Sermons

vicarScottGrossman smSermon for 4th Pentecost - 
The Rev. Scott Duane Grossmann.
Vicar of Mt. Olive - 

Nine people killed, shot to death in a church, after a Bible study

What next? What do we do now? how do process this information?

We are angry God, shocked and confused by this persons actions
and towards you God.

Tragedy is tragedy suffering is suffering

pain is pain fear is fear We all know how this feels
we can never be immune to this feeling

However I did not come this far to be given the spirit to be
a slave again to fear

Romans 8:15

As we unpack the Scripture today which is such a famous Scripture pictures are painted of this 1633 painting of Rembrandt Jesus' calming of the storm on the sea reveals his power over evil,
since the sea represents evil and chaos. The boat on the sea is a
symbol of the church and invites us to trust God amid life's turbulence.

yeah, yeah, yeah-
Yes this all well and fine

The storm on the sea is truly I belive a time when we get to ask the question
What next?

quote DFR babyWhat do we do now?

the storm on the lake as Jesus sleeps up front on the stern

But that's really go back to where this originates we see at this point the infancy of the mastery with his disciples Jesus all day long or maybe days long had been speaking in parables teaching people the message of Gods kingdom

In this message having disciples and all people hear this message through a parable but yet still not really comprehending what it's saying but we also know that Jesus had no other choice but to speak in parables as if he was to speak in Literal form the laws of the time
Jesus was absolutely breaking the law and would be put away or even killed earlier

The message was slated as blasphemy so Jesus had no other way except to teach the lessons through parable eventually telling the disciples by unpacking the parable and making a little bit clearer as we all can relate to these parables with our own questions

however Jesus could not speak right out in the truth in without being condemned by the laws that were taken place in time and having to work extra hard to get Gods word out in society.

Have you ever been in a situation where you have to make it sound like it's their idea

once As a student Council President I was young some might call it manipulation or playing domb we had been forbidden to have any more dances at the school due to the fact that some students got caught drinking but yet we need to raise money for a huge student
function that was coming up and I knew for certain that I couldn't go ask the principal on behalf of the student Council for money without having to have worked for the funds I go and enter the principal's office and I just sent in the chair for a while and the principal year looks
at me and says what's wrong Scott said

well I just can't figure it out I don't know quite what to do to raise money for this school function we have exhausted all avenues and we had a really great idea but I don't think the carwash isn't going bring in enough funds what do you think so I speak in parable form

the principal says how about a record hop any one here remember recond hops today they would be called I tune jams or a hot rave dance or something like that

my Lord I said a record hop would be perfect, what a great idea which is a school dance with out the band but nevertheless we received the go-ahead for this fundraiser and it was all along the same lines as we wanted the fund raiser to be

I make the compassion to this story not that Jesus this is what Jesus was teaching the people not to manipulate the situation however to open up the connection for themselves to here the truth to own your own connection to the parable.

If Jesus had not spoke in parables he will be taken to prison and people questioned his teachings this was new to the disciples that this was honestly new to Jesus and quite exhausting, this was right shortly after Jesus appointed the 12 apostles the people thinking that
Jesus was possessed speaking of kingdom cannot stand divided against itself

To the parable of the of the sewer scattering the seeds along the pathway

to the parable of the lamp on the stand hide it under a bushel no

to the parable of the growing seed
and parable of the mustard seed smalles of seeds growing above and beyond and now we are to the calming of the storm

After hours and days in the beginning of jesus teachings
He said to his disciples could you please take me across to the other side across in your boat Very nicely the desiples being of service to Jesus and said absolutely and get in the boat and Jesus after working very hard and speaking of parables and trying to get the
message massaged into our humaness a society

Jesus was exposed is a human person goes and he lays down in the sturn wake up gon’t you care if we drown

where is your faith don't be afraid Jesus says what do I do now with these people
what am I going to do and the disciples say what am I going to do with the situation what are we going to do now who is this guy were serving more following what we do now

we left our fishing posts were now following this guy here is special we are in awh of him what are we suppose to do now

interesting how we live today these same questions when we get the news of being diagnosed with cancer my life is over

or my best friend committed suicide what do I do

a sudden death stops us in our tracks how to go on from here

people shot dead in church what next?

we have a new pastor a true pastors pastor pastor Eric what we do now and the pastor says this is a great congregation what do I do next

the vicars finished
my time at MTO is coming to an end what now

Divorce after 35 years where to go from here

How do I fill this void how do I hideaway from the emptiness I feel

My child is Gay what do I do now

Im alcoholic what will I do

A loved one dies a slow death and every day you say what can I do today

Some one suddenly dies leaving us all alone what do we do now

A loss of a job that was your only source of income what do I do im broke what now

My teen age daughter is pregent what am I to do with this information


My father lost both legs in War cambat what am I going to do now a motorcycle accident and I'm paralyzed from the neck down wonder what will I do how can I go on

And We all say
The way is lonely our legs are aching, our breath comes regularly and hurts in our lungs the road is uphill in your throat is parched every fiber of your being wants desperately to throw in the towel to admit defeat to just stop already

But in the distance you see a person waving by the side of the road as you get closer you here a calling out to you

you can do this I believe in you, I love you, why should you listen to this lone voice along all the negative ones in your head

because the one speaking them is God as travelers journey before you all the way to the end and is returned in order to encourage you to finish

The words echo in your mind long after you pass them in fact it sounds like its is right next to you urging you on, when you stagger I am with you

you can do this I love you are able to hold your head up and see the other around you encouraged by the same voice and so you are able to keep going knowing that Jesus is waiting for you at the end of your journey

Second Corinthians 5 14 for the love of Christ urges us on

Yet we say what do WE do now with this cheering me on stuff

Jesus during the storm with his thought what am I going to do with this situation and disciples what am I going to do with this guy what we got ourselves into what are we to do
my faviort bible veres is
Romans 815
I am no longer a slave to fear for I have been given the spirit of God for I have been given the spirit that I may live no longer to the slavery of fear

Let me read you something

When we experience a miracle it is in our identity is with the God the Father and with the Son Christ it cannot be one and not the other if you are part of one you must be part of the other because they are one in the holy Trinity is holy because it is one.

if you would exclude yourself from this union you are perceiving the holy Trinity a separate we don't have that luxury our pain is too strong our pain and loneliness and sadness can overcome us even in our own belief of staying here on this Earth a being of service we
must be included in it because it is everything unless you take your place in it and fulfill your function as part of the holy Trinity as you are

No part of it can be imprisoned if it's truth is to be no can you be separated from your identification and be at peace, disassociation is not a solution it is a delusion I'm angry at you God I will not pray to you today know when pain and suffering come in we go deeper to
become fuller to become richer the delusion belief the truth will assail them and they do not recognize it because they preferred the delusion staying the victim judging truth as something they do not want they perceive their illusions which block knowledge

Help that by offering them your unified mind on their behalf as I am offering you mind on behalf of yours alone we can do nothing but together our minds fuse into something whose power is far beyond the power of its separate parts

By not being separate the mind of God is established in ours and as ours the mind is invincible because it is undivided the undivided will of the Son ship of the adoption to God is the child of God is the perfect creator being wholly in the likeness of God whos will it is.

the will of God for you is quite simple is to go deeper to become fuller to become richer bring it down in give it out I will deny you nothing the Holy Spirit says as God denies me nothing I will deny you nothing Christ Jesus says as God denies me nothing

The strength of Christ will never be wanting if you choose to share it

Sowhat do I do now? I give it willingly and gladly because I need you as much as you need me Gods says we are the joint will of the Son ship of the adoted community of God whose wholeness is for all.

we began the journey back by setting out together every grain of growth in our strength is offered for all so they too can lay aside their weakness and add their strength for everything the world has to offer is of God

What God's will for you is yours he has given his will to his treasure, whose treasure it is your heart lies where your treasure is and he as he does you who are beloved of God are holding at last learn this of me and free the holy will of all those who are blessed as you are.

What do I do now where do it go from here what’s there to live for why go on what else is there how am I to live with this what am I going to do with this information you competed me how can I go on I feel its over for me my life has no meaning this has crused me my heart
has been broken purpose never for us to know in this life we must trust in him as the God who does only what is right

For us what do we do now is it a trip to Hawaii is in a new relationship is it just moving to a new congregation what I do now it is in a action literally meditation a bit longer each day a meditative prayer, a moment of silence, just your consent opportunity to go deep within
what'll I do now I step through the pain to go deeper this is easier said then done
I say If you are led by the Spirit you are not under the law of man so what do we do now? as we have to live and speake in parables of today

We go DFR
Deeper fuller richer

When I have been diginoues - DFR

when my heart is broken - DFR

When death is knocking - DFR

Lost my job - DFR

A new baby is born - DFR

Getting in to the collage I wish for - DFR

When I'm homeless - DFR

What I do now I go DFR, what I do with this information - DFR

Deeper fuller richer

I go deeper I bring it down I fill up I take it in I become richer and give it out

Deeper in God's love in God's trust I become more filled with God fuller richer to live richer to give back

Deeper Down deep inside in your innermost being completely overwhelmed absorbed in something far down in coming from reaching inside my body

Deeper unfathomable cavernous

Extending far in or back from the front from the edge extending far in or back from the front extending far down from the top for surface and deep well
Covered or immersed to a specific depth often used in combustion

Fuller filled make something full or become full take up all the space cover the blank area become abundant make somebody feel powerful motion close up a hole meet the need occupy free time put filling into something power sails with wind plenty of something enough
to make material in the sails to raise

Richer wealthy worth much costly and fine with good supply of something plentiful productive better off comfortable fertile with fatty ingredients with strong pleasant smell strongly colored with deep. Well-off abundantly supplied funds to give away

to go deeper we we become fuller to become richer

this looks a lot better on paper it sounds a lot better in person it's sometimes easy to stay in victim

Our Luther says
therefore you should let my love for you be reflected in your love one another though you are solely tempted and try for my sake and hard pressure to forsake me stand firm and be patient but my love be stronger greater and mightier then the suffering you feel

where do you go from here Romans 5:5 God's love has been poured into our hearts to the Holy Spirit that has been given to us. why would’nt we go get it

We freeze don’t we we are so overtaken with shock in our anger with God our stuberness and pouting our way out in our own living hell

Putting emphas on Psalm 118 he made darkness his covering around him his canopy thick clouds dark with water the Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness

And we never leave until tomorrow the thing that we are guided to do today I pray that I may face today's problems with good grace

your life is been given to you mainly for the purpose of training your soul this life as we live is not so much for the body as for the soul

God wants you to choose what suits the soul as well as the body your soul is being trained by the good you choose thus the purpose of your life is being accomplished and we pray that we may choose what is good for my soul I pray that I may realize God's purpose for my
life in dealing with tragdgy

Look at Jod suffering
Job after he prayed for his friends the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before Old Testament illustration of how the high Christian value taught in Matthew Job's prayer marks the turning point

to prosperity for him made prosperous again is the Hebrew expression translated restores the fortunes of Job is restored no longer is there a reason for Job to experience suffering unless he was sinful and deserved it which is not the case God does not allow us to suffer
for no reason and even though the reason may be hidden in the mystery of his divine purpose never for us to know in this life we must trust in him as the God who does only what is right

It is not necessary that you think of God is others think of him but it is necessary that you think of him as supplying what you personally need
the weak needs God's strength
the strong need God's tenderness
the tempted and fallen need God's saving grace
the righteousness need God's love

the lonely need God as a friend

the fighters for righteousness need a leader in God

you may think of God in any way you wish we usually do not turn to God until we need God

Deeper fuller richer
Thinking about God and love and worship drives away evil it is the thought before that the hosts of evil flee the thought of a power greater than yourself is the call for a lifeline to rescue you from temptation the thought of God banishes loneliness and dispels gloom it
summons help to conquer your faults think of God as often as possible use the thought prayerfully and purposefully it will carry your thoughts away from material things and toward the spiritual things that make life worthwhile I pray that I may think of God often I pray that I
may rest in peace of the thought of his love and care

The turning point in the process of growing up is when you discover the core of strength within you that survives all hurt
Max Lerner

We consider all of the troubles and crisis in our lives and all of the scrapes we've gotten into we might feel overwhelmed with what we have gone through it seems miraculous for many of us to be here today when we stopped feeling sorry for ourselves being the victim
staying in victimhood and we stop complaining about the unfairness of it all

we may get a new insight I have survived through the learning of what we have gotten from others and from circumstances it is now ours to serve those with that knowledge and wisdom and love we see the strength and persistence that brought us through the toughest
times we have known

one of my denial how to let go and go on from here

even when some of us did not know it we were being carried along by God reminds me of that wonderful footprints in the sand there was one set of footprints to God where were you God caring

you when we remind ourselves today that knowing what we have lived through with the help of God through the love of Christ Jesus in the guidance that is given to us by the Holy Spirit we can deal with anything to come I'm grateful to God with out words to express for the
help in surviving hard times in life

Deeper fuller richer the loneliness each man feels is his hunger for life itself in its yarning that makes this possible in our consent to just be with God is our DFR

Many different journeys have been taken by the men and women finally entered committed to the surrender of God's love in the life they have been given in the spiritual journey in this religious encounter we search we are in search of hope for ourselves for our loved ones
even for strangers in those around the world most of us have known our own brand of desperation but we have one thing in common the loneliness we felt some of us felt left out of our families and our groups and other groups

we were appalled by what was happening in our lives alone with our secrets as if no one truly knew us some of us even romanticized our loneliness is a form of terrorism staying the victim being the victim was comfortable as we gave up our controlling behaviors through
the death of going deeper through the commitment of going deeper to become filled and ultimately richer to be able to give back give away down in out

we become more accessible to friends and we give up our controlling behaviors of false pride over competitiveness and striving for power we make our weak spots and secrets more obvious we become more accessible to friends and we can access and become more
accessible to Christ within each of us it is not that we are living in fear of failure it is that we live in the fear that we are too successful we are much to much as we count the blessings of our spiritual journey our connection with God through the Spirit of Christ to the spirit of
the Holy Spirit for the teachings of Christ this being high on our list is that we are no more longer own in part what Me going and leads me in the spiritual guidance of this community family above in church relationships we build upon these relationships is my hunger for life
I'm grateful for the friends who truly know me and still accept me hid it under a bussel … No

Sermon ending I will leave you where I statred

Be not a tree monkey and please try to let go of the peanuts we hold so tight onto at the bottom of the bottleneck jar release your hand become free let God take your hand go deeper and fuller richer DFR as I take you with me I will stay here with you and in our sacred
intersections of life are meetings will always be treasured with the oneness we carry into our next sacred intersection

sacred life is all around us every day Your pastor took a chance on me and I am wordless with gratetuide we all get to experience each other what a blessing we now live with this person purposeful responsibility and no we can't ever messed it up when it is our mission it is
for us to go DFR deeper fuller and richer I love you and I thank you and respect you for your healthy life individually as well as your healthy life as a congregation I will miss you yet we will never have left each other as the Trinity of our oneness keeps us joined.

Today we honer or fathers the good ones and the bad ones
we carry our fathers within us in ways we we may not notice when we do notice this in our thoughts and actions we can use this relationship as a source of strength when we hear a critical mental message saying we didn't perform well enough is it a father's voice when we
feel a sense of strength and peace are we in touch with our childhood knowledge of fatherly love when we doubt our ability to get along with any woman or man are we relying on what we learned in our childhood homes perhaps we can recast our father's son daughter
relationship in adulthood where our fathers to removed from our lives for us to know them maybe we can see now that a father's love was there but was overshadowed by the demands of survival or by a misguided life if we are forever seeking our father's approval we may
need to find the ways in which they are truly human and imperfect like us making peace with them whether face-to-face or in the memory of her relationship empowers us with their strengths and grants us the adulthood we deserve I will make peace with my father and my
mind and his strength and that of his father will be a wellspring in my life.

amen

Vicar Scott

The Rev. Scott Duane Grossmann
Vicar, Mt. Olive Lutheran Church
Santa Monica, California


What Next?
Sermon for 4th Pentecost
June 20 & 21, 2015
Written by Rev. Scott Duane Grossmann 
Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, Santa Monica, California


 

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