What Do You See? - Lent 1B Sermon

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Mark 1:9-15

⁹In those days Jesus came from Nazareth of Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan. ¹⁰And just as he was coming up out of the water, he saw the heavens torn apart and the Spirit descending like a dove on him. ¹¹And a voice came from heaven, “You are my Son, the Beloved; with you I am well pleased.” ¹²And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³He was in the wilderness forty days, tempted by Satan; and he was with the wild beasts; and the angels waited on him.¹⁴Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

What do you see in this text?  Or better yet, what does this text help you to see?  

I have mixed feelings when reading the book of Mark. Mark is so beautifully written, and it is often that he says so much by saying so little.  His rhetoric is perfect in that he gives one liners almost prompts for us to create some kind of image, some kind of picture, allowing us some freedom to make the connections ourselves. To fill in the blanks and bring the canvas to life. Mark draws us into the mystery of his Gospel account and then leaves us there with the palette and brush to create our own images.

When I read texts like this I interpret them with images in my mind.  And as hard as I try on my own, I want Mark to help me color in the details.  Mark says Jesus came up out of the water and saw the heavens being torn apart...but what does that look like?  The spirit descends like a dove into him.  What an image that is!   The Spirit drives Jesus into the wilderness where he’s tempted by Satan, and the angels wait on him.  What does that look like?  This text is so theologically rich and significant, yet Marks seems to withhold so much detail.   In this moment Jesus is baptized, the heavens are torn, the Spirit descends, God speaks and declares Jesus as God’s son, Jesus is driven to the wilderness and tempted by Satan.  AND ALL of this in 4 verses.  That’s to say nothing of Jesus proclaiming the arrival of the kingdom of God.

Mark’s gospel is often full of mystery.  One line set-ups that demand more depth.  More detail. More discovery. More understanding.  Mark’s stories leave us wanting more.   

When I was in high school my dad served as a seminary intern at a local congregation in our hometown.  That summer it was time for Vacation Bible School and dad invited me to attend.  So I did.  There weren’t too many high school students so I accompanied the middle school stuents that week.  One evening were assigned an arts and crafts type task. The task was that they were going to give us a text related to the theme that night, a pack of markers, and a poster board.   

And on this poster board it was our job to take the text and depict it in some creative way.

To fill in the gaps of the story in some creative color-filled way.  To give some artistic expression and interpretation to the assigned text. So my partner and I were given a slip of paper with a few verses and we began to review it over and over, painting in our mind.

Putting pencil to poster we began drawing our interpretation and image of the text.  It just so happens it was this passage. Mark 1:9-15.

We started with a big dove on the top of the page.  The dove had broad off-white wings and face of determination as it burst through a cloud of fire.  With some shading we made it seem as though the dove was descending, not in a slow, casual way, but rather forcefully.  With a purpose.  The face of the dove approached a basin of water and the intensity of the dove’s descent was forcing ripples in the water.  When then depicted the water’s ripples spilling over the basin as the dove was targeting a chalice and paten.

They chalice was full of red wine and the paten was struggling to contain an enormous loaf of bread.

Now I was only in high school, but I thought our depiction looked awesome.  I haven’t seen that poster in almost 15 years but I sometimes wonder after going to seminary if it’s still as awesome as I remember.  I wonder if it is hanging on the wall of the basement in the church.  Eh, it’s probably in the back of some closet.  

But this can be the power of the gospel when we take time to dwell within the spacebar moments of Mark’s stories.  We’re invited to imagine the stories of the gospel in our mind and give life to the subtleties of Mark’s brief but rich moments.  And with the final brush stroke of today’s text we read on and the beauty of Mark’s gospel begins to truly shine through the page:

^“Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

Friends, in this moment Jesus offers us a vision and picture that we no longer have to create for ourselves.  It isn’t a picture we have to draw or connection we’re forced to make.  The Kingdom of God is present here and now and the canvas is laid out before us in everyday walk of life in faith.  The Kingdom of God is not a distant place or land, or even one dreamed up in our imagination.  It’s not a specific historical event or occurrence to study and examine.  Rather, the Kingdom of God is present.   God draws us into God’s kingdom through Jesus.  In this moment, as Jesus emerges from the wilderness unwavered by temptations, he proclaims the breaking of God’s kingdom here and now.  

Kingdom of God is something remarkable.  Something beautifully created. It doesn’t need markers and poster board to be seen.  Kingdom of God is around us.  It is at hand.  It is near.

One of my favorite movies is August Rush.  The movie centers on an orphaned child named August.  His parents, who are both musicians, one a rock star and the other a world-renowned cellist, meet at a party.  Through some unfortunate happenstance August is removed from his parents at birth and neither parent is even aware that August is alive.  The movie opens with August listening...to the winds, the trees rustling, the cars driving by, the sounds of nature.  In his mind he hears a symphony.  August is convinced his parents are out there and so he goes in searching for them.  Along the way it becomes apparent that he is a musical prodigy and eventually it is his music that leads his parents back to him and one another.  The movie closes with same sounds it opened and August speaks, “The music is all around us, all you have to do is listen.”

Now August talks about Listening, but I think the lesson is the same, albeit a different sense.  I once read that those who have ears to hear should listen and those who have eyes to see should see and I think this phrase is applicable to today’s text.  We might say that the Kingdom of God is all around us, all we have to do is look and listen.

Friends, this is the section of the sermon where I was going to launch into a list of examples about how incredible the Kingdom of God looks.  How beautiful the colors of God’s kingdom canvas are painted.  I was going to lift up all the ways in which I see God’s kingdom present here and now, affirming our various ministries, and empower you to do the same.  

On Wednesday we gathered for Ash Wednesday a day when we ponder our mortality and our own brokenness.  We confess to God, a bit more intentionally than usual, that we are in need of God’s grace and forgiveness.  We placed ash on our forehead as a reminder that all we have is God’s and we are solely dependent upon God.  It is God that gives us a glimpse of the canvas of the Kingdom in the first place.  That service was a noon.

At 3:10: CNN Breaking news “Authorities say they are responding to a shooting at a high school in Southeastern, FL.”  The next hour, “breaking news, Multiple fatalities…”  The next “at least 16 dead…”  The next hour we had another Ash Wed service at 7pm.  

That afternoon the reminder we are created from dust and to dust we shall return was a reality for 17 people.  For Alyssa, Scott, Martin, Nichols, Aaron, Jaime, Chris, Luke, Cara, Gina, Joaquin, Alaina, Meadow, Helena, Alex, Carmen, Peter, and their family and friends. They were forced to confront the ash Wednesday confession of our own  and mortality in a way that I can’t imagine.   

And it’s terrifying to say, but this is a common experience for far too many of our brothers and sisters. And if we look beyond school shootings and senseless violence we can think about the damage of war.  For those who are called upon to fight and decide someone else’s mortality.   For loved ones in a hospital bed processing a new, unexpected diagnosis.  For refugees displaced.   For homeless siblings who don’t have a place to rest their head or know where their next meal might come from.  

Maybe it was because it was in our Florida backyard, but Wednesday was an alarming reminder that not all people hear the arrival of God’s Kingdom as good news.  And for many of us, our ability to see and embrace the beautiful kingdom comes from a position of comfort and privilege and blessing.  

But Wed. warranted a late edit to this sermon.  To only speak of the beauty diminishes the stories of our siblings whose canvas is distorted as they are made victims to  presence and oppression of sin in their lives.  For them the presence of the Kingdom doesn't sound like good news.  It doesn’t look like a Bob Ross painting with happy trees and content rocks.   It’s not vibrant colors.

The honest truth is that I don’t necessarily have all of the answers for us this morning.  But here is what I can offer:

¹⁴Now after John was arrested, Jesus came to Galilee, proclaiming the good news of God, ¹⁵and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God has come near; repent, and believe in the good news.”

The Kingdom of God is something remarkable.  It is something beautifully created. I believe it is all around us.  It is at hand.  It is near.  And I can proclaim confidently that it is good news.  For we are made colors, filled with the beauty of the Holy Spirit, bursting onto the canvas of creation.  And I suppose through the waters of baptism then, we might consider the Kingdom of God to be a watercolor.

But I think the good news this day is that while the Kingdom of God has come near in Jesus we also confess that not yet fulfillment of the Kingdom.  There is work left to be done.  And for those who mourn I pray they hear that as hope.  For those who see with comfort and privilege, may we walk with those who mourn.  

Until the one day when the fullness of the kingdom is realized and hope is fulfilled.  

When beauty and intrigue are more than hoped for or sought after, but seen and embraced.  When we we might all consider ourselves unique colors on the bristles of God’s paint brush.  

So, what do you see?  Or better yet, what does the gospel help you to see?

© Pastor Daniel Locke, preached Feb. 18, 2018 @ St. Mark's Lutheran, Jacksonville, FL 

Transfiguration B Sermon

Listen to the gospel and sermon here.

Mark 9:2-10

²Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain apart, by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, ³and his clothes became dazzling white, such as no one on earth could bleach them. ⁴And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. ⁵Then Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶He did not know what to say, for they were terrified. ⁷Then a cloud overshadowed them, and from the cloud there came a voice, “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” ⁸Suddenly when they looked around, they saw no one with them any more, but only Jesus.  ⁹As they were coming down the mountain, he ordered them to tell no one about what they had seen, until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

Something about this text has always been an illusive text for me.  I don’t know what it is about the Transfiguration, but for some reason this day in our lectionary has always puzzled me.  This story appears in one form or another in all three synoptic gospels, and therefore it appears on the final Sunday of Epiphany, the Sunday before Lent every year.  It’s a text that I have marked on my calendar and to-do list every year because there is something about it that challenges me more than the rest.  I might even admit that it intimidates me.   

I suppose I could find some comfort and reassurance with the disciples in the passage since even they too were terrified by the experience.  Peter comes across as a bumbling fool, unable to process what happens.   He even wrongly proposes that they set up tents and stay in that place.  Here is to hoping I don’t sounds like a bumbling fool today too.

And although the lectionary gives me reason to confront this text each and every year...something about it seems so elusive.  I think more than anything I’m caught in the specifics...Why did Jesus Transfigure...How did he transfigure...what does transfigured even mean?  Why Elijah and Moses?  What did it look like?  Why were only the inner circle of disciples permitted on the mountain top?  

And I wish, friends, oh how I wish I had the answers for us.  I wish I could explain to you why Jesus is transfigured.  In Freek, literally transformed.  I wish I could explain to you why only the inner circle of disciples are present to witness it.  I wish I could explain why Moses and Elijah are present in the moment I wish I could tell you what brand of bleach was used to make Jesus’ garments whiter than humanly possible.  I wish I could explain for us the transfiguration, but the truth is I don’t think that I can.

The story intimidates me because I think that any attempt I or we make to make sense of this spectacular glimpse of the resurrection.  Any attempt to understand or draw conclusions about this story would indeed fall short.  Short of the glory and splendor the story deserves.  And I think commentator Matt Skinner gets it right when he says “Maybe the transfigured Jesus isn’t supposed to be figured out.  He’s supposed to be appreciated.”

So how do we gain an appreciation for the transfigured Jesus?  What insight can we glean in order to fully appreciate the text for this day.  I think there are two perspectives worth considering in order to appreciate this transfiguration event.   First we can appreciate the placement of the transfiguration story within the over gospel narrative according to Mark.   Second, we should consider the placement of the transfiguration  story within our church calendar as it appears on the Sunday between Epiphany and Lent.

Today’s story is nestled in the 9th chapter of Mark’s gospel account.  Actually it occurs in the middle of the gospel story.  Prior to this story Jesus has been born, baptized, and tempted.  He is well into his public ministry.   So far into it in fact that he will turn to Jerusalem in just 2 more short chapters.  

In the previous 8.5 chapters of Mark, Jesus has been healing, teaching, preaching, praying, performing miracles, sharing parables, and foretelling his death  resurrection.  He has traveled around the edge of the sea of Galilee, into Tiberius, Caesarea Philippi, Bethsaida, Galilee and more.

And of course, along for the journey are the disciples.  Those closest to Jesus have been with him every step of the way, consistently witnessing his teachings, healings, and miracles.  And as we know, despite what they see and what they hear they repeatedly misunderstand what it is they are witnessing.

Most recently, in the chapter prior to the transfiguration, Mark tells the story of two important healing events.   Frist Jesus is traveling through Decapolis, and they bring him a deaf man.  Jesus, of course heals the deaf man.  The text says they were astounded, and that Jesus even makes the deaf to hear and mute speak.

A few verses later, they are traveling to Bethsaida, And they bring a blind person to Jesus. Jesus of course heals the blind man.  The text says he saw everything clearly, and Jesus makes even the blind to see.

These two specific incidences where Jesus opens the eyes and ears of those who can’t see or hear...Jesus offers a profound witness to the power and message of God.  And even though the disciples witnesses these healings, they still don’t get it.   Now Peter comes close and confesses that Jesus “is the messiah.”  But as soon as Jesus foretells his death and resurrection…Peter rebukes him…and refuses to understand; to see and to hear exactly what Jesus is telling them.

I can imagine Jesus sighing at Peter….thinking really...after all that you have seen and heard?  You...you don’t ...you don’t get it?  Even a little bit?  

It’s in that moment that Jesus pulls this small inner circle of disciples high up on a mountain for another perspective.  And before them he is transfigured.   For that brief moment, they witness a glimpse of the resurrected Christ.  A glimpse of the promise that is to be fulfilled.   A sneak peak if you will into the full glory of God revealed in the God’s own son, in whom God is well pleased.  I imagine Jesus saying, “how about now?!”  In the transfiguration it becomes more apparent than ever that not only is Jesus God’s son, the Messiah, but he is meant to be seen and heard by all.

The text goes on to tell us that the disciples did not know what to say for they were terrified.  They were in awe.  Matthew tells us that they fell on their faces, and were filled with awe.  Mark and Luke say they were exceedingly afraid.  This glimpse of the resurrected Christ…Christ who is to be seen and heard, something the disciples have yet to figure out or understand leaves them in awe.  

And perhaps this is the part that we aren’t supposed to figure out, as Matt Skinner suggested.  We are supposed to figure out why Jesus is with Moses and Elijah….or why Jesus is shining so bright and bleached.   Perhaps this is where we best relate to the disciples and we are to be filled with awe.  Much like that moment in worship where our sins are proclaimed as forgiven and we catch a glimpse of God’s grace.  Or the moment when we the body and blood of Christ are given and we can for a moment taste and see that the Lord is good.   

This is the moment we are to appreciate because God speaks and reminds us clear as day that Jesus IS The one called for.  Jesus is the messiah.  Jesus is the God’s son sent to live among God’s people.  Jesus is the light shining, not only on the mountain top, but in all darkness throughout the world.   We are to appreciate this moment because it is a pure glimpse of the resurrection, and for the disciples a sign of the promise to come.

Epiphany, the season of the manifestation of Christ to the world began with Jesus’ baptism.  The heavens were torn open and God said, “This is my son, the beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”  

Our Epiphany season ends today with a similar declaration by God.  “This is my son, the beloved, listen to him.”   Our final Epiphany moment this season is a glimpse of the resurrection.   So not only is Christ made known to the world as the Messiah and son of God, but Christ is the promise of salvation for all peoples.  The perfecter of faith who will overcome sin death and the devil.

This week we enter into the season of Lent.  It is season of reflection and contemplation about the suffering cost of discipleship.  It is a remembrance that even in the darkest of times, such as the crucifixion, God prevails.  It is a season of self-examination and evaluation of the call to discipleship.  Lent is not about re-enacting Christ’s death.  Christ has died…and Christ has risen.   And therefore Lent is an intentional walk through the trial, persecution, betrayal, suffering, and death of Christ.  It is an examination and appreciation of our God-given lives and mortality in Christ.

It makes sense then that we end our Epiphany season and begin our Lenten discipline with a glimpse of the transfigured, resurrected Christ.  To remind us that throughout lent. As we remember and reflect.  As we exam and confess.  We do so in the light of the one and only who saved.  God through the Jesus Christ.   Our Lenten journey is only possible by the grace of God in Jesus Christ.   Our self-reflection is only possible because Christ shines perpetually within our lives.  God never leaves us in the depth and death of Lent, and is always present to bring us through to the celebration of the resurrection dawn.

The Good News for us is that the light, the light of the transfigured Christ is far more contagious and far more powerful than all the darkness of the world.   It’s the light that shines in our baptism when we too are transfigured into children of God.   We are transformed by God’s grace, washed by the water, bleached if you will or our sins and made alive in Christ.  And rather than ever have to reason with the darkness, we hold in the hope found in the transfigured Jesus Christ, the light of the world.

© Pastor Daniel Locke, preached 02.11.2018 @ St. Mark's Lutheran Jacksonville, FL

So Now What!? - Epiphany 5B Sermon

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Mark 1:29-39

²⁹As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. ³⁰Now Simon’s mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. ³¹He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. ³²That evening, at sundown, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed with demons. ³³And the whole city was gathered around the door. ³⁴And he cured many who were sick with various diseases, and cast out many demons; and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. ³⁵In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. ³⁶And Simon and his companions hunted for him. ³⁷When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” ³⁸He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.” ³⁹And he went throughout Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.

So now what!?  Today’s text culminates in a “so now what” moment in Jesus’ ministry.  For 5 weeks we have acknowledged the Epiphany season, Epiphany as the manifestation of Jesus Christ the world.   We’ve heard story after story of Jesus being made known.  Starting with the journey and arrival of the wise men, continuing to Jesus’ baptism, the calling of the first disciples, performing his first healing and a second healing today.  

Along the way each Sunday in Epiphany has taught us a little more about who Jesus is, or even more so, who God is through Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ, the Emmanuel, a babe born in a manger is prophesied to be the savior of the Jewish people, God is one who acts in the silence of a night...one breathes life in the darkness of the world...who defies predictions and expectations...not because God needs to show us up or put us in our place, but because our understanding of the world is so misguided.  Jesus Christ is the incarnation of God.  A light made known to the world.

And if that wasn’t enough for the world Jesus steps out of the crowds to be baptize.  To walk side by side with penitent sinners.  The heavens are torn apart in the best way and God declares Jesus as God’s son, in whom God is well pleased.  God is one who welcomes the sinner and stranger, who offers repentance and forgiveness.

Jesus Christ the teacher, calling strangers from the comforts of their lives and challenging them to see a new thing.  To partake in a journey, not just a physical or emotional journey, but a journey of faith.  Calls them not to abandon their gifts and passions but to embrace their gifts and risk a new identity...and identity tied to Jesus.  God is one who seeks us out from the shore line, who calls us by name and bids us to come and follow.

Jesus Christ the healer, who acts with authority, restoring wholeness to the broken. God is one who restores body, mind, and Spirit….perhaps not always in the way or time that we desire or prefer, but we rest assured in the presence of Jesus that we will all one day be made whole.

These are the stories of Jesus being made known to the world.  Certainly they’re full or richness and depth and shine only a glimmer of light into the true incarnation and resurrection of Jesus that will be unveiled in the rest of Scripture.   But these 5 Sundays of Epiphany guide us to today, on this 5th Sunday of Epiphany where our text culminates with a “so now what?” confrontation between Jesus and the disciples.

Today’s story has three distinct segments.  The first is the healing of the mother-in-law.  Following last week’s story of Jesus healing a man with an unclean Spirit in the synagogue on the Sabbath today’s story continues, “As soon as they left the synagogue they entered the house of Simon and Andrew.”  

They immediately told Jesus about her being in bed with a fever and so Jesus goes to her, takes her by the hand, lifts her up, and she is healed.  This is a subtle yet significant continuation of the previous healing in the synagogue.  Both healings happen within a short time-span and both happen on the Sabbath.

If anything, this continued story tells us that Jesus’ healing power and authority has no boundary or limit.  One healing is in the synagogue, a holy space, a place of worship and Jesus heals a man demonized by an unclean Spirit.  One healing is more private, in a home, where Jesus heals a woman from illness.   In both situations Jesus restores them to wholeness regardless of context, setting, reason, or plea.

So now what?  Well as a result of Jesus’ unconditional healing the word spreads quickly.  By sun down the crowds press upon the house, bringing the sick and demon possessed, all waiting anxiously for Jesus to heal.   His ability to restore people to health and social wholeness is a sign of God’s power, and God-willing the whole town will come to be healed in one form or another.  

So now what?  In the final segment of today’s reading Jesus removes himself from the crowds early in the morning to a deserted place to pray.  In the midst of public recognition and miraculous healing...as people are finally beginning to see the power and authority of this Jesus of Nazareth, he removes himself to pray.  Prayer is next.  For Jesus, prayer is always next.  

And it’s there in the deserted, prayerful place, this small calm in the manifestation Epiphany storm that we witness this “so now what” conversation. For the disciples, who are early into their Jesus-following career they see Jesus’ power and authority as a great success.   The crowds swarming to see, hear, and experience Jesus is a good thing.  After all they didn’t fully know what they were signing up for beyond “come and follow.”

 So there short experience thus far of teaching and healing is by their understanding nothing short of a great success.  So the hunt for Jesus and find him in this deserted place.  “Everyone is searching for you!”  Come on back to the house.  We have a great thing going and let’s not lose momentum.  

The disciples were focused so intently on capitalizing on this opportunity.  Remaining in this one place with Jesus healing one person after another.  Remaining in the safety of success, comfort, and predictability.  For them, leaving wasn’t even a consideration.  Why walk away from a sure thing?!

So now what?  Jesus says, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also; for that is what I came out to do.”

It would be easy, comfortable, and certainly enticing to remain in one place.  To stay in the spot where their faith is most affirmed.  To lock Jesus in to this specific location where his ministry would become one of miracles and healings.  People from all over would travel see, hear, and witness Jesus in this place.  It could become their temple.  Some might call it putting Jesus in a box.  No need to travel, explore, encounter strange people and towns.  No need to risk hostility or face adversity.  No risk.  No unknowns.

Sometimes I fear this can become our mentality of discipleship.  Experiencing Jesus within these walls where it is perhaps most comfortable or safe.  Where the presence of God is most tangible and realized.  Surrounded by crowds of people hungry and eager to meet Jesus.  Where healing and wholeness and restoration take place.   We hope that word will spread and people will come from all over to experience Jesus in the precise same way.  It’s comfortable here in our traditions and routines...our liturgy and rites.  Why risk anything.  Why allow Jesus to leave this space.  Why would we ever ask “so now what?”  

Perhaps today’s biggest Epiphany lesson is that Jesus has come to not to remain in one place, structured and secure in one location, but that he has come to travel from town to town, to spread the gospel, seeking out the downtrodden, lost, lonely, and least.  Jesus has come to seek the unknown, venture into uncertainty and proclaim hope in darkness, face adversity, challenge authority, demonstrate love, witness to a new way of life.

And the scary part for the disciples and for us is that to be a disciple of Christ means to follow Jesus into the wilderness.  To leave comfort and certainty for discomfort and the unknown.  To travel town to town, job to job, school to school proclaiming the good news of Christ so all that might hear. All might come and see.

Worship for us is that early-morning deserted place of prayer.  That stillness in the early morning from a crowded world, seeking prayer with God.  The moment where we can discern with clarity and direction.  The location where we happen to all gather with God from our busy lives.  It is here in worship, in comfort and certainty that the “so now what” of our faith is challenged.

We confess that we have turned from God’s way to follow our own ways.  We have spoken or acted abruptly, hurt others, thought more about ourselves than others or less of ourselves than we ought....so now what… Christ says even when we have done wrong God makes us right.  Our sins are forgiven for the sake of Jesus Christ. Be free! That’s what

We hear the Word of God read aloud and psalms chanted...Word of God word of life... so now what...share the good news proclaimed. Let those with ears to hear listen and those with eyes to see see...thanks be to God.  That’s what.

In the night in which he was betrayed our Lord Jesus took bread and gave thanks….he again to the cup, gave thanks and gave to all….eat and drink all of you for the forgiveness of sins….so now what?  ….This is my body given for your, the blood of Christ shed for you...we who are many are one body fro we partake of the one bread...taste and see that the Lord is good! That is what.

The God of glory dwell in you richly, name you beloved, and shine brightly on your path; and the blessing of almighty God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit be upon you and remain with you always...so now what?  Go in Peace to Love and serve the Lord!

Friends it is easy, comfortable, and certainly enticing to remain in this place.  To stay in the spot where their faith is most affirmed.  To lock Jesus in to this specific location.  To only experience Jesus right here in worship.   No need to travel, explore, encounter strange people and towns...no need to risk hostility or face adversity.  No risk.  No unknowns.

But the truth is, with Jesus, we’re called to so much more.  And the good news this day is that the comfort and certainty of worship will always give us the hope, strength, courage, and grace to follow Jesus into the unknown.  

Yes, in this place we are sure to meet Jesus safe and secure in this holy house, but with God’s power we are called to ventures of which we cannot see the endings, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown.  And God will always be with us on the journey.  God will always be ahead of us to calm the storm and shed light on the unknown.

And as baptized, called and claimed children of God, we gather here for worship, here at this early morning respite, and we are affirm that we are forgiven, nourished, restored, fed, and healed.  But soon this worship service will come to a close and we will be sent.  So then what?  

Amen.

© Pastor Daniel Locke, preached 02.04.2018 @ St. Mark's Lutheran, Jacksonville, FL