More Than A Meal

Long time, no post. Sorry about that! How about a sermon for now?


Gospel: John 6:56-69
Jesus said, 56 “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57 Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” 59 He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.   60 When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” 61 But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63 It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. 65 And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”   66 Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67 So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” 68 Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.” 


We are now at the fifth and final week of our Summer Sermon Series on “More Than a Meal” and you will notice that once again we hear instructions from Jesus on communion. Jesus says that those who eat his flesh and drink his blood will abide in him and he will abide them. Quite a promise, but one that our entire community is based in. Think about how we share a meal. The very act of sharing communion means that we are in community together. We are breaking bread and inviting people to dine with us.

Well, many of you know that I got married on August 1st, about three weeks ago. It was pretty amazing and I keep remembering different pieces of the day. One that really stands out is having communion. We had an amazing church service with wonderful music, with a laying on of hands, a blessing from Pastor Scot, and a sending song that had to be “A Mighty Fortress is our God.” We had at least a dozen Lutheran pastors present, after all.

Let's Talk About Sex, Baby

The church does a horrible job of talking about sex. Pretty much, we just avoid talking about it or we tell teenagers to "wait for marriage."I've heard people say their defense of this is "because it's in the Bible." That annoys me. Maybe I missed it?

Just read a great blog post by Jaime the Very Worst Missionary where she writes:

"To top it off, we've done a really bad job of teaching about sex in the Church. Our approach has been to shame girls for having it, and shame boys for wanting it. And when the smart kids ask, "Why wait?", we shrug our shoulders like a hillbilly and say, "Because the Bible says." Then we give the girls a purity ring and we give the boys nothing and we cross our fingers and hope they'll cross their legs. So dumb."

When I was in high school, I attended a class called "Good Sex" at a friends church. It was taught by the Youth Pastor and his pregnant wife. They began the class by saying, "So, we've had sex. Obviously." It was great! Well, some of the theology was superb. Some of it was stretched.

You've all seen this literal drawing, right?

I recall a lesson on "Do not stir or awaken love until it pleases." It's from Song of Solomon, that sketchy book about breasts and climbing them. And what that doesn't say is "wait to have sex until you are married." What it does say is, "Don't manipulate and force love. Wait for the right time."

Honestly, I'm not fussed if people have sex before they are married. I'm fussed if people abuse the holy act that is sex. I hate the idea that I could go out to a club and get picked up by a guy I've not previously met and go back to his place and have sex with him and then never see him again.

WHAT THE HELL IS THAT??

Being Girly and Pastor-like

Me at my Ordination in Dec 2012

I am a female pastor. Well, really, I'm a female AND I'm a pastor… but the two separate identities are so intertwined that when I discuss one, the other arises.

The topic of women in ministry is in many ways a very old debate and in others, still quite new. My church body, the ELCA, has been ordaining women since 1970. I had a female pastor in the church I was confirmed in. I knew that female pastors were rare, but there was never a time that option was closed to me as it was to women even a generation before me. 

I remember thinking, when I first considered being a pastor, that I didn't want to become a frumpy pastor. This is tragically judgmental commentary on how I felt about female pastors at the time. Most of the females I had met in ministry had short hair, dressed in pants and button up tops, and were not…. girly. 

Q&A, Millennial style

I just got back from a week long mission trip with 50+ teenagers. I'm still recovering from the lack of sleep. But I'm also reveling in the amazing conversations that I had at midnight that caused the lack of sleep.

Did you know that teenagers ask amazing questions? Seriously. Everything from LGBTQ questions to the realities of heaven and hell. And the answers from me are taken with a grain of salt (or two) and added to the mix of all the answers and information available at the moment. They weigh what they hear from religious "authorities" against what they experience in their daily lives, in and outside of a church building.

This is how our generation operates. We question. We discuss. The conclusions we draw are rarely case closed, period, end of sentence. We're open to ideas that might come to us years down the road. We've seen too many people so staunchly fixed to their beliefs that anytime those ideas are threatened, people get hurt.