REFORMATION SUNDAY – 29 OCTOBER 2006
ST PAUL LUTHERAN CHURCH, ABQ NM – The Rev. P. L. Holman
Jeremiah 31:31-34; Romans 3:19-28; John 8:31-36
“Free to Share”
A few weeks ago in my daily PEANUTS calendar Sally was presenting a report to her grade school class: “And the king loved the people, and the people kind of loved the king, and they all pretty much loved one another and everyone was sort of happy…” Then in response to the teacher’s interruption, Sally replied: “Just tiptoeing around the truth, ma’am, just tiptoeing around the truth.”
In a recent statement of faith one confirmand included this “truth”: When I go to church I try to pay as much attention as I can; when something interests me I try to pay closer attention. No tiptoeing here: if I am interested I’ll listen. As at least one political candidate is learning, honesty can get you somewhere, perhaps even re-elected…
Jesus told his followers in those final months of his earthly journey something he hoped they’d be interested enough to hear:
If you continue in my word… If you take to heart what I have been teaching you about God and the way to truly live – if you take it to heart and really live that word trusting the promise of forgiveness, drawing strength from the power of God’s wisdom for life even in the midst of death …
You are truly my disciples… You will be followers of the Way, not just any way but THE way to life and hope and peace beyond anything the world can offer; followers on the way, not those who’ve arrived and know it all but those continuing to learn and grow in faith and understanding, in wisdom and might, in reverence for God and joy in the Lord’s presence…
And you will know the truth… Not the contemporary truth of the day, not the “anything I say goes” sort of truth, not the MySpace/MyBank/MyTruth version that we craft to fit our personal needs, but the down and dirty from the beginning of time -- the very stuff of the earth “God so loves the world that he sent Jesus” sort of truth, the “we stand in need of forgiveness God and we trust your promise” sort of truth that Baptism washes us into, the very truth we claim for Mithran this day as he is washed in the waters and sealed by the Spirit…
And the truth will make you free.
Yes, free – it is a word we need to hear. How hard it is for us to realize our captivity. We’re too comfortable, even the most ill and hungry among us on this continent, we are too comfortable to know our own bondage to that which passes for less than life. They are so prevalent we have become almost immune to the craziness of virtual reality and things like “Second Life,” the absurdity of reality TV shows and “lowest prices of the season” sales that run for weeks on end. Travel to a developing nation and get off the tourist path for a week and you’ll know what I mean. In three weeks I’ll be back in Madagascar with our sisters and brothers there, receiving their gracious hospitality. Along with eight others from the Rocky Mountain Synod I will work to strengthen the relationships among our companion synods and develop closer ties among the Malagasy Lutheran Church youth and leaders who long to make a difference for the future of their families and their island nation. While the delegation will follow the protocol of working through the President and Bishop, synod to synod, to create a stronger partnership, we at St. Paul already have taken an additional step: we have welcomed and pledged to partner with Rijasoa Andriamanana for the two years of her master’s studies at UNM so she can return home to work to strengthen the education system for the children of her country. Why St. Paul ABQ NM? Because we are free to do this. Besides, I learned the other day that UNM is one of only six universities in the USA that waive tuition for teaching assistants. Absent a sponsor willing to cover that cost, such waiver is absolutely essential for anyone from Madagascar to be able to pursue a degree in the USA and return home empowered for change. Is this a message from God that Rijasoa in her persistence has helped us hear: is St. Paul called to sponsor other students as partners on their journey to hope?
You will know the truth and the truth will make you free…
Come closer to home. For several weeks now there’s been an invitation in the announcement insert and on the welcome center counter to do a “random act of kindness” and make some “Doll Buddies” for hospitalized children. In confirmation class we are studying the Bible and this week we were focusing on the bondage-to-freedom story of Moses. So as a community service project (and for a little change of pace in class) we spent part of last Thursday’s class setting the flat fabric shapes free from their bondage to flatness by stuffing them into life. Youth prepared community service forms reflecting on their efforts. One young person shared that stuffing the dolls showed Christ acting through her because she was bringing happiness to sick children and she would invite other people that care about children to join her in this project. One other youth, who also participated in the CROP Walk two weeks ago, was quite honest when he said that filling the doll really challenged him because he is not good at it, and he would not invite anyone else to join him in THIS project; but he WOULD “invite a lot of people to feed the hungry”… Support of the Millennium Development Goals, involvement in Bread for the World, and making gifts to the World Hunger Appeal are just a few steps we can take in that direction!
You will know the truth and the truth will make you free…
Walk for hunger, stuff a doll; rock babies, build a Habitat home; become a Stephen minister, teach a Sunday School module; sponsor a graduate student from overseas, pray regularly for those in need; give generously for the future of the church – what matters is that we live from the center of who God created us to be, stretching ourselves to grow in the directions God desires for the healing of the world, what matters is that we live knowing the truth and DOING the truth, celebrating together step by step as we experience the truth setting all of us free!
Recently a Minnesota pastor was honored for his leadership as a steward of God’s gifts. The Rev. Ronald Johnson has served an inner-city congregation in Minneapolis for over thirty years – through all sorts of challenge and change Holy Trinity Lutheran Church has remained among the top percentage and total dollar contributors to mission support in the Minneapolis Area Synod as well as being involved in affordable housing and Hispanic outreach ministries in their community. When asked what stewardship means to him, Pastor Johnson replied: “It is the use of one’s total resources in caring for the community and the created order.” How did he manage to build support in the congregation for this depth and breadth of faithful ministry? Not by preaching stewardship but by living it – by naming the numerous mission opportunities that the congregation is given and trusting folks would be interested enough to pay attention…
In a sermon some centuries ago Martin Luther called this living by the Golden Rule. Speaking to manual laborers a word for us all to hear, he wrote: The Bible has been put into your workshop, into your hand, into your heart. It teaches and preaches how you should treat your neighbor. Just look at your tools – at your needle or thimble, your beer barrel, your goods, your scales or yardstick or measure – and you will read this statement inscribed on them. Everywhere you look it stares at you. Nothing that you handle every day is so tiny that it does not continually tell you this, if you will only listen…You have as many preachers as you have transactions, goods, tools, and other equipment in your house and home. All this is continually crying out to you: “Friend, use me in your relations with your neighbor just as you would want your neighbor to use his property in his relations with you.”
You are free. WE are free. That is the good news for us all – by the grace of God in Christ Jesus our Lord, we don’t have to be bound by the conventions of the day, the expectations of others, or the fear of irrevocable failure; we are free to truly live. Now, by the grace of God, how will you SHARE that freedom?