RETURN TO THE LORD, YOUR GOD

Transcript

1 !! RETURN TO THE LORD, YOUR GOD Ash Wednesday (Year A) March 5, 2014 Lessons Joel 2:1-2, or Isaiah 58:1-12 Psalm 51:1-17 (1) 2 nd Corinthians 5:20b 6:10 St. Matthew 6:1-6, Pastor David J. Risendal drisendal@stplc.org facebook Dave Risendal Twitter: drisendal Saint Peter Lutheran Church 9300 East Belleview Avenue Greenwood Village, Colorado voice: 303/ fax: 303/ !! Almighty and ever-living God, you hate nothing you have made, and you forgive the sins of all who are penitent. Create in us new and honest hearts, so that, truly repenting of our sins, we may receive from you, the God of all mercy, full pardon and forgiveness through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen. return to the Lord an invitation to grace God, calling us back Prayer of the Day Sermon Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love 1 We have been talking about 5 Habits of Discipleship at Saint Peter as a foundation for our faithfulness since (Can you believe that?) The habits are: daily prayer & Bible study, weekly worship, monthly service in the community, financial generosity, and meeting regularly with a small group or a faith partner. These are the habits we have been building in our lives, and the way we ve been thinking about what it means to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. They have been helpful for me as I ve tried to assess my own faithfulness, and imagine the ways God wants me to grow. I hope they have been helpful for you too.! 1 Joel 2:12-13; New Revised Version Bible ( 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America).

2 Ash Wednesday Year A (March 5, 2014)! 2! We have discussed adopting particular spiritual practices during this season of Lent, hoping that some of them may become part of the regular rhythm of our lives. I referred to that in my sermon this past Sunday, and a number of you have asked me about what these practices are, and how they can be helpful. We have handed out a brochure this evening that describes some of them, with suggestions as to how you can practice them in your own lives. I hope you will adopt some of these practices for this season. And I hope you will be inspired to make some of them a permanent part of your life. If you choose to do so, please stop by Saint Peter s facebook page and let us know what you are planning. And if it inspires you in any particular way, check back in and let us know. Here s the thing, though: if you read my mid-week devotional message yesterday evening or today, you will know that in this week s Gospel lesson Jesus warns us about engaging in discipleship habits or spiritual practices in order to be seen by others. That is always a danger whenever we are promoting spiritual practices of any kind. We may start out with every good intention wanting to please God; wanting to live the life God calls us to live. But then the thought comes creeping into our minds that perhaps others are noticing, and maybe others are just a little bit impressed with what we re doing. That s the tipping point. If we give in to that way of thinking, we can soon enough find ourselves far more interested in what others think than in pleasing God. This is why Jesus warns us against the misuse of these practices. There were many examples in his day of people who were more interested in what others thought than what God wanted, and he didn t want his followers to be among them. So he taught them that if they were going to pray, they would be better off to lock themselves in a closet than to do it on the street corner, and risk the temptation to be a bit too pleased that others are paying attention. Jesus warns us against misusing these practices, but the prophet Joel makes clear why they remain important for us. Joel is one of the lesser-known prophets in the Hebrew Bible. That is the case, in part, because the Bible tells us very little about him. We know he is the son of Pethuel. We know his name, Jo-el, means The Lord is God. He lived in the southern kingdom (Judah) during the Persian period of Jewish history (somewhere between 400 and 350 B.C.). he shows familiarity with the goings-on in the Temple at Jerusalem, so we suspect that he was a religious insider in his day. That is about all we know about Joel as a person. What we know about his ministry is this: during Joel s life a plague of locusts came over the country. Joel, and many of his day, interpreted this as a sign of God s judgment on them, and this short book (It s only 5 pages in my Bible.) details Joel s response to the event. The prophet calls God s people to repentance, and warns them that destruction awaits those who pay no attention to God. Now, as Joel speaks, the armies of Persia are spread upon the mountains, a great and powerful people. With warriors and horses and the rumbling of chariots, they devour the land like a great fire, and they are about to descend upon Jerusalem. Yet there is hope, Joel says. In words that are quite familiar to those of us who have a history with Lutheran worship: Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love. God s people will not find the safety and security they seek in arming themselves a tiny nation like Israel has no chance against a mighty empire like Persia. No, God s people will only find safety and security in God. And by returning to God, they return to the source of their wellbeing; the rock on whom they can build their lives. Return to the Lord, your gracious and merciful and loving God. Here is where true hope lies.

3 Ash Wednesday Year A (March 5, 2014)! 3! So Joel gives us the answer. Why do we fast during Lent? Why do we commit ourselves to extra hours of prayer and Scripture? Why do we open our hearts to the poor and needy among us? Why do we allow this sign to be made visible on our foreheads, so others can see that we are children of God? We do these things because this is what returning to God looks like. It is an intentional effort to fight those forces that distract us from God. It is an intentional effort to allow the Holy Spirit to take hold of us and draw us back to where we are intended to be. It is an intentional effort to return to our only true source of strength and hope and wellbeing. And despite the fact that our individual lives look quite different from one another, we know that we are all in need of returning, don t we? I was a fan of Bill Keane for years. I loved his Family Circus cartoons. I particularly remember a panel where Billy was sent to the grocery story by his mother. She needed a bottle of vanilla extract, and she needed it right away. Billy made his way to the store, which was about a block away from the house. When he arrived, he had forgotten what his mother had sent him to purchase, so the storekeeper instructed him to go back and find out from Mom what he was supposed to get, and to do it quickly, because the store was about to close. Billy headed back home, but with Bill Keane s ubiquitous dashed-line tracing his steps, it appears as though Billy meandered for over a mile before he made it home. We re left to assume that the store was long-since closed by the time he asked her to remind him what he was supposed to have picked up. Our lives are much like the dotted lines in Bill Kean s cartoons. Although our intention might be to do what God asks of us, and in the quickest possible manner, the truth is we meander a lot more than we intend to. It happens to all of us: sports & exercise, travel, food, entertainment, wealth, cars, homes, clothing each of these realities is able to draw us off the path God has called us to travel, and the farther we get into them, the more we need to return to the God who loves us, and who calls us into life. The 5 Habits of Discipleship that shape our life together at Saint Peter, and the spiritual practices that we are encouraged to adopt during Lent, are ways that we identify the wandering of our lives, and return to God. I hope you will consider how you can renew your commitment to these practices during the 40 days of Lent this year, and I hope they will help you to return to the God who loves you enough to die for you. Amen. David J. Risendal, Pastor

4 D Ash Wednesday Year A (March 5, 2014)! 4! Gospel Lesson; English Text 2 [Jesus said,] 6.1 Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 3 But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 5 And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 6 But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 16 And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. 19 Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; 20 but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. 21 For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. 3 Gospel Lesson; Greek Text: 6.1 Προσέχετε [δε ] τη ν δικαιοσύνην ὑµω ν µη ποιει ν ἔµπροσθεν τω ν ἀνθρώπων προ ς το θεαθη ναι αὐτοι ς εἰ δε µή γε, µισθο ν οὐκ ἔχετε παρα τῳ πατρι ὑµω ν τῳ ἐν τοι ς οὐρανοι ς. 2 Ό ταν οὐ ν ποιῃ ς ἐλεηµοσύνην, µη σαλπίσῃς ἔµπροσθεν σου, ὥσπερ οἱ ὑποκριται ποιου σιν ἐν ται ς συναγωγαι ς και ἐν ται ς ῥύµαις, ὅπως δοξασθω σιν ὑπο τω ν ἀνθρώπων ἀµη ν λέγω ὑµι ν, ἀπέχουσιν το ν µισθο ν αὐτω ν. 3 σου δε ποιου ντος ἐλεηµοσύνην µη γνώτω ἡ ἀριστερά σου τί ποιει ἡ δεξιά σου, 4 ὅπως ἠ σου ἡ ἐλεηµοσύνη ἐν τῳ κρυπτῳ και ὁ πατήρ σου ὁ βλέπων ἐν τῳ κρυπτῳ ἀποδώσει σοι. 5 Και ὅταν προσεύχησθε, οὐκ ἔσεσθε ὡς οἱ ὑποκριταί, ὅτι φιλου σιν ἐν ται ς συναγωγαι ς και ἐν ται ς γωνίαις τω ν πλατειω ν ἑστω τες προσεύχεσθαι, ὅπως φανω σιν τοι ς ἀνθρώποις ἀµη ν λέγω ὑµι ν, ἀπέχουσιν το ν µισθο ν αὐτω ν. 6 συ δε ὅταν προσεύχῃ, εἴσελθε εἰς το ταµει ον σου και κλείσας τη ν θύραν σου πρόσευξαι τῳ πατρί σου τῳ ἐν τῳ κρυπτῳ και ὁ πατήρ σου ὁ βλέπων ἐν τῳ κρυπτῳ ἀποδώσει σοι. 16 Ό ταν δε νηστεύητε, µη γίνεσθε ὡς οἱ ὑποκριται σκυθρωποί, ἀφανίζουσιν γα ρ τα πρόσωπα αὐτω ν ὅπως φανω σιν τοι ς ἀνθρώποις νηστεύοντες ἀµη ν λέγω ὑµι ν, ἀπέχουσιν το ν µισθο ν αὐτω ν. 17 συ δε νηστεύων ἄλειψαι σου τη ν κεφαλη ν και το πρόσωπον σου νίψαι, 18 ὅπως µη φανῃ ς τοι ς ἀνθρώποις νηστεύων ἀλλα τῳ πατρί σου τῳ ἐν τῳ κρυφαίῳ και ὁ πατήρ σου ὁ βλέπων ἐν τῳ κρυφαίῳ ἀποδώσει σοι. 19 Μη θησαυρίζετε ὑµι ν θησαυρου ς ἐπι τη ς γη ς, ὅπου ση ς και βρω σις ἀφανίζει και ὅπου κλέπται διορύσσουσιν και κλέπτουσιν 20 θησαυρίζετε δε ὑµι ν θησαυρου ς ἐν οὐρανῳ, ὅπου οὔτε ση ς οὔτε βρω σις ἀφανίζει και ὅπου κλέπται οὐ διορύσσουσιν οὐδε κλέπτουσιν 21 ὅπου γάρ ἐστιν ὁ θησαυρός σου, ἐκει ἔσται και ἡ καρδία σου. 4! 2 A list of Bible lessons for the coming weeks is available at St. Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21, New Revised Standard Version Bible ( 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America). St. Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21, The Greek New Testament, Aland, Kurt, Black, Matthew, Martini, Carlo M., Metzger, Bruce M., and Wikgren, Allen, ( 1983, Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft Stuttgart).

5 Ash Wednesday Year A (March 5, 2014)! 5! First Lesson; English Text: 2:1 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sound the alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the Lord is coming, it is near 2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness spread upon the mountains a great and powerful army comes; their like has never been from of old, nor will be again after them in ages to come. 12 Yet even now, says the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; 13 rend your hearts and not your clothing. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relents from punishing. 14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the Lord, your God? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion; sanctify a fast; call a solemn assembly; 16 gather the people. Sanctify the congregation; assemble the aged; gather the children, even infants at the breast. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her canopy. 17 Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep. Let them say, Spare your people, O Lord, and do not make your heritage a mockery, a byword among the nations. Why should it be said among the peoples, Where is their God? 5 Optional First Lesson; English Text: 25.6 Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God. 3 Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice? Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. 4 Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? 6 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, 5 Joel 2:1-2, 12-17, New Revised Standard Version Bible, opp. cit.

6 D Ash Wednesday Year A (March 5, 2014)! 6! to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? 8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, 10 if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. 12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in. 6 Second Lesson; English Text: 5.20b We entreat you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 6.1 As we work together with him, we urge you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. 2 For he says, At an acceptable time I have listened to you, and on a day of salvation I have helped you. See, now is the acceptable time; see, now is the day of salvation! 3 We are putting no obstacle in anyone s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, 4 but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: through great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, 7 truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; 8 in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet are well known; as dying, and see we are alive; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing everything Isaiah 58:1-12, New Revised Standard Version Bible, ibid. 2 nd Corinthians 5:20b 6:10, New Revised Standard Version Bible, opp. cit.

7 Ash Wednesday Year A (March 5, 2014)! 7! Second Lesson; Greek Text: 5:20b δεόµεθα ὑπὲρ Χριστοῦ, καταλλάγητε τῷ θεῷ. 21 τὸν µὴ γνόντα ἁµαρτίαν ὑπὲρ ἡµῶν ἁµαρτίαν ἐποίησεν, ἵνα ἡµεῖς γενώµεθα δικαιοσύνη θεοῦ ἐν αὐτῷ. 6.1 Συνεργοῦντες δὲ καὶ παρακαλοῦµεν µὴ εἰς κενὸν τὴν χάριν τοῦ θεοῦ δέξασθαι ὑµᾶς 2 λέγει γάρ καιρῷ δεκτῷ ἐπήκουσα σου καὶ ἐν ἡµέρᾳ σωτηρίας ἐβοήθησα σοι. ἰδοὺ νῦν καιρὸς εὐπρόσδεκτος, ἰδοὺ νῦν ἡµέρα σωτηρίας. 3 Μηδεµίαν ἐν µηδενὶ διδόντες προσκοπήν, ἵνα µὴ µωµηθῇ ἡ διακονία, 4 ἀλλ ἐν παντὶ συνίσταντες ἑαυτοὺς ὡς θεοῦ διάκονοι, ἐν ὑποµονῇ πολλῇ, ἐν θλίψεσιν, ἐν ἀνάγκαις, ἐν στενοχωρίαις, 5 ἐν πληγαῖς, ἐν φυλακαῖς, ἐν ἀκαταστασίαις, ἐν κόποις, ἐν ἀγρυπνίαις, ἐν νηστείαις, 6 ἐν ἁγνότητι, ἐν γνώσει, ἐν µακροθυµίᾳ, ἐν χρηστότητι, ἐν πνεύµατι ἁγίῳ, ἐν ἀγάπῃ ἀνυποκρίτῳ, 7 ἐν λόγῳ ἀληθείας, ἐν δυνάµει θεοῦ διὰ τῶν ὅπλων τῆς δικαιοσύνης τῶν δεξιῶν καὶ ἀριστερῶν, 8 διὰ δόξης καὶ ἀτιµίας, διὰ δυσφηµίας καὶ εὐφηµίας ὡς πλάνοι καὶ ἀληθεῖς, 9 ὡς ἀγνοούµενοι καὶ ἐπιγινωσκόµενοι, ὡς ἀποθνῄσκοντες καὶ ἰδοὺ ζῶµεν, ὡς παιδευόµενοι καὶ µὴ θανατούµενοι, 10 ὡς λυπούµενοι ἀεὶ δὲ χαίροντες, ὡς πτωχοὶ πολλοὺς δὲ πλουτίζοντες, ὡς µηδὲν ἔχοντες καὶ πάντα κατέχοντες nd Corinthians 5:20b 6:10, The Greek New Testament, opp. cit.