September 7, 2003
Thirteenth Sunday after
Pentecost
Mark 7:24-37
All those years of
listening to music at high volume and driving a tractor
with no cab have led me to a hearing specialist who
tells me I have a hearing loss. He said I could expect
to have difficulty hearing women’s and children’s
voices. He told me that it would help a great deal if I
looked directly at the faces of people as they spoke. I
jokingly said, “What?”
It’s really not a laughing
matter how surprised I’ve been when I’ve looked directly
at the faces of those for whom society expects little.
Maybe I’m guilty of having
low expectations, too. Instead of telling a child, “Let
me show you how,” I’ve come to realize they have a faith
to share with me as they lead in prayer at home and at
public events.
Instead of imposing my
seminary-trained theology of baptism, I listened to a
young college-age couple tell me about the baptism of
their baby, reflect on the meaning of their own
baptisms, and share what it means to be baptized into
the life, death and resurrection of Jesus.
Then there’s the
church-sponsored refugee family, who we thought would be
the recipients of our compassion. Instead they went to
the door of a committee member who was grieving the
death of a parent and brought food and conversation.
My low expectations are
daily turned upside down as God’s glory is revealed in
Jesus, as I see and hear that Jesus is faith. Jesus is
the one who welcomes the lowly, the poor, the outsider,
even the hard of hearing.
Of course, there are still
times when my seeing and hearing are not so good. For
those times, I cherish the line from a Gerhard Frost
poem: “I think of my poor service to God as teacher,
parent, interpreter of the Good News. I know that my
offerings are soggy, tepid and unfit; but my father
receives them - and even blesses them - not because I am
good ... But because he is!”
The Rev. Randall Schlecht
Stewardship Specialist
ELCA Eastern North Dakota
Synod
September 14, 2003
Fourteenth Sunday after
Pentecost
Mark 8:27-38
Bracketed by two blindness
stories, chapters 8 and 9 of Mark bring numerous
contradictions:
-
misunderstanding and correction
-
passion prediction and get behind me Satan
-
who’s the greatest and child in the midst
-
on the way and the way of the cross
-
confess and follow Jesus
-
lose your life and save it.
Discipleship to Jesus means
operating in reverse. Discipleship to Jesus means living
in contradiction, sometimes apparent and sometimes not.
Discipleship to Jesus means following him who has to die
and be raised from the dead.
Special musical events,
block parties, worship opportunities and food of all
sorts mark these beginning Sundays in our congregations.
Those folks who will come are for the most part folks
who have some sense of what following Jesus means.
I’m intrigued by the poem
titled “Dinner” which I first heard read on CBC Radio in
January 1998. I purchased the book because of this one
poem. The author, Patrick Lane, writes:
“I would like to have
dinner with the man
who didn’t follow Christ,
the one who,
when Jesus said: Follow me
and I
will make you fishers of
men, decided
to go fishing instead,
getting in his boat,
pushing out from shore, his
nets clean
and repaired, thinking I
will have to work
even harder now in order to
feed
everyone left behind. I
would like
to sit on the beach with
him
in front of a careful fire,
his wife and children
asleep,
sharing a glass of wine,
both of us
telling stories about what
we’d done
with our lives, the ones we
caught,
the ones that got away.”
–SELECTED POEMS: 1977-1997
by Patrick Lane
I wonder about those who
really understand what discipleship to Jesus means,
perhaps have even been rebuked and have decided to stay
home. I wonder how we will sit with them in our
discipleship to Jesus.
The Rev. Randall Schlecht
Stewardship Specialist
ELCA Eastern North Dakota
Synod
September 21, 2003
Fifteenth Sunday after
Pentecost
Mark 9:30-37
True greatness is to become
last and servant of all. That’s what discipleship to
Jesus is about. It sounds backwards and foolish.
So we named it Backwards
Sunday. “Welcome to our Backwards Sunday worship. Today
our order of worship will be done in reverse.” First was
the postlude and last was the prelude and everything
in-between was in reverse order as well. We even prayed
the Lord’s Prayer in reverse order. With everything in
reverse order, I discovered that I needed to pay much
closer attention as I led the liturgy on those Backwards
Sundays.
No, I didn’t preach the
sermon in reverse, although the ushers had fun starting
the offering at the back pew instead of the front pew.
Today, I would add the possibility of folks bringing 90
percent instead of their usual 10 percent for their
offering!
I’m not suggesting driving
your automobile in reverse down the street or even
walking backwards down the sidewalk. But what would
happen if we reversed our normal route of travel. What
and who would we see differently in terms of greatness?
In what new places might we find Jesus?
Discipleship to Jesus means
giving up the clutching, hoarding, guarding and
playing-it-safe kind of life. True greatness is
foolishness and backwards to us, but Jesus invites us to
walk backwards with him. Find him in the helpless,
little ones. Lose your life for his sake. Become a fool
for Christ’s sake.
The Rev. Randall Schlecht
Stewardship Specialist
ELCA Eastern North Dakota
Synod
September 28, 2003
Sixteenth Sunday after
Pentecost
Mark 9:38-50
“I’m so thirsty.” Those
words unite all of us. Sometimes we act as if we don’t
need each other. We forget to join the human race. We
wear all sorts of masks and disguises. We major in the
minors and forget the basics.
Baptized into the death of
Christ, we live with Jesus and his people. Discipleship
to Jesus means we will thirst. With Jesus, you’ll get
thirsty. With Jesus you’ll lose your life for his sake,
bringing living water to all who thirst. This will be a
dying-to-self experience.
If we live, we live with
Christ. If we thirst, we thirst with Christ. If we die,
we die with Christ. So then, whether we live, thirst or
die, we are the Lords’. Those are the basics.
I heard quoted today the
words of Nancy Snell, ELCA director for Stewardship and
Mission Giving, reminding us of some stewardship basics
for a congregation. Of most importance is a healthy
ministry and trust. I believe her words are true and
that without the basics of a healthy ministry and trust
no technique or program will be effective.
Salt is also an effective
stewardship ministry of the ELCA Division for
Congregational Ministries. “Salt emphasizes a broad and
deep understanding of stewardship which better equips
members for daily life.” Information about equipping
members for “salty discipleship” may be found by
contacting the ELCA Division for Congregational
Ministries at 800/638-3522, ext. 2767 or at
www.elca.org/dcm/stewardship/salt.
“Salty disciples” remember
the basics and lead others to life in Christ - a life
and thirst that satisfies forever.