Ben Cieslik's Ordination July 18
Sermon series:
Today is a dangerous day…you might imagine all the different directions I thought about going with that! But it’s true. It is a dangerous day. We gather in this beautiful space with joy in our hearts for what God is doing in the world, and specifically for the call Ben has received into the Ministry of Word and Sacrament. Years of preparation and lots of planning have proceeded what happens here today. We know this in a very personal way because each of us has played a part in making today possible for Ben. I don’t know about all of you—but I’m exhausted! Actually, that’s not true. I was blessed to serve as Ben’s Supervisor his internship year but it didn’t take long to know that our relationship would be one in which we would learn from each other—Ben made that clear on day one. Kidding aside--I’m grateful to call him friend and am thrilled to know that he will soon also be my colleague, as we both serve Bethlehem Lutheran in Minneapolis, a congregation filled with people who send blessings to you today.
But back to this incredible service….so far, so good, wouldn’t you say? The space is beautiful, the music and singing inspiring, scripture meaningful. It’s a beautiful service! To God be the glory! And it’s a still a dangerous day.
The danger comes in the order of the service—no need to look in your bulletin—it won’t be noted there. But I have no doubt that most of us here have been following along. We know what to expect. We can see what’s coming next. We might even be kind of keeping track of time, now and again, when no one is looking. There is a certain order. And when church is orderly, we begin to think that everything we hear and say and see in this place makes sense. Just like….well, just like a cold, clear cup of fresh water on a hot and humid summer day.
And THERE is the danger. Because the truth is that when what we say and do and hear in this place makes good sense to us we can grow comfortable with the message and we lose site of the radical nature of God’s plan for saving the world. Soren Kierkegaard wrote “Remove from Christianity its ability to shock and it is altogether destroyed. It then becomes a tiny superficial thing, capable neither of inflicting deep wounds nor of healing them.”
And if there’s one thing we all have in common it is the ongoing need to be healed and to be made whole. That’s one of the main story lines in the Bible, after all. The biblical narrative begins with God creating the heavens and the earth and declaring it good. In the beginning God created humankind in their own image and declared it good. In the beginning God created us whole and all was good. We were created out of love so that we would know love—love for God and love for each other and it was good.
Like the water in this glass, in the beginning God created life and it was pure and clean. But in our own wisdom, or lack thereof, we decided it wasn’t enough. We needed something more. And now the reality is that life is filled with lots of crud—Like:
Jam: insecurities/inferiorities/impression management. We want others to see us a certain way—sweet, desirable, delectable.
Tabasco: bitterness/resentment/anger
Mayonaise: we want to keep to ourselves/be comfortable/ a kind of laziness
Granola: busy, busy busy with our own plans/ try so hard to do all the right things
Worcestire sauce: addictions/secret, dark things we never want to talk about—or want to admit, not even to ourselves
Popcorn: puffed up/pride/make it on our own and we’ve got it all figured out.
Lovely, huh? So how do we fix this? We don’t. We can’t. No amount of talent and not a single kind of degree can solve this condition we find ourselves in. But that doesn’t mean we’re stuck in this muck. There is a way to experience life the way God intended.
I didn’t consult with Ben about why he chose the texts he did for today’s service but each one points us to a truth that can lead us out of the muck and into the beauty of a life renewed by the saving grace of God. And what are those truths?
According to Isaiah it is that God rules! “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of the messenger who announces peace, who brings good news, who announces salvation, who says to Zion, ‘Your God reigns’”. The original audience that heard these words were living in Babylonian exile in the 6th century bc. They were feeling somewhat abandoned and forgotten by God. God seemed absent. Nothing made sense. They were the chosen people of God living as slaves with no place to call home? Now the prophet encourages them with these words of joy and hope. God, says the prophet is a God who acts to save and deliver his people. This is the truth: God reigns. God saves. As people who follow Jesus the words of the prophet point us to him who is the prince of peace and through whom God establishes his vision of peace for the whole world.
And now a message for Ben: one of the greatest temptations you will face in this call to the ministry of word and sacrament is that you are the one who can save the people you are called to serve. People will look to you for help; they will come to you for understanding; they will turn to you looking for insight into who God is and what a life of faith is about. All this attention can make it hard to remember that you are dust, just like the rest of us, and to dust you will return. Of course I know you well enough that this is not your motivation for saying yes to the call. But it is a temptation that happens even to the pastors with the purest of hearts. So I commend to you a daily practice: begin each day with a prayer that God bless you with the gift of humility for humility recognizes your dependence on God. The truth is: God rules. God saves. Pray for humility and others will discover the love of God through you.
In the reading that followed the Psalm today there is another truth that moves us from being stuck in the muck: the truth that God is wise. The church in Corinth, to whom Paul is writing is divided. They are fractured by various forms of social, theological, spiritual and moral elitism. Not unlike us, they valued wisdom and gave their time and energy to thinking their way through faith. But faith is not about getting things right or putting certain systems in place in order to please God. We cannot think our way through faith. We cannot earn God’s love. In the death of Jesus a new kind of wisdom, a new kind of power is revealed: If you want to be first, be….last; if you want to find yourself, lose yourself; if you want to be exalted, be humble. Pretty clear: God’s ways are not our ways. By the world’s standards of what works, and who is greatest, and what is practical, the Christian faith looks foolish but such fools are blessed by the power of God.
Note to Ben: Preach Christ crucified! An unrelenting focus on the Cross has the power to transform lives—yours and the lives of others. The words you speak will be your own, but you do not speak for yourself. You are not in control of the process—which is both terrifying and freeing at the same time. You are called to wrestle with God’s word and then share with others what God has shown you. It’s hard work. It’s humbling. But your incompetence cannot shut out God for long. God’s power is made perfect in your weakness. In all things, seek the presence of God, speak about what it is you find, and name for others those places where you see God is at work in the world and in their lives.
Finally, the truth of the Gospel reading from Mark is that God lives. The tomb is empty. Death does not have the last word. The women went to the tomb bringing spices to anoint him. It was unfinished business—something they needed and wanted to do to keep Jewish law. It would finish the burial rite for their condemned Master. And while personal devotion might have been their primary motivation, general Jewish spirituality considered burial of the poor and criminal a matter of social justice. As followers of Jesus it would be their last act of faithful service.
Their hearts were heavy with grief and they were concerned about logistics along the way: who will roll away the stone, they wondered. The stone that sealed the tomb was very large and would be impossible for them to move. But to their amazement the stone was already rolled away. God had been there ahead of them and the message of the angel was that Jesus was on the move. “Do not be alarmed” the angel said. “Jesus of Nazareth, who was crucified…has been raised; he is not here…go---tell the disciples and Peter he is going ahead of you to Galilee; there you will see him, just as he told you”.
The women heard this news and ran away in fear saying nothing. Seems like a strange way to end a story that has the power to change the world unless that’s the very reason for the way ths story is told: it doesn’t have an ending. The story goes on and is told through us as we become the body of Christ, alive in the world, loving and serving others in his name.
Hearing the truth that God lives doesn’t tie up all the loose ends of life into a neat and impressive beautiful bow—as we so keenly learn from the women in the story. The good news that God has conquered even death, and that Jesus lives doesn’t answer every question in our heart or instantly solve all the problems of the world. Muck continues to be in our midst. But because of the empty tomb there is a new reality that exists. Look for it—pay attention to goodness, beauty, grace, kindness, compassion—for these are signs of God’s presence in the world. There is no place you can go where God has not already been. Find comfort in that, knowing that God lives and is already ahead of you.
A final comment to Ben: I don’t know for what reasons you picked the texts that we heard today but I do know this: the truth that God rules, that God is wise and that God lives is the only way to find your way through whatever muck exists. These truths will outweigh whatever darkness or tension you find yourself in. Return to God, again and again—return to God who is the source of all life and you will discover strength, comfort, hope and new life as you serve the Lord your God for the sake of his kingdom on earth. May God bless you all the days of your life. Amen.
