Who is God - Matthew 16 - Proper 16A

Who is God?

Tony E Hansen

Sermon based upon Matthew 16:13-20; Romans 12:1-8; Psalm 138

Opening prayer

It is the last weekend of the state fair; get your corn dogs and turkey kegs while you can!

We are people that describe ourselves in many different ways. Usually attached to what we do, where we live, what tradition we learn or which side of the aisle we might land from one day to the next. We define ourselves based upon what we belief to be true because we have learned over time that somethings we were taught turn out to not be true. 

Ever seen a bunny laying eggs?

We also define ourselves via our expectations - of others but more of ourselves - in terms of I am, do and have.

Nonetheless, I am Tony; I am a product of my parents and their heritage. I have sons (biological and foreign exchange). I do programming, writing, ministry, cycling, and many more. I have a home with pets and garden. I studied and believe plenty. I have been a trouble maker and I have healed people. My beliefs have changed over time and today, that is rooted in the Gospels’ message of love, forgiveness and even different gifts, (like Paul says in Romans.) I am no saint. I am…

We do this with God (some being with a beard in the clouds somewhere. Some say a figment of shared imagination. People do this with Jesus - even those who personally met him. 

Who is God?

Peter is a guy that decides to follow Jesus along with a few others: the disciples. Like any of us, he is a fallible human being with questions. 

Yet when posed the question from Jesus “who do you say I am?” The answer is remarkably forward thinking. It is a testimony of faith in the same.

Then Jesus offers a rock from which to build a church.  

Many want to point to Peter as that foundation “rock”, and they could be correct.  

Remember Peter the testifier becomes Peter the denier later - when it was less than convenient to know Jesus. Know anyone like this? Which one is Peter? He is both!

I ask us to stretch here and look at this picture even more. 

Peter, the professor and denier, has been hanging out with Jesus for a while, as has the other disciples. They have gained personal experiences of and with Jesus. They certainly might have questions and in their faith, they have ideas of a what is a messiah - also who is Jesus.

That messiah could be a powerful king that wields a sword and knocks entires armies back. That messiah unleashes power of Elijah to subdue predators and evil-doers. That messiah does sorcery that dazzles and awes people. That image did not show up in the person of Jesus.

Yet that is what Peter says, or rather, confesses. Peter offers testimony from what he has witnessed and perhaps, from what he sees going forward. 

Jesus has been getting more and more popular with this message of inclusiveness, welcoming, love and forgiveness for all. He hasn’t been playing the same tired rules of religious autocracy, exclusion or intolerance. Jesus has invited the sinners and cured the excluded. Jesus has done this without violence or threats while cautioning against false teaching. Could be anyone in the pulpit or anyone holding a bible in their hand - even me.

Peter, in this moment, recognizes that Jesus is not the tall character that people envision, but the physical one people need - the one who is there for us when we need - not just what we want, dream or fantasize. 

Peter testifies. On this, Jesus builds a church. Not a church of one person, one tradition, or one idea, but a church that hears, listens, debates, invites expressions, and most importantly, embodying the love of God.  

What is your testimony? How do you embody that love? Does your actions match your words, your faith? Does my idea of God match yours? Does it have to?

Again: Who is God to you? Who is God?

Jesus wants us to tell our story - our testimony. Jesus doesn’t force us into a version of God but invites us to see God the way God is. 

What is that to you? 

Besides, messiah has many different meanings from deliverer, anointed, or savior and in the Judaic tradition, specifically one from the Davidic line. 

That is what Peter did here. Peter distills.

Despite how people try to design God as a sort of nationalistic conjuring, Peter declares the inclusive, nonviolent teachings and love as the messianic way - the way of deliverance. 

Peter names Jesus -> the Messiah from the living God: incarnate, present and real. 

From there we build a faith and communities based upon those teachings along with volumes of hymns. 

We read about this today because people, then, learned and testified the truth and way of Jesus was for all of us - not just a few - not isolated - not violent - not armies - just peace, love, and grace. 

Sounds a little “hippy”? Maybe we could all use a little hippy!

Because it is church when we testify our faith and our resolve to follow the present, living God that dwells among all of us. That living God teaches us to find the divine promise, eternal and steadfast love, in each of us - to embody that love.  When we do that, we don’t need to find fault or accusations, because we see good inside people. 

How do you embody that?

Yes I am Tony; you are you; and together, we are love - God's love. We are peace; we are forgiveness, we are church, we are community - each one with “gifts that differ according to the grace given to us …” 

Paul invites you to be the teacher, the encourager, the giver, the compassionate. 

Why ?

Because of Jesus; because of God; imagine well for  “Great is the glory of the LORD.”

Enjoy your egg-on-a-stick and butter cow, testify your faith and love, and go with Christ.

Thanks Be to God. Amen.

Changing Minds - Matthew 15 - Proper 15A

Changing Minds

Tony E Hansen

Sermon used upon Matthew 15: 10-28; Psalm 67; Isaiah 56: 1-8

Opening Prayer

Iowa State Fair has begun. Football preseason started. Soon, children will return to classrooms and so much more.

“…even the dogs eat the crumbs…”

Ever do anything out of desperation? Some tend to think that is what this woman does, but I sense there is more than just desperation because there is evidence in the woman’s persistence and her words. 

She is someone who isn’t thinking about herself but of someone else: her child. She is like most any mother who seeks good health for their child. In this she reveals a tenant of faith is not about me, myself and I. Faith is about doing things for those who cannot - even when the society tells us we cannot (or should not). 

She is Canaanite - she is not a Jew  She is outsider in a world that wants to step on and ignore Palestine and Lebanon in favor of Israel.  

A woman challenges Jesus as to what purpose and faith mean. Not as a creed, country or for some particular group of people but a faith and purpose that belongs to people. Faith that belongs to God.

This woman with her words “even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the table” invites the narrative framing that Jesus puts forth, but also dismantles the divisions by ethnic, religious and gender barriers at the same time. 

Commentators suggest this passage parts ways with a “nationalistic idea of Jesus” being for just one group of people. It also reveals how faith is more than just a creed or words. Instead of just uttering pretty words, Matthew wants people who actualize their faith by doing and by caring.

People like to twist that in todays world; that because of my faith, I am blessed and prosperous. That because I pray this way and in this building - this denomination, I am blessed. That is quite small. That is what Matthew might suggest is what defiles because that distorts God, or believers, into an exclusive club - or in terms of today’s Gospel, “evil intentions.” 

When in reality it is God that does the blessing, and this is not exclusive to time and place. God is working in this time and place, and if you look and see with the eyes and daring of this woman, you see this happening in real time and truly for all people. 

Yes it is not about hearing and reading the words, but what we do with those lessons - that Gospel.  Do we put it in a box and cover it up until next Sunday? Or, do we bring it with us into our lives and into the world - a world that needs it now - just as much as in the time of Jesus? We can pray for the well being of those in Iran as much as our neighbors that worship with us. We can welcome black, the indigenous, the homeless, and the queer - because God’s welcome is that big.

Jesus didn’t come for only those of Israel but from the words of Isaiah, Jesus came to “…Maintain justice, and do what is right…” God brings us a “house of prayer for all peoples” not just in a set of four walls and a roof. A house of prayer where all are invited and welcome - not just as a simple phrase but something with meaning and power that is beyond perspectives, ethnic upbringing or religion.

God’s mercy and love is poured out for everyone who call upon the Lord. That love doesn’t have a zip code or worry about which side of the tracks you were born or worry about which team’s jersey you wear - although we all know you should wear KC.  God’s love brings forth into this world through many different ways and many different people because God is just that big and that beautiful.

When people want to throw out excuses like scraps to the dogs, we are reminded that even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall. That our faith is great because of God. When we believe and let God be this way, our faith, in turn, is great. 

We pray from the psalm, “Let the nation be glad and sing for joy, for you judge with equity…let all the people praise you. …our God has blessed us. May God continue to bless us and let all the hands of the earth revere God.”

Thanks Be to God, Amen.

Blessing Our Meal - Matthew 14 - Proper 13A

Blessing Our Meal

Tony E Hansen

Sermon based upon Matthew 14: 13-21; Genesis 32:22-31; Psalm 145

Opening prayer

I have preached many times about the wrestling match of Jacob and the Lord in Genesis. As a wrestling family, this is difficult to pass up!

This weekend, the gospel is interesting, especially since it falls on the weekend that many churches celebrate the Holy Eucharist (those who don’t celebrate weekly).

We are at mid-summer, gardens are producing, people are traveling, RAGBRAI is over, state fair is coming and there are still unnecessary wars in Ukraine, Gaza and Iran.

We come to this scene in Matthew, John the Baptist has just been murdered at Herod’s birthday party. Jesus and the disciples decided to withdraw for a minute. I am sure for a plethora of reasons.

Still a crowd follows Jesus, they are bringing the sick, and Jesus has compassion. Yet the hour is getting late and the disciples are getting tired. 

All they have are few loaves of bread and a couple fish (Not much). In John’s gospel, a young man has these from which Jesus takes, blesses, breaks the bread and gave them to be distributed.

Everyone eats and are filled. At the end of the community meal, they gather up what was left, so as not to be wasteful, and filled baskets.

From little, there is abundance. From compassion, a blessing, there is sustenance.

Jesus didn’t ask if there was enough, he asked for them to bring what they have. He asks for us to bring what we have.

A community meal is how some churches provide ministry into the community and how they grow their congregations.  A community meal is what UBFM practices every Thursday and Saturday. 

These meals bring people together, provide and practice hospitality, and people are filled - not just stomachs but maybe a little hope that this world isn’t all bad, violent and war-mongering. Hope that there are good people and that people want to do good. Hope that God is working among us and with us.

Just like Jesus does here, people pray before the meal. At UBFM, we have small prayer before going onto the routes. At communion, we pray in thanks and collective hope of all the possibilities that God gives us. Growing up we would say grace. Most families have some form of this before large meals - e.g. Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter or the like. 

Remember Christmas Vacation; Aunt Bethany recites the Pledge of Allegiance?

Why? (for all our faults, we have a great country and ought to be thankful. Further, we know that we have abundance today, we ought to be thankful to the One who provides for us (not the market or the company that writes the paycheck). Be thankful to our Creator who makes everything and everyone with all the benefits of living on this beautiful and abundant Earth.

We can use the words of the psalm here:

“The eyes of all look to you and you give them their food… The Lord fulfills the desire…, …hears their cry, saves them, and …watches over all.”

Then we break bread.

For generations, this is how we celebrate the Holy Eucharist. We follow Jesus’s example, we welcome, we gather, we have faith, we pray, we break bread and we give thanks for our gifts. 

In my family, food was prepared then set upon the table. We prepared our place settings and before we could reach for any food to eat, we pray 

“Bless us O Lord and these our gifts 

which we are about to receive 

from Thy bounty 

through Christ, our Lord.” 

Or at my Dad’s side of the family 

“Come Lord Jesus, 

be our guest 

and let these gifts to us be blessed.” 

Then we dig in!

Who do you break bread with and why? With whom do you pray and say grace?

Is it just a family thing? Why not your friends?

I mentioned UBFM and worth pointing out, We may not realize it, but we are celebrating a form of the Eucharist with each other and those we serve in the community. All the elements are there: compassion and hospitality - no judgment, gathering, faith we are doing the correct things, preparing the meal, saying grace, distributing food then collecting so we can do this again next time.

How beautiful it is! 

No matter how people got on the street or what their circumstances are, “How are you; have you had supper?” 

We are breathing compassion, hope and faith into the lives that we meet and to each other. For it is not just a one way street because those we serve often pray with us and sometimes for us.

Yet, there are those who hold onto judgment, fear scarcity - hoarding - not sharing. Selfish. 

How lonely that must be? 

How isolating that is - not just for the people that are excluded but the very self that does the excluding. I wonder how they stay balanced on their pedestals. 

As Jesus would say, they have their reward.

For some families there is an empty chair that shouldn’t be because instead of welcome and compassion, there is much judgment, prejudice and discrimination that clouds even the best intentions. That stains us and hurts us and it hurts those that are targeted. It provokes injustice, violence, hate and unnecessary wars. 

As Jesus would say, they have their reward.

For some families there are empty chairs because of loss, death, and the grief is real. Then, our prayer is not just for the abundance but for healing and remembrance. Even then, we break bread with prayer, compassion and faith in God’s steadfast love.  

Next time you sit around the table with family, or chosen family, remember compassion, remember to welcome, give thanks, have faith and then break bread together.  Remember to say a prayer, (even the Pledge)!

Join us at UBFM, show compassion, be hospitality, prepare meals and share blessings and nourishment with people along with that compassion, faith and hospitality and receive the Holy Spirit today then let God reveal to you.

Thanks be to God, Amen