Sermon, November 25, 2007, "Hopeful Future"
The following is a sermon I preached on my last Sunday with Faith Lutheran
Christ the King Sunday
November 25, 2007
Herb Palmer
Faith Lutheran Church, Bellaire
“Hopeful Future”, Luke 23:33-43
This is weird. A dying man turns to Jesus, who is also dying; and the man asked: “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus promised the man what he asked for. The man is dying and so is Jesus and, yet, he gives the man hope. By all appearances both of their lives were over. But the weirder thing is: we know that it isn’t the end of their stories. They didn’t give up. They put their faith in what is called the kingdom. One asked for a place in the kingdom and the other was giving out places. Two dying men talk like they had hope. And they are right.
What is this Kingdom? Where is it? How can we recognize it? Sometimes we want to say that the kingdom is out there, up there, after we die. Jesus said the kingdom is near. The kingdom is here.
Jesus used images through parables and stories to help us understand the presence of the kingdom. The kingdom is like a small mustard seed that grows into a big bush. The kingdom is like a treasure found in a field and the person finding the treasure sells everything he has in order to own the field and thus own the treasure. The kingdom is like a shepherd whose flock is not complete until he knows every sheep is safely in his care. The kingdom is like a father who runs down the road to meet his runaway son who is returning home, shamed. The father welcomes and restores his son back into the family. In all of those metaphors about the kingdom something changes.
This kingdom, according to Jesus, is about hope and people who are changed by this hope. The kingdom is wherever the redemptive love of God is doing something. It is this love of God that changes things. The dying man believed that hope to change things was possible even for him. And he was right. He asked Jesus to remember him in his kingdom. Jesus assured him that very day he is remembered. And so are we. And so are we! Today… this very day… we are with Jesus in his kingdom. What would happen to us; what would happen to a community of people whose lives are lived as though they believed that?
Here is our point of curiosity: What happens to people when they know, figure out, or trust that they are also remembered and made a part of the kingdom, today?
If there had to be a story written about the church that is worth reading, it should be a story about people when they know they are remembered for God’s kingdom. This story would be about what becomes of them after they know that.
If I were to write that story about our years together I would want to write about the moments when there was trust in the presence of the kingdom of God. I would want to write about the people who believed that the kingdom was actually breaking in. I would want to tell about what happened to and through those persons as a result. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful story of hope?
In fact, that is exactly what I will remember about people in this faith community and the journey we shared. I will remember what happened to people when they had those moments of knowing that they were remembered in the kingdom of God.
I can’t help it. Deeply rooted in my call to ministry is a passion to see the presence of the kingdom of God at work in the lives of people. That is how God has wired me. Rooted in the Call of some pastors is to build buildings. Others will see it in being part of bigger churches. I am grateful that there are people called to do those things; that just isn’t me.
In the story about the awareness of the kingdom of God among us, you can be assured, therefore, that there will be things that will not be included. It isn’t that I want to ignore or deny them. It is because I don’t find them to be very life giving. I could tell the sordid details of congregational intrigue and I could fill you in on the gossip. It might have a fascination. It might have a wide audience. I just don’t find it to be life giving.
Neither will I remember to tell about budget meetings. It won’t be most council meetings, and even fewer Executive Board meetings; and my personal favorite meeting that will be left out of the story is about whether we should have an altar rail in the sanctuary. I won’t remember statistics about who is in and who is out of the membership. I won’t remember if we sang your favorite hymn or sang my favorite hymn. I won’t remember most of the stuff about which we seem to occupy church life. For those people who thrive on those things I will leave those matters for the way you will tell about the church… it is all yours.
I will remember what happened to people when they came near to the kingdom of God. I will remember when they knew in that moment they were remembered by God and it filled them with hope. I will remember the moments when God’s kingdom was present, real, alive, life giving. Those are the moments I treasure.
I am so grateful to God for those holy moments I was privileged to be part of. I have lived for those moments to pour the water over the head of a child or an adult and share in the miracle of God’s grace; I am always in awe of what God is doing when I have the privilege to preside at the altar where the bread and wine that will be shared will be received as the body and blood of Christ. I have loved seeing the courage of people who were faced with life-threatening circumstances… and that courage was not their own doing. It doesn’t get any better than to announce at the grave of a person who has died in Christ that not even death will be able to have its power over them.
My joy is when someone “get’s it”. I love to be part of that moment when someone else says, “So, that’s it!” For such times… for such moments, I will invest whatever time it takes. I am grateful to God that God would allow me to be part of those holy moments when the kingdom breaks in and breaks through on someone’s life.
Yes, indeed, those are holy moments. Those are moments when we are bold to believe that God has remembered us. I am grateful for this ministry of holy moments; the relationships that have been formed around them; and I am grateful for the privilege to be welcomed into your life to share them.
Well, it is not important what I remember, however, is it? What is important is that God remembers. What is important is that God will never give up putting signs of the presence of kingdom right in front of us. What God has yet in store for your ministry is good. Seek it even if you must go around walls; venture into areas that are not nice; give out of your poverty of the things you have or don’t have. God will not withhold anything for those who seek ministry for the sake of the presence of the kingdom of God.
God’s kingdom, remember, is like a treasure hidden in a field… and it already is yours to own. I hope that your future is filled with the results of discovering what to do with this treasure. The future for those who own such a treasure is hopeful because the treasure is discovering what it is like to be in the hands of God. That is what the man on the cross next to Jesus had figured out. He saw Jesus was in the hand of God and he wanted to be where Jesus is. That shouldn’t be too difficult for us to also figure out.
May the God who is our hope and who directs our future, fill you with life, wonder, curiosity, and a continuing story with persons or even a congregation who find themselves all of a sudden in the presence of the kingdom of God and you spend the rest of your life discovering what to do about it. Amen
Christ the King Sunday
November 25, 2007
Herb Palmer
Faith Lutheran Church, Bellaire
“Hopeful Future”, Luke 23:33-43
This is weird. A dying man turns to Jesus, who is also dying; and the man asked: “Remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus promised the man what he asked for. The man is dying and so is Jesus and, yet, he gives the man hope. By all appearances both of their lives were over. But the weirder thing is: we know that it isn’t the end of their stories. They didn’t give up. They put their faith in what is called the kingdom. One asked for a place in the kingdom and the other was giving out places. Two dying men talk like they had hope. And they are right.
What is this Kingdom? Where is it? How can we recognize it? Sometimes we want to say that the kingdom is out there, up there, after we die. Jesus said the kingdom is near. The kingdom is here.
Jesus used images through parables and stories to help us understand the presence of the kingdom. The kingdom is like a small mustard seed that grows into a big bush. The kingdom is like a treasure found in a field and the person finding the treasure sells everything he has in order to own the field and thus own the treasure. The kingdom is like a shepherd whose flock is not complete until he knows every sheep is safely in his care. The kingdom is like a father who runs down the road to meet his runaway son who is returning home, shamed. The father welcomes and restores his son back into the family. In all of those metaphors about the kingdom something changes.
This kingdom, according to Jesus, is about hope and people who are changed by this hope. The kingdom is wherever the redemptive love of God is doing something. It is this love of God that changes things. The dying man believed that hope to change things was possible even for him. And he was right. He asked Jesus to remember him in his kingdom. Jesus assured him that very day he is remembered. And so are we. And so are we! Today… this very day… we are with Jesus in his kingdom. What would happen to us; what would happen to a community of people whose lives are lived as though they believed that?
Here is our point of curiosity: What happens to people when they know, figure out, or trust that they are also remembered and made a part of the kingdom, today?
If there had to be a story written about the church that is worth reading, it should be a story about people when they know they are remembered for God’s kingdom. This story would be about what becomes of them after they know that.
If I were to write that story about our years together I would want to write about the moments when there was trust in the presence of the kingdom of God. I would want to write about the people who believed that the kingdom was actually breaking in. I would want to tell about what happened to and through those persons as a result. Wouldn’t that be a wonderful story of hope?
In fact, that is exactly what I will remember about people in this faith community and the journey we shared. I will remember what happened to people when they had those moments of knowing that they were remembered in the kingdom of God.
I can’t help it. Deeply rooted in my call to ministry is a passion to see the presence of the kingdom of God at work in the lives of people. That is how God has wired me. Rooted in the Call of some pastors is to build buildings. Others will see it in being part of bigger churches. I am grateful that there are people called to do those things; that just isn’t me.
In the story about the awareness of the kingdom of God among us, you can be assured, therefore, that there will be things that will not be included. It isn’t that I want to ignore or deny them. It is because I don’t find them to be very life giving. I could tell the sordid details of congregational intrigue and I could fill you in on the gossip. It might have a fascination. It might have a wide audience. I just don’t find it to be life giving.
Neither will I remember to tell about budget meetings. It won’t be most council meetings, and even fewer Executive Board meetings; and my personal favorite meeting that will be left out of the story is about whether we should have an altar rail in the sanctuary. I won’t remember statistics about who is in and who is out of the membership. I won’t remember if we sang your favorite hymn or sang my favorite hymn. I won’t remember most of the stuff about which we seem to occupy church life. For those people who thrive on those things I will leave those matters for the way you will tell about the church… it is all yours.
I will remember what happened to people when they came near to the kingdom of God. I will remember when they knew in that moment they were remembered by God and it filled them with hope. I will remember the moments when God’s kingdom was present, real, alive, life giving. Those are the moments I treasure.
I am so grateful to God for those holy moments I was privileged to be part of. I have lived for those moments to pour the water over the head of a child or an adult and share in the miracle of God’s grace; I am always in awe of what God is doing when I have the privilege to preside at the altar where the bread and wine that will be shared will be received as the body and blood of Christ. I have loved seeing the courage of people who were faced with life-threatening circumstances… and that courage was not their own doing. It doesn’t get any better than to announce at the grave of a person who has died in Christ that not even death will be able to have its power over them.
My joy is when someone “get’s it”. I love to be part of that moment when someone else says, “So, that’s it!” For such times… for such moments, I will invest whatever time it takes. I am grateful to God that God would allow me to be part of those holy moments when the kingdom breaks in and breaks through on someone’s life.
Yes, indeed, those are holy moments. Those are moments when we are bold to believe that God has remembered us. I am grateful for this ministry of holy moments; the relationships that have been formed around them; and I am grateful for the privilege to be welcomed into your life to share them.
Well, it is not important what I remember, however, is it? What is important is that God remembers. What is important is that God will never give up putting signs of the presence of kingdom right in front of us. What God has yet in store for your ministry is good. Seek it even if you must go around walls; venture into areas that are not nice; give out of your poverty of the things you have or don’t have. God will not withhold anything for those who seek ministry for the sake of the presence of the kingdom of God.
God’s kingdom, remember, is like a treasure hidden in a field… and it already is yours to own. I hope that your future is filled with the results of discovering what to do with this treasure. The future for those who own such a treasure is hopeful because the treasure is discovering what it is like to be in the hands of God. That is what the man on the cross next to Jesus had figured out. He saw Jesus was in the hand of God and he wanted to be where Jesus is. That shouldn’t be too difficult for us to also figure out.
May the God who is our hope and who directs our future, fill you with life, wonder, curiosity, and a continuing story with persons or even a congregation who find themselves all of a sudden in the presence of the kingdom of God and you spend the rest of your life discovering what to do about it. Amen
posted by Faith Lutheran Church at
8:15 AM
1 Comments:
Hi Pastor. Thanks so much for posting your sermon texts to these blogs. Very helpful and a good source.
I had folks suggest to me that they be able to blog in comments to you as you depart. A great idea! Would you mind creating a blog entry that would introduce an opportunity for people to reply to that with comments just as I have here to this sermon? I think that would be helpful and appreciated by many.
Thanks.
Don
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Don Hodde, at 2:55 PM
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