Day of Pentecost
May 20, 2018
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church
Decorah, Iowa
Rev. Amy Zalk Larson

Click here to read scripture passages for the day.

Beloved of God, grace to you and peace in the name of Jesus.

I love the Day of Pentecost at Good Shepherd.

I love the beautiful red paraments and gates, the red gladiola altar flowers, the kids in procession with pin-wheels, the great music – especially amazing today with band, choir, and kids. Today we also get to celebrate graduates and Sunday School teachers and nurture a hopeful future with our special gifts. It’s a wonderful, joyful day as we celebrate God’s Spirit being poured out upon the church.

But when the Spirit was poured out on those first followers of Jesus, I’m guessing that joy may not have been their dominant emotion. “Suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind … Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.”

I’m guessing that this may have been troubling for them before it was joyful. Much of the artwork over the centuries depicting this scene shows the apostles with fear-filled faces. They’d lost control of the situation and of themselves. They were speaking in languages that they’d never spoken, never studied, perhaps never even heard. Did they even understand what they were saying as they proclaimed God’s deeds of power in languages not their own?

That must have been a profoundly unsettling experience. Yet, sometimes, we need to be unsettled for our own good, for the sake of others, and for the sake of the creation that is groaning and longing for hope and good news.

For the first followers of Jesus, the outpouring of the Spirit led them beyond the boundaries of their language, their city, their country, even beyond the boundaries of their religion to speak the good news of God’s deeds of power to all nations.

It led them beyond what had always been most precious to them – the thing that they were still asking Jesus about even as his ministry with them was complete and he was ascending into heaven. “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?” they asked. They were holding out hope that Jesus would reign over an earthly kingdom and that they, as his followers, would have power and prosperity. They were stuck on this question and on the question about who was the greatest. Jesus tells them, again, that those are the wrong quest- ions. He assures them that their future and the future of the world is in God’s hands. He tells them that the Holy Spirit will be given to them, that they will receive power to be his witnesses.

What had always been most important to them – their nation and its unique status as God’s chosen people – was set aside by the power of the Spirit. It was replaced by a new vision – a world where all people, all nations, would know God’s passionate love for everyone through their witness.

The Spirit unsettled them.

The Spirit still does the same for us. We are so often stuck in asking the wrong questions, pursuing our limited vision of our preferred future, in ‘us and them’ thinking, and in unhelpful patterns personally and collectively – after every school shooting the same rituals happen. We grasp at control and security.

But how’s that working out for us and for our world? Not so well. We need the Spirit to unsettle us and push us beyond our boundaries, out of our comfort zones.

Thankfully, the Spirit still does this for us. The Spirit draws us into worship that is meant to both trouble and com- fort us. We come together with other people which always has the potential to be troubling. We hear weird script- ure passages that don’t always fit with our worldview. We share in strange rituals – undergoing the waters of death and rebirth, eating Jesus’ body and blood. This is all meant, in part, to unsettle us.

Then we are sent out into the world where the Spirit leads us to be part of God’s work of troubling and healing the world.

This happens in big ways and small: When we stay in a difficult conversation, when we let go of control and allow someone else to help us, when we stretch ourselves to advocate for others, when we seek to remain open to a disturbing idea or person.

In all these ways, and so many others, the Spirit is at work to unsettle us so that we and others may experience good news, know hope and joy, and be part of the healing of creation. Thankfully, the Spirit doesn’t only unsettle us. The second reading today assures us that that the Spirit also intercedes for us. The Spirit prays for us and with- in us with sighs too deep for words. Which means, when we look at the world and feel despair, we can trust that the Spirit is using even our groans and sighs to pray within us.

Our Gospel reading today assures us that the Spirit is also our advocate and comforter – by our side, walking with us.

Whatever emotions you feel today, know that the Spirit is at work in you, for you and through you for the sake of the world. The Spirit is at work to unsettle us and heal us and send us out.

Let’s take a moment for silent prayer.

Seventh Sunday of Easter
May 13, 2018
Baptism of Menzi Nkambule and Joseph Tiegen
Good Shepherd Lutheran Church and Luther College Ministries
Decorah, Iowa
Rev. Amy Zalk Larson

Click here to read scripture passages for the day.

Beloved of God, grace to you and peace in the name of Jesus.

It is good to be together today – the Good Shepherd congregation and friends and College Ministries and Norsemen.

It is good and a little strange:

• This congregation loves to welcome Luther students but there aren’t usually quite this many!
• This is a wonderful day for College Ministries students as two of your leaders are baptized. And … you get to celebrate it with people you’ve never met.

It is a little strange, maybe even a little uncomfortable – especially for the Norsemen way in the back there on folding chairs.

But really, every Sunday it’s a little strange that we gather for worship with people who are very different from us. These days, most of us spend most of our time with folks who are a lot like us – people in our own age and racial group, who share our political views and values.

Some of those separations still play out when we worship. Unfortunately, Sunday morning is one of the most segregated times of the week, but worship does bring together a pretty varied mix of people. Teenagers, toddlers, people in their nineties; conservatives and liberals; queer folks and straight folks; hunters and vegans all gather together. At times that can feel uncomfortable.

Yet the thing is – we need each other. Jesus knows that and he prays that we will be one.

In our Gospel reading today, we get to hear Jesus pray for his disciples, including us. Jesus prays not only for those first disciples but for those who will believe because of their word, which means we’re included in Jesus’ prayer.

As Jesus prays for us all, he doesn’t ask for things to get easier for us. He doesn’t pray that we’ll escape the challenges and struggles in our lives. Jesus knows there’s no easy way out. On a bear hunt and in life, “We can’t go over it, can’t go under it, gotta go through it”. We gotta go through the waters, through fire, through pain, through death; but God is always at work to bring us through it all and into fullness of life.

So, Jesus doesn’t pray for an escape route. He prays that God would strengthen and protect us for the journey. He prays that God would bring us together, because community is one of God’s gifts to get us through.

We need each other as we face all the obstacles and challenges in our lives, our country, and our world today. Sometimes, some of us charge forward too fast and don’t notice the quicksand just ahead. Others have to say wait, look, go through this way. Sometimes, some of us stand at the river bank, paralyzed by fear, and others have to provide a push, some encouragement. Most of the time, we need to work together to build bridges across barriers, to forge a new path when it seems there is no way forward. We need the contributions of each person and we have to help each other through, or we all are diminished.

We need each other. So, Jesus prays that we would be one.

Which doesn’t mean that he prays we will all be the same. If we were all the same, we wouldn’t have what we need to get through. We need diverse gifts and strengths to face the obstacles; we need a wide range of people – all created in the image of God.

Jesus doesn’t pray we would all be the same. Instead, he prays that we would be one, just as he and his Father are one. Jesus and the Father are different from one another and they have different roles. What makes them one is not uniformity but rather a loving relationship built on generosity. In his prayer, Jesus speaks about all things the Father has given him and that he gives back to the Father. They are in a mutual relationship of give and take. This is the kind of unity that Jesus prays for us to experience.

We are being given an experience of this unity today in our joint worship service as we share in the baptism of Joseph from North Dakota and Menzi from the Kingdom of Swaziland. We get to witness two
people going through the waters into new life. Their journeys of faith and service are an inspiration to the rest of us; and our presence here today is encouragement for them along the way. What a beautiful
experience of unity.

This wonderful day has involved give and take, generosity and mutuality. College Ministries folks moved out of your comfort zone into a new location, and came to worship earlier than usual. Norsemen had a really early call time. Good Shepherd folks moved a huge table, set up many extra chairs, and prepared to host lots more people than usual in the Fellowship Hour – all signs of generosity and mutuality.

God is at work in all of this to strengthen our hope and renew our joy. As we go through a time of so much fear, division, and despair in our culture, this experience of unity is a gift of God. This day assures that God is at work to bring us and our whole world through all the pain and into new life.

We can carry on, together.

Thanks be to God.