Losing and Finding Oneself -- A Message for March 23, 2025

 

Trinity may be a small congregation, but we are mighty – we have among our people gifts and talents that many larger congregations lack. God has blessed this place and our people. 

One of the places I have witnessed Trinity’s impressive talents is among our Christian Education leaders. Each of our teachers make the stories of the Bible and our faith relevant and relatable for their listeners. I have been a part of our youth Sunday school classes over the past few years and I have learned quite a bit from the teachers and our bright youth.

Over the past few Sundays, Ned and Harry have taught about Jesus’ parables. Parables are brief stories that teach a lesson. Parables have human beings as the characters in the story; they differ from fables because fables usually have animals or inanimate objects as the characters in the stories. Jesus used parables to teach lessons about God and the Christian faith to his listeners.

This morning, we are focusing on the fifteenth chapter of Luke, which includes three of Jesus’s best known parables. Each of these parables have the same theme: God celebrates when people who have fallen away from faith return to have a relationship with God. These are texts of loss and redemption. God celebrates when healthy relationships are restored among God and God’s followers. 

Listen to the first parable of the trio, as we read the parable of the Lost Sheep as it is recorded in Luke 15:

Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

Then Jesus told them this parable: 

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 

And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 

and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 

I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Amen. 

Jesus affirms – There is more rejoicing in heaven over one repentant sinner than over 99 righteous people who don’t need to repent.  God is constantly seeking to restore healthy relationships with people who are lost, hurting, or mentally and emotionally wounded.  

Jesus continued with another parable that emphasizes this theme in the Parable of the Lost Coin. Listen to it now:

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 

And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 

In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Amen. 

Again, Jesus affirms – God rejoices when a struggling person repents for their sins and seeks to have a relationship with God. Just as we are happy when we find a lost pet, a lost object, or lost money, God is happy when people start believing in God and the Chrsitian faith and seek to have a deeper relationship with God.

The final part of our reading is a parable that is so familiar that even non-Christians know it. References are made to this parable in films and books and television shows. Listen now to the Parable of the Prodigal Son: 

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 

The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 

After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 

So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 

He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 

I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 

So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 

Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 

For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 

So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 

‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 

But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 

But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 

But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” Amen.

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen. 

Message Losing and Finding Oneself

The parable of the Prodigal son is a bit more problematic for Christians than the Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin. In the coin and sheep parables, we assume God is the Shepherd and the Woman looking for the lost coin – we are the coin and the sheep. God rejoices when we are found – God rejoices when we believe in God and have a relationship with God – As we sing in Amazing Grace, “I once was lost, but now am found,” We know our own hearts, and know that we are not always consistent in our practice of the Christian faith or  even in our belief in the Christian faith, so whenever we turn towards God, believe in God, and ask for forgiveness of our sins, God rejoices.

When we consider the parable of the Prodigal son, we can put ourselves in the footsteps of both the prodigal son and the loyal son. We can see ourselves as the kid who was selfish and greedy and messed up, and then was surprised when the dad (who represents God) welcomed us back with open arms. And, we can also see ourselves as the jealous brother who tries to do everything right and is upset that the dad is generous in regards to the wild brother. 

We know ourselves. We all have done things in our pasts that are a tad unsavory. And, we have needed to repent for those things. And, we also have had portions of our lives when we have worked very diligently to be good and to be faithful to God. So, in those moments, it may feel unfair when we are reminded that God’s grace extends to all people, even people who haven’t worked as hard as us.

It is important to put these parables in the context of chapter 15 of Luke. At the very beginning of the chapter it says: “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 

But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So, as Jesus told these parables, he was being judged by Pharisees and Levites – they were criticizing Jesus for surrounding himself with tax collectors and sinners. The Pharisees and Levites were quite “holy-ier than thou” in their outlook – they believed that they themselves were holy, and everyone else was a sinner. 

So, Jesus’ responded to the judgment of the Pharisees and Bible teachers by telling them Parables about God’s love – God is delighted when people who have fallen away from the faith return to God. God is delighted when people who have broken their relationship with God return to God. 

And, for the Pharisees and Levites, Jesus reminded them they also had relationships they needed to repair. Instead of judging others, the Pharisees and Levites needed to work on building relationships with them. The tax collectors and sinners were the lost sheep of their own flock, they were the treasures of their own storehouses, they were members of their own families. And, the Pharisees and Levites were compelled by their faith in God to repair and rebuild relationships with those people….not just judge them negatively and dismiss them.

God rejoices when all of God’s people gather together in love. In each of the parables, the conclusion involved a party – the shepherd had a party to celebrate finding his sheep, the woman had a party to celebrate finding her coin, the father had a party to celebrate the return of his lost son. God celebrates when people come to have a relationship with God. And, God celebrates when we do the work in our lives to rebuild and restore broken relationships with each other. 

Each of these parables has two levels of meanings – at least. The first is that we need to have a relationship with God – God seeks to have healthy relationships with all of God’s people. God seeks us and wants us to know God loves and forgives each of us. And, in response, we are encouraged to pray and talk with God, to study God’s word, to listen to teachers of our faith and learn about God’s desires for our lives, and for us to experience the presence of the Holy Spirit in our lives.  

The other purpose of this trio of parables is to call upon us to work on restoring our relationships with each other. Every day, if you read the Dear Abby column in the newspaper or online, we are reminded that people often fail at having healthy relationships with each other.  The Dear Abby column is littered with questions from people who are struggling with their relationships – dad who are in recovery from alcoholism who don’t know how to rebuild relationship with their children; adult siblings arguing about how to spend holidays now that their parents are gone; wives unsure how to respond to their husband’s infidelity; extended families who don’t get along with the spouse of one of their grandsons; co-workers eating each other’s lunch without permission.  Every day, Dear Abby tries to help people restore or build relationships that are broken. 

We all have relationships that could use work. Many of us struggle with our relationships with family members or co-workers. This is difficult stuff – we hurt each other’s feelings, we hold grudges, we sometimes don’t say what’s bothering us to our detriment and sometimes say way more than we should. From the beginning of time, people have struggled with our relationships with each other. The oldest stories of our faith are about jealousy, infidelity, miscommunication and estrangement. Just as God wants us to work on having a healthy relationship with God, we are also encouraged by our faith to have healthier relationships with each other.

So, part of our work as people of faith is to work on having positive and healthy relationships with other people. If we are the person who has done the hurting, it is time to ask for forgiveness. If we are the person who has held on to an unfair grudge, it is time to let it go. If we are the person who has caused the harm, it is time to work on repairing the hurt. 

The Pharisees and the Levites who harshly judged the tax collectors and sinners were encouraged by Jesus to do better….to work to love other people and to work on repairing broken relationships. We are called to be like the people in these parables – to seek out those people we have hurt and work to restore relationships with them. And, as people of faith, not only are we called upon to deepen our faith in God and deepen our Christian practices, but we are also called to encourage others in their faith journeys. 

God celebrates every time lost people turn towards God. And, God celebrates every time we do the work to love our neighbors.

Amen. 

A Change of Mind -- A Message for March 16, 2025

  Over the 40 days of Lent, we prepare for our annual remembrance of Jesus’ death on Good Friday. When Jesus was here in the first century, he prepared for his own death. Part of his work was to tell his disciples what was going to happen – but,  they were not always adept at understanding his warnings. Jesus also worked to impart upon his listeners that he was here only for a short time – he had limited time to preach, teach, and heal. Jesus wanted to accomplish as much as he could before he departed the earth. 

Listen now to some of Jesus’ teachings as they are recorded in Luke chapter 13, verses one through nine and thirty-two through thirty-five: 

Scripture Luke 13: 1-9, 32-35

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 

Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 

I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 

Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 

I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 

So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’

 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 

If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

At that time some Pharisees came to Jesus and said to him, “Leave this place and go somewhere else. Herod wants to kill you.”

He replied, “Go tell that fox, ‘I will keep on driving out demons and healing people today and tomorrow, and on the third day I will reach my goal.’ 

In any case, I must press on today and tomorrow and the next day—for surely no prophet can die outside Jerusalem!

“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. 

Look, your house is left to you desolate. I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the People of God. Thanks be to God. Amen

Let us pray….

Message A Change of Mind

Sometimes, I feel like I have the knack of saying the worst possible thing at the moment….”foot-in-my-mouth” syndrome. I have had many sleepless nights when I wake up and obsess over something I regret saying to someone many years ago – an insensitive comment to a high school friend or a college classmate. 

I doubt I am alone in this. Religious scholar and devotional writer Kate Bowler wrote a book about this after her cancer diagnosis.  Her neighbor, in an attempt to be comforting when talking to Kate’s husband, referred to Kate’s cancer diagnosis and said, “Everything happens for a reason.” Her husband was not comforted….He could not think of any good reasons for his wife to have cancer. The neighbor was trying to be kind, but ended up infuriating Kate’s already upset husband. 

This morning, our reading starts with a group of people asking Jesus about a tragedy. Apparently, Pontius Pilate killed a group of Jewish pilgrims and mixed their blood with the blood of the animal sacrifices they brought to offer to God. The people who brought up this situation with Jesus wanted to know if the pilgrims were killed because they were sinful…did they do something to deserve their cruel treatment by Pilate?

Jesus insisted that God doesn’t work like this. People aren’t punished for their sins. And, bad things can happen, do happen, to good people. Why this happens has been a problem, a concern, for people since the dawn of time. There is a whole branch of theology, Theodicy, that focuses on this – why does God allow bad things to happen to good people? And, conversely, why does God allow good things to happen to bad people? 

We must remember, no matter how good we are, that all people are imperfect and make mistakes. There is no causation between our sins and how much God loves us. God loves us…period. And, we happen to sin.

In response to the questions about the tragedy, Jesus told a parable about a fig tree. Unlike many of Jesus’ parables, Jesus did not explain its meaning. Many religious scholars presume God is the farmer, Jesus is the caregiver, and the people of Israel are the tree. Jesus ministered for three years – and despite the years of preaching, teaching and healing many people were not convinced by his message….they didn’t all change their lives for the better. After three years of growth the fig tree did not bear fruit. The gardener wanted to cut down the tree, but the caregiver convinced him to give the tree more time…..because, despite Jesus’ best efforts, many people needed more time. Through the death and then resurrection of Jesus, more and more people came to believe in the truth of Christianity – now, Christians live on every continent of the earth. 

We are all in need of repentance. We all need to do more to serve God. First John the Baptist, and then Jesus, called upon the people to repent and do better. Repent, and do better. 

 

The final portion of today’s reading concerns a group of Pharisees who came to Jesus and warned him Herod wanted to kill him. Jesus again predicted that his death was coming – Herod would achieve his goal. Jesus told the men who came to warn him that he had work to do and would keep doing that work until his death. This is another moment recorded in the scripture when people who had the opportunity to follow Jesus and change their lives didn’t all do so. Herold was threatened by Jesus because he wanted to keep control and power for himself – and Jesus was becoming more and more popular – Herod was more worried about his status and clout than he was worried about reforming his life and following God. 

We all need to repent and do better. God doesn’t want bad things to happen to us – God didn’t punish the murdered Galieans or the people who had the tower fall on them – these horrible things were caused by Pilate’s cruelty or engineering mishaps – things people caused, not God.  Sometimes our bodies don’t work the way we want. Sometimes accidents happen. Sometimes other people cause disasters that affect us. Sometimes other people are cruel or neglectful or careless. 

God is with us. The bad things that happen to us are not a result of our own sins or mistakes.  God loves us even when bad things happen. God wants for us to feel God’s love and to have a relationship with God. Part of being human is that we make mistakes….we sin. But, even though we mess up, God loves us. Before we mess up and after we mess up, God loves us. God wants us to admit to our failures, and admit to our sins, and do better…but our salvation is not predicated on anything we do. There is no correlation between how we behave and how much God loves us. God loves us….and we make mistakes.

So, we must do as Jesus suggested – repent for our mistakes – work to do better – and remember that God loves us no matter what. 

Amen.

Good Samaritan -- A Message for March 9, 2025

  Today, we celebrate our first worship service in the Lenten season. We continue to read our way through the Gospel of Luke, turning to one of the most familiar stories of the gospel.

Please turn with me to LUke chapter 10. We will read verses 25 through 42:

The Scripture Luke 10:25-42

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”

“What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”

He answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’ ; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

“You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead.

A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side.

So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side.

But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him.

He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him.

The next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’

“Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”

The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.” Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.

She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.

But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things,

but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Here ends this reading of the word of God for the people of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Let us pray…Heavenly Father, as we embark on this time of worship and reflection, we seek Your blessings. Pour out Your grace upon us, and may Your favour rest upon this gathering. Bless our minds to comprehend, our hearts to receive, and our lives to be transformed by Your word. Amen. 

The Message Good Samaritan

In the Greco-Roman world, mercy was unpopular. Mercy is compassion shown especially to an offender or to a person that you have power over. When we are at someone’s mercy, we have no defense against them. When we are merciful, we treat someone with kindness when it is unmerited….Christianity emphasises mercy – starting when we are little children in the church nursery, we are taught that we should work to be merciful in our treatment of other people. This emphasis is part of our Childhood Sunday School lessons, and is encouraged in our formation and life as Christians together. 

Yet, in the part of the ancient world influenced by Greek and Roman philosophy, the Hellenistic world, most intellectual people were opposed to Mercy. Mercy was equated with weakness. According to Hellenistic thought, the best way to live was to adhere to reason 100 percent of the time – emotions, especially compassion, interfered with rational thinking. And, in the ever shifting Hellenistic world, justice was the foundation of Roman society – crime was to be met with punishment, actions led to obvious consequences. So, if a ruler responded to an offence with mercy, the ruler failed to respond correctly. Crimes needed punishment. Emotions were unreasonable and needed to be tapered down. Rationality and reason were the bedrock of society. Everything was very black and white, with no shades of grey allowed.

Jewish law, and Jesus’ teachings, were contradictory to Hellenistic values. Jewish law and Jesus consistently preached a message of love, compassion and mercy. Instead of viewing mercy as a weakness, it was viewed as a Mitzvah – a deed that embodies the living out of God’s commandments. 

This morning, our focus for the first Sunday in Lent includes a parable of  Jesus that exemplifies the mercy of God and the mercy we are called to embrace as Christians. An expert in the law, a Levite, asked Jesus what he needed to do to inherit eternal life. Jesus asked the expert of the law of God what the law says we must do – to love the Lord our God with our heart, soul, mind and strength and to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. And, then when the law expert pressed Jesus more and asked who fit under the definition of “neighbor,” Jesus told him the parable that we call the “Parable of the Good Samaritan.”

Christians have told this parable for 2000 years, and we have possibly lost sight of the significance of how the people of 1st century Israel would have felt that “good’ and “Samaritain” were contradictory and incompatible statements. In the first century, Jews and Samaritans were hostile enemies ... .although they shared common ancestry and both shared the Tanakh – the first 5 books of the Bible, the law of God. Jewish religious life is focused on Jerusalem as being the holiest site in the world, where God is to be worshipped, and Samaritan religious life is focused on Mount Gerizim in Gaza as the holiest site in the world, where God is to be worshipped. The Jewish people were exiled to Babylon in the 7th century BC and the Samaritans were the faithful remnant who stayed in Israel. During the exile, their religious and world views followed different paths, different forks in the road. Even though Jewish believers returned to Israel after the exile, the two groups never merged back into one, and by the first century, they were very hostile towards each other. 

The victim in Jesus’ parable is Jewish. Jewish people hated Samaritans. Samaritan people hated Jewish people. Yet, the Jewish victim was not helped by a Jewish priest or a Jewish Levite who had dedicated his life to studying the word of God. The person who helped 

him, the person who had compassion on him, the person who had mercy on him was his sworn enemy, a Samaritan. Jesus told us to “do likewise” – to be merciful like the Samaritan man was to the Jewish victim. We are compelled to be merciful – even to our enemies – even to people we dislike – even to people who have hurt us – even to people who have disobeyed the law.

In addition to the story of Jesus’ conversation with the scholar and sharing the Parable of the Good Samaritan, we also read the scripture of Martha complaining about Mary helping her be a good hostess to Jesus and his disciples. Jesus reminded Martha that we need to prioritize our relationship with Jesus – listening to Jesus’ teachings, experiencing the Holy Spirit, doing God’s work in the world – over our other responsibilities. When we are doing the work of Jesus, it is ok to de-prioritize everything else.

Lent is upon us. Over the next 40 days (36 days now) we are called to spend time reflecting on how to deepen our faith and enhance our relationship with God. Perhaps we have chosen to give up something meaningful to us – like meat or Facebook or candy – give up something we regularly take comfort in or that entertains us. Many of us commit to extra faithful practices over these 40 days – praying our way through the book of Psalms or creating a daily prayer ritual. This is a season to work on deepening our faith and implementing Christian practices in our lives. 

Jesus’  teachings stood in contrast to the Hellenistic world-view that prevailed in the first century. He defied the norms of the Greco-Roman world by emphasizing mercy over rules, love over sticking to the law. We are called to model our behavior on the words of Jesus, not on the norms of our culture or society. Jesus emphasized love over everything else. The 21st century American culture is often at odds with acting with mercy – we are encouraged to put ourselves at an advantage over other people – we are encouraged to accumulate the best “stuff” and to show off materialistic goods – we are encouraged to do what is best for ourselves and our families, even if that means other people get the short end of the stick. Treating other people with mercy and caring for people who have less money or status than ourselves is a requirement of the Christian faith, but is not a requirement of American cultural norms. Jesus encouraged his followers to act with love and mercy even though that was not what the Hellenistic world valued. Jesus encourages us to act with love and mercy, even though that is is not what our 21st century American culture values.  

As we consider our walk with Jesus in this Lenten season, we are called to evaluate if we need to make some adjustments in our behavior. Are there things we need to change in our lives in order to be more merciful? Are there behaviors we need to change so that we are more loving? Are we in the position to do more to help other people, people who may not have the talents we have, our the resources we have, our the support we have? How can we make a difference in our community and in the wider world. 

As people of faith, we are called to work to transform our world into the world God wants it to become. Even though it is not easy or fun to act in ways that buck the trend of our society or culture, we are called to live out the mandate of our faith – to love our God and to love each other. 

Let us endeavor to do so today and all days. Amen.