Forgiveness is tricky Genesis 50:15-21, Romans 14:1-12, Matthew 18:21-35

Greetings

Good morning friends!

It is good to gather in worship with all of you this Sunday. I am feeling pretty energized today-it's been an exciting week! I spent the last two days listening to inspiring preaching and powerful teaching about the structures of racial discrimination and institutionalized violence in our society. It was a stretching experience- challenging both to my way of life that comfortably enjoys the privileges of my whiteness, and also to listen to people who sometimes said things that I really really disagreed with, with some conspiracy theories and pseudo-scientific nonsense, but I come away inspired to continue the work of social transformation in a country that has not yet overcome it's sinful and shameful history.

Equally, I had a wonderful time at retreat last weekend, and I hope that those of you who made it out were also blessed by the cool weather, the good company, and Roland Kuhl's reflections on the church as a mosaic and a parable that God is speaking into the world.

We have some work ahead of us, collecting and collating the conversations we have had over the last couple of months and turning them into a direct kind of proposal for the congregation, and that is work we are going to do. But I decided a week or two off from visioning will be good for me, and probably for all of you as well.

Forgiveness is important.

So lets talk about forgiveness. We have before us powerful stories-

Joseph, reunited with his brothers after they betrayed him and sold him into slavery.

Paul, encouraging people at each other's throats fighting over essential theological differences to get along.

And Jesus, encouraging us to forgive seventy-times seven times. (or 490, for those of us who do not have quite as much poetry in their souls).

And the Bible is full of these kinds of powerful stories of forgiveness. Jacob, reunited with Esau, The Prodigal Son are all stories of people reuniting with one another. And even more are the stories of God's forgiveness- The Old Testament can be summed up as a story of the people abandoning God, experiencing the consequences, repenting and asking for forgiveness, and being restored to the beloved community. Jesus again and again told the people that he healed “your sins are forgiven”, often without them ever vocalizing the request. And on the cross he asked God, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do”.

So this is something that we have to talk about.

Sermon for August 31

Good morning friends!

It is good to gather in worship with all of you this Sunday.

I hope that this day finds you well, and that you are enjoying the three day weekend. Tomorrow I hope that you take time to honor labor day. It is a good chance to remember the value of work, and the meaning it creates in our lives, to remember the struggles of workers through history who have fought for humane treatment from their employers and won things like paid vacation, holidays, and regulated work weeks, to consider the work yet to be done in improving conditions for workers, like better parental leave, and to pray for those who are not able to find work, or are not paid a reasonable wage for their efforts.

This is the last Sunday in our sermon series about visioning, before our retreat next weekend. I'm excited about gathering with all of you to talk about our work together with Roland Kuhl! It's going to be a fun weekend, hopefully not too hot, and filled with good friends and good conversation.

Seven Priorities Results

Hello friends,

I wanted to share with you the results from our conversation last Sunday.

I'll summarize these in my sermon on Sunday, but I felt like our thoughts centered on three subjects, with some great ideas that didn't fit in the larger three. If you don't see your thoughts represented here, let me know.

One thing I notice- we have some energy for the things that we hired Jennifer for, which I find very exciting!

If you have thoughts about how I've grouped these, or what might be missing, I'd love to know

7 Priorities for the Church

Good morning friends,

it is good to gather in worship with you this morning!

Today we are picking up where we left off a couple of weeks ago, working through some questions of church vision on our way to retreat. By the way, have you signed up for retreat yet? Jennifer has the sign up sheet for this Sunday, and we'd love to get names nailed down this Sunday so that we can get meals formalized!

This morning, we're moving from examination to evaluation, from what is to what might be. For the next two weeks, I'd like to think about what we might want to do differently as a congregation, and the question for you at the end of the sermon today is this: “are there ways you'd like to see us live out our missional priorities better?”

Or, I put it in my original outline, “What are we called to do?”

The vehicle I want to use to help us consider this question is the Purposeful Plan for Mennonite Church USA. Mennonite Church USA over the last several years has been working on it's own strategic plan-a list of what we want to do, and why. I really enjoy this document, and the whole thing is available on the web if you're interested-it's enough for a serious book study. I won't try and go through the whole 25 pages! Instead, there are two parts I want to use for our reflections over the next two weeks. Today, we're going to reflect on the 7 priorities that the Mennonite Church has chosen for itself, the sense of the larger tasks where we ought to be putting our time and energy. Next week we're going to think a little bit about process, rather than content, and look at 12 traits of a Missional Congregation, and reflect on how we live those out in St. Louis. I'm hoping that these tools might help us as we think about what we might want to do together.

Prayers for Ferguson

Good morning friends.
It is good to gather in worship with all of you this morning.

I had a whole different sermon planned for this week, and it's mostly written, but you're not going to get to hear it until next week, when we'll pick up our conversation about visioning. I decided that it was better to talk about the events in Ferguson.

I decided to change directions after one of those odd little God moments that sometimes happen.

On Thursday evening I was here at church, rather than at the protest march in Ferguson, where I really wanted to be, because we hosted a wedding here yesterday, and I was making sure everything was set up for the rehearsal, and I locked up after they were done. I was a little grumpy about it, you know that kind of 'hrumph, I could be doing something socially active and more useful, or at least hanging out at home with Rachel and Jonah' kind of feelings.

But before we got started, the bride, Deneen, pulled me aside, and thanked me for being a gracious host. She said that it had been a hard week, and I asked her why, and she explained that some of her good friends lost a son in Ferguson over the weekend. She wondered if I had heard of Michael Brown.

So I learned that she knows the Brown family well. That she had to shut down her Facebook account this week, because of how much stress it was causing her on her wedding week, and how much she hurt for her friends. And I was reminded that we are connected, in unexpected ways with one another. And it was pretty clear at that point were I was supposed to be for the evening. And I am honored that we all, the St. Louis Mennonite Fellowship, were able, in our own small way, to be of comfort to someone in need. A privilege we were given because we have been willing to inconvenience ourselves, and open our building to the community where we live, even when it's a bother.

Faced with a world with so much violence and pain, it is important for all of us to inconvenience ourselves for the sake of the Gospel.

So this morning, I want to lift up Ferguson, and the city of St. Louis, and the police departments of our city and our county, and reflect on who we are called to be and what we are called to do in these times of unrest and concern, and to invite God's presence in to our hearts today.

How did we Get Here?

Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Isaiah 46:9-11

Good morning friends!

It is great to gather in worship with you all, I hope that this Sunday morning finds you well.

We're in week 3 of our summer sermon series about our common vision as part of the SLMF community, as we're trying to think about who we are, and where we are going.

Last week, you may remember, we talked about who we are as a congregation-

how we live out our calling to be disciples of Jesus Christ, in our own lives, in the church community, and in the world in which we live.

We had the opportunity to talk a little bit about what works for us at SLMF, and what works a little less well, and those conversations are already bearing fruit-you might notice a more significant introduction for our guests, Peter and Liz, and Ganesh and the Nepali praise group in the bulletin, which came from a request for more details and a warmer written welcome for the people who come join us in worship.

If you have other things you'd like to share, or particular thoughts that have sprung up, let me know!

Today, we're talking about history.

One of my two majors in undergrad was history, so I'm a big believer that it is in the stories of our past that we learn about where we should go in the future. The successes and mistakes that we make shape who we are, and are the best instructors going forward.

This is a deeply Biblical idea as well. The Bible is a history book-the story of God's relationship with the people of Israel over many generations. And we are all called to remember that history, to tell it well. To write it on the door posts of our houses, and on our gates, as our text this morning phrases it.

The question I will be asking you in a couple of minutes is this: how did you get to SLMF? And what stories do you want us to remember?

But before we get there, I want to tell the story of the Saint Louis Mennonite Fellowship.

Who are We, Right Now?

James 2:14-18

Sermon

Good morning friends!

This Sunday, we're on week two of reflecting on our congregational vision. Last week, you may remember, I reflected on our task: evaluating the ways we are spending time and energy, and see if there are things we should be doing differently, new things we might try, and old things we might let go. We aren't going to try and reinvent SLMF, but we are going to try and talk together about who we are, and who we might be in the next couple of years.

We are focusing on 5 questions in the next 5 weeks.

1) Who We Are Right Now?

2) How did we Get Here?

3) How should we be?

4) What should we do?

5) And finally, How can I help?

Today, I want to reflect on who we are right now.

Church scholars often talk about a congregation's 'lived theology'-how the things we say and do communicate our understanding of God's will. I picked this passage from James, because I think he captures so well that understanding that our actions demonstrate our beliefs.

The lived theology project, based off of Detrick Bonhoffer's work, phrases it this way:

“properly interpreted, the lived experiences of faith are communicative not only of a religious community’s collective self-understanding but of modes of divine presence as well.”  (http://www.livedtheology.org/overview/)

In other words, our actions express what we believe, and they express the image of God in our midst.

So that's what I'd like to engage for us this morning-who do we say God is when we gather? What kind of community are we? What do we believe in?

But before jumping in-a caveat or two. These are just my observations, and they are brief. You will have your own, which you will get to share at the end of my sermon. We will divide into groups of 2 and have short conversations with one another as well. Also, I offer these purely as observations, and basically positive ones! I promise that I'm coming with the perspective of 'look what these beloved children of God have created here!' not with any major concerns about who we are as a congregation. No church can do everything well, and there are strengths and weaknesses to all our choices. I want to describe what is, today.

Anyway, with that start, what is our lived theology?

Lets start with our membership covenant. This is a document that each member of the congregation signs every year, as a way of claiming participation in our little community. The covenant doesn't fully encapsulate who we are, but I think it's a good way to start.

At a very meta level, having a membership covenant says 'membership is not a one time commitment-membership is a regular ritual, a daily choice to be part of this community.' Our covenant speaks to the Anabaptist value of choice. SLMF is a community of people who gather on purpose. Our membership covenant also speaks to a bit of a rebellious streak-a willingness to experiment in church structure, embracing being a little different than the most traditional of church structures.

I notice our consensus decision making process here too. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, our congregation does not vote. At congregational meetings, we have a consensus process, where proposals come from Committees through the LCG, and then at a whole congregation gathering, we test the spirit of the room, allowing every person to speak into the proposals that are brought to the floor if they choose, and giving each member the authority to break consensus, and send things back for more discernment. This speaks to a high level of trust in one another, and a commitment to a 'different' way of being church.

But I shouldn't get stuck at the meta level! Within the document, we outline three tasks for the church member-personal discipleship, faith community discipleship, and earthly community discipleship.

We might call it a three-fold calling, and we try to practice each of these goals.

Tending our personal relationship with God is the focus of our primary collective practice: Sunday morning worship. Like most churches through most of history, the most significant way that we are visible is by gathering here, on Sunday morning, lifting our voices in prayer and praise.

Our worship does a lot of work-we have a blend of music styles, both traditional hymns and newer music, but little contemporary praise music, aiming to serve a number of traditions. We use volunteer music leaders, worship leaders, scripture readers, and actors, which means that participating in worship is part of how we practice spiritual development. But that also means a low formality service, and the 'flow' is not as clean as in some church styles. We have more talking, by a lot of different people, which speaks to a commitment to full participation. We have some significant rituals-communion, child dedication, baptism, that focus on our relationship with God.

Christian Education is the other way we work on personal discipleship, seeking to encourage adults and children in their walk with Jesus.

Our children's activities are significant. Our Sunday School program takes the time and energy of about 1/3 of our adult members, and worship is very much open to children-we have Children's time, a children's Christmas program, and a high congregational tolerance to background noise. At the same time, it means that for the most part, church is only a limited respite for parents-it's a a time to keep track of young ones, to teach Sunday School, to be fully engaged in the parenting world. One of the things I want us to consider is how we do this important work well.

I also notice that there are not many activities outside of Sunday morning focused on personal discipleship-our small groups generally do not explicitly engage faith formation, and while I know many of us have personal devotional practices, like the Rejoice Daily Devotional that MennoMedia puts out, or other prayer and Bible study practices, we don't really have collective efforts in that direction.

So I am curious how you practice your personal relationship with God, and whether you feel like we are doing a good job of faith formation together.

The second step is faith community discipleship-our relationships with one another.

Here I think of the work of Hospitality committee-regular potlucks, Guess who's coming to dinner, play group for kids, wedding showers, baby quilts, and other social events. I also think about pastoral care-LCG members who write notes to people in need, our visitation ministries, and the congregational prayer every Sunday. It is not unique to our congregation to have a congregational prayer every Sunday, where we share our joys and concerns with one another, but it is a significant marker that we care about personal relationships within the church.

I think of our church retreat-we take a weekend every year to gather together, and our church retreat has a higher attendance percentage of any church I know of-we are invested in being together.

I think of our organizational system itself-the finance committee and building committee that have put so much energy into making sure that the structure of the church flourishes. We have a style of 'informal professionalism' where the systems are designed to serve us well, and stand the test of time, but are pretty flexible, and we sometimes discover things that have fallen through the cracks.

This kind of community is something that we have put some energy into in the last year, between Midweek Mennos, a prayer E-mail chain, and small groups, we have been finding new ways to connect to one another as we have grown as a congregation, and have felt some stretching in our previous patterns.

So I might ask, how do you want to share with your neighbors in the pews? Are you well enough connected?

Finally, we have relationships with the world-

and here I think of the work of Peace and Service Committee and our other outreach efforts. We have quite a hodgepodge of missional activities-collecting offerings for Isaiah 58 Ministries, cooking the Peace Meal 6 times a year, The Church rummage sale and fall festival, our work with Metropolitan Congregations United, A Project COPE Team, City on a Hill, MCC Meat Canning, Community Mediation Services with the Peace Center, our relationship with Plowsharing Crafts, and the educational and prayer work we do with Peace Candle and Birthday Offering every Sunday. And I would also include the discipleship we practice as individuals, outside of the formal structure of the church. Each one of us has ministries we participate in, from caring for neighbors to rehabing houses, to recycling and putting up solar panels, to feeding starving children in Africa. Doing the work of God in the world is clearly very important to all of us.

At the same time, I notice that, as I described it, our mission is something of a hodgepodge. Most of the ministries we do have a subset of the congregation participating in them. In general, 5-10 of us, more or less. There are not many things that we all do together. Which speaks to another unspoken theology- we give people the freedom to practice their own calling, and will celebrate the work of people in the congregation, but we don't all need to be participants-could not all be participants in every ministry that we do together. These ministries are also aimed more at service than invitation-we don't have many explicit ways of inviting new people to see the great things we are doing-we're a little shy that way, and efforts like greeters don't really have a formal home in our congregational structure.

Now, I could go on-my first list of what to put in this sermon kept going. But I think I've hit the highlights of who we are as a congregation-if I've forgotten anything major I'm going to be a little embarrassed! Instead, I'd like to turn it over to you, for that one on one conversation that I promised earlier. I'd like you to turn to a neighbor, hopefully someone not sitting in the same pew as you (unless it is your child). And I'd like you to spend 3 minutes each answering 2 questions-

Question:

1) What aspect of how SLMF does church is your favorite? What really works for you?

2. What aspect of our identity can you imagine improving or growing as a congregation, or for yourself?

Why do visioning?

Mark 12:29 Romans 12:2 

SLMF is beginning a summer sermon series on visioning. I wanted to include my sermons here so people who miss out can read them if they are interested.

You might be curious why we're starting a conversation about vision today, which is a fair question. Let me tell you! Last spring, we had two significant congregational conversations going at the same time.

 The Building Committee reflected on our building-whether the space we meet fits our needs now, and will into the future. They put together a wonderful report that you should read you haven't already, it is a really useful document. The very quick summary is that we think the church building basically serves our needs now, and will likely serve our needs for the next 5-10 years, unless we have significant congregational growth-basically doubling in size. In that case, we might need to consider moving buildings or some sort of expansion at our current location, like reformatting our sanctuary.

 At the same time, we spent time talking about whether to hire Jennifer Harris Dault as our associate pastor. This was a choice to stretch ourselves financially and spiritually, with the hopes of bringing her gifts to the congregation, so that we might expand our ministry and strengthen our momentum. At the last business meeting, we decided to step out in faith, and see if she, and we, could raise the money to allow her to expand ministry in the congregation. She is hopeful that she will hit her target before the August 15th goal. 

And while these were both very good conversations, another theme came up as we talked about our building and about our staffing needs- The theme was this- it is hard to answer questions about staffing and space without knowing who we want to be as a congregation-without knowing where we are falling short, what new things we might do, and what old things we might let go of. A number of us mentioned that it felt like we needed to check in with one another about where we felt God calling in our congregational life. And that made sense to me, and it made sense to LCG, so that's what we're going to do now!

At our congregational retreat at Cuivre River State park the weekend after Labor Day-actually, speaking of retreat, I hope it's on everyone's calendars-it's free for all, and is always a wonderful time! Anyway, at retreat, we are bringing in Roland Kuhl, a professor of Missional Church theology and practice, as well as a Mennonite pastor, to lead our conversations, and for the rest of the summer, we are going to talk together as a way of preparing for that gathering.
A brief outline-over the next 5 Sundays, we're going to look at 5 questions: 

1) Who We Are Right Now-what does SLMF look like today?
 2) How we Got Here-what history brought us to this point?
3) How should we be? A reflection on best practices of successful churches.
4) What should we do? A reflection on what tasks we ought to be working on right now.
 5) And finally, How can I help? A reflection on the particular gifts we as individuals bring to this work.

Why the church should welcome LGBTQ Christians

I was recently asked why I am a welcoming pastor.

I enjoyed writing up my reflections, and so I thought I would share them here.

Why am I a welcoming pastor to LGBTQ Christians, advocating for full inclusion in the church?

It is a fair question. After all, there are no specific texts that say “same gender sexual relationships are fine” and there are texts in Leviticus, Romans, and Timothy, (with the Romans text being most convicting and most explicit), that seem to condemn homosexuality, sometimes in very stark terms (abomination, and suggesting that the proper punishment for two men having sex together is the death penalty). My negative argument here is simple- these texts refer not to committed partnerships, but to idol worship and pagan religious festivities, as well as the age inappropriate relationships practiced in ancient Greece, as well as the simple point that it would be evil to punish gay sex with death, which suggests we might wonder whether these particular texts should be guiding our decision making on the issue. But that is a negative argument.

So to offer the positive case-

Matthew 1: Epiphany Sermon

Worship was canceled by 6 inches of snow on January 5th, 2013. So here is the sermon I would have preached!

Good morning friends!

It is good to gather in worship with all of you! It has been a busy two weeks since I saw you last. I've had a whirlwind trip with journeys to Kansas, Philadelphia, and Colorado to see family and to perform Amy and Brendan's wedding. By the way, Amy and Brendan send their greetings and gratitude for your love and prayers. Thank you for allowing me to take time to be part of those significant moments in people's lives-weddings are one of my favorite pastoral tasks. I imagine you to come here after adventures of your own- the Holiday season usually brings some of the most intense experiences and emotions of the year. So take a deep breath, and whatever you bring this morning, whether you're recovering from the exhaustion of travel and being with family, coming down off of the Christmas high, or are feeling refreshed and rejuvenated after a nice holiday break, and are roused and ready to begin a new year, you are welcome here.

In church this week, we are coming to the end of our celebration of Christmas. I know most of secular society ended the holiday on December 26^th with the national celebration of returning gifts that you didn't want very much, but in the church Christmas does not end until tomorrow, January 6^th. That day marks Epiphany, the 12^th day of Christmas when we remember the visit of the Magi from the East. So, I guess, if we're paying attention to the song, this is the day for 11 pipers piping-which we don't have this morning.