Love, Love, Love - October 23, 2011

Matthew 22:34-46

When the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together, ³⁵and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. ³⁶‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ ³⁷He said to him, “‘you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” ³⁸This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹And a second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” ⁴⁰On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.’

41 Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them this question: ⁴²‘What do you think of the Messiah?^* Whose son is he?’ They said to him, ‘The son of David.’ ⁴³He said to them, ‘How is it then that David by the Spirit^* calls him Lord, saying,
⁴⁴ “The Lord said to my Lord,
‘Sit at my right hand,
   until I put your enemies under your feet’ ”?
⁴⁵If David thus calls him Lord, how can he be his son?’ ⁴⁶No one was able to give him an answer, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.

            What is it that makes us different as a congregation from any club or business or any other secular institution that is out there?  What makes us different is that we are unified as the children of God, and therefore are to treat each other with love.  And what does this love look like? 

            Our view of love is often wrapped up in emotions, the way someone can make our pulse race or the make us feel as though we are floating on air.  It is Colin Firth proposing in Portuguese in the film Love Actually, it is Bella swooning over Edward in Twilight, and Jasmine and Aladdin singing “A Whole New World.”  Often love is this amazing emotion that fills our entire bodies and makes us never want to let a person go.

            Yet, as with all emotions, this kind of love rises and falls constantly.  At first it is exciting to be so head over heels for someone that your every thought is filled with images of them.  But then reality sets in and that person does not fit our ideal and our emotions can begin to mellow after there have been too many toilet seats left up, too many nights when they went out with friends instead of being with you, or just plain having different interests that they like to go on and on about.  It is because none of us is perfect and none of us are exactly the same that we begin to have issues with communication and with assumptions, and that emotion can begin to fade.  Yes, there are ways to revitalize that emotion, those feelings, yet we can’t keep those emotions going consistently.  I know those emotions can go right out the window when Amy and I are watching a game between the Penguins and the Red Wings, but that doesn’t mean that we are not showing each other love in those moments.

            But we are called to love God with all of our heart, all our soul, and with all our minds and to love our neighbors as ourselves.  We know it is difficult to maintain that love emotion for one person that we desperately want to be with, so won’t it be even harder to love God that much and to love our neighbors as ourselves?  Of course, but we need to also realize that the love that we are speaking of is not that romantic, idealized sense of love.  Not all loves are the same.  This is good, because it could get really dicey if you start to love your neighbor as you do your wife or husband.  No, instead this is a love which is about action over emotion.  It is not how you feel about someone, but rather how you treat people and how you display the emotions that you have to people.

            For instance, if we should have a disagreement with someone and we become very angry due to this disagreement, how is it that we are to express that anger?  Do we decide to yell and scream at this person, tell them that they are wrong and call them an idiot, or worse?  No, instead we talk to them out of love.  How so?  First off, we listen to one another, honestly listen.  Instead of waiting for our turn to speak or tuning them out until they are done, we take in their words.  At the same time, we remember what Luther said in his Small Catechism about the 8^th commandment – “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.  What does this mean?  We are to fear and love God, so that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations.  Instead, we are to come at their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they do in the best possible light.” 

            We interpret everything they do in the best possible light, therefore when we listen we assume from the beginning that they believe and say what they believe in the bottoms of their hearts and they are not acting out of malice, but rather are also acting in a way that they believe to be good.  We also remember that we are all flawed human beings, that none of us are perfect, including ourselves, and we could very much be in the wrong in a disagreement as well.  Which is also why we listen, to find out if there is something that we could have done or said differently to bring about a better relationship with the other.

            And when we speak, we speak only from ourselves and our beliefs, instead of resorting to phrases such as “You just don’t know what you are talking about” or “Many people agree with me, so you need to get on board with me.”  We treat each other with respect and with honor and in this way we show love to our God, since when we act towards another we are also acting towards God, since each of us carry the image of God and are God’s children.

            We will not always agree and there will be conflict between us.  It is inevitable, since anytime you get two people together, they will be bound to disagree and argue about something eventually.  Our love for neighbor does not mean that we will be free from conflict and will live in peaceful harmony with one another.  Instead it is that we treat each other with love and compassion and mercy, just as God cares for us. It is also a good thing that we will have conflict, because if we just sat around doing and saying the same things and never disagreeing with each other, we would never be challenged, we could never fully form our believes and our identity, and our ministries would never grow.  Each conflict, if handled appropriately and lovingly, has the possibility to strengthen this congregation, that it may be of even greater service to the Kingdom of God.  But each one that we handle without love, but instead with spite and the sense that “I need to win” will only cause it to self-destruct.  If we decide to turn each conflict into a series of “who wins” instead of seeing them as ways for us to se God’s will for Jerusalem, there will be no winners, but instead only a mausoleum that used to hold our congregation.   

            But when we show love to one another, and thereby show love to God, we shall be blessed and we will see the will of God active in this congregation.  As Luther puts it in the conclusion to the Ten Commandments, “God promises grace and every good thing to all those who keep these commandments.  Therefore we also are to love and trust him and gladly act according to his commands.  We are promised a life of purpose, as well as grace and life eternal by God, therefore we are to act with love and compassion, as God has loved and shown compassion to us.  We are called to a different way of life than secular culture, we are called towards a life that is filled with understanding and respect for one another, instead of a life that is spent eternally seeking to climb to the next rung of the ladder, kicking away all those who may compete with us. 

            Therefore, when we do have conflict in the congregation, let us not rally together the troops, trying to get as many people on “our side” as we can in order to fight against those who disagree with us.  Nor let us sit around and spread gossip and ill will towards one another, in order that our brothers and sisters may be devalued.  But instead, let us openly discuss the issue among each other and open our ears to one another, so we may truly listen.  If we shut down and do not allow for the possibility to be swayed by the other, there is very little to be gained from any conversation and neither person will be able to grow.  Likewise, if we are constantly at war among each other, how can we hope to begin to work together to spread the good news of God and to be the great city on the hill that we are called to be?  Instead of tearing each other down, we need to build one another up, to help each other see the gifts that God has made manifest within each of us and to use those to the best of our abilities, for the glorification of God.

            All we need is love, that which brings life and blessing and purpose.  So do not be afraid to let go of hate and fear.  As Yoda once said, “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”  And we are not a church that desires to bring about suffering and pain, but rather we bring about hope, that which is created through love.  It is this love that sets us apart from all other communities and all other organizations.  We are united through the continued acts of love towards one another and outwardly to all that we should meet and all whom suffer.  We do this out of thanksgiving to our God, who took upon himself human flesh and lived among us and suffered death on the cross so that we may have eternal life.  We act with love because we were lived first by our Creator and we are infused with His Holy Spirit and with His very body and blood.  We do this because we have been shown grace and mercy, even though we have done nothing to deserve it.  So let us praise the Lord and show him true love, through love for one another and for all people throughout God’s creation.  In this way, God may be seen and known.  Amen.

                         

Image is Everything - Oct. 16, 2011

Matthew 22:15-22

¹⁵Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. ¹⁶So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one; for you do not regard people with partiality. ¹⁷Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor, or not?” ¹⁸But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? ¹⁹Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. ²⁰Then he said to them, “Whose head is this, and whose title?” ²¹They answered, “The emperor’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” ²²When they heard this, they were amazed; and they left him and went away.

Then he said to them “Whose head is this and whose title?”  They answered, “The emperor’s.”  Then he said to them “Give therefore to the emperor the things that are the emperor’s, and to God the things that are God’s.”

 What is it exactly that belongs to God and what is it that is the emperor’s, or in our worldview the state and the nation’s?  Our coins and our bills bear the images of former presidents and state they belong to the United States of America, so since they are the product of our country, so we pay taxes with it.  But what is it that is God’s? Well, if we say that money is the governments because it bears the image of the Government and its leaders, then what is it that bears the image of God? Genesis 1:27 “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”  We are created in the image of God, each and every one of us.  While still in our mother’s womb we were formed by our loving Creator and imprinted with His image, and filled with His Holy Spirit.  We are created and owned not by a country or a state, but rather by God Himself.

  Everything that we are and everything that we have is because of God and is God’s.  So when Christ says “give to God the things that are God’s” it means to give your entire being over to God, everything that you are, everything that have is to be given over to glorifying God, in every action, with every word, with every breath.

            And this is still hard to do today.  Everywhere we look we see something to put our faith in, something to believe in more than God, something to lean on.  We look at our money, that which is made by the government and not by God, these pieces of paper, or pieces of plastic, and we put our faith in those.  We begin to have our lives wrapped up in trying to make as many of these pieces of paper as we can, in the vain hope that we can buy happiness.  Or we put our faith in our country, in our flag.  Yet we know from history that all countries falter and fade in time and we know that they are not perfect, but rather are made and run by humans, with human agendas and desires for power.  And we fear being outcast and called “UnAmerican” if we dare speak out against anything the government does or say that it is less important than God.  Yet we are called to be citizens of the Kingdom of God and agents of it above our citizenship to earthly powers.

            So when the government asks for money, paper and metal covered with its insignias and image, they can have it.  After all, government exists for the purpose of keeping an orderly world, one which will not fall into anarchy, so we should respect our earthly authorities and obey its rules, provided they do not go against the will of God.  And yes, we can serve in the military, in order that lives may be protected.  Our government, as are all governments and nations in this world, are a gift from God that helps to keep the peace and maintain order.  At times they may be corrupted by the desires of humanity, but their purpose remains the same gift.  But our true citizenship is not with these earthly powers, but instead we are owned and we are to follow the one whose image we bear, God.

            So our dream is not the American Dream, that which entails the gaining of resources and money for personal gain. Instead we are called to God’s reign, that which is more than a dream and meets the needs of more than the individual.  We are called to a higher purpose in our lives than the quest for money and easy living.  The Dalai Lama was once asked what most confused him about humanity and he answered “Man.  Because he sacrifices his health for money.  Then he sacrifices his money to recuperate his health.  And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present.  The result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as though he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

            How many of us die having never truly lived, die having fruitlessly chased after money and fame, planning solely for all the things we might do once we have money, but never had the chance to do them.  Or how often do we sacrifice the things that we want to do for one another and for our families because we say we have no time, but then spend all of our time either working or sitting in front of the TV or playing on facebook.  I know that is part of my problem.  After I get home the last thing I want to do is more work, so I just crash.  But could not my time be spent better, could not all of our time be spent better?  Instead of having any regrets about how our hours are spent, wondering if they are wasted or not, why don’t we challenge ourselves and use those moments to further the kingdom of God, by spending more time playing with our children and getting to know them, by educating ourselves more about the world that is around us and how we can make a positive change in the world, by volunteering and helping those who are in need.  That is how we serve God, in whose image we have been formed and with whose Spirit we are made alive.

            In confirmation this week, we discussed what the expectations are for a Christian.  These expectations are laid out in our service for the Affirmation of Baptism, also known as the confirmation service.  It says “You have made public profession of your faith.  Do you intend to continue in the covenant God made with you in Holy Baptism: to live among God’s faithful people, to hear his Word and share in his supper, to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed, to serve all people, following the example of our Lord Jesus. And to strive for justice and peace in all the earth?” and the confirmands answer “I do, and I ask God to help and guide me.”

            That can be some pretty hard stuff to do at times.  Proclaiming the good news of God in Christ Jesus can be scary.  The talking part is bad enough for many of us.  According to our national bishop, Mark Hanson, the average Lutheran invites a person to church once every 30 years, so about 3 times in a person’s life. Once every thirty years.  And yes, its hard.  For one, many of our friends may already go to churches and we do not want to steal them.  So instead we are called to speak with those whom do not believe or have fallen away from their faith, both scenarios carrying their own dangers of rejection and fear of saying the wrong thing.  Yet we are called to trust that God will help and guide us in these times.

            As for serving others and striving for justice and peace, this almost goes against our culture.  After all, when one achieves the American Dream one gets to be served for once instead of serving others, and one get to sit back and relax instead of striving for anything, let alone striving for others.  But again, we are not called to the American Dream, but instead are called towards God’s kingdom, called to serve and to strive.  In our baptisms we die to Sin, that which looks inward and focuses on ourselves, and we are made alive in God, to a life that is one of service, both to the symptoms and the diseases of this world.  We know the symptoms well, such as poverty, depression, hunger, and fear.  And we fight these symptoms, with our giving to charity, with the gift of prayer shawls and the prayers that come along with them, with volunteering after natural disasters and so much more.  And we are called to seek out the diseases of this world and fight against those as well – racism, injustice, sexism, and more.  We fight these through learning and educating, by serving as examples and by correcting each other when we falter and begin to sink into those habits that cause pain and oppression to others.

We do this all united together as the body of Christ, filled with the Holy Spirit in our Baptisms, filled with Christ at Communion, and created by our loving Father at our births.  We are the very image of God in all of God’s three persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  So may we live our lives accordingly and seek to further God’s kingdom and may our sacrifices be fitting of that identity.

Amen.    

Be Mindful of your Garments - Oct. 9, 2011

Matthew 22:1-14

Once more Jesus spoke to them in parables, saying: ²“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave a wedding banquet for his son. ³He sent his slaves to call those who had been invited to the wedding banquet, but they would not come. ⁴Again he sent other slaves, saying, ‘Tell those who have been invited: Look, I have prepared my dinner, my oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready; come to the wedding banquet.’⁵But they made light of it and went away, one to his farm, another to his business, ⁶while the rest seized his slaves, mistreated them, and killed them. ⁷The king was enraged. He sent his troops, destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. ⁸Then he said to his slaves, ‘The wedding is ready, but those invited were not worthy. ⁹Go therefore into the main streets, and invite everyone you find to the wedding banquet.’¹⁰Those slaves went out into the streets and gathered all whom they found, both good and bad; so the wedding hall was filled with guests.¹¹“But when the king came in to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing a wedding robe, ¹²and he said to him, ‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding robe?’ And he was speechless.¹³Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ ¹⁴For many are called, but few are chosen.”

            Who here as planned a wedding before?  I know for one that it is a very stressful time, since you want everything to be perfect, so that both you and all your guests will have a wonderful time.  It has a sense of magic about it and it is a joyous occasion, yet the desire to make it amazing for everyone takes its toll.  Between finding the right place to have the reception and picking the write hymns and getting the right food and sending out all the immaculate invitations, it can bring a person to their limits.  And then when the RSVPs start coming in, then it becomes a daily ritual of either celebration or mourning, as people either say they are coming or say they are unable.  And then there is the worst ones, when people do not send in a reply and you sit there going “did they receive it or was it lost in the mail?  Did they forget about the wedding?  Or do they just not care enough about us to respectfully tell us whether or not they are coming?”  and all the stress builds and builds until that day when the slightest issue can send a person into a tailspin, because it matters so much that everything is right and that everyone is happy. 

            So I can understand how the king in this parable can be so stressed out and infuriated with those who have betrayed him by not coming to the wedding.  And it is a betrayal, because those who are invited to weddings are normally those whom we cherish and want to share our moments of joy and out of our bounty with.  So when they don’t come, without a good reason, they betray the king.  And when they mistreat the messengers and kill them, that’s a royal betrayal.  Luckily for us, no one killed any of the post office workers who dropped off the invites, but I can’t say for certain that none were chased by dogs. 

So the king takes the recourse and revenge that this betrayal brings about.  Now, those invited had been given second chances.  Keep in mind, that most mortal kings would have gone and slain those who did not come when they first refused, since at the time, refusing the king was the same as outright rebellion, because it dishonored the king and showed that your allegiance was not to him.  But instead of outright punishment, the king tries again, which would dishonor the king but he wanted the people to come and join in the festivities and to honor them.  It was only after the invited killed the slaves that the king sent his armies and destroyed the city. 

So now what was the king to do?  The food had all been ordered, the wine had all been brought, the bride had her dress and the groom his tux, but now there was no one to come and join in the festivities and they wanted to share their joy and their abundance with others… So what do they do?  They go out and they invite everyone that they meet on the streets to the wedding banquet, whether they are good or bad, whether they know them or not.  All who were found were brought into the celebration.  And this was not some celebration that lasted merely hours, instead it is a celebration that last seven full days.  Seven days!  I know how much a wedding reception costs now, and it’s hard to swallow when inviting friends and family, so how much more is the cost when it’s for seven days and you don’t know the people who are coming at all.  Yet the King does so with little thought to the cost, because it is His desire to celebrate with others and to give out of His abundance.

And so it is with God and all of us.  We do not earn the right to be invited by God to His feast, but instead He has us brought in because we are there.  It is when we think we are too good or when it is expected and not seen as honorific as it truly is that we get into trouble.  That is the problem with the first round of guests.  They expected the invite, because they were powerful and saw themselves at least as equals to the king, not really needing him.  It is when we become so full of ourselves that we lose sight of we are truly are compared to the King that we put ourselves in trouble.  It is when we forget that God is truly the one in control, the one whom we owe everything that we have, that we become full of ourselves and begin to reject that which God has loving offered and given for us. 

That is the crime of the one who is without his wedding robe at the party.  Just like the ones who didn’t come or murdered the slaves, this one believed that he was too good to do what was required of him.  Instead of wearing the proper attire, he decided to show up however he wanted, since the king should be glad to have him there no matter what. 

When I was in college, I decided to rush a fraternity.  It was my sophomore year, and I had a lot of friends in the house and it was basically a sure thing that I would be in.  The day of the rush dinner I come an hour early, which was mistake number one.  While this was not an event you wanted to be late too, there is such a thing as being too early as well.  Also, the dress code was business casual, so at least a polo shirt and nice pants.  I was in this green long sleeve t-shirt, cargo pants, and sneakers.  But hey, I didn’t see a problem, cause I’m Sean, and I belong here, I’m at the house almost daily.  Wrong.  That was not a fair assumption.  Instead my friends look at me and tell me to get out.  I was shocked.  I thought I was dressed fairly well, after all the shirt was fifty bucks, the most expensive shirt I had in my closet.  But my friends were right, I had put myself on a pedestal and I allowed myself to think more highly of myself than I should have.  Now I was lucky, in that they let me come in after I had changed into more suitable attire, but I was cast out originally and there was some gnashing of teeth. 

The man in the story is not as lucky though, for he is bound and tossed out for his offense, for not wearing the right clothing.  Now to be clear, this does not mean that there is a dress code for worship or that you have to have nice clothing to be part of God’s feast.  Instead it means that we must clothe ourselves in the proper fashion for God, and our clothing is our beliefs and how we live out our lives, since those things are all intertwined.  Each of our actions is a thread that forms our clothes at the celebration.  When we clothe ourselves in repentance, in the radical re-orientation that focuses us on God and causes us to act in thanksgiving with love, mercy and compassion, we are clothed in that beautiful wedding robe.  When we act out of self-importance, without mercy and compassion, with greed and fear and envy, that is when we form our t-shirts and cargo pants, unfit for the wedding feast.

All of us have been invited to join in the feast, and we are called to go out and to give that invitation to others as well so they may join in the celebration and know the joy that is in following our savior.  But we must live out our lives in true faith if we hope to stay in that celebration, if we are not to be tossed out into the darkness.  It is through our giving of ourselves to others, through the acts of compassion and mercy that we do, and through our desire to show love and thanks to our God that our robes are made and we may be a part of the feast that has no end. 

And we must not take pride in those garments and begin to believe that they are not any more beautiful than any other, for it is when we begin to judge one another, when we begin to set ourselves above other that we will begin to fall and falter and we will be sent out into that darkness.  For it is that moment that we become those who ignored and those who mistreated, for our self-importance is what leads us down the path of destruction and our robes become nothing but rags.

Instead, let us always look upon our brothers and sisters with the most positive eye we can, with the most compassion and love in our hearts.  In that way, we may emulate our loving God and we may bring healing and invitation to all that we meet, instead of condemnation and fear.  For we do not worship a God who desires to be separate from His creation and his children, but rather one who desires to bring us in to celebrate and to share his love and joy with us. 

Amen 

Blessing of the Animals - Oct. 2, 2011

Matthew 6:25-6

‘Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

            Don’t Worry.  It sounds far simpler than it actually is, especially when we are living in the middle of an economic downturn, when it is hard to find a job that will pay all the bills.  We worry about our health, hoping that whatever is going around will not come to us. We worry about our bodies, asking if we look good enough.  Those with kids have it even rougher.  My mother once told me that ever since my older brother was born, she has not had a good nights sleep, because she has always worried about her children and always will.  Do we have all that we need, are we happy, are we meeting our potential.  So when God says “do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, or about your body, what you will wear,” it can seem like a pipedream or a trip to Neverneverland.   

            Yet we are told by our Loving Creator not to worry, don’t panic.  And why “don’t worry?”  Because God will provide for us, just as the birds of the air, who do not sow or reap or gather into barns, or work jobs or get paid, are cared for, so of course we will be cared for as well.

            Why is it that they are cared for?  Because they are a part of God’s creation and God takes care of those that God creates, for God loves all that has life within it and all that God has touched.  It doesn’t matter to God how much something effects the economy or how long its life is or who on earth even cares about them, all that matters to God is that His hands formed them and His breath gave them life, therefore all belong to Him and are loved by Him.  So whether something flies like a bird, walks like a human or a dog, crawls like a snake, or stands still as a flower, all things are part of God’s glorious Creation and are cared for.

            So what of hunger and want?  How can we say that God provides when people are starving and animals are abused and rainforests are destroyed?  Because we humans are the hands of God and it is through us that God desires to poor to be fed and those who cannot defend themselves be defended.  You see, we have a very limited free will, in that the only freedom we have is deciding who our will is bound to – is it bound to God, our loving Creator?  Or is it bound to Sin and the Devil?  One of these ways is hard, yet brings about life, while the other is easy and brings about death.  Death not only ourselves but death for God’s Creation, that which has been left for us to care for.  In choosing the way that leads to death, we would discredit and dishonor our Loving God.

            Yet we still worry and wring our hands, waiting for the next paycheck or saving up to get that really nice night out or the newest fashions, so that we can look good and be accepted by our culture.  After all, does not the clothing make the man?  And we need to make good first impressions, and how we look will set the tone for that impression before we even open our mouths.  Yet are not our lives more than our clothes and our food?  Is not our calling to more than these simple material things?  Our actions and our beliefs are far more important than the clothes than these things, so instead of worrying we are called to live out our individual callings and to use the gifts that we have been given to the best of our ability. Our pets can teach us about this, for what job is it that a dog has?  It’s job is to just be who it is, a dog.  It’s calling in life is to play, to chase, and to bring others joy and happiness by its presence.  Unless something tragic has happened to a dog, it is normally quite good around people and doesn’t sit around worry all day about what is going to happen, instead he just is who he is, and there is a powerful honesty in that.  And each animal and pet is different from each other.  Amy’s dog Emma is far different from the dog I had growing up, Cutie. While both definitely enjoyed time to lounge around, Emma is a more social and vocal dog than Cutie ever was, and neither has ever been as playful as Maggie, Amy’s parents dog.  It amazing to watch as Maggie, who is a little white ball of fluff, will jump all over Emma, including jumping on her head, and pull on her ears, going “I want to play, I want to play” while Emma just takes it all.  But they are simply being who they are and who they are meant to be, and they are not doing any harm to each other or anyone else, so they are living out their callings in life.   For if we truly are who we are meant to be, who we are called to be, we won’t worry so much about the little, material things in life.

            Now, all of this is not a call towards laziness.  As Luther pointed out, God doesn’t come by to each bird and cram the food down their throats, but instead God provides it in the world and they do have to go and get it.  So yes, we do work and save and provide for ourselves and our families through those jobs.  And by doing so we live out our vocations, that which we are called to do.  For each of us has our own ministry and our own ground to do it in, each of us is called to be somewhere in our lives and to serve God in that capacity, whether it be as a plumber, a garbage collector, a banker, a mother, a son, a deacon, a teacher, or something else, we are called to do and to be what we are called to by God, to use those gifts that have been given to us through the Holy Spirit.

            Part of that calling is also being a part of this community of faith, that united we may be a beacon of hope, love, and compassion to all that see us.  Included in this reality is that we support one another when one of us falls upon hard times.  So we need not worry about having food and clothing, for should we lack the resources to get these things on our own, will not our brothers and sisters here come to our aid?  Are there any among us who would not give to our brother or sister if they are hungry or without clothes, or if they cannot feed or clothe their children?  So do not worry, for God provides for us through each other, just as we are the hands of God acting to help those outside of our congregation and community.  Thus we are free to live out who we are meant to be, just as the birds that fly, the dogs and cats that walk, and they flowers that sway in the wind.  And may we always protect them, as we are the stewards of God’s beloved creation and we have much to learn from them.

Amen.