Free at Last

Sermon - October 26th, 2014

Affirmation of Baptism Service

Free at Last

Pr. Paul Cannon

Grace and Peace Bethany Lutheran, a special welcome to all our guests ... and to our Confirmation class of 2014, I say,

Free at last, you are free at last!

Confirmation students, you guys are now free!  You’ve written your essays, you’ve done projects, been to camp, you’ve acolyted and turned in sermon notes, you’ve completed service hours and been to fellowship events - you’ve done a whole lot of stuff!

Some of you have younger brothers and sisters going through confirmation right now.  Feel free to laugh at them.

But YOU, you are done! You are free!  

• You don’t have to acolyte from today onward. In fact, this might be the last time in your life that you ever have to wear a white robe again!  
• You don’t have to listen to my sermons ever again.  You can sleep right through them, and unless you snore - nobody will know.  
• Nobody at church is ever going to make you volunteer for stuff, which (in any case) is kind of an oxymoron if you think about it.
• And you don’t have to go to fun youth events anymore - like Mega Trampoline.  You are perfectly free to stay at home and do your homework if that’s what you prefer.

Freedom is awesome and you guys are just starting to get your first taste of what that means.  Most of you are now in 9th grade.  You’ve started high school, which means that when your parents try to tell you what to do, you respond with an eye roll.  I get it.  You are longing for your freedom.  You don’t want your parents telling you to clean up your room.

But parents, if you think it’s bad right now, just wait, because in a year or so, a lot of your kids are going to go through driver’s ed (a terrifying thought if you know these kids!) - and when they do, freedom will take on a whole new meaning!

Freedom is a beautiful thing!

And so, not surprisingly, Jesus has a lot to say about freedom too.  He’s talking to his followers and he tells them, If you follow me, “you will know the Truth, and the Truth will make you free.”

That’s what today’s all about.  It’s your day to say that following Jesus is something that you want for your life.  Today you get the opportunity to say that this faith journey you’ve been on is something that you want to continue.

And Jesus says that when you follow him, he will make you free!

But let me be the first to tell you that Christian Freedom is a strange kind of freedom.  It doesn’t mean you can do whatever the heck you want.  Martin Luther, and I hope you all know by now that I’m not talking about Martin Luther King, the original Martin Luther once famously said this:

A Christian is a perfectly free lord of all, subject to none.  (And...)

A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant of all, subject to all.  

Or in other words, you are free and you’re not free. Get it? I didn’t think so.  Luther’s favorite thing to do was to confuse people with paradoxes.  

So let me try an analogy.  Has anybody ever seen that TV show, “Undercover Boss?”  

If you haven’t, it’s a pretty simple premise. It’s a reality TV show, where CEO’s from big companies like Subway would spend a week working in some of the lowest level positions that the company had to offer.

It’s a fitting analogy for what Christian freedom is like.  As followers of Christ, we are free.  We’re like the CEO.  We can kind of do whatever we want, and nobody is going to fire us.  We’ve been baptized.  God isn’t going to kick you out of the family when you mess up - even if you mess up big time.  

We’re the undercover boss here. Nobody is going to force you to do good things in your life.  God is not going to ground you if you don’t show up to church every week - though I can’t say the same for your parents.  You’re the CEO of your life.  You are a perfectly free Lord of all.  Subject to none.

And yet...there’s the other side of the coin. A Christian is a perfectly dutiful servant to all, subject to all. As followers of Jesus, we think of freedom differently than the rest of the world, because we know what we are being freed from.  

You see Jesus tells us that we are being freed from sin.  Sin is kind of a loaded word, because it can mean a lot of things, but at its most basic, sin is simply selfishness.  And that’s what I mean when I say sin, I mean selfishness.

In Christ, you’re free from sin. And if sin is our own selfishness, then what that means is that the thing that keeps you from being truly free, isn’t your parents, it isn’t school, it isn’t church or confirmation classes, it isn’t that you can’t drive yet - the thing that keeps you from being truly free is you.  

Jesus saves you from yourself - so that you are free to live as unselfishly as you can. And in that sense, freedom is service. Think about that.  If you had to do good works in order to get into heaven, ultimately all those good things you did, would be selfish. They would just be for your own good.  

And so, our Lord Jesus, died on a cross so that whoever believes in him may not perish, but may have eternal life. If that’s true, then heaven is no longer a bribe to make us do good things. And so, as Jesus said, “If the Son makes you free, you will be free indeed.”

And that’s what today is all about.  You are free.

You don’t remember it, but when you were babies, you were all baptized.  And when that water was sprinkled on your forehead, a bunch of people made promises to you - your parents, the congregation, and the most important of which, was God.

God’s promise, was that you was that you would be connected to the death and resurrection of Jesus. You would be a part of his family - and being a part of God’s family means that you are free; You’re not a servant anymore.

You might remember that I asked each one of you in your interview if you wanted to be Confirmed.  And the reason I asked you that is because now it’s time for you to make those same promises that were made to you when you were baptized.  This isn’t your Mom’s choice.  It’s not your Dad’s choice.  It’s not your grandparent's choice. It’s not my choice.  It’s yours.

Class of 2014, you are going to make some promises.  

• You’re going to promise to continue this life of faith with the church - not alone (because alone is ultimately selfish), but with this community of people.  
• You’re going to promise to listen and share God’s word, to listen to the voiceless and to pray for the people around you.
• You’re going to promise to live Christ-like lives to the best of your ability - and that means to live unselfishly,  serving others and working to make this world a better place.  
• And when you realize you screwed up, like we all do, you are going to promise to seek forgiveness at the communion table and do it all over again.

To live free means to live unselfishly.  Confirmation class of 2014 - Do you think you can do that? If so, give me a “Yes.” Are you willing to follow Jesus even if it takes you places you didn’t want to go?  If so say “Yes.”  Do you think you can live for others, even when it’s not in your best interest?  If so say, “Yes.”

Then, Confirmation Class of 2014, you are free indeed.

Come Holy Spirit, Come.

When It Reigns

Sermon - When it Reigns

Matthew 22:15-22

Pr. Paul Cannon

Grace and Peace, Bethany Lutheran Church, from God our creator, the Holy Spirit that connects us, and Jesus Christ our Savior and Lord,

I was really in the mood this week to preach on something happy.  This whole last week and half of my life has really been a comedy of errors.  

It all kind of started last week on our way into the city to see a play, when our GPS had us driving in circles.  My in-laws were in town, and traffic was backed up terribly on the highways, so Google Maps told us that it would be faster to get off the freeways and use some city roads roads instead.  

I’ll never believe Google Maps again.  At one point, we literally came full circle, and passed the same school...twice.

Then last Sunday, my Cincinnati Bengals were poised to kick a game-winning 36 yard field goal in overtime to win the game … and the kicker missed it!  The game ended in a tie, which somehow felt worse than a ls

Then on Monday, when the office had the day off, I went with my wife, my brother and his wife and a few friends to go apple picking.  But when we were sitting down for lunch that day, I threw out a disk in my lower back.

It was one of those weeks that reminded me of the great quote from Mel Brook’s, Young Frankenstein, when one character says to the other “It could be worse!”  And the other one asks, “How?” And he says, “It could be raining!”

And I mean that literally, because right after I threw out my back, like in the movie, it started raining.

It was one of those weeks.

Yes, I could have really used something happy and light to preach about this week, but instead I got the story that has to do with taxes...When it rains...it pours.

Some religious leaders come up to Jesus, with a question that they hope is going to be a wedge issue - because no matter how Jesus answered it, it was going to make some folks mad.  

“Hey Jesus,” they asked him, “Should we pay our taxes?”  Nothing like a question about politics to get folks mad at you.

But Jesus answers in a roundabout way.  He asks one of them to take out a coin, and asks them who’s picture is on it.  And they answer him that it was the face of the emperor on the coin.

So Jesus tells them, “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s.”

Good answer.

Let’s think about those words.  What belongs to the Caesar? The coin does.  It has Caesar’s image on it.  It must belong to him.

But the more interesting question is, what belongs to God?  Really.  What belongs to God?  If Caesar owns the coin because his image is on it, then where is God’s image?  

Genesis 1:27, “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.”

We bear God’s image.  We belong to God.  “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s.”  

Don’t just give of the coin, Jesus insists, give of yourself.  But, what do you give to the God who has everything?  What do you give back to the God who gave you everything, including the coin?  

If you are given everything, then maybe we should give back everything - time, talent, money, resources - all that stuff, yes.  But it’s really much deeper than that.  You give back your heart to God.  

Remember those three great Christian values we heard about in our reading from Thessalonians today? Faith, hope and love?  Those are the things that God truly desires from us.  That should be our offering to God every day.

And that’s a lot to ask, I know.  Because sometimes, we have weeks like I had this past week.  You get lost.  You feel like you are losing at life.  You find yourself in pain.  And then it starts to rain on you...literally or figuratively. When it rains, it pours.

Those days you don’t feel particularly loving.  Those are the days you don’t feel hopeful.  Those are the days you don’t feel faithful.  But it’s particularly when it’s hard - when life is pouring on you - that it matters most.  Your teenager is fighting with you at home?  Love them even more.  Struggling with your faith?  Go pray and talk to God about it.

And hope...hope is something that I think we could all use a dose of these days.  It’s been a tough couple months, here at Bethany. I know more than most. We said goodbye to a Pastor this summer.  We’ve had our fair share of change and conflict.  And at times it feels like we are getting rained on.

But all of this - all of us - belong to God.  We bear God’s image.  And where God is present, there is all kinds of hope.  And so hope is what God asks us to give back.

This summer on our mission trip, every night all the church groups would return from a long day of serving.  We would gather for worship.  And our site leaders from Youth Works, would lead us all in an exercise of hope that they just called “Yay God.”  

And these exhausted kids, who had every right to complain after a week of manual labor and sleeping on floors, would raise their hands, and offer for the group, where they had seen God that day. And when they finished, everybody would snap their fingers...and say...Yay God.  

Sometimes they would lift up somebody who went the extra mile to help that day. Yay God (snap).  Sometimes they would lift up the way they saw God at work in the faces of the community.  Yay God! (snap)  Other times it was the way that God was accomplishing work - fixing broken homes, spending time with the sick, the old and the young.  Yay God! (snap)

They were moments of hope.  They were “Yay God” moments.

We have those too.  This week, I got a call in the evening at home from an unknown number, which is usually a bad sign.  But it was Sharon Saunders, who we’ve been praying for, to tell me that the doctors hadn’t found any cancer at her latest bouts with Chemo. Yay God. (snap)

In our God, we find hope in the most peculiar places - none more peculiar than the cross.  Through an instrument of capital punishment, as Christians, we proclaim our greatest hope for life.

That’s what I would like us all to do today. We need to start practicing a little bit of hope in the rainy times.  We need some “Yay God” here at Bethany and in our lives. 

Think of a "Yay God" moment in your life. Write it down.  Give thanks to God even in tough times.

You’ll be amazed at the incredible ways that God is working in and among you despite all the stuff that’s happened this past year.  There is so much hope - too much, to not be hopeful in our God.

There are days, and sometimes weeks and even years where it rains, and when it rains, it pours.  But as those who bear the image of God, it is our job offer hope back to this world  - especially in the rainy times.  So let faith, love and hope be your offerings.  Because in our God, faith, love and hope reign eternal.  

Yay God.

Romans 13:8-14 - Urgent Notice

Rally Sunday, Sept. 7th, 2014

Urgent Notice

Pr. Paul Cannon

Grace and Peace, Bethany Lutheran Church, from God our creator, the Holy Spirit, and our Lord Jesus Christ,

I am very excited to be with you all right now on this very important day in the year.  I know that many of us have been waiting, anticipating and preparing for this day to get here, and for most of us, it didn’t come soon enough.

We’ve got flags up, you’ll see some special decorations, and most importantly, we have our favorite snacks ready.

Hallelujah, the day has finally come! It is ... FOOTBALL season.  It starts today.  Well technically, if you’re a Packer’s fan, the season started on Thursday (I’m sorry to bring that up), but if you’re a fan of the Bears or any other team, the season starts today.

I have the unfortunate distinction of being a fan of the Cincinnati Bengals – a team that hasn’t won a playoff game in over 20 years.  And yet, like many fans out there, when the clock hits 12 on Sunday, I’m usually itching to get home (I’m in the wrong line of work, by the way) – just so I can be there for the most boring play in all sports – the kickoff.

After all, there’s only 16 games in a season, so I better catch every second of it! I joke, but the NFL is certainly America’s sport.  And one of the reasons I think it’s become so popular for many of us fans, is because every game feels significant.  

Even more than that, it passes the two tests for something to feel urgent -  that feeling where something not only has to get done, but it has to get done right now.

1. Test one: Is it important? If it’s not important, it’s not urgent right? Judging by the number of jersey’s I see on Sundays, I know football is important to a lot of you! So it passes test one of being urgent.

2. Test two: Is there time?  If have too much time, there’s no urgency. The fact that NFL teams play only 16 games, gives them a condensed time frame to work with.  So it passes test two for being urgent.  

You put those two things together, and you get folks like me who get antsy at 12pm on Sundays.  

The same principal is true for almost all aspects of our lives.  The more important the matter, and the shorter the time frame, the more urgent the need for action.  

It’s why advertisements on TV tell you to call in the next 10 minutes for a very special offer!   It’s why boxes of old junk end up getting piled up in our basements and garages - because you feel like you can always get to them later. It’s why when we’re late for work, we drive faster than normal.

In Paul’s letter to the church in Rome today, we hear that same sense of urgency in his voice.  What he’s about to say can’t wait. It’s urgent - so not only is it important, but it also needs to start immediately.

He begins with the most important commandment, urging his church to love one another.  “Love” he says, “Because love does no wrong.”

It’s the most important thing you can do.  Love is what brought Christ to the cross.  Love fulfills the entire law - all the commandments. It changes lives - its presence or its absence shapes who we are and who we become.  

I don’t think I can overstate how important it is for us to love one another. But does it merit the urgency in Paul’s voice? Does it pass test number two? We have a lifetime to do this right?  There’s time, isn’t there?

He writes to the Romans, “You know what time it is, how it is now - it is now - the moment for you to wake from sleep.”  

The moment is now, Paul says. He doesn’t even give us 10 minutes like the advertisers on TV do.  Now is the moment for us to wake up.  Now is the moment for us to get our act together.  

But if you are a procrastinator like myself, you read this and say, “Whoa Whoa Whoa. Slow down Paul. I’ve got plenty of time here...no rush...what’s the hurry?”

Good Question!  Why does all this have to happen immediately?  Why the urgency?

Paul continues, “For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone and the day is near.”  Wait a second?  Salvation is near to us?  I thought that was a long ways off.  I thought salvation was what happened to us when we died!

Not so for Paul.  “The night is far gone,” he writes, “and the day is near.”  It’s an interesting way to put it.  You see, for Paul, the moment that God breaks into our lives isn’t some far off distant point on the horizon. It’s in baptism.  It’s here!  It’s now!  We’ve been baptized.  We’ve already been saved. “Where two or three are gathered in my name,” Jesus says, “I am there.”

The night is over. The dawn is coming!  Time’s up.  And so Paul’s conclusion to this is that we ought to start living like it.  “Let us live honorably” he writes, “as in the day.”

Our Gospel today echoes those sentiments.  Jesus tells his followers, “If another member of the church sins against you, go and point out their fault.”  Don’t wait for it to blow over.  Go and seek healing and forgiveness. This is important, so go work it out!

Stop quarrelling with one another (Paul says).  Let’s not waste this precious gift of Christ by being jealous of what the guy across the street has. And of course, Jesus reminds us that when we do screw up - when relationships break down, don’t waste time stewing in your anger.  Go find healing and forgiveness if not with your neighbor, then with God.

Of course, this urgency isn’t just for when you’re mad at somebody though.  Living Christ-like lives is always urgent.

On Wednesday, we had our orientation meeting for Confirmation. And I asked them, “Why is this important to you?  Why are you here tonight? Why show up?”  It’s a good question for Rally Day right? The parents and students talked it over at their tables and they came up with some really great answers.

One table said, “Because I want my kids to be able to connect faith in their daily lives.”  Another table spoke up saying, “Because I want these traditions to be passed on to the next generation.” Another added, “Because I want them to have space to ask questions about their faith.”  And yet another said, “Because I want them to be surrounded by a community that loves them.”

These are more than just important things.  They are urgent matters of God.  

Salvation is near, Paul tells us. The dawn is is coming. In baptism, God has made us a part of his family.  He’s already saved us, and so the only thing left to do is live for the people around you.

All that’s left for us to do is to love one another.  That’s the work of the people of God every day.  

That is what is so urgent.  

Thanks be to God,  

Amen

Let it Go

Sermon – Matthew 16:21-28

Let it Go

by Pr. Paul Cannon

Grace and Peace from God our father and our Lord Jesus Christ,

At the risk of sounding a little bit like the Disney movie “Frozen” I want to inform you all that today’s sermon is about letting go.  But where Princess Elsa is singing about letting her inner awesomeness out, I am going to be talking about letting go of our own lives. So you can breathe a sigh of relief - I will not be singing the song “Let it Go” for you all.

The truth is, we all have trouble letting go.  I had a little kid in my office this past week, and he was eyeing the bowl of candy that I always leave on my desk.  He turned to his mom and asked if he could have one.  She looked at me, and sort of gave me the “no-candy-for-him” look and calmly explained that it wasn’t his.

Well that didn’t make him very happy.  So when the mother asked her son to help clean up the toys he was playing with, he scrunched up his face and balled up his hands at his side and said, “No!  I’m not cleaning up.”

Cleaning up the toys had nothing to do with the candy of course - it was just his way of venting frustration.  He couldn’t let go of his disappointment in losing out on the chance at a nougaty piece of chocolate delight!  You’d be disappointed too I’m sure.

Though we can laugh at a child’s antics, in reality, most of us don’t act much different when it comes to our own disappointments, frustrations and anger.  We have a hard time letting go.  We scrunch up our faces, and clench our fists, until the anger spills out of us in ways that had nothing to do with our original injury.

We have to learn to let go, and while it sounds easy in theory, in practice it’s incredibly difficult.  We are not wired to do it.  When we’re angry, or when we’ve been hurt or when we’re afraid, every instinct we have tells us to hold on tight - because holding on to those feelings gives us the illusion of control. The tighter we hang on - the more control we feel we have over our lives.

The problem is, life tends to get in the way and disturb our illusion of being in control.  A loved one is diagnosed with cancer; an earthquake shakes up the very ground we walk on; a company decides they need to make cutbacks - and you are on the list.  

Life is a constant barrage of stuff happening that reminds us how little control we really have.  When all this stuff gets thrown at us, we want to grab hold and hang on for dear life.  

It’s exactly how Peter reacts when Jesus tells him that he has to die and then be raised three days later.   And so he too tries to take control. Peter turns to Jesus and says “God forbid it Lord. This must never happen to you.”  He doesn’t want to lose control.  He doesn’t want to lose his Rabbi.

We know the end of Jesus story, so it’s easy for us to pick on Peter for not being faithful, but in real life, we react like Peter all the time - we try to control situations beyond our grasp.

And so Jesus’ words to Peter could also be addressed to all of us. He tells Peter to deny himself and take up the cross, quote, “For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”

Or to put in the terms we’ve been using today, Those who hang on to this life will lose it, and those who let go for the sake of Jesus, will find it.

Let go of everything - let go of your anger, let go of your need to be in control, let go of yourself for Jesus’ sake - and you will find life.

But what does that mean and how do we do it?  

In our reading from Romans today, Paul is going to list some ways that we let go. “Bless those who persecute you...live in harmony...associate with the lowly...do not repay evil for evil...if your enemies are hungry feed them…if they are thirsty give them something to drink.”

It’s hard, but it happens all around us.

We’ve all seen what’s unfolded in Ferguson, Missouri over the last few weeks.  An unarmed teenager named Michael Brown was shot dead by the police after a confrontation, causing community and civil unrest there --even riots.

In spite of the chaos and sometimes violent protests, there was, in the midst of it all, another reaction that reminds me of what Paul is talking about.

Folks held candle-light vigils, and walked down the street with their arms up.  We saw youth groups praying on the streets and people of different races, religions and creeds walking in solidarity with one another. Even the victim’s family was calling for peace.

That’s what letting go looks like. Letting go of our anger - our need for vengeance.

And so Paul sums up this section by saying, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

Giving into anger is understandable.  We all do it.  But when we see examples of folks overcoming it, and trying to create goodness and light in the midst of dark places - that is the work of God.

Overcome evil with good.  It’s a radical idea in an eye-for-an-eye kind of world.   Yet Paul insists that when our instinct is to hang onto animosity, instead we ought to hold fast to what is good - to let go of your anger and replace it with something greater.  

Instead of seeking revenge, seek to be a servant.  If somebody hurts you, pray for them.  If they’re hungry, feed them.  If they’re thirsty, give them something to drink.

Evil can be overcome with good.  We say this with confidence, knowing that Christ has already overcome all evil with the ultimate act of love on the cross.

Everything we do, is merely a reflection of what’s already been accomplished. And so, as Paul said, we cling to what is good - we cling to Christ - and let go of everything else.  And in this, we find life.

Thanks be to God.

Amen