Loving Who - Luke 6 - Epiphany 7C

Loving who?

Tony E Hansen

Reflection on Luke 6: 27-38, Psalm 37, Genesis 45: 3-11,15

Opening prayer

Whenever we interact with people, there is possibility 1) that hopefully goes well and we enjoy every bit of the engagement. Or 2) there is tension, scorn, ridicule or worse. The latter leaves us with bad tastes in our mouthes. 

I have read many different authors talking about a need to remove oneself from negative people, especially those who would actively do us harm, those who actively deceive and undermine, or those who only think of themselves - aka, the narcissists.

That last point is valid because one does not need to put up with bad behaviors and negativity, and there is no real reward for putting up with it.

Yet, how does that jive with today’s lesson from Luke?

We continue this week with the sermon on the level place; that is if you are still reading with me past the blessings and woes of last week. 

This part of the sermon doesn’t get easier. In fact, I submit to you, it gets even more challenging. 

Yet as Jesus says here, “if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.”

Jesus tells us to love those who want to hurt us and who inflict pain upon us. 

Great, love your friends but also those who hurt you, call you names, or strike you. 

A large part of our society has easily forgotten and ignored these lessons. 

It is too tempting and seductive to want retribution for wrongs people have done to us. Instead, Jesus says to “love your enemies.” 

I know this as a youth and as someone who identifies was queer, because I do not want to give credence to my enemies anymore than they think they need.

As a youth, I read “offer the other cheek” message but observed (and still do) so many in our society that don’t. This feels like turning ourselves into actual punching bags for bullies and hateful people.

Where is the grace in doing that?

I root for the Daniel LaRusso in Karate Kid to grow a spine and stop taking a lickin’ from the bullies. 

Part of the fun of Back to the Future is watching Marty McFly and his dad, George, give it back to those who always picked on, shamed or demeaned their family. 

If we announce our position of non-violence and non-retaliation, we know there are people who will actively take advantage of that position. 

Many traditions, including Mennonites and Amish, set this as a core belief and were brutally persecuted for this, by who? - by fellow Christians.

The principle of non-retaliation and forgiveness is worthy of our thoughts to consider for it is a core teaching of Jesus; not just some followers but all followers of Jesus.

Why does Jesus says these?

To love your enemies isn’t the romantic type, but something entirely different but necessary.  Loving neighbors is good, but loving enemies as people who breathe, goto work, have families and go on living is just as important. 

This isn’t meant to be easy, but it is meant to be the Christ way to live. 

First, if we go about our lives with violence, hate, anger and revenge on our minds, then it consumes us.

There are things people have done that cause real trauma and that trauma is valid. No one should diminish the reality of that, whether social exclusion, oppression (or slavery), abuse and actual violence and manipulation. 

These leave scars not easily visible but certainly felt and perhaps tolerated - when it probably should not have been. (If you are experiencing scars today, there is no need to stay there. Reach out and get away; there are good people willing to help you do that.)

Yet, Jesus calls upon us to not judge but also to forgive. 

The church should be a community that learns how to practice forgiveness and non-judgment together. 

One that understands the Genesis story of Joseph and his brothers knowing that people do bad things, like horribles the brothers do to Joseph. (I am not sure I could forgive what they did. )

Yet, the story offers an example of what Jesus is telling us about the power of forgiveness and reconciliation to mend relationships, families, and communities. Folks have suffered. There is a real future together. 

This isn’t forgiveness just to say the words, but to find that future. And like Joseph does - an inventory. In moments when we are upset, we could look at the blessings we have. There, we realize God does things for us - making the possible in our lives. There is real hope.

Part of this is to understand that we, who feel ostracized or hurt by others, that those others, too, have felt these at points in their lives.  

That isn’t to justify what happened between people, but it is to recognize that we don’t own drama, pain or “unfortunate" alone. 

Unfortunate happens to all of us. How did I get here, and what did I do that I should have done instead? Do you ask, “Why did I let them do that to me?” Perhaps, How does it stop? 

In that moment, in those questions, you learn, you find growth, and when you look close, you find God. Ask God those questions; answers are nearer than you think.

Our lesson is not to let that unfortunate become us but to realize that God is with us. Instead of finding blame, we might look to forgive ourselves first and then that forgiveness in our hearts can start to mend the pains as needed. Find God helping you learn to love YOU  and the people around you - all of them.

Yes unfortunate happens. We learn to learn to live with it, we learn to live in community, and we learn to lean into our faith - that God is there for us.

Thanks be to God

How Casual is Your Faith - Luke 6 - Epiphany 6C

How Casual is Your Faith

Tony E Hansen

Sermon based Luke 6:17-26, Psalm 1

Opening prayer

When people go to church and when we give gifts or money, what do we expect from the church, as a result of our gifts, or from those around us? 

If people don’t give quite as much as us or just dont, what goes through our minds? If we don’t quite reach campaign goals, what do we think? Is there some blame, soul-searching or otherwise?  

What does what we give to church, to our families, to our friends, to our society mean to us? What should it?

Our broken society gives us plenty of examples of free-riders and people that game the system. 

This is often what people point to when talking about taxes. There are people who provide, and they, arguably, wonder about folks who appear to just consume and don’t really pay much: those who cannot or wont.

Why is that concerning? Is it fairness or something else?

What does that mean for us who give of our time and money? What do we attach to those gifts that might cause those concerns?

Similarly, when we think of our faith, what do we think of? What does it mean for us? Maybe, the better question is how to make faith be strong.

Today we have this sermon on the level place echoes much of the sermon on the mount. (Matthew 5). 

I want to posit this sermon from Jesus as more than good blessings, though welcome, challenges us.

This sermon does not just issue blessings but also “woes.” Things that say to be mindful.

Many want to stop at the blessings, but where is faith in that?  That is casual faith that only wants the good without doing the necessary. That is faith as long as others contribute, others doing their part: Faith that is transactional: something that expects ROI before giving anything.

True faith pays attention to the blessings and the woes because we do not ignore actual truth for convenience, what neighbors do, or avoid hurt feelings. 

We don’t just get our cake to eat, but when we get cake, we are to do something with it - share it. 

This is foundational to our faith. To share our faith and our abundance because our abundance comes from our Creator. 

We are only stewards of God’s blessings because God wants us to use those blessings and abundance: To be examples of how to best use those sacred blessings.

That out of our abundance, we share what God has given to us with those around us.

Faith is tough, for loving God - loving neighbor is tough (not always welcomed dishes of blessings), and faith includes what we are called to do.

Unfortunately, faith, dismissing woes, is something small and has been sold false promises. 

Instead, your faith could be as strong and big as the Spirit itself. 

Consider, Is your faith only great when things are going well, when you have money in the bank, food on the table, or people contributing with you? 

Is our faith only great when government does what we want because we get fairness for us (When we don’t just see people consuming?)

That is us trusting broken human eyes and broken institutions.

“Humans and humans’ ways are not worth investing your ultimate trust.” The human way is broken and will fail. 

Your trust, as followers of Christ, ought to be in God rather than fleeting wealth or judgments of who gives and who cannot. 

Additionally, we, as Christians, ought to compel our broken institutions to do good work on our behalf rather than hoard and exclude. 

Why? Because Jesus reminds us that material wealth wont last, and to always be prepared for when it isn’t there. 

That is one of the reasons I participate in organizations like UBFM because I know there are many times in my life where I have been one bill away from homelessness, where decisions to pay bills or for food was questionable.

Thus, for material wealth that we have, we must understand that it is fleeting - can be gone in a moment - no matter how much we save. Just ask the folks in Ukraine who didn’t ask for war, but war showed up, blowed up and took away from folks who were going about their day, saving, “staying safe” and living in community. This happens with natural disasters like floods, fires, tornado, etc) 

In a moment, apartments, houses, businesses or entire communities suddenly are gone. People who are given terminal illness diagnosis will suddenly realize how worthless money is. 

Whatever materials people had is gone, and no government, whether president, court or royal can provide immunity. 

God, however, invites us to abundance that is not bound to earthly brokenness or materials but sacred purpose and place. 

Jesus tells us to have the mindset of the poor, the weeping, the hungry, and even those we disagree because God will be with us and that is all the abundance we need.

Jesus reminds us that “unfortunate” does not belong only to those who are currently poor, hungry and needing friends… for there will be time when all is gone. Enjoy your time that you have, knowing that all of that can be erased without notice. 

Besides when unfortunate happens, we need God more than we know. That is when we need God the most. So why would we, who are comfortable today, look down on or give grief to those who are experiencing unfortunate today without a sense of compassion or empathy? Isn’t that convenient? 

Do we lean into our faith and believe the Spirit is working with us only when we see it working and only when things seem to go our way? 

That is like picking your favorite team as the winner of the Super Bowl this year without enduring all the years when they weren’t. 

Good thing God isn’t  a fair-weather fan of us like that.

Thus, God calls us to service, to share, and to contribute even when it’s tough. 

I submit: let the Spirit work in spaces and gaps of what we know and don’t.

One can find strength in those gaps because there the Spirit is too. 

Find strength in the Spirit despite the tough and uncertain; celebrate good and abundance. 

Strength of faith isn’t measured by broken standards and transactions but that of God. Here, faith goes beyond casually what we want - to include all that God provides.

When you share and let the Spirit fill you completely, you will find all the fairness, healing, and blessings are right there for you.

There you will find strength in faith.

There, your concern will not be free-riders. That is because Jesus welcomes all of us, and so should we.

Thanks Be to God

Call to Truth - Luke 4 - Epiphany 4C

The Call to Truth

Tony E Hansen

Sermon based upon Luke 4: 21-30, 1 Corinthians 13: 1-13, Psalm 71, Jeremiah 1:4-10

Opening prayer (from Psalm 19)

It is fitting to round out that opening with this from Jeremiah, “And the Lord said to me, “now I have put my words in your mouth.””

This is similar to another call story in Isaiah 6.  This one is said to the prophet Jeremiah so that their words become truly prophetic, resonating throughout the land and generations.

So too, I pray that my words are given this same prophetic capability. 

That I pray this and that I stand before Beloved like you saying these words are not mere rhetoric but words that reveal the Truth and power of that Truth.

Jesus, in Luke, preaches in his hometown, but it doesn’t necessarily go as planned.  It would be sort of like me going and preaching in Rockwell City, and they would tell me to “doctor, cure yourself” despite the truth that I say.

This story in Luke reflects a measure of hospitality, specifically hospitality to truth - a truth that is for “all.” The miracles of Jesus do not belong to one group over another. The Word of the Creator does not exist as only those that say what we like but also those that challenge and push us into the “all” of the world.  

The question for us is whether we are willing to witness as truly “all.” 

People take offense at what Jesus says then, and even today, the words and actions of Jesus cause offense to people. 

But why?

Jesus calls upon us to do and to say; to be genuine and to walk with God in our hearts all times and to all people. That, Beloved, is not easy, even uncomfortable. 

Beloved, that uncomfortable is revolutionary because we know our world wants us to pick “us vs them” and wants us to declare winners over losers. Our world wants us identify us as the better over many. 

Good thing for us, that is not what Jesus proclaims. 

For being uncomfortably revolutionary, Jesus is threatened with violence, pain and more by his hometown, later by elite political and religious folks as well. 

You see, Beloved, the Word of God is not always just peaceful scenes of grace and love, but also scenes that challenge and push us, regardless if we acknowledge or want it. 

The call of Jeremiah reflects this as well, “I appoint you over nations and over kingdoms, to pluck up and to pull down, to destroy and to overthrow, to build and to plant.” There is give-and-take.

These prophetic words of Jeremiah, Elisha, Elijah and Jesus (and dare I say me) are words of God that lay well with those who agree but may weigh heavy upon those who disagree - even to the point of being offended.

I, as a queer minister, preaching these truths may offend those and may cause stir among those who disagree with me. 

Yet the truths are that: truth. 

Should the word be preached differently so as to put sugar on the medicine that is the Word when it might be received with less welcoming tones?  Should I deny who I am, or should Jesus deny who he is, just because the audience might receive it differently or not at all? 

Should we, in the audience, turn and tell ourselves, “they don’t really mean what they say…” somehow diminishing actual truth because we think we know something discrediting them that has nothing to do with the truth that is revealed. That is “ad personam” fallacy thinking.

Should we discredit a bishop that speaks truths to powerful people or somehow declare “that isn’t the time or place” for such prophecy? 

I argue this is exactly the time and place that such should be done. 

For us preachers, such opportunities are rare to get that kind of audience and prophets need to preach to power. They do so throughout the scriptures. For example, Nathan does to David. Jeremiah does to the people where they want to hurt and jail Jeremiah for telling it like it is; speaking truth to power and to the masses

Why ? Because the need is there, and the truth is unvarnished, does not need to be sweetened. Sometimes, it may sting, but it is truth no less. 

Yes the Word of God goes both ways.  For some is “to build and to plant” and for others, “to pull down…”, especially for us who need to be corrected - even when we don’t want it or want to acknowledge that need.

What is good news for some is not always received as “good” news by others. Yet, truth is not something we can long ignore. It takes courage from prophets to reveal truths that we have ignored. (Unfortunately, prophets have to live with ignored truth while waiting for folks to realize.)

I pray that the words of my mouth and meditations reflect these truths that God puts forth from me. I have gained and prospered and I have had challenges, even poor choices of my own, but when I acknowledge the prophetic truth that is God and that God is among us, there is possibility and there is growth.

You may disagree with me on points, but my Words reflect these truths that have been passed to me through the Spirit into this world that needs it the most; to you, who need it the most - even if you desire it the least.

Be grateful that God gives us refuge and possibilities in the truth. 

Trust in the fortress that is God, in the word that is given to you to do good and to be the love that God wants you to be.  

As Paul writes, be the love that does not “not rejoice in wrongdoing but rejoices in truth.” For love bears, believes, hopes, and endures… “love never ends.”

For that Beloved, we say…

Thanks Be to God