Text: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32

Sermon by guest preacher Regina Shands-Stoltzfus.  [Audio only]

…

https://joelssermons.files.wordpress.com/2016/03/20160228sermon-1.mp3

Text: Galatians 3:23-29

Galatians 3:28 includes one of the best summaries of Paul’s understanding of the church.  It was most likely a part of an early baptismal statement.  The Apostle Paul passionately believed that Christ had broken down all the barriers that separate people from God and from each other.  The church is a place of radical inclusion.  Paul writes: “In Christ there is both Jew and Greek, both slave and free, both male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

Well…No.

I mean Yes, this verse in Galatians 3 is one of the best summaries of Paul’s teachings.  And yes, he passionately believed that Christ has broken down all dividing walls, and yes, this was a baptismal vow.  And yes, the church was and is to be a place of radical inclusion.  But no, he does not write that in Christ there is both Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female.

What he writes is this: “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.”

The NIV translates it this way: “There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female.”

Rather than making a series of additions, “both, and,” Paul makes a series of negations, “neither, nor.”

Maybe this is just being grammatically picky, since either way gets the point across.  Both Jew and Greek, neither Jew nor Greek.  We get the idea.  Come one, come all, no matter who you are.

But maybe it does make a difference.

This verse is ripe for adaptation to the diversity of our day, and perhaps you’ve heard it expanded this way.  “In Christ there is both immigrant and native, both gay and straight, both black and white…”

That would be…

Texts: Psalm 27, Luke 13:31-35

 The image on the bulletin cover is a mosaic inside the Dominus Flevit church.  The church is located on the Mount of Olives, overlooking Jerusalem, and commemorates two occasions in Luke’s gospel:  The one we just read, when Jesus speaks of the people of Jerusalem and compares himself to a mother hen gathering her chicks under her wings.  And when Jesus later approaches Jerusalem and weeps over the city, lamenting that it does not know the things that make for peace.  Dominus Flevit means, “The Lord wept.”

Personally, any Bible story that features a chicken as one of the main characters is one that gets my attention.  Especially when the chicken = Jesus.  I love that in the mosaic the chicken has a halo.  Awesome.  Our three backyard feathered girls are doing just fine through the winter, although their egg production has trailed off a bit.  They’re still saints and miracle workers for turning our food scraps into tasty eggs.

Jesus the hen cries out, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it.  How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings.”  It’s a loving maternal image, of protection, and shelter, and sanctuary.

Back in December we hosted an evening gathering for the BREAD organization – the annual research kick-off.  A little ways into the meeting I noticed that one of the other pastors was motioning to get my attention.  After realizing that he wanted to talk, right now, I slid out of my seat and we huddled quietly in the back of the sanctuary.  He had what seemed to me at the time like a very random concern.  He wanted to know if our lights in the foyer were on…

Texts: Psalm 91:1-2,9-16; Luke 4:1-13

On our Learning Tour in Palestine we attended a Sunday worship service near Bethlehem.  Our group of 15 Americans made up half the congregation.  The young Palestinian pastor led the service in Arabic, but at the end of his sermon he addressed us in English.  He urged us to remember them when we returned home, to speak about what we had seen and heard.  To tell their stories.  One of the reasons he gave for why this was so important was this:  He said – “Because America is god.”

As startling as this was to hear in a worship setting, it was important to see.  In their world, our country has the power to save or destroy, to give life or take it away.  It was quite a benediction, for us fifteen Americans to leave that small Palestinian church, having just been told that we are sons and daughters – of god.

We told some of those stories during Advent.  Now it’s Lent, and we are inviting God to trouble the waters again, this time closer to home: Race and racism in America.  And not just racism as a matter of improving interpersonal relationships, as important as that is.  But racism as an environment, a habitat in which we live and move and have our being, a psychological and spiritual field of experience, that we are all caught up in.  Something along the lines of what the writer of Ephesians meant when he said, “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood” – we’re not out here looking for evil people.  Instead the real enemy, as Ephesians puts it, is “the cosmic powers of this present darkness.”  The principalities and powers.

This all sounds a bit serious and heavy, so we are approaching it the way that seemed to be Jesus’ favorite method of overturning the present order…

[Text: Luke 9:28-36]

Eve’s reflection:

Have you ever had a time in your life when you had to make a life changing decision?   In today’s scripture, Jesus is about to make a difficult decision.  He has been healing wounded people, feeding those who didn’t have any food, teaching people the way that God wants us to live our lives, and gathering disciples to help him do his ministry. All this happened in the region of Galilee.  Now he needs to decide if he is going to the city of Jerusalem. He is also taking into consideration that this is a dangerous place, he might even be risking his life.

Before heading to Jerusalem, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up a mountain to pray.  

My mom’s family  owns a cabin in the Colorado rockies.  When you go up the mountains, it feels like you can see everything from just that little part of the world. The air is so thin. It’s kind of like you are in another atmosphere. I remember one time when my cousins and I were climbing a mountain in the summer. We were at the top and noticed a pile of snow. Snow in the Summer? Strange things happen on top of mountains.

A strange thing happened to Jesus when he was on the mountain. He was talking to God and suddenly two famous  prophets, Moses and Elijah, came to give him encouragements for what to do in the dangerous land of Jerusalem.  Of course they had experience with these kind of problems themselves. Moses had made Pharaoh extremely mad, and a cruel king wanted to kill Elijah.   What was crazy about this was that these prophets were dead.  They were literally walking dead, but now they were magically alive, talking with Jesus.

If I had to make a hard decision it…