2005 Synod Assembly

Bishop Harold Usgaard's Sermon from Opening Worship, May 6, 2005

Luke 6: 27-36

This is about life-style.

"Love your enemies," says Jesus in our Gospel... "do good...bless those who curse you." And the Apostle Paul chimes in from Romans, "live in harmony...do not be haughty...do not claim to be wiser than you are...live peaceably with all."

Go to the Scriptures. If you need to, count the number of verses that echo our reading for today. If we need to speak of a lifestyle that Jesus expects from us, this is it. It matters not where we find ourselves on all the issues that challenge the church. We are called to "be merciful," says the Gospel, "just as your Father is merciful."

It is because of God's mercy that we are even here. "For God so loved the world..." And in this Easter season we celebrate the life, the hope, the promise that such love and mercy bought for us. Remember..."not with silver and gold, but his holy and precious blood, and his innocent suffering and death."

"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." If you are one who is concerned that the church has sold out to the culture, try this life-style...you'll never again be accused of fitting in. "Love your enemy...pray for those who abuse you...turn the other cheek?" C.S. Lewis writes, "every one thinks it is a lovely idea until they have something to forgive." Perhaps that is why examples of this life-style are so powerful when we observe them today.

How many times in the past week have we seen images of the white-clothed Pope John Paul II entering the jail cell...and offering absolution...forgiveness...to a young Turkish gunman who had earlier attempted to kill him.

Or this past week, reading of the sentencing of a young man who driving after drinking, speeding, and speaking on a cell phone, caused an auto accident near Farmington in which 3 teenage brothers in another car died. Because of their faith, the parents of the victims had told the judge they hoped something positive could come from this tragedy. So on the day of sentencing, Nathan Backstrom, the father of the brothers, could say, "I forgive you for what you have done to my family. My God has forgiven me and it is only by his strength that I have the ability to forgive."

"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." What a powerful statement. What a witness such a life-style offers to our world...to our families...our churches. But why is it such examples are so far and few between? And why does it seem that with those who are closest to us we can be the most abusive and lacking in mercy? Someone has suggested that the reason Jesus said not only "love your enemies" but also "love your neighbors" is that often they are one and the same.

Brothers and sisters, too often, way too often, as we as a church have sought to discern God's will in the midst of deep issues, we have acted not as children Called Into God's Marvelous Light...but as children of darkness...with accusations, finger pointing, innuendo, gossip, and outright lies.

Peter Steinke, the founder of Healthy Congregations, Inc., is recognized as one of the experts in dealing with church conflict. In his recent newsletter, he wrote that in 2004 he was involved in 13 interventions, well beyond the 4-6 interventions of earlier years. What is happening? He writes..."Conflicts are more complex, ensnared, and nasty in nature. People are becoming more aggressive in their behavior. People are intent on winning and will employ means of any kind to ensure their righteousness. Denial is increasing. If you insist on being right, whatever might counter your position is cast off, disregarded, or marginalized. Lying is rapidly mounting, especially in self defense." And Steinke speaks about what he calls "a remnant... incredibly brave and faithful people who are ridiculed, shunned, even ousted because they have told the truth."

"Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." We need each other you know. That is why God first called us together. Our God knows that we cannot survive by ourselves. And so we are called into community, each of us, with our differences and our unique gifts and differences. And together the body is made stronger. "Where would the body be, " asks the Apostle Paul, "if we were all an eye, a foot, a hand"...if we all thought alike?

Two Presbyterians, struggling with many of the same issues we are facing, recently wrote an article in the Christian Century. They are both seminary presidents. They are convinced that conservatives and liberals both need each other. They observed that liberals are too often smug, pretty sure their views are advanced, and that those of others are outmoded. But liberals do not often continue in sustained theological discussion. But the conservatives, in challenging the liberals, keep them sharp theologically. On the other side, conservatives are often contentious. Aggressiveness is part of conservative religious culture. This is both their effectiveness and downfall, for without liberals to focus on, conservatives quickly divide into warring factions.

We need each other...we do. God knows that. When will we learn it? Together we can echo St. Paul and "hate what is evil...hold fast to what is good...outdo one another in showing honor...be ardent in the spirit...serving the Lord."

And it is at times like this that such a realization becomes so important. For there are so many watching us, wondering if people of faith really are any different that the rest. When it gets tough, when there are struggles and differences, do we who claim Jesus as Lord live any differently...act any differently? Or do we simply mimic the cultural and political wars that surround us? "See how they love one another"...that is how the early Christians were described. That is how Jesus worked in and through the church to touch new lives. Our Gospel for today, Luke's sermon on the plain, is set in a time when Jesus is organizing his church. Only verses before he has chosen his disciples, and now he is teaching them to live. Why? So that in their relationships, our relationships, the world might see God's relationship with us. Remember..."be merciful, just as your father is merciful."

Brothers and sisters in the Southeastern Minnesota Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, we profess as a synod that we are Called Into God's Marvelous Light. So today we respond to that gracious and merciful invitation. Today, as we gather around Word and Sacrament, we are reminded of the life Jesus offered for us. And we can't help but be changed. So enough of the intrigue, the whispers, the threats...it is beneath our calling. In God we are capable of so much more. "Love your enemies, bless those who curse you...take thought for what is noble in the sight of all." Today...do it today.

Karen Love is a teacher and writer. She tells of her old uncle Eli, well over 80 and still going strong. Uncle Eli grew up around the steel mills of Pittsburg. He attended a Finnish Lutheran Church and as he described it...in those days the men would come with fingernails still black from work and the women with hair pulled severely back...and they would sit stiff and straight in those hard pews and worship only in Finnish. But one thing they would do, a ritual in the middle of the worship just before Holy Communion. They would stand and walk throughout the church asking forgiveness of each other. And old Uncle Eli recalled the scene...of one man shaking the hand of another and speaking a few words in a low voice...a woman bending down to the ear of a friend to keep their troubles just between the two of them...a husband speaking to a wife, a son to a father, a neighbor to a neighbor. Remember what Jesus said..."when you are offering your gift at the altar, if you remember that your brother or sister has something against you...leave your gift...first be reconciled to your brother or sister."

We will soon be sharing the peace of Christ with one another. Who do you need to speak with today? Who do you need to seek out and be with? Or Sunday, back in your own church, with whom do you need to share the peace?

This is about a life-style...one that began with a Father who is merciful.