September 29 – St. Michael and all Angels

Raphael.  St. Michael. c.1503-1504. Oil on panel. Louvre, Paris, France.

 Daniel 12:1-3

At that time Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall arise. There shall be a time of anguish, such as has never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book. ²Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. ³Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.

From Homily 34 of St. Gregory the Great, Pope (540-604)

You should be aware that the word “angel” denotes a function rather than a nature.  Those holy spirits of heaven have indeed always been spirits.  They can only be called angels when they deliver some message.  Moreover, those who deliver messages of lesser importance are called angels; and those who proclaim messages of supreme importance are called archangels…

 

Some angels are given proper names to denote the service they are empowered to perform.  In that holy city, where perfect knowledge flows from the vision of almighty God, those who have no names may easily be known.  But personal names are assigned to some, not because they could not be known without them, but rather to denote their ministry when they come among us.  Thus, Michael means, “Who is like God?”; Gabriel is “The Strength of God”; and Raphael is “God’s Remedy.”

 

Whenever some act of wondrous power must be performed, Michael is sent, so that his action and his name may make it clear that no one can do what God does by his superior power.  So also our ancient foe desired in his pride to be like God, saying: I will ascend into heaven; I will exalt my throne above the stars of heaven; I will be like the Most High.  He will be allowed to remain in power until the end of the world when he will be destroyed in the final punishment.  Then, he will fight with the archangel Michael, as we are told by John: A battle was fought with Michael the archangel. 

So too Gabriel, who is called God’s strength, was sent to Mary.  He came to announce the One who appeared as a humble man to quell the cosmic powers.  Thus God’s strength announced the coming of the Lord of the heavenly powers, mighty in battle.

 

Raphael means, as I have said, God’s remedy, for when he touched Tobit’s eyes in order to cure him, he banished the darkness of his blindness.  Thus, since he is to heal, he is rightly called God’s remedy.

Everlasting God, you have ordained and constituted in a wonderful order the ministries of angels and mortals. Mercifully grant that, as your holy angels always serve and worship you in heaven, so by your appointment they may help and defend us here on earth; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Dorothy Sayers

In my sermon of 9/23, I quoted Dorothy Sayers’s famous statement: “the dogma is the drama.”  This is the article from which the statement is taken.  A review of her life’s work can be found here. 

From the article, “The Greatest Drama Ever Staged:”

“So that is the outline of the official story—the tale of the time when God was the underdog and got beaten, when he submitted to the conditions he had laid down and became a man like the men he had made, and the men he had made broke him and killed him. This is the dogma we find so dull—this terrifying drama of which God is the victim and hero. If this is dull, then what, in Heaven’s name, is worthy to be called exciting?”

Taking Faith Home

Pastor Greg Priebbenow, of the Lutheran Church in Australia, writes Four Keys for Families each week and provides a great website for Youth and Family Ministry called “FormingFaith.com.”  Check it out for a Down Under perspective on family faith formation.

Sermon 9/16/07 – “Bad News for Good People”

In the official name of this congregation,

there is a funny word,

“Evangelical.”

We are Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church.

That word is a churchy word,

and so it needs some translation before you can start to use it in everyday conversation.

It comes from Greek,

and the word it comes from is euangelion, Gospel, good news.

It’s no wonder that the word “angel” is in the middle of the word

“Evangelical.”

The word angel means a messenger of God,

a bringer of God’s news.

God’s news is good news.

It brings joy to those who hear the news.

And so we have the word “Evangelical” in the title of our church,

and now you know why it is there –

to tell ourselves and everyone else that we are about the good news.

But for whom is it good news?

It sounds kind of funny if you don’t think about it too often,

but news is bad or good depending on who you are.

For example, if you are a consumer of eggs,

then the news that the price of eggs is down is good news.

Joy and gladness!

If you are a chicken farmer,

not nearly so good.

It makes for awkward conversations at the market.

“Egg prices are down!  That’s great!”

“Yeah, I guess so, if you’re into that sort of thing.”

The news that Jesus was associating with tax collectors and sinners

was good news to the tax collectors and sinners,

and not so good to everyone else.

If you wanted to be with Jesus,

you had to be with tax collectors and sinners.

This presented a problem for the Pharisees,

who believed that they were righteous.

A righteous person does not associate with unrighteous people.

Not only did it seriously tax their brain that Jesus was with unrighteous people,

but it meant that they could not get close to him,

for to be with him was to be with unrighteous people,

and that was precisely what they could not do, being righteous.

Add to that they really didn’t like Jesus much anyway,

and you can see why they are grumbling.

They are grumbling because Jesus does not understand the way the world is.

There are good people and there are bad people,

and you stay with the good and avoid the bad.

This is sensible advice.

We tell our kids this all the time.

And to a certain extent it is valuable advice.

But it is not God’s perspective.

From God’s perspective,

there are no good or bad people.

There are only lost and found people.

This is not a sensible way to think,

but thank God that God is not sensible.

How do the Pharisees have it wrong?

They have it wrong because they believe that God’s Law

divides people into two groups – good and bad.

God’s Law does exist, God’s Law is holy –

but it does not divide human beings between good and bad.

Instead, God’s Law divides every human heart and sifts it,

searching out not my outward conduct, but my inward intent,

finding out the parts of my life that I keep hidden from everyone,

illuminating that which I thought was well shrouded in darkness.

When I judge my neighbor in my thoughts and words,

when I give vent to rage, anger, spite, and jealousy,

when I long for things or other people to satisfy my desires,

then God’s law confronts me, hems me in,

forces me to admit that I do not belong with the good people,

that I do the very things which ought not to be done.

If you are a good person, and you believe you are a good person,

then the news that Jesus is eating with tax collectors and sinners

is not good news for you. 

It might be indifferent, or it might make you mad.

But if God’s Law convicts you and convinces you that you are not a good person,

but that you are lost like all the other ones,

who maybe don’t have the social graces or good standing in the community to hide it,

then you might have a new perspective

on what kind of news this news is.

Then it is news of a great joy,

for you are being received in a way that you could never have expected.

You see, it is not a matter of being good or bad,

for as Jesus reminds us in another place, “No one is good but God alone.”

It is a matter of being lost and found.

St. Luke is the Gospel of the lost and found.

He not only gives us the parables of Jesus on the lost sheep and the lost coin,

telling of the joy of the finder,

but he tells us of the joy of the found

in the parable of the lost sons.

Remember, it’s not just one prodigal son who was lost,

it was two,

because the one who stayed home believed that he was the good son,

and could not stand when the father threw a party for a bad son.

He was just as lost to the father as the one who went roaming,

and when the father begs him to come in and join the party,

it is an invitation to be found, to be found with the one who was lost,

to be found in joy!

But St. Luke doesn’t just confine his insight into Jesus’ mission

to chapter 15.

It’s right there from the beginning,

when the angels bring their Evangelical message

of the birth of a Savior –

not to the righteous and good people,

but to riffraff, trash, undesirable shepherds

who are lost and found, who become messengers themselves.

It’s there when Jesus finds a daughter of Abraham and heals her on the Sabbath

outraging the good people who would never profane the Sabbath,

but bringing joy to one who is lost.

 It’s there when Jesus picks the tax collector Lazarus out of all the citizens of Jericho

to throw him a banquet, to make him a joyful feast,

and when the good people of Jericho demand an explanation,

he says, “The Son of Man came to seek and save the lost.”

It’s there at the end, on the cross, when the only person who can be found with Jesus

is a bandit, a criminal, an outcast,

and this one who has lost at life is promised the joy of Paradise.

And after Jesus’ resurrection and ascension,

when he could tap anyone to bring his message to the world,

he chose not a good person,

but the sinful Paul to bring the Gospel.

Perhaps it has to be so, that only those who know themselves lost and found in Jesus

can bring the message of his love to others.

And up to the present day he continues to do so,

so that millions take up the words of the slave-trader John Newton,

“I once was lost, but now I’m found;

was blind, but now I see.”

Sisters and brothers,

the news that Jesus is hanging out with the sinners and the tax collectors

is indeed bad news for good people.

For those who know that they are lost, however,

it is good news, it is an angelic message.

And the news is that Jesus still eats with sinners,

in fact, he has become our food.

He is here to strengthen us, to comfort us, to bring us joy.

He denies himself to no one,

but can only be received by those who know their nothingness without him,

those who without him are lost,

but within him are found.

 

What’s a hermeneutic?

A hermeneutic is a method of interpreting a text.  For theologians, hermeneutics mostly has to do with the way one interprets the Bible.

 Roy Harrisville has provided “A Primer on Lutheran Hermeneutics,” which, in his words:

“is intended for the general reader and is to be understood as a brief description of how Lutherans have and should approach the Bible. A Lutheran approach to Scripture has certain necessary components. They are: the priority of Scripture, Christ as the center of Scripture, law and gospel, the plain sense of Scripture, the power of Scripture, and the inspiration of Scripture.”

Sermon 9/9/07: “Redefining Success”

Large crowds were traveling with him.

That’s how our Gospel lesson begins,

with a story of success.

Jesus’ message had reached many,

his miracles had astounded them,

he had confounded the Pharisees who despised the common folk.

And so large crowds were traveling with him.

A success story.

 

We love success stories.

Like, he started with only the shirt on his back and a dime in his pocket,

but now he is a multimillionaire

with thousands of employees.

The variations on that story are sold far and wide.

We love success stories in the Church, too.

Successful congregations attract large crowds;

There’s a lot of excitement!

Things are happening, things are growing.

A success story.

There’s something to be said for large numbers of people.

Often it’s a sign that you are doing something that people want to be part of.

But numbers never tell the whole story.

We often forget this in the Church.

We associate our success with numbers,

forgetting that Jesus did not.

After attracting many followers,

what is Jesus to do next?

Another miracle, perhaps?

Perhaps more witty verbal demolitions of the Pharisees

and their hypocritical ways?

Perhaps he can already sense the crowd becoming restive and anxious,

wondering what Jesus will do next.

And what is he to do?

He does not hate the people following him,

he loves them,

so much that he will not shrink from telling them the truth.

The truth will truly enable them to follow him,

but will also mean that many will not follow him.

 

Large crowds were traveling with him.

A success story.

But Jesus is not interested in success, at least the way it is usually defined.

He is on his way to Jerusalem.

At Jerusalem waits a cross.

If the people are to follow him,

they need to know what they are getting into.

Otherwise, it’s all built on a sham.

 

“Hate your family and your life.”

“Pick up your cross.”

“Give up your possessions.”

Jesus’ words to the large crowd should shock us,

should unsettle us, should give us pause.

We have become used to them and comfortable with them.

After all, we are successful,

and you can’t argue with success.

 

But Jesus is redefining success.

Success is not what we can count, build, accomplish, or achieve.

Success is being free to follow him,

even when that means

going against our inclination for self-satisfaction,

self-preservation, or self-determination.

Success is not found in the number of people in the crowd,

but in their level of commitment, no matter how large the number.

That’s a different kind of success story.

 

The idea of being free to follow Jesus

is the key to understanding his seemingly paradoxical words about family.

We are taught not to hate anyone, least of all our own kin.

But family can indeed keep us from following our Lord.

It is a live concern in societies where believing in Jesus

and living as a Christian

can bring shame and dishonor to one’s family

and separate you from the home of your birth.

It is a live concern when Christians need to choose

between loyalty to their nation and following Christ.

It is a live concern when families become insulated and inward-focused,

lavishing attention and resources on each other

while ignoring those outside who have no blood-ties.

While Jesus does not call us to feel anger or rage towards each other,

he does say this:

When it comes to a choice between discipleship

and family loyalty, national pride, possessions, or even self-preservation,

discipleship trumps them all.

Every time.

 

The stories Jesus tells illustrate

the need for such radical commitment.

Every half-commitment is a recipe for disaster.

Just ask the guy who started to build a tower without planning first

and was stuck with a useless incomplete building.

Just ask the king who thought he was just fine with ten thousand men

and then looked out and realized that the other king had twice as many.

Just so, following Jesus must involve an accounting of the costs of discipleship.

Those who do not do so, should not follow.

 

Perhaps this would be easier to understand

were we actually in the situation of the crowd in the Gospels.

For he was on his way to Jerusalem.

If the large crowd really did wish to follow him,

it would literally mean leaving behind everything –

family, possessions, the concern for one’s life –

everything,

in order to be with Jesus.

But are Jesus’ words meant for that crowd only?

And does it make a difference?

If he showed up here today and asked you to follow him,

would you go with him?

Would the questions not spring quickly to your lips, as they would to mine,

What about my family, what about my property, what about my life?

 

When the world defines success as stability and permanence,

and Jesus defines success as freedom to follow,

then we are caught between two irreconcilable opposites.

We are part of that large crowd who wish to be with Christ

but who wish to be secure as well.

If we are to follow Christ in our place,

we must become very aware of our subconscious need to set down roots.

If we are rooted, then we must become rooted in Christ.

We must become aware

that though Jesus does not prescribe a vagabond existence,

he does ask us to follow, and in order to follow,

we must travel light.

If he does not show up and demand that we pick up and move

(and he may)

where may we seek him?

In the needy of body and spirit,

Encoded in Word,

Present in bread and wine,

he stands in our presence.

He may even call us to journey into our own town, our own family,

our own congregation.

But even to do that,

a lightening of our load

and a loosening of our roots

is in order.

Even to make space for him in our present life

demands a reordering of priorities.

He stands before you and asks, are you willing

to give up possessing your Sunday morning for yourself?

Are you willing to give up your evening time,

the first part of your income,

your effort for the sake of others who may or may not be thankful?

And we stammer, Lord, what about my property, my life?

 

And why should we do so, anyhow?

In thanksgiving only, for the one who did not value success in numbers,

but when the large crowd had disappeared

and the number of his followers was down to zero

still chose life – not a life free from sacrifice

but the life of worshiping his Father.

He offers this life to us – an eternal, abiding life

rather than this transient life we so vainly seek to hold on to

His family, his possession, his life

in exchange for those of our own

This is why we follow –

this is what we seek.

Martin Luther’s Seal

Luther’s famous explanation of his seal:

“There is first to be a cross, black [and placed] in a heart, which should be of its natural color, so that I myself would be reminded that faith in the Crucified saves us… Even though it is a black cross, [which] mortifies and [which] also should hurt us, yet it leaves the heart in its [natural] color [and] does not ruin nature; that is, [the cross] does not kill but keeps [man] alive… Such a heart is to be in the midst of a white rose, to symbolize that faith gives joy, comfort, and peace; in a word it places the believer into a white joyful rose; for [this faith] does not give peace and joy as the world gives and, therefore, the rose is to be white and not red, for white is the color of the spirits and of all the angels. Such a rose is to be in a sky-blue field, [symbolizing] that such joy in the Spirit and in faith is a beginning of the future heavenly joy; it is already a part [of faith], and is grasped through hope, even though not yet manifest. And around this field is a golden ring, [symbolizing] that in heaven such blessedness lasts forever and has no end, and in addition is precious beyond all joy and goods, just as gold is the most valuable and precious metal.”

I found this image and explanation at the website of Faith Lutheran Church, Groton, Connecticut.