Lutheran Pride Day

Just a quick note before I post this last Sunday's sermon. I have been so overwhelmed by the number of comments I have received about my last post "The Letter." I know that no one should be shocked that such things are still said from Christians' mouths/pens but it is still always amazing. Thank you all, friends and strangers, for you comments. May Christ continue to be with you all as you share God's true gospel message with all the world.

So onto the sermon. This sermon was really not based on any of the text for this last Sunday (yes I know I'm bad), though I did allude to those text: Jeremiah 31:31-34, Romans 3:19-28 and John 8: 31-36. And again my disclaimer: this was written for an oral sermon, i.e. there are probably many grammatical errors and spelling mistakes, but just deal with it.

I love being a Lutheran on Reformation Day! It is the day that we wear red (which we don’t get to break out that often) sing the Lutheran fight song (A Mighty Fortress) and celebrate the fact that we are Lutheran. Today, Reformation Day, is kind of like a Lutheran pep rally or Lutheran Pride Day. Maybe to evangelize we should start having parades…think of how many people would claim to be Lutheran on Reformation Day? I mean hundreds of thousands of people claim to be Irish on St. Patrick’s Day, when they clearly aren’t Irish.

But what are we celebrating today? In 1517 on All Saints Eve, All Hallow’eve (better known as Halloween), Martin Luther nailed the 95 Theses to the door of Castle Church in Wittenburg. These were 95 complaints that he had against the Catholic Church. The main complain that all of these 95 theses had to do with was how the church handled confession, forgiveness and absolution. The Catholic Church was selling forgiveness to anyone who gave money to help build St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome. Now as great of a capital campaign as that was, what makes a human think that they can sell God’s forgiveness?

Well this lead to quite a bit of debate, and it started the Reformation, the re-forming, of the church. And as a result many different groups or denominations broke off from the One, True, Catholic and Apostolic Church in order to follow their own understanding of God, scripture and faith.

So does this bit of history mean that we are celebrating the Lutheran break from the Catholic Church? Well for some people that is true, but really we are celebrating, remembering and reminding ourselves of so much more.

See the real reason Luther wrote these 95 Theses is because he had a different understanding of forgiveness and salvation. For Luther, and for us Lutherans, forgiveness is not something you can buy. You cannot do whatever you want and then be able to buy your way out of sin and death by giving enough money away. First off true stewardship is more than just paying your dues, it is about realizing your money and possessions belongs to God and you are to give generously to God and to those in need. But more importantly, we cannot buy God’s forgiveness because it is not something that we can buy.

God’s forgiveness is not doled out to the highest bidder or the person who does the most good in this world. No God’s forgiveness is freely given, it is grace that is pour out upon us, each and every day, it is a gift that one cannot buy and also that one cannot return. We are saved from sin and death because of God’s grace. We are saved by God’s grace through our faith, and not our works (including our money). We are saved because God loves us, not because God loves how much we time and money we give or because God loves how much we love others. We are saved, we are given God’s grace because God loves us.

Alleluia! Amen! What an amazing message! Who would turn away from that? Who would not want to hear that it is not up to us but solely up to God? I don’t know. It is a message that is almost 500 years old and yet still people do not know it and still people turn away from it.

And at the same time Jesus came 2000 years ago and there are still people who do not believe in him, who do not acknowledge him as the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father, God from God, Light from Light, True God from True God, Begotten not made, of one being with the Father through him all things were made, For us and for our salvation he came down from heaven, was incarnate of the Holy Spirit and the virgin Mary, and became truly human. For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried. On the third day he rose again in accordance with the scriptures; he ascended into heaven and is seated at the right hand of the father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead and his kingdom will have no end.

So if people aren’t going to acknowledge that, I can understand why hearing that God’s grace, forgiveness and salvation are free gifts that require no effort on our own other than faith, can be a little difficult for people to sallow.

But that is the point of the church, that is the point for us as Christians. We are suppose to go out as Christians, as people of the reformed church, and tell other the good news, the good news that God continues to promise us that Christ died for our sins, that Christ has set us free, that Christ has made us no longer a slave to sin and death. We are called to go out and tell others about the new covenant that God has made with us, the covenant that is referred to in our reading from Jeremiah today, the covenant that was started with Christ Jesus, but has yet to be fully realized. The covenant that God has forgiven us of our sins, the covenant that we are saved by God’s grace through faith and not our works. And we are also called as Christians and as a church to tell people that we are still struggling to understand what exactly that means.

See the Reformation is not something that happened 500 years ago that we commemorate today. No the reformation, the re-formation of the church, of our hearts and of our faith, is something that was started long ago but yet continues today. The reforming of the church is something that faith-based people struggled with 500 years ago in the days of Martin Luther, but it something that we have struggled with more recently. 500 years ago, the re-forming issues were about forgiveness, being able to worship in the common language, clergy being able to marry, and the definition of the sacraments. In more recent decades the re-forming issues were about the ordination of women, the merging of church bodies, ecumenical relationships, and the authority of scripture. And today many of those same issues are still at the heart of how the church is re-forming. But other issues have arisen as well, including the ordination and marriage of homosexuals, as was greatly noted by our most recent church-wide assembly, and the church as a whole is dealing with issues about how to adapt, change and remain the same in the constant changing tides that happen in the secular world.

And on a local level, we too are re-forming. We have been reforming as you have seen fit to call me as your pastor; we have been reforming as we understand what it means to be Lutherans in this area of Fairfield County, Connecticut. We have been reforming by telling people that Bethlehem Lutheran Church is not dead but has much life left in it. We have been reforming as we, a small church, do many great things and yet continue to be underestimated. We have been reforming as we grow, change and adapt to new situations, to new life.

We are a reforming church and that is truly what we celebrate on this Reformation Day, not the fact that some dude nailed a piece of paper to a church door almost 500 years ago, but that by God’s grace we are a church today, that is alive, and constantly reforming.

"The Letter"

I (actually the church in general) received a letter on Thursday from a local baptist church. I have been holding off posting about it because I wanted to not write while my emotions were still raw.

First a bit of back story before we get to the letter. Bethlehem sent out invitations for my installation service to all churches in our area along with the ELCA churches in the county.

So now the letter which I have not added anything to and have only subtracted the letterhead and the pastor's name (for I'm sure he would have no problem with me posting it but I do not have his permission, nor do I truly wish to be in conversation with him in order to get it.)

Dear Sir or Madam,

Having received your invitation to the installation of Rebecca Middeke-Conlin as minister of Bethlehem Lutheran Church, permit us to respond.

Whereas the mark of a child of God is obedience to God's commandments,
And hereby we do know him, if we keep his commandments. I John 2:3

And the mark of true Christian love is likewise obedience to His commandments,
By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments I John 5:2

And whereas God has commanded that women are to keep silence in churches,
Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law I Corinthians 14:34

The Spirit of God affirming that it is shame for them to speak,
And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. I Corinthians 14:35

We, desiring to please Almighty God, have separated ourselves from the Lutheran churches as disobedient to the Scriptures and from Rebecca Middeke-Conlin as a shameful person, for thus saith the Lord.

Therefore we cannot accept your invitation but rather exhort you to receive what the Scriptures say and repent of this disobedience or to cease calling yourselves a Christian church.

Sincerely,
Baptist Pastor

He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him I John 2:4


WOW!! Where to begin?

First off this letter saddens me.
It saddens me that some people are so burdened by keeping laws that are impossible to keep that they are not able to see the love and grace that abounds in Christ Jesus.

It saddens me to think about how the women in this congregation must be treated, as second class citizens incapable of any actual thought all because they were born with the wrong genitalia.

It saddens me that he is so over-come by the differences between our two congregations that he cannot celebrate the good news that we share together.

But this letter also outrages me. Outrage is probably too strong of a word, but I cannot think of a better one right now.

I'm offended that he took a invitation to a celebratory event as an opportunity to spout hate, superiority and smugness.

I am insulted that he is judging my character based entirely on my gender without first meeting me so that he may know my heart, personality, temperament, disposition, or any other attributes that God has created me to be outside of what is between my pants (and yes I said pants because I don't wear skirts that often).

I also feel violated that it is letters like this that many unchurched people think of when they think of Christianity. This kind of hatred, superiority and smugness often goes hand in hand with many Christian Fundamentalist but in exchange they actually turn many more people off from hearing Christ message of love, salvation, hope and grace than they ever helps "save."

I am also frustrated that this man used a verse about loving God's children as somehow a sign that the people of Bethlehem are not God's children. 1 John 5:1, the verse right before the one he used, says: "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child." So therefore even if, according to him, we are not obeying God's commandments by allowing a woman to speak in church, we are still people who believe that Jesus is the Christ and therefore are God's children, then according to 1 John 5:1 and 1 John 5:2, which he quoted, then he is to love us, the children, if he is to love God, the parent.

I am baffled that a man who used scripture to condemn Bethlehem and could probably quote scripture quite well, does not seem to know the Bible. First off, Paul was telling the women not to talk in church because they were ruining worship for other's (kinda like when a person talks during a movie). These women had never been allowed in worship before and had no clue what was going on so therefore they were asking questions and distracting people who were trying to worship. This pastor would know this if he ever read any biblical commentary that looked at the history of the area. Paul wasn't anti-women as Christian leaders: he worked alongside and lifted up the leadership of Tabitha, Eunice, Euodias, Syntyche, Lois, Lydia, Phoebe, and Junia, as well as others. And the Bible isn't anti-women, there is Sarah, Hannah, Rebekah (who I'm named after), Elizabeth (my middle name), Mary, Deborah, Anna, Orpah, Ruth, Rachel, Martha, Miriam and the list can go on and on. How can a man who uses scripture so easily forget about all these women who God has called, lead and upheld as leaders of the faith?

But most importantly I have felt loved. Not by the author of this letter, but by my family, friends and congregation who have felt the same outrage and sadness I have felt about this letter. I have also felt loved by all of my family, friends, pastors, colleagues and fellow worshipers who have supported me in my faith journey, who encouraged me to go to seminary, regardless of my gender, and who continue to pray for me and the ministry that God has sent me to do. I hope and pray that this author feels as loved and supported as I have, even when faced with people who spout hatred, superiority and smugness at him because of something that he cannot control.

Blessing of the Animals

Yesterday was Bethlehem's First Annual Blessing of the Animals. I say first annual because it was a great success and I cannot see it not being repeated.

We were hoping to have the blessing outside under the cross, but the weather was not cooperating. After being threaten with a Nor'eastern in the weather forecast from Friday, it finally started to rain some on Sunday. While it was never full Nor'eastern force, it was drizzly, to slow rain all morning.

So after worship, Ellen and I stuck around, re-arranged the furniture in the community room, set up chairs, made coffee, put out the treat bags that the confirmation kids made the day before, and got the place ready.

And just as we were really starting this process, we got a phone call asking if the blessing was still on even with the rain. YES!!! Someone is coming, someone who was not at church that morning, someone who was not familiar with the church. ALLELUIA!! Community-outreach event it is.

And then when Ellen went to go get donuts and some other last minute stuff, another phone call came. WOO-HOO!

So all told we had about 30 people and 14 dogs in the flesh plus many other animals (cats, fish, lizards, hamsters) represented by pictures, drawing and just in name. And $86 was raised for ROAR, the local animal shelter.

30 people might not seem like a huge success to most churches, but that is more people than were in church that morning, and out of the 30, over half were non-members.

And what was the service like? It was just a simple service with a few prayers, a few readings, and then individual blessings of the animals. The individual blessing was pretty much mass chaos, especially considering we were inside and all the dogs wanted to sniff and smell each other.

I am also happy to report that Daisy was a very gracious host and very well behaved to all the dogs that invaded the church that she normally has the run of.

Bless O God, this your creature _____, and all who are involved in its care and protection. Bless the food that it eats, the place where it sleeps, the love that it gives and the caretakers who it calls their family