ìMy sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me; and I give them eternal life.î (John 10: 27-28) Those whom God has foreknown, elected, and decreed, he has also called.î (Romans 8: 29-30)
The upshot of the Reformation culminated in the theological document, The Formula of Concord of 1580 which speaks extensively in Article XI on Godís divine election or call, the underlying theme of these three readings we can hear today. As I read through this article on our calling or election by God (or predestination) it seems we Lutherans are very close to John Wesley in his similar understanding of the call God extends to every believer in Jesus Christ, to be with God, in Godís presence (heaven). God has loved us before the beginning of the world, before we could do any good! And God sends the Holy Spirit through the Word, Jesus Christ who creates in us everything for our conversion.
    Some of us think of a call as something associated with becoming an ordained minister in particular; however, all of us who have repentedóturned around 180 degrees with Godís help and march toward life in the Spirit and believing Jesus Christ are called to be with God, no matter what our vocation is, our job, our volunteer work, householder, unemployed, etc. And contrary to todayís lessons, not all who hear Godís call listen to it, or willfully despise them, harden their ears or their hearts which keeps the Holy Spirit from its work in us.
 Letís look more closely at the people we read about today who are called to be Godís own.
    The first lesson shows us a picture of a pre-teen boy who lives in a world much like today, where Godís voice and words can barely be heard above the din of television and disco music. Our God-given vision is gone. So in this setting, when the boy, Samuel, who his mother promised to serve God in exchange for her answered prayer, hears Godís voice, he doesnít recognize it. He thinks it is coming from his teacher and director at the Temple, Eli.
    How often have you or I discounted Godís voice in the words of truth or judgment, because we could not recognize them? In World War II, our senses prevented us from seeing and believing Nazis were exterminating over six million people in Germany, despite known government reports to the contrary that in many ways our government failed to act on. Here, the Nazis chose the Jews as a scapegoatóa human and secularized corruption of selection based on racial selection and superiority. The KKK operates the same way: theyíre ìthe chosen to rule all races.î Or when the State Department failed to give the whole story to the California senator by describing the known collusion of Jim Jones with the Guyana government to smuggle guns and drugs into Jonestown and on the part of the lawyer who knew the cult practiced by coercion the suicide drills. Anyway, he was their lawyer, not one hired to find the truth, but to defend a client, Jim Jones, from bad publicity.
    Well, likewise, Samuel had been working hard in the temple, opening the doors in the morning, saying prayers, helping with the sacrifices, while the priests (who were Eliís sons) were taking the best parts of the food sacrifice before they were sacrificed to God and burned. And they slept with the female slaves of the temple. They were corrupt, selfish, and Eli1 allowed this corruption to continue, to the debasement and anger of God. So Samuel was also in the middle of a cover-up which he saw every day, and no one did anything about itónot even his teacher, Eli. Naturally, it would be difficult for him to hear Godís voice through such corruption and insensitivity. But little Samuel continued to serve God each day as best he could, because his mother promised and raised him to be Godís servant.
 The upshot of the first lesson is that Eli recognized Godís voice and tells Samuel what to say to God, that, he was Godís servant, and he would listen to God.
    Samuel followed Godís command and told Eli Godís plan, which came true, and Samuelís call to serve God was recognized by the people as that of a prophet.
    What can we learn about Godís call from the example of Samuel? Even though Samuel didnít recognize Godís voice when he heard it, he had been trained and disciplined in service to God in the temple, so when the hour arrived, he was ready for the revelation of God! If going to church is just a habit, if we donít practice private devotions and learn about Godís love for us, or get renewed in the Spirit by reading Godís Word, each of which leads us to spiritual growth, we may not be prepared when God gives us the truth, and plan for us. We wonít even recognize it if we are actually told by someone we trust, like Eli, even by God. If we donít respond, or canít recognize and respond to Godís call and plans for us, we canít begin to respond and affirm it in our living. The call will be lost to us for the moment, though God keeps trying to reach us. But, if we can prepare and be ready to see and hear when God comes, we can respond to God and answer, ìHere I am, your servant, you called me, and I am listening.î
    Samuel was an extraordinary server of God from the outset. His mother and Eli had prepared him, directed him to follow and serve God. Yet, there was hope for Eli and his two sons (priests) who God also called until they really botched it up, and God could do nothing else but put an end to their broken promises and corruption.
    Those of us who follow Jesus may not have  had parents to direct us toward God, to provide for our training, or who are ordinary fishermen like the disciples. The Gospels also experience Godís call, in spite of our situation, our status, our finances, our education, aspirations and goals, our visions. Because Godís call comes to us not because of our merit, our progenitors, politics, church, race, sex, nation, our contacts and associates, but because God loves us so much. Letís look at some of the disciples for a better illustration of whom God calls.
    Nathaniel, for example, is devout, yes, but heís also cautious, a bit stubborn and curiousóa very real person. He questions that anyone from Nazareth, including Jesus Christ, could amount to anything because he knows the town, its people, and the rivalry with his city, Bethesda. Heís narrow and bigoted, intellectually difficult, but he decides to believe in Jesus who knows what Nathaniel is like underneath: sincere, enlightened, dedicated to God as he studies under the tree where Jesus saw him. Nathaniel, was overwhelmed by Jesusí perception, acknowledges Jesus as Godís own and King of Israel. And God knows us as intimately as this; what we really are down deep. But you and I might think twice before we would select someone like Nathaniel to learn from us, or be our friend and follower.
On the other hand, Philip, the first disciple to be called, according to the Gospel of John, brought Nathaniel, and instead of arguing with him, about Jesus, told him to ìcome and see.î Philipís faithfulness helped Nathaniel to meet and accept Jesus. Philip offers us a model of faith like Samuel who needs Godís call to follow, and bring others along to Jesus. You and I can use Philip as our model, inviting others to Immanuelóto our shepherd group, our home.
 Another disciple, Andrew, brother of Simon, called Peter, is another Johnine disciple  and is undeveloped in the Synoptic Gospels. He is similarly open enough to leave John the Baptists, his teacher, to repent and to recognize Jesus as the Messiah, even though he was a Jew. He is open to new light, pliable, teachable, and accepts the truth when it comes, and shares it with others. Heís the first evangelist of the Gospel of John, a wholehearted disciple who is attached to Jesus and the Good News of the Kingdom of God. Andrew is the model of openness to Godís Spirit and truth, who lets this lead him, and not just his own prejudices and opinions.
    Peter, his brother, who he introduces to Jesus, is the most prominent of the disciples in the Synoptic Gospels. But in the
Gospel of John, his warm heart and giftedness comes out of his initiative, quick action, and vigorousness. Heís like all of us who deny Jesus, even when we are the most staunch supporter, even a spokesperson for our church, like he was for the disciples. He shows us the pathos we too experience, despite our dedication to God.
    These people who were followers and learners of Jesus Christ, who were disciples and apostles, show us God. We share much in common, and Jesus Christ selected them to be apostles, to go on a mission to spread the Gospel.. God has chosen human beings to be the carriers of Good News. This reality check gives us a sense of relief, that we are as human as the disciples! We are free to be who we are! However, even if God has selected and called us or predestined us before the foundation of the world were laid (Eph. 1:4), and since God can never fail, nor can I change Godís salvation; Some think we can do no harm if we do everything we want in this freedom.
    The second lesson in 1 Corinthians speaks directly to this point. Although we have the freedom to do what ever we want, not everything we do is good! Some things are even harmful land lead to slavery. Luther says we must love God first, and then we can ìsin boldlyî if we keep our love for God in the forefront of all our actions. We have but one God, and God is our only true lover who we commune with and are joined physically and spiritually to Godís body. Our body is Godís and what we do with it isnít our private matter alone, but affects the intimacy, the completeness, and the relationship and union with God. God created our whole being. First Corinthians helps us make ethical decisions in the life we lead as called followers of Jesus. Following God involves not only our soul and spirit, but our bodies.
Today, you and I are given hope that we can hear when God calls our name, no matter who we are, or what we do. As human beings, we want to affirm our call to be Godís own, despite our foibles, our strengths, and weaknesses, we are assurred by  God's unconditional love, just like the disciples and apostles. Amen

     Iíve had my first experience with death this week, and Iím trying to struggle with it, and work out itís meaning. This Sunday sermon is an attempt to do this.
 She was lying there in the hospital bed. Voices were subdued. I didnít recognize Jan (not her name). Her eyes were closed partially, she saw no one, not even me, her friend. Her breathing was heavy, labored. Her skin sallow in color. Two days ago, she was walking around, now she is hemorrhaging, the tube in her nose and the gentle click of the vacuum; her life-blood was draining away.
    She told me she was thankful God had granted her 30 years to live since her operation. Her prayer to see her children grow up was answered. She spoke about her life experiences, and I had listened. Yet, I could not accept what I saw. In disbelief, I couldnít take my eyes away from searching her once familiar and life-filled face, her open lips moved only by her rushing breath. Was she in pain? No, her husband said.
    She was being called to rest from her weariness, away from her sickness, and she wouldnít suffer any longer. But, I didnít want it to happen so soon! Why didnít I see her more often? Why didnít I see her before this? Were there words I left unsaid? She left unsaid? Death, you thief! Oh God, is this what you want...? My guilt, my blaming God was a revolt at her almost lifeless form, a death that would take away a pillar of our church. How unfair, how horrible of you, Sir Death, to witness your work. Whose victory is it, really? Deaths? Janís? A release? God says weíll have a new body, a new closeness to God who will never leave us. But death feels like defeat, something to fight, not a victory.
    The ebb and flow of life and death weaves a strong pattern in our life experiences. How can this story of Janís life and death help us understand Godís call to life? Are there similarities? Is it true, the paradox, that by loosing our life for Christís sake, we gain it?
    We realize when God speaks, He calls us right now. Like death, it is always unexpected, inconvenient, a thief right in the middle of what we are doing. And we canít ignore it, but have to deal with it, accept or reject it. In the Gospel for today, Jesus makes the first call of his ministry to busy workers who are fishing. And they drop what they are doing and follow Jesus!
    Yet in the inconvenience and sureness of Godís call, we more likely want to deny it than to seek it at first. We are not prepared for God to see us and to ask us to follow. But Godís call to new life requires an answer. We say, does it have to be right now? Or, we respond with denial, with anger, with guilt because we have things to do first. Donít rush me, Lord! Isnít there another time, a better time? And sometimes God will allow our prayer.
 If you saw the light-hearted movie, ìHeaven Can Wait,î Warren Beaty stars as the football hero who meets a confused Gabriel after a fatal crash and is called to heaven before Godís scheduled time. Heís given a chance to live temporarily as a bright executive until they rectify the mistake and relocate him in a new life. He agrees to go, like Faust, whenever they find the right person for his new life, whenever and whatever that might be.
    However, he gets so wrapped up in his multinational business, a new love, and football, that he almost renigs his promise when Gabriel gives him the ìhighî sign. Beatty cleverly uses every humorous possible means to ignore and escape from the inevitable call. We laugh at his humanness because it is ours. We have a family to take care of, business that demands all of our time. We are so involved with the daily details of living, we canít afford to commit ourselves, to let go, leaving family, country, friends and put these in Gods hands when he calls. But this is just what Andrew, Peter, James and John do. ìAt once, they leave their nets and follow Jesus.î Not a word, no debate, no bargaining, no hesitancy!
    Now Warren Beatty is a confident, though unwilling believer, who eventually complies. However, there are others of us who are not confident, could not make a promise to follow God, who feel unworthy to accept Godís love. Somehow, our pride wants us to ìgo it aloneî and save ourselves, ignoring Godís help to fight Him on our own terms.
    In our lesson today, the prophet Jonah was just such a reluctant follower. He tried every which way he could to go it alone, to get away from God, to ignore the call to save Ninevah. This proved fruitless, so he took God at his word, did what he was told, and the people became immediate converts! Yet Jonah was not as trusting and resolute as these pagans!
 God knows we are sometimes like Jonah, just as human and as weak a vessel to carry the precious Good News of New Life to our brothers and sister. We donít need to prove our worthiness for God to trust us and God is patient.
To take this point a little further, Jesus calls Peter and the others to be disciples. Peter, the rock, and most popular and well-known follower of Jesus Christ ends up denying Jesus. Can we expect more of ourselves than impulsive Peter?
 ìAt once they left their nets and followed Jesus!î When God calls us, we are in the middle of our every day life, taken up with it, at home, at work, watching the Superbowl, and this is comforting. We donít have special preparations, to be in church, or a ìreligious personî to experience Godís call. There is no preparation to be called a disciple. It is in Godís hands to mold us, to teach us, to discipline us. Godís love acts without thinking about who or what we are, not judging our ethics. Can our response, out act of love to God,be as basic and simple like those of the busy fishermen? If we only knew who it was that was calling us and what we would miss by denying the opportunity for new life, life more abundant, weíd accept without hesitation, with no comment, no momentís notice to anyone, without quibbling, without bargaining, because it is God who calls us, God our Lover, our Protector and Comforter!
    Death is a paradox to us Christians. We despise and hate it, fear it, yet it comes at inappropriate times for most of us. But we find life by letting go in a kind of personal death, by letting God take over our lives for his own use. Death is swallowed up in victory! ìOh Death, where is thy victory, Oh Death, where is thy sting?î Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ. And we will live and serve our Creator the rest of our days! Amen

 Are you a runner? Jogging is popular, as are other sports to reduce our buldges, make us coordinated, feel healthy, reduce stress and anxiety, so we can sleep and relax, etc. But some of us, maybe many of us, canít run either for health reasons, or because we only run in good weather, we have no energy, or no one to run with, or show us how. Maybe we donít have the proper equipment and we get shin splints, or no safe place to run, or weíre just basic procrastinators. Or maybe we are more interested in other social or aesthetic ways of keeping ourselves healthy by diet, or with other exercises such as yoga, dance, cross-country skiing, disco dancing, tennis, bicycling, skate boarding, transcendental meditation, etc. The aim of these various regimens and practices is personal improvement. And if we are going to benefit, we need to be fully committed to this purpose.
    In the second lesson today, we read how Paul uses this metaphor of running, and he challenges us, how good a runner are you? (The Greco-Roman world was much like ours with its emphasis on sports and game, and Paul probably was a spectator at these events.) He asks us if we have any self-discipline, if we evaluate how effective we are, and if we are following routines. Our first reaction, like members of the Church of Christ, might be ìBut I want the freedom to do my thing.î and if I can ìdo my thingî everything will "fall into place, naturally."
    Another important point Paul is making, about running the race of life in Verse 27, illustrates Paulís motivation as an apostle. Paul has a purpose for this self-discipline. He knows what heís aiming at because he has a vision. He was given a vision in the middle of his running to put down the Christian movement within Judaism.
    The question of "how good a runner are we," becomes, ìWhat are we running after?î What is at the center of our quest? For what purpose do we run? Each of us, like Paul, needs to reflect upon the motivation behind the feat amount of activity we generate each day. The Greeks and Romans of Paulís day would say they were seeking for wisdom and knowledge as well as excellence. These seem to be enviable and laudable purposes to us. (And like the runner, we know that the prize is a perishable, though desirable, victory, a victory where only one can win, and the rest loose. To the victor goes the spoils! No matter how we go about gaining the victory, the advantage, we deserve the victory because of all the hard effort we put into our strivings.) However, the Corinthians, in their quest for wisdom and knowledge, didnít want to share it except with their friends. This Gnostic influence in the early Christian Church put some Christians above others. If we know more than other people, we are justified by our knowledge. This gives power and authority to do what we want, and of course, ìwinning is everythingî said the late coach Vince Lombardi. In this kind of race, only one team, one person out of all who participate, can win the prize in a contest of competition. There has to be losers. And we deserve the victory because of all the hard labor weíve invested, and the knowledge and wisdom we possess.
 But something is missing from such a picture of life. Why are we created? (To beat and flail the air with out arms like a shadow boxer?" Paul says. If we are gong to run the face of life, we need a trainer, and ultimate criterium, a purpose to know if our running path is straight to the mark. Like Paul, our lives have been touched by God on our busy way down the Damascus road. God becomes habit forming. Like Paul, we get our highs from Godís love, not of virulence and muscle building alone. Life takes on new meaning and vibrancy a purpose. We live for God!
 What kind of runners were our lesson from? The Gospel for today shows us a leper, a man who was unclean and very uncertain about this Jesus. His words to Jesus were very tentative, ìIf you will.î If God wills it, we will have a better job, etc. We want to think God has our best interest at heart as our  Trainer. But we often act as if your leprosy will keep us from Godís love, that we have to prove ourselves worthy, weíre not sure of Godís love: God has a whim to love us sometimes and other times God doesnít, so we think.
 The Gospel continues, ìmoved with pity, He stretched out His hand and touched him.î In the midst of our own doubt about ourselves, our uncleanness, our unworthiness, Jesus touches us. (No matter how dirty or revolting our little balls of dirt inside), Jesus makes it okay to have it; reaches out and says, ìI will, be clean.î And we are healed by Godís touch and word. Our wounds become healed, and like the leper, we cannot contain our joy! We have to share it. Love is the best motivator we can receive. We love God because God first loved us.
 Sometimes, we think we have to appease God, to buy this love. The Old Testament lesson causes us to think about Naaman, who also was unwell, andunclean. If we were to price the items to be brought along to the king to heal him, they would cost $80,000! We want to gain Godís favor, an offer, a bargain, an agreement that if God will only do us this one favor, we will do something in return.
 With this sure fire plan in mind, Naaman sets out to the king, the one in authority, the only authority he knew that could do him any good. This was Naamanís trainer.
 In all his finery, his horses and chariots, Naaman sets out on his plan to be healed. But the king canít help him; further, the king sends a prophet, who fails to make a big who for Naamanís benefit. He wants the pair to ìCome out to me, and stand...and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place...î What, must I go to that muddy water of the Jordan River? That wouldnít look good with my purple robe and finery.The crowds would know I have been humiliated, that I wasnít the winner in Godís sight. These other rivers of my home are so beautiful. Arenít they better suited for me? What is God trying to prove? I have my pride to consider, because I am the kingís commander, great in wars. Iím successful, influential. Would God humiliate me so?
 What might seem an apparent slap in the face to us by God ends up to be the very means we become healed. The paradox is that God takes us as we are, in spite of ourselves and heals usómakes us real winners. Naaman didnít have to pay $80,000. Why must we? When Jesus had already paid so dearly for us with his life? Why do we struggle so to earn our way? The guarantee that we have victory in lifeís race comes from our one and loving trainer, Jesus Christ. This is the kind of kingdom that saves us all. Amen

    ìDoctor! Doctor! Is there a doctor in the house?î These words send a chill up and down our spines because we know that someone is in dire need of medical helpóright away. If you or I were medically trained, weíd rush to offer aid, in spite of the possibility of lawsuits, etc. In the gospel for today, Jesus tells his critics as he dined with the sinner and the outcasts, that those who are sick have need of a physician; yet he doesnít call the respectable people, but outcasts and sinners. In fact, respectable people donít even know they need God! The religious leaders were particularly nonplused because Jesus not only dined with known cheats and crooks and seemly people, he actively sought them out! These people want a doctor, they need healing, and they know it, or they wouldnít have come to the banquet table to eat with Jesus.
 You and I may call for a doctor when we need healing, and to God, the one we have to go to, and the other comes at the drop of the hat! Yet there are some of us who never call for a doctor, and Jesus doesnít come! Some of us think we are never sick enough to need a doctor, and we continue on until a crisis brings us to our senses and to God. We may venture to say this morning that those of us who deny we are sick are worse off than those who know they are! How can God help us until we know that we need Godís healing love? God is waiting in the wings for our signal. Your love for me is fickle, like the morning mist. I want your constant love as I have for you, not your ceremonies and public rituals for appearance sake. Some of us may fall into this category of Christian faith. When the sun comes out, we vanish. And when our faith in God vanishes, we feel lonely, isolated, and even angry to the point of justifying our faithlessness. We are still good, okay people, even though we donít go to church! How strong is our faith? Are our religious and personal scruples beginning to get in the way? For example, Iíd like to know how many of us would come to church this morning if we knew that this congregation were mainly black people? Or female or gay people, or gigolos and prostitutes? You and I would not find it difficult to justify our way out of coming here!
    But Jesus would be here! He is seeking out all people of the world who hear his voice and follow.What does it matter how gross our sin is, except that we know we need healing! ìI come to those who are sick,î Jesus says.
 Letís look again at the Gospel. Matthew the tax collector is called by Jesus to be a disciple! He's that ìrip-offî of our hard earned money! Heís skimmed off the top for his own profit, to give away to some dictator in South America, or to vote against a code of ethics for controlling advertising of infant formula. Yet Matthew, who has been there, knows he needs a physician like Jesus.
    Recently, I spoke with a man whose niece was in the intensive care unit of St. Maryís Hospital, after a car crash in which her husband was killed. He called me one evening because he needed help; he couldnít visit his niece because he wasn't of the immediate family. He dearly wanted to send his familyís greetings to her and see how she was doing. He confessed he used to go to church and that sometimes it takes a crisis to steer us back to God and the church. I assured him it was never too late.Since then his niece has improved and he has a new lease on life. We know when we need Godís help.
    The prophet Hosea wrote in todayís lesson of the reverse situation where Israel was insincere in its need for healing, pretending to know God and to be righteous in their faith. They have failed to understand that God is a Passionate Lover. Whoever leaves God is compared to the mist of the morning that leaves once the sun rises and clears and burns away. They say, "if we just try to have a little faith, God will come back to us. After all, it was God who got us into this mess in the first place! Heíll revive and heal us!" And God throws up His hands and says, ìWhat will I do with you now? I canít do anything more than I have (Verse 4).
 If Jesus were concerned about appearances, He wouldnít have called Matthew. Indeed, our need to keep up appearances insulates us from the rest of humanity and from our own healing as well as theirs. Out of our faith I spoke of earlier, arises an island of isolation, suspicion, rejection, and fear. We have no need of others, especially people like "them!" And our rejection only serves to confirm and sustain a judgment of social ostracism, making their sinóand yes, our sinóetched in stone.
    Rather, Matthew saw a better way in Jesus and followed him immediately, in a conversion of turning away from his money business to be a student, open to Jesus, and to follow Him wherever He went, and to go with the other sinners and outcasts along with Jesus.
    Where did Jesus take Matthew and the rest of the sinners? To a banquet! Those of us who feel like outcasts have a banquet ready and waiting. There are a lot of us sinners around. We stick together, and sit together! We sit around the table with the Lord in hope. In fact, we represent the hope of the world! The hope that says the old world and its sickness is pastóthat we eat and drink to a world which is now dead. And that we celebrate the birthday of a new world in Jesus Christ.
    The scope of Godís love is the whole world, and so we would put away the idea that we are the only ones privileged to be healed by Jesus. Our church does not belong to us alone, it belongs to all those who know they need to be healed, who might not be respectable in our eyes. I want your constant love, says God, not your ceremonies and public rituals and personal scruples for appearance's sake! I come to heal everyone who knows they need me! Amen

    A rose has thorns. For all the beauty we enjoy from the petals of the rose, the color radiating from its center, and the fragrance we smell even now, the beauty of the rose is protected by thorns. If we arenít aware of those thorns, weíll get pricked.
    Jesus offers to give us a rose in todays Gospel, a rose with thorns, even a two-edged sword! Will we accept it even if we get pricked? Jesus came to bring a sword, not an easy and peaceful life! And some of us will gladly grab that rose without realizing what we have in our hands. Yet the peace and the beauty we seek, like our faith, comes at a high price, because following Christ demands honesty and loyalty to Him above even parents, or best friends, or above spouses!
    You and I may have picked many thorny roses on a number of occasionsóto our own growth an"d development. Maybe your well-off father or mother violently opposed your career in a social service because you werenít taking over the family business. Or parents all but disowned you when you did not become a member of their only true faith. Or you decided to step out into the world through a non-traditional job by joining the armed forces. Your friends say that ìnice girls donít join the service,î but you go anyway.
    Thus, if we were the usually peace-loving people who are more concerned with loyalty to others and to what others think, we might never experience the freedom and adventure of enjoying those thorny roses sent our way.Rather, we choose the fake plastic flowers others give and we somehow donít always know the difference. Certainly, we can take into consideration the feelings and opinions of others as long as Christ is the first concern in our lives, rather than the love of the views of those around us.
    God is not demanding and uncompromising. We must follow him above those around us! No tie, however tender, must keep us from fidelity to the Lord and His love. For example, single people like me and others who never married, are separated or divorced or widowed rely very heavily upon our family and friends for support and affection in our aloneness.We are tempted to move wherever our friend moves, because ìwe donít know what to do without themî I not only had good friends in Madison, I owned a home and still do. When I began my journey toward the ordained ministry some years ago, and if I had stayed with my gut feelings of remaining comfortably with my roots in Madison, I would not have left for school a state away, become a student again after working for awhile, and risk having no job after four years of study. I took a hold of Godís thorny rose bouquet anyway. Oh yes, there were times I thought I had made a mistake and I couldnít see the purpose behind difficulties. But you know, I fund so much strength through these times I know it wasn't always mine, but the Lordís. God supported me through new friends who listened and who laughed and cried with me. I am much more assured now than ever that God provides for our every need and that knowledge that gives us the freedom to strike out even more and follow wherever Jesus leads us without fear of loneliness or failure.
    Jesus met bitterness in his own home and he was at odds with his mother and sisters and brothers. Though Jesusí gift is peace, it is not by compromise, or evasion, or complacency, but by strife. Real peace comes by grappling with the twisted order of things, and the twisted values of those around us which create the world of trouble we live in and observe from our television screens and newspapers.
 Watch out for the false predictions of peace at any cost from people like the prophet Hananiah in our lesson! He predicted peace was coming to Israel in two yearsóit never came. Even though we heard from Jeremiah that God desired their continued slavery in Babylon, Hananiah could not see God working in this difficult life. And in times of adversity, we are quickly persuaded. But when deceivers actually describe release from present horrors, then we sufferers abandon ourselves to expectations. So Hananiah probably allowed himself to be influenced by the people around him who wanted easier living. Hananiah distorted the will of God because he was unwilling to proclaim a difficult message like Jeremiah, a message of the thorny rose.
 On the other hand, those of us like Jeremiah, who risk a comfortable living, are promised a reward of a little part of heaven starting right now! ìWhoever does not take up his cross and folow in my steps is not fit to be my disciple...but whoever loses ones life for my sake will gain itî Jesus says. Imagine a beautiful Monarch butterfly setting in your hand, flexing its wings in preparation for flight. That butterfly is so beautiful, you want to keep it forever. So you quickly close your fingers around it, loosing its form and its life in the palm of your hand. If we hoard money, we will loose it. If we hard our health, we will become hypochondriacs. If I clutch my life, I will loose it. But when we let loose of life, take risks for Christís sake, and enjoy the thorny rose, we will find a part of heaven!
 And yet, all of us arenít able to be the prophet or the messenger or spokesperson for God, but we do know others who are, who we can welcome into our homes and lives. We are then accepting Jesus! ìWhoever welcomes you, welcomes me; whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me.î Thus, we are rewarded through your service the same way as the prophet or the preacher or the selfless ones who loose their friends, their jobs, or reputations for others or Jesusí sake.
 William Blakely tells the story of a young person in the country who reaches the ministry after a great struggle. During the days of study, she had a helper in the village cobbler. The cobbler was a person of wide reading and thinking, and he had done much for the youngster. Finally, the young woman was licensed to preach. On that day the cobbler said to her, ìIt was always my desire to be a minister of the gospel, but circumstances of my life made it impossible. But you are achieving what was closed to me. And I want you to promise me one thing: I want you to let me make and cobble your shoesófor nothingóand I want you to wear them in the pulpit when you preach, and then Iíll feel you are preaching the gospel that I always wanted to preach standing in my shoes.î The cobbler was serving God as the preacher was and his reward will one day be the same.
 Those of us who share our life of Godís roses stick together and serve together, and weíll truly share the heavenly reward together! Amen

 You and are are oppressed, whether we realize it or not, by a yoke of fear and anxiety and demands that other people make upon us. And itís heavy! Weíre under the yoke of citizenship in this country, its lawsóincluding taxesóof living under a new administration; and a yoke that makes money more important than the individual worth of people.
 But the heaviest yoke of our oppression that threads through all of this is evil! The heaviest burden we carry around with us day to day that weighs us down, that discourages us and makes us sluggish is the evil and sinful nature of life. In fact, evil or the devil often have a face, a body and a Social Security number! Satan is real! And alive!
 This week one person told me her son was beaten up by a police officer: he received facial cuts and back bruises, and he had emergency treatment. Patrol cars were ordered to hold back the upset crowd. The boy hadnít spoken or otherwise provoked the officer! This kind of evil is rarely found in our experience unless we live in the ghetto. We arenít immune to evil knocking on our door and pushing its way into our lives. The high rate of personal and violent crime makes us fearful when weíre unaccompanied on the streets. We cannot selectively shut our eyes to the violence and crime in our midst any more than we can choose to ignore doing anything about it!

 The yoke of despair I see in our elders through medical rip-offs and medical mediocrity that seem to take advantage of their situation. I visit couples and retirees who have given up on getting well or on their ailment treated properly. They may receive yet another prescription of over-medication because their complaint is just ìin their head.î Or doctors donít give them the time of day to explain their condition nor answer their questions. Rather, the physician will make another appointment, or call in expensive specialists, collecting another fee, than admit they don't know what is wrong. The discouragement of the patient dwindles into despair, along with their diminishing funds.
 I am also struck by the relationships between parents and children that can be another heavy yoke. Some parents have so many expectations of their children because they themselves are still children emotionally. They expect perfection because they havenít grown up, or they want to live their own dreams through them. And they havenít learned to forgive, especially themselves. They still like to blame others for their own difficulties and making the other one responsible, especially their children! The psychological and physically battered and maladjusted child is a product of manipulating and blaming and fearfulóunloving parents. Studies show the child will do the same to its own children, unless the cycle can be broken by the church, the school, or loving neighbors.
 I have to admit that my seminary training lulled me into an intellectual understanding of life, as if life were contained in the correct Christian doctrine or theological vocabulary. We did so much of this kind of class work, to the neglect of our lives and of those around us. I would not feel as prepared for the work in any parish if I had been 15 years younger! Your sharing with me continues to make me more aware of the life struggles that affect us all.
 Evil oppresses us with a yoke that weighs us down even with each generation. The wages of lost time from injury, alcoholism, illness and crime graft cost to the government budget of millions of dollars and costs to us, too. The Hebrews knew what this captivity to a yoke was like. They were made into slaves for 70 years, and were looking for release which Zechariah promises in the first lesson. Like them, we need to find justice from our condition, strength for our weakened knees, and courage to fight the evil that wants to choke out our very life!
 Yet evil is not only all around us, it is within us! Evil divides and confuses our own lives. As St. Paul writes today: ìI do not understand my own actions. For I do not want but I want, but I do the very thing I hate...I can will what is right, but I cannot do it...It is no longer I that do it, but sin which dwells within me. Another law (or yoke) is at war in me! Who will deliver me from this body of death?î
 Paulís good news to us is the same as Zechariahís3: ìLo, your king comes to you; triumphant and victorious is he...to set your captives free from the pit, O prisoner of hope!...I will restore you double.î
 We are restored from the yoke of sin by Christ who helps us turn abuse of authority into justice for each of us who helps our elders and their care, and who helps parents not to take their problems out on their children, and who helps pastors and the church deal with real life issues. Jesus come to take that heavy yoke from our necks and transforms it into a well-fitting yoke that wonít chafe and bloody us. The presence of Jesus Christ embodied in one another restores us to health and saves us from that yoke of death and sin, to live life as it was meant for us to liveóto live life to its fullest. The full life of justice, of mercy and reconciliation and of love for our neighbor as we love ourselves.
 There is a legend about this easy yoke which says that the Jesus you see, in Palestine, ox-yokes were made of wood, and ox was a brute, and the measurements were taken, the yoke roughened out and was tried on the ox. It was carefully adjusted to fit well, and not gall the necks of the patient beasts; the yoke was taylor-make.
 And so the legend goes that people came from all over the country to have Jesus make the best yokes. And over the door of Jesusí shop may well have been the sign: ìMy yokes fit well.î
 In other words, Jesus is saying, the life I give you is not a burden to gall you; your task is made to measure, to fit you. Whatever God sends us is made to fit our needs and our abilities and those of our neighbors exactly! Because our burden is light, it leads to freedom from sin and death into life new with God. Amen

 What does our Christian faith say about bad situations where we are struggling against hostile and rejecting people and circumstances? Do we lose faith? Right it out? What should we do?
 Just this week, I hard of a person under extreme pressure, where apparently slander was used as a refuse to ask for her resignation, at her e employment. She was so overwhelmed and hurt, she couldnít eat. She started to give up. Her fear and doubt began to gnaw at her faith, and the importance of her career as a livelihood. When her staff heard of it, they were unbelieving, and frankly, so was I. She reached the point where it seemed God had left her and her Christian faith ebbed into skepticism.
 What do you and I do wit a bad situation at work, with a relative or spouse, neighbor or friend? Her story goes right to the heart of our lessons today.

 In the first lesson, Elijah was fearful for his life. The queen was after his hide and wanted to kill him. He thought he was the only remaining faithful servant of God. What does he do? He runs back to Mt. Sinai, to his roots, where Moses talked with God; a place meaningful to him, where he could regroup and start from the beginning. He needed encouragement, because he thought God was no longer in control of the situation ìback there.î Elijahís faith became overshadowed by doubt.
 The second lesson show how Paul was hurting in a different way. He had been so successful in his work with the gentiles, but his own kin, the Jews, not only respected him and his message of the Messiah, they threatened him. Paul had failed miserably; he felt their hostility and the agony. What did he do?
 Paul had some very creative ways of dealing with his own suffering.
 First, Paul really cared for his own people, to the extent he anguished for them rather than hated them! He was pushed to the point of sorrow for them. We recall the words of Jesus Christ on the cross, in his anguish saying, ìForgive them, Father, they donít know what they are doing.î Paul is willing to suffer like Jesus, rather than hate those who abuse him.We suffer for what is right and for the truth. By Jesusí stripes, we are healed. And by the stripes we endure, suffering for what is right. We bear this suffering, however, for Godís truth and justice. Suffering is a situation for its own sake, however, is masochismóthis, Jesus would not want for our lives. Abused wives and children are such an example. In the past, churches would tell them with was the to of woman and he had to stick it out, no matter what the spouse did! The Lutheran Church does not support such a position of wife and child abuse.
 In other words, our suffering must be the cause of truth and for justice, not just a form of toleration or survival against someone else who is bigger and stronger than us. Rather, this suffering must show to others the love and power of God to give life and strength, over and against the power of hate.
 Paul also continued to respect his persecutors and the gifts they had to offer, even though they had serious differences. Yet you and I would tear down our detractors, thinking they had nothing to offer anyone!
 Finally, Paul affirms his kin are people that God loves, just like God loves us. We have no special access of favor with God because of our better behavior. We so easily fool ourselves with such self-justification, thinking that God is on our side alone. You may recall that the insignia on the belts of the German Nazis during World War II read, ìGot mit uns,î or ìGod with us.î
 Love of our rejectors and detractors in the way of Jesus and Paul is part of our witness as Christians. Yet this doesnít mean we must like them as people. But we must forgive and respect them as a creative release from seeming intolerable situations. Why did Paul suffer so? We follow the example of the life of Jesus who forgave his detractors and enemies.
 Another kind of crisis faces Peter in todayís gospel, a crisis that strengthened his faith! The tension and relationship between doubt and faith is so well illustrated in Peterís story.
 Peter and the disciples are floundering in their boat in a storm. Itís the middle of the nightó3am. Peter recognizes Jesus on the water. At Jesusí command, Peter walks on the water, as long as he does not give in to despair. Peter begins to sink when he doubts Jesus is present in the storm. Peter might well have thought to himself, ìHow can I walk on the water in the middle of this raging storm around me? The wind is so forceful and the furry to terrifying! Iím going to drown!î
 Peter and Elijah both weaken at the most critical point, because God seems to have lost control over their situation and disappeared. For Elijah, who thinks heís the only God-fearing person left, he begins to excuse his flight from the battlefield in his self pity. And as for Peter, Jesus hasnít calmed the storm for Peter, so apparently Jesus has lost control, has disappeared from that situation entirely.

 But has he? Our God is the one who sends us back into the battlefield with renewed strength and courage, because he has not left us! For when Elijah reaches the cave of hiding, God asks him, ìWhat are you doing here?î In other words, God is saying, ìThis cave is no place for you, Elijah. Your place as my spokesperson is back at that battlefield! No more excuses or alibis!î
 And what happened? God helps Elijah anoint a new king over Israel, a new prophet, and a new king over Syria, all who protect Elijah and the remnant of the faithful who havenít bowed down to the god Baal.
 I ask you, could Elijah have done this on his own strength if h hadnít run away and doubted? I donít think so, because he wouldn't have known this power and strength of God who made Himself known even more vigorously to Elijah than ever before. You see, Elijah really needed that encouragement, and God knew this, and obliged.
 Jesusí words to Peter show God is still in control, even when we see the storm around us and fearfully start to sink: ìCome! Come to me! Courage! It is I, donít be afraid! I am here with you.î And Peter says, ìLord, it is you, bid me come to you and says, ìCome.î And again in the storm, ìLord save me!î Jesus rebukes us rightfully. ìWhy did you doubt me?î Yet we call out again and again, ìLord, save me!î
 The relationship between doubt and faith is so close. What happens when in faith in Christ Peter is still doubting? Why, he and Jesus get into the boat, and the winds die down! Jesusí presence in the middle of our storms brings us to a sense of awe and worship. And with the disciples, we worship Jesus, saying, ìTruly, you are the Son of God!î
 There is no guarantee that we will not say again and again with Peter, ìLord, if it is really you, order me to come out of this storm and onto the water to you.î Yet, Jesus will always be there to say, ìCome, it is I, donít be afraid.î Amen

 We are living in a ecumenical age, an age where leaders of the church and the synagogue are speaking with each other about their differences and their similarities. Lutheran and Roman Catholic leaders have come a long way by agreeing on the authority of the scripture, the nature of the sacraments, and the teaching of other doctrine. One last barrier remains: the role and the authority of the pope.
 Todayís gospel touches on the ministry of Peter4 and the role of authority which Christ gives to Peter, to the disciples, and in a sense, to all of us. What is this authority we are to use? How do you and I use it?
 In human afraid, the exercise of authority and decision making is essential in the running of our lives and institutions. Whether God gives us this authority or not, authority is part of our human condition.

Whether we use it, or abuse it, we donít always exercise it according to Godís will.
 For example, you might recall the Nazi doctrine of the hierarchy of the races, with them as the masters, and the rest of us as slaves. The horrible consequences of this form of truth was the Holocaust of the Jews and other scapegoats. So the abuse of power comes when we think God is on our side, because ìwe knowî how God would judge a situation. But our human judgments can never be confused with the judgments of God! We need a vivid awareness of our human limitations so we can make decisions using the best information we have and the best judgment we can. St. Paul was struggling with the same dilemma in our Epistle. The two communities, the Jews and the Gentiles, both thought they had the truth of God. Paul sees more clearly and says, no one knows! He asks, ìFor who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been Godís counselor?î When we are tempted to believe we have all the answers, that our judgments are beyond question, and we thus speak with the authority of God, we need to recall Paulís words abut the ways of God: ìHow unsearchable are Godís judgments and how inscrutable are Godís ways.î When you or I or the pope or our church make decisions, we are speaking for ourselves and our best limited judgment, and not for God, who alone has the final word.
 Let us look further at th real nature of authority. In the gospels, the symbol of power that Jesus gives to Peter is the key of the kingdom. Now in the old and new testaments, keys were the responsibility of the faithful steward of the house, who in the morning opens the door, and in the evening shuts it, and through whom visitors come into the presence of the householder. So then, what Jesus is saying to Peter is that in the days to come, Peter will be the steward of the kingdom, opening the door for thousands upon thousands of people to th Messiah! That is just what he did in the years to come as we read in the Book of Acts! But it is not only Peter who has the keys of the kingdom, we all do; for it is our mission to open the door of our faith in Jesus to others, so the may enter the presence of Christ.
 Not only did Peter receive the keys to open wide the doors, he also was given authority to make decisions in church, to ìloose and to bind,î says Jesus. So Jesus might be saying, ìPeter, you are going to have heavy responsibilities laid you. You will have to make decisions which will affect the welfare of the church. These decisions will be so important, that they will affect the saving of people in time and in eternity.î We can thus see, that Jesus was talking not from the ecclesial office or authority such as the papacy, but abut the issue of salvation, of opening doors to the presence of our risen Lord and Savior.
 We must conclude that like Peter, we are given authority as stewards, much like that of a servant, rather than the role of a master. Yet, the notion of authority and servanthood are frequently not related today. The one in authority is the one who does not have to be a servant óthe one who can demand that others are the servants.

 But after Jesus talked about giving the keys to Peter, he immediately described the way in which Peter would suffer many things from the ìauthorities.î Surely, those who have the keys of the kingdom of heaven are not called to exalt themselves, but rather are called to minister to those who God claims for his kingdom.
 Perhaps the most stunning image we have of the nature of authority is in the person of Peter himself. Peter, who in his zealous love for Jesus, impetuously goes to him, walking on the stormy waters and then begins to sink when he doubts in fear. Peter, who denies he ever knew Jesusówith a curse! Peter, a gifted and imperfect person.
 Yet, in spite of these foibles and weaknesses, Jesus gives Peter the keys of a Christian kind of authority, to build up the church, to open its doors to the thousands who need salvation, who cares for them as a servant, not as a master. In this ecumenical age, the person of Peter reminds us again of the trappings of masters.
 G. K. Chesterton5 puts it this way: ìAll the empires and kingdoms have failed, because of this inherent and continual weakness, that they were founded by strong men...But this one thing, the historic Christian Church, was founded on a weak man, and for that reason, it is indestructible.î
 We, like Peter, are weak, and in our weakness we acknowledge Jesus as Christ as our only strength, our only master, our Savior. Jesus makes us strong, stronger than any human master and beyond human strength. Through us weak, impetuous and doubting people, Christ builds up the church and the world. Amen

 Jesus commands you and I to be his witnesses, says the evangelist Luke, who we remember today as the author of the gospels of the Book of Acts.
 Luke, the evangelist, is notable for two reasons in particular. He is the only gospel writer who records the Ascension of Jesus after the Easter Resurrection. And of interest to some of us is the fact that Luke took the greatest interest in women and their witness of gospel writers. In fact, some biblical scholars think Luke took much of his writing from the oral traditions, transmitting by women, such as Mary, in the birth narrative of Jesus; the stories of Elizabeth and Anna; the stories of Mary and Martha, the widow of Nain, Mary Magdalene, and the women at the tomb, and the women who anointed Jesus; and of course the unmarried daughter of the evangelist Philip, in Caesarea, where Luke wrote the gospels.
 So Luke bears witness to the importance of the women who worked with and knew Jesus and who were so important to the life of the early church. Through the first-hand experience of the followers and witnesses of Jesus, came the birth of the church. They saw him with their own eyes, heard what Jesus taught and did. They knew these things to be true, and that carried a great deal of weight, like witnesses in a court of law. These early witnesses could thus say, ìI know what happened,î rather than ìI think thus and so took place.î They spoke out of their lived experience of Jesus, not about life as if it were an objectóbut there, somewhere.

These early witnesses of Luke shared how Jesus entered their lives, changed them and helped them through crisis. We know how our faith quickens and grows when someone can share parts of their life where our Christian faith has made a difference in who we are and what we do. We thirst for this assurance, to help us know we are on the ìright track,î and that others have gone before us and had similar experiences that affirms our life together.
 If we look at the word ìwitnessî more closely, we see that it comes from the Greek word for martyr, or ìmartus.î In other words, a witness is so strong in his or her commitment to the faith, or to a cause or principle, that person would rather die than deny that faith and to be loyal no matter what the cost.
 Many died, and still die for their faith today. Joan of Arc was burned at the stake because she relied upon the voices of God; she would not recant. Martin Luther King was killed because he had a dream for reconciliating all people of color. Arch Bishop Romero of El Salvador was killed as he celebrated Mass because of his opposition to the military junta and ruling families who owned most of the land and jobs. Anwar Sadat, president of Egypt, a man of peace and vision, was killed by a religious Moslem who led the fanatic military against him. Last week, we heard the panel members of the Adult Forum describe the conditions in South Africa where oneís race is the only way of life. People are regulated by specific governmental definitions of who is black, who is colored, and who is not. These regulations decide who can have what jobs, who can travel where, who gets arrested, who can marry who, who gets educated, and who can own landóall on the basis of skin color! And so the people witness with their bodies, their spirits and minds. Yet the question for us today is, can we, the community of the church, carry on this ancient witness and commission Jesus Christ to give us through the evangelist Luke, to preach and live out of repentance and forgivenessóthat is, to reconcile people to each otheróin all nations of the earth? In other words, can evil be reversed?

 I think one of th most difficult Christian principles I have had to learn is to forgive another. We not only get angry with others, we reject them as people, and we insist they live and work like we do, with no freedom for them to be who they are!
 Henri Nouwen6 speaks of the two ways we related to the other people in our lives: one is the way of power that takes from others, and the second is the way of love, of forgiving others. The first way destroys the other out of fear, and the other creates new life. The first makes the other into an object of our own choosing, while the second allows the freedom to be his or her own person, in openness and respect.
 When we take power, we keep the weaknesses of the other behind our back, until the moment we can use it against them at the time they block our way.
 When you and I talk in a free fashion about a friend you like very much, it might happen that a stranger walks in and says: ìWho are you talking about? About John? Oh, that gigolo...î You freeze. John has become an object, a thing, and the conversation dies or becomes a verbal combat. Knowing someoneís past can be the most lethal weapon in human relationships.
 In some way or another, all of us are objectified, we are tested, graded, diagnosed, and classified. Love too can become yet another way to conquer another in long skirmishes of taking movements through our manipulating and judging the patterns of anotherís life. Here, tenderness, sympathy and love are seen as weaknesses to be eliminated, and every mistake is final and unforgivable. These are the dynamics of war and hate in the world! Look at the thousands of people suffering in mental institutions or political and social ostracism, the crushed children in conflict with the parents, endless numbers of people separated from each other and left alone because of this taking form of power.
 The forgiving form of life is based on trust. It is the only hope of breaking the vicious circle o hate and disgust. We begin to say to another, ìMy friend, this is who I really am and how I really feel, even though you might not look a me any longer, or spit on me, or leave me alone with my hypocrisy.î We believe that such confession is a possibility for us, that we break down the walls of composure and objectivity to share our feelings of despair or jealousy, or division with our neighbor and trust in their forgiveness. We can share our successes as well as our weaknesses with a person who wonít take and hold this weakness against us! This takes so much courage! You could say this new way of living is a conversion experience which may come suddenly and unexpectedly, or slowly and gradually. We come to the realization and certainty that peace, forgiveness, justice, and inner freedom are more than mere words. Conversion is the discovery of the possibility of love! And that love is based on the mutuality of confessing to another, not just the willingness to listen to the problems of another.
 Our dependency to share our weaknesses becomes the invitation to a new life where violence can be overcome. New life is born in vulnerability, not in power; evil is converted to good and destruction into creation. We find our highest fulfillment in these acts of self-surrender.
 Can we witness to this possibility of love and forgiveness? Jesus promised, before his ascension, he would help us. Not only has Jesus shown us the ultimate witness to vulnerability by dying on the cross, he came through on his promise to send us help and courage to witness to the possibility of love, to strengthen us. For it was through Godís gift o the Spirit at Pentecost that the church was formed and empowered for its witness of love and reconciliation. It is the church, you and I, who are given the power to work miraclesóthese miracles or courage and reconciliation that come of sharing our weaknesses and vulnerability and our strengths, the gifts o freedom and joy to be who we are and who God meant us to be as a community of love and forgiveness. Give us this courage, Oh Lord! Amen

 You and I are on a quest for happiness and success. All one needs to do is look at the advertising on television to what success might look like: a potential date sniffing our clean hair, cosmetics to take out wrinkles, Grecian formula to hide only the most distinguished gray hair, sparkling close-up teeth and breath, and the list could not on.
 There was a point in my life as a teenager and young adult when I believed that my personal assets such as a super personality, musical ability and popularity were things that would make me truly happy and successful. Wearing hand-me-downs, or riding a bicycle to school (rather than driving my folksí car), and not being invited to the Friday night beer bashes were a definite proof of my failure at happiness!
 I pursued several careers: I thought that true happiness was to find fulfillment in my job and to be successful through promotions. But these didnít always come when I thought they should.
 

 Happiness is a very elusive thing, and it depends upon so many factors, including luck and other life changes, and being at the right place at the right time. You and I can utter a wistful sigh at the times we almost had ìitî in our hands; but happiness escaped us, eluding us more often than smiling on us.
 Perhaps we are putting to much stock in this search for what we call happiness. Maybe we are not clear what true happiness is!
 The most comprehensive and poetic and powerful statements of the highest happiness is recorded in the beatitudes,7 of todayís gospel. These teachings are from the depths of Jesusí whole being. He must have spoken these over and over again to his inner circle of followers. Those who would follow him had to have training and instruction on how to do their work effectively.

 The highest true happiness is a matter of spiritual need: ìNow blessed are the poor in spirit!î Those of us who know our need of God are the blessed ones!
 Those of us who are proud and confident in our moral accomplishments and striving for popularity and success cannot realize our dependence upon God to help us; we wonít be happy! Poor people are dependent upon God for their very lives, whereas you and I who are successful may not even have an ounce of compassion or a sense of dependence upon God. As Micah says, we must walk humbly with our God. And Paul the Apostle puts a cramp in our style when he points out we cannot be self-sufficient and closed-minded if we would be open to Godís revealing himself. God moves in the poor of spirit, how blessed are they!
 How blessed are those who mourn! The Arabs have a saying that ìAll sunshine makes a desert.î No rain can fall and nourish the desert plants with its tears. The harsh sun beats down and gradually burns up all living things.
 Those of us who grieve and cry over the present stage of affairs and who can cry and share the pain of our neighbors are the ones who are blessed! We long for the time when God will come again and bring justice and love. We pray for Godís will to be done on earth as it is in heaven when we pray the Lordís Prayer todayówe ask for Godís compassion and rule to come to us now.
 The next beatitudeóhow blessed are the meekómay really turn us off! We donít want to Wilbur Milquetoasts! Yes Moses was called meek! And so was Jesus. This word must mean something else than sad resignation!
 The Greeks would say something like this: we are to be angry at the right time and ever angry at the wrong time! In other words, humility is when every instinct, every impulse or passion is under Godís control.
 When we realize our own ignorance, when we become aware of our own need, God can begin to help us master ourselves.
 The French have a word, debonnaire, which comes close to meekness! It means that we are humble-minded and know our limitations. Thus, we must trust and depend upon Godís will in our actions and feelings.How blessed are those who thirst for righteousness! How much do you and I hunger after goodness? Do we seek it within our whole being? Total goodness is more than ìbeing nice.î Goodness must permeate our pores and seep out and envelope our neighbors of the world. We must want goodness as much as the starving person or the person dying of thirst. They long for Godís love to come for them to be full.
 How blessed are the merciful, the ones who have perfect sympathy. You see, the Romans and the Stoics despised pity, they despised the suffering, because suffering was a punishment for sin! We might have this attitude today. We may think welfare recipients deserve their lot because theyíre lazy. We have no compassion for their situation because weíll never be poor enough to find outówe hope! Sympathy is more than feeling sorry for another; sympathy involves getting right inside anotherís skin and seeing with her eyes and thinking with his mind and feeling with her feelings. We deliberately identify with the person, enough to go through what they are going through. We become compassionate. A French proverb says, ìTo know all is to forgive all.î God can help us get inside of anotheróto help us forgive.
 How blessed are the pure of heart! If you look through a clear piece of glass that is unadulterated, unmixed, or unalloyed, itís like looking at a transparent personówhat you see is the light of God! To evaluate our motives which are so mixed and adulterated is perhaps one of the most difficult and painful processes of achieving a unity of motivation that longs for the goodness of God.
 Oh the blessings of peacemaking! We all want peaceómaybe at any price! But being a peace-lover and a peace-maker are two different things! Peace is more than an absence of a problem! It is a positive which calls for everything that makes for highest good. Doing Godís work of peacemaking is found in this quote from Abraham Lincoln: ìDie when I may, I would like it to be said of me, that I always pulled up a weed and planted a flower where I thought a flower would grow.î Planting flowers in place of weed, what an image! What bliss there is in bringing people together in peace! Yet, the world would rather honor the warmakers!

 Monica,8  the mother of St. Augustine, is a model of peacemaking when she ì...heard on both sides most bitter things..she would disclose nothing of the one unto the other, but what might tend to their reconciliation.î
 Finally, peacemaking and all the other beatitudes leads to our suffering for Christ. Christ came, not to make life easy, but to make us great! Christianity disrupts, it must praise the good and condemn the evil. People work to silence the truth. Compassionate politicians donít get reelected by the Moral Majority because their ideology doesnít jibe with the Moral Majorityís definition of morality.
 Business people arenít compromised by the profit sign of their earnings, nor are teachers who continue to strive for truth and stretch their students toward excellence in their classes.
 Our harassment is a sign of Godís favorówhat we attempt to accomplish in God is so powerful, that others would prevent us. So even though we canít rejoice at what we suffer, we can rejoice that weíre doing Godís work effectively enough to disturb others into reaction. Our happiness is certainly not the worldís happiness! This final beatitude is an insurance policy against weak religion!
 And so, we look at happiness with its many facets like a beautifully cut diamond, through the eyes of Christian faith. Each beatitude reminds us that the highest happiness is never elusive and is something the world cannot give or take away! Amen

 I am honored to be your guest chaplain this evening. May I thank you for inviting me to take part in this memorial service?
 I am probably the first woman veteran to speak as our chaplain, although I am a Vietnam era veteran with the Womenís Army Corps, I was not assigned overseas duty, though I considered volunteering for Vietnam. At that time, female officers like me could not be placed there, unless we commanded the one WAC company, or were Warrant Officers in psychological warfare or military intelligence specialists. I know from my military experience and from the history of women in the service, that we have always volunteered for service to our country when we were needed. But our country has had very specific laws and guidelines as to when, where, and how we could be utilized, which more often did not give the same mobility in occupation, specialties, nor rank, rights or veterans benefits we now experience since the womenís movement raised our consciousness in the mid-1960s.  Perhaps the most significant issue that will affect the military service and the position of women in society will be the decision o the Supreme Court as to the drafting of women as well as men which current law prevents.
 Although we may not agree on the draft or with drafting women and men, it seems to me that a manís life is just as important to loose for our country as my life which has been more protected, perhaps out of chivalry and its tradition. However, to share the defense of our country in time of national defense and need is a responsibility many women veterans have taken, are taking and willingly take for the future of our country.
 I recall when I resigned my commission in 1970, after five years of service, we were at the height of the anti-Vietnam sentiment. I moved to Madison, Wisconsin, into an apartment on Simpson Street, and got acquainted with my next door neighbor who was a young PhD student at the university. I was sharing the fact of my military service when she jumped up and asked me how could I be in the military when we had no business in Vietnam? How could I condone killing innocent people? She was so vehement and personal that I was taken aback. Up to that time I had no understanding of the strong opposition people had. But I quickly learned and I also didnít share my military service experience at first, unless absolutely necessary!
 So, I have some experience of what it may be like to return a Vietnam veteran to a country which questioned my motives as well as our government. Yet I could not go over there and fight, even if I had wanted to, and experience what many of you have experienced in war, not rejection by our country.
 Vietnam has been a bitter experience for us all. Great and important issues such as war do this and divide people because we have to make a choice. Family members and friends disagreed with each other  very strongly on Vietnam, even in my family. Yet, we cannot let these choices and political feelings about that war cloud our responsibility to the veterans, their families and friends who took our country at its word! The plight of our vets was clearly symbolized when we saw the ticker-tape parade given to the returning Iranian hostages, when Vietnam war veterans were given no such recognition. Furthermore, veterans and their families will face drastic budget cuts in benefits and programs along with other segments of society who just as desperately need support and help in inflationary times of high employment.
 So what can our Judeo-Christian faith say in these difficult times we face as we honor the memory of our war dead this evening? We have already noted that great causes will divide us, that conflict and disagreement occur, over war, over benefits and other issues.

 I wish to read to you from Matthew, Chapter 10, Verses 34-39. ìDo not think that I came to send peace on earth: I did not come to send peace, but a sword. I came to set a son at variance against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a personís enemies shall be the members of oneís own household. Those who love father and mother more than loves me is not worthy of me; and the one who does not take up the cross and follow after me is not worthy of me: The one who finds life will lose it; and the one who loses life for my sake will find it.î
 Scripture tells us we cannot have peace in our households, that we take up our cross and follow God, in spite of all the frustration and pain that may mean!
 Our faith  is nothing, and we will loose our lives if we attempt to conserve our lives and use them for personal gain, convenience and safety.
 So, when we remember our brothers and sisters who served us, we need to work and to be vigilante for their welfare, for their families, particularly those of the Vietnam war. We need to join hands with other people who will experience similar budget cuts, so that our voices will be heard.
 This decision to work for justice may be misunderstood by some and cause our rejection and disapproval. But our faith in God promises that the cause and search for truth and justice is worthy of God and is one way we may commemorate the memory of veterans of every time and of every war, that the freedom we now have to speak out is a tribute to what they fought for!
 There is only one thing, then, for which we would sacrifice our time, and our money and ever our life for, in my view, and that is to be faithful to Godís truth in our lives, to love one another as God loves us, to do justice, to end hatred and despair in the world, no matter the ensuing uproar or division this creates. May God help us to this end! Amen

 ìI have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus,î Paul writes today,

and your love for all of Godís people...how rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his people, and how very great is his power working in us who believe.
 What is this faith Paul is writing about, that you and I struggle with? We may think our faith consists mainly in a set of beliefs and doctrines we learned as children. Yes, this is part of our faith, a basis for our intellectual understanding. Or to others, faith may be a set of ìdoísî and ìdonítsî, rules to live by that came from the Ten Commandments and the teachings of the church. That is also part of Christian faith. Or, to others, faith is something we do, something we show, like going to church and loving and forgiving others, bringing reconciliation and justice to the world. We show off our faith in love because God first showed love to you and me.
 Yet, so many have no faith and donít know the power of faith in Jesus Christ. You may recall the healing of the lame man at the pool of Bethesda. He didnít know it was Jesus who healed him until later, when he saw Jesus in the temple, where he had gone to rejoice and to thank God.
 

 This gift of new life, to walk again, we desire above all else. This gift of life has the power to outweigh all sorts of hardships and confinement. No one wishes to die: we wish to live. Life was given us by Jesus and through his hands came the created universe, ourselves, our eyes to see, our hands and feet, our feelings and emotions, our intricate senses; our parents, friends, and relations: our land, our neighbors, even enemies who can be useful to us; our education, our civilization, our sense of lifeóall of this is the gift of life from God! Yes, we know we owe Jesus for this life of nature and grace.
 But some of us donít know, we try to understand and live life without God, depending on God, relying upon our own creative power and our own understanding and experience of life, with no reference point, no focus. And the power and light we seek, the peace we need does not come. As John  writes in todayís gospel, ìGod was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world knew him not!î
 The tide will lift a rowboat, but the lifting of that little rowboat is no true indication of the tideís power; the person who seems no farther than the edge of the dock will hardly be aware of the full power of the tide, which lifts with equal ease the navies of the world and whatever else floats upon the ocean.
 God has come to us, to know who we are, our experiences and our past, through the birth of Jesus Christ this Christmas. Jesus Christ is our focus, and the revealer of life, and the life of the world in its darkness, its hatred and death, showing us the world for what it really is. Through Jesus, we see the stark reality of living and a new awareness that God alone transforms and empowers and renews the possibilities for life for us. Goldís power to become human and to choose and save our human race becomes our power to help others, to empower us in all our human existence and frailty, to move an indifferent and sinful world to know Jesus Christ through us, to be loving and forgiving. We do this through one another, the church.
 We live in an exciting moment in history of Trinity Lutheran Church, because we have an opportunity to witness, to show off our love and commitment to God, to a god who needs us to be his arms and his hands, to practice the love and the power of God has given us for renewed life to show the power God has given us, the new life and new vision God wants for us.
 God is asking us, this week of our stewardship visitation, to say ìyesî to our God, to say ìyesî to a fuller life, to say ìyesî to a full-time ministry, ìyesî to the community of Stonington, and to the world, to the church and to each other, ìyesî to the power of our faith in an empowering and loving God!
 You know, when you and I are asked to do something, itís a compliment, and it says we have something to contribute; we count in Godís eyes. Being asked to help fill one of our biggest needs, the need to be needed! The need to be acceptable, just as we are. God understands us, asks us, needs us, just as we are!ówith all our talents and blessings. God is asking us to respond totally with our lives, for the sake of the world and the church, through our ecumenical visitor program.
 God came to Mary and chose her to be the mother of his son. In faith, without making exceptions, Mary, this lowly woman, accepted her status as a partner with God who worked through her, who needed her for his plan of salvation. She bore the new life of the world in Jesusóone lowly woman! God chose the people of Israel, and took them out of slavery from Egypt, and saved them from slaughter and sure death at the Red Sea by pursuing the Egyptian army. By the power of God, and to prove to Egypt and all nations,  Moses held up his walking stick over the water, and the people were saved as they safely crossed to the other sideówaves crashing back over the warriors of pharoahís army.
 We, too, have seen Godís power at work when people thought it couldnít be done, and decided to embark on a vision, we pulled together, and raised money in so many ingenious ways, by getting the commitment of one another, and our neighbors and friends, and built a parsonage mostly with our own hands, with a lot of praying and faith that God would provide the rest! And the impossible dream came true!
 We have this opportunity today, to respond to Godís need, to ìshow offî our love and commitment to God, and to his vision for us, to reach out to those who donít have the power, the faith, the hope, the love and the strength God brings.
 Let us affirm, with Paul, by our time, our talent, our financial support, with our very lives, ìHow rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his peopleóhow great is his power at work in us who believe.î And may we know the joy, the pleasure our lives take on with this privilege we have to be needed by God. Amen
 
 

Murder On The Gold SpecialGolden CampbellitesTyee View Cemetery

Hermeneutics of HomosexualityPeopling the AmericasApplegate Cemetery

Eureka CemeteryToleldo CemeteryChitwood Cemeteries

Benton County Place NamesLincoln County Place Names

1870 Benton County Oregon Census A-IJ-RS-Z

1870 Polk County Oregon Census A-MN-ZPolk County Place Names

Oregon History Online: Introduction IIntroduction II
Oregon History Online: Volume IOregon History Online: Volume II

Oregon History Online IIIOregon History Online: Volume IV

Oregon History Outline V

Oregon History Online VIOregon History Online VII
 

Oregon History Online VIIIOregon History Online IX

Oregon History Online X

MARACON PRODUCTIONSInterweaveGuardino Family History

WebweaveR
maracon@wi.net

Get a GoStats hit counter