Bishop Craig Schweitzer

“And in The End…” • Luke 21:5-19 • November 17, 2013

Click here to view a video of this sermon.

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

I have some strange tendencies about a lot of things – just ask my family and some of my friends. Although, one of the things that I used to think was strange, I don’t think is anymore. In fact, I find it to be one of the most significant ways that I have grown in my walk with God and life in Christ. In every aspect of my life I try to always focus on how God is present and at work in that moment. I no longer believe that God only shows up once in a while or after a period of time when I’ve been especially good or only when I take the time to actually talk with God.

As a matter of fact, I’ve come to believe this so strongly, that I now believe God is showing up even when I am not in a place of worship like this. Heck – there are a lot of times when the God I experience inside church buildings has little to do with the God that I believe is being revealed to us through a savior named Jesus. So, a significant spiritual practice for me, that is ever unfolding, is seeking God and trusting that God is present in my life at all times and in all ways. And by all…I mean all.

My dear friend Sister Kathleen Atkinson who is part of the Annunciation Monastery community right here in Bismarck began her recent book “God is Always There” with these words. “To live in faith is our birthright rather than something we earn. It is a sacred gift for us to receive with open hands. It is a gift from God – from God – so how could we not welcome it fully? Yet sometimes we forget.”

I think some of Jesus’ closest friends may have forgotten, just like you and I do from time to time. Forgotten that God is always present and that we are being invited constantly to discover what that means in our lives in every way possible. Jesus is making some pretty crazy claims in our gospel reading from Saint Luke today. He is talking about the complete destruction of the temple – a building that symbolized the presence of God to the people of Israel for centuries. He is talking about gruesome death at the hands of war and famine and unforeseen disasters. He is talking about a lot of things that don’t seem to resemble the end of a Disney fairytale where everyone lives happily ever after. It’s hard to imagine how God is present in all of that, isn’t it? And maybe even more difficult to trust that God is truly present at times like those.

As I’ve walked with Jesus’ words from Luke’s gospel this week, I’ve wondered how you and I would hear these words today. I’ve wondered how people in war torn parts of the world like Syria or the Central African Republic or Afghanistan hear them. I’ve wondered how people in the oil fields of western North Dakota hear them. I’ve wondered how our brothers and sisters in the Philippians hear them – especially today. Is God really present in those places? Can you and I really trust that God is there?
If you are sitting in a war-torn neighborhood in Damascus, Syria or a lonely and isolated man camp in Watford City, North Dakota or a remote village that has been completely destroyed by a Typhoon in the Philippians or even if you are comfortably sitting in a Lutheran church sanctuary in Bismarck, is God really present in those places?

To which Jesus comes to you and to me and to every child of God in any place in the world, and in the end, says relax. Don’t worry, everything is going to be OK…I’m still here just like I’ve always been and just like I always will be.

It’s kind of like Jesus is the first one to proclaim the mantra that is floating around everywhere lately – “Keep Calm and Carry On”. 

I want to go back to Sister Kathleen’s book, because she goes much deeper than that as she describes our life of faith in this way, “When we live in faith,” she says, “we are able to stand tall when everyone around us is cowering. It is to live with deep faith as all around us changes. It is to live with a resounding yes when everyone around us says ‘no’. Living in faith is the daily walk of those who live from the interior of their heart rather than from external circumstances.”

Which brings me, and I would guess many of us here today, to one of the biggest problems you and I have with Jesus. He rarely says the things that we think he is supposed to say.

You and I long for a Jesus that wants us to just welcome him into our hearts and then all of our problems will go away. Instead Jesus comes to us and reminds us that he will walk with us, even as we endure war and persecutions. In other words, not every day is going to be easy.

You and I long for a Jesus that will swoop in from some golden chair in the sky and remove the people we don’t like having around us because we think they are different than we are. Instead Jesus comes to us and says that we will be betrayed, even by our closest friends and family. In other words, you and I will probably be surprised at who God claims as God’s children.

Which Jesus do you believe in? Which Jesus do you follow? Needless to say, brothers and sisters in Christ, following the risen savior Jesus Christ is not always easy! Thankfully, it’s not a journey that we walk alone.

Back to my friend Sister Kathleen one last time. She writes, “Living in faith means to believe in the transforming power of God and to move beyond fear into a new and uncharted way of living. Faith does not undo fear but unravels it little by little as a safe place is created where we can name it. That place is with God.”

In Luke’s gospel today, Jesus is telling his friends that following him is not about building big beautiful buildings to worship in. and in following this Jesus, there will probably be times of famine and war or persecution from enemies that may even be our family and friends. Jesus says to his friends that God will be present – no matter what happens in their life in this world.

And this week, Jesus was telling me to look around and see the beauty of God’s creation, to feel the unconditional love of God’s warm embrace, and to listen closely for the sounds of a world that is filled full of Gods’ unending grace.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, I have no idea what temples are being destroyed in your life or what season of war or famine you are facing or what persecutions you may be enduring today. What I do know and do believe with everything that I am as a fellow brother in Christ and one of your pastors is this – so, hear these words from Jesus again. Jesus says, “Every detail of your body and soul – even the hairs of your head! – is in my care; nothing of you will be lost.” And in the end…that is all that really matters as we live out our life in faith. Thanks be to God. Amen.

Related articles

• The Time is Near (paigehanks.wordpress.com)
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John 8:31-36 • October 27, 2013

Click here to view a video of this sermon.

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

How many of us gathered here for worship on this day of great celebration have ever made a promise?

Fantastic – now…keep your hand in the air if you to this day have kept and completely fulfilled every promise you have ever made.

OK…interesting isn’t it?

This is a great day of celebration. A day in which the people of God gather to celebrate promises. The question I always have though, is will the promises that we celebrate on festive days like this in the church last beyond today? Or are they only kept for this particular day?

The promises that I’m speaking of have been part of the church since its very earliest days. Literally, for centuries words like these have been spoken at the beginning of every celebration of the sacrament of Holy Baptism – “In baptism our gracious heavenly Father frees us from sin and death by joining us to the death and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. We are born children of a fallen humanity; by water and the Holy Spirit we are reborn children of God and made members of the church, the body of Christ. Living with Christ and in the communion of the saints, we grow in faith, love, and obedience to the will of God.”

Those are words that we hear at every celebration of the sacrament of Holy Baptism at Good Shepherd. They set our life in Christ in motion. And they contain a promise – not made by you or by your parents or by your pastor or even by your sponsors or God parents. This is a promise from God. God promising you and claiming you as God’s own child. And I’d argue, that it’s probably the only promise that you and I receive that will not be broken.

So, some of you may be thinking that this is a sort of graduation day, I mean you have the graduation gowns on even. I want you to know that this day is in fact NOT a graduation, especially NOT your graduation day from day from church. Brothers and sisters in Christ who are about to participate in the Rite of Confirmation, this day, your confirmation day, is when you will stand before this congregation and make promises. Promises that I hope and pray with everything that I am as one of your pastors that you will live out throughout your life. Joyfully keeping these promises because you believe that God is present in your life and that your savior Jesus loves you and wants to live in relationship with you in all that you say and do and everywhere you will ever be.

The white robe that you wear today is not a sign of your graduation. It’s a sign of the promises that you make. And a reminder of the promises that God made to you in your baptism, and that God makes with you today in your confirmation, and that God will continue to make with you for the rest of your life in this world and for all of eternity with the communion of saints.

And to make this an even greater day of celebration, God was not the only one making promises when you were baptized. Promises were also made by parents and family, sponsors and godparents, and a Christian community of faith. The promises these individuals who love you made freed you to experience God through other people who care deeply for you and the world that God makes. Freed you to experience God during times of worship and opportunities to serve your neighbor. Freed you to experience God through activities like confirmation where you were taught significant aspects of Christian faith and life like the importance of a lifetime commitment to reading and study of holy scripture and a deeper understanding of elements that are central to Christian faith like the Lord’s Prayer, the creed, and the ten commandments.

So, comfirmands, today is your day. Today, in confirmation, is your day of promise. Your day of promising to continue your life in Christ that began in your baptism. Your day of promising that you will give thanks for everyone who has helped you get to this day.

Your day of making promises to God that you intend to keep. In a few minutes you will promise to…

Pray for God’s world and ask for God’s presence in your life.

• Prayer is a central avenue of conversation with God. It is way more exciting and revealing than only something we do before a big test or sporting event.

You will promise to worship among God’s faithful people.

• Our life of worship goes way beyond worshiping only at Christmas and Easter or weddings and funerals. And this promise doesn’t mean that you only should worship at Good Shepherd – find a community of faith that you feel welcome in and worship with them regularly.

You will promise to read and study the bible.

• The bible can be a big scary collection of books – especially if you never enter into it. Get involved in a bible study group and take time to hear God speak to you through this sacred texts. As a matter of fact, I know of a bible study group that is forming right now in this congregation specifically for men and women your age.

You will promise to serve others in all that you say and do. And work for justice and peace in every facet of your life.

• I think service to your neighbor is pretty self-explanatory, but I’d like to point out that justice and peace do not involve tailgating in traffic or lewd gestures to another human being informing them that they are number one or engaging in destruction behaviors that involve abuse of sex or drugs or alcohol

Brothers and sisters in Christ, we celebrate with you today. We celebrate the promise that God made in claiming you as a child of God in your baptism. We celebrate the ways promises have been fulfilled by parents and pastors; God parents and communities of faith that have brought you to this day. And we celebrate the many ways that God will continue to work through you in the coming days as you live your life in Christ out of the promises that you make today. My hope and prayer is that you are richly blessed in all of these promises. And even more so, my hope and prayer is that you are a rich blessing to others because of these promises. Amen.