Sermon June 22, 2008 - Jesus Disrupts Our World
Pastor Wesley Howell

It’s that time of year again–graduations-speeches. Most of them you’ve heard before…”I remember when we were just little freshmen.” “Now it’s time for us to go change the world.” Reminds me of, I think it was Mark Twain, who said, “Everyone wants to change the world, but they don’t want to change themselves.” This year at Kirsten’s graduation the speaker had a great image. “Hold onto life like you would a wet bar of soap…too tightly and you’ll loose, too loosely and you’ll drop it. It’s a balancing act. Use a light touch and be ready to go with the flow.” It sounded like there were echoes with Jesus in today’s gospel. Holding on…loosing life, preserving…

Sometimes, in my experience, Jesus brings peace. Sometimes he brings a sword. Sometimes Jesus unites, and sometimes he divides and disrupts; we have to make choices.

Have we found a way to follow Jesus without having to give up anything? Being a Christian is roughly the same as being a sensitive, compassionate, and caring American. Jesus is the one who keeps families together, who confirms our highest and best values and institutions.

Then comes Jesus in today's Gospel and even the most complacent and contented among us realizes that here we have a confrontation with a very different way of looking at things.

There’s a church not too far from us. 10-15 miles to the east…a church that has experienced severe conflict, especially about 10 years ago. Many of the older members were very unhappy with the direction of the church and are threatening to take their money and leave. Younger members had joined over the years…and they were thrilled with the growth…but then...shock of shocks…things started changing - guitars and drums and new hymns. What was their rallying cry? “This isn’t Lutheran.”

So they called in the Bishop in a last-ditch effort to preserve the peace and unity of the church. The Bishop….Bishop Maier listening to both sides carefully and called them back together. Were they surprised! The Bishop said, "I've never seen a church grow without conflict. Has anybody here ever learned anything or grown significantly without conflict? Sometimes Jesus seems to kill one congregation in order to give birth to a new one."

Wow!

Are our priorities straight? “Not Lutheran.” That’s what gets thrown at us. Luther heard that people were starting to call the reforming congregations “Lutheran” and he pitched a fit. Refused! “Who am I, this bag of worms, that Christ’s church should be called after me!” It wasn’t until after he died…then.

Lutheran. In High School I had a medal I wore all the time. It was a Luther’s rose on one side and on the other it said, “I am a Lutheran”. My catholic friends had medals too. They were different.

A couple years ago I was praying and wrestling. I could see the changes coming down the pike and I said, “But Lord, I love the church. I love being Lutheran. I grew up in the church. It was my family.”

The message came back loud and clear. “I know you love the church; but do you love me more?” If you think the answer is easy you’re not hearing him.

A life of faith means keeping our priorities straight. Is Jesus Christ and proclaiming him…living that proclamation the center of everything we do? Or have we hitched our life to the adiaphora. The peripheral…What are we trying to hold onto. What is winding us up, what are we spending our time and energy talking about? If it’s not Christ at its center…then we’re not worthy of him.

God is Real.

Enter into a relationship with God as known in Jesus

That relationship can-and will-change your life.