The Sabbath is a Gift    Luke 13:10-17

Have you ever identified stress points in your life? What are those symptoms that start to appear when we are operating on overload? We’re in the grocery store and you duck behind the next counter or zip to the next isle because you don’t feel like talking with a person you recognize? You avoid eye contact. You are curt in a conversation with someone you love. You sense a edge of cynicism in your thoughts. Your body language exposes your hidden anxiety? Sooner or later something has to give to regain perspective.

Today’s gospel lesson is about the Gift of the Sabbath in our lives. On this day God urges us to look beyond our own interests. This is God’s day. It is God’s gift to us.

As we’ve worked through the gospel of Luke in our lectionary texts—we’ve found that Luke
has a keen eye for the outcasts of society. He also clearly focuses upon the lot of women in 1st century Palestine. Luke had a compassion for those whom society pushed aside and that compassion came to him through the eyes of Jesus. This specific story is unique to Luke.

Picture with me this poor woman. She perhaps was so bent over that she was constantly looking at the ground–not even able to meet people eye to eye. In addition to her physical burden—she carried the weight of societal judgment. In her day—physical infirmity was often equated with sin. Even if she couldn’t see the eyes of those looking at her she probably felt their stare. This was coupled with the fact that she was a woman in 1st century Palestine. This nameless woman’s identity was bound by her gender and infirmity. It was a heavy heavy load. She had carried it for eighteen years and he was duly humbled by her condition.

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Luke 9: 51-62

A Samaritan Village Refuses to Receive Jesus

51 When the days drew near for him to be taken up, he set his face to go to Jerusalem. ⁵²And he sent messengers ahead of him. On their way they entered a village of the Samaritans to make ready for him; ⁵³but they did not receive him, because his face was set towards Jerusalem. ⁵⁴When his disciples James and John saw it, they said, ‘Lord, do you want us to command fire to come down from heaven and consume them?’^{* 55}But he turned and rebuked them. ⁵⁶Then^* they went on to another village.

Would-Be Followers of Jesus

57 As they were going along the road, someone said to him, ‘I will follow you wherever you go.’ ⁵⁸And Jesus said to him, ‘Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests; but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.’ ⁵⁹To another he said, ‘Follow me.’ But he said, ‘Lord, first let me go and bury my father.’ ⁶⁰But Jesus^* said to him, ‘Let the dead bury their own dead; but as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.’ ⁶¹Another said, ‘I will follow you, Lord; but let me first say farewell to those at my home.’ ⁶²Jesus said to him, ‘No one who puts a hand to the plough and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.’

Looking Forward

In our global society—we are living in a day when our consciousness of world problems seems to be overwhelming. In recent years we seem to be bouncing from one crisis to another. Our country has been facing two prolonged wars that have overshadowed in time all of our previous conflicts. Louisiana and the southern coast are still recovering from Hurricane Katrina five years ago, which then, was the costliest natural disaster in our nations history. Now the oil spill in the Gulf threatens to dwarf that disaster with implications for generations to come. At the end of 2008 our economy collapsed following reckless and unsustainable lending practices in the housing market not to mention Wall Street’s greed. The economic crisis has had global affects most recently with the collapse of Greece’s economy and its affect on Europe. Even now unemployment is high and our economy is attempting to recover but with no certainty for sustainability.  We as human beings hunger for good news. We need a renewed perspective on all that we are facing.

Almost two decades ago (1991) a wonderful story of the human dilemma was portrayed in the movie, Grand Canyon. A story that focuses on the individual lives of East LA residents, it explores race relations, poverty, and the overwhelming problems of life that affect us all. One of the central characters was an East Los Angeles tow truck driver, who every year, would make a sojourn to the Grand Canyon in order to gain a wider perspective on life. When he was able to see his life from the larger expanse of creation, he regained a new perspective on himself, enabling him to respond to the challenges of a pervasive hopelessness in his impoverished community as well as the challenges of his own personal problems.

As spiritual beings and followers of Christ we do not live our lives in a vacuum. The problems of the world affect us all. This, coupled with our family lives and daily issues we face as individuals, make these challenging days for us. When we come to worship we bring with us the cares of the world and concerns for our lives. We seek a renewed perspective on our faith and how we are called to live.  This morning, the good news of Jesus’ words come to us reminding us that Jesus’ call upon our lives is attainable if we keep our eyes focused upon him.

Jesus’ words, however, are not easy to hear. We see in our gospel text this morning that following Jesus in no easy task. It is clear that there is a cost to follow him. This raises for us a question we confront every day: what is the cost in our lives for following Jesus?

This story marks an important turning point in the ministry of Christ. He is setting his eyes on Jerusalem when three would-be disciples approach Jesus.

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Luke 7:11-17

¹¹Soon afterwards he went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went with him. ¹²As he approached the gate of the town, a man who had died was being carried out. He was his mother’s only son, and she was a widow; and with her was a large crowd from the town. ¹³When the Lord saw her, he had compassion for her and said to her, “Do not weep.” ¹⁴Then he came forward and touched the bier, and the bearers stood still. And he said, “Young man, I say to you, rise!” ¹⁵The dead man sat up and began to speak, and Jesus gave him to his mother. ¹⁶Fear seized all of them; and they glorified God, saying, “A great prophet has risen among us!” and “God has looked favorably on his people!” ¹⁷This word about him spread throughout Judea and all the surrounding country.

A Miracle of Compassion

Today we encounter the remarkable miracle of Jesus as he raises from the dead, the son of the widow of Nain. We do not read this story or any of the other gospel stories as passive bystanders. These stories become a part of our story. They are a part of the collective stories of believers through the generations who give witness to Jesus. Perhaps our first tendency is to read this story and then stand back and with the crowds marvel at Jesus’ power to even raise the dead.

But there is an obvious paradox as we fit this parable into our lives. When we confront some calamity like illness in our lives it is most natural for us to pray for healing. Sometimes we give witness to miraculous healing. But we often do not see healing as we envision it.

That is not to say that we shouldn’t pray for healing in our lives or in the lives of those we love.

But it reveals to us that there is something else at work in this miracle that goes deeper than the physical raising of someone who died to life again.

There are few things more poignant than to see a mother or father weeping for their child. Whether we see it in pictures from Afghanistan or Iraq or in our local newspapers, grief cuts to the core of our being because we feel our own mortality. It is always in the shadows. Lest we think that being young is in our favor it has been noted that more people have died before the age of 50 than after the age of 50. Every pain we feel, every twinge that is strange, every close encounter on the highway as we are driving—we are constantly reminded that we are mortal beings who will one day die.

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Psalm 8

O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

²Out of the mouths of babes and infants you have founded a bulwark because of your foes, to silence the enemy and the avenger.

³When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established;

⁴what are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?

⁵Yet you have made them a little lower than God, and crowned them with glory and honor.

⁶You have given them dominion over the works of your hands; you have put all things under their feet,

⁷all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field,

⁸the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the seas.

⁹O Lord, our Sovereign, how majestic is your name in all the earth!

Introduction to Trinity Sunday

Today is the one Sunday in the entire church year when we celebrate a doctrine rather than an event. The doctrine we proclaim is a Mystery. There is no other way to express it. We proclaim the mystery of God’s revelation. For those who want a black and white religion with easily defined answers—the doctrine of the Trinity poses a huge problem because we are acknowledging that our attempts to understand God are feeble at best and what understanding we have is only because of divine grace.

When we gather to worship—we do so in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. When we gather at the font for baptism—we baptize in the name for the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. We pray at weddings in the same triune formula. When we gather at the grave we commit our loved ones to the ground in the name of The Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

So as we approach the mystery of God’s revelation we understand that we stand on holy ground.

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The psalmist captures for us this morning this mystery and does so by raising an ancient question.

Who Are We that God is Mindful of Us?

The image in the bulletin insert this morning is an image captured by the Hubble Telescope as it discovers and reveals to us the mystery of space. It captures in a moment in time—the sense of wonder and awe of the psalmist (Psalm when he asked a question of the ages: When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established; What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals that you care for them?

Our knowledge of the universe is expanding at lightning speed. A few decades ago it was thought that there were two galaxies for each person alive. Lately, since the Hubble Space Telescope has explored the heavens, scientists have revised those figures and now estimate there are nine galaxies for every human alive on the face of the earth. To put that in perspective, each galaxy harbors an average of 100 billion suns. In our galaxy alone, the Milky Way, there are 69 suns for every person alive. (Homiletics, K.D. Herron, 5/30/10, p.80) The more we know—the more we see—the greater the wonder and awe of both the seen and the unknown.

When the words of the psalmist were penned, what was known of the universe was based on the observation of the human eye. At the same time, however, the human mind was ablaze with wonder and awe.

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The Language of Faith Acts 2:1-21 (John 14:8-27)

Whenever we think of Pentecost—our minds turn to the story of the disciples as they gathered to worship. Jesus had told them to wait. And as they were waiting, suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting. ³Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them. ⁴All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability.

The apostle John tells a parallel story of how when Jesus appeared to the disciples after the resurrection, he breathed on them and said: “Receive the Holy Spirit.” The word breath and spirit (pneuma) are synonymous as they are used in the Greek language. The very Spirit of God is our spiritual breath—our lifeline as believers. When we gasp for breath in our times of doubt—it is the Spirit of God that gives to us life and hope.

Jesus said the spirit of God is like the wind—it comes and goes as it pleases. It is not bound by doctrine or dogma. It is not inhibited by tradition. It is not controlled by the powers of this world.

Human barriers do not hinder it.

The Feast of Pentecost was celebrated in the Jewish faith marking the day when Moses came down from the mountain with the law of God. So on this already holy day—the Spirit of God came upon the early believers as Jesus had promised. It was one of those moments that was hard to explain or describe. Luke paints the picture in divine colors with tongues of flame. Those who gathered spoke in the tongues of nations. We know how language can be a barrier to us if we visit a foreign culture but this was different. Language was not a barrier but rather a symbol that united those who had gathered. God gave to them a language of faith that broke barriers and opened doors.

It was far greater than simply the language of different cultures.

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John 17:20-26

²⁰”I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, ²¹that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²²The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, ²³I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

²⁴Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. ²⁵“Righteous Father, the world does not know you, but I know you; and these know that you have sent me. ²⁶I made your name known to them, and I will make it known, so that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”

Love is the Last Word

I was reading this week of two men who sat next to each other on a plane. After exchanging names, one asked with real passion, “So, do you go to church?” “Funny you should mention that,” the man replied, “we were just talking about church yesterday.” He went on to explain that the previous year, he and his family had let themselves get totally over-extended. Between work, social commitments, and the activities of their two children – one in elementary school, one in junior high – they were exhausted by Christmas. They were determined that this year would be different. So after going to church as usual the day before, they held a “family council” over lunch to review all of their commitments in light of how each helped them be the kind of individuals and family they wanted to be. After an hour and a half of conversation, they made their decisions. And church was one of the things they had decided to stop doing. Girl Scouts remained, but church was out. “It’s just not that meaningful,” the man explained. “We go each week and finally realized we’re not getting anything out of it. It doesn’t connect with the rest of our lives, let alone help us lead those lives. So we’re done.” (WorkingPreacher.org., 5/9/10)

In this day and age of split loyalties and competing demands, church membership is often viewed more as a comfort than a commitment. It begs the larger question: how important is the life we share as a church? What is it that binds us together as a church community? Certainly relationships are a factor. Perhaps it is common experiences like shared grief. Maybe it is just habit for some. But the common thread in all of our experiences is the story of God and his creation. Every time we gather for worship—whether in some small rural community or some great cathedral—we are engaging the story of God with his people. If church attendance is secondary or we say or conclude that it is just not that meaningful, what then are we saying about our relationship with God?

Some time ago I heard an interview with someone from the orthodox tradition of Christianity who was engaged in a conversation about churches in general and the trends in churches of our day and the cult of personality that so often drives church communities. He stated that in his tradition, the life of the church does not ebb and flow with the priest but the liturgy. Some priests would come and stumble there way through the liturgy but it was never about the pastor. It was the liturgy—the spoken word that held the congregation together.

We are of a different tradition than the orthodox branch of Christianity but I think we can still grasp what this parishioner was saying. In our tradition as Covenanters—we talk about the centrality of God’s Word. (In reality we are talking about the same thing even though we may express it differently.) Another way of saying it that might be common ground in our traditions is to talk about story. We are held together as a church, not by singular leaders whose strengths and weaknesses ebb and flow in the life of the church but by the Story. Every Sunday that we gather we hear the story of God and find ourselves in it. It is through the Story that the Holy Spirit knits our lives together.

The power of story is that we hear it through the filter of our own lives. It can touch each one of us differently but it is the Spirit who uses the same story to knit our lives together. Yet so many people in the 21^st century place the church at best, on the periphery of their lives.

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Nehemiah 8:1-3, 5-6, 8-10    Luke 4:14-21

When we read the Scripture lessons every Sunday morning in worship, we do so in stride. In fact, that could often describe our approach to worship in general. In the words of Annie Dillard, words we use in worship are “things we have learned we can say to God without being killed.”
We often have a very lackadaisical attitude when the scriptures are read. We respect them and expect them to be read in worship. Perhaps we are so familiar with them we do not anticipate hearing anything new. We read the gospel lesson and conclude with the words: THIS IS THE WORD OF THE LORD. We say it without missing a beat. But what impact does this Word of the Lord have upon our lives?

Contrast what is often our approach, with our text from Nehemiah. The people of God had returned from exile. Jerusalem was in ruin and the walls were leveled. (Picture the scenes we’ve seen in Haiti this past week). Nehemiah drew his people together and against great odds rebuilt the wall. When it was completed they asked Ezra the priest and scribe to bring forth the law of Moses, the Word of the Lord and to read it in the public square. When he opened the scriptures all the assembly stood up to listen. They were almost 50,000 in number who had gathered. Ezra read from early morning to midday, the congregation standing all the while. And all the people wept when they heard the words of the law of God. They were moved to the very core of their being.

Let’s be honest. For the most part we do not like to be disturbed. That’s true on several levels but I suspect it is also true in worship. We want to hear confirmation that we are doing well. We prefer affirmation that confirms our lifestyles are in synch with God—to hear that we are doing all the right things. But if you have lost everything you have known, as was the case with the Israelite people, you hear things in a different way. The Word of the Lord fell on their ears like rain on parched soil.
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Isaiah 43:1-7

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. 2When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in exchange for you. 4Because you are precious in my sight, and honored, and I love you, I give people in return for you, nations in exchange for your life. 5Do not fear, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you; 6I will say to the north, “Give them up,” and to the south, “Do not withhold; bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the end of the earth— 7everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

Called by Name

Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord your God.
Those words spoken through the prophet Isaiah are one of the beckoning invitations in all of Holy Scripture.

Do not fear….I have called you by name.

One of the most moving monuments in our nation is the Vietnam Memorial on the mall in Washington, D.C. Maya Lin, designer of the Vietnam Memorial, explaining to a TV interviewer why her remarkable work has come to have such a strong tug upon the emotions of all who see it, responded: “It’s the names,” she said, “the names are the memorial. No edifice or structure can bring people to mind as powerfully as their names.”

Do not fear…I have called you by name. In a world where people can grab their 15 minutes of fame—our names are known by the one in whose name we are marked in baptism.

Even though the words of the prophet come as comfort and promise, they also recall the terror of the first Exodus. “When you pass through the waters … when you walk through fire.”

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I love the liturgy for Lessons and Carols that includes the Bidding Prayer we shared on Christmas Eve:

Dear People of God: this year, more than ever, we yearn for the message and power of Christmas. In the story of God’s unwavering love and steadfast commitment we hear words of consolation and hope for a world torn apart by violence and war. In this dark time of fear and violence in the world, it is the promise of peace on earth and goodwill among the peoples of the world that, like a shining star, draws us to the stable in Bethlehem. There we find, wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger, the child in whom the hopes and fears of all the years are reconciled for ever.

As we stand on the threshold of a New Year, the story of Epiphany comes to us as good news. We yearn for the message and power of Christmas.

Of all the four gospels, only Matthew tells the wondrous story of the visit of the magi that we celebrate on Epiphany. It is a story that comes to us with good news as we mark a New Year.

In his recent commentary on Matthew (2006), Stanley Hauerwas of Duke observes that sentimentality is one of the greatest enemies of understanding the gospel, especially the Christmas story and the events surrounding the birth of Jesus. Our sentimentality can eclipse what the text reveals and doesn’t reveal. A good example of that is the story of the Magi. When we hear the story retold or we see it illuminated in pictures, we more often see three men, dressed in royal garb, journeying to Bethlehem on camels bearing gifts.

We don’t know that there were three. That particular number was a later century attribution to match the three gifts mentioned.  We sing the story: “We three kings of orient are….” but the wise men were not kings. In the ancient world in the region of Persia and Babylonia, a magos (which is the singular of magi) was a wise man or astrologer who specialized in the reading of the stars. They would have taken to any anomaly in the heavens because they looked for signs. They noticed something that apparently escaped the noticed of ordinary people.

Matthew was piecing this marvelous mystery together. Writing to a Jewish audience, he paid particular attention to the presence of Gentiles and saw it as a fulfillment to OT prophecy. Matthew makes more reference to the Hebrew Scriptures than any of the four gospel writers.  You may have noticed that already in our Isaiah text when we read:

the Lord will arise upon you,
and his glory will appear over you.
Nations shall come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

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Calling hours are Sunday May 10th from 3:00 until 7:00 P.M. in O’Connor Brothers Funeral Home, 592 Park Avenue, Worcester. A memorial service will be held on Monday May 11th at 10:30 A.M. in Salem Covenant Church, 215 East Mountain Street, Worcester. A graveside service and tribute will precede at 8:30 A.M. in All Faiths Cemetery (New Swedish Cemetery), 7 Island Road, Worcester. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Salem Covenant Church Camp Charlton Fund, 215 East Mountain Street, Worcester, 01606 or North Park University Memorial Fund, 3225 West Foster Avenue, Chicago, IL, 60625.

Donald H. Berg, 82 years young, formerly of Worcester, died on Thursday morning, April 30th. His wife of 55 years, Louise May (Rollins) Berg, predeceased him in June of 2008. He leaves his daughter, Jennie Lucretia and her husband John Pagano; a granddaughter, Nina Lucretia Pagano; a grandson, Michael Angelo Pagano, all of Paxton; his brother, John Berg of Maine; his sister, Natalie McNerney of Lincoln; and many nephews, nieces, cousins, and dear friends. His beloved daughter, Nancy Ann Berg, died in 1969. Most proud to be a Worcester native born and bred with Swedish heritage, he never tired of sharing stories of events from the past.

Born on November 1st, 1926 in Worcester to C. Harold and Elizabeth Marie (Selen) Berg, Donald immediately began his gregarious and never ending grassroots campaign to spread good cheer and leave no one in his path untouched. He graduated from Classical High School, worked in the family lumber business, and went on to attend Massachusetts State College at Amherst, HQ. Army Training Schools. Donald served in the Army Air Corps during WWII, 1943-1946, and attained the rank of Sergeant in the 6th Air Force, with the bulk of his deployment spent at Ancon Hill, Albrook Field in the Canal Zone, Panama. As he liked to tell the tale, “wearing nothing but my boots, holster and sunshine.” Studying on the G.I. Bill, Donald graduated in 1949 from North Park College in Chicago, Illinois, finding time between high jinks to both attend classes and actively support the sponsored club, sports and band activities on campus. He returned to Worcester to enter the lumber business with his father, and to begin his family on Vernon Hill by marrying the petite Louise May Rollins, a graduate of the Memorial School of Nursing, on February 28, 1953. He and his brother Jack represented the 3rd generation of Stone & Berg Lumber Company, Inc. (established in 1883), with Donald retiring as President in 1991.

Donald was very active in civic, social and religious activities: he served as a Director for six years on each of the following boards: Friends of North Park University (Illinois), Pilgrim Pines Covenant Church Camp (New Hampshire), Cromwell Children’s Home (Connecticut), and the East Coast Conference of the Covenant Church. As a member of Salem Square Covenant Church since 1939, (and later the Salem Covenant Church) he served as Deacon, Steward, Sunday School Teacher and member of the Te Deum Male Chorus. He was Chairman on the committee which brought four Billy Graham movies into Worcester theaters for the viewing public in the 1970’s. Donald was a member of the Worcester Host Lions Club, as well as the Worcester Chamber of Commerce, during his years in the business arena. He thoroughly enjoyed the more recent camaraderie of his friends at Southgate, and the membership he was offered in the Albanian Men’s Club of St. Mary’s Assumption Albanian Orthodox Church.

By shear force of personality and good cheer, he was a local notable and much beloved. His all encompassing humor and boisterous voice of inclusion will surely be missed by many. Donald simply loved life and found his greatest pleasure and inspiration in every possible opportunity.