Blog Archives - St. Mark's Evangelical Lutheran Church

Bald

10/31/2014

2 Kings 2:19-25 Click here for the reading

I started losing my hair about the age of 17. I started shaving my head at the age of 25. In many of the congregations I served the high school and middle school kids usually try and give me a hard time about it.....I joke about it with them and then I read them this story. It's really odd. It's placed in a weird spot. It doesn't make much sense.

Neither does being bald. Why does the Lord take hair out of the places it makes sense to have and then put hair in places it doesn't.

So there is this story. The moral? Don't mess with a prophet who is struggling with his own image? I really don't know. Does it show off his power? Does it exemplify the pattern of sinful behavior many of us experience because of our baldness?

Probably none of those. Elisha did heal the water in the village and that was a good thing. Mauling of children by bears, maybe not so much.

Lord thank you for miracles of healing.

Elisha succeeds Elijah

10/30/2014

2 Kings 2:13-18 Click here for the reading

And so it happened. Elijah heads up into the heavens and disappears. I think Elijah and Enoch are the only ones in the Bible to have this experience of entering the kingdom without dying.

Elisha, Elijah's apprentice prophet, picks up the staff of leadership and in frustration reenacts a great event in scripture (the parting of the red sea). He now walks through the river. You are intended to make note of this as it pertains to the history of Israel.

God also shows that the great leaders, like Elijah and Elisha, are ones that God works through. Everyone is desiring to see the spirit of Elijah....and God uses Elisha in the same way. A basic biblical principle at work here; God works God's power in people. Yes, those people are incredible....because God is incredible.

We all have had incredible leaders in our lives. It appears to me though that sometimes leaders get too much credit, myself included. When we see churches grow....it must be the pastor. When we depth of faith articulated in others.....it must be the pastor. When organizations experience prosperity....it must be the CEO. When schools are really good....it must be the principal. We can see the gift and miss out on the giver of the gifts.

It also happens that when great leaders retire, move, or die....the people miss their presence, their life, their spirit. And almost immediately here Elisha is recognized as carrying Elijah's spirit in him. Because it is God's spirit.

If you have an incredible leader in your life, in your church, in your organization or school; make sure you let them know it and give thanks to God for them.

Elisha heals Naaman

10/29/2014

1 Kings 5:1-14 Click here for the reading

Leprosy is one of those things that is very noticeable, like your skin falling off your body. Easy to recognize when someone with leprosy is in need of healing. But what about the pain, the disease, the illness, the brokenness that is deeper than skin deep.

When I was in NY, I preached a sermon that had deep ties to the baptismal waters. So I had the baptismal font (think bird bath size) in front of me while I preached and filled it with water and talked about how the waters of baptism change us. THEN

In walks a man who left his cart at the door that held all of his belongings. He obviously slept on the ground the night before. He comes up to me, only the baptismal font separating us and asks (in a deep eastern european accent); "is this a luturn church?" I respond "yes." His eyes wide open now and he says "great. I want to be baptized."

I was unprepared for this but the Lord convicted me if I was gonna preach on life change thru baptism, I ought to be prepared for who the Lord sends to receive it!

SO I asked him what we ask all those preparing for baptism for 2000 years.

Do you renounce the devil and all the forces that defy God? (Yes)
Do you renounce the powers of this world that rebel against God? (Yes)
Do you renounce the ways of sin that draw you from God? (Yes)

Do you believe in God the Father? (Yes) IN Jesus Christ his only Son? (Yes) and in the Holy SPirit (Yes).

I then baptized him (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) and as I baptized him, all the dirt from his head had washed into that small baptismal font and I carefully wiped off his head. The congregation then laid their hands on him and prayed over him and welcomed him as their new brother. IT WAS POWERFUL!

And on that day, Edwin's life was changed and healed. I have no idea where Edwin is or what happened to him. These waters, Jordan and baptismal, are waters of healing and transformation. We hear the call to "Go, Wash and be clean.' not so we can see dirt in the baptismal font but so that we can experience healing that God speaks into our life, deeper than the dirt of our sin and deeper than the scars on our hearts.

Solomon's errors

10/29/2014

1 Kings 11:1-13 click here for the reading

Solomon openly defied God; he did not follow in his father David’s footsteps.

You would think that the person who asked for nothing else from God except for wisdom would be smart enough to continue to do one thing....follow God. yet Solomon became influenced by his own reputation, the desire for women, and his use of power.

Things turned real bad, real quick.

Solomon, as good a king as he was, did not do what was right in the eyes of God. (40 kings in the life of Israel (20 in the norhtern kingdom/20 in the southern kingdom and only 3 of them were said to be doing what was right in the eyes of God). You can't help but go back to God's people's early request.....give us a king so we can be like everyone else.

"Here you go!"- God

God's kingdom will be divided.....again. As representatives of God, we aren't so good.

Lord, heal us in our failures, encourage us in your wisdom and incline us toward your desires.

Queen of Sheba

10/29/2014

1 Kings 10:1-29 Click here for the reading

So the queen of Sheba shows up to test Solomon's wisdom, she is impressed and the response in Scripture is that Solomon goes on a vanity fair with collecting things and making everything ornate.

Solomon is becoming quite the King! Partnerships and influence expand his kingdom. And maybe that becomes the issue. Solomon begins to think of it as his kingdom instead of God's kingdom.

Given the background of this story and all that came before it I am reminded of the words of Jesus: "I tell you, not even Solomon and all of his glory was not arrayed like one of these lilies in the field."

Solomon Blesses the assembly

10/25/2014

1 Kings 8:54-61 click here for the reading

Sometimes just reciting scripture is enough.

"Blessed be God, who has given peace to his people Israel just as he said he’d do. Not one of all those good and wonderful words that he spoke through Moses has misfired. May God, our very own God, continue to be with us just as he was with our ancestors—may he never give up and walk out on us. May he keep us centered and devoted to him, following the life path he has cleared, watching the signposts, walking at the pace and rhythms he laid down for our ancestors."

-Amen!

The dedication of the temple

10/24/2014

1 Kings 8:1-13 Click here for the reading

God has told us that he lives in the dark
where no one can see him;
I’ve built this splendid Temple, O God,
to mark your invisible presence forever.

One of the things that I marvel about in Scripture is how God continues to make God's self available. Here is no different than in the dedication of the temple. One of the great Eucharistic prayers reads something like:

that, beholding the God made visible,
we may be drawn to love the God whom we cannot see.

The temple acting much in the same way....seeing the temple, people were able to relate to the God they did not see.

Solomon builds the temple

10/23/2014

1 Kings 6:1-22 Click here for the reading

This is a well known story. It gets mentioned time and time again, this is THE temple. It is THE temple Jesus walks into when we was young, teaching about the kingdom. It is THE temple that Jesus prophesied about being destroyed. This is THE temple that the disciples gathered around to teach after Jesus rose from the dead. So when THE temple is mentioned, this IS it!

But this was not Solomon's vision. This was David's vision. Although David did not get a chance to complete it. Much like Joshua fulfilling Moses leading God's people into the promised land, Solomon completes David's vision of the temple. From wandering in the desert and carrying God around for what seems like forever, God now has a home.

And That can be a dangerous thing. Instead of worshipping God, there is a temptation to worship the temple. In fact, the very splendor of the temple can become an idol and distraction to the worship of the God who lives. There is a great celebration happening in this story as well....we now have a home. 480 years after leaving Egypt the people have finally settled into the land and God now has a place to be worshipped. God instructs them on the purpose of this temple....“About this Temple you are building—what’s important is that you live the way I’ve set out for you and do what I tell you, following my instructions carefully and obediently. Then I’ll complete in you the promise I made to David your father. I’ll personally take up my residence among the Israelites—I won’t desert my people Israel.”

It is the people that God promises never to abandon...not the building. When the disciples see THIS temple they look at it in amazement and wonder " one of his disciples said, “Teacher, look at that stonework! Those buildings!” Jesus said, “You’re impressed by this grandiose architecture? There’s not a stone in the whole works that is not going to end up in a heap of rubble.” (Mark 13:1-2).

Jesus reaffirms God's promise to the people....not the temple.

Lord, forgive us when our buildings and other things distract us from worshiping you. And help us to remember your promise to never abandon us and live among us always!- Amen!

Solomon is born

10/17/2014

2 Samuel 12:24-25 Click here for the reading

In the midst of the tragedy of losing the first child they conceived, David and Bathsheba conceive another son....Solomon.

Child birth brings new life. The birth of Solomon will bring life into death. A principal of our faith. However, their will be a struggle for the throne shortly following. A principal of the world.

That story will unfold. For now, we celebrate the new life and new birth for David and Bathsheba.

How do you celebrate with families as they bring new life into the world?

Bathsheba's child dies

10/16/2014

2 Samuel 12:15-23 Click here for the reading

A parent should never have to bury a child. This is a sad text and the terrible link is that God has caused an affliction upon David's son because of his sin against Uriah and Bathsheba.

I have been with parents as they grieve the loss of a child, it is gut wrenching. This is the portrait of a man that we see here.

Have you ever grieved so hard that it became difficult to go on living?

Lord, speak into the lives of those that have buried their children, bring comfort in their mourning.