A FIRM FOUNDATION

The Fifth Sunday of Easter

May 14, 2017

1 Peter 2: 2-10

                Well, it has been a quiet week in Lake Wobegon, my home town, the gateway to central Minnesota.  It was particularly quiet on Friday evening.  There was no traffic on Main Street, no parties going on in any of the homes, and The Bijou, our $5 movie theater, was practically vacant.  It was the night of the Lake Wobegon High School prom and all the Juniors and Seniors, their chaperones, teachers and school administrators were at the Sons of Knute lodge in Bemidji for the big event.

                Pastor Liz of the Lake Wobegon Lutheran Church however didn’t think it was all that quiet.  Her phone at the parsonage kept ringing off the hook all night long with anxious parents, usually a Mom, complaining that they shouldn’t have held the prom so far away from home.  “Surely the fire hall in Lake Wobegon would have worked just as well.  If they had come up with a prom theme like “Hot Time in the City,” why then even the fire trucks could have served as realistic decorations.  But Bemidji!  How are we going to be able to spy on our daughters and sons and make sure they don’t get into any trouble if they’re so far away?”

                Pastor Liz would offer words of reassuring comfort to calm them down, “They’re your children.  You taught them well.  They’ll follow your example.”  Then she wondered whether she should have included that last line, knowing some of the parents she had spoken to.  Then the minute she would hang up, the phone would ring with another hysterical mom.

                But perhaps the loudest noise that evening may have come from the back porch of David and Judy Engquist’s home.  David, you might remember, has been retired now for three years from Lake Wobegon Lutheran Church where he served a lengthy pastorate.  He had taken up a hobby in retirement, much to his wife Judy’s chagrin, of collecting individually different beer cans.  The walls of his home office were already covered with shelves of cans and he had just told Judy that he was going to have to put up more shelves to display new cans on her dining room walls.

                That’s when Judy blew her top.  And I know for a fact from my parents who live next door to the Engquists that when Judy began yelling at her husband’s hair-brained idea, their dog started barking and woke all of the other sleeping dogs who, with the kids all gone to Bemidgi, had nothing better to do than to for a chorus of howling throughout the town.  After Judy calmed down, she conceded that if her husband wanted to continue collecting more cans, he would have to put up a shed in the backyard to hold them all.

                “A shed!” thought Pastor Engquist, “what a great idea.  I could build a shed.”  Well, no, he couldn’t.  David Engquist has always been a hard worker, but he doesn’t know his way around a lumber yard and he’s never used a power tool in his life.  He’s only sawed wood, drilled screws and hammered nails by hand.  So he gave Karl Krepsbach a call to see if he could give him some help on Saturday.

                David had bought a “Do-It-Yourself” kit from The Shed Man, kind of like IKEA, but no good Norwegian would ever buy anything from a Swedish company, dontcha know.  Karl arrived at the Engquist home at 9AM. And David was ready to tear into the box and get to work building a shed.

                “Whoa!  Hold on, David,” said Karl, “You can’t build the shed until we have a proper, level foundation to put it on.  The sure foundation is the most important part of the project.  Or else, your shed would be crooked, the door won’t close together, and within a few years, all your work would be in vain.”

                So, the first four and a half hours of the morning were spent in building a level foundation.  They went to Mabey’s Lumber and Gravel to get wood and screws.  Karl did all the figuring and ordering with the owner, Lars Mabey, himself.  David’s only contribution was to ask if the offered a guarantee policy.  Lars just stared at him and finally said, “At Mabey’s Lumber and Gravel we stand behind our good name.  Is it the best quality wood?  Will we replace anything that might be defective?  Mabey – that’s my name.

                Lars looked at Karl quizzically and asked, “Is he helping you?”  Karl admitted, “It’s actually his shed.”  “Good luck with that,” quipped Lars.

                Then Karl and David got to work framing the foundation to the exact dimensions of the shed, leveling its placement, digging out a little on one side and filling in a little on the other side, finally getting t in place and then putting a covering of plywood over the top.  Then foundation was finally done and it had taken all morning long.

                For lunch, Karla and David went to The Sidetrack Tap and ordered a burger and a Wendy’s Beer – the beer with your name on it.  Karl said, “That may have taken a while, David, but in the end you’ll be glad we put so much time and energy into such a fine foundation.  And six hours later, a well-constructed shed was sitting upon a firm and level foundation.

                Now Pastor Liz had heard about her predecessor’s work project and stopped by in the evening for a look-see.  Plus, she always appreciated having the wizened, retired pastor as a mentor.  So she would often visit for consultation and advice.  Today, I guess they call it “spiritual direction.”  But David Engquist just thought of it a good, common sense.

                “Nice shed,” she said, Looks like you and Karl did a fine job on it.”  David admitted, “I couldn’t have done it without him.  How do you like the foundation?”  “The what?” she asked.  And then he realized that, with the shed in place, no one could actually see the foundation.  The most important part would go unseen.

                Pastor Liz changed subjects, “The church is declining.  I’m afraid Lake Wobegon Lutheran Church may have to close under my pastorate.  There are fewer children in Sunday School.  Most of the regular members now attend once a month instead of every week.  We never know who is going to show up for the choir anthem.  Church just doesn’t seem to be a priority in the lives of people anymore.”

                Pastor Engquist didn’t know what to say, “I wish I knew how to help.  But it’s not you, Liz.  You’re a better pastor and a far better preacher than I ever was.  And it’s happening in every church and in every denomination.”  Then suddenly an inspiration hit him, “I think the problem is that families no longer that the time and energy and effort to provide a firm foundation of faith in Jesus Christ for themselves and for their children.  It’s like they spend all their time on the walls of a shed – good grades in school, participating in sports, engaging in the arts, being good citizens – but provide no foundation of faith to hold it level and firm.  And then they’re surprised and angry when the whole thing seems to fall apart.  It’s like the apostle wrote in 1 Peter: Christ is the cornerstone, chosen and precious, and all the faithful will not be put to shame.”

                Pastor Liz was quite impressed,” OK, then help me with this one also.  I have a baptism at church tomorrow for a couple I’ve never heard of before.  They don’t even live around here.  They’re coming up from the Twin Cities just to have their baby baptized at Lake Wobegon Lutheran Church.  I just don’t get it!”

                “Oh, I do,” said the old pastor, “I know them.  I baptized and confirmed the mother here at Lake Wobegon Lutheran many years ago.  And I went down to the Twin Cities to marry the two of them.  They’re coming back to Lake Wobegon Lutheran Church because this is where her family put in the time and commitment to provide for her a firm foundation of faith in Jesus Christ.  And I’m confident that she’ll do the same for her child.”

                Pastor Liz returned to the parsonage thinking, “I don’t know how he does it, but he always seems to say just the right thing.”  The light was flashing on her answering machine.  She pressed the button to hear the voice of one of the distressed mothers from Friday night, “I wanted to call to thank you, Pastor Liz, for your comforting words when I was freaking out about my daughter being so far away at the prom.  It seems I was upset over nothing.  She had a great time and everything went smoothly.  I guess you were right about trusting in the foundation of faith we provided for her.  Somehow you always seem to say the right thing.  Thanks again, and God bless you.”

                Well, the next time I go back home to Lake Wobegon, I’ll have to check out Pastor Engquist’s shed, and his beer can collection, and thank God for my family and all the people of Lake Wobegon Lutheran Church who helped build for me a sure foundation of faith in Jesus Christ.

                And that’s the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.   AMEN.

The Gift of a Grown Up Faith

Sixth Sunday after Epiphany

February 12, 2017

Deuteronomy 30: 15-20

1 Corinthians 3: 1-9

Matthew 5: 21-37

Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God, our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  AMEN.

                “You’ll understand it better when you’re all grown up.”  Have you heard that before?  Maybe you’ve even said it to a child yourself.  In your infancy, that was a phrase of acceptable reassurance because you knew there was so much more to learn about life and because you trusted your elders, your parents, your teachers, your leaders, who had so much ore life experience.  But as you grew older, more aware, more mature, and thinking for yourself, it became a phrase of intense irritation.  “How much more grown up do I have to get before it all begins to make sense?”  You ask that, hoping that your time of mature awareness was now at hand.

                But are we ever really ready for full awareness, for deeper understanding, for total revelation, for everything to make complete sense?  Often we can be frightened by the truth, and find its responsibility too hard to handle.

                The Old Testament book of Deuteronomy reviews the history of God’s chosen people after Moses had led the children of Israel, wandering through the wilderness for 40 years.  The key word in that sentence was the word “children,” the children of Israel.  In 40 years they hadn’t done much growing up.  They were still entirely dependent upon Moses, but questioned whether Moses knew where he was going.  They were grateful to the God who delivered them from bondage in Egypt, but were easily distracted by claims of false gods for momentary relief.

                Now they were about to cross the Jordan River to take possession of the Promised Land and become a responsible people, without having Moses any longer to guide them.  It was time for them to grow up.  So Moses sets before them a choice between life and prosperity or death and adversity.

                Sounds like a pretty easy choice!  But it wasn’t for them; just as it isn’t for us.  What choices did we make instead that have led to war and destruction in our world?  What choices have we made instead that have led us to drug addiction, obesity, anger and despair, meaninglessness and faithlessness?  Seeing the look of immature bewilderment again on their faces, Moses answers the question for them: “Choose life!  Choose life, love and faith!”

                It sounds like such a simple formula for success: 1) Love the Lord your God, 2) Obey all of God’s laws, 3) Live long and prosper.  Kind of a combination of Mr. Spock and Joel Osteen!  Many immature Christians still cling to that line of thinking.  It can be attractive when it seems to be supported by such well-defined absolutes.  That is, until, matured by human reality of day to day living and the complexities of life’s hard choices you realize that the only results can be either hypocrisy or impossibility.

                Jesus sat down on a hillside to teach immature hypocrites by focusing on the extreme of impossibility to reveal the gift of a grown up faith.

                “As children you were taught not to kill and you feel pretty smug thinking that you’ve never deliberately murdered anyone.  Well, that was easy!  But you know, don’t you, that every time you lash out in anger against your brother or sister you have killed a little bit of their soul each time.  For that, you should have been thrown into prison for life!

                “As children you were taught not to break your marriage vows.  Single people and faithful couples are breathing a sigh of relief.  But you know, don’t you, that this commandment has more to do with the purity of your soul than with the purity of the bed.  When Jimmy Carter was President of the United States, he confessed in an interview with Playboy magazine that he had broken this commandment because he, along with all the rest of us, can’t help but look at another with lust in our hearts.  For that you should have had your eyes plucked out and your wandering hands cut off!

                “As children you were taught not to bear false witness and to put the best construction on everything.  Oh, come on!  We lie like a rug all the time.  We are all masters of alternative facts.  For that you should all have your mouths washed out with soap!”

                The crowds surrounding Jesus are mystified at his teaching.  It all seems so hopeless.  What then can we do to be saved, to be healthy, to live in everlasting peace?

                Nothing.  You can do nothing to earn your salvation.  You have no choice in the matter.  God can’t let it be dependent upon us children.  The choice is God’s and it is all God’s doing.  Jesus, in his death on the cross, would fulfill the sentence of punishment that we, because of our sin, our bad choices and our disobedience, deserve.  And Jesus, in his resurrection from the grave, would win the victory over sin and death and open the gate to true peace, true prosperity, true love and true life, that we, because of our sin, our bad choices and our disobedience, could never possibly deserve.  Jesus used the alarmingly bad news of our inability to decide to obey and turned it into the good news of a free gift, the blessing of a God who loves all the children of humanity.

                St. Paul is still concerned about this.  He’s not certain that the children of human flesh can fully appreciate and incorporate such a Gospel message of God’s grace, love and forgiveness in their words and actions.  It’s so much safer to continue to treat them like little children.  But if he were to treat them like grown up Christians, would they act towards one another lie grown up Christians and leave behind their jealousies and their quarreling?  Having heard and received the gift of a grown up faith, would they then act and speak in the maturity of that faith?  Having been reconciled to God through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, would they then be reconciled to one another, sharing the peace of Christ which passes all human understanding?

                I would rather choose to treat us all as adults, as grown up Christians, acutely aware of our sins, but even more joyfully aware of God’s grace, striving to make better choices for ourselves and for our world, focused on being connected and in touch with God’s will for our lives, praising and giving thanks to God for all the blessings we have received and that we have to share with others, and embarking upon a Promised Land where all God’s children may know peace, prosperity and everlasting life.

                Maybe we’ll all understand it better when we’re all grown up.  AMEN.