Einfach nur weil's so schoen ist... / Because I really like it!

Listen God is calling / Sermon for 01/18

Grace to you and Peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Listen, listen God is calling. This hymn is my son’s favorite. He loves to sing it. And he loves me to sing it to him. Not only once, or twice but over and over again. Until I feel like, well, not so much like being called or even calling but more like yelling… But my son is persistent, like all five year olds are. And so is Jesus. 

Jesus calls Philip to come and follow him. There are no promises of a better life, of more money to be made. Or more of fame to obtained. He just calls: and Philip follows. 

When was the last time you heard God’s call in your life? 

As long as I can remember I heard God’s call in my life to become a pastor. (Even though as a child I wouldn’t have named it call.) But when I finished high school, I didn’t follow this call immediately. There were so many other calls in my life. There were my parents who really wished that I would become a doctor. There were the calls (or better mockeries) of my friends, who thought it would be pretty boring for me to go to seminary and become a pastor. There was also my own voice, telling me that I wouldn’t be good enough to be a pastor and that God surely must have better people than me to follow that call. 

Well, to cut a long story short, God can be as persistent, or maybe even more so, as my son. So here I am, finally listening to God’s call and going to seminary to become a pastor. 

When did you hear God calling in your life? And what was your answer? My answer to God were a lot of excuses. Something was always more important than God. My family, my friends, my fears, you name it. I put God aside. Hoping that if I would ignore His call, He might stop calling. Guess, again…

I believe we all have our own excuses for not listening to God’s call in our life. And they seem quite valid to us. We cannot do this. It would be a burden for our family. We are not able to do that. No one would take us seriously. We don’t want to do this because it would mean to invest: money, spare time, ourselves. Whatever our reasons for not following God’s call might be, if we were honest we would have to admit that they are just excuses. 

Following Jesus is not always easy. Because there are no promises of something we will gain from that. There is no promise of a better life for us. Jesus just calls us to follow. He calls us to trust and accept him. 

This is not easy. It is not easy for Nathanael - and it is not easy for us. Nathanael has a hard time believing that this call is real. Could ever come something good out of Nazareth? Out of a small town hidden in the middle of nowhere? Surely nothing good could come from there. The good things, the real prophets, they come from those big places like Jerusalem, or Wall Street, or Hollywood. Surely nothing good could ever come out of some little town in Upstate New York, like Your-City… 

Maybe it is that reason why we sometimes do not follow God’s call in our life. He surely wouldn’t call us. There are other people. More important people. More intelligent people, God could call. God wouldn’t call someone so unimportant as me. 

And so we wait. We wait for other people to pick up and do the job. When Jesus began his ministry he called people to become his disciples. So he called Simon and Andrew, Philip and Nathanael. Men with family and friends, and work to do. But Jesus called them to leave all that behind and follow him. And the amazing thing is:  they heard this call - and answered to it.   They didn’t say “Oh, yes, thank you, but I don’t think I can really do that” or “Oh, I’d love to but…”  

No, they left everything behind and followed Jesus. 

They didn’t wait for someone else to be called instead. They didn’t wait for someone else to do the work because they had enough of their own, thank you. They heard the call, answered it and followed Jesus. 

But Jesus not only called the four fishermen, he also calls us. 

Jesus calls you. 

Today.

Listen, listen God is calling. Are we going to follow? 

I am sure we all have our “I need to do something else first” answers ready. Or the “Yeah, but…” or even the “I’m not really qualified. Ask someone else!”

But this call, this new life is not about but’s and if’s. It is not about: someone really needs to do something about this or that. It is about a call to us now. 

Today. 

Everyday. 

It is about us doing that job that needs to be done.

It is difficult to trust in God’s call in our life, because this call usually leads us away from what we have always known and calls us to do something new. 

45 years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. dared to leave all the known and secure behind and started his march on Washington. Even though it was not an easy way for him, he changed the world forever. 

Most likely neither you nor me will ever be a Martin Luther King. But we are still called by the same God that called him. Because we don’t need to go off and join the Peace Corps or to help people in war plagued parts of the world to answer that call. God calls us to go out and answer His call today, here in Your-City, the little town in the middle of nowhere. We don’t even have to be rich to help. We don’t have to be famous to answer God’s call. Instead God calls us to love our neighbors and to care for them with what we have. He calls us to see and answer the needs our sisters and brothers have. 

Can anything good come out of Your-City? It can and it does. Like it does here from this church with all that you do. With your volunteer work. With your care for each other. And most of all with all that you do to still be a loving and welcoming church even though you don’t have a called pastor. You answer God’s call every day so that the doors of this church stay open for all in need. What a wonderful gift you are giving!

Listen, listen God is calling. He is calling us. He is calling us to follow Jesus the best way we can. And following Jesus means trusting in the love of God. Trusting that God will walk with us wherever we will walk. 

But sometimes we don’t want to listen. Because listening to God’s call means that we have to give up our own wishes and plans. Listening to God means to become a servant of God and our neighbor. Listening to God means allowing God to be God. Powerful, in charge. That is not easy. Because it means that we have to admit that we are not in charge. Even though we try that again and again. We are not in charge. God is. 

This is not something that is encouraged in our society. We are those in charge and in power. We are those who are strong and in control. But are we really?

I have no problems admitting that I am powerless when I am in trouble. Because, like all of us, I come at a point where I realize that I cannot do anything to get me out of whatever kind of trouble I got me into. (And believe me even seminarians get into trouble!) But when all is well, when all seems to just go along easy and fine, I don’t feel powerless and I don’t want to be powerless. I want people to see and comment on how well I manage my life. I know God helped me out of a lot of trouble in my life. But now that all is well, thanks God, I can manage on my own. I will come back when I have more trouble. 

But this is not what it means to follow God’s call. This is not what it means to accept Jesus as Savior. This is just sinning self-righteousness. 

What then is answering God’s call about?

It is about trusting in Jesus and going where he wants us to go. Into the wilderness. Into the soup kitchen and help feeding the hungry. Into the hospital and visit the sick and lonely. 

It means to see in all people our brother or sister. It means to open our arms to the marginalized, the outcast, the unseen. It means to be the voice of those unheard and the face of those unseen. It means to go out like Philip and invite others to come and follow Jesus. 

But why should we, or anyone else for that matter, follow Jesus? There is nothing he promises beforehand in return. He just calls. But when we accept that call and follow him, he reveals to us, like he revealed to Nathanael, that we will see the heavens opened and the angels descending on the Son of Man. 

Hmm, really?!? 

This sounds strange. When we will follow Jesus we will see angels descending onto Jesus. 

But when we look back to the time this was written, we start to understand what an extra-ordinary revelation Jesus has given us. This is not the first time someone in the bible sees the heaven opened and angels descending. This sounds a lot like Jacob’s dream of the ladder into heaven. This is also what people in ancient times were looking for. A ladder, a means to come into contact with God. So people in ancient times built tall temples with long stairs that were supposed to show the stairways to heaven. But we know that no stairs built by men or tower built by people will ever be tall enough to reach God. We fail reaching God, like we fail listening to God’s call.

But Jesus tells us that if we follow him he will become the stairways to heaven. He will become our means to come into contact with God. What we cannot do alone, coming to God, becomes possible through Jesus. 

Listen, listen God is calling. God is calling us to come and see and follow. God is calling us to serve, and love, and care. He is calling us to come and be with Him. Not through our works but through our following of Jesus. Not by being powerful but by being a servant just like Jesus. 

God is calling. Are we willing to follow? 

May the peace of God which surpasses all our understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. 

Unterschiede / What is different

Der vielleicht groesste Unterschied zwischen dem Ringelman und mir: er putzt das Haus bevor die Putzfrau kommt, ich stoppe das Putzen zwei Tage bevor sie kommt. 

Jeder nach seiner Fasson....

(Und nein, wir sind nicht unter die Reichen gefallen. Unsere allerbesten Freunde zahlen fuer das Vergnuegen!)

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Maybe the different way of doing things between me and my Ringel-Husband? He cleans before the housecleaner come, I stop cleaning two, three days before they do.

Whatever suits him...

(And no, we have not made it into the ranks of the rich. But the best friends ever pay for the cleaning folks twice a month!) 

Warum / Why

Warum wollte ich eigentlich unbedingt, dass der Kleine Mann mit dem Nuckeln aufhoert? Vorher hat er wenigstens durchgeschlafen...

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Why was I so keen on the Kleine Mann to give up sucking his thump?!? Before that he at least slept through the night... 

Damals im Sommer / Once upon a time - last summer

Sie erinnern sich noch? Letztes Jahr im Sommer waren wir ja in Friesland. Glauben Sie mir nicht. Na dann, sehen Sie doch selbst...

Remember, last summer we spent time in Frisia. Don't believe me? Well, see for yourself! 

Sonntags / Sundays

• Sohnemann krank und schlecht geschlafen
• eine ganze Menge Neuschnee
• kaltes Haus
• Schnupfen
• Dienst

Sonntag halt...

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• Son sick and tired after bad night
• quite a bit new snow
• cold house
• runny nose
• scheduled to preach in a few hours

Sundays, what else... 

Connected in water - Sermon for 01/11

Grace to you and Peace from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you remember your baptism? I don’t. I was only four months old when it happened and so I have no recollection what-so-ever of that event. But there are stories told about the event. 

This morning we also heard the story about a baptism - the baptism of Jesus. 

This is a special story - and a special baptism. 

John the Baptist lived in the wilderness, calling people to come and repent their sins. He proclaimed the coming of the Messiah, the Savior, who will baptize all with the Holy Spirit. John prepared the people for the coming of the Lord. 

But when Jesus finally comes, no one, neither John nor his disciples, recognize Jesus as the Messiah. No one calls out: “Behold, there is the Lord!” Jesus gets baptized like the rest of them. They did not recognize him - because he was not what they were looking for. 

They had hoped for a warrior king, a strong fighter who would free their land from the occupation of Rome. They were looking for someone who would give them political power and freedom. They were looking for the strong, the glorious, the powerful. And so they couldn’t recognize Jesus when he came: simple, humble, human. Just like one of them.  And like one of us. 

Only two weeks ago we have celebrated the coming of Christ. The coming of God with us. God in the human form. We have been told that God is living with us. But when I look around I have a hard time seeing God with us. 

Where is God in the violence and warfare that hurts so may people around the world?

Where is God when people, children die from hunger?

Where is God when people loose their homes due to foreclosure? 

Where is God in all the pain and darkness around us?

Where is God/Jesus in all this?

Maybe we make the same mistake John and his disciples did: we look for Jesus in the wrong places.

Because I really want to have a God that fixes all my problems. I really want the suffering to stop. No more hunger. No more pain. No more war. If only God would listen to me! 

But am I willing to listen to God? Because it is much harder to listen to God than to tell God what God should do! 

Jesus listened to God. When he came out of the water after his baptism he heard God’s voice, calling him Son and beloved. And he saw the Spirit of God coming to rest in him. 

This is not the first time we have heard of the Spirit today. 

Our first lesson describes the beginning of creation. It describes the darkness and void before God’s light came into the world. But it also describes the presence of God’s Spirit even in this darkness and void. Even this darkness and emptiness is not empty of God. God is there in the midst of all this. Calling the world and the light into being. And with the light comes the life. 

This is the beginning of the story: the Spirit is moving in and through the darkness. And it keeps moving until the baptism of Jesus. At that baptism it comes to rest. Our gospel text today says: the Spirit descending on him. But a closer translation from the Greek in which the gospel was written would be “descending in him”. 

The Spirit comes to a rest in Jesus and is with him. 

That sounds wonderful. But what does that mean for us?

When we are baptized, we are baptized into Jesus. We become part of God’s family. And becoming part of this family means that the Spirit comes also to rest in us. In you and in me. We are all part of the family. Nothing can change that! 

Maybe you feel that you are not really part of this family. Maybe you feel that what you have done has taken away from you the right to be a child of God. But God loves you! No matter what you do or have done: you are part of this loving family of God’s children. 

Let me tell you a story:

There was a young man at my congregation in Germany. He had been asked to help with the youth program. But he felt that he couldn’t do that. He had done some bad things in his past and now felt that he was no longer part of God’s family. Maybe God still loved him. But he definitely wasn’t good enough to do anything at church. 

He was asked over and over again but his answer was always the same. 

One day he came to the Youth Group Committee asking if they would still be willing to have him help. We were more than happy and willing because he was really good with the kids and everybody could see that this was one of his gifts.

When I asked him later what made him change his mind, he told me: “You know I was praying, asking God what to do now and I heard God saying: Young man, I have forgiven you all those things a long time ago. Why can’t you forgive yourself?” 

Through baptism we are all called into God’s family. God forgives us our sins. God does not separates Him from us but we sometimes separate us from God. But the good news is: God is always there. Waiting with open arms for us to just accept His forgiveness and love in our life! And that might be the hardest. Forgiving ourselves. Accepting that God loves us. Accepting that there is nothing we can do to stand any better with God. Because that also means: accepting that we are not in charge. God is in charge. He forgives. Over and over again. And even though we will sin and break His heart over and over again, we will still be part of His family. Because He loves us. We are, like Jesus, His beloved!

So where is God in our darkness and our void? He is right with us. He stands by us and rests in us. 

We often have a hard time seeing God because, like John and his disciples, we look at the wrong places for God. 

God is not the warrior God, who destroys those who do harm. He is also not the meddling God, who miraculously makes all problems, pains, and fears disappear. As much as we would like God to do all this: He does not do it. But He is the loving God, who suffers with us. Who cries with us. And who is with us. All the time. Every day. 

He is with us through other people who help us, listen to us, and be with us. He is in the warm sunshine after a bad night full of nightmares. He is in the people and things that make us feel loved and cared for. 

But why then when God loves us so much, is He not ending all those pain, darkness, and suffering? Where is the love in that? 

When God created us, He created us in His image; as people with a free will. And we use this free will. All too often we use our free will not the way God wants us to, but the way we want to. We sin. We cause other people harm. We cause ourselves harm. But God does not stop us, because He loves us so much. And loving someone means giving him or her freedom. Even the freedom to sin and break God’s heart. 

God does not stop us. But He does not leave us alone either. He is with us in our sinning and in our suffering. No matter where we turn to and walk to, God walks with us. Today and every day. 

Today we are called. We are called to remember our baptism. A baptism that made us into children of God. And made us part of God’s loving family. 

We are also called to follow Jesus. We are called to follow him into the wilderness and become servants of one another. We are called to become God’s hand and feet. God offers us a new life through our baptism. We don’t have to worry anymore about forgiveness. We are forgiven. Through God’s grace we are freed from our sins. There is nothing we have to do to be forgiven. God gave it to us. Free. Without any strings attached. Not because of what we have done or because we are so lovable. But because God is so loving and caring. This is what God’s grace is all about. God gave us His love and forgiveness for free. We don’t have to show our collected merit badges. We don’t have to show off our wonderful portfolios. We are loved and forgiven the way we are. We are loved so much that God gave His only son so that all our sins may be forgiven. For free. Nothing left for us to do. 

And since we are free from having to do something to be forgiven and be back in God’s family, we are called to use our time for others. We are called to share God’s good news with all. With those people inside this building and outside. 

We don’t have to do good works in order to earn God’s love and forgiveness. But since we are connected with all God’s children through our baptism we are called to share our gifts with all in need. We don’t have to use those gifts to be loved by God. But we are called to use them to help others. We all have gifts. 

We might be good in Youth Group work like the young man back in Germany. We might be good singers and offer our voices to the glory of God, as the choir does every Sunday. We might be good cooks, able to cook when someone is in need. Or we might be good listeners, being able to be with people in need. 

No matter what our gifts are, God wants us to share those gifts with all His creation. 

God calls us out of our old life. He calls us to leave our fears, our doubts, and our old self behind and follow him. And even though leaving this old life will be challenging at times, we know that we are not alone. Like it did in Jesus at his baptism, the Spirit comes to rest in us at our baptism. We are all part of the same loving Creator. The water of baptism connects us with God and our neighbor. And so we are called to become servants and family to God and neighbor as well. 

No matter what kind of darkness we might encounter by following Jesus, we know that we are not alone. God’s Spirit is in us; giving us strength, love, and comfort for all we have to do. 

God is with us indeed. We just have to start looking at the right places: not in the places of power and might, but in the places of humble servant-ship. Jesus is not the warrior king John, and at times we, looked for. But he is not powerless either. Through his faith in God he is able to follow God’s call in his life. We are called to do the same!

We heard stories this morning. Stories about God’s love and call. 

Stories about light and darkness. Let us go out and share our stories with others. Let us go out and share that the light has come and is living with us through Jesus. Let us go out and invite others to become part of God’s story of love and care. But most of all let us go out and live our call, and let us become the loving and serving children of God He wants us to be.

Amen. 

May the Love of God which surpasses all our understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. 

Arbeit / Work

Ideen fuer die Predigt habe ich. Nun muesste ich nur noch die Zeit haben, all das auch aufzuschreiben. Aber leider ist heute schulfrei. (Schneesturm und Eisregen) 

Haben Sie schon mal versucht, eine Predigt zu schreiben, wenn Benjamin Bluemchen im Hintergrund Paulchen auf dem Rummel sucht und der Kleine Mann zur gleichen Zeit "Oh Du froehliche" singt?!?

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OK, the sermon is drafted. Now I would just need the tie to write things down. But there is no school today. (Huge ice-storm) So the Kleine Mann is home.

Have you ever tried to write a sermon while your CD-player delivers stories about a talking elephant and your son sings Christmas carols? See... 

Ringels

Sonntagsnachmittag / Sunday afternoon

Jeden ersten Sonntag im Monat hat das Wissenschaftmuseum fuer Kinder den "Tag des freien Eintritts". Da muessen wir natuerlich hin. Und immerhin; der Kleine und der lange Mann hatten auch viel Spass. Frau Ringel haette nach 110 Meilen Fahrt zur Arbeit am Morgen und einer recht anstrengenden Sonntagsschulklasse lieber geschlafen...

Every first Sunday the local Science Center has its free Sunday. So we had to go. The Kleine Mann and the Ringel-Husband had lots and lots of fun. I have to admit that I dragged along. After driving 110 miles just for work and an exhausting Sunday School Class (just don't ask... One of THOSE days...) I felt more like taking a good long nap. 

35

... und kein bisschen weise...

_________________________

... and none the wiser... 

Und dann noch / And also

Dann schreib ich wohl noch mal ein paar mehr Bewerbungen fuer Praktikumsplaetze. 

Ach Manno!

______________________

And then I better write some more CPE applications.

Oh rats! 

Und heute / And today

... Praktikumsvorstellungsgespraech. Als ob ich den Tag nicht besser verbringen koennte. Ich hoffe ja nur, dass ich den Platz denn auch bekomme. Bitte bitte Daumen druecken.

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CPE-Intern interview. As if I couldn't spend my day any better...

I only hope that I will get into the program. 

Think of me, will you?!?