Changing Our Minds

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

Lectionary 26, Year A – 1 October 2017

Text: Matthew 21:23-32

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Today, Jesus tells us a Tale of a Father With Two Sons. The Father has a vineyard, and he needs some work done. He asks one son to go work, but that son refuses to his face. So the dad asks his other son to go work in the vineyard. That son agrees to do the work.

There’s some backstory missing for us, the listener. We don’t know why the first son changes his mind and goes to work in the vineyard. We don’t know why the second son changes his mind and doesn’t work in the vineyard at all. All we learn is that one son does what the father wants, and the other son doesn’t, in both cases because the sons each change their minds. 

This story is a about a question of will. The father’s will – his desire – is for some work to get done in his vineyard. His sons both clearly know what his will is – but only one of them follows through, and we’re left wondering how the dad dealt with both his sons. What words of thanks did he give to the one who did the work? What words of anger did he have for the son who blew him off?

Once, many years ago, I made plans with a friend to go to a restaurant for dinner. I’ll call the restaurant Rob’s BBQ. Early in the day before we were supposed to meet, while I was at my college job, I changed my mind. I called my friend, and I canceled our plans. I don’t remember what my reasoning was – I do remember that my friend was rightfully angry with me for canceling, especially without a good reason.

After we got off the phone, I felt terribly guilty. I knew we would get past it eventually, but I felt badly for causing this rift between us. I stood by the phone and reflected on the conversation and my guilt. I was standing by the window, looking out, toward the UT Stadium, and from that vantage point, I could see the planes they flew over the stadium – the planes that carry the advertising behind them. The planes would circle over the stadium, come toward where I was, and then return to the stadium. Around and around.

As I stood there, by that window, I took a second to read the banner behind one of the planes that afternoon, and – I kid you not – it had a directive on it: “EAT AT ROB’S BBQ!”

I laughed out loud, took it as a sign in the heavens, quite literally, and called my friend. At first, she was suspicious of my sudden change of heart. But she relented and forgave me, and we went to have a delicious BBQ dinner. Most importantly, the rift in our friendship was mended.

There’ve certainly been other times in my life when I’ve changed my mind and things haven’t worked out so well. You probably have those times, too – can you remember any of them?

"Thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven."

Whenever we pray the Lord’s Prayer, we say to God: “Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven…” and Luther said that when we pray this, we’re asking for God’s will to “come about in and among us.” And that’s the really tricky part, because maybe I want for God’s will to be done in someone else’s life – maybe someone I think could use some of God’s will in their life. 

Then God tries to accomplish something in my own life, and I resist. God’s will is too difficult. God’s will is too challenging. God’s will leads me to try things that make me uncomfortable or that I really don’t want to do. And so I change my mind from “Thy will be done,” to “Never mind, God! Really. I know best.”

When I do that – when I act like I know better than God - a rift between me and God opens up faster than anything. 

That rift is called “sin,” and I sin daily. I sin daily in thought, word, and deed by what I have done and what I have left undone. Do those words sound familiar? From where?

Right – these are from our corporate prayer of confession. If we say them with intention, then as we pray these words, we think about the times we’ve denied God’s will, and we think about the people we haven’t loved as much as we love ourselves. 

I sin daily, even though I know that God’s will for me is to love God with my whole heart, and to love my neighbor as myself. This prayer of confession is like a re-set button, in a way. It’s like that plane that gave me that directive to go eat BBQ, except this banner might read: “Love God with your whole heart, and love your neighbor as yourself.”

And maybe that banner would be followed by another, reading: “By grace you have been saved. May Christ live in your hearts by faith.” 

And then, while we’re imagining planes with banners behind them, maybe a third one could come behind, saying, “Go and put your faith and love into action!”

We don’t do God’s will to earn our way into heaven, yet we also read in Scripture again and again that seeking God’s will and doing God’s will are important parts of our lives as Christians. And, for all of the modern-day questioning and proclaiming about what is God’s will (and what isn’t) – this I know to be true: God’s will is what God commands, and Jesus says that the greatest two commandments are to love God with our hearts, minds, and souls, and to love our neighbors as ourselves.

So when we come to church and say the confession and receive God’s forgiveness, these are not merely words on a page or in the air. Sometimes I have people who aren’t familiar with liturgy ask why we say these same things every Sunday. “Don’t the words lose meaning?” they ask. 

Well, maybe so. But they don’t have to. These words of confession and forgiveness are meant to be emblazoned on our hearts, our minds, and our souls. We don’t always love God or love our neighbor, even though we know this is God’s will for us. 

But, even as the difficult words of confession sink into our spirits, we then hear the next words: that we are saved by God’s grace, and we are given strength by Almighty God to have power through the Holy Spirit, so that Christ may live in our hearts by faith. 

And when we change our minds – and hearts and souls – away from God’s will, God is always calling us back, so that the rift between us can be mended. 

Let us close with words of prayer from our Hymn of the Day, that we will sing next:

“Give new strength to our believing, Give us faith to live your word.”

Amen.

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Heaven Meeting Earth in the Most Powerful Way

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

A Advent 4 – 18 December 2016

Text: Matthew 1:18-25

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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A few weeks ago, we finished a year of focusing on the Gospel of Luke in our cycle of readings that we use on Sunday mornings. On the first Sunday of Advent, we began a year of focusing on the Gospel of Matthew. Gospel readings from Mark, Luke, and John will show up from time to time, but for the next year, the bulk of our Gospel readings on Sundays will be from the Gospel of Matthew.

The Gospel of Luke is where we get many of our ideas about the first Christmas and the events leading up to it. Luke is where we hear the stories about John the Baptist’s parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, and the miraculous circumstances around Elizabeth’s pregnancy. Luke is where we hear about the angel, Gabriel, going to visit Mary to give her the Big News that will forever change her life. It is in Luke that we have what we now call the Song of Mary (or the Magnificat) and the Song of Zechariah (or the Benedictus).

Luke tells us the historical information about the registration of the people that caused Joseph and Mary to travel to Bethlehem. And finally, Luke paints the picture of the shepherds in the fields keeping watch over their flocks by night, suddenly serenaded by a chorus of angels, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest heaven!”

It is in the Gospel of Matthew that we hear other parts of the story altogether, including today’s reading about Joseph, but also - the visit of the wise men (which we remember on Epiphany), the Holy Family’s escape to Egypt as they fear for Jesus’ life, the massacre of the Holy Innocents by King Herod, and, finally, the Holy Family’s return to Galilee, where Jesus would grow up. 

Today’s lesson from Matthew says that Joseph and Mary are “engaged” – which isn’t a proper translation because they were actually betrothed to one another. If we compare betrothal to our modern terms, it falls in between being engaged and being married. Betrothed couples were legally bound to one another. Remember that marriages then were almost always arranged by the families and they almost always were legal arrangements involving exchanges of property. To break off a betrothal required an actual divorce (unlike breaking off an engagement today).

So, Joseph finds out that this person to whom he is legally bound is now pregnant – and he knows that he is not the father of this child. If Mary has committed adultery (how else would she have gotten pregnant?), then Joseph has grounds to divorce her, and actually, he has grounds to have her killed, which was the punishment for adultery. But Matthew shares that Joseph is “unwilling to expose [Mary] to public disgrace.”

So Joseph decides to set Mary aside quietly, and for each of them to go on their separate ways. And the text says that just when he’s resolved on this plan of action, an angel appears to him in a dream to explain the situation that lies before him.

For this child is not any child. This child is conceived by the Holy Spirit, and his name is to be “Jesus” – which is a variant of “Yahweh saves.” This child will save humanity from our sinfulness. And then we hear that this child will be God with us – Emmanuel.

Can you imagine waking up from this dream?

And yet, after awakening from his sleep, Joseph does what the angel of the Lord has told him to do – he takes Mary as his wife.

Yet, the story of Jesus’ birth isn’t merely about how Joseph or Mary handled the interruption in their life’s plans, or about how we handle life’s interruptions, either. (Though, we can certainly find wisdom in studying the example of Joseph and Mary.) The story of Jesus’ birth is about the love of God coming to earth – born as a human, and growing up to show us the way of the Kingdom of God.

What is God’s kingdom like? The hymn, “Prepare the Royal Highway” describes it perfectly:

His is no earthly kingdom; it comes from heav’n above.

His rule is peace and freedom and justice, truth, and love.

The story of Jesus’ birth shows us that God’s ways are most certainly not our ways.

In Jesus, our hopes and our fears are met with God’s love and grace for us. It is Jesus who gives us our hope, and it is Jesus who draws us away from fear and into lives of love. Do we really think that God would send Jesus to be born simply so that we could have some nice carols to sing once a year? The birth of Jesus is heaven meeting earth in the most powerful way.

As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, let us also prepare our hearts to welcome Christ, the newborn king.

Amen.

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The Signs of God's Grace

The grace-filled bread and wine are found at this table each week,
where God meets us as a most gracious host.

The Rev. Kathi Johnson
Second Sunday After Epiphany, Year C – 17 January 2016
Text: John 2:1-11
Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas
 

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Steve and I are one week away from attending the largest wedding I have ever attended. A friend’s son is getting married next weekend in a huge event with hundreds of people. For this wedding - as you would expect - every detail is being considered, every possible scenario is being planned out, so that – for instance – they don’t have the kind of disaster happen as what happens in today’s gospel lesson, where the host runs out of wine.
 

Weddings in the time of Jesus were not simple affairs. They didn’t get together with a few friends and family for a ceremony that lasted a half an hour and a reception that lasted four hours. Weddings in the time of Jesus involved everyone because it was a matter of hospitality, and wedding celebrations went on for days and days - up to a full week of dinners and drinking and partying. It was not a simple celebration, but you did it because in the Ancient Near East, this kind of hospitality was not only expected, it was the societal norm.
 

So, the wedding at Cana is in full swing, several days into it, and they run out of wine. “No big deal,” you think. “Just run over to Tom Thumb (or wherever you buy wine) and get some more!” Except…this is two thousand years ago, and running out to grab more wine is a bit more involved than running to the grocery store and filling a cart.  The hosts of this party are out of wine, and there’s no quick fix. And running out of wine is more than just being out of wine. To them, wine is symbolic of an abundant harvest, so to run out of wine means that you’ve also run out of God’s blessings. OOPS.
 

Jesus’ mother is on it. She has a thought and shares her idea with her son, Jesus, who seems to shut her down kind of rudely by saying, “What is that to me? My hour hasn’t yet come.” In other words, Jesus is trying to tell his mother that – to him, anyway – the time isn’t right quite yet.


And yet, Mary persists, and maybe – just maybe – it is her persistence that changes his mind. She tells the servants to do whatever Jesus tells them to do. Jesus, relenting, tells them to fill these huge jars with water. Six huge jars – 20 to 30 gallons each! – just filling them with water probably takes some time. They fill them to the brim and then Jesus tells them to take them over to the steward, who draws out wine from the jars (not knowing where it’s come from). And not just wine, but an abundance of wine that’s better than the wine served earlier in the party.
 

And then the gospel writer wraps up the story neatly by saying, “Jesus did this, the first of his signs, in Cana of Galilee, and revealed his glory; and his disciples believed in him.”
 

This story only appears in the gospel of John – not the other three gospels – and John has seven signs that he writes about throughout his gospel (so, this is the first of seven). This story appears on this Second After the Epiphany because Epiphany is all about the revealing of Jesus to the world, and these signs in John prompt us to ask the question: What does this sign reveal about Jesus?
 

The obvious answer is found right there in the text: Jesus reveals his glory and the disciples believe in him. But the water-to-wine story has more to it than just being a simple miracle meant to show everyone what a great magician Jesus is. Jesus doesn’t make a big deal about this sign, so only a few people know about it and see what has happened.


 But the end result of the sign performed by Jesus is an abundance of wine, and that is what the most people see – the abundance: the abundance of God’s blessing, the abundance of God’s grace. What does this sign reveal about Jesus? This sign reveals not only Jesus’ glory, but also the abundance of God’s grace.


 In this story, God’s grace is revealed through the changing of water into wine, but the signs of God’s grace are found all around us. There is an abundance of God’s grace for us, even if we don’t always see it. Sometimes, our view of God’s grace is clouded by our own sin or the sinfulness of others. Sometimes, we pass by the view of God’s grace without seeing it because we’re too busy or too distracted (or both).


 But God’s grace has a way of appearing, in spite of us. God’s grace is with us – it is in the grace-filled water of the font, in the waters of our baptism that stay with us throughout our lives. It is in the grace-filled bread and wine at this table each week, where God meets us as a most gracious host. These are the signs that are here.
 

But the witness of Scripture – in this story, and elsewhere – is that the signs of God’s grace are not limited to a church building or some other holy place, but are also found out there, in the world,  and in our daily lives. Where are these signs for you? And what do they reveal about God’s grace?


 For the world is also filled with a tremendous lack of grace, and as I said the other night at our Wednesday service, we’re more aware of others’ lack of grace than ever before in human history, thanks to the technology that seems to bring everyone’s anger and everyone’s fear directly into our homes and into the palms of our hands.


 The apostle Paul writes in Romans 12: “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” So, put another way – where are you called to be a sign of God’s grace? Into what situations can you speak as the voice of grace, the voice of wisdom, the voice of love? Pay attention, for the opportunities are certainly there.


 Amen.
 

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For I know my offenses, and my sin is ever before me...

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

A Ash Wednesday – March 5, 2014

Text: Psalm 51

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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It used to be that yards were surrounded by something called a chain-link fence. This was before the days of what we now call “privacy fences” – the tall slats of wood that shut out most of our view of whatever it is that is around us. With chain-link fences, it was all out there, for everyone to see.

And it was during this era that a French priest named Michel Quoist wrote a prayer using a chain-link fence as his inspiration:

“The Wire Fence”

The wires are holding hands around the holes;

To avoid breaking the ring, they hold tight the neighboring wrist,

And it’s thus that with holes they make a fence.

Lord, there are lots of holes in my life.

There are some in the lives of my neighbors.

But if you wish, we shall hold hands,

We shall hold very tight,

And together we shall make a fine roll of fence to adorn Paradise.

“Lord, there are lots of holes in my life…” he says. And he’s right – the holes are there. As much as I want to think of myself and my life as being totally put together and completely intact, the holes are there – and more often than not, just like a chain-link fence, the holes are bigger than the wires that hold the fence together.

For me, it calls to mind the psalm we read and sang at the beginning of our service – Psalm 51 – a psalm of lament, written as a confession of sin. In this psalm, the writer is basically saying the same thing to God: “Lord, there are lots of holes in my life…”

Except the psalmist puts it this way: “I know my offenses, and my sin is ever before me…”

We use this psalm on Ash Wednesday – the beginning of Lent – to re-orient us each year. Because Lent is meant to be a time of special self-examination and repentance, this psalm re-orients us to a place where we remember the holes in our own lives – we remember that we are sinful – we remember that we are dust, and to dust we shall return.

It can be very hard for us to be honest about our own sinful condition and the sin that surrounds us. It can be very hard for us to say that all out loud – to cry out to God before others: “I know my offenses, and my sin is ever before me!” Our sin has been with us for a long, long time. And our sin weighs on us – it holds us down – it tries to kill us with its heaviness.

So here we come to another Ash Wednesday. Another year in which we receive ashes on our heads. It is a foreign act to us – to receive ashes on our heads. It is something done very cleanly and neatly in church once a year. But it used to be that whenever someone wanted to show they were very sad, or show they were very sorry, they’d put ashes on their heads and they’d dress in rough cloth – they would wear outward signs of their inner sorrow. And so that is what we will do today – we will wear an outward sign of our inner sorrow, our inner grief for our own sins and the sins of others, the sins that surround us and impact us every day of our lives.

The ashes that we receive today will be made in the sign of a cross. And it is this sign – the cross – that reminds us that God does have mercy on us, according to his steadfast love. In God’s great compassion, he blots out our offenses. The powerful love of Christ – shown by his cross – it was marked on us at baptism – it marks us today – it marks us forever.

Because of this love, we can pray: “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence and take not your Holy Spirit from me.”

Amen.

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In Christ, Freed to Love Others

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

C Lectionary 13 – 30 June 2013

Text: Galatians 5:1, 13-25

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ…to whom be the glory forever and ever. Amen.[1]

Last week, because of VBS, we took a week off from Galatians so that we could hear the stories about Paul as told in the book of Acts. Today, we pick Galatians back up again.

When we last met our letter-writer, Paul – that is, before Vacation Bible School – he was writing to the Galatians in chapter 2 about God justifying us through his grace. In the lesson from Galatians 3 appointed for last Sunday (the one we didn’t hear), Paul says the following (in summary):

•         We are baptized into Christ.
•         We are clothed with Christ.
•         We are one in Christ.

In today’s lesson from Galatians chapter 5, Paul keeps going – talking about freedom – specifically, our freedom as Christians.

In today’s reading from Galatians, Paul shows us two opposing forces: the flesh and the Spirit. What he calls “the flesh” is not simply our flesh-and-bone bodies – what he’s referring to is our sinful selves: self-serving, discontent, divisive. An example: what’s best for you might not be best for me, and if all I’m worried about is me, then I’m not worried about you one little bit. That kind of attitude is what Paul means when he talks about “the flesh.”

Here are what he includes as the works of the flesh: fornication, impurity, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, anger, quarrels, dissensions, factions, envy, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these. And so while I certainly don’t recommend it, these are all things that we can participate in because of our freedom.

What Paul is trying to express is this: if in exercising our freedom, these are the behaviors that we choose to exhibit – how are we helping others? How are we building others up?

And so, Paul gives another list – a list of the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self- control. He then adds, “There is no law against such things.” And why is there no law against the fruit of the Spirit? Because the entire list is nothing but a demonstration of the love that we have for others. Freedom in Christ, then, has less to do with always focusing on ourselves and more to do with loving others.

Paul goes on to say, “If we live by the Spirit, let us also be guided by the Spirit.” Another translation is this: “If we live by the Spirit, then let us keep in step with the Spirit.” That image is from the military: soldiers, keeping in step with one another, showing that they are organized and that they know what they are doing. Paul uses this image of a military formation because it was something quite familiar in the ancient Roman territories. And it describes how our own formation with the Spirit should be. In step with the Spirit, we are unified with the Spirit and also with each other.

As we are called to walk with the Spirit, we are also called to look outside of ourselves – to love others. Paul reminds the Galatians – and us – that one of God’s greatest commandments is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” A colleague, Dr. Bruce Epperly, puts it this way: “Grace enables us to become large-souled persons who see our own well-being and the well-being of others as intimately connected.”[2]

Our Redeemer has the opportunity today to take some bold steps in learning and growing as individual Christians. But also, these steps will enable us to learn and grow as a Christian community – to learn about and grow into what it is that God is calling us to here in Grand Prairie and also beyond. We are called to look forward. Jesus uses the image of plowing a field in today’s gospel lesson – and so, if we are plowing, we are focused on what is ahead.

We are also called to live our lives in freedom. In that freedom, we are certainly called to love others. Let us, then, my brothers and sisters, keep in step with the Spirit.

Let us pray:

Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

Where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled, as to console;

to be understood, as to understand;

to be loved, as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

and it is in dying that we are born to Eternal Life. Amen.[3]

May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brothers and sisters. Amen.

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[1] Galatians 1:3, 5

[2] UCC Pastor, this quote from www.patheos.com

[3] Prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi.