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]]> Mon, 31 Jan 2011 11:36:27 GMT Page Updates http://www.bethany.net/content.cfm?id=135 Blog: Pr. Cheryl's Letter to Bethany from Mission Assembly http://www.bethany.net/content.cfm?id=151&blog_id=114 Bethany Lutheran Church
Pastor Cheryl Walenta Gorvie
Letter to the Congregation while at Mission Assembly
Sermon April 28th, 2013
5th Sunday of Easter
 
Letter to the church of God called Bethany Lutheran

Cheryl, called to be a minister of Word and Sacrament in the name of Jesus Christ by the will of God, to the church of God called Bethany Lutheran that is in Lake Highlands, together with all those who in every place call on the name of our Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
By now you may have noticed my absence from worship this morning.  This is not an accident!  This morning I am worshipping, along with Lisa Nagid and Bonnie Buttolph, at the Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana Mission Assembly, which is the annual gathering of all the pastors and representatives of all the congregations in our mission area.  In our national church organization, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, every synod—there are 64 synods and one mission area!—gathers for an assembly sometime in the spring.  It’s like our annual congregational meeting, but on a bigger scale. 
 
This is the time when we attend to business like approving a budget or making resolutions so we agree what causes to support or electing a bishop, like we did last year when Bishop Kevin Kanouse was elected to a third and final six-year term as bishop.  So in his last six years as bishop of this mission area, Bishop Kevin is taking us on a tour of the world!  Of course we don’t have the money to fly hundreds of people around the world, so it’s a tour in our imaginations.  And that’s another part of this annual mission assembly: learning together.  This year, we’ll be gathering for Bible study led by Dr. Richard Carlson, who is a professor of the New Testament at the Lutheran Theological Seminary in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.  He will be teaching us about this year’s journey to Macedonia. 
 
Since being a Christian—and, in particular, a Lutheran—means we follow Jesus Christ and we are disciples of Jesus Christ, in this mission area we call that journey “DiscipleLife,” recognizing that any of us who follow Jesus are disciples and that includes our whole lives.  So we are following that call and in these next few assemblies, the themes will take the form of a journey to several of the places where St. Paul traveled on his missionary journeys.  In the introductory information about this assembly says it is “in these places Paul encountered faith, endured challenges, seized upon opportunities, and had his leadership and convictions tested and refined.  We know that our journey into mission will do the same for us.  The first stop on our journey is Macedonia (which is in the area of modern-day northeastern Greece).  St. Paul had glowing words of praise for the faith and deeds of the Macedonian Christians.  In fact, he found them to be astonishing.  As we visit this ancient place we will see how some early Christians felt such joy and promise in believing that they could not stop acting in faithful and generous ways.  Our visit in Macedonia coincides with the launching of the “Macedonia Project” in the NT-NL Mission Area.”
 
So this is some of what I am learning—and what Lisa and Bonnie are learning—at the mission assembly this weekend.  I’m not totally sure what the Macedonia Project is, but I’m interested to find out!  And we will be reporting back to you about what we learn in Bible study, what we learn about projects of our church, and even sharing some of the things we celebrate at the mission assembly.  Together we will welcome new pastors, honor the people who have died in the past year, and recognize congregations celebrating anniversaries this year.  Did you know that our very own Pastor Arvid Thorson will be honored at this assembly because this year he will celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of his ordination?  I told him I can only hope to celebrate the sixtieth anniversary of my own ordination!  And he told me the first hundred years are the hardest; after that, it’s easy. 
 
And this assembly begins and ends with worship—the first order of business on Friday afternoon was worship, and right now, even as you are gathered to worship God at Bethany Lutheran Church in Dallas, Lisa and Bonnie and I—and a couple hundred other Lutherans from this Mission Area—will be worshipping at the Mayborn Civic Center in Temple, Texas, which, for the purposes of this weekend, is ancient Macedonia.  Right now, we might even be learning new music that we’ll want to share when we return! 
 
It is a beautiful thing that we can gather together representatives from all over our mission area who are all doing mission in their own neighborhoods using their own unique God-given gifts.  Years ago, Bishop Kevin started asking the question, “What can we do better together than we can do on our own?”  And the answer is: lots of things!  It’s because we work together that we can be a witness to the world, working on big projects like DiscipleLife Alive!, which is the campaign to build a DiscipleLife Center for Mission at Briarwood Retreat Center.  This will provide a physical space for the bishop’s offices but more importantly, it will be a resource center and training area for leaders doing mission work to share the gospel.  As individual congregations in this mission area combining our resources, we can have access to mission training that will help us to think about how to share the gospel in our own neighborhood and how to be a witness to God’s kingdom.  For the past couple of years, Bishop Kevin has hosted what he calls “Table Talks” at Briarwood, bringing church experts to teach our local teachers, pastors and lay leaders.  I’ve attended many of these Table Talks, and the next one coming up in a few weeks will bring Michelle Alexander to speak about the book she wrote, titled “The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness.”  None of our congregations alone has the resources to bring a nationally recognized author to our area to speak to us, but when we work together, we can do this and can also invite other people to participate—indeed, there are groups all over Texas (and not only Lutherans!) getting together and traveling to Dallas to attend this talk and the workshop that will precede it on that day.  If you are curious, there is information in your bulletin about this workshop, which your pastor will be attending, and you’ll surely be hearing more about this later. 
 
And there are other things we can do better together, when individual congregations get together to pool their resources and take on big projects like international mission.  Part of this assembly will be to report on the recent trip to Sierra Leone, to visit our companions in mission who are working somewhere else in the world.  Bishop Tom Barnett of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sierra Leone will be at this weekend’s assembly, and he’ll bring greetings on behalf of our Lutheran brothers and sisters all the way in West Africa.  We’ll find out about the status of projects like the Jubilee Lutheran Centre in Freetown as well as the building of schools and medical clinics, all of which have happened because a bunch of us started working together, doing more than we could do on our own. 
 
And part of our assembly’s focus will be the work of the national church body, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.  Right now, the ELCA is campaigning to raise money to benefit people affected by malaria.  Throughout the world, every sixty seconds, a child dies from malaria.  Malaria is spread by mosquitoes, and the people most vulnerable to this disease are children and elder adults.  The ELCA is raising money to educate people about malaria, provide life-saving drugs and treatments for those fighting this disease, and also to buy mosquito nets which not only protect people from mosquitoes while they sleep, the nets are also treated so that when a mosquito lands on the net, it kills the mosquito, which makes the whole house a safer place.  Today, at this very same moment, churches all over the United States are recognizing World Malaria Day, remembering those who suffer from this disease and mourning those who die from it.  That’s why we are mentioning malaria as part of the liturgy in our worship, as we did earlier with the opening litany, and this is why we’ll be praying especially for those affected by malaria when we offer the prayers of the people later on in worship.  It may feel like we are far away from the effects of malaria, but our brothers and sisters in Sierra Leone deal with this threat on a regular basis.  I found out from my husband Alfred that one of our nieces and one of our nephews in Sierra Leone were in the hospital last week getting treatment for malaria.  This is painful and dangerous for children and also stressful for the whole family.  Malaria doesn’t have to be a way of life.  Today we are invited to consider our sisters and brothers affected by this disease and share our resources to—as the campaign says—“Make Malaria History.”  In this area of the world, we know the threat of West Nile virus, a dangerous virus spread by mosquitoes.  Imagine if our government didn’t have the money to spray extensively to kill mosquitoes.  Last year, over 400 people in the Dallas area were infected with West Nile virus and 19 of them died.  Imagine if that were happening all the time, as it does in places where malaria is widespread.  Imagine if you had no access to medical care to save your life.  We can intervene now to make malaria history.  This is just one more thing that we can do better together than we can do on our own. 
 
And it isn’t just because we are good citizens that we help one another.  It isn’t just because we want to do our good deeds and go to heaven, if it’s even possible to do enough good deeds to earn our way into heaven.  When we show love for one another, when we care for one another and share our resources so that the poorest and most vulnerable among us may live, we are following the greatest commandment that Jesus gave to us: to love God and to love one another.  In some of his last words to his disciples, as we read again this very morning, Jesus said, “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.  By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”  So loving one another is about more than niceness and good feelings—this is how we show the love of Jesus to the world. 
 
And it isn’t easy!  Even Peter, who knew Jesus and followed him and struggled with his teachings and mourned his death and was amazed by his resurrection…even Peter had much to learn about God’s love for all people, including Gentiles.  This is the story we read today from Acts, one of the stories of the early church, struggling to continue the mission of Jesus in a world where Jesus is known not in the flesh as a human being, but where Jesus is known by the Holy Spirit.  Peter understands God’s mission as being one for the Jewish people, where Gentiles are not to be bothered with.  But a vision changes all of that!  Peter has a dream about unclean animals in front of him, the very kinds of animals he has avoided for his entire life, following the purity laws of his Jewish faith.  A voice tells Peter, “Kill and eat.”  But Peter replies, “No way!  Nothing profane or unclean has ever entered my mouth!”  But then the voice says, “What God has made clean, you must not call profane.”  And in case this wasn’t enough of a spectacle, this same scene was repeated three times!  But Peter gets the message—God’s Word is for all people, even Gentiles.  As Peter reports, “If then God gave them the same gift that he gave us when we believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, who was I that I could hinder God?” 
 
It’s a striking question that Peter asks: how can I hinder God?  How can I get in God’s way and prevent God’s will from happening?  That is the opposite of what we want.  We want to do God’s will, to share God’s love and God’s word with the world.  That will mean going to new places and meeting new people.  That means working together with our sisters and brothers in this mission area of Northern Texas-Northern Louisiana.  That means working with our brothers and sisters in the Lutheran church throughout the United States, as well as our mission partners as far away as Sierra Leone.  And that also means serving our brothers and sisters right here in our own area, whether delivering Meals on Wheels to homebound people in Dallas, serving food to homeless and poor families in Fair Park with the food pantry ministry at Mount Olive Lutheran Church, or providing a safe and healthy environment for children through our very own Child Development Center.  And you may not know that this past week, a few of us from Bethany Lutheran also gathered with a community at Montecito Palms, an apartment complex just two miles away, at the corner of Skillman and Royal.  We’ve been invited to serve dinner there in May at a community gathering where the residents of the apartments—our own neighbors—get together every month to share food and fellowship, talk about crime in their area and strategies for dealing with it, and care for one another.  This is another way we love one another and show God’s love to others, far away and also right in our own neighborhood. 
 
And while each of us follows Jesus, while each of us is called on a journey of DiscipleLife, there is much we can do together.  Because this vision is not our own.  We are moving toward the vision described by the writer of Revelation, whose images we return to every year in this season of Easter.  Here is where we hear about the vision of a new heaven and a new earth, where God comes down to dwell with mortals.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying—no more explosions in fertilizer plants where fifteen people die, no more bombs going off and killing three people at a marathon and injuring hundreds more people, no more fear while walking down the street or through the parking lot, no more worry about threats lurking even at home.  This is the world that is coming into being, coming into focus right before our eyes.  The one who is seated on the throne tells us, “See, I am making all things new!”  And indeed, Jesus Christ is making all things new, one disciple at a time. 
 
In closing, love one another.  Greet one another in peace.  I’ll be seeing you next week, along with Bonnie and Lisa, bringing reports from our trip to Macedonia.  Until then, keep proclaiming Jesus Christ crucified and risen.  This is the season for resurrection!  Amen. 
 
 
  ]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT Blogs pastor@bethany.net (Cheryl Walenta Gorvie) http://www.bethany.net/content.cfm?id=151&content_id=114 Blog: Pentecost http://www.bethany.net/content.cfm?id=151&blog_id=115 Bethany Lutheran Church
Pastor Cheryl Walenta Gorvie
Sermon May 19th, 2013
Pentecost 
 
Pentecost

In my grandma’s kitchen, there was a painted tile hanging on the wall—the kind of tile you would place under a hot dish to protect a tabletop—but this tile had a saying on it, so it hung on the wall as a decoration.  In scripted letters, it read: “Why go far away when luck and happiness are right at home?”  The saying was identified as a German proverb.  Over many years I sat in Grandma’s kitchen, resting my arms on the cool formica tabletop, enjoying her homemade sourdough bread with wine jelly that her sister had made, and that plaque radiated its wisdom.  Why go far away when luck and happiness are right at home?  These words told me, “Don’t be fooled by the idea that there are greener pastures somewhere else.  Stay at home where you are safe, where there is plenty of love to go around.”  And I did feel at home there at Grandma’s table, surrounded by unconditional love in her presence.  Grandma lived in Austin, not too far from the farm where she grew up in Pflugerville.  Except for traveling, she stayed there for her whole life. 
 
When Grandma died, I was finishing college and preparing to move to Japan.  I took that little plaque with me, remembering the love I had felt in Grandma’s kitchen, carrying with me a piece of home as I moved to a new place thousands of miles away.  It was an unescapable call from God that led me to Japan, and without a solid base of love as my foundation, I would never have made it that distance.  Love was the jumping-off place, and God carried me the rest of the way. 
 
Do you have a place like Grandma’s kitchen, a place where you know you are loved unconditionally, a place where you are safe no matter where you’ve been or what you’ve done?  Maybe it’s a physical place, whether you live there now or whether the place exists only in your memory.  Or maybe that place is in the presence of a loving family member or a long-time friend, or perhaps all that remains is a memory of that person.  Could it be that the love you know is what allows you to be at home with yourself, to have the peace that passes all understanding?  When you carry a piece of home with you wherever you go, can you ever feel far away? 
 
I know I am speaking here with kindred spirits.  You all know what it’s like to leave home because almost everyone here has done it!  Some of us here are immigrants ourselves, with a homeland very far away, in Europe or in Africa.  Others of us have grown up somewhere else in the United States but eventually found ourselves here, for a job or for family, but in any case, we’ve made Dallas our home.  Not many of us in this congregation are from Texas, and even fewer of us are from Dallas.  But whether we proudly call ourselves native Texans or grudgingly admit that we live here, we have made this our home.  In some way or another, we’ve discovered ways to live here and remain happy, keeping in touch with family somewhere else or making a regular pilgrimage to the homeland or taking vacations in places with—let’s just say—more pleasing climates.  But we maintain an address here.  This is the jumping-off place. 
 
And I don’t think it is any accident that we are all here, that today on the day of Pentecost, we are together in one place.  It is the call of God which brought you here to Bethany Lutheran Church; it is the call of God which you have faithfully answered.  It was no accident that God called the disciples to be together on the day of Pentecost.  Jesus had given the disciples specific instructions to remain in Jerusalem until they have been “clothed with power from on high.”[1]  Jesus had been promising a Holy Spirit, an Advocate, some kind of power from on high which would enable these disciples to proclaim “repentance and forgiveness of sins…to all nations.”[2] 
 
Why would Jesus say that?  Did he forget that these disciples are not preachers?!  Did Jesus forget that these disciples all betrayed him and denied him and ran off while he was being tortured and crucified?  Apparently, he did.  It seems the sins of the disciples were drowned somewhere in the ocean of God’s forgetfulness, because the risen Christ preaches only love and peace.  And not only that, the risen Jesus Christ preaches the coming of something new, a great power, a Holy Spirit, an Advocate.  The disciples question Jesus before he ascends into heaven: “Lord, is this the time when you will restore the kingdom to Israel?”[3]  Jesus says that isn’t for them to know, but he makes a promise to these disciples: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”[4] 
 
You will be my witnesses, Jesus says.  Starting right here, and then spreading out a little further, and finally all the way to the ends of the earth.  It seems a little over-ambitious, doesn’t it?  These are, after all, the same disciples who responded to Christ’s death and resurrection by locking themselves together in a single room—that is the very opposite of going out and proclaiming a message.  Isn’t it a little too much to hope for that these would be the ones to carry good news, to preach a message, to go out and announce the coming of God’s kingdom?  Isn’t it a little too much to hope for that these disciples would face their fears of being disregarded, their fears of being cast away from their religious and spiritual home in the temple, their fears of persecution and death?  And isn’t it way too much to hope for that they would not only face those fears but plow right through them in the name of building up God’s kingdom?  Is Jesus asking too much? 
 
Against all reason, the disciples do follow Jesus’s instructions.  They remain in Jerusalem.  They stay together.  And they wait.  Why?  What would make them follow Jesus, after all that has happened?  I believe it is the work of the utterly transforming power of love.  The love of Jesus Christ has made them different.  The love of Jesus Christ has healed them in their fears.  Jesus Christ, in his love, has forgiven them of their sins, has continued to call them to follow.  Jesus Christ, in his love, has opened their eyes to new possibilities, possibilities as big as a Holy Spirit by whose power these disciples will preach the Word of God.  By the time the Holy Spirit arrives, the disciples are ready, or at least, they are as ready as they’ll ever be. 
 
And the timing is perfect because the Day of Pentecost would have been a time for the people of Israel to gather, anyway.  The “penta” in Pentecost refers to fifty, and Pentecost is the Greek name for the Festival of Weeks—the festival that happens every year, fifty days after Passover.  Passover and the Festival of Weeks were originally harvest festivals, but in the traditions of ancient Judaism, they became festivals for remembering the Passover, the salvation of God’s people out of slavery in Egypt.  And fifty days after escaping slavery in Egypt, the people of Israel would have found themselves at Mount Sinai, receiving the law and the covenant.  By the time Jesus is living, Passover was celebrated at the temple in Jerusalem; after the festival, everyone would return to their homes.  Fifty days later, for the Festival of Weeks, or Pentecost, only the most faithful would gather, faithful Jews from all over the land getting together for a ceremony of Covenant Renewal.  This would be the time to remember the holy law, the Torah, the covenant between God and God’s people, the promise of God to remain in relationship with creation.  No wonder then, that this also becomes the occasion for the Holy Spirit to arrive, the Spirit which Jesus has promised will “teach you everything, and remind you of all that I have said to you.”[5]  Jesus after all has established a new covenant, in his body and blood, a new way of relating between God and God’s people.  No longer separated, no longer bound by a geographical location, but God’s Holy Spirit is set loose upon the earth, working in the hearts of people and giving them words of grace to speak, even in languages they never knew before.  And the disciples are sent out, beginning in Jerusalem then spreading to all of Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth. 
 
Why go far away when luck and happiness are right at home?  Well, when love transforms you, when the Spirit of God calls you, home is never far away.  It was many years before I even noticed that those words from my Grandma’s kitchen came from a German proverb, but it was written in English.  Finally I began wondering, how did those words of wisdom get translated in the first place?  Was it an English-speaking person who went into a place where people spoke German, learning the culture and the German language, then bringing it back to an English-speaking community?  Or was it a German-speaking person who went into an English-speaking area, bringing traditions and language from home and translating them in a new place?  I have no idea, but I know Grandma’s ancestors had traveled from Germany a couple of generations before.  Even though Grandma hadn’t immigrated to a distant land, someone in her family had done it.  Where would my family have been if not for those people brave enough to leave their homes and learn new languages in distant lands?  I realized how significant it is to be called out of one’s comfort zone, out of one’s home, to learn a new language and to share wisdom and to share God’s love in a new way. 
 
Where would we be if there weren’t people bold enough to go somewhere new?  Where would we be if there weren’t people bold enough to learn a new language and share wisdom from other cultures?  More to the point, where would the church be if not for these people willing to cross borders?  If not for the Holy Spirit, if not for the transforming love of Jesus Christ, the fledgling church would never have gotten off the ground, would never have left Jerusalem, let alone travel to Judea and Samaria, and the church certainly would never have made it to the ends of the earth. 
 
It takes people bold enough to go into a new place, guided by the Holy Spirit, trusting that God will provide everything that is needed.  It takes faith to pack your bags and go to a new land!  But by faith, that is what our ancestors have done.  Imagine your ancestors packing some kind of spiritual suitcase, filling it with Bible teachings, Scripture, prayer, everything that will serve them well in the new land in which they will live.  They have answered a call from God, have faithfully followed, and they have passed that faith on to us.  The Holy Spirit has sustained the faithful during all these generations, has made all of this possible. 
 
How does the Holy Spirit continue to sustain us today?  We live in a world where the message of God’s love in Jesus Christ is declining in influence, but does that stop us from sharing that message of love?  Of course not!  Stephen Bouman, executive director of ELCA Congregational and Synodical Mission, says, “When a church turns its face toward the poor, the stranger, and those without the gospel, it is always being renewed and transformed.  The congregations that connect to their communities are the ones being renewed.” 
 
Bethany Lutheran Church is just such a place, with a long-standing tradition of serving our community through ministries like Meals on Wheels and the Mount Olive Lutheran Church Food Pantry in Fair Park.  We serve our community by providing quality child care and early childhood education through our Child Development Center—the kids from the CDC have created the flowers that are decorating our worship space this morning.  We’re even doing some new things, like hosting a summer day camp and inviting kids from around the neighborhood—the camp is filling up already and it doesn’t begin until late July!   And in our cooperation with other Lake Highlands area churches, calling ourselves Light and Hope for Lake Highlands, we’re beginning something new this week: working with Dallas Community Lighthouse to host a meal at a local apartment complex. 
 
We’re getting to know our neighbors.  We’re reaching out.  And it’s because we have been called out.  We have been called out of our homes, out of our comfort zones, to share the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ.  We know how Christ has called us to follow him; we know how Christ has touched our lives.  And we share that with others, not out of compulsion or fear, but out of our abundance of joy.  And true joy cannot be hoarded or kept to one’s self—it overflows in goodness. 
 
This past week, astronaut Chris Hadfield returned to earth after 146 days—that’s almost five months—in space, commanding the International Space Station.  He’s the first Canadian to command the International Space Station, but other than that, his service might not be all that notable or interesting.  However, while doing the work that was his to do, Chris Hadfield allowed himself to be amazed by the views from space. He shared pictures on Twitter, gaining a following of almost a million people.  Scott Simon, who reported this story on National Public Radio, said, “To see his photographs every day, almost every hour, was to be reminded that sunrise and sunset are part of the same master plan.”  Hadfield, before he returned to earth, Tweeted in Russian, “It’s part of our humanity to be in space.”  And in English and French, just before plunging back into Earth’s atmosphere, he wrote, “I came here on behalf of so many people—thank you.”  It was important for him to send back messages, because he said, “It’s just too good an experience to keep to yourself.”
 
Why go far away when luck and happiness are right at home?  Because God calls us and it’s just too good an experience to keep to ourselves.  For those of us who have been present to witness the power of the Holy Spirit, for those of us who have allowed ourselves to be amazed by what we have seen, what will our witness be, as we share the good news of God’s love in Jesus Christ with our own city, and the areas just a little farther out, and to the ends of the earth?  Amen.

[1] Luke 24: 49
[2] Luke 24: 47
[3] Acts 1: 6
[4] Acts 1: 8
[5] John 14: 26
  ]]> Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT Blogs pastor@bethany.net (Cheryl Walenta Gorvie) http://www.bethany.net/content.cfm?id=151&content_id=115 Blog: Mama, I'm comin' home http://www.bethany.net/content.cfm?id=151&blog_id=113 Bethany Lutheran Church
Pastor Cheryl Walenta Gorvie
Sermon May 12th, 2013
Ascension Sunday

 
Mama, I'm Comin' Home

Last week, we heard from our congregation’s representatives to the recent mission assembly, Lisa Nagid and Bonnie Buttolph, and they mentioned the artwork that going on during the weekend.  This year’s assembly featured an artist-in-residence named Stephanie Burke, a painter of canvases and murals.  During the assembly’s opening worship, as music played, Burke painted a strange, indecipherable image.  Within minutes, just as the music finished, Burke dramatically turned the portrait one-hundred-eighty degrees, upside down.  You could hear the whole assembly gasp.  We recognized that shape, which at first had looked so strange—it was a portrait of Jesus, his head bowed down under a crown of thorns.  We had watched that artwork taking shape, but we couldn’t tell what it was.  We didn’t recognize Jesus at first.  That took some time and a change of perspective, and then it was clear: it was Jesus. 
 
Throughout the assembly, there was also an exhibit hall with a large canvas full of spaces where we were invited to paint-by-numbers on a mural created by Burke.  Many of us, even those who don’t consider ourselves artists, contributed to this mural.  In our closing worship on Sunday morning, the completed mural was displayed in front of everyone, finished out by the professional artist.  The scene was ancient Macedonia, brick and stone buildings lined up along a dirt road which ran through the middle of the artwork.  It looked like a fancy backdrop for a stage play, and indeed our gathering together to learn about ancient communities in Macedonia was the backdrop for our celebration of mission—Christ’s mission among us in this area, as well as with our Lutheran partners in Sierra Leone, our partners in mission with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. 
 
But as worship began that Sunday morning at the assembly what we didn’t know was that this huge mural wasn’t finished.  During Holy Communion, as the hundreds of assembly-goers moved through distribution lines to receive the wine and bread, there was the artist on the stage, painting away, her brush-strokes revealing nothing.  Her work could not be seen.  What was she doing?  Once we had all safely returned to our seats, as our time together was coming to a close and worship was ending, the bright fluorescent lights in the assembly hall were dimmed.  On the stage, black lights were turned on, and the artist’s work was revealed: an image of Jesus, standing right there in the middle of this picture of the ancient city, his form obscuring the road running through the city.  The image is a vision of Jesus’s own words: “I am the way.”  Again, we couldn’t see what was taking shape before our own eyes, but it was revealed in time, and the image was Jesus, with an outstretched hand—could he be extending an invitation? 
 
In journeying with Jesus through the season of Lent, we join the disciples in confusion and grief as Jesus’s words are proved true, as he is tortured and crucified—in his death, it seems he takes with him all the hopes of a restored Israel.  We join the disciples in their amazement at the empty tomb.  And as we sit with the disciples while they fear for their own lives, we too are confronted with the risen Christ who breaks through the locked doors and meets us where we are.  We too meet Jesus on the way, while walking home to Emmaus or cooking breakfast on the beach.  And Jesus is continually reminding us that everything is happening just as he said it would happen, that “everything written…in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled.”  Jesus reminds us, “The Messiah is to suffer and to rise from the dead on the third day, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.  You are witnesses of these things.   And see, I am sending upon you what my Father promised; so stay here in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” 
 
These are the words Jesus speaks just before he ascends into heaven.  Time for a pop quiz.  Jesus said he would spend how many days on earth, after the resurrection, speaking about the kingdom of God?  Forty.  Now, Easter always happens on the same day of the week—what day is that?  Sunday.  Forty days after Easter then would always then be on what day of the week?  This is the tricky question!  It’s always a Thursday.  This past Thursday, May 9th, was the day on which the church celebrates the Ascension of Our Lord.  This year, our congregation didn’t gather for worship, so our celebration has moved to today, Ascension Sunday, when we hear the two stories of Jesus ascending into heaven.  Luke wrote both a gospel and the book of the Acts of the Apostles, and he includes this story of Jesus’s ascension at the very end of his gospel and writes the same story again for the opening scene of the book of Acts.  The story isn’t exactly the same—look at the lessons again later and compare the two—but Jesus issues roughly the same instructions to the disciples: stay in Jerusalem and wait there for a greater power which is coming.  And then Jesus floats away into the sky. 
 
If I had been a disciple witnessing this crazy scene, I would have stood there wondering about it, too.  I might have also needed a couple of men in white robes to come by and say, “Hey, why are you standing there looking up toward heaven?”  That might have helped me to snap back into reality, to become self-aware again, to quit daydreaming and get to Jerusalem and wait for this power that Jesus has promised will arrive.  The men in robes say, “This Jesus, who has been taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven.”  Does this mean Jesus, in his resurrected body, is going to float down out of heaven at some point to join us on earth?  Possibly, but there could be more going on. 
 
Professor Mark Tranvik of Augsburg College points out that as Jesus ascends into heaven, the disciples worship Jesus.  Since these disciples are all pious Jews who only worship God, their worship of Jesus points out the connection between the two, and it is no longer possible to talk about God without talking about Jesus.  Tranvik writes, “Our lens for thinking about God must always include a crucified, risen, and living Christ.”  And since Jesus ascends into heaven, it changes our view of God.  We can no longer imagine God as detached from human experience—because of Jesus, we know a God who suffers, a God who is vulnerable and approachable, and who also has the power of resurrection life to assure us that pain and death will not have the last word. 
 
Tranvik also points out that these stories of the Ascension testify to the great forgiving power of God.  These disciples receiving the blessing of Jesus are the same ones who forty days ago were denying him, betraying him, and otherwise were complicit in his execution.  But Jesus does not return to point out their shortcomings and failures; the first words of the resurrected Jesus Christ to his stunned disciples are “Peace be with you.”  Tranvik writes, “This is not a word meant only for his closest companions during his earthly ministry.  This radical word of mercy is to inform the entire mission of the disciples for…‘repentance and forgiveness of sins is to be proclaimed in his name to all nations.’”  When Jesus lifts up his hands to bless his disciples, these hands still bear the wounds of the one who was murdered on a Roman cross, but “the last image of their betrayed leader is a dramatic sign of mercy.”[1]  If we trust the testimony of the mysterious men in white robes, who tell us that Jesus will come in the same way as he went into heaven, might that mean that Jesus is revealed wherever there is mercy, wherever there is unconditional love and forgiveness?  Suddenly, a new vision of Jesus comes into view, and just like watching an artist at work, we realize we have been watching this at work for a long time but when the image snaps into focus, it still has the power to surprise us. 
 
We know that is the power of the Holy Spirit, to help us see Jesus, to reveal Christ’s presence, wherever there is mercy, wherever there is forgiveness, whatever points us toward the power of resurrection.  These images of God matter in how we understand God.  In honor of Mother’s Day, Bible scholars point out the places in the Bible where God is revealed with feminine or motherly characteristics—like in Hosea, where God is compared to an angry mother bear defending her cubs.[2]  Or hear these words from the prophet Isaiah: “Listen to me, O house of Jacob, all the remnant of the house of Israel, who have been borne by me from your birth, carried from the womb; even to your old age I am he, even when you turn gray I will carry you. I have made, and I will bear; I will carry and will save.”[3]  Even Jesus compares himself to a mother hen, longing to gather her brood under her wings.[4] 
 
These images reveal a God who knows human experience, feels human pain and even death, who has the power of resurrection.  And images of God as mother enrich our understanding of God, even though no image of God reveals the whole truth of God’s being.  Our language will never be perfect in describing God; our words will always fall short of describing the God who is heavenly father and heavenly mother while also being beyond male and beyond female.  As Pastor Angela Khabeb writes, “God is the perfection of the images we use to illustrate God’s relationship with humanity. Regardless of our family situations, our earthly parents are human and are subject to the human condition of imperfection. But we serve a God that promises to care for us beyond the limitations of our human-ness.” 
 
This is the same God whom we see in Jesus, who brings peace and mercy rather than retribution and revenge.  Wherever mercy is shown, there we see an image of God’s love.  When we celebrate mothers, we celebrate their self-giving love, their unconditional acceptance, even though we know that mothers are not perfect and neither are mothers immortal.  Some of us have said goodbye to our own mothers.  The prophet Isaiah recognizes the bond of a mother and child even with its own limitations to show how God is beyond our human capacity for love.  Isaiah writes, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for her womb? Even if these may forget, yet I will not forget you.”[5]  
 
God provides for us everything we need, using whatever means by which we can receive.  On Mother’s Day, we celebrate not only mothers but also women who provide care for others, exhibiting motherly characteristics whether or not they have an identity as a mother.  There are women without children who have a great capacity for unconditional love, delighting in children in ways that mothers sometimes cannot.  There are women who serve others as nurses and caretakers, who provide food and nourishment to those in need.  There are fierce women who work on behalf of justice, protecting the vulnerable as a bear protects her cubs.  There are women who are mothers and care for other little children, like the teachers in our Child Development Center.  I’ve heard all of the teachers refer to their classes as their own kids, and they care for their children and guide them in right behavior the same way any mother would.  Some of the teachers have even confessed that children in their classes have accidentally called them “mom.”  Which must be a compliment!  These teachers are working on behalf of the mission of this congregation, that God gives, we share—we share space, we share love for the littlest ones among us. 
 
And all of this reveals the love of God, an image coming into focus before our very eyes.  This might be how Jesus comes back, returning from heaven just as we saw him go into heaven—with bold mercy, unflinching love, hands outstretched in blessing.  And we remain in the city, just as we’ve been instructed to do, waiting for the power that is to come.  This power in the Holy Spirit is what we celebrate next week at the festival of Pentecost.  Because just in case what you’ve already seen isn’t amazing enough—remember, you are witnesses of these things—there are even more amazing things on the way.  Get ready.  You haven’t seen anything yet.  Amen.
 
 


[1] http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=1635
[2] http://www.boldcafe.org/blog/faith-reflections-mothering-god  Hosea 13:8
[3] http://www.boldcafe.org/blog/faith-reflections-mothering-god  Isaiah 46:3-4
[4] Matthew 23: 37
[5] Isaiah 49:15
  ]]> Mon, 13 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT Blogs pastor@bethany.net (Cheryl Walenta Gorvie) http://www.bethany.net/content.cfm?id=151&content_id=113