LET'S MAKE A MIRACLE

LET’S MAKE A MIRACLE

Matthew 14:1-21

One day Jesus was told that John the Baptist had been executed by king Herod. Jesus loved John and regarded him as a great prophet. John was the latest in a long line of prophets who spoke truth to power and paid for it with his life. John was a man of the wilderness who had the audacity to criticize Herod. Herod was a son of privilege who was thin skinned about criticism. He grew up believing he was above the law. He didn’t care about morality or justice, or know the meaning of compassion. His priorities were his own enrichment and conspicuous consumption. Herod had barns full of bread while his subjects went hungry. We are told he celebrated his birthday by having a frolicking, kinky party. During the festivities Herod ordered John’s execution at the request of an exotic dancer. For a laugh, he had John’s head brought to the party on a silver platter for the amusement of his new wife and guests. 

Jesus lived among Herods’ subjects. He said the kingdom of God belonged to them, not to Herod. People flocked to him because he listened and gave them hope. Jesus knew he might be Herod’s next victim. His disciples must be prepared to continue his work. They fled Galilee for the wilderness to rethink and regroup. They were met by a huge crowd when they arrived. He could have told them to go home, but his compassion for them was greater than his concern for personal safety. He spent the whole day among them. Finally, his disciples said, “it’s getting late. Send them home so they can get something to eat.” 

Jesus had other plans. He said to his disciples, “They don’t have to leave.  I want you to feed them.” They were shocked and confused. All they had were five loaves and two dried fish. But Jesus knew what he was doing. He was testing them to see what they had learned about life in the kingdom of God. The setting was perfect. They were in the wilderness. The people were hungry. Jesus said, “if you are my disciples, turn these five little loaves into enough bread to feed 5000.”

Jesus promised the people, “blessed are you who are hungry, for you will be filled.” Now he told his disciples to feed these hungry people. This was their test, their assigned task.  He didn’t say, “I’ll create 5000 sandwiches out of thin air. All you have to do is hand them out.”— Not at all. Jesus simply looked up to heaven, blessed the five loaves, and sent the disciples into the crowd. After he prayed something amazing happened,—a miracle. But not what you might think. Jesus wasn’t teaching his disciples to wait for a miracle. He was teaching them to make a miracle.

The Bible doesn’t limit miracles to supernatural events that only God can do. Miracles are acts of God, but we have a hand in God’s work. When we pray, “give us this day our daily bread,” we understand that bread doesn’t just appear in our cupboards. We work for our daily bread. That’s how God provides it. If we have a hand in God’s work, then we are meant to make miracles happen.  That’s what the disciples did when they walked into the crowd with only five loaves and two fish. They made a miracle happen. They turned a crowd of strangers into a community with compassionate hearts.

This Story is Full of Miracles

A Miracle of Faith: There is no Limit to what Courageous Faith can do.

Faith enabled the apostles to attempt what seemed an impossible task knowing it would take an act of God in the hearts of people to get it done. Jesus said, “if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you can move a mountain.” Faith works wonders.

A Miracle of Prayer: Prayer Changes Things.

Jesus’ prayer in front of the people thanking God in advance for providing this huge crowd with their daily bread made a difference. Jesus said, “whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” 

A Miracle of Conversion: The Greatest Miracles Happen in the Human Heart. 

The hearts of those who had bread for themselves were moved to share what they had with their neighbors who had none. Converting hearts from selfishness to compassion for neighbor, is a greater wonder than making bread magically appear out of nowhere.

A Miracle of Community. 

Prayer and faithfulness transformed a diverse crowd of strangers into a community united in heart and mind. The Church began as a result of the miracle of Jesus’ love, and united in the breaking of bread. “How wonderful and pleasant it is for people under God to live together in harmony,” loving their neighbor as themselves.

A Miracle of Abundance.

This story begins with worry about scarcity. It ends with a celebration of abundance.   “All ate and were filled, and there were twelve baskets of leftovers.” We spend our lives worrying about scarcity. In reality there is always enough, and some to spare, if we love our neighbors who are in need, enough to share some of what we have. The earth can produce enough to satisfy our need, but not enough to satisfy our greed. The “manna principle,” has always been the biblical ideal, “The one who has much does not have too much, and the one who has little does not have too little, that there might be equality.” 

Like the disciples long ago, we today are in a wilderness, and in need of a miracle. Its up to us to make it happen. Our faith is being tested. If we seize this “pandemic moment” as an opportunity for growth in unexpected ways, we just might make a miracle happen. And, when we come out on the other side of our wilderness, we could find ourselves on the border of the Promised Land.

 Let’s think on these things.

Pastor Norm Erlendson

SOMETHING TO HOLD ONTO

SOMETHING TO HOLD ONTO

May 10, 2010

Welcome to this fireside service in the Road Church Parish hall and the message of the week. 

Now my soul is troubled. And what should I say,—Father, save me from this hour? No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. John 12:27

Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world. He had always loved his own, and he loved them to the very end. So during the meal Jesus got up, wrapped a towel around his waist, put some water into a large bowl, and began washing his disciples’ feet. John 13:1-5.

Jesus said, do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. John 14:1  

The phrase, Do not let your hearts be troubled, caught my eye like a flashing neon sign. These are words we need to hear right now. These are the kind of words mothers say to their small children when they feel fearful, helpless, small. In this pandemic all of us feel small. We are in the grip of something much bigger than us. We are sheltering at home. Doing our part to flatten the curve of increasing sickness and death in our community. We are trying hard not to become a statistic ourselves. Each day is a challenge. They are all the same. (April 40 or May 10?)

Life has become difficult. The simplest tasks have become complicated and stressful. Stopping at the gas station, or shopping at a supermarket, means wearing a mask and gloves as though we were visiting an intensive care unit. We are anxious about our health, our finances, our future. Our anxious hearts rob us of energy by day, and rob us of sleep at night. 

Now, more than ever, we need something to hold onto that will calm our fears, bring peace to our hearts, and make our days count. Jesus was facing the biggest crisis of his life when he said, do not let your hearts be troubled. How he dealt with his own crisis, can help us through our own.

When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem he knew his days were numbered. He said to himself, “My soul is very troubled. And what should I say?—Father, save me from this hour! No, it is for this reason that I have come to this hour. Jesus’ hour was the hour of his execution. But he was determined to face his fears. His final week in Jerusalem was lived in the shadow of his impending death. He was a dead man walking. He spent his days sparring with his religious opponents. His sleepless nights were spent outside the city hiding somewhere on the Mount of Olives. He spent his final evening in the city with his disciples in a secret location. It was a somber gathering, like a wake. They ate a final meal together. He announced that one of them would betray him. They were shocked, confused, frightened. Jesus’ remedy for his troubled soul, and theirs, was to get up from the table and wash his disciples’ feet. This was an act of humble loving service. Then he said, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 

Believe in God. Believe in me.

Jesus gives us Faith in God, and Love of neighbor as a remedy for troubled hearts. Faith and love work together. Faith gives us something to hold onto. Love gives us something to do. When children are troubled or frightened, parents give them something to hold, or something to do. It always makes things better. In the same way, when our hearts are troubled, God gives us Faith to focus our thoughts. And, He gives us Love to focus our actions. Faith working through love casts out fear. Faith and love give us something to hold onto.

Elephants are intelligent and sensitive creatures. A trainer knows an elephant is prone to panic in unfamiliar circumstances. If he were to lead it through a public place, it would soon become distracted or frightened by information overload. So, he will give the elephant a bamboo stick to hold in its trunk. The elephant likes this and holds it tight. As soon as the elephant wraps his trunk around the bamboo, he begins to relax. He is not tempted by tables of ripe fruit in the open market. He is not distracted by strange sights and smells, or frightened by sudden noises. With his bamboo stick held securely in his trunk, the elephant strides through the market like a noble creature: calm, collected, focused. Do you remember the story of Dumbo? As long as he held a feather in his trunk, he could fly! In the same way, Faith gives us wings that lift us above the distractions and fears of life.

“HE BEGAN TO WASH THE DISCIPLES’ FEET” John 13:5

When Jesus was troubled in his soul, he took hold of his disciples’ feet and washed them. Holding their feet and lovingly washing them was good for his soul, and theirs. Washing feet was the menial work of a household slave. But this humble act was one of the greatest things he ever did. He showed the disciples how much he loved them.  He put love in the center of their situation. When love is central to our lives, our hearts remain calm through troubling times.

“THEY TOOK HOLD OF HIS FEET” Matthew 28:9

When Jesus said, “Believe in God. Believe also in me.” He put faith at the center of things. When two women fled in fear from the empty tomb on Easter morning, Jesus met them on the road, and they took hold of his feet. Holding his feet tightly in their arms banished their fear and bolstered their faith. Faith calms our fears by centering our thoughts on higher things. Faith gives us a clear sense of duty. Believing in God is like holding a bamboo stick. It keeps us from grabbing at every distraction, or worrying over every little thing. Rather, we walk through them: calm, collected, and focused. Faith working through love is like holding Dumbo’s feather. It lifts us up above our troubles and fills our days with worthwhile, amazing work. Jesus said, “Fear not little flock, for it is your heavenly father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom” it is is the power of God, where faith working through love can redeem our days. Hold on to the Faith, Hope and Love that God has given you. And May the grace of Jesus Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with all of you.

WHERE DOES LOVE END?

John 14:1-7 and 1 Corinthians 13:1-13

Jesus saw the world as God sees it— through the lens of love. He saw the love of God in all of nature. He saw every person through the lens of love. When he  saw fear he planted seeds of faith. When he saw potential he planted seeds of hope. His life was the embodiment of divine love for the whole world. His love had no limits or end

Paul’s tribute to love, (1 Corinthians 13), describes Jesus. He was patient, he was kind; he was genuine. He saw the good in people. He expected the best from people. He didn’t give up on people. Jesus’ love was constant and strong. It didn’t have an end. 

When Jesus said, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, (John 14:6), he meant, Love is the Way, Love is True, and to Love is to really live.  Love is like a mirror through which we see the world. We have a dim view at first, but as love grows our vision improves.

Jesus came to give sight to the blind. His prescription for spiritual and moral blindness was love. Love of God, love of self and love of neighbor. Love is the corrective lens that help us locate the path of truth and authentic life. The more love grows in our hearts, the more we are able to see what was once invisible to us. That is the theme of Amazing Grace.  The slave ship captain, John Newton wrote of himself, “I once was blind but now I see.” His love of God and love of neighbor were the lenses that finally enabled him to see the cruelty and injustice of slavery.

Imagine life without your glasses. The world is suddenly unfocused, smaller, more difficult, and more frightening. Good vision is crucial to our wellbeing. All of us suffer from blindness to some extent.  Three out of four people on this planet wear corrective lenses, and the figure climbs to nine out of ten for those over 60. Corrective Lenses are one of the greatest innovations for good in world history. 

The first person to mention the invention of eyeglasses was a monk who lived 700 years ago. In 1306 he wrote, "It is not yet twenty years since there was found the art of making eyeglasses, which make for good vision... I saw the person who first discovered and practiced this new art, and I talked to him. At first he was unwilling to share how they were made, but when told us his secret, we at the monastery began making them and shared them with everyone with a cheerful and willing heart."

It was love that compelled those monastics to share the secret of eyeglasses with the world, and eyeglasses have opened our eyes to new worlds near and far. The loving spirit of those monks gave the gift of better vision to the world, and our lives were transformed.

It’s amazing how blind we were before eyeglasses.  When we looked at the night sky with our naked eyes we saw the sun, moon and only five planets. With the aid of powerful telescopes, we saw Uranus for the first time in 1781, then Neptune in 1846, and Pluto in 1930. Now earthbound telescopes enable us to see 1 billion light years into space, and the orbiting Hubble Telescope enables us to see stars 13 billion light years away. We once were blind to whole worlds that now we see.

Without God’s love we see only a small fraction of the world. We are blind to what our world needs the most—the Love of God. Jesus said, "If we only love those who are like us and those who love us, we are blind." A world where love extends only to those who live us is a small and fearful place. Our mission as the church is to be like those monks 700 years ago who shared the secret of corrective lenses to everyone who needed them. In the same spirit, let us show God’s love to everyone with cheerful and willing hearts. 

Love of God and neighbor enables us to see the world as God sees it. It enables us to see the world through the lens of an ever expanding Circle of Love that extends to the whole creation.

You ask, where does love end. My answer is: As far as I can see, it doesn’t have an end.

Pastor Norm Erlendson

"Please Remember Me"

“PLEASE REMEMBER ME”

Luke 23:39-43; 1 Corinthians 11:23-26 

Jesus and a convicted criminal had something in common. They shared a final plea: “Please Remember Me!” This message is about our need to be remembered, and a reminder that remembering Jesus is at the heart of our Christian faith.

———————-

I love history. Sometimes that takes me to old cemeteries where I like to read the names and dates etched on the headstones of people who lived hundreds of years ago. Most were ordinary people like you and me. The names and dates on their headstones are all we have to remember them by.  Once in an old Boston cemetery I came across a headstone so weathered that the name and dates were completely worn away. There was no way to know who was buried in that plot, or when they lived. A sense of sadness came over me. I mourned the loss of that unknown person’s identity. There is something in each of us that says, “When I’m gone, please remember me! That plea is made by people everywhere.

When an old building in Poland was being torn down about ten years ago, a  bottle was discovered in one of its walls. Inside the bottle was a scrap of paper with a list of names. Beside each name was a series of numbers indicating they were prisoners. The Auschwitz concentration camp was nearby. These men were a work party sent from that camp. They found a piece of paper on which they wrote their names, prisoner identification numbers and home towns. Then they put the paper in a bottle and hid the bottle in the wall where it remained until it was found decades later. 

That act was a desperate cry to the world, “Please remember us!”  

January 27, 2020 marked the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz. The suffering and cruel death of its victims was solemnly remembered. 1.3 million people of Jewish descent were sent there during WW2.  1.1 million of them were worked to death, starved to death, or exterminated in gas chambers. They didn’t have an opportunity to leave us a message in a bottle. Most of the victims were buried in unmarked mass graves in the hope that they would be forever forgotten.  

Forgetting is easy. It doesn’t take effort. Forgetting is also dangerous. When there is no memory, history’s most important lessons are lost. The horrors of Auschwitz were a lifetime ago. As that generation of survivors passes away, their collective plea is, “Please Remember us!” But fewer and fewer of us remember or care about the past.

In a recent poll, 41 percent of respondents did not know what Auschwitz was. We are told, “Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat its mistakes.”  Remembering is the only way we will we be saved from our past folly. Remembering is hard. It requires tireless, continuous, intentional action. But the time and effort is worth it. Faithful remembering lays the foundation for a better future.

Remembering is the heart of our Christian Faith. Christianity is all about remembering Jesus—remembering who he was and why he gave his life for us. On the eve of his death Jesus said to those who loved him, “Please remember me.” He invited them to his Table. He gave them bread and a cup to remember him by. Every time we eat the Lord’s Supper we proclaim the saving power of Jesus’ death until his kingdom comes. Around the Lord’s Table the power of Jesus’ spirit comes into our lives, and goes with us from here so others can see his life in ours. That’s how it works, and it begins here. We eat and drink together. We remember together. We pray together. Then we leave here empowered as ambassadors and ministers of the Christ who remembers us.

When a nameless criminal was dying on a cross, he cried out to Jesus, “Please remember me!” When he died his body was tossed in an unmarked grave, according to Roman practice.. There was nothing to remember him by. He was soon forgotten by the world. But, he was not forgotten by Jesus, who said to him, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” You will eat with me at my table in my kingdom.

We have gathered today in answer to Jesus’ final plea—“Remember me.”

When we remember Jesus, Jesus remembers us. 

JESUS SAYS, BE AS RESOURCEFUL AS THIEFS: Luke 16:1-9

Jesus told a story about a property manager who was sacked for extravagant living at the expense of his boss. On his way out the door of a very lucrative job, he called in each of his employers’ creditors and reduced their debt by as much as 50%. The amounts renegotiated in each transaction are in the tens of thousands of dollars. The shrewd manager knows each client will be eternally grateful for his generosity. He will always be welcome in their homes. This shrewd but unethical manager swindled his boss out of vast sums of money, and feathered his nest so he will never have to work again. The manager made the creditors complicit in his dishonest transactions. Surprisingly, the boss, when he learned he was swindled expressed admiration for the quick-witted craftiness of his manager. In the arena of big business and high finance, games for financial gain through clever and shady dealing are played by high-stakes  gamblers every day. All of them admire a good con, even if they happen to be on the losing end of it. Even more surprisingly, Jesus too commended the manager’s cleverness in saving his skin, without condoning his dishonesty. Jesus loves cleverness. Listen to what Jesus says, “For the children of this world are more clever in dealing with their own generation than are the children of light.”

Jesus lamented that Christians, who are people of integrity and light, can be very dim bulbs when it comes to their pursuit and use of money. Why is it that non-religious people are usually more resourceful and clever in the pursuit of wealth for their own purposes, than believers are in their pursuit of wealth for the advancement of Christian values? Either we see it as tainted and miss opportunities to acquire it, or we unwittingly allow it to become our god. Jesus calls us to a middle way. Be shrewd in acquiring it but be equally shrewd in giving it away. How different might the world be if Christians were as fervent and focused in striving for a more just and peaceful world with their resources, as others have been in acquiring personal fortunes? 

Jesus drew three lessons from this story.

“Use worldly wealth to accumulate treasure in heaven.

We do well if in our acquisition of worldly wealth we see it as an awesome gift of God for good. We will then be generous and give it away to help others. The rich help the poor in this world. The poor help the rich in the world to come. Jesus said, “Give money to the poor and this will store up for you treasure in heaven,” Luke 12:33.

“Be trustworthy in managing worldly wealth.”

If we see worldly wealth as a servant, we will be able to manage it well. True wealth is measured not by what we make, but by what we give away. God blesses and multiplies what we give. The General Council of the Massachusetts Bay Colony approved the founding of a college for the training of ministers in 1636. A colonist willed his large excellent library and half his property to the project. Harvard College bears his name today. What a world changing event that modest gift turned out to be!

Worldly wealth is a wonderful servant but a terrible master.

If worldly wealth becomes our master it invariably brings corruption. Where wealth is master, corruption spreads like a cancer known as the Resource Curse. Many resource-rich countries are worse off than resource-poor countries because vast wealth is hoarded and squandered at the top. Roads, schools and social services are neglected. Whereas countries with fewer natural resources enjoy a higher standard of living because they have shrewdly invested more of their modest wealth in education, and social projects that promote the common good.

Money is God’s greatest rival for first place in people’s lives, but faith in God can make money our greatest friend for good, and advance the purposes of God in this world. Let’s keep track of our spending and our allocation of resources. If we have no financial plan and no spiritually informed spending priorities, chances are that money is our master and not our servant. Unless we pray that God will help us manage our money, our money will most certainly manage us.

Pastor Norm Erlendson

FAITH ALWAYS WINS

 A pastor went hiking in a nearby wilderness. It was a clear day, perfect for a walk in the woods. As he followed a trail around a bend he found himself face to face with an angry brown bear.  As the startled bear reared up to seize and devour him, the pastor cried out, “Dear Lord, make this bear a Christian.”  There was a huge clap of thunder. The bear fell to its knees, clasped its paws together and prayed, “Dear Lord, in the name of Jesus I thank you for this meal which you have so generously provided for me.”

When we ask God for something, and we get what we ask for, sometimes things don’t work out the way we intended. Those are the times that test our faith and our character. That’s when we need to remember, faith always wins. This is especially true of pastors and church leaders. Good leaders pray, plan and persevere in pursuit of their goals. Well laid plans create certain expectations, and it’s a hard blow when things don’t turn out the way we hoped they would. It is a test of our faith when success brings with it unexpected challenges that threaten to devour us. It’s easy to thank God when God gives us exactly what we want. But how do we pray when answered prayers include things we don’t want, or aren’t prepared to handle? 

Successes can lull us into a sense of false security that invites us to think we are in control of our plans and the results. But new challenges can be reminders that God is in charge, and that we walk by faith and not by sight. Remember, our trust in God which served us well yesterday, is what will get us through the challenges of today because faith always wins. That doesn’t mean we always get what we pray for.     

After pouring our heart out to God about what we want, let us pray “Not my will, but thy will be done.” That humble prayer requires that we let go of our fears, trust God, and move ahead in faith. Prayer in the final analysis isn’t about getting what we want. It is primarily about aligning our lives with the will of God, and seeking the greater good that comes to those who love God. 

Who knows what good might come from the new challenges we face in faith? Faith makes all things possible.  Perhaps, if that pastor stepped out in faith to treat the bear like a Christian, maybe the bear, seeing his faith, would decide not to treat him like a meal.    

Pastor Norm   

SET FREE

SET FREE

Luke 13:10-17

Omar Bradley said, Freedom—no word ever spoken has held out greater hope, demanded greater sacrifices, needed more to be nurtured, blessed more the giver, or came to being God’s will on earth.

My message today is about the importance of our freedom in Christ. Paul said, “It is for freedom that Christ has set us free.” Our gift of freedom is not for ourselves alone. We are called to advance the cause of freedom for others, not someday, but today. 

A gift I received on my 10th birthday was a “Paint By Numbers” set. It included 10 small containers, each one full of a different colored acrylic paint. It came with two different size brushes, one for broad strokes, the other for detail work. The center piece of the set was a 14”x14” pressed board canvas, stamped with the outlines of the “masterpiece” I was going to paint. It looked like a drawing of a 100 piece jigsaw puzzle, with a number in each little space.  I could make out the general outline of the picture. It was the face of a cowboy wearing a big smile and a hat. He was cheek to cheek with a horse. It was Gene Autry and Champion against a southwest desert setting. The key to the success of this whole project came in a little instruction booklet. Every color had a number. I had to carefully fill in every jigsaw shaped piece with the color that matched its number. I was enthusiastic, and went to work right away. It was fun. Then it was tedious. Then it was tiring. Finally it was boring. I don’t remember how long it took. By the time I finished it didn’t look like the masterpiece I envisioned. Somewhere along the way I lost interest. But I learned an important life lesson from this experience. Painting by numbers is easy. If you follow the directions you can paint a decent picture—but it isn’t art. Art comes from the heart and soul.  Painting by numbers is conformity to someone else’s rules to achieve someone else’s outcome. Art invites creativity and freedom of expression. Paint by numbers has no room for freedom or creativity.          

This contrast between letter and spirit informs my reading of the story of Jesus, the Stooped Over Woman and the Religious Leader. It’s a story about bondage and freedom. It illustrates the difference between a religion lived by the numbers, and the living religion of one’s heart and soul.

This is a  story about a conflict initiated by Jesus. He initiated a conflict on a holy day, in a sacred place where he was a guest, over an issue he cared deeply about. He was a visiting teacher at a synagogue expounding on scripture. Isaiah 58 may have been his text because there are several points of contact between that text and this story. It’s a prophetic judgment that says, If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil…and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.  

As Jesus spoke, a woman with a severe curvature of the spine shuffled in hardly noticed. She walked as though an invisible yoke lay heavy across her neck. Over the course of 18 years her neighbors had become accustomed to her stooped posture. But, her appearance broke Jesus’ heart. He stopped in mid-sentence. He saw her need to be set free from her physical condition as more important than the protocols of tradition or liturgy. So, he called her to him, and said, “Woman, you are set free!” And she stood up straight. I can almost hear a collective gasp from the audience, and the woman’s joyous cry of relief and joy. Then they heard the authoritative voice of the presiding elder. It was stern and tinged with anger. He chided the crowd, “There are six work days when you can come here seeking to be cured. Today is not one of them. Sabbath is for rest and worship. Something wonderful just happened and his response was to characterize a good deed as something evil, and to point the finger of blame at Jesus.

Jesus replied, “It is a common practice among us to untie our donkeys and oxen on the sabbath so we can lead them to water.  How can we deny a similar act of grace to this woman?” Healing her is not trampling on the sabbath. By placing her need for relief over our personal religious traditions we are making the sabbath a day of delight, Isaiah 58:13-14.    

But the religious leader refused to be drawn into the compassion and joy of that special moment. He felt nothing but anger toward Jesus for breaking the fourth commandment. He was painting by numbers. The best he could say was, “come back tomorrow if you want to be healed.” 

But Jesus believed that today is the day of salvation and healing. No good deed that we can do for someone today should have to wait until tomorrow. Because, like that bent over woman, all of us are weighed down by the trials and challenges of life. All of us need help and healing. All of us need to be set free.

WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE

One of the greatest speeches ever  concludes with the phrase, “With Malice Toward None, With Charity For All.” These words were spoken by Abraham Lincoln in his Second Inaugural Address. People who heard it that day said the President’s  address sounded more like a sermon than a political speech. It drew heavily from scripture. It was exactly what our divided Nation needed to hear at the time. It still speaks to our deeply polarized Nation today. President Lincoln, whether he was aware of it or not, was acting as divided America’s “Pastor-in-Chief.” Lincoln’s goal was to console and heal a wounded nation suffering from a deep, self-inflicted wound. Lincoln concluded his Inaugural Address with these soaring, gracious words that transcended everyone’s expectations: “With malice toward none, with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation’s wounds,...to do all which may achieve a just and lasting peace among ourselves, and with all nations.” The power of his address comes from its immediate historical context.

America had been at war with itself for 4 years. Our uncivil, Civil War had cost 625,000 American lives. Nearly every town and every family on both sides lost loved ones. The losses in terms of death and destruction to our nation were devastating. The number of those killed in all of our subsequent wars is equal to the number killed in our Civil War.

At Lincoln’s 2nd Inauguration the end of the war was in sight. But Americans on the winning side were very bitter and angry. Any joy at the near prospect of victory was drowned out by a raging desire for revenge. The strong sentiment in the North was that the Secessionist Rebels must pay dearly.  The hot spirit of retribution was widespread. There was talk of treason trials and imprisonments.

The newspapers which had been very critical of Lincoln’s leadership in the early stages of the the war now praised his strong, steady leadership as it drew to a close. This would be the greatest moment of his presidency. They fully expected the President to boast about this great national triumph, and about his personal success as commander-in-chief of the victorious Union forces. 

But the president sounded no note of triumphalism. Not a word of self congratulation. No swagger or boasting. No personal attacks directed at his critics in the media. No dancing on the graves of the defeated dead. No demeaning or disparaging remarks about his defeated foes. He did not characterize his opponents as evil. He did not call for revenge. He did not claim that God was on his side. Instead he called on his fellow victors to walk humbly. “Let us judge not that we be not judged.”  

The president did not pretend to know God’s will, but he did speculate that on the slavery question there was plenty of blame on both sides.  Perhaps Providence prolonged this conflict “until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword.” He concluded his address by inviting his fellow Americans to turn away from the anger of war and proceed in the post war period, “with malice toward none, with charity for all.” 

Lincoln was assassinated six weeks later—shot on Good Friday, April 14, 1865. He died the next day—and many remembered these powerful words, “With malice toward none, with charity for all.”  Lincoln’s hope for one nation, undivided by race or region was not realized, but this appeal to forgiveness and reconciliation became an inspiration and beacon for generations of Americans ever since who have sought to transcend partisan politics.

“With malice toward none; with charity for all” sums up Lincoln’s legacy to the American people. These words defined Lincoln’s vision for a post–Civil War America.  Sadly, his words were not heeded by that generation. A great opportunity was missed. But Lincoln’s words have outlived the shortcomings of Reconstruction. His words have have endured because they embody America’s, and humanity’s highest ideals. We need to heed them now just as much as when they were first spoken. 

Lincoln’s generation fought to preserve the Union. Lincoln knew that only forgiveness and love could redeem it.   

“With Malice Toward None, With Charity Toward All” is the heart of the Gospel. These words capture the spirit of Jesus Christ and define the rule by which he lived. They are the golden rule that can make our nation great in the eyes of God. They are the words, if we heed them, that will make us a glittering city on a hill to all people everywhere.  Amen  

Pastor Norm Erlendson 

The Spirit of Holy Happiness

Acts 2:1-8, 12-21

Disney World is popularly known as the “happiest place on earth”. I have been there a few times and it is indeed a delightful place that offers a lot of fun for young and old alike. But whether visitors stay there for a weekend or a week, they might also go away thinking that Disney World is also one of the most “expensive places on earth.” Whatever happiness one finds there certainly doesn’t come cheap. However, happiness is more affordable at restaurants and bars that offer a “Happy Hour” when drinks and certain menu items are available at a discount.  But we all love happy places whether they cost us money, or save us money. We all are engaged in a search for happiness Monday through Saturday, but what about Sunday? Why aren’t churches known as the happiest places on earth? And why isn’t the Sunday morning Church service known as a Happy Hour”? Maybe church attendance across all denominations is on the decline because churches are not generally known as happy places.

In the contest for our attention and time, the contemporary church seems to be losing out. Church attendance has been on the decline for quite some time. More than half of young adults who have grown up in church-going families now identify themselves as unaffiliated with any church. Volumes have been written to explain its loss of popularity.  For one thing our social world is very different from what it was a generation ago. There are certainly a lot more things going on Sunday mornings. Churches today have a lot more competition than they once did. However, I don’t believe the problem of declining attendance and waning interest is totally due to what’s going on outside the church. The church is becoming invisible because much of what the church does happens behind closed doors, and a growing number of people see the Sunday morning worship hour as boring and irrelevant to their lives. They see it as a dreary hour, not a happy hour. Perhaps the beginning of a solution can be found in the Origin Story of the Church.

The remarkable story of the beginning of the Church on the day of Pentecost is told in the second chapter of the Book of Acts. From its first day the church was a place of celebration, so much so that a sanctuary couldn’t contain it. It all began when the apostles, and about 100 others, were gathered for Sunday morning worship. They were quietly sitting, praying and waiting for the Promised Spirit, when they heard the rushing sound of a powerful wind.  Suddenly, the wind blew open the doors of their meetinghouse. As it swirled around them they noticed to their amazement that their hair was on fire! This was the Spirit, crashing into their sedate Sunday morning meeting, rudely interrupting their order of service. 

In the grip of fear and awe, they ran into the street dancing, singing and praising God at the top of their lungs. A large, diverse and curious crowd soon gathered around. This was a crowd of men and women who were pilgrims from all over the world. They had traveled to Jerusalem to observe this High Holy Day. They asked one another, “What does all this mean?” Some thought it must be an Act of God. Others said it sounded like a drunken party. Imagine people mistaking a church service for an Octoberfest! Peter spoke up in defense of his congregation. “We are not drunk. We are not full of wine. It’s only 9 am. We are filled with the Spirit of God. This is actually the fulfillment of the promise that God will pour his Spirit on anyone and everyone who calls on the name of the Lord. What you see here is what Spirit-filled people do.” 

Three thousand people responded to that invitation and were added to the church that day. The presence of the celebratory spirit of happiness is the Promise of Pentecost. When Jesus said, “I will build my church,” he intended it to be a community of the blessed, and the happiest place on earth. Jesus people are happy people. Happy people attract others because happiness is contagious. When Jesus said, “Blessed are you,” he meant that we have every reason to be happy in all circumstances. Be happy because God is for you and not against you. Be happy even when you mourn because God will comfort you. Be happy when you feel small and meek because you will inherit the earth. If a church today would flourish, it must recover Jesus’ legacy of happiness. It must embrace the spirit of Pentecost. Let’s work to make our church, the happiest place on earth. Let’s pray that the Spirit will blow open our doors and make 10 am every Sunday morning a “Happy Hour.”

Pastor Norm Erlendson