice the beauty and bounty of God in nature; and in doing so there are countless opportunities for gratitude.

          I am a big fan of the birds.  I have several feeders in my backyard and nothing brings me joy like seeing a little bird hopping around at the feeder.  From the Cardinals to the Blue Jays, from the Chickadees to the Sparrows, I love watching them all and marveling at the beauty of creation.  From their intricate feathers to the strength of their beaks, from the sparkle in their eyes to the joy in their songs, I find great pleasure in sharing the world with them. 

          Watching the birds makes me feel joy, it makes me feel grateful, and it really does take my worries away.  Yes, birds suffer, just like we do, and yet their simple beauty reminds me of the providence of God.  I think that is what Jesus was telling us to do.  Look at the world, enjoy the wonders of nature, stop worrying about yourself and give thanks to God for the whole of creation.

          I think that both Jesus and the Psalmist would agree that gratitude is a mindset, and a powerful one at that.  The Dalai Lama encourages people to wake up every morning and think to themselves, “I am fortunate to be alive.  I have a precious human life.  I am not going to waste it.”  To wake each day in gratefulness helps us to approach each day with joy and in a spirit of generosity.  This is good stewardship, to thank God for the gift of each and every day. 

          The Benedictine monk, Brother David Steindl-Rast says that “It is not happiness that makes us grateful.  It is gratefulness that makes us happy.  Every moment is a gift.  There is no certainty that you will have another moment, with all the opportunity that it contains.” 

          Gratitude is a state of mind.  In noticing and giving thanks for all the blessings of each day, we can’t help but live happier more joy filled lives.  A focus on gratefulness shifts our perspectives from a narrow minded focus on fault or lack, to the wider perspective of benefit and abundance.  Again Brother Steindl-Rast says, “Whatever life gives to you, you can respond with joy.  Joy is the happiness that does not depend on what happens.  It is the grateful response to the opportunity that life offers you at this moment.” 

          Just like last weeks’ lesson on forgiveness, all this is supported by science.  Studies show that people who focus on gratitude, by keeping a list of what they were grateful for, exercised more often, had fewer physical symptoms, felt better about their lives, and were more positive about the week ahead then people who didn’t.  Grateful people report more positive emotions, more vitality and optimism, and greater life satisfaction as well as lower levels of stress and depression.  It is gratefulness that leads to a healthier life, and not a healthier life that leads to gratefulness.  Gratefulness is also connected to stronger senses of empathy and generosity.  Gratitude is good for you!

          Gratitude is also good medicine for your brain.  It stimulates the hypothalamus and the ventral tegmental regions which are part of the reward circuits that produce pleasure in our brains.  When we are feeling grateful, we smile, and smiling stimulates our neuropeptides to release serotonin in our brains.  We smile when we are happy and smiling, in and of itself, makes us feel happy.  Plus, it’s contagious.  Try it, and smile with me now and see if you can get your neighbor to smile with you.  This is the science of joy, this is good stewardship, and this is something to be thankful for!

          Our meditation for this week is to do some reflecting on all the things we are grateful for.  Just like last week, I ask you to trust me and participate fully in this meditation practice.  This is a journaling meditation, so before we begin I want you to pull out that bulletin insert and find something to write with.    The ushers have extra pencils, and so if you need one just raise your hand.  Now, let’s begin

·       Sit comfortably in the pew with the soles of your feet planted firmly on the floor. 

·       Close your eyes, relax, and take a few deep breaths.  Center yourself here now, in this place, in this very moment.

·       Now, call to mind, three things from the past few days that you are grateful for.  It could be anything from the kindness and generosity of a friend, to the bounty of a meal, to the warmth of the sun, to the beauty of the night sky.  Be specific about what you are grateful for. Specific moments in the past few days.

·       Spend a few moments relishing in the joyful feeling of gratefulness.  Give thanks to God for life is good.

·       Now open your eyes, and jot down the three things you are grateful for. 

This practice can be done on a daily basis, and as you notice a variety of things to be grateful for, your gratitude practice will grow and so will your joy.  This is good stewardship of the good and wonderful life that God has given us to live.  To approach each day with gratitude, thankfulness, and joy is to be a good steward of all God’s gift

     Let’s close with another video from our friends . . .

     (watch “made for goodness” video)

Joy Practices: Forgiveness

October 22^nd, 2017        “Joy Practices: Forgiveness”     Rev. Heather Jepsen

Luke 6:32-38 with 2 Corinthians 2:5-11

          This morning we begin our stewardship sermon series and I have to tell you I am really excited about it.  I am combining the scriptures with “The Book of Joy” to help inspire us all to re-think the way we live in the world.  We will be doing all sorts of different things like watching video clips and doing meditation practices within the sermon time so I hope you can be flexible and explore this subject with me.  I really hope you can connect to this series and that it inspires all of us not only to live more generously but also to live with more joy in our lives. 

          To start I want to introduce you to the book that has inspired this series.  Let’s watch our first video clip . . .

          (show “As an old man” video)

          The Archbishop encourages us to “do what we can, where we can” and the Dalai Lama asks us to start today, so we are going to do just that.  This sermon series is all about harnessing the gifts that God has given us and sharing that joy in the world we live in.  Today the gift that we are talking about is forgiveness. 

          I know we discussed forgiveness a few weeks ago, but it is such a difficult process that I think we can never be done talking about it.  In our scripture reading from the gospels today, Jesus is encouraging us to offer the gift of forgiveness to our enemies.   Jesus is teaching his followers to love their enemies and to treat them with mercy.  This generous behavior ties us to the very one who created us.  Jesus tells us to “be merciful, as our heavenly Father is merciful.”  When we are gracious in offering forgiveness, then we are reflecting the image of God.

          The language Jesus uses is powerful.  We are called not to judge, not even to judge those who have harmed us.  We are told plainly to forgive, and it is in forgiving others that we will receive our forgiveness.  This is a gift that will be returned back to us in abundance.  I love the language here, “a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap.”  I love that image of abundance, I want that abundance of love and mercy in my life and I want it in your life as well.

          Of course, the work of forgiveness is hard.  Our natural inclination is to hold on to pain, and to allow hurt to fester.  To forgive feels like we have let someone get away with something wrong, and that really grates at our sense of justice.  We need to remind ourselves that to forgive is not to forget the wrong.  And it is not to accept the wrong doing and say that it was OK.  Rather, to forgive someone, is to refuse to respond with anger and hate.  To forgive someone is the chance for us to let go of what is continuing to hold us back.  To forgive someone is the chance to offer ourselves the freedom to let that moment, that pain and suffering, go.

          In his letter to the church in Corinth Paul addresses the need for forgiveness within the church community.  He points out that when someone within the community has sinned, the pain reverberates throughout the whole church.  Therefore, it is the job of the whole church to offer forgiveness.  More than that, Paul encourages the community to reaffirm their love for the one who has done wrong and to offer that individual consolation.  Once again, we are reminded that forgiveness is a gift, and Paul is asking the whole church to offer that gift.  Paul is well aware that the power to forgive comes from God alone, “if I have forgiven anything, it is within the presence of Christ.”  Paul is also aware that to hold on to grudges, to refuse to forgive, is another power all together.  “We do this so we are not outwitted by Satan; for we are not ignorant of his designs.”

          While we may argue the personhood of such a Satan, we can all agree that to hold on to grudges, to refuse to offer forgiveness, is a very powerful negative force in our lives.  This has been scientifically proven.  When people think of their grudges, when they remember those who have wronged them, they have a physical stress response.  Blood pressure increases, heart rate speeds up, and we start to sweat.  We feel sad, angry, intense, and out of control.  To hold on to grudges, to refuse to offer the gift of forgiveness, literally makes us sick!  By contrast, to forgive someone literally makes us well. 

          There was an amazing story about forgiveness on the nightly news just this week.  On the ABC news “America Strong” segment Wednesday night they featured a man who had been a marathon runner.  He was hit by a car while biking and his spine, pelvis, and various other bones where broken.  As he lay in the street, unable to even feel his legs, the first thing he did was harness the power of forgiveness.  He forgave the driver who hit him right then and there in the street.  Doctors told him he would never walk again, but through sheer determination, and the desire to let that anger and hurt go, he was able not only to walk again, but to actually return to running marathons.  The man credited his whole healing process to that initial moment of forgiveness.  The segment ended with the injured man, his doctor, and the man who ran him over all running a marathon together.  That is the power of forgiveness.

          I think forgiveness is a wonderful way to begin our discussion of stewardship because forgiveness is a gift that we have the opportunity to give.  It is a gift that we give to the one who wronged us.  And perhaps, more importantly, it is a gift we give to ourselves.  When we refuse to forgive, we allow the past hurts to continue into our lives today, we are perpetuating negative energy.  The archbishop writes “Without forgiveness, we remain tethered to the person who harmed us.  We are bound to the chains of bitterness, tied together, trapped.  Until we can forgive the person who harmed us, that person will hold the keys to our happiness, that person will be our jailor.”  That sure sounds like the powers of Satan that Paul was writing about. 

          The amazing thing is, when we are able to truly forgive, we release ourselves from the things that hold us back and cause us pain.  Again the Archbishop writes, “When we forgive, we take back control of our own fate and our feelings.  We become our own liberator.”  Forgiveness is a gift that God offers to us, and forgiveness is a gift that we can then offer to our own hearts.  In the words of Jesus Christ, “Forgiveness is a good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, and put into our laps.”

Forgiveness is good stewardship of the gifts we have been given by our good and gracious God!

          Our church’s stewardship theme this year is “Living generously begins with trust”.  I want you to trust me for these four sermons as I lead you through meditations based on our themes.  Today, we are going to do a forgiveness meditation.  I want you to call to mind someone, something in your life that still needs forgiveness.  I’m not talking about your big hurts, unless you really want to go there, rather let’s start with something small. . . . got something?  OK, let’s begin.

·       Sit comfortably in the pew with the soles of your feet planted firmly on the floor.  Place your hands gently on your knees or in your lap.

·       Close your eyes, relax, and take a few deep breaths.  Center yourself here now, in this place, in this very moment.

·       Now cast your mind back to the moment of hurt.  See that scene in your minds’ eye.  Now, in your mind, take a few steps back from yourself.  Watch the event unfold like you are watching a movie, watch yourself from a distance.

·       As you watch the situation unfold around your distant self, try to understand your feelings.  Why did you have those feelings?  What was the cause and reason for those feelings?  If the hurt is fresh, ask yourself, “Will this situation affect me in ten years?”  If the hurt is old, ask yourself “Do I want to continue to carry this pain?  Or do I want to free myself from pain and suffering?”

·       To offer forgiveness is to recognize our shared humanity.  Can you see the humanity of the one who harmed you?  Can you imagine that they probably hurt you out of their own suffering and pain?  Can you see and acknowledge their humanity, their pain?  Can you release your presumed right to revenge?  Can you move toward healing?  Are you able to offer forgiveness at this time?

·       Now consider your future relationship with this person.  Do you feel called to renew this relationship or to release it?  If you can renew the relationship, you can work towards healing in your family and in the community.  If the trauma is significant than perhaps it is time to release the relationship.  Imagine releasing the relationship, moving on, and offering good wishes to the one who harmed you as they go their separate way.

·       Take a few moments and ponder the gift and power of forgiveness.  Jesus tells us to “Forgive, and you will be forgiven.  Give, and it will be given to you.  A good measure, pressed down, shaken together, running over, will be put into your lap; for the measure you give will be the measure you get back.” 

·       Now bring yourself back to this moment.  Sitting in worship together in the faith community, the community of forgiveness.  You may open your eyes.

Good work friends!  Let’s close with another word from the Archbishop and the Dalai Lama.

          (Watch “Forgiveness is a strength” video)

The Wedding Banquet

October 15^th, 2017      “The Wedding Banquet”    Rev. Heather Jepsen

Matthew 22:1-14

          Our parable this morning is a tough one steeped in violence, weeping, and gnashing of teeth.  There are spurned invitations and strange wedding garments, odd turns of phrase and a general sense of dis-ease.  Contextually, we are back in the temple.  Those who have been attending worship regularly will remember that Jesus has been busy talking with the religious authorities.  This is near the end of his life and it is one of his final discourses with the temple elite before his arrest.  The religious rulers asked Jesus about his authority to cause trouble and since then he has been pounding them with one painful parable after another.  Last week he accused them of being wicked tenants in the Lord’s vineyard.  This week it’s a wedding banquet and they are the unruly guests.  This parable is so offensive it sometimes causes me to wonder if Jesus is overtly trying to stir up trouble.  Is it possible for the son of God to take things too far?

          “The kingdom of heaven is like a king who threw a wedding party for his son,” Jesus says.  It appears that “save the date” invitations had already been sent out and now was the time for the festivities.  The king sends his slaves into the land to call all of those invited to the party.  Off they head out to gather up the rich and elite, the holy and the special; essentially the ruling class of the day.  But those invited won’t come. 

          So the king sends another message, “Look, it’s going to be a great party.  The meat is cooked, the wine is poured, please come and celebrate with me.”  But those invited make light of the situation.  “I’m too busy right now,” they say “I’ve got work to do and I can’t be bothered to take a break and celebrate with you.”  Some are even so tired of the invitations that they kill the messengers.  That seems a bit harsh doesn’t it?  Who are these people?

          Well, the king certainly thinks it’s harsh and responds in kind by sending not his slaves but his army to destroy those whom he had invited to the party. He responds to their rejection of him by burning down their city.  My goodness!  Makes you wonder where Jesus is going with this parable doesn’t it?!?

          The king now has his tables set for a party but no guests, so he sends his slaves back out, this time to invite everyone they meet.  So, the slaves head out and every person they see is invited to the banquet.  Rich and poor, weak and strong, beautiful and ugly, good and evil; everyone is invited to the party and everyone shows up.  The wedding hall is filled with guests.

          Now, this would be a lovely place to stop the story but when does Jesus ever stop a parable at a nice place?  The king comes into the party to find a man there not wearing a wedding robe.  He asks, “Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?”  The guest is speechless; he just stands there and stares slack jaw at the king.  The king’s reply is to “Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”  That’s not good.  And here Jesus adds his own two cents to the story “For many are called, but few are chosen.”  That doesn’t sound good either.

          I told you this was a tough one!  Let’s dig deeper.  If we connect this parable to the last one Jesus told about the landowner and the wicked tenants, we can guess that the king who throws the party is probably God and the king’s son is probably Jesus.  That is a pretty easy connection to make.  It is not uncommon to refer to Jesus as the bridegroom and the church as the bride and heaven as a great wedding feast.  We can find that theme in the scriptures as well as in the theology of the early church.

          So God is throwing a wedding party for his son Jesus and there is a list of invited guests.  People have received invitations; they have been chosen and invited by God to join in the party.  They have had prior warning about this event and have had a chance to mark their calendars.  The strange thing happens when those invited to the party say they can’t come at the last minute.  How many of us, if invited to a wedding change our mind at the very last minute because we are busy with work?  That doesn’t seem to be very common does it?

          But, let’s ask it another way.  How many of us want to claim a relationship with God but then when it comes down to it we make excuses in the end?  Oh yeah, I’m a Christian, until someone asks me to tithe, or asks to me to share my faith with others, or asks me to stand up for the little guy, or asks me to make a real change in my life for the sake of the gospel.  We want to be invited to God’s party, but when the invitation comes we find we actually are a lot like those in this parable.  When it comes down to it we are suddenly busy with work and family and other commitments. 

          Let’s move into the happy middle.  The king has his tables laden with bounty and he needs guests so he sends the slaves to gather everyone they find.  This is a wonderful story now.  Everyone on the street and in the alley is invited to this wonderful party and they all come.  The wedding hall is filled with guests both good and bad.  This image of gathering in all people brings to mind other parables Jesus tells like the wheat and the weeds, or the net that caught all kinds of fish.  The good and bad are present at the wedding banquet just as the good and bad are held together in the kingdom of God.  The kingdom of heaven will be full not of the people we expect, but of the people we think are least likely to be there.  Frankly, this is where I wish the parable ended.  This is where I find abundant grace.  But unfortunately for me, Jesus continues on.

          The king comes into the banquet and finds a fellow without the proper wedding attire and then throws him out into the outer darkness.  What is that about, and what is the wedding attire?  I’ve got to tell you that I found a lot of different answers to that question but none of them were really satisfying.  Some say the wedding attire is the baptism of Christ, or the righteousness of the saints, or the resurrected body, or a transformed life in Christ.  Could be anything!  And some say that the problem was not the fellow’s clothes but that he had no answer for the king and therefore he was not fruitful, drawing on our parable from last week. 

          What I think we can gather from this part of the story is that not all who believe themselves to be guests actually belong at the wedding banquet.  Some who think they are invited to the wedding, might have really been invited, but might show up in a state that nullifies their invitation.  Yes, you are invited to the banquet, but unless you respond properly to that invitation, say with a heart clothed in Christ, then you are not really welcome to the party.  How many people can you think of who think they have earned a trip to heaven for this or that reason but their lives don’t really show the fruits of their faith?  Maybe this is about them? 

          To take it further, maybe this is about us?  What makes us think we have what it takes to come to the party?  Sure we’ve been invited, but how have we really responded to that invitation?  Maybe this guy had responded to the invitation by coming to the party but not really in the proper spirit and that is what this wedding garment thing is all about.  Yes, we respond to the invitation of discipleship, but often not with the whole of who we are. 

          And so we end up with that last line from Jesus, “Many are called, but few are chosen.”  Many are called to the party, many are invited to the wedding banquet but few are chosen to actually be there.  We are all invited but in the end we don’t all measure up to the call of that invitation.

          This is one of those parables where grace rubs up against judgment.  We all love grace and it is wonderful to think that everyone, good and bad, is invited to the wedding party.  But there can be no grace without judgment.  And all of those parables about the good and bad together, from the wheat and the weeds to the fish in the net, end with a sorting out of who is good and who is bad.  So, it should be no surprise to us that eventually the king comes to the party and begins to throw out those who are not really worthy of being there.

          Now, I don’t know about you but this parable makes me uncomfortable.  It certainly upset the religious leaders that Jesus was telling it to.  After they heard Jesus say these things they immediately went out and plotted his death.  Is that what Jesus wanted?  I am still a bit stuck in the place of wondering why Jesus took it so far that day in the temple.

          I am going to guess that this parable makes you a little uncomfortable too.  I try not to have two heavy hitters in a row, but I think our multiple Sundays of offensive parables probably gives us a good idea of what it felt like to listen to Jesus in the temple that day.   You know me, and you know I preach grace ten times more than I preach judgment, but maybe some weeks it is good to be reminded that Jesus warns us that judgment is a part of this process. 

          We all have been invited to the wedding banquet of our Lord.  But things don’t simply end at the invitation.  We are invited into discipleship, but when the rubber meets the road we often make excuses about why we aren’t living the fullest Christian life possible.  When it comes down to it, whether I preach it or not, we will be judged by how we respond to God’s invitation.  And if that makes us uncomfortable, then maybe that’s a good thing.   While you might come to church every Sunday wanting a pat on the back, maybe what you really need some days is a kick in the rear.  This parable certainly does that.  “Here you are, you have been invited to the Lord’s party, now what are you going to do about it?” Jesus asks.  “For many are called, but few are chosen.”  Jesus certainly asks a lot of us.  By the grace of God, let us respond accordingly.  Amen.

Wicked Tenants

October 8^th, 2017         “Wicked Tenants”       Rev. Heather Jepsen

Matthew 21:33-46

          This morning’s parable continues where we left off last week.  Those that were here last Sunday will remember that Jesus is in his final days in Matthew’s gospel.  He has entered Jerusalem riding on a donkey, he has flipped the tables of the money changers, and he has been engaged in verbal conflict with the religious establishment.  Last Sunday they questioned Jesus’ authority to be preaching, teaching, and generally causing mayhem.  He replied with a parable questioning their authority reminding the religious leaders that it is not what you say that matters; rather it is how you actually live your life.  Jesus immediately follows that parable with this one.

          I see three levels of interpretation in this parable today.  The first is what I will consider the surface level of this text.  This parable is an allegory, and Jesus is using it to condemn the religious leaders of his time, and even times before.  The landowner at the center of the parable is God, and the tenants are the religious establishment.  God has created the world, like a vineyard, and has asked the tenants, or the church, to help look after the place. 

          Over and over God sends messengers to collect a harvest from the tenants and over and over again these messengers are rejected and even beaten.  In Jesus’ parable, these messengers are meant to be the prophets.  Throughout the Old Testament God sent prophets calling the people back to God’s ways.  But the people and the religious establishment repeatedly rejected these messengers from God, often killing them violently. 

          I am sure you can imagine where Jesus is going towards the end of the parable when finally the vineyard owner sends his very son to try to convince the wicked tenants to reform their ways.  This of course, is Jesus himself.  The writer of Matthew’s gospel then has Jesus foreshadow his own death by declaring that even this son will be killed.       

          In the story that Jesus is telling, he asks what should be done with these wicked tenants.  The religious leaders condemn the wicked tenants and in turn condemn themselves.  They declare that these tenants should be killed and that new tenants should be found.  Jesus once again has gained the upper hand as they begin to realize he is speaking about them and their religious authority.

          That is what I consider the surface reading of this parable; that is what Jesus is talking about in his context.  But, if we expand the frame a bit, we can begin to apply the parable to our own lives.  One way to look at this is as if the vineyard is the church and the tenants are the religious leaders and church authorities of today.  When we do this, we have to ask ourselves if the modern church have been good tenants or wicked tenants.

          How have we welcomed folks who bring the message of God into our midst?  Are we harvesting a good crop for the Lord?  Have we been responsible with the resources of the vineyard that the Lord has entrusted to our care?  A scripture reading like this asks the church to take into account every aspect of its life.  Are the sermons true to the message of Jesus Christ?  Is the welcome of strangers genuine or strained?  And how does the church’s budget reflect the values that Jesus encourages us to hold?

          The religious authorities in Jesus’ day missed the mark.  They had become people of the world, and had lost their ability to hear and recognize the word of God within their midst.  We too are in danger of such a fate.  And as Jesus warns, it is possible that God will remove us from our position as tenants, and install someone else who will better follow the will of God in our place.  This parable calls the church to some pretty serious self-reflection.

          A third way to read this parable is to expand the frame even further.  Beyond Jesus and his conflict with the temple, beyond the church and its responsibilities in the world, we can expand the frame to the whole of humanity.  The vineyard is the whole world created by God and the tenants are all of us together, who are asked to care for creation and for our neighbors.  Throughout history God has sent messengers to God’s people, requesting a harvest of love, and throughout history, the people have rejected these messengers. 

          When we look at things on this grand scale we are all condemned.  As tenants, the Lord placed us in creation to care for this planet.  And like wicked tenants we have soiled our very home in our continued desire to make money off the resources of the earth.  Like wicked tenants, we threaten death to the very vineyard we have been hired to care for.

          As tenants, the Lord placed us on this planet to love and care for each other.  Like wicked tenants, we have not produced a harvest of peace; rather we have produced a harvest of death and destruction.  From our continued war mongering between nations, to our inability to break down the barriers of racism and sexism we have been like wicked tenants.  When over 500 people are shot and we still cannot have a conversation about gun laws, we must admit that we are like wicked tenants in the Lord’s vineyard.  We do not value the life of this planet or the lives of the people of this planet as we are called to.

          In the parable that Jesus tells, God reaches out to the wicked tenants over and over again, attempting to get them to pay attention and reform their ways.  I believe that God continues to reach out to us as well.  There are always opportunities to act for justice, there are always opportunities to harvest righteousness and peace, and there are always opportunities to once again welcome the son into the vineyard.

          Jesus points out to the religious authorities of his day that what trips them up is the foundation stone.  Jesus compares himself, his model of love and self-sacrifice to the very stone that holds a building together, the cornerstone.  When the religious authorities and the people of the world reject Jesus and his message, they reject the very foundation of the building.  Without Jesus the building will not hold, without Jesus the foundation will fail, without Jesus we simply cannot stand.

          And yet Jesus is the very one that trips us up.  Like stubbing our toe on a rock, Jesus comes to us in unexpected and painful ways.  We get tripped up, when someone makes us nervous and we aren’t able to show the welcome we know we should.  We get tripped up when we try to call someone on a racist statement, but then end up in an argument instead.  We get tripped up when we mention putting some restrictions on gun purchases in this country, and suddenly we are in a place of all guns or no guns.  We get tripped up when we try to do the right thing, but it is so hard to stick your neck out there, and so we just sit back and be quiet instead.  We want to be good people and to do the right thing, but we get tripped up in the mess of our world, and so sometimes it’s easier to do nothing at all, and in doing so, we are like wicked tenants.

          In the story that Matthew is telling, the chief priests realize that they are the wicked tenants.  That realization makes them angry and afraid.  I think it can make us angry and afraid too.  In the story that Matthew is telling, the wicked tenants don’t reform their ways.  They are worried about the crowds but they are determined to shut Jesus up.  And so they begin to plot his demise.  They will live fully into the wicked tenant parable, by devising a strategy to get the crowds to support the murder of Jesus.  These wicked tenants are wicked to the end.

          We, on the other hand, are not the wicked tenants in Matthew’s gospel.  We still have a chance to work toward a proper harvest of justice and peace.  When the messengers of God come our way, we can continue to strive to welcome them with love.  When the spirit of Jesus calls us to stand up for what is right, to protect the dignity of all people of creation, then we have that chance to stand up.  We still have the chance to stand on the foundation stone and act in ways of faith and love in our world, even if it is scary and difficult.  And through God’s wondrous grace, we have the chance to be forgiven for all the times we may have messed up, all the times we got tripped up, and all the times we didn’t act the way we knew we should have.

          This week, as you go out into the world, I want to challenge you to consider yourself as a tenant.  God has created this good world for us to live in.  God has placed us here to care for creation and for each other.  God has told us through the scriptures, through the life of Jesus Christ, and through the work of the Holy Spirit, what is good.  We know what that foundation stone is and we can stand on it in strength together.  This week, survey the vineyard you live in, and consider the messengers God sends your way.  What kind of tenant will you be when the time of harvest comes?  Amen.

               

Just Do It!

October 1^st, 2017       “Just do it!”          Rev. Heather Jepsen

Matthew 21:23-32 and Philippians 2:1-13

          We will begin with our gospel reading and we can’t really jump into it this morning without going back a bit.  At this point in Matthew’s narrative Jesus is preparing for his death.  He has ridden into Jerusalem on a donkey and has been busy in the temple square.  He has overturned the tables of the money changers and has preached against the temple system.  He has been healing folks inside the grounds of the temple and has aroused cries of “Hosanna!” from among the people.  Basically, in the eyes of the temple authorities Jesus is causing some real trouble so when he enters the grounds for yet another day of holy mayhem they try to stop him with a question.

          “By what authority are you doing these things?” they ask.  How come you are making such a ruckus and who are you to be attracting so much attention?  Well, one should know better than to try to question Jesus.  There is no one more skilled at controlling a conversation and upending our line of thought than him.  Jesus refuses to answer their question, and in true rabbinical fashion he asks a question of his own.  “Did the baptism of John come from heaven or of human origin?”

          Ah, the trap is sprung and there is no escape now.  If the chief priests say John’s baptism was from heaven then they say John is legitimate and by proxy so is Jesus.  If they say it was from man they will surely lose the respect of the crowds who have grown quite fond of both the ministry of Jesus and John.  There is no winning, there is no way out, they are done for.  “We don’t know” they mumble under their breath.

          Now that he has secured the upper hand, Jesus uses this opportunity to needle them a bit further by telling a parable.  He takes us back to the metaphor of working in the vineyard by telling a story of a man with two sons.  He asks both to work in the vineyard for the day.  One says he will work but doesn’t go and work, by contrast the other says he won’t work but then in the end he does go and work.  I will forever think of this as the “Pig Will” and “Pig Won’t” parable.

          Jesus asks which one does the will of the Father and of course it was the one who went to work, rather than the one who simply said he would go and work.  Jesus teaches that when it comes to serving the Lord, what matters is not what you say but what you do.  Jesus then says that the tax collectors and prostitutes are headed into heaven before the religious leaders because they are the ones who believed the preaching of John and who also then believe in Jesus as the Messiah.  The temple authorities are stunned.  Prostitutes in heaven before them, that hurts!

          Jesus’ encounter with these guys reminds us that our faith is not about what we say; it is about what we do.  Our faith is not about reciting the proper creeds or having the proper belief system.  It’s not about who reads the Bible right or how exactly our church polity works.  No, our faith is only ever about how we live our lives, not just on Sunday mornings but all the other days of the week. 

          If we are followers of Christ, it will be shown by our actions, not by our professions of faith.  The temple authorities spent days on end professing the correct faith, but their actions showed that they didn’t really believe in what they were saying.  In the end, it is not what we say that matters, it is what we do.  Which makes me think of that old Nike slogan: when it comes to our faith don’t just say it, “Just do it!”

          So what should we do, what does Christian living look like?  Let’s turn to Paul.  Here we are jumping into Paul’s letter to the church in Philippi.  This is widely considered to be Paul’s most affectionate letter.  He is writing it as an expression of friendship to a church he truly loves.  And yet, like any church then or now, there is a bit of conflict in the ranks and it is this that Paul seeks to address.

          The “if” in verse one can also be translated as “since” which might make this a better reading.  “Since there is encouragement in Christ, consolation from love, sharing in the Spirit, compassion and sympathy” since there are all these forms of love and unity “then make my joy complete by being of one mind in Christ.” 

          Paul encourages the Philippians to be of one mind as a church.  Coming to a common mind is about letting go of the importance of our own opinions as an act of selflessness for the sake of unity in Christ.  They should let go of selfish ambition and conceit, and instead regard others as better than themselves.  He asks them to look not to their own individual interests, but to look to the interests of others.  Don’t do what’s best for you or what you think is right, he says, instead do what is best for the group. It’s not what you say that matters, it’s what you do, and what you should do is work toward the building up of others.

          Where did Paul get such a kooky idea?  From Christ of course!  “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus,” he tells them.  He then launches into what appears to be a long poem but which scholars actually think was a hymn.  In fact, it is commonly thought that Paul is quoting one of the favorite hymns of the Philippian church.  This is a great tool to get the Philippians’ attention and make his point.  It would be as if I started quoted the words from “Amazing Grace” in a sermon of mine.  That would certainly stir the song in your heart and wake you up to my message.  Paul wants to wake the people of Philippi up to the message that they should be imitators of Christ, who though he was in the form of God, emptied himself and became a slave. 

          As believers, we understand who God is from God’s self-revelation to us.  Throughout the scriptures we read of God’s acts on behalf of others.  From the days of creation to bringing the exiles out of Egypt, from sending the prophets to sending John to baptize in the Jordan, from Christ’s work of healing to his death on a cross, all of God’s acts are done on behalf of others.  If the same mind is to be in us that was in Christ Jesus, than that should be a mind of servitude, a mind of self-sacrifice, a mind that is focused on the good of the other rather than the self. 

          This is World Communion Sunday, one of my favorite Sunday’s in the life of the church.  Today we remember that while we physically gather as Christians in Warrensburg Missouri, we spiritually gather with Christians all over the world.  As our country continues to struggle over issues of patriotism and nationalism, as well as our promise of liberty and justice for all, it is good to be reminded that at this table, in this church, our focus shouldn’t be on being American.  Rather, our focus should be on our status as citizens of the world, part of God’s big family of humanity. 

          As Christians we are called to work for peace in our world, recognizing that all God’s children have a right to peace and safety.  This call necessitates the self-emptying love of Christ.  We cannot be a people of peace, and we cannot be a nation of peace, if we are constantly pushing our own beliefs and desires ahead of the basic needs of other people.  We cannot be a people of peace if we are a nation that threatens violence to those who disagree with us.

          When we gather at the table we remember that Christ is our model.  Christ, though in the form of God, emptied himself and was born into human likeness.  Christ humbled himself to the point of death on a cross.  God lifted Christ high in exaltation through the resurrection.  And God promises that one day all will confess that this one, this suffering servant, this Jesus Christ, is Lord. 

          As you move out from this worship service today and into the world around you I want to encourage you to think about these lessons from Jesus and Paul.  In a nation that is struggling to find the balance between nationalism and justice, how can we act in ways that promote the shared dignity of all people as children of God?  In a nation that continues to threaten violence, how can we act in ways that promote peace in our community and in our world?  Instead of just professing our faith, how can we live out our faith by lifting up the needs of others above our own?  Jesus tells us that it in the end it is not what we say that matters, it is what we do.  My prayer for us this week is that we would live lives worthy of his name and “just do it!”  Amen.