September 2022
"Lost"
Rally Sunday; based on Luke 15:1-10 (text at end of post)
September 11, 2022
This past Wednesday we held a funeral service for Milton Yergens at Concordia College. Afterward, we headed to McIntosh, MN—a two-hour trek to the northeast for the interment at Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery. My husband Charlie and I drove in my car. We had no problem getting to McIntosh. GPS showed us the quickest route. But once there, we couldn’t find the cemetery. In a town of 600 people!
Someone had told us it was near the grain elevator. The problem was there was more than one elevator. Thankfully we ran into Shawn the funeral director, who had come in his car and was also lost. After following him down a road that took us out of town, we all turned around and drove back. We stopped and Shawn ran into a store. And it wasn’t long before we found the missing cemetery. With everyone waiting for us. Of course, the cemetery wasn’t really lost. We were. Cemeteries can’t get lost.
In our Gospel lesson, Jesus tells two stories about lost things and people trying to find them. One is about a woman who searches her house for a lost coin. The other is a shepherd looking for a missing lamb. Jesus tells these stories in response to those who criticize him for socializing with the “sinners” of his day—“lost” individuals, who (in their eyes) didn’t deserve to be “found.” A story repeated today.
None of us can forget the story of Savannah Greywind, the young, pregnant Native American woman who five years ago went missing from her apartment here in Fargo. Hundreds of tribal and community members joined the search. And kept on looking until her body was found by kayakers ten days later in the Red River.
And although her story was tragic, it’s a common one for Native American women and girls. Native women make up less than one percent of the U.S. population, yet have murder rates ten times the national average. The National Crime Information Center estimates that in 2019, more than 8,100 Indigenous youth and 2,200 Indigenous adults went missing. Plus many other cases that go unreported. Cases linked to the systemic racism that often leads police and media to not take them seriously.
Three years ago, a federal Missing and Murdered Native Women Act—also called The Savanna's Act after Savanna Greywind—was passed to address this issue. Our friend and State Representative Ruth Buffalo was one of the bill’s authors. Ruth is a public advocate and seeker of justice around this issue. A Native American voice for the lost.
The new law set up protocols for law enforcement related to missing and murdered Indigenous women. It also created a nationwide database—and requires access to tribes to allow them to be more actively involved in the search for their lost women and girls. A search that never ends.
In our Gospel lesson, Jesus tells us that God is like that. God is the one who searches for the missing ones nobody cares about. God is the parent who never gives up hope looking for their lost daughter. God is the activist who keeps looking for a solution no matter how hopeless the task may seem.
When we read these parables, it’s easy to focus on what was lost—the lost lamb, the lost coin. Countless preachers have used these parables to talk about lost souls that need to be found. To remind us how sinful we all are.
But I think that’s the wrong way to look at these stories. I believe Jesus is asking us to focus on the seekers. Because it’s the seekers who keep searching for what’s lost, long after others give up hope. It’s the seekers who keep on looking until they find what they are looking for. Sometimes that means a lost person or thing. Sometimes that means advocacy and justice.
God, Jesus says, is a seeker of the missing. God keeps looking for those among us who feel lost. God keeps on searching, no matter how long it takes. God’s grace pursues us. God’s arms embrace us. God’s word tells us we are loved. God sees us, even when we feel invisible. God welcomes us, even when we can’t accept ourselves.
It’s in God’s nature to be like that. In theological terms, we say that God is gracious and merciful. In story after story in the Bible, we hear how people make mistakes, and how God then gives them a second chance. The passage from Exodus we heard earlier takes place just after the people of Israel had been liberated from slavery in Egypt. While Moses is up on the mountain talking with God, the people become bored and disillusioned. When Moses comes down, he can’t believe his eyes. The people have melted their jewelry and sculpted a golden calf. Which they now worship as their god.
Initially, God becomes angry and wants to destroy them. But what’s amazing about this story is how Moses changes the mind of God. Moses persuades God to remember a promise—the covenant first made with Abraham and Sarah. To remember that God’s promise of a future faithful people needs to be fulfilled despite this failure in their journey.
Even St. Paul talks about his own failings in his letter to Timothy in our second reading. As a young man, Paul stood by and held the coats of a rage-filled mob as they threw stones and killed Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Paul underscores the mercy of God as he tells the story of his own conversion—from a passive bystander of a violent murder, to a believer changed by his encounter with the risen Jesus.
Over and over again, the Bible tells us about a God who loves the outcast, seeks the missing, forgives the sinner, and embraces the loser. A God who always sees the possibility of grace. A God who sees how hope can change lives.
We all know what it's like to suffer failure and loss. A supervisor gives you a bad job review. A marriage ends in divorce. A parent dies. A child doesn’t pass a class. A friend lets you down. A loved one becomes ill. Most of us have a story like that to tell.
That’s why hope is so important. When you feel utterly lost and are searching, God comes to find you. When you reach the end of the rope in your struggle with chemical dependency, God your higher power walks beside you and grants serenity. When you feel alone and despairing, God brings you to a community like this one that cares.
In her novel, Animal Dreams, Native American author Barbara Kinsolver writes:
“The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.”
Hope in that sense is not a far-off vision. It’s a spiritual practice we do each day. Based on the reality of God’s grace. The holy place where we live and grow and have our being.
On this Rally Sunday, I believe that’s the kind of place Jesus is calling St. Mark’s to be: a place of hope for those who feel lost. A community that accepts you, wherever you come from. A chosen family that welcomes you, no matter who you love. A homecoming for those who have nowhere else to go.
A place where the angels of heaven rejoice because here the lost is always found. In this house of God’s amazing grace. Amen.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
FIRST READING: Exodus 32:7-14
The LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ ” The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.” But Moses implored the LORD his God, and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.
GOSPEL READING: Luke 15:1-10
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to [Jesus.] And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Someone had told us it was near the grain elevator. The problem was there was more than one elevator. Thankfully we ran into Shawn the funeral director, who had come in his car and was also lost. After following him down a road that took us out of town, we all turned around and drove back. We stopped and Shawn ran into a store. And it wasn’t long before we found the missing cemetery. With everyone waiting for us. Of course, the cemetery wasn’t really lost. We were. Cemeteries can’t get lost.
In our Gospel lesson, Jesus tells two stories about lost things and people trying to find them. One is about a woman who searches her house for a lost coin. The other is a shepherd looking for a missing lamb. Jesus tells these stories in response to those who criticize him for socializing with the “sinners” of his day—“lost” individuals, who (in their eyes) didn’t deserve to be “found.” A story repeated today.
None of us can forget the story of Savannah Greywind, the young, pregnant Native American woman who five years ago went missing from her apartment here in Fargo. Hundreds of tribal and community members joined the search. And kept on looking until her body was found by kayakers ten days later in the Red River.
And although her story was tragic, it’s a common one for Native American women and girls. Native women make up less than one percent of the U.S. population, yet have murder rates ten times the national average. The National Crime Information Center estimates that in 2019, more than 8,100 Indigenous youth and 2,200 Indigenous adults went missing. Plus many other cases that go unreported. Cases linked to the systemic racism that often leads police and media to not take them seriously.
Three years ago, a federal Missing and Murdered Native Women Act—also called The Savanna's Act after Savanna Greywind—was passed to address this issue. Our friend and State Representative Ruth Buffalo was one of the bill’s authors. Ruth is a public advocate and seeker of justice around this issue. A Native American voice for the lost.
The new law set up protocols for law enforcement related to missing and murdered Indigenous women. It also created a nationwide database—and requires access to tribes to allow them to be more actively involved in the search for their lost women and girls. A search that never ends.
In our Gospel lesson, Jesus tells us that God is like that. God is the one who searches for the missing ones nobody cares about. God is the parent who never gives up hope looking for their lost daughter. God is the activist who keeps looking for a solution no matter how hopeless the task may seem.
When we read these parables, it’s easy to focus on what was lost—the lost lamb, the lost coin. Countless preachers have used these parables to talk about lost souls that need to be found. To remind us how sinful we all are.
But I think that’s the wrong way to look at these stories. I believe Jesus is asking us to focus on the seekers. Because it’s the seekers who keep searching for what’s lost, long after others give up hope. It’s the seekers who keep on looking until they find what they are looking for. Sometimes that means a lost person or thing. Sometimes that means advocacy and justice.
God, Jesus says, is a seeker of the missing. God keeps looking for those among us who feel lost. God keeps on searching, no matter how long it takes. God’s grace pursues us. God’s arms embrace us. God’s word tells us we are loved. God sees us, even when we feel invisible. God welcomes us, even when we can’t accept ourselves.
It’s in God’s nature to be like that. In theological terms, we say that God is gracious and merciful. In story after story in the Bible, we hear how people make mistakes, and how God then gives them a second chance. The passage from Exodus we heard earlier takes place just after the people of Israel had been liberated from slavery in Egypt. While Moses is up on the mountain talking with God, the people become bored and disillusioned. When Moses comes down, he can’t believe his eyes. The people have melted their jewelry and sculpted a golden calf. Which they now worship as their god.
Initially, God becomes angry and wants to destroy them. But what’s amazing about this story is how Moses changes the mind of God. Moses persuades God to remember a promise—the covenant first made with Abraham and Sarah. To remember that God’s promise of a future faithful people needs to be fulfilled despite this failure in their journey.
Even St. Paul talks about his own failings in his letter to Timothy in our second reading. As a young man, Paul stood by and held the coats of a rage-filled mob as they threw stones and killed Stephen, the first Christian martyr. Paul underscores the mercy of God as he tells the story of his own conversion—from a passive bystander of a violent murder, to a believer changed by his encounter with the risen Jesus.
Over and over again, the Bible tells us about a God who loves the outcast, seeks the missing, forgives the sinner, and embraces the loser. A God who always sees the possibility of grace. A God who sees how hope can change lives.
We all know what it's like to suffer failure and loss. A supervisor gives you a bad job review. A marriage ends in divorce. A parent dies. A child doesn’t pass a class. A friend lets you down. A loved one becomes ill. Most of us have a story like that to tell.
That’s why hope is so important. When you feel utterly lost and are searching, God comes to find you. When you reach the end of the rope in your struggle with chemical dependency, God your higher power walks beside you and grants serenity. When you feel alone and despairing, God brings you to a community like this one that cares.
In her novel, Animal Dreams, Native American author Barbara Kinsolver writes:
“The very least you can do in your life is figure out what you hope for. And the most you can do is live inside that hope. Not admire it from a distance but live right in it, under its roof.”
Hope in that sense is not a far-off vision. It’s a spiritual practice we do each day. Based on the reality of God’s grace. The holy place where we live and grow and have our being.
On this Rally Sunday, I believe that’s the kind of place Jesus is calling St. Mark’s to be: a place of hope for those who feel lost. A community that accepts you, wherever you come from. A chosen family that welcomes you, no matter who you love. A homecoming for those who have nowhere else to go.
A place where the angels of heaven rejoice because here the lost is always found. In this house of God’s amazing grace. Amen.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
FIRST READING: Exodus 32:7-14
The LORD said to Moses, “Go down at once! Your people, whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have acted perversely; they have been quick to turn aside from the way that I commanded them; they have cast for themselves an image of a calf, and have worshiped it and sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!’ ” The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, how stiff-necked they are. Now let me alone, so that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them; and of you I will make a great nation.” But Moses implored the LORD his God, and said, “O LORD, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, how you swore to them by your own self, saying to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants like the stars of heaven, and all this land that I have promised I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ” And the LORD changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.
GOSPEL READING: Luke 15:1-10
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to [Jesus.] And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. “Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
"Your Borning Cry (A Confirmation Sermon)"
Confirmation Sunday; based on Luke 16:19-31 (text at end of post)
September 25, 2022
How many of you remember your confirmation? I do. For me, it was 50 years ago this year. I was confirmed with 32 other young people. At my home church in Dassel, Minnesota.
After going through three years of classes, on that special day, I remember how we all wore white robes with red carnations. My pastor, Dr. Carlson, said a Bible verse when he placed his hands on each of our heads. I wish I could remember what mine was.
After the service, Cheryl McCarthy—a classmate who was next to me because we were in alphabetical order—told me that I seemed so nervous she thought I was going to faint. But, I didn’t. Thanks be to God! (Amelia, I hope that’s not true for you!)
Back then, confirmation for most kids was like a graduation from church. (Amelia, I hope that’s not true for you either!) Out of my big class, only a handful of us stayed active afterward.
For all of us, today is a day to think about our own confirmation. And about our continuing affirmation of our baptismal covenant. A covenant God made with you and me on the day we were baptized. A covenant God made with most of us when we were just babies. A covenant that speaks of God’s grace and love caring for us when we were most helpless. When we could do nothing for ourselves including eating or bathing or walking.
Yet God came to us in baptism and declared that we were and always will be beloved children. No matter what we do or don’t do.
No matter what we may face in our sometimes long, sometimes short lives as humans on this earth. No matter what joys or sorrows come our way. No matter whether we are rich or poor.
Each of us—no matter what stage of life we are in—depends on the grace of God every day. When I was confirmed, I never could have guessed what the rest of my life would be like.
I never could have known that I would turn out to be who I am today. I never could have predicted all the things I would learn in and out of school. I never could have envisioned the jobs I’ve had. I never could have dreamed of loving someone like my spouse.
And I never could have believed I would be a pastor here in Fargo, North Dakota—in a congregation like St. Mark’s.
And Amelia, the same will be true for you. You’re in eighth grade now. And you are beginning your teenage years with all its ups and downs. You love art and music and swimming. And I think you love church—at least I hope you do!
Amelia, you have before you a lifetime of experiences and relationships you never could fully anticipate now. And today, God promises to walk with you no matter what. In every stage of your life.
I can imagine that Lazarus in the story which Jesus tells in our Gospel lesson must have had his own dreams and yearnings. Yet with the same unknowing of what his future might hold when he was young.
Of course, Jesus doesn’t tell us anything about Lazarus’ life story. Jesus just says he’s poor. It makes me wonder: was Lazarus born into a low-income family, with a history of generational poverty and all that goes with it?
Or did Lazarus end up poor because of something that made it impossible for him to do the kind of manual labor many people did in the time of Jesus? A time when there was no Social Security or food stamps or safety nets to help the needy.
Today, of course, we know that the people we call poor often have personal histories and social barriers that keep them trapped in poverty. Things like racism and classism and prejudice. Issues that Amelia raises in the community prayers she wrote for us today.
We also know that it is by the grace of God that many of us don’t walk in the shoes of the very poor.
Of course, Jesus doesn’t talk about any of that. We don’t know how Lazarus ended up being poor. But we do know that Jesus takes sides with Lazarus instead of the rich man.
Jesus tells us that when Lazarus dies, he goes straight to be with Abraham. Our text says Lazarus was at Abraham’s side, but most translations use the word “bosom.”
At the time of Jesus, the “bosom of Abraham” was a Jewish term for the place where people go when they die. The word for “bosom” was sometimes used for a person’s lap—like a child sitting in her mother’s lap. A place of comfort and love and safety. Dwelling with Abraham and Sarah, the founders of their faith, along with all the angels in the perpetual light of God.
Some Christians use this parable to make a distinction between heaven and hell. Where heaven is the place righteous believers go. And hell is where evil sinners are punished.
But I prefer to focus on the hope in this story. About a loving God, who welcomes a suffering homeless man into the realm of peace and healing—a complete reversal for Lazarus.
In reality, this story is not about Lazarus. Or about what made him sick and poor. It’s a story about God’s amazing grace.
About a God who accepts Lazarus just as he is, offering comfort to the poor of this world. About a God who shelters the weakest among us, even in the face of misfortune and death.
About a God who welcomes each of you. No matter what you have done or not done. Despite what we do or don’t believe.
It’s about a God who today rejoices with the angels in heaven, to hear this daughter Amelia affirm the faith of her baptism and her love for her creator.
Who loved you, Amelia, as a beloved child on the day you uttered your first borning cry. And loves you today as a young believer. And will love whoever you will be in every day of your life—whatever that may bring. Until your final day when you will be welcomed into the bosom of Abraham and Sarah, with Jesus and Lazarus and all the saints.
Amelia, I hope you will always remember this day of your confirmation. With its promise of God’s ceaseless love for you. And of our deep love for you. Today and always. Amen.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
GOSPEL READING: Luke 16:19-31
Jesus said: “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, ‘Father
Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”
After going through three years of classes, on that special day, I remember how we all wore white robes with red carnations. My pastor, Dr. Carlson, said a Bible verse when he placed his hands on each of our heads. I wish I could remember what mine was.
After the service, Cheryl McCarthy—a classmate who was next to me because we were in alphabetical order—told me that I seemed so nervous she thought I was going to faint. But, I didn’t. Thanks be to God! (Amelia, I hope that’s not true for you!)
Back then, confirmation for most kids was like a graduation from church. (Amelia, I hope that’s not true for you either!) Out of my big class, only a handful of us stayed active afterward.
For all of us, today is a day to think about our own confirmation. And about our continuing affirmation of our baptismal covenant. A covenant God made with you and me on the day we were baptized. A covenant God made with most of us when we were just babies. A covenant that speaks of God’s grace and love caring for us when we were most helpless. When we could do nothing for ourselves including eating or bathing or walking.
Yet God came to us in baptism and declared that we were and always will be beloved children. No matter what we do or don’t do.
No matter what we may face in our sometimes long, sometimes short lives as humans on this earth. No matter what joys or sorrows come our way. No matter whether we are rich or poor.
Each of us—no matter what stage of life we are in—depends on the grace of God every day. When I was confirmed, I never could have guessed what the rest of my life would be like.
I never could have known that I would turn out to be who I am today. I never could have predicted all the things I would learn in and out of school. I never could have envisioned the jobs I’ve had. I never could have dreamed of loving someone like my spouse.
And I never could have believed I would be a pastor here in Fargo, North Dakota—in a congregation like St. Mark’s.
And Amelia, the same will be true for you. You’re in eighth grade now. And you are beginning your teenage years with all its ups and downs. You love art and music and swimming. And I think you love church—at least I hope you do!
Amelia, you have before you a lifetime of experiences and relationships you never could fully anticipate now. And today, God promises to walk with you no matter what. In every stage of your life.
I can imagine that Lazarus in the story which Jesus tells in our Gospel lesson must have had his own dreams and yearnings. Yet with the same unknowing of what his future might hold when he was young.
Of course, Jesus doesn’t tell us anything about Lazarus’ life story. Jesus just says he’s poor. It makes me wonder: was Lazarus born into a low-income family, with a history of generational poverty and all that goes with it?
Or did Lazarus end up poor because of something that made it impossible for him to do the kind of manual labor many people did in the time of Jesus? A time when there was no Social Security or food stamps or safety nets to help the needy.
Today, of course, we know that the people we call poor often have personal histories and social barriers that keep them trapped in poverty. Things like racism and classism and prejudice. Issues that Amelia raises in the community prayers she wrote for us today.
We also know that it is by the grace of God that many of us don’t walk in the shoes of the very poor.
Of course, Jesus doesn’t talk about any of that. We don’t know how Lazarus ended up being poor. But we do know that Jesus takes sides with Lazarus instead of the rich man.
Jesus tells us that when Lazarus dies, he goes straight to be with Abraham. Our text says Lazarus was at Abraham’s side, but most translations use the word “bosom.”
At the time of Jesus, the “bosom of Abraham” was a Jewish term for the place where people go when they die. The word for “bosom” was sometimes used for a person’s lap—like a child sitting in her mother’s lap. A place of comfort and love and safety. Dwelling with Abraham and Sarah, the founders of their faith, along with all the angels in the perpetual light of God.
Some Christians use this parable to make a distinction between heaven and hell. Where heaven is the place righteous believers go. And hell is where evil sinners are punished.
But I prefer to focus on the hope in this story. About a loving God, who welcomes a suffering homeless man into the realm of peace and healing—a complete reversal for Lazarus.
In reality, this story is not about Lazarus. Or about what made him sick and poor. It’s a story about God’s amazing grace.
About a God who accepts Lazarus just as he is, offering comfort to the poor of this world. About a God who shelters the weakest among us, even in the face of misfortune and death.
About a God who welcomes each of you. No matter what you have done or not done. Despite what we do or don’t believe.
It’s about a God who today rejoices with the angels in heaven, to hear this daughter Amelia affirm the faith of her baptism and her love for her creator.
Who loved you, Amelia, as a beloved child on the day you uttered your first borning cry. And loves you today as a young believer. And will love whoever you will be in every day of your life—whatever that may bring. Until your final day when you will be welcomed into the bosom of Abraham and Sarah, with Jesus and Lazarus and all the saints.
Amelia, I hope you will always remember this day of your confirmation. With its promise of God’s ceaseless love for you. And of our deep love for you. Today and always. Amen.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
GOSPEL READING: Luke 16:19-31
Jesus said: “There was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, who longed to satisfy his hunger with what fell from the rich man’s table; even the dogs would come and lick his sores. The poor man died and was carried away by the angels to be with Abraham. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hades, where he was being tormented, he looked up and saw Abraham far away with Lazarus by his side. He called out, ‘Father
Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am in agony in these flames.’ But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that during your lifetime you received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in agony. Besides all this, between you and us a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who might want to pass from here to you cannot do so, and no one can cross from there to us.’ He said, ‘Then, father, I beg you to send him to my father’s house—for I have five brothers—that he may warn them, so that they will not also come into this place of torment.’ Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’”