Click here to hear the audio recording of this sermon.

Matthew 16:21-28 • August 28, 2011

Brothers and sisters in Christ grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus. Amen.

My guess is that most of you who call Good Shepherd your church home did not choose this congregation based upon the fact that the ELCA, to which this congregation belongs, meets every other year for something called a Churchwide Assembly. I know that wasn’t the slightest reason why my family and I started worshiping here more than a decade ago.

I offer a word of thanksgiving to each of you who do call Good Shepherd your church home today. I recently returned from the 2011 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. I was one of six musicians from across this church who were invited to provide music & worship leadership during the assembly. It was a blessing to serve in this capacity as the ELCA, which consists of more than 10,000 congregations and 4 million members, met in Orlando, FL. The ELCA met to dream, to plan, and to experience the ways in which God is active in this church. I would not have been able to be part of this leadership team without your prayer, encouragement, and financial support. Thank you.

That’s all fine and good, but you may be asking what does the ELCA’s Churchwide Assembly and the 16^th chapter of Matthew’s gospel have to do with one another. Well – quite a bit, actually.

In the few verses before today’s gospel, Peter confesses who Jesus is when Peter says to Jesus, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” This is one of the most significant confessions of belief in who Jesus is, in the entire New Testament.

But then just a few verses later Jesus is turning to this same Peter and saying to him, “Get behind me, Satan!” And then turning to the disciples and saying, “If any want to become my followers, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.”

Those are strong words from Jesus. Listen to another translation of these verses from Pastor Eugene Peterson’s paraphrase of scripture called The Message. Peterson writes, “Peter, get out of my way. Satan, get lost. Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat, I am.”

The image in your bulletin (or screen) is a huge tapestry that hung in the main lobby of the convention center where the Churchwide Assembly was meeting. Freed in Christ to Serve gave focus to our gathering. It’s a theme of belief, of doing, and of remembering that Jesus is leading.

I didn’t know much about Churchwide Assemblies before I left Bismarck. My first thought was that the voting membership would be quite boring and largely be led by Robert’s Rules of Order and parliamentary procedure. Their work would be grounded in order and rules, rather than what God may be doing in the church.

Granted there are rules and regulations at the assembly. There are approximately 1,000 voting members who have been elected to attend the Churchwide Assembly by their Synod. Every one of these voting members actively participates in the ministry of a local ELCA congregation. But way more profound than the organization and structure and rules, is the almost overwhelming presence of God. The voting members would adjourn their meeting in the middle of the day so that all assembly participants could gather around Word and Sacrament in worship and celebration of Holy Communion. Outside of worship, prayers are shared in the middle of busy hotel hallways, stories of faith are celebrated on couches in lobbies, and hopes and dreams for God’s future mission of the ELCA are explored over a turkey sandwich that is shared during afternoon lunch break.

The ELCA’s Biennial Churchwide Assembly is far less about rules and order and far more about trying to follow where Jesus is leading.

I want to highlight three initiatives that came out of the assembly where I felt Jesus leading. There is information on these initiatives on a table in the Narthex or on the ELCA’s website.

First, the ELCA Malaria Campaign officially launched. Over the next four years, the ELCA will seek to raise $15 million dollars for treatment, prevention, and education in an effort to eradicate malaria in several sub-Saharan African nations. Malaria claims more than 800,000 lives each year. A tragic number of lives given the treatable nature of Malaria. I’m excited to see how Good Shepherd will take an active role in the Malaria campaign over the next several years.

Second, the assembly approved the 11^th Social Statement of the ELCA. This one called Genetics, Faith and Responsibility. Social Statements are teaching and policy documents, that assist the ELCA in reaching informed judgments on social issues from a faith perspective.

And third, the assembly approved the results of the LIFT Task Force, or Living into the Future Together. The LIFT Task Force has been and will continue to ask two very significant questions to every ELCA congregation, and every brother or sister in Christ who calls one of these congregations their church home. What is God calling this church to be and do in the future? And, what changes are in order to help us respond most faithfully?

Concordia College’s Campus Pastor Tim Megordan wrote this about today’s gospel reading, “To follow Jesus is a believing and doing journey.”

I think Pastor Megordan is right. To believe in Jesus doesn’t insolate us or give us a free ticket to ignore the suffering that exists in our own lives, in our neighborhoods, or in other parts of the world. To follow Jesus is also not about doing an endless list of things expecting that God will love us more if we do them. To follow Jesus is a believing and doing journey. Freed in Christ to Serve is how the 2011 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America sought to follow Jesus.

I think the greatest challenge that I’ve worried about since returning is this. The Malaria Campaign, the latest ELCA Social Statement, or the LIFT Task Force can all come to a very abrupt and quiet ending today if we forget who is leading. I hope and pray that won’t be the case. You and I are freed in Christ to serve – to believe and do as we follow this savior named Jesus. May Christ richly bless and keep us as you and I get out of the way and let Jesus lead. Amen.

Click here to hear the audio recording of this sermon.

Matthew 14:22-33 • August 7, 2011

Brothers and sisters in Christ grace and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus. Amen.

I was on my way back to Bismarck last Sunday evening after spending the weekend in parts of South Dakota and Minnesota for a couple ordinations. As I traveled through Valley City I began to witness a huge prairie thunderstorm developing and beginning to build on the western horizon. I almost made it home before the storm hit. Almost.

One minute I was driving along at highway speed in awe of the approaching thunderstorm and it’s amazing lighting show and the next minute I was completely stopped on the interstate with dozens of other cars, not knowing really where I was or whether I was actually on the road anymore and just a little bit afraid of what may be happening in the midst of pounding rain and some of the most intense wind I have ever experienced.

I can honestly say that I think that I experienced a storm similar to the one that I have always imaged the disciples may have experienced on the lake in our gospel reading today. I was a little afraid on Interstate 94 that evening. And had just a bit of anxiety about what may happen to me and my car in the midst of that storm. Even though I felt fear and anxiety during the storm, I knew that it would probably pass quickly and I’d be on my way again.

I think all of us experience times of storms like this that cause fear or anxiety in our life . Sometimes they are like a thunderstorm that we just need to try and sit tight and wait as it passes. At other times, they don’t seem to pass by quickly enough. My experience on the interstate was just an intense summer thunderstorm that I needed to be patient and wait for as it passed, but for my brothers and sisters in Christ in flooded neighborhoods, it was yet another storm, in a long line of recent storms. This time causing trees to fall and homes to be further damaged after what feels like a season of unending storms for them.

I don’t know – and I will never pretend to know what is going on in your life right now or this past week or in the days that lie ahead. But as one of your pastors and a fellow brother with you in the body of Christ, what I do know and what I do believe is this – regardless of where you are in your story today, regardless of what storms are raging in your life, you and I have a savior named Jesus who comes to us and says, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.” And not only does Jesus say these words to us today, he takes us by the hand and lifts us out of the storm – whatever storm that is or however long that storm has existed in your life.

Peter often gets a bad rap in today’s gospel story. If only he had not wavered in his faith, he wouldn’t have starting sinking. If only he had kept his focus on Jesus, he wouldn’t have lost his way on the water. Instead of focusing our attention on Peter’s failure, let’s focus our attention today on what Jesus does do? It’s right there, in verse 31, “Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him.”

One of my favorite youth leaders of all time in the church is Mike Yaconelli. He was a great story teller. He was speaking at a worship event I attended several years ago. And he shared a story about an experience he had while attending a youth sporting event.

Mike said, “One of the most interesting things about kid’s sporting events is the parents’ reaction to their children. Recently, I attended my daughter’s track meet. On the fourth and final lap of the boys’ mile run everyone was clumped together except for the two front-runners who were leading the pack by a few yards. As the runners came toward the finish line, the crowd began to cheer wildly. Just then I happened to look about three quarters of a lap back, and there, hopelessly last, was a short portly kid who never should have walked a mile, let alone RUN one. His entire body was wobbling toward the finish line and his bright red face was twisted in the kind of pain that made me wonder if death was near. Suddenly, I was brushed by a frantic parent who was leaping down the bleachers to the rail surrounding the track. It was obviously the boy’s mother. She yelled at the top of her lungs. “JOHNNY, RUN FASTER!”
Mike continued his story by saying that he, “will never forget the look of hopelessness on Johnny’s face. Johnny had to be thinking, “Run faster? Run faster? What am I? What do you think is the problem here – I just FORGOT to run faster??? I’m running as fast as I can!””

I think all of us have felt like Johnny at one time or another? And I think most of us, if we are honest with ourselves, have felt fear or anxiety in the midst of a storm in our life, or as helpless and lost as I did while sitting on the interstate in the middle of a powerful prairie thunderstorm.

The Church Basement Ladies where just in Bismarck for the World Premier of their newest musical, A Mighty Fortress is Our Basement. In this fantastic production, there is a great scene between a young woman who is a little anxious about her upcoming confirmation day and one of the church ladies. The caring church lady offers a piece of wisdom to the young woman that is also wise counsel to you and me as we seek to follow the risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ each day. The church lady’s wisdom is this. She tells the young woman, “Act like you believe, until your faith finds you.”

As we experience water and waves and storms in life, we will never get it right all the time. We will never do everything that we think we need to do in order to truly be happy. We will never run fast enough. And no matter how hard we try, there will be times when we will take our eyes off of Jesus. When for whatever reason, we lose focus on Christ’s presence in our lives.

The good news of life in Christ, is not revealed in our own quest for what we think God may be, but in God’s quest for us. The good news of life in Christ is knowing that Jesus is there to grab hold of us when we start to sink, to catch us when we fall, to support us when the storms of life seem too overwhelming to bear, and to find us in the midst of every anxiety and fear that we try to carry alone.

In every time, Jesus will take your hand, stand you up, brush you off and send you out into the world again to give it another try. May God be with you this week and bless you and keep you in your journey. Amen.