Endurance Produces Hope – 18 June 2017 – Second Sunday after Pentecost

We enter Ordinary Time with Jesus’ call to proclaim the reign of God. The preacher’s challenge today is to wed that proclamation to the healing Jesus’ gives his messengers authority to bring about. Where is the healing happening in your community?

Matthew 9:35––­10:8[9-23]

By joining together these verses, the lectionary shows Matthew's intention that the disciples should do what Jesus did. Jesus proclaimed the “good news of the kingdom of heaven” (9:35); the disciples are to proclaim the good news that “the kingdom of heaven has come near” (10:7). Jesus cures every disease and sickness (9:35) and gives the disciples authority “to cure every disease and every sickness” (10:1). Jesus views the crowds “like sheep without a shepherd” (9:36) and sends the disciples to “the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (10:6).

The mission of the Twelve is not just to preach about the kingdom but also to actualize it through deeds of spiritual power: driving out demons and curing diseases (manifestations in human life and evil and brokenness). . .

The descriptions attached to the names [of the apostles] show what a motley crew this was: Simon was called “Rock” (Peter); Matthew was a tax collector; the other Simon was a Canaanite, a zealot for the law (from the Aramaic kanana, enthusiast, not a resident of the land of Canaan), and Judas Iscariot was a traitor. Those who are gathered by Jesus and commissioned for leadership roles in the church are a diverse and imperfect group, and this was apparently the Master's intention. – Frank C. Senn

Exodus 19:2-8a

This pericope affirms God's call to his people to be “holy,” that is, to belong to God. Holiness or sanctification means that the people have been set apart like priests in order to offer a sacrifice that is pleasing to the Lord. Holiness in the biblical tradition implied that the people should be like God, who is distinct from the creation. Therefore, the people of God are to be distinct from all the peoples and cultures around them, both morally and ritually. –– Frank C. Senn

Romans 5:1-8

Peace is here understood as reconciliation (making peace), which is referred to explicitly in verses 10–11. The condition of reconciliation through Christ gives us access to the grace of God. This access gives us the right to boast not only of glory but also of suffering. We highly regard suffering because it leads to endurance, which produces character, which produces a hope that does not disappoint because it resides in hearts into which God's love has been poured through the gift of the Holy Spirit. A homily might unpack each of these concepts, showing how one builds on the other.

God has overcome his own wrath against sin. . . by the sacrifice of his Son. This is an expression of God's love for his weak and fallen human creatures. Paul never speaks of God being reconciled with us but of us being reconciled with God, since we were the estranged party. Christ's blood is the condition of our restoration to divine favor. This has consequences for both the present and the future. Christ's sacrificial death reconciles us now in our present life before God and also saves us in the final judgment. – Frank C. Senn

Frank C. Senn, an ELCA pastor who served Immanuel Lutheran Church in Evanston, Illinois, from 1990-2013, has also taught liturgy courses at a number of seminaries and divinity schools and published thirteen books mostly on the history of the liturgy.

Homily Service 41, no. 3 (2008): 54-62.

What is the Matter with Baptism?

The Spring 2016 issue of Liturgy offers essays on Christian Initiation. D. Jay Koyle’s essay focuses on baptism itself, particularly because the perspective currently held in many of our churches toward this sacrament has been in contention in recent years.  

As Koyle shows, cultural changes have led to baptism being considered in many of our churches a naming ceremony primarily for infants. The theological importance of baptism, however, is about God’s power and the astonishing proclamation of the new reality of God’s Reign.

By nature, baptism is a subversive sacrament that initiates persons into a community God called into being to experience, reveal, signal, and participate in the coming and already-present Kingdom. Yet, far too many see baptism as little more than a sweet ceremony that washes stains from souls and carries them across the ecclesial threshold into the lobby of the household of faith. Beyond that, we act like there is little it can do. As a result, we mistake baptism as a harmless trickle of water when it is a waterfall of eschatological proportions. Why does the church perpetuate this case of mistaken identity and what can be done about it? . . .

In order to understand what can be done, we have to know how we arrived at this place. Koyle says the church has, over time, adopted a utilitarian perspective on a sacrament that had for centuries been a much richer sign of initiation by God into the church.

In Christendom, baptism had come to function largely as a pastoral rite, a ceremony tied to the human life cycle, even if confessional statements claimed otherwise. Rubrics pressed parents to bring their newborns to pass through the waters of the font as soon as possible after those infants had passed through the waters of the womb. In my own Anglican tradition, the rite’s placement in the prayer book was located with the pastoral offices tied to the stages of life (marriage, visitation of the sick, burial). This notion of baptism became even stronger when transplanted to the domain of private life. . . . [continuing] . . . to regard the infant as the normative candidate and to treat baptism as a family ceremony at least as much as an ecclesial one, scheduled to serve the convenience of the family calendar. Indeed, a recent informal survey of church websites revealed that most congregations speak of baptism in these terms, emphasizing the meaning of baptism as “joining the church family” and asking God’s blessing upon the newborn candidates and their families.

Along with other secular institutions, the church has become infested with the notion that people are primarily “consumers” for whom services are to be performed at their convenience and according to their understanding.

The consumerist bias ensures that the usual starting point for many congregations that aspire to revitalization and growth is, “How can we make ourselves more attractive? How can we make the Gospel relevant to people today?” That these questions come to our minds and trip off our tongues so readily is understandable. Our market share is shrinking, after all; we see fewer people displaying an interest in joining with us in sacrament and song on Sundays. . . .
 Though well-meaning, it may be that our faith communities are barking up the wrong tree. What if the issue at hand is not how to make the Gospel relevant for the culture? . . .  The late liturgical theologian Alexander Schmemann. . . surveyed efforts to spark renewal and growth, and he found himself shaking his head at strategies designed to render the church more attractive and relevant. He observed as early as 1968 that the problem facing us today is not that the Gospel has become irrelevant to the society. He noted that the Gospel has always been “foolishness to the Greeks.” No, the problem is not that the Gospel has become irrelevant to the society, but rather that the Kingdom has become irrelevant to the church.

Koyle has ideas about re-enlivening the church’s relationship with the sacrament of baptism. Please see the posting here in two weeks, on April 22 for more.

D. Jay Koyle, is a presbyter serving as Congregational Development Officer for the Diocese of Algoma (Anglican Church of Canada) who also teaches at Huron University College in London, Ontario. 

D. Jay Koyle, “The Mistaken Identity of Baptism,” Liturgy 31, no. 2 (2016), 11-19.

“You are a King?” – 22 Nov 2015 – Reign of Christ

What does the Reign of Christ look like? What is God’s Dominion? How does Jesus’ voice give truth that makes it possible for us to “belong to the truth”?

Given these questions, how could we not find sympathy for Pilate as he tries to come to grips with the identity of this Jesus who is a threat to many and a healer to others? Jesus himself refers to his “kingdom,” his basileia which can be rendered as “royal power” and “rule,” among other English words. In effect, Jesus tells Pilate that his power comes from outside this world. These claims are difficult to wrangle.

And yet, we end the liturgical year on this Sunday with Christ’s eternal power as the central focus. This is the crowning Sunday, but it is also not a day of sheer triumph. Jesus, our ultimate power, is dragged before the political power of a corrupt government. Jesus, thus, knows that the dominion to which his body will be entrusted is one that will continue to confront enemies of God’s inclusive love.

John 18:33-37

As the Christian assembly gathers to celebrate Christ's kingship, the reading from John 18 invites reflection on the surprising character of Christ's kingly rule. . . Pilate wants to determine whether Jesus represents a threat to Roman imperial rule. He inquires whether Jesus is “king of the Jews,” a rival to Caesar's authority. In the conversation that follows, Jesus reveals two important qualities of his dominion.

First, Jesus indicates that his kingdom is not from this world. . . The dualism between the kingdoms of this world and Jesus' kingdom is well expressed by Walter Wink in Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1992). Jesus' kingdom does not belong to the world system of domination. For that reason, Jesus has not prepared his followers to use violence against any enemies. His followers do not fight, as all other partisans do, because his kingdom is not from here.

Secondly, Jesus defines what it means to be a king in terms of testifying to the truth. The testimony Jesus gives is his life, both lived and offered up on the cross. Because Jesus is the truth (14:6), this truth cannot be understood or possessed as a proposition or article of belief. Instead, one belongs to the truth by entering into a relationship with God in Christ.– Aaron Couch

Again, in Daniel, the reality of the powers of domination are in the forefront. But here, the Ancient One is the judge.

Daniel 7:9-10,13-14

The apocalyptic imagery of the vision in Daniel 7, both memorable and grotesque, is interpreted by a heavenly attendant in 7:15–27. A succession of four monstrous animals in 7:2–8 symbolizes a succession of four empires. The fourth, identified as a terrifying beast, represents the Seleucid Empire. It sprouts a little horn, which is Antiochus Epiphanes. The reader who is acquainted with Antiochus' hubris and his attempt to terrorize the Jewish people into submission will appreciate how the visionary writer characterizes this ruler as an arrogant little horn.

The lectionary focuses on Daniel's vision of the divine court of justice passing judgment on the beast and giving kingship to “one like a human being.” The use of inclusive language may, in this case, prevent the reader from immediately recognizing the phrase that Jesus employs as a title: “Son of Man.” Within the vision, this “one like a human being” receives eternal dominion from God. Although this figure appears to be an individual, the interpretive section at the end of the chapter makes it clear that the “one like a human being” is a corporate image representing the people of Israel. – Aaron Couch

These are cautionary words about reading too much Christological imagery into Old Testament writings, but it is natural that the Christ-centered mind will not miss the connection between “one like a human being” receiving “dominion and glory and kingship.”

When Pastor Couch points out the corporate image of this one-like-a-human who receives kingship, we might remember that the body of Christ is a corporate image now, including all the saints, living and dead.

Revelation 1:4b-8

Revelation . . .  [is] a letter from John the visionary (different from John the apostle) to seven church communities in the Roman province of Asia. . .

Jesus, risen from the dead, is acclaimed as “ruler of the kings on earth.” By his death he has demonstrated his deep love for us and has accomplished God's saving work to set us free from our sins. John pictures the community of God's people in two ways: we are the domain where Jesus' rule is visible and we are priests who serve Jesus' God and Father. – Aaron Couch

Inviting the assembly to ponder the contrasting dominions of power­­––the secular world vs. the Alpha and Omega––immediately raises the specter of how any of us can manage to navigate the choices we face without the guidance of Christ Jesus. We may not be ruled today by Roman soldiers, but the same temptation exists to dismiss the ultimate power of God’s saving wisdom in favor of an easier and more comfortable path through life.

This is a day for strong singing that fills the sanctuary with a sense of belonging to something far greater than any individual alone or the whole people of God together. Let there be strong Confession and Forgiveness and an enlightening sermon, praising the One who became human for us.

Aaron Couch is a co-pastor of First Immanuel Lutheran Church in Portland, Oregon.

Homily Service 39, no. 12 (2006): 49-58.