Rev. Amy Zalk Larson – Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Decorah, Iowa
Click here to read scripture passages for the day.

Beloved of God, grace to you and peace in the name of Jesus.
Today, as we prepare to be marked with ashes, I’m reminded of the widely used aphorism:“Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle.” That battle is on full display in Ukraine right now, yet we all carry pain. We all need loving kindness. I think people who work near the Mayo clinic get this. I’ve seen such tenderness at the restaurants, shops, and hotels up there. Waiters show more patience to people who can’t order succulently,who describe that they don’t know what day it is, but do know they need to eat. Store clerks appear more understanding of people searching to find cash or the credit card – is it in the hospital room, at the hotel, in the car? And where is the car? A place where pain is harder to hide seems to invite more compassion. These service providers are accustomed to the signs of pain, of anxiety, fatigue, grief. They see the signs and respond with such kindness. Today we all wear the signs of pain on our foreheads as we are marked with ash. The ashes make the pain of the human condition visible. We are human, we are mortal, we are dust. We are grieving and broken. We have harmed others and the earth. We are worried and afraid.

On Ash Wednesday, we don’t have to hide that pain and we see that others have it too. We get to bring our sin and brokenness out into the open where it can be healed. On Ash Wednesday, we receive God’s tender kindness. We’re reminded that God forms us out of the dust and breathes life into our dust, that God makes beautiful things out of dust. We receive God’s tenderness in a cross marked on our brow, in food for the journey, in words and songs of steadfast love. On Ash Wednesday, we’re also guided into ways of practicing tender kindness, guided by both Jesus and the prophet Isaiah. Jesus directs us away from trying to earn accolades by showy acts, away from trying to appear good and from what we now call virtue signaling. Often, we act in those ways when we’re feeling inadequate and afraid, when we’re trying to cover up our own pain. These flashy actions can foster pride, they can contribute to jealousy and competition. They can cause more pain.

So, Jesus leads us away from all that and calls us to nurture inner lives of generosity, prayer, and devotion. Tending to our inner life is a way of practicing kindness to ourselves and others. We are nourished and then can offer true generosity and service in the world. This Lent, we’ll focus on our inner life as we reflect upon prayer and devotion during Lenten Evening Prayer services. We’ll get to practice generosity together as we support Afghan guests. We bring our offerings forward to the altar, not to be showy but so our bodies and spirits can be shaped and formed. We’ll get to share in the fast Isaiah describes as we focus on caring for those in need. Isaiah’s words lead us into loving kindness for others and ourselves. Isaiah proclaims that we will experience healing as we tend to others’ pain. “If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil; if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong, and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fail.Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.”
We are all marked by pain. Today that is visible. Each day, we are called to see and tend the pain in others. We can do this because God knows our pain, gives us tender mercy, and leads us in the ways of loving kindness.
Let’s take a moment for silent prayer.

Transfiguration of Our Lord – Last Sunday after Epiphany 

“Awakened”

Rev. Amy Zalk Larson

Good  Shepherd Lutheran Church    Decorah, Iowa

Click to read scripture passages for the day.

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

Peter and his companions were, quote, “weighed down with sleep”, and almost missed out. 

They almost slept through a transformative, mountaintop experience with Jesus, Moses, and

Elijah, three key players in the whole story of God. They might have totally missed the presence

of God.

We, too, are so often weighed down, especially right now. Worries, exhaustion, the news of the day  – it all feels incredibly heavy. There is so much that presses hard upon our hearts and spirits. We’re also just plain physically weighed down with all our heavy coats and socks and boots whenever we want to leave our house. The best part of spring is being able to just walk out the door without ten minutes of preparation. Often to cope with it all, we just go numb. We trudge through the snow, scroll through social media, eat mindlessly, consume way too much news.

But what do we miss when we’re so weighed down? How often do we miss experiencing the pres- ence of God? After all, Moses and Jesus aren’t the only people who shine with God’s glory. As St. Irenaeus put it, the glory of God is a human fully alive. Whenever we encounter someone using their gifts, doing what brings joy, showing love to others, we see a human fully alive and we see God. It isn’t just on the mountaintop or with very spiritual people that we encounter the presence of God. Each person on earth is created in the image of God. Each person we meet can give us a glimpse of the face of God. All of creation is brimming with God’s goodness, full of God’s very life.

Yet so often we move through life in a stupor – groggy and oblivious to the joy, the gifts, the wis- dom, the love all around us. We overlook the presence of God among us. We don’t want to just sleepwalk through our days. We don’t want to miss the love on a family member’s face because 

our eyes are fixed on Facebook. We want to be awake and alive. But how?

Maybe we’re just too bogged down with the daily grind. Maybe if we could just get away from it all for a while, just take a break from the routine to get some perspective, then we’d be more aware of the presence of God. That is an important practice: retreats, vacations, and days of Sabbath rest are so good and needed. 

Yet in our story today, Peter, James, and John were given some time away. They had the chance to go up on the mountain, to get away from it all, to see things differently. Still, they were weighed down with sleep. Still, they almost slept through God showing up.

So, maybe rather than waiting for mountaintop experiences, we need to approach daily life differ- ently. We’re often advised that we should be more attentive, live in the present moment, be more grateful. Yes, of course. Yet often advice, even good advice, can keep us fixated on ourselves. Am I doing this right? Am I doing enough? How do I seem to others?

To be awake and alive, we need more than a change of scenery, more than better guidance. We need God. On our own, we’re curved in on ourselves: focused on all our struggles, failings, worries and shortcomings, how we look, how we’re doing. That makes it so hard to lift our weary heads to look around and pay attention to the presence of God in our world and in those we meet. We get weighed down with it all. We need God to break through to us, to wake us up and set us free.

The disciples on the mountain needed God to not just show up, but to get through to them. They needed God to speak right to them. We need that as well. And this is what God does. We don’t get

a booming voice from a cloud, but we do get God’s word spoken directly for us, for you. God 

speaks to us through scripture, preaching and sacraments, through music, and other people.

God says to you, Listen to me.

You are mine, you are loved, you are forgiven, you are enough, you are not alone.

Your life is held in me; you need not fear.

You can look up, wake up, see me everywhere.

You can help others to know my love and my presence.

You have all that you need.

Yet, even after God spoke to the disciples on the mountain, they still didn’t really get it. They need- ed God to keep speaking to them in the person of Jesus, in the gathered community, in the Holy Spirit. God does the same for us. God keeps on keeping on to get through to us when we’re wide awake and alert, when we’re grumpy and tired. God doesn’t stop speaking words of challenge and promise, no matter how many times we tune out or overlook God’s presence. 

The glory of God is a human fully alive, fully awake.

It is God who awakens and enlivens us.

God is here today, for you, for us all.

Sermon for Sunday, February 20, 2022 

Seventh Sunday after Epiphany 

“Freedom in an Angry World”

Rev. Amy Zalk Larson

Good  Shepherd Lutheran Church    Decorah, Iowa

Click here to read scripture passages for the day.

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

I guess one thing we can say about this passage is: We’re getting lots of chances to practice it right now. 

As Pastor Liz Goodman puts it: “It’s a terrible fact that we have so many opportunities to love our enemies. Life used to be about ordinary, daily interactions that, in many ways, were mildly abra- sive. You’re pulling out of a parking space, and someone mindlessly walks behind your car—so you stop and wave the person on, though you’re pressed for time. You’re waiting in line at the library, and someone comes up to ask a ‘quick question’ of the librarian that makes your wait a little longer. All those mild abrasions made us, if not tough, then tolerant. Yielding to one another used to be woven into our days and lives to such a degree that we might barely have noticed doing it: ordinary grace. But the pandemic and its social isolation have put us out of practice of bumping 

up against one another in regular ways. We’ve become so tender as to be almost intolerant, easily triggered by the slightest sleight. Kids in school are fighting, even with other kids they’ve known for years. Adults in public are unable to keep their composure even over issues with the lowest stakes.”

Or as the title of an opinion piece in the New York Times put it recently, “Rudeness is on the rise, you got a problem with that?” As rage and aggression erupt everywhere, I wonder if those of us with white privilege are now experiencing what people of color have long faced on a daily basis – the sense that those around us can’t be trusted to treat us with dignity and respect.

How do we handle life in such a rude and angry world? We need Jesus’ wisdom, from our Gospel reading today, more than ever. Jesus’ words give us a path of freedom and life in such a difficult world. To be clear, Jesus isn’t telling us that we can’t feel anger at those who treat us badly. He is-

n’t saying we have to reconcile with abusers or stay in relationship with them. There is a differ- ence between forgiveness and reconciliation, and sometimes reconciliation is not possible. Jesus also isn’t advising us to be doormats who ignore evil and overlook injustice.

Instead, Jesus is offering us a way of being in the world that isn’t dependent upon what others do.

If we aren’t intentional, our actions end up just being reactions to how others treat us, how others behave. When someone hurts you, you seek to hurt them somehow, even if just in your head. You are trapped by thoughts of them and what they’ve done, and what you wish would happen to them. You replay the hurt, relive the pain, ruminate about it all. When someone is good to you, well then you better treat them right so you can keep the good thing going. Gotta work the system to your advantage. Do unto others what they have done to you; that’s the way the world works. 

If we live like that, then we aren’t free and other people have too much power over us. We’re bound to the other person as we react, reciprocate, keep score. Jesus is giving us a way to break free of this cycle of retribution, tit for tat. Jesus says don’t let your actions be driven by what others do. Instead, be shaped by how God treats you. God shows you kindness and mercy always. Let your actions be shaped by that. Forgive and you will know freedom. Don’t resist with hatred or you will start to become like your enemy.

Or, as preacher Nadia Bolz-Weber powerfully proclaims, “I really believe that, when someone else does us harm, we’re connected to that mistreatment like a chain. And maybe retaliation or holding onto anger about the harm done to me doesn’t actually combat evil. Maybe it feeds it. 

Because in the end, if we’re not careful, we can actually absorb the worst of our enemy, and at some level, start to become them. So, what if forgiveness, rather than being a pansy way to say, ‘It’s okay,’ is actually a way of wielding bolt-cutters, and snapping the chains that link us [to the harm]? 

What if it’s saying, ‘What you did was so not okay, I refuse to be connected to it anymore?’ Forgive- ness is about being a freedom fighter. And free people are dangerous people. Free people aren’t controlled by the past. Free people laugh more than others. Free people see beauty where others do not. Free people are not easily offended. Free people are unafraid to speak truth to stupid. Free people are not chained to resentments. And that’s worth fighting for.”

Forgiveness frees us to be strong, engaged, calm and joyful in this angry world.

Jesus wants us to know this freedom, so he gives us the words and teaching we hear today. But so often we don’t hear these words as freeing – we hear them as things that bring us shame. We hear: Shame on you who struggle to love, who struggle to forgive; Shame on you who are angry, who are still ruminating about that person and unable to cut the ties to them. No life-giving change ever comes from a place of shame. That’s why we need more than Jesus’ words to set us free,  why

Jesus gives us more than teaching.

Jesus comes among us to help us experience God’s freedom and abundance, to let us taste and take in God’s love and mercy. Jesus comes among us so that we might know, deep in our bones, that we are loved and forgiven and honored by God. 

You are God’s beloved, always, when you are calm and when you are angry.

You are loved and forgiven, always, when you forgive and when you struggle with letting go.

God’s love for you is not dependent on what you do.

God’s love is always at work to set you free.

Let’s take a moment for silent prayer.

Sixth Sunday after Epiphany  – Rev. Amy Zalk Larson – Good  Shepherd Lutheran Church    Decorah, Iowa

Click here to read scripture passages for the day.

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

Author Philip Yancey tells a story about being invited to the White House to advise President Clinton. The invitation came when Yancey was deep into a study on our Gospel reading for today. He reports that he couldn’t get this text out of his mind as he prepared his remarks for Clinton.

He wondered how it should influence his advice to Clinton.

Yancey knew he didn’t want to say something like, well Mr. President, first I want to advise you to stop worrying so much about unemployment. Don’t you understand that those who are poor and hungry are the fortunate ones? The more poverty and hunger we have in the U.S., the more bless- ed we are. And don’t spend so much time worrying about health care; blessed are those who weep for they will be comforted. And really, stop worrying about hate crimes because people are bless- ed when others hate them. Yancey was pretty sure this type of advice was not what Jesus meant.

So, what does Jesus mean by the blessings and woes we just heard? What should we do with this reading, especially those of us who are comfortable and privileged? To be clear, Jesus is speaking about physical poverty, hunger, riches and fullness here. The Gospel of Matthew softens this a bit using beautiful phrases like: “Blessed are the poor in spirit; blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness.” But the Gospel of Luke says: “Blessed are you who are poor”- full stop; “Blessed are you who are hungry”- as in not knowing where the next meal will come from, how the kids will get fed kind of hungry.

So, is Jesus saying we are all supposed to become poor, hungry, weeping and hated so that we will be blessed? Should we who have more things wallow in guilt, romanticize the poor, do everything we can to avoid being happy? I don’t think so. Before Jesus spoke these words, he did everything he could to alleviate suffering. He fed the hungry and healed the sick and raised the dead. Jesus is all about healing, joy, freedom, abundance!

I think we miss the point if we hear these blessings and woes as instructions for life, advice about how to get on God’s good side. They aren’t telling us what we should do. Instead, Jesus’s words show us who God is and reveal our deep need for God. We see in these words God’s heart for people who are in need. They demonstrate what Catholic scholars have identified as “God’s preferen- tial option for the poor.” As one author puts it, “God’s blessing rests on those who have absolutely nothing to fall back on in this world. No credit line, no nest egg, no fan base, no immunity. If we want to know where God’s heart is, we must look to the world’s most reviled, wretched, shamed, and desperate people.”  Though the world may think that those who are poor and hungry are abandoned and God-forsaken, nothing could be further from the truth. God is so very close to those who are most in need. If we want to find God, we need look no further than the local food pantry.

These words of Jesus also help us to know our dependence on God. In them we discover an important truth. We are blessed when we are empty, vulnerable, in need, for then we know we need help and we are more open to the blessings that God so freely gives. We are blessed when we are desperate, for then we are ready to receive, then we are able to see what God’s blessings really are.

God’s blessings are not riches and success, not quick answers to all our prayers. God isn’t some talk show host in the sky saying, “You get a car, you get a car, you get a car.” Instead, God blesses us with what matters most. God gives fullness of joy no matter the circumstance, laughter that bubbles up from the dry, empty places, persistent hope, and love that will not let us go. God also gives us what we need to see and participate in God’s kingdom, God’s economy, God’s intention for creation. In God’s economy, there is enough for all. As we participate in it, we find we can receive without grasping and hoarding and let blessings flow through us to others. 

We are more ready to receive all these blessings when we are empty and hurting. That’s not to say when we’re desperate, we always turn to God, we don’t. Yet when everything’s coming up roses and things are going our way, it is easy to be smug and full of ourselves. And then there isn’t room for God’s fullness. We start to think we must really be special, that we clearly deserve everything good in our lives. We miss the truth that we are dependent on God for life, for each new day, for daily bread, for love, for grace upon grace. We start to look down on others rather than humbly standing with open hands in awe, in gratitude for all that God so freely pours upon us all.

When we live full of ourselves, we miss out on the life God wants us all to know – a life of abundance and joy. So, Jesus speaks words of blessing and woe again and again, in every season of our lives. When we are empty, Jesus brings words of comfort and good news: God is near, blessed are you, you are not alone. When we are full of ourselves, Jesus brings words of judgment – woe to you. Jesus convicts us of our sin and our need for God.  

And Jesus doesn’t stop with these words of blessing and woe. He also works God’s healing and abundance for all of us. Jesus calls us into relationship with those who are in need so that all people, rich and poor, can be healed. Jesus showers us with mercy and forgiveness so that our grasping hands will be opened to receive and to share. Jesus feeds us with a foretaste of the feast we’ll share in God’s kingdom.

We are all dependent upon God.

We each are given all that we need.

Let’s take a moment for silent prayer.