Forgotten Ways
“Forgotten Ways” (John 8:32)
On Halloween, October 31, in the year 1517, a Roman Catholic monk named Martin Luther nailed a list of 95 propositions and questions to the castle church doors in Wittenberg, Germany. In his time, the church doors served as a kind of community bulletin board (as Facebook and Instagram were not quite on the scene in the 16th century). The reason for this posting was that Luther, a then 33-year-old professor of Biblical Studies, wanted his posted statements to inspire conversation about the church’s faith and life and work. He wanted the church to talk about FORGOTTEN WAYS.
Martin Luther knew the church is people, and we know it too—people who are called by Christ’s Spirit to gather around God’s holy Word and Sacrament. Yes, to live in union with Christ who is the true head of the Church. But…the ways that union touches us and affects us can so easily become FORGOTTEN WAYS. Remembrance is needed because we are forgetful.
Is that why our Lord commanded in the Last Supper, “Do this in remembrance of me” so that when we eat and drink in Holy Communion we remember Jesus Christ? Is that why St. Paul said that it’s important to “remember the poor” (Galatians 2) so the church of his day—like the church of our day—would hold fast to the needs of the neighbor through ministry and missions? And is it why St. Paul also said to his young brother-in-Christ, Timothy: “I remind you to rekindle the gift of God that is within you” (II Timothy 1:6) because Timothy, too, tended to forget God’s plan for his life and the power by which that plan could be carried out? We act on the basis of what we remember. In remembrance, faith springs into action.
On the other hand, faith falters when we forget. Moses challenged Israel with the word, “Take heed lest you forget the Lord your God” (Deuteronomy 8:11). And the Psalmist admonishes parents: “Father and mothers…teach your children, that the next generation might know…and not forget the works of God” (Psalm 78:8).
And so I look forward, together with your other family members and friends of First Lutheran Church, as we gather around God’s holy Word and Sacrament come this festive Reformation Sunday—with brass and choirs and hymns of thanksgiving God…in “remembering the Sabbath day to keep it holy.”
God’s grace and peace to you this day, and always…
John Christopherson
Senior Pastor
Graced, We Give: The Zebedee Brothers and Us
“Graced, We Give: The Zebedee Brothers and Us”
“And James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came forward to Jesus, and said to him, ‘Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.’ And he said to them, ‘What do you want me to do for you?’ And they said to him, ‘Grant us to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your glory.’” (Mark 10:35-37)
In these rather embarrassing, ballsy opening verses for our gospel text this weekend … the Zebedee brothers, James and John, seem to believe that “God’s kingdom come” will be set up just like the old one. You know, with all kinds of power and bling … only, with new leadership in place. The “swamp will be drained in Jerusalem” with Jesus in the number one position and the most loyal members of his campaign staff on either side of him. Once this change has been accomplished, then—finally! At last! The good people will commence to redeem the world from top to bottom—beginning from the top, of course. The ultimate trickle-down effect.
Jesus tells James and John, as well as us, that God’s kingdom come doesn’t work that way. The new world is not remotely like the old one (Mark 10:42-44). It’s rather turned upside-down. The number ones are not the powerful ones having their pictures taken at the head table; no, they’re the ones slipping in and out among the guests at St. Francis House or The Banquet, refilling water glasses or stirring the pots in the kitchen, testing the temperature of the soup. James and John want Jesus to hurry up and get to the head of the table. But Jesus has other things on his mind. “Has everyone been served? Is all the food on the table? Does anyone need anything?” “For the Son of Man came,” says Jesus, “not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45). That’s not only the last verse of our gospel text for this weekend, it’s the bottom line.
We’ve heard this teaching about servanthood and stewardship so many times before that it’s all but lost on us. It just sort of goes in one ear and out the other. As though we kind of hear it as some quaint metaphor. You know: “The end of the line is the best place to be. Or by losing your life you’ll gain it.” But it doesn’t really sink in because it’s so contrary to the world of power we live in. So, what is Christ’s Word that we need to hear again this weekend at worship … as a people who are so richly blessed, graced … those called to give for the sake of God’s kingdom come.
Now whether we can make sense of it all or not, this much is for sure: serving, being stewards of God’s grace-upon-grace, is how Jesus calls us to transform God’s world and creation. No. Not from the top-down, but from the bottom-up. That’s the ultimate trickle-up effect. All leaders—all who are part of the body of Christ as his church, are called to lives of humble service: to listen and not always be jabbering, to give and not worry about reward, to look to the cross not a crown. Yes, to look to the needs of others, not one’s own agendas.
The power of grace that God has given us is the strongest stuff in the world: the power of salvation to serve, which is the power to turn the Zebedee brothers’ question and ours upside down: “Teacher, we want to do for YOU whatever YOU ask of us.”
“Graced, We Give.”
Pastor John Christopherson
Senior Pastor