A Cup of Eau Claire

Sermon 10-14-18   Mark 10:17-31  You’d think, after that divorce text that was hard to hear last week, Jesus would give us an easy one this week.  “Go, sell all that you own, give the money to the poor,  and come, follow me.” So much for easy. There are lots of ways to think about these words from Jesus. Do we take them literally? If so, this is probably the most disobeyed commandment of them all.  Do we let a few people, like Mother Theresa and Shane Claiborne, follow them literally on behalf of all of us? Do we understand Jesus to mean that we give up whatever is in the way of following him, whether it’s money, or our job, our family, an addiction, some obsession we have? Some of these might make sense in the moment, but they don’t make Jesus’ instruction any easier. The man asks Jesus about “inheriting the kingdom”. Now, this is a very faithful person,  who knows and has kept the commandments all his life . He’s doin...

Intro: this sermon was preached at University Lutheran Church on 10-7-18. My hope in sharing my own story is 1) to remind us that we do not know what others carry--grief, pain, shame, guilt--so we do well to be kind. Always; 2) to remind us that pretty much everything is more complex than we'd prefer and that in oversimplifying we re-inflict injustice and injury; and 3) to demonstrate my commitment to hearing and believing women who are struggling with abuse, neglect, assault, harassment, trust, and lack of safety, be it emotional, physical, sexual, mental, verbal, or social, due to gender, age, relationship, orientation, whatever. In the sermon I struggle not to be hetero-normative or marriage-centric. I did not struggle with vulnerability, because I trust those who heard it; but I did struggle with shame rearing its head yet again. If you read on, please know I hear you, I see you, this is real and it sucks, but it does not get the end, or even very much of, your story. Mark 10...

This week is the 20 th Sunday after Pentecost, and the 1 st Sunday of LGBTQ+ History Month. People attending worship will hear the second creation story from Genesis (2:18-24), when God puts Adam into a deep sleep and creates a woman from his rib. The grand finale of the text reminds us that men leave their parents to cling to their wives, and they live happily ever after, amen. Then we move on to Mark 10, when Jesus talks about divorce—so much for the happily ever after. Welcome to worship—all are welcome, of course. :-/   I think part of being human is trying to understand God. Some might not be searching for a particular god, but an awareness that there is more to life than “me” drives our curiosity, our research, and our conversations. As a Christian I have a particular understanding of God in Jesus, but I sure don’t think I have God figured out. Asking questions and wrestling with texts, dismissing some parts of scripture and embracing others is part of living faithful...