Category: Commentary

The First Reading is Exodus 17:1-7.

Our Mid-Week Lenten Soup & Study this year is combining decluttering with Luther’s Small Catechism. Both movements, I think, asks us to change how we view our stuff and our faith. Decluttering isn’t about throwing things away; decluttering is about what we keep. Luther’s faith is centered on keeping close to a God who keeps us close. Our journey of faith isn’t helping us approach God. Faith is helping us see the God who is already with us.

One way we see God is by telling the stories of the people we grew up with. We share stories about our parents, grandparents, and distant ancestors (if we know them). When we talk to someone who doesn’t know us very well, we might focus on the positive stories first. We talk about challenges that were overcome and all the good things that happened. We wait to share the negative things (violence, anger, frustration, broken relationship) until later.

But our story from Exodus 17 doesn’t do that. The Israelites are rescued from slavery by God. They go into the wilderness to escape Pharaoh and his army. They overcome exciting challenges. They are doing a new thing. We expect to hear stories showing how they survived and thrived. But should we also hear their complaining? Why does scripture share their screw ups? The stories we tell (or share on facebook, instagram, and snapchat) are stories where we try to look our best. We usually do not share our negative stories. But God’s story includes people who complain, people who are thirsty, and people who wonder what God has done for us lately. When we are at our most broken and even we wouldn’t stay near us, God still holds us close. God doesn’t ask us to only share perfect stories. We are called to share every story because God is with us, even then.

Each week, I write a reflection on one of our scripture readings for the week. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship Bulletin for 3rd Sunday in Lent, 3/19/2017.

The First Reading is Genesis 12:1-4.

The second part of Genesis 12:4 reads “Abram was seventy-five years old when he departed from Haran.” He’s 75 when he leaves his adopted home.

Abram originally grew up in modern day Iraq. When he young, his father Terah headed west to the city of Haran. Terah was planning to continue to Canan but he never made it. Terah build a home in Haran. When he died, Abram inherited the household. Abram has a home in Haran when God tells him to leave.

The number 75 represents more than just a year in Abram’s life. 75 represents his entire life. When 70 (or 75) years shows up in scripture, we’re seeing a number that represents a lifetime. Scripture uses this number to point to everything this character would have experienced in a life. We are not supposed to be shocked that Abram, at the age of 75, could move to a new country. What is shocking is God telling Abram to give up his life so he can start something new.

I imagine Abram saw Haran as his home. His household, wealth, and workers (slaves and servants) dwelled there. Over the years, he formed deep relationships with the other citizens of Haran. I imagine he knew every shortcut in the city and where to watch the sunrise over the hills. Even though he grew up in ancient Iraq, Abram was a citizen of Haran. By the time he was 75 years old, he was an old timer. He was a mature resident. He was a pillar of the local community. And that’s the moment when God tells Abram to become a stranger.

When Abram leaves Haran, he becomes an alien in the land of Canan. He is a foreigner, without papers, in a land he’s never known. His old life in Haran is behind him. A new life is before him. God has called Abram to be a stranger in a strange land. And that’s what a faithfilled life can look like. This life of faith isn’t always a life of comfort and predictably. Faith sometimes means we will live in strange places with strange people. Yet these journeys will never be journeys without God. Abram goes to Canan because God is with him. We go to wherever God brings us because God is with us too.

Each week, I write a reflection on one of our scripture readings for the week. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship Bulletin for 2nd Sunday in Lent, 3/12/2017.

The First Reading is Genesis 2:15-17, 3:1-7.

We don’t know why God plants trees in the Garden of Eden that Adam and Eve cannot eat. When I visualize the story in my head, I put these trees in the very center of Eden. No matter where they are, they know these trees are there. One of the trees is a tree of immortality. Whoever eats its fruits will become divine. The other tree is the tree we hear about today. It’s a tree of the knowledge of good and evil.

To me, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil is a merism. A merism is a figure of speech where polar opposites are used to denote a totality (The Jewish Study Bible, Oxford 2004, page 16). Merisms show up many times in the bible. In the very first verse, God creates the heaven and the earth (i.e. everything). In the second creation story, the first human being is created and then split into male and female. The first human contained the totality of what’s possible in humankind. Merisms show up in other places too. When we find polar opposites in Scripture, we need to look for what’s totally represented. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil represents what everything that can be known. This knowledge contains what we usually call knowledge: science, math, poetry, and language. But knowledge also contains experiences. To be knowledgeable, we need experiences. We need to know how to survive through a broken heat. We need to know what happens when we break someone else’s. We will struggle, feel joy, and sometimes need to take each day just one-at-a-time to survive. Knowledge is more than just learning; knowledge is living.

The totality of knowledge is what God has. And this is what Adam and Eve desire. They see the tree and the possibility for joys. They see the tree and the possibility to be like God. As Lutheran Christians, when we talk about Sin, we mean more than just immoral acts. For us, Sin is our desire to be like God. We want knowledge; we want power; we want control. We want to be God. And this is why Adam and Eve are exiled from the garden. But they aren’t sent out alone. God will replace the loincloths they made for themselves with something better. Even when we try to take God’s place, God never stops being generous to us.

Each week, I write a reflection on one of our scripture readings for the week. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship Bulletin for 1st Sunday in Lent, 3/5/2017.

As I write this reflection, my two kittens are busy playing on the drying rack for my clothes. They are two little balls of fur; spinning, clawing, and jumping on my drying rack like its their personal jungle gym. My shirts, jeans, and other pieces of clothing are no longer clothes; they are cat toys. Every few minutes, I pick each one off the rack only to watch as they jump back on. This cycle is part of the game and it’s a game my kittens will do nothing to break.

The ashes we’re using tonight are not brand new. They are part of their own cycle. Last March, on Palm Sunday, we marked the beginning of Holy Week by celebrating Jesus’ final journey into Jerusalem. We welcome him into the city by waving palm branches in the sky. After the service, we saved the palms, tied them in a bundle, and hid them in a storage room. For the last year, they’ve sat undisturbed, slowly drying out. Yesterday, I took the bundle to our outdoor barbecue. I shared a prayer and burned those palms to ash.

The ashes used tonight show us how our worship is connected to a wider story. When we gather together to share Jesus’ story and live in God’s promises, we are participating in something that is more than one time event. We are connected to God’s story. And God’s story covers the past and the future. By being part of God’s creation, we are included in God’s story cycle. Tonight, when the ashes are placed on our forehead, we will hear words reminding us of that story. We’ll hear words of promise, connecting God’s spirit of creation to the reality of our mortality. And we’ll remember that, through Jesus, we’re always with God, no matter where our life cycle takes us.

Each week, I write a reflection on one of our scripture readings for the week. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship Bulletin for Ash Wednesday, 3/1/2017.

Our First Reading was Exodus 24:12-18.

What did Moses do during his first six days on the mountain? Before my bible study this week with other local Lutheran pastors, I never noticed this detail before. In our text from Exodus today, the Israelites are camped at the foot of Mt. Sinai. After escaping slavery in Egypt, they are learning how to live together. God is in the center of the community, covering Mt. Sinai in a cloud. God summoned Moses so Moses heads up the mountain. For six days, Moses is up there before God calls for him. So what does a person do when they’re waiting for God?

This text is full of allusions to other stories from scripture. In the story of Genesis, God worked for six days before resting on the seventh. During Noah’s great flood, the ark finally lands on a mountaintop as the water recedes from a rainstorm that lasted 40 days and 40 nights. People of the faith like Abraham, Sarah, and Jacob met God on various mountaintops and usually built on the spot where they saw God. And in earlier parts of the Exodus story, God is a cloud providing shade from the sun during the day and God is a cloud of fire providing light at night. In one short text, we see God as a creator, protector, savior, judge, and all-powerful presence. But we also meet a God who sometimes makes us wait.

The text doesn’t tell us what Moses was doing while he was waiting for God. He knew he was in God’s presence. The cloud gave that away. Yet, even Moses had to deal with God being silent. I imagine Moses took care of himself during those six days. He cooked his meals, slept outdoors, and kept himself busy. Moses kept living his life while waiting for God to finally speak. And I imagine we know what Moses waiting game feels like. We will hear in church today words of hope, promise, and hear how Jesus is here, right now, for us to eat and drink. Yet we might wonder why we can’t hear God speaking. I wish I had an answer for your why. But I don’t. Instead, we all have a story where even Moses had to wait. He had to keep living while he waiting for God to speak. But God’s silence does not mean God isn’t present. When we can’t hear God, God is still there. And God’s presence means God will speak and that, someday, we will finally hear. 

Each week, I write a reflection on one of our scripture readings for the week. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship Bulletin for 2/26/2017.

The Gospel Reading is Matthew 5:21-37.

In our gospel reading today, we’re still in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Last week, we heard the first twelve verses from that sermon. Today, we’re hearing the next 8. For Matthew, being a follower of Jesus Christ means we are students. Being with God involves regular learning, study, and education. Jesus, as he begins this sermon, is with his disciples. They are gathered around him and Jesus begins to teach. Jesus should teach because he is a rabbi and that’s what teachers do. The disciples, as followers, are called to learn and grow from what their teacher tells them. Being a disciple is more than just doing what we’re told. As a student, the more we learn, the more we are changed. As we study with God through scripture, worship, and prayer, we are transformed. Jesus isn’t just giving his disciples knowledge. Through their learning and education, the disciples are being changed into who God wants them to be.

But, according to Matthew, learning about God is not enough. In verse 20, we hear that our “righteousness” needs to exceed the righteousness of “the scribes and the Pharisees.” As Christians, we’re used to belittling the scribes and Pharisees. We paint these two groups as people who just don’t “get it.” We claim that their religious devotion and education blinded them to what God was doing in Jesus. If they stopped trying to learn about God and just see God, they would have recognized Jesus.

But these arguments are not Matthew’s arguments. Matthew isn’t against learning because that’s one of the ways we live as followers of Jesus. In Jesus’ day, education was something very few had access too. The scribes and Pharisees were as educated as someone could get. They could read, write, and study God’s word fro themselves. Their communities took care of them while they studied and learned. If anyone in Jesus’ world had the time, energy, and resources to learn about God, it was the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus’ demand to his followers in verse 20 is a heavy one. They are to know God more than anyone. How can they? Because, as disciples, God changes who they are. They are not only disciples. They are salt and light. They are more than who they were before and they called to live that identity out in all that they say and do.

Each week, I write a reflection on one of our scripture readings for the week. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship Bulletin for 2/19/2017.

The Gospel Reading is Matthew 5:21-37.

In our gospel reading today, we’re still in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Last week, we heard the first twelve verses from that sermon. Today, we’re hearing the next 8. For Matthew, being a follower of Jesus Christ means we are students. Being with God involves regular learning, study, and education. Jesus, as he begins this sermon, is with his disciples. They are gathered around him and Jesus begins to teach. Jesus should teach because he is a rabbi and that’s what teachers do. The disciples, as followers, are called to learn and grow from what their teacher tells them. Being a disciple is more than just doing what we’re told. As a student, the more we learn, the more we are changed. As we study with God through scripture, worship, and prayer, we are transformed. Jesus isn’t just giving his disciples knowledge. Through their learning and education, the disciples are being changed into who God wants them to be.

But, according to Matthew, learning about God is not enough. In verse 20, we hear that our “righteousness” needs to exceed the righteousness of “the scribes and the Pharisees.” As Christians, we’re used to belittling the scribes and Pharisees. We paint these two groups as people who just don’t “get it.” We claim that their religious devotion and education blinded them to what God was doing in Jesus. If they stopped trying to learn about God and just see God, they would have recognized Jesus.

But these arguments are not Matthew’s arguments. Matthew isn’t against learning because that’s one of the ways we live as followers of Jesus. In Jesus’ day, education was something very few had access too. The scribes and Pharisees were as educated as someone could get. They could read, write, and study God’s word fro themselves. Their communities took care of them while they studied and learned. If anyone in Jesus’ world had the time, energy, and resources to learn about God, it was the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus’ demand to his followers in verse 20 is a heavy one. They are to know God more than anyone. How can they? Because, as disciples, God changes who they are. They are not only disciples. They are salt and light. They are more than who they were before and they called to live that identity out in all that they say and do.

Each week, I write a reflection on one of our scripture readings for the week. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship Bulletin for 2/12/2017.

The Gospel Reading is Matthew 5:13-20.

In our gospel reading today, we’re still in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. Last week, we heard the first twelve verses from that sermon. Today, we’re hearing the next 8. For Matthew, being a follower of Jesus Christ means we are students. Being with God involves regular learning, study, and education. Jesus, as he begins this sermon, is with his disciples. They are gathered around him and Jesus begins to teach. Jesus should teach because he is a rabbi and that’s what teachers do. The disciples, as followers, are called to learn and grow from what their teacher tells them. Being a disciple is more than just doing what we’re told. As a student, the more we learn, the more we are changed. As we study with God through scripture, worship, and prayer, we are transformed. Jesus isn’t just giving his disciples knowledge. Through their learning and education, the disciples are being changed into who God wants them to be.

But, according to Matthew, learning about God is not enough. In verse 20, we hear that our “righteousness” needs to exceed the righteousness of “the scribes and the Pharisees.” As Christians, we’re used to belittling the scribes and Pharisees. We paint these two groups as people who just don’t “get it.” We claim that their religious devotion and education blinded them to what God was doing in Jesus. If they stopped trying to learn about God and just see God, they would have recognized Jesus.

But these arguments are not Matthew’s arguments. Matthew isn’t against learning because that’s one of the ways we live as followers of Jesus. In Jesus’ day, education was something very few had access too. The scribes and Pharisees were as educated as someone could get. They could read, write, and study God’s word fro themselves. Their communities took care of them while they studied and learned. If anyone in Jesus’ world had the time, energy, and resources to learn about God, it was the scribes and Pharisees. Jesus’ demand to his followers in verse 20 is a heavy one. They are to know God more than anyone. How can they? Because, as disciples, God changes who they are. They are not only disciples. They are salt and light. They are more than who they were before and they called to live that identity out in all that they say and do.

Each week, I write a reflection on one of our scripture readings for the week. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship Bulletin for 2/5/2017.

The Gospel Reading is Matthew 5:1-12.

What was the first thing you did when you first publicly met Jesus? For me, I probably giggled, laughed, and spit up since I was a baby who was just baptized. In our baptism, we are washed with water united in God’s promises. We are sealed with the cross of Christ. In our baptism, we meet Christ in a very public way. So, as a baby, my first act after meeting Jesus wasn’t probably the most dignified action. But it was at least authentically me.

Today’s reading from Matthew is Jesus’ first detailed public act of ministry. Matthew tells us how Jesus traveled around Galilee, preaching, teaching, and healing others. Word soon spreads and crowds start to gather around Jesus. As the numbers grow, Jesus escapes up a mountain. His disciples follow. Jesus stops escaping and settles in with his disciples, offering his long Sermon on the Mount. Rev. Karoline Lewis writes in Working Preacher that Matthews takes Jesus’ teaching ministry and discipleship seriously. The first public act of Jesus’ ministry in each gospel helps to illustrate what part of Jesus each gospel writer felt inspired to share. For Matthew, a disciple follows Jesus by being “the consummate student, a learner.”

Discipleship is more than believing in Jesus. Discipleship involves learning. Jesus invites us to be life-long learners. This, at first glance, sounds like an obvious thing to say. But in practical terms, being a life-long learner with Jesus is hard to do. Most of us are over busy. Our schedules can barely fit all the things we need to do. It seems impossible to add one more thing to our days. How can Jesus ask us to add one more thing to our already overloaded to-do list?

But maybe we shouldn’t look at this learning as just one more thing to do. What Jesus is bringing is an opportunity. A relationship with Jesus is something we can never exhaust. We can never fully cross Jesus off our to-do list because Jesus never crosses us off of his. Through the gift of faith, we are connected to to the creator of the universe who is the source of everything. And that God has decided that you matter and you have value. To learn with Jesus is to learn how God sees us and how we can see the world like God does. And to see how God sees is to be just the kind of disciple this world needs.

Each week, I write a reflection on one of our scripture readings for the week. This is from Christ Lutheran Church’s Worship Bulletin for 1/29/2017.