THIRD SUNDAY AFTER EPIPHANY – 21 January 2007

St Paul Lutheran Church, ABQ NM – the Rev. p. L. Holman

Nehemiah 8:1-10; 1 Corinthians 12:12-31a; Luke 4:14-21

“Preach On!”

What does it take to be an effective leader?  For over 30 years, as a layperson and as a pastor, I have read and listened, studied and conversed with a variety of folks on this subject, approaching it from a variety of angles.  The best capsule summary I’ve ever heard was this: to be a leader one must have followers. 

Jesus had followers, but not from the most likely source, not the folks who knew him best.  His followers were those strangers and friends alike who were captured by his vision.  Today’s lesson from Luke marks the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry.  He has been baptized by John in the Jordan River and then tempted by Satan in the wilderness where the Spirit had led him.  Now that same Spirit guides Jesus to return to his hometown; on the Sabbath in the synagogue he assumes the role of interpreter and teacher. 

While our form of worship generally follows the order laid out in today’s reading from the Hebrew scripture – gathering, hearing the word read and interpreted, celebrating, then going out to share the good news – we don’t know enough about first-century synagogue worship to know if the Isaiah text was appointed for the day or simply one Jesus chose.  Given the number of times in 20 years I’ve experienced or heard from others about how “the Bible fell open to words I needed to read” at the time, I trust it was a “Spirit” thing!   The words Jesus reads are a sort of job description for the ministry he is embarking on:

“The Spirit of the Lord has anointed me…to bring good news to the poor…proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of” Jubilee.

Jesus reads the holy word then preaches what some consider the shortest sermon on record: “Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing.” 

Yes, it’s the shortest sermon – AND it’s the longest.  

It’s the longest interpretation of the Word on record because it is still unfolding!  Before he died Jesus handed over the job of being and bearing that message to his followers, a call confirmed by the power of the Spirit poured out on the church at Pentecost.  At Nazareth Jesus said, here’s the vision and I’m the one making it happen; through the waters of Baptism, Christ has said that to us: You’re the body now. Carry on!

Baptized into one body with an amazing diversity of gifts, the interpretation Jesus inaugurated continues as we use our gifts to address the world’s need for healing and hope, for justice and right relationship with God and one another.  When Jesus announced the fulfillment of Isaiah’s vision, his message wasn’t just about spiritual nurture and healing for those broken by the power of sin.  It was a message of radical – that is, rooted-in-the-grace-of-God radical liberation.  I was the good news that says, as writer Anne Lamott has put it, God loves us exactly the way we are, and God loves us too much to let us stay like this.  It was a radical message -- it still is.

Jan Krakow and I returned yesterday afternoon from the Rocky Mountain Synod Council (RMS) meeting in Denver.  It was a very intense two days for us.  Most of our time was involved with determining the next steps for the “Vision, Passion, Action” process this five-state area has been engaged in for over a year now.  The feedback from congregations about “what’s working and what’s not” was distilled into three basic areas – identity, evangelism and discipleship, and conflict resolution.  The task forces formed to provide council with a plan to move forward in those areas have completed their work.  They developed several key principles that guide our life together.  Among them are the following:

  • Most of the Spirit’s work happens in and through congregations.
  • Congregations working together can accomplish things that congregations as individual organizations cannot.
  • Partnership and collaboration, and widely shared participation in this plan, are essential to the success of these plans (God’s mission?) and the transforming of our shared ministry.
  • Spiritual growth of lay and pastoral leaders has a direct impact on the spiritual growth and discipleship of individuals and congregations.

There were lots of other ideas shared from the council table – after the tenth sheet of newsprint and 25th “guiding principle” my head was spinning!  An implementation team will be formed to present a plan to the synod assembly in May and invite congregations to participate in the next step of this process.  I am not sure exactly what that will look like.  But I am sure of this: the Spirit has called us to a new way of being the church together in this synod for the 21st century, and the Spirit has gifted us with the leaders we need to guide that transformation. 

  • Those leaders are at the synod council table and in the campus ministries of our synod; they are at the ropes course at Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp and in the pews of churches like St. Paul-Cheyenne WY, and St. Paul-Denver CO, and St. Paul-ABQ NM. 
  • The leaders we need are the six high school youth who have a vision for expanding the ELCA’s Lutheran Youth Organization in the RMS – those six and the hundreds of youth they plan to network with in the next six months to “help us grow in faith, act as disciples and lift our voices in service to the world.”
  • They are you and me with the spiritual gifts we are using and the spiritual gifts we have yet to discover. 

These are gifts that are ours not because of anything we are or do, but because of God’s amazing love for us in Jesus Christ: gifts of the community to build community for the sake of God’s world.  They are gifts – good-news gifts given for the healing of both body and soul:

  • Good news of abundance for the millions of children in the USA who live below the poverty line, and for those made poor by sin and guilt…
  • Good news of release for those held captive by cycles of violence and abuse, and for those in bondage to the sins of greed and despair…
  • Good news of sight for those made blind by poor nutrition and lack of adequate health care, and for those blind to the love and grace of God….
  • Good news of freedom to those oppressed by racism and immigration policies, and to those oppressed by doubt and fear…

The possibilities and opportunities for healing, for justice, are endless, and so are our resources.  Jesus began “the sermon” that day in the synagogue in Nazareth.  The interpretation continues in every place the Gospel is preached – in every place the baptized people of God go out to live it.  It continues even through us.  Come, my sisters and brothers, preach it -- using words only if we must, let us go out and proclaim it together.

Amen.