God is With Us Always

Dear reader,

I am leaving on Sunday, June 18, to begin a Doctor of Ministry degree in Chicago. I will be in residence there for three weeks and will be back at ORLC on Sunday, July 9. The sermon that follows is what I preached on my final Sunday at ORLC before leaving town for school.

I am not sure what - if anything - I will post here during my time in Chicago. Rest assured that I'll be back here in July, if not before!

Blessings!

Kathi

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The Rev. Kathi Johnson

Trinity Sunday – 11 June 2017

Text: Matthew 28:16-20

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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This gospel lesson appointed for Trinity Sunday comes from the very end of the gospel of Matthew. This chapter – chapter 28 - begins with the resurrection of Jesus, and includes what we call the Great Commission: “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.” And then the chapter and the gospel conclude with Jesus telling the disciples: “…remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

"...remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

So the Gospel of Matthew ends much the way it begins. The first chapter of Matthew is where we find his birth narrative about the birth of Jesus – his version of the Christmas story. It is here where Matthew says that Jesus will be “God with us” – Immanuel - which is certainly true throughout the life and ministry of Jesus on earth.

But – fast forwarding to the end of Matthew again – Jesus wants his disciples to know that God will still be with them - always, to the very end of the age.

And as for us in our 21^st-Century lives - we haven’t eaten with Jesus or traveled with him in the way his disciples did. We’re not sure what his voice sounded like or how he laughed. So this word of Jesus – this promise that God will be with us to the very end of the age - this is an important word for us, too, especially since we have never seen Jesus in the flesh

And each year, this Sunday that we call Trinity Sunday helps us remember that our faith is not only in Jesus. Don’t get me wrong – Jesus is great! But Jesus isn’t all there is.

Pick up a piece of paper and make a “telescope” out of it. Look through the telescope at one thing or person in the room.

Now put down the telescope and look at the same thing or person.

When all we do is look through a small tube, our vision is limited. That’s how our faith is if we only focus on Jesus. Trinity Sunday helps us to see more of God – to see and remember that God is much bigger than our limited vision sometimes allows. But God is not only a Redeemer, but also a Creator and a Sustainer. God is not only a Creator, but also a Redeemer and a Sustainer. God is not only a Sustainer, but is also a Creator and Redeemer. Thinking of God as Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - is important for our faith.

When we are baptized in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, we are connected to God in all of God’s fullness. As one author said, when we are baptized, “we are immersed into the whole being of God, whether we understand it or not.”[1] This is a great comfort, for it means that we don’t have to understand God completely in order for us to be loved by God. Put another way: God’s complete love for us doesn’t depend on us understanding God completely.

Even those who lived, walked, and talked with Jesus during his earthly ministry had doubts. Look again at our Gospel story for today: at the very beginning, it says that “the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. When they saw him, they worshiped him;

…but some doubted.”

So the comfort here for us is that we don’t have to have it all figured out.

But there is challenge in Jesus’ words, too – he says we are to go and make disciples. The first challenge is to go – to get out there, outside our box, outside our walls – go! Don’t keep our faith and love only here in this place – but take it out there, with us, everywhere we go.

Jesus’ second challenge is to make disciples – note that he doesn’t say “church members” – but “disciples.” Jesus wants followers who are students, those who are willing to learn, and not just those of a certain age – but Jesus wants all of us to be learning more and more about God, no matter our age, no matter our station in life.

For the next three weeks, I will be absent from you. I’m not sure that being a student in a Doctor of Ministry program is exactly the kind of student that Jesus had in mind, but I do feel certain that this program will make me a better disciple.

Together, you and I are commissioned to keep the ministry going here at Our Redeemer, but your ministry will be all the more important while I am gone. You are commissioned to meet together for worship, learning, service, fellowship, and mutual support – in other words – you are commissioned to keep on living as disciples. You are commissioned also, then, to go and live out your discipleship in your daily lives.

The God who created you and who continues to provide for you, daily –

The God who saved you and who continues to forgive sins, daily –

The God who keeps you in faith, sustaining you in every way, daily –

That God is with you always, even to the very end of the age.

Amen.

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[1] Feasting on the Word, Year A, Vol. 3 – essay by Steven P. Eason

God is faithfully active, in spite of our doubt

The Rev. Kathi Johnson

Trinity Sunday – June 15, 2014 - Year A

Text: Matthew 28:16-20

Our Redeemer Lutheran Church, Grand Prairie, Texas

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Grace and peace be with you all, from God, our Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer. Amen.

Today’s story from the end of the Gospel of Matthew contains what we call “The Great Commission.” The disciples go to the mountain to meet up with Jesus, he comes to them there, and he says to them, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you.”

It sounds so grand: The Great Commission.

Maybe it seems to us that in those moments, the disciples have it all figured out. They have Jesus there, telling them what to do, giving them further instructions, and sending them off to do the work of God. And yet there’s this one little phrase in today’s lesson right before the Great Commission itself, and this one little phrase changes the story just a bit:

Verse 17: “When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.”

“But some doubted.” What do you mean, some doubted? They have Jesus there with them – these are disciples who presumably have walked and talked with Jesus and laughed and cried with him, they’ve shared meals and listened to his teachings. And even though today’s story takes place after his resurrection, they’ve already seen and talked with him since his resurrection. So, why on earth would there be any doubt in their minds?

Lest we judge them too quickly, I offer the following to you: doubt is a perfectly natural part of our Christian faith. I have a feeling that if I asked us all to close our eyes and raise our hands to indicate that we’ve ever doubted God, my hand would not be the only one to go up into the air.

But – where doubt is concerned - there are three things that I find particularly hopeful in today’s gospel lesson from Matthew:

First, Jesus doesn’t seem concerned in the slightest about any doubt that the disciples might be feeling. Instead, he simply speaks clearly and directly to them – “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” he says. Well, OK then.  

In saying this, he is firmly stating his case for why they should trust and obey him. Also, though, their doubt doesn’t change the fact that all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to him – that authority simply is. And all the doubt in the world doesn’t change Jesus’ authority one little bit.

Second, their doubt doesn’t keep Jesus from sending them out to get to work. “Go and make disciples, baptize them and teach them…” he says. And do they ever! The book of Acts is filled with examples of them doing the work that Jesus has given them to do.

And that gives me hope because it helps me see that sometimes, we can do great work for God, even in the midst of our doubting, even when we don’t quite see what it is that God may be up to.

Third, I find hope in the very last words out of Jesus’ mouth in the gospel of Matthew: “I am with you always, to the end of the age.” Always. The presence of God with us is not based on the level of our faith or the amount of doubt we do or do not have.

It is important to note that Jesus is saying these words to a community – to those first few followers of his, so a small community, to be certain. But a community – a group of people – all the same. And so while this is a promise in which we certainly can find joy and comfort as individual Christians, we most certainly can and should find joy and comfort in his words as a community of Christ-followers.

The Bible study we’re doing on Wednesday evenings began in earnest this past week and in the video segment, the teacher was leading us through our reading from Genesis and Exodus. He made the important point that these first couple of books of the Bible, as well as the books that follow, are all about the presence of God with humanity.

But more than simply being present with us, God is active with us. God the Father acts – in creating us, providing for us, and protecting us. God the Son acts – in redeeming us and freeing us. God the Spirit acts – in calling us, enlightening us, and making us holy.[1]

Though we may doubt at times, that doesn’t mean that God is not at work. God is faithfully active, in spite of our doubt. And, in spite of our doubt, God calls us to do great things in his name.

Amen.

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[1] A nod to Luther’s Small Catechism.