LEAVE IT.

Charlie, sans frog

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

Reformation – 25 October 2015

Texts: Psalm 46 and Romans 3:19-28

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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One of the most helpful commands I have found to teach a dog is this: “LEAVE IT.” As in, “Beloved dog, please ignore that poisonous leaf or piece of poop or fence board with a nail sticking out of it. Just leave it and walk away.” So now, with two new dogs, I am teaching this command again and again on our walks.

The other day, I was walking the two dogs together. We’d had a bit of a frenzied walk – not difficult to imagine with two miniature schnauzers – and so, I was relieved when we turned the corner back into the neighborhood, around the block from home. I was so focused on getting us back home that it took me a second to realize Charlie had picked up something in his mouth and was crunching on it.

I was frustrated. “What IS that?” I asked him as he looked up at me with this thing hanging out of his mouth – which turned out to be a flattened, petrified frog that had been lying in the street for most of the summer. “GROSS,” I said to him and then – I had no choice – he wasn’t leaving it or dropping it, so I pried open his mouth and pulled the frog out. I tossed it on the ground and he went to pick it up again, and with a “LEAVE IT” from me, we walked home.

Our psalm today – believe it or not – has a similar command in it. Psalm 46 builds up to a great clamor: the earth moves, the mountains shake and tremble, the waters rage and foam, and then the nations rage, the kingdoms shake, and the earth melts completely away. And God breaks the bows, shatters the spear, and burns the shields with fire – all our weapons of war are destroyed in a deafening commotion and then after all that comes the command from God: LEAVE IT.

Now, the psalm as it’s printed in your bulletin doesn’t say it that way, and your Bible probably doesn’t either. We’ve softened it to a lovely-sounding “Be still” but the tone of God’s command is stronger than that: LEAVE IT, and know that I am God. LEAVE IT – or LET GO – and know that I am God.

Let go of that which is causing you harm, says God. Let go of that which is dangerous. Let go of that which kills and destroys. Know that I am God, and I will be exalted over all of it – I will be exalted over the harm and danger and destruction because I am God.

Each year, we remember the Protestant Reformation at the end of October. We Lutherans remember it yearly because we follow the teachings of Martin Luther, one of the greatest reformers in the Protestant Reformation. And it may seem silly to remember the Reformation each year – maybe it’s ridiculous, even, to remember our particular heritage as Lutherans.

But each year when Reformation comes around, Lutherans around the world are able to stand together and repeat that which Martin Luther repeated so much: that we are saved by grace through faith, or as Romans says today, that we are justified by faith apart from works, which means that

• When we feel separated from God because of our sin, or
• When we feel beaten down by the chaos all around us or inside of us, or
• When we cannot see what the next steps will be…

We are safe.

• God is our refuge and there is nothing that separates us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, and
• There is no place we can go to be away from God’s presence, and
• There is no part of our pathway that God does not see.

And so we can and we should and we must let go of everything in us and everything in the world that lies to us and says that God doesn’t love us at all. That lie is what causes us harm. That lie is dangerous. We can and we should and we must let go of that lie because that is the lie that kills and destroys.

LEAVE IT.

Let go. And know that God is God. God has been exalted over all the earth. God came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ. God was born as one of us, God lived as one of us, God died as one of us, and God was raised to life again. And God in Jesus Christ was exalted over all the earth, exalted over everything that kills and destroys so that we can be victorious over sin and death in Jesus’ name.

God is our refuge and our strength. And when it seems that everything outside of us and inside of us is trying to keep us from the great love of God, remember to let go of the lie that says that God doesn’t love us. LEAVE IT. That lie is strong – God’s love is stronger.

And when we begin to realize how deeply we ourselves are loved by God, we then can begin to realize how deeply loved others are, too, and we can approach others with love and compassion, rather than fear and rancor.

I keep coming back to that mirror we had by the font for a while earlier this fall that said, "God loves you. Go and love."

Let it be so. Amen.

+ SDG +

Looking Back; Looking Forward

Come, Holy Spirit!

Reformation and Confirmation Sunday – October 27, 2013

Texts: Ephesians 2:8 (Ryan) and Romans 8:38-39 (Laci)

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Grace and peace be with you, from God our Father, and the Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today we have this combined remembering of our history as Lutherans in Reformation Sunday, and celebrating as two of our young people, Ryan and Laci, affirm their baptismal faith. And so it is a day upon which we spend time looking backward at our history, but also looking forward with great hope.

Reformation Day actually falls on October 31^st – aka Halloween – aka the day before All Saints’ Day. It was on this day in 1517 that a monk named Martin Luther posted his 95 Theses to a university church door in Germany. This was common practice of the day – the church door was sort of like a community bulletin board.

Much like some of us might go online nowadays to ask a question about faith or health or dogs or to ask what’s the best way to hard boil an egg, Luther had these things he wanted to discuss and question about the Church’s practices and the pope and how God fit into it all. So he wrote these things down as 95 Theses – or points of debate - and posted them to the community bulletin board, then sending copies to other leaders in the Church.

His concerns created a firestorm almost immediately. The new technology of the day helped with this – things could be printed and copied faster than ever before because of the invention of the printing press. So his theses went viral – spreading throughout the Church and academia.

Now, Luther had a lot to say – I don’t have time to repeat it all this morning. But the root of his basic concerns was that the Church of his day focused heavily on what we were doing to keep God happy. The concept of a gracious and loving God wasn’t preached, wasn’t really talked about much like we might talk about it now. And because most people in Luther’s day were illiterate, they relied heavily on what the Church told them to believe about God.

Most of them couldn’t sit down and read the Bible for themselves – because of their own illiteracy, but also because the Bible wasn’t available in languages spoken by the people. And so, one of the greatest gifts that Luther gave was to translate the Scriptures into German – a language people could understand – and also to encourage education so that people could learn to read.

So, what happened? Well, from the work of this one man and many others, the Church began reforming. Word began to get out that God is gracious, that God is loving. And people who lived in fear and captivity began to hear marvelous words of grace like this: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God”[1] – which is also Ryan’s Confirmation verse today.

Imagine living your whole life in fear and in captivity to the idea that I must do all these things in order to make God happy and to avoid the tortures of hell – only to hear these beautiful words from Ephesians read and preached: “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God…”

It was life-changing. It was world-changing.

It also wasn’t easy. This change uprooted long-standing structures and there was theological disagreement and the ending of relationships and even war – it was a deeply difficult process to endure. But they did endure, and what became known as the Lutheran faith began to take root in Europe, and then to flourish. And time went on, and as Europeans began to come to the Americas, the Lutheran faith traveled with them.

And so it was the Luther’s basic teachings about God’s love and grace began to take root and flourish here in America – eventually coming to Texas and to Grand Prairie and to Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, and those of us sitting in this room (as well as countless others).

And this grace-filled and hopeful faith is the faith into which you were baptized, Ryan and Laci, and it is the faith in which you have been raised. And so now, with all this history behind us, we say that we are looking forward because today is a step in your journeys of faith - journeys that will continue on, because to be confirmed is really more about you affirming something – saying “YES!” to something that has already been given to you at your baptisms: faith in Jesus Christ and the gift of God’s Holy Spirit.

But something else has been given to you, as well: a covenant, between you and God, and one the things you’ll agree to today is to continue living in this covenant:

to live among God's faithful people,

      to hear the word of God and share in the Lord's supper,

      to proclaim the good news of God in Christ through word and deed,

      to serve all people, following the example of Jesus,

      and to strive for justice and peace in all the earth.

And so that is why we say that today, we look to our past, but we very much look forward, too, because these are things you will continue to do as you continue to grow as the people God has made you to be.

Here’s something else for you: look around you, at these people who surround you. Today, we all make a promise to you, too, to support you and pray for you.

Now, I’ve got a question for you – you’re getting confirmed today – so does that mean that from here on out, everything’s going to be easy as pie and you’ll never face any challenges again, ever?

And that's where your confirmation verse comes in, Laci – “For I am convinced,” Paul writes, “That neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.”[2]

One of the things Ryan and Laci did to prepare for this day was to come up with some goals for themselves. When the time came for them to show me their goals and for us to discuss them, I was so pleased that, among their goals, for each of them, was a sense of serving others – a sense of living out that very same love of God.

And so, Ryan and Laci, if you hear nothing else that I say today, hear this: You do not move forward alone – ever. You have all of us, today, and in the future, and there will be others – who will love you and support you and pray for you. But more than all of that, you have the love of God, which endures forever.

Amen.

+ SDG +

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[1] Ephesians 2:8

[2] Romans 8:38-39