Sermon for First Sunday in Lent
Living Life 'In Between'
By The Rev. Melissa Maxwell-Doherty -
It is a delight to be among you today. Pastor Eric told me about the connections between this congregation and Cal Lutheran. One of your former Pastors, Pastor Huff, was a member of California Lutheran College’s Board of Regents. Leaders like him believed in the mission of the college and helped us to turn chicken coops into classrooms. I learned about the art work that Cal Lutheran alum Mark Gulsrud fashioned for your church. The stained-glass windows in Samuelson Chapel at the work of his hands and design. Over the years your congregation has supported us with gifts a little under $100,000. I thank you for this support which has fueled our mission.
It is a special delight to be able to see the Bruin Shelter that you provide for homeless college students. Some of our students are also housing and food insecure as well. I know the power of this work to support and encourage them so that they can earn their degrees.
On behalf of Chris Kimball, our President, I thank you for your partnership in the gospel and for your prayers and advocacy for all the colleges and universities of the ELCA. Your Lutheran university’s serve best when we labor to raise up leaders who are strong in character and judgment, confident in their identity and vocation, and committed to service and justice.
It is good to be among you.
I don’t know about your life but right now I feel “in between”.
I am in-between the twin tragedies of last November and a sense of healing and restoration of life. I am in-between the mass shooting at Borderline Bar & Grill which killed a recent Cal Lutheran alum and the wildfires that enveloped our region and a sense of being a survivor of these twin traumas. I am in-between my husband having a heart attack and the unveiling of what the future will hold for us both. I am in-between the ashen cross imprinted on my forehead and the great three days of the Easter Triduum. I am in a time of in-between-ness.
In the gospel text for this first Sunday of Lent, we meet Jesus in an “in between” kind of time. He is between his baptism, on one hand, and the unfolding of his public ministry of teaching and healing, on the other. Rising fresh from the waters of his own baptism, he heard the words declared over his life by his creator, the one who formed him saying, “You are my Son, the beloved, with you I am well pleased.”
In our lesson today, Jesus is in a 40-day in-between time, between his baptismal calling and his vocation of public ministry in the world. There he is, full of the Holy Spirit and lead by the Spirit into the rough and tumble unknown territory of the wilderness.
Full of spirit. What does this mean?
Is this a spiritual filling that empowers him towards courageous action and intention....a “he is ready to go and the moment in now” kind of full spirit of energy and vitality?
Or is this fullness more of a sense of stillness and clarify of conviction, as if Jesus is so centered in the Spirit that everything else in the space of emptiness and hunger comes in striking focus… “I know who I am and whose I am and that makes all the difference?
Hum. I don’t suppose we will ever know for sure, yet we do have the evidence of how Jesus responds after he has fasted from water and food for 40 days, the in-between time, the reflection time, the wilderness time, the centering in God and Spirit time.
“If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.”
“If you, then, will worship me, all the kingdoms of the world under my authority will all be yours.”
“If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from the top of the temple building for it is written, ‘He will command his angels concerning you, to protect you,’ and ‘On their hands they will bear you up, so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’”
If. If. If.
Ah. The tyranny of the “ifs” from the mouth of the Devil. This ancient tempter questions the very fullness of the Spirit that is in Jesus. He twists the words of the prophets and psalmists sowing the seeds of doubt and anxiety. He beckons Jesus to rest back on his own laurels, on his own reason and strength, instead of sinking deeply into the Spirit that has called and enlightened him. He tests Jesus confidence in his identity encouraging him to question what it means to be in deep relationship with God and to know himself as the son of God. He seeks to lure Jesus away from his spiritual and bodily grounding and throws obstacles in his path.
That is what the Devil does. The power of evil tempts, twists, and tests Jesus to abandon the mission and identity that is his. The power of evil works to silence Jesus’ voice as the son of God and lead him down an alternate path.
And Jesus—he may be thirsty and hungry and on empty from his 40 day fast, yet he is still full of the Spirit. Listen to his voice as he speaks to the Devil. Listen carefully.
Hear how Jesus claims his identity.
Listen to how Jesus speaks into his mission.
Hear Jesus voice the very will of God.
“We do not live by bread alone.”
“We worship the Lord our God and serve only God.”
“We do not put the Lord our God to the test.”
Looking into the face of the Devil, Jesus claims his identity, his vocation, and his voice. He will tend the needs of God’s people. He will not follow the Devil’s temptations. He will walk the way of God.
We have seen this before in Jesus. Last week the scripture lesson that centered your worship service was the story of the Transfiguration recorded in the gospel of Luke. You may recall that Jesus and his companions, Peter, James, and John went up to a mountain top to pray. While they were there Jesus was shining like the sun as he talked to Moses and Elijah, two great leaders in the faith.
Peter and his companions were amazed to see them all shining in glory. Peter was so in awe of the moment that he wanted to stay in that shining brightness forever.
“Jesus, it is good for us to be here. Let’s stay here forever and erect three dwellings so that you and Moses and Elijah can shine forever. We can bring people up the mountain so they can see you where you are. It will be great. People will have to believe in you then.”
Well, Peter was right in that it was good for them to be on the mountain together and have this vision of Jesus in all his glory.
Yet Peter was still wrong. It was not good to build a permanent spot on the mountain top and bring crowds of people to it to meet with the living Jesus.
The living Jesus is going to meet the people right where they live. The activated Jesus walks the way of God and is with God’s people in their need, in their pain, wherever it was that they need new life to emerge from the ashes of their existence.
Do you remember what happens when Jesus comes down the mountain? He gets busy---he heals a young boy with seizures, he appoints 70 people to go out two by two to proclaim the message of God’s love and reconciliation and healing and peace for all. He equips others to minister in his name. Jesus’ ministry is outward, on the streets, with the people, wherever there is human need.
This is the Jesus way. It is not at all what the Devil wants Jesus to do. Yet it is what God intends for God’s own son who is full of the Spirit.
You know what? It is also what God intends for us as Jesus’ followers. You have a calling because of your baptism into the body of Christ. You are full of the Spirit. You have a vocation. Your hands are needed. Your voice is needed. Your abilities and talents, varied and full, are needed. God has called you for a purpose..…a heavenly call to give your life in service to Jesus Christ for the sake of this world.
You have a big job to do to resist the Devil. You have a big job to do to resist those things that impede life and push them back with the spirit filled energy God working in you. God’s Spirit has animated your life so that you can bring life to those places that are broken and threatened with destruction and pain.
Two weeks ago picketers from Westboro Baptist Church came to Thousand Oaks. They came because they were outraged that the Thousand Oaks High School has a LGTBQ Pride club. They were outraged that the high school has a Catholic club. They were outraged that the high school has a mental health club. They used their voice to say to our city that God sent the shooter to Borderline Bar & Grill as a judgment upon our high school.
I realize that there are different ways to respond to the voice of hate that is manifested by Westboro Baptist. Each of the ways are appropriate ways to respond. Some folks may want to ignore them with conviction, to not call media attention to this voice of hatred. Some folks may want to Host a Party, to plan alternative events at the same time as the picketers are around to share an alternative message. Some folks want to stage a counter protest of a sorts, to be present at the same time as the picketers to voice publicly a different message of resistance and love and to make this voice heard.
When Westboro Baptist Church came to Thousand Oaks, I had to make a choice. How would I speak into a message of hate, a message of evil? How does my identity as a Christian, as a Lutheran pastor in the ELCA, inform how I voice my convictions? Who is the neighbor to which Christ calls me to advocate and support?
Spending time with Cal Lu students making posters for the counter protest and preparing them to encounter hate was holy time. Talking with members of the university PRIDE club about the ways they were reaching out and being neighbors to the high school PRIDE club was holy time. Standing with a crowd of witnesses from local churches, our community, and the university voicing God’s welcome and love for all was holy time.
I want you to know that this calling we have to walk the Jesus way is not easy. It is not easy to bring life to the places of hostility in the world. It is not easy to counter the voice of evil with the claims on Almighty God.
Yet God is be faithful. God’s Spirit will sweep over the wilderness that is our life. God will use what we do have and God will make light come out of darkness, creation come out of chaos, and love out of hate.
The Rev. Melissa Maxwell-Doherty
Vice President
Mission & Identity
California Lutheran University
Sunday, March 10, 2019
