Why did the angels sings Gloria?  Why did the shepherds sing the Gloria?  Why do we sing the Gloria?

The setting was this: the angels had come to the shepherds. There were shepherds out in the fields, watching their flocks by night, and an angel of the Lord came to them, and the glory of the Lord was all around them, and the shepherds were very much afraid. The angel said to them: Fear not, for I bring you good news of great joy which shall be for all people, for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. This shall be a sign for you, you will find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Suddenly, there was with that angel, a multitude of heavenly hosts, hundreds of thousands of angels together, singing, with a female sound (women in choir, no organ, no pause): Glooooooooooooooia, in excelsis deo. (The surprise singing in this sermon is fun, and everyone enjoys the planned-in-advance surprise.)

Now, why? Why were those angels singing the Gloria? Why? Because they had been told that the Christ child was for them, and understanding that the Christ child was for them personally, they began to sing the Gloria.

So, initially, after the angels had sung for the shepherds, the shepherds did not understand. They did not understand that the Christ child was for them, and therefore initially, they did not sing the Gloria. The shepherds finally came to the manger, to the cave where Jesus was sleeping in the straw, and Mary took the child from the manger of straw and gave the child to the shepherds and said: “For you, for you is born this day.” And a shepherd took the baby into his arms and asked: For me? For us? When the shepherds finally understood that the Christ child was to be their very own, the Bible goes on to say, then the shepherds went home, glorifying God singing in a male sound, (men in choir, no organ, no pause) “Glooooooooooooooria. In Excelsis Deo.”

Then the angel takes us, you and me, to the manger and Mary picks up the baby, the Christ child, and the baby Jesus is placed into your hands, and you take the Christ child and you hold the Christ child to your breast, and you look into his eyes, and you realize, deeply, that the Christ child is for you. When you realize the Christ child is your very own, it is then that you start to sing (pastor sings) “Gloooooooooooria. In Excelis Deo.”

The word, Gloria, comes from the word, glory. The glory is the Jewish Shekinah. The Shekinah is glory is the Divine Presence of God. In the Old Testament, the glorious Presence of God was the pillar of fire by night and the cloud by day. You could see the pillar of fire; you could see the cloud. The glory Presence of God is ultra bright. God’s glory is firey light. God’s glory above us is the glow-ria of the angels in the sky. The glowing Presence of the angels in the sky then becomes the glowing Presence of God in one’s own heart. The glow from the sky becomes the glowing fire of God within. When you realize that Christ is for you, your very own, you then begin to sense the glow-ria, an inner glow, a glow-ria in one’s heart. When there is a glow-ria in one’s heart, one begins to sing the Gloria on one’s lips. The glowing light goes from sky to heart to lips.

Some of you children who are here tonight, do you remember your first tricycle? Or how about when you grew a little older and you were given our first bike, your first bicycle? Your own bike? Not your neighbors. Not your friends. Not your brother’s or sister’s but your very own bicycle? Do you remember the thrill, the glow that you felt about that? Or, do you remember your first car? I bet you do. Do you remember the feeling inside when you drove that first car? I keenly remember that ’49 brown Chevrolet. I can still see it and smell it from so many years ago, because it was my first, very own car. Or, how about that first apartment, with the crumby furniture, where you could do what you wanted to do with the place in which you were living? There was an inner glow, a glowing satisfaction. Or how about your first home? For those of you who have a home, do you remember that first little spot you had that you called a home? The backyard. The kitchen. The old bathroom of your first home? Do you remember that glowing satisfaction of having your first home.

Do you remember your first child? That first child that was born or adopted your very own, and the glow that was inside of you? How can you forget the inner glow that accompanied your first child? Yes, we all remember the inner satisfaction and inner glow from our first tricycle, bicycle, car, apartment, home, and child, when these became ours. 

 It doesn’t seem that long ago. It is as clear as yesterday. It was in the morning, 6:30, a Sunday morning, and I heard the patter of little feet. The patter of the feet came into the kitchen, and it was dark in our kitchen except for the light above the kitchen table. I was putting the finishing touches on the Sunday sermon, and the little child came in half asleep, and he said to me, “Where’s the scissors, Dad?” I gave him the scissors and he went over to where there was a chain which was made of paper, a paper chain link for each of the days of Advent. He went and cut off the chain and said, “Dad, one more day to Christmas!” Then that little boy got up into my lap, and he put his arms around my neck, and he just sat there and hugged me, for what seemed like five minutes of stillness and five minutes of love. I put my arms around his little body and that child was my very own, my very own child, belonging to the world, belonging to my wife, belonging to his family, belonging to God, but also, belonging to me, my very own. And there was an inner glow of satisfaction deep within me.

And when you finally realize that Christ is your very own, not only for all the world, not only for all the shepherds, not only for all the angels, but when you realize that Christ is your very own, that the gift of eternal life is for you, …that the gift of God’s healing is for you … that the gift of God’s forgiveness is for you … that the gift of a new birth of love is for you. When you finally understand that Christ is for you, you take Christ into your arms and you hold him. You hold him in your arms and when you understand, there is the glow-ria in your heart, and you begin to sing the Gloria.

Let us together sing, the Gloria. (Organ leads, and the whole congregation joins in singing the refrain of the Gloria.)

Rev. Edward Markquart

In the Bible, we first meet Mary when she was a young girl of about thirteen. For us, that means we picture a budding young girl, perhaps in seventh or even eighth grade in school. In sixth grade they are young girls; in eighth grade they have become young women. In other words, Mary was just starting to become a young woman.  She was just beginning to go through that change within her whereby she would be able to give birth to a child. This was a very exciting time for her. Women would come to Mary and say, “Mary, we hear that you have become a young woman.  When are you going to get engaged, Mary?” Or  “When is your father, Joachim, going to make arrangements for you?” Her older siblings and aunts would tease and taunt her because she had matured to that very delicate time in life when she had become a young woman and was eligible for engagement.

Mary’s father arranged for his daughter to be engaged to a young carpenter by the name of Joseph. Their engagement lasted for one year. During this year that Mary and Joseph were engaged or betrothed, they prepared for their wedding, just as a young couple would prepare for their wedding and marriage.

How did Mary prepare for her wedding and marriage? By sewing. Mary sewed the dishcloths, washcloths and towels. She sewed all her clothes for the wedding and marriage. She was focused on preparing for that day.

Joseph, on the other hand, was a typical Jewish man.  What would Joseph do to prepare for the wedding day? By building. A typical Jewish man would prepare their future house. He would build the furniture, the house, and make those kinds of preparations. Joseph became a carpenter by trade.

Also, during their engagement, the couple would become acquainted, being building their relationship and start to fall in love with each other.

Jewish law took their engagement seriously. The Jewish law said that if Joseph died, Mary would be a widow. If she died, he would be a widower. If they separated, it was called a divorce.

In our Biblical resources such as the Gospel of Luke, young teenage Mary was visited by an angel, Gabriel. Gabriel was a messenger from God. Gabriel said, “Hail, favored one of Israel. The Lord is with you.”

Mary didn’t know what to make of it; she was puzzled, worried, and afraid.

The angel continued, “Do not be afraid Mary, for you have found favor with God.” We could stop the sermon right here, if we wanted to.  We have heard the Gospel in two statements. “Do not be afraid, Mary. Do not be afraid of your future.” The very nature of fear is to be afraid of the future, what is going to happen to us or loved ones. Fear of the future. Of disease, death, lack of income. And God says, “Don’t be afraid of your future.” That is gospel for you and me. We are not be afraid of our future.

Then we hear a second line, “I God will be with you. You have found favor with God, Mary.” Instead of Mary, substitute your own name. Larry, Pat, John, Jean. You have found favor with God and God is with you. Elsewhere in the Bible, God says, “Do not be afraid for I am with you wherever you go.” What good news that is for each one of us, to know that God is with us.

The angel went on to say, “You have found favor with God, Mary, because you are to give birth to the Messiah, the Anointed one.”  All young Jewish girls had the dream that they may become the mother of the Messiah.

And Mary questioned, “Me? I am only engaged. I am not married yet. I don’t have a husband yet. I don’t do that hanky-panky outside of marriage. To get pregnant like that is punishable by death. I don’t have a husband. I am engaged, that is all.” 

Then the angel said to her, “The power of the Holy Spirit will come upon you. The Holy Spirit will be like a shadow over you.”

When Luke said, the Holy Spirit will shadow over you; that same word was used in Genesis in the creation story in Genesis 1:1. The Holy Spirit shadowed over the waters before the beginning of time, and God created life in those waters. In the same way, the Holy Spirit is now shadowed over Mary and created life in her. What is the bigger miracle? The Spirit over the waters in Genesis and God created life? Or the Spirit over the womb of Mary, creating life. Both are miracles. Miraculously, the Spirit created life over the waters in creation and the Spirit created life in Mary. 

Mary was overwhelmed, but the messenger was not done speaking, “You know what? Your old Aunt Elizabeth is pregnant. With God, nothing is impossible. God did the impossible in Creation. God did the impossible in your old Aunt Lizie. And God did the impossible in you, Mary. God does the impossible all the time. ” With God, nothing is impossible. We could stop right here for we again have heard the gospel. With your life and mine, nothing is impossible.

The messenger left and Mary said, “Lord, I am your handmaiden, your servant. Let it be to me according to your word. Do with my life and my body what you want to do.” She believed the message. Martin Luther said that the only miracle greater than the virgin birth was the miracle that Mary believed.

The angel left.  What were Mary’s feelings? Who knows? Fear? Excitement? Incomprehension? Mary didn’t really know what happened to her. She was wondering if all of this was true and so she went to the land of Judah to look for old Aunt Elizabeth. She found her old auntie, and sure enough, her old auntie was starting to expand. Her old auntie was looking pregnant, that was for sure. Aunt Elizabeth looked at Mary and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child in your womb. You are most blessed and you have believed God’s Word to you.” The baby in her belly kicked her a good one as if to join the celebration. And Mary? Mary exploded in a song of happiness, “My soul praises the Lord, for God is my salvation.  I am so happy in God, my savior.”

There is something I want you to remember about Mary,  something very significant and life changing. Mary, the mother of Jesus, had the audacity to believe that God had chosen her.  She said, “Do with my life as you want to.”  She had the audacity to believe that God had chosen her to be the mother of the Messiah.

Mary didn’t say like Moses, “Well, I am not good enough; God, get someone who can talk better.”

Nor was Mary like Zechariah, “Lord, give me a sign. Prove it to me and then I will believe.” 

Mary simply believed that God chose her.  Because she believed, she was able to put into effect what God had chosen her to do.

I believe that as God chose Mary, a common and ordinary person, God has also chosen you and me, common and ordinary people. I believe that you are seated here in this congregation today because God has chosen you. God has chosen to use your life in God’s mission for the world. I know that God has chosen me and God certainly didn’t choose me because of my abilities. God chose me because God is gracious. God chose my life for a purpose, and I don’t have to ask God what the purpose of my life is, what the mission of my life is, or what I am supposed to do. I simply know. And I simply know that God has a purpose for your life as well.

God has chosen you to be an instrument to carry Jesus Christ into the world. God has also chosen me, and through me, I go out into the world and I am to be the loving presence of Jesus Christ. I am not carrying Jesus Christ physically in my womb or uterus.  I am carrying Jesus Christ in my heart, but I am carrying Christ just as Mary did. I carry Christ out into the world. I am the loving presence of Jesus Christ in my world, and God has chosen you to do that. You are a chosen person.  If you have the audacity to believe that God has chosen you, you know that God is doing God’s work through you. You too are a carrier of Christ, just as Mary, his mother, was. Like Mary, you are an instrument of God’s.  You do not need to be afraid of the future.

Further, I firmly believe that God has not only chosen you individually, but that God has chosen congregations to accomplish some good works of love on Christ’s behalf. I do not believe it is an accident that we are now together as a pastor and people. God has brought us together to do a mission, to do a ministry together.  I believe that God has several great tasks for this congregation to do. If you would dare to believe that, just as Mary dared to believe that in her own life.  If you dare to believe that God has some significant missions for your individual life and our congregational life together, fantastic things will start to happen in the life of this congregation. Fantastic things will start to happen in our individual lives if you dare to believe that you are chosen.  Believe it and do not be afraid. 
Rev. Edward Markquart

Theme:  Everyone needs someone who will speak the truth, be the “voice of God.”

There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.  John repeatedly emphasizes that Jesus was “sent from God.” We will hear that the word, “apostles,” means to be “sent” and Christians are to be “sent from God into the world.” Here in this moment, we hear that John the Baptist was sent from God. To be “sent from God” is a sign of authenticity and spiritual authority.

-He came as a witness to testify to the light, so that all might believe through him.  John the Baptist was a witness to testify to the light of God which lives in Christ. Christ is the light of the world who brings life.

Note the word, “believe.” As we move into the Gospel of John, we will hear that what John wants is to believe in Jesus Christ more than anything else.

-He himself was not the light, but he came to testify to the light.  John the Baptist was not the light but pointed to the light. We are the same: we point to the greatest light in the whole world, Jesus Christ. Jesus is that great and glorious beacon that guides us on our way. Jesus is the North Star who guides us in the night. Jesus is our lamp who guides our feet so we don’t stumble and fall as we walk on the paths of life. John the Baptist and everyone else who has any sense does not point to one’s self as an example but to Jesus Christ. “Keep your eyes on Christ” and you will do well.

He confessed and did not deny it, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.” John the Baptist was clear: he was not the coming Messiah, the Anointed One, the Chosen One of God.

-And they asked him, “What then? Are you Elijah?” He said, “I am not.” ” John 1:21 says, “Are you Elijah?” Jesus answered, “I am not.” Whereas in Matthew 11:14 it says, “If you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.”  The Gospel of John says that John the Baptist was not Elijah; Matthew says that he was. It seems that Matthew was writing to a Jewish audience who were definitely expecting Elijah to return before the arrival of the Messiah. Matthew interprets John the Baptist to be none other than the returning Elijah. The Gospel of John says “No, John the Baptist wasn’t Elijah.” For the Gospel of John, John the Baptist is the Voice crying in the wilderness to prepare for the coming Messiah.

Are you the prophet?” He answered, “No.”

-Then they said to him, “Who are you? Let us have an answer for those who sent us. What do you say about yourself?” “Who are you?” This is the dominant question for all people from all generations. What is the true identity of John the Baptist? We continue to ask, “John, the Baptist, who are you? Are you the Messiah? Are you the persona of Elijah returned, or another prophet who is to come?”

We ask similar questions about Jesus. “Jesus, are you really a weighty religious prophet like Moses or Mohammed or Buddha and thereby a founder of a world-wide religion? Jesus, are you truly a prophet and no more? Did your followers exaggerate your identity and convert you into the Son of God when you only wanted to be a religious prophet?”

These are all fundamental questions that were being asked centuries ago and that people still ask today. 

The Jews at that time were expecting the Messiah to come, Elijah to return, and another prophet (unnamed) to return. The belief that Elijah would come immediately before the Messiah is derived from Malachi 4:5. “I will send you the prophet Elijah before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of parents to their children and the hearts of children to their parents, so that I will not come and strike the land with a curse.”

Also in Deuteronomy 18:15, the Bible states that God “will raise up a prophet like Moses… I will put my words in his mouth and he shall speak all that I have commanded him.”

- He said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, “Make straight the way of the Lord,’ ” as the prophet Isaiah said.

John said, “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, get ready for the coming of the Lord.”

“The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord.” John the Baptist invited the people to prepare for the coming of Christ into the world and into their hearts. Similarly, John the Baptist asks us to prepare for the coming of Christ into our lives and into our hearts as well.

We all need the Voice of God speaking to our lives.  We need a person or people who would call out to us to get ready for Christ to enter into us. We all need a voice to confront us with our sinfulness and crooked lives.

We always prepare for great events in our lives whether that event is Christmas, the birth of a baby, the homecoming of a child now an adult, taking a trip, getting ready for a big game or a important concert, making preparations for the visit of a presidential candidate. We always prepare intently for great events that will soon be upon us. We all have experienced and know the reality of preparation for an important, upcoming event.

Christ comes to us in so many different ways, and one’s heart is always to be prepared for the surprise coming of Christ into our lives, often when we least expect it. Voices of pastors, spouses, children, friends, work associates, professors, neighbors are often the voice of God, calling to us and getting our attention to get ready for the coming of God’s glorious presence into our lives.

“Make his paths straight.” All four authors quote Isaiah 40:3 about the messenger who will prepare the way of the Lord and make his paths straight. The image of straightening a path was clear to the people of the first century. When a king was about to come into a land, the road-like-paths would be cleaned up and straightened in preparation for his royal majesty’s entrance. So it was at the coming of the King of the universe. The prophet would prepare for the coming of the Christ onto the earth and into our lives. The road crews of the ancient paths/roads would straighten them out and tidy them up in preparation for the coming royal king, and we are to straighten the moral/spiritual/habitual paths of our lives in preparation for our coming King. 

Rev. Edward Markquart

Theme:  Finding God in the wilderness or the city?

From the back of the church, you hear the sound of a ram horn and there is silence….  total silence.    

Today is the day of John the Baptist. Today is an invitation is given to you and me to prepare for the coming of Christ.  To prepare by going into the desert to be cleaned. One’s heart. One’s imagination. One’s thoughts. It is only when one is cleaned in the desert that the Christ comes to live within.

The city. How we love the city and how we are afraid of the desert. The city is a sumptuous buffet of turkey, fish and beef, with sugar coated corn flakes and sugar coated apples and sugar coated coffees with plastic covered dinners and plastic covered boxes and plastic covered bags. The city dwellers eat sumptuously every morning, noon and night.  How the city dwellers love the food of their fair cities. It’s taste; it’s variety; it’s convenience; it’s volume.

A voice cried out, “In the desert, prepare. In the desert, be cleaned.”  And then I heard a whisper, a voice speaking ever so softly: “He ate only locusts and wild honey. He ate so simply.”  Then another voice suddenly shouted out; “Is God really a loaf of bread or the Bread of Life?”

The city is magnificent cathedrals and skyscrapers, buildings of stone and steel, growing taller and taller and taller like the towers of Babel, pointing their fingers high into the sky.  Buildings of tinted gray glass and shining bright aluminum, rectangular, cylindrical, triangular, epitomized by the classic modern building, the Stadium. People love to walk beneath the grandeur of their great concrete cathedrals and see the skyline of the city of man. 

A voice cried out, “In the wilderness, prepare for Christ to come in. In the wilderness, be washed, be cleansed. And another voice whispered ever so softly, “God’s tabernacle was only a tent. God lived in a tent.”  And still another voice shouted a question so all the world could hear: “Is the dwelling place of God in a magnificent cathedral or in a tent made out of canvas?”

The city is technology; the mind is a machine; the cranium is a complex computer like you have never seen before. How they loved their computerized calculators, their computerized telephones, their computerized checking accounts, their computerized grocery stores.  Nothing in the whole world knows so much as a computer. Nobody can answer so quickly as a godlike computer. The people themselves became computerized; marriages were computerized; babies were computerized. How the people loved their computers because their computers were omniscient and people always bow to omniscience.

A voice cried out, “In the wilderness, get ready for the coming King. In the wilderness, be washed, be cleansed.”  Another voice whispered above the silence, “He watched only the stars at night. He watched them coming out one at a time. How he loved the silence of the stars.”  But another voices shouted a question so all the world could hear, “Is God a giant computer in the sky or is God in the invisible space between the stars?”

The city is sophistication. It is class. It is real class. The city is knowing how to eat, using the right fork and avoiding the wrong fork, the short ones for salads and the long one for dinner. The city is knowing how to talk with a suave, lilting language, using the right word at the right time for the right situation.  The city is knowing how to dress right, knowing what to wear and what not to wear; knowing what books to read and what books not to read; knowing the right symphonies to listen to and which music to avoid. The city is class; it is sophistication and so comfortable.

A voice cried out in the wilderness, “Get ready for the coming of the King. Be washed. Be cleansed.” Another voice whispered, “He dressed so simply.  He wore only a shirt made out of camel hair. His shirt was so plain, so simple.”  Another voice shouted the question for the world, “Is God sophisticated, pure class, like royalty is? Or did he come dressed in the clothing of a carpenter?”

The people had come to love their city.  They had come to love the city for the nature of human beings is to love the city of man more than the God of the desert.  To worship the city. To be tantalized by the city. To be addicted to the city. To love and worship the city, the technology of the city, the way of the city. The city?  The city always results in the death of the soul.  The more a person loves the city of man, the more that person loses their love of the God of the desert. The soul needs the desert in order to live. The soul needs the desert in order to survive.

Israel loved the city. Israel was in captivity and had come to love the city. The Israelites didn’t want to go out into the wilderness.  The Jews had come to love the foods of Egypt, the cathedrals of Egypt, the technology of Egypt, the sophistication of Egypt.  Their souls had become absorbed in Egypt and they didn’t want to go into the desert because they loved the technology of Egypt.  But God led the Jews into the desert as God always leads people into the desert in order to grow. In order to renew their souls, in order to be purified; in order to become clean. God always leads people into the desert in order to prepare them for a new land, for a new mission, for a new life, in order to live in the city.

Today, the Word of the Lord is clear. The Lord says to you and me, “Go into the wilderness and become clean. God into the wilderness and be cleansed: your mind, your imagination, your heart, your actions, your words, your habits. Jesus himself went into the desert. Jesus was baptized in the desert and immediately he went further into the desert for forty days and forty nights, preparing for a new mission, for a new life, for a new ministry in the city of man.

So, you ask the question:  “Where is the desert?  Where is this wilderness? Where is this desert that you talk of?”  Your very questions betray your reluctance to leave the city. To ask such questions at all betrays our reluctance.  It is like the Jews of slavery, anxious to remain in Egypt, asking God, “Where is Mount Sinai?”  The Jews knew where Mount Sinai was.  They really wanted to stay in Egypt and not go into the desert, and so they asked questions, in order to avoid going into the desert.  We are the same.

But the miracle can only happen in the desert.  So we ask other questions.  “Where is the desert? Where is the wilderness? Is the wilderness a camping trip? Is it a hike around Mount Rainier? Is it a trip in my tent trailer or motor home around the Olympic Peninsula? Such foolish questions are asked by people who think merely in the thought patterns of the city.

The wilderness is where God lives. The wilderness is any place where a person becomes absorbed in the powerful presence of God. The wilderness is where anyone is alone, totally alone, really alone, with the ultimate issues of life, death and eternity.  The wilderness is in a Book, in a thin wafer and thimble of wine. The wilderness is in a prayer and a still small voice. Sometimes it is in a slum. Sometimes, it is in a closet. Sometimes it is in an apartment. The wilderness is always where the cross of God is invisibly present. The wilderness is where God is, and where God can cleanse our polluted minds and imaginations and hearts and values and habits and anything else inside of us.

The wilderness is silence and quiet.  It is the elimination of the sounds of television, the radio, the stereo, the CD, the Walkman. It is the elimination of the voices of mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, friends. It is the elimination of the racing tape of my own mind that absorbs my thoughts. It is quiet. It is utter stillness. It is being alone with God. It is for a moment, for a minute, for a month, being still, absolutely still…and listening.  God speaks in the wilderness of silence.  The city is so noisy; so busy; so crowded in my mind. The wilderness is silence and God speaks to us through the silence.

In the wilderness, you actually hear the voice of God speaking, “Be washed. Be cleansed of the pollution of resentment, rage, and revenge. Be washed of whatever is hurting your life and the lives of others.  Hear the voice, “Your sins are forgiven; go and sin no more.” Hear the voice, “Love one another as I have loved you.” Hear the voice, “You shall love God with all you have inside, all your heart, mind, soul and strength…and your neighbor as yourself.”  Be quiet. Be still. In the wilderness, you finally can see the stars and hear the sounds of the wind. In the quietness of the wilderness. Be still and you will hear the voice of God.

They came ten, twenty, thirty, forty miles to hear him preach. They came out from their cities and into the wilderness.  What did they come to see?  A reed shaken by the wind? No. They came out to see a prophet and more than a prophet.  They came out to see a man who had found the powerful presence of God in the wilderness.

Rev. Edward Markquart

Theme:  A state of readiness to meet God face to face.

It was January 27, 1986. We were getting ready. The whole nation was getting ready. It was going to be a great day.  All eyes were watching the television sets. It was going to be the “all time greatest” space launching. We had a schoolteacher; a woman; an astronaut.  It was one of the most exciting days in American history.  We were glued to the television set because we knew it was going to be a historic moment. We loved the stories of the people who were going to go out and orbit the earth that day, especially that young woman astronaut, the school teacher. We waited and waited, and suddenly there was an ignition of all that power and the rocket shot high into the air, high, and higher into the air.  And suddenly, the rocket exploded, and our dreams exploded; and our hopes exploded.  Suddenly, there came a river of tears from our eyes. Jesus said, “And so shall it be at the end of history.  It will come suddenly (snap of thumb and forefinger or a sharp clap of the hands) like a thief in the night; like a snare; like a trap that snaps (clap) shut. So quickly. (A sharp sound improves this sermon; like a snap of the two fingers or a clap of two hands, sounding like a trap suddenly snapping shut. I used the sound of a clap because the noise was louder and sharper.)

It happened near Naples, Italy.  It happened sixty miles from Naples, Italy. There was a little Italian town by a name that sounds like Bowlwana.  It was located in an earthquake zone.  In 1930, fourteen hundred people were killed in a massive earthquake in that same town.  Earlier in 1908, 123,000 people were killed in earthquakes in that region of the world.  Yes, I said, 123,000 died. All the seismologists said, “Be alert. Be ready. You are a fool to live here. If you had any brains, you would move away. You are living in a major earthquake zone.  And then suddenly, like the sound of a snap, unexpectedly, an earthquake hit. 6.8 on the Richter scale. Within thirty minutes, l400 people had died. Yes, they knew it was coming but it happened so…suddenly (clap). Jesus said, “So will it be with you at the end of time.  I will come unexpectedly, like a thief in the night; like a trap that snaps shut, suddenly, quickly and you won’t be expecting it at all.

It happened right after Christmas in South East Asia. December 26, 2004. You were part of it all. It was the second largest recorded earthquake at 9:31 on the Richter scale. The tsunami waves spread out across the Indian Ocean.. We all now know the meaning of the word, “tsunami,” and that wave rolled silently across that part of the world and 220,000 were left dead in a moment (soft sharp clap) of rushing water and sudden death. People five thousand miles away from the epicenter of the earthquake were killed in that deadly rush of water. And Jesus said, “And so it will be at the end of time, the time of your time and my time. It will come suddenly and unexpectedly, like a thief in the night. It will come suddenly like the sharp sound (clap) of a trap slamming closed.

I go to the hospital often. I go there a good deal.  I visited a woman.  She was so healthy, so vigorous, so strong.  She said, “I’ve never been sick a day in my whole life. What am I doing in this place?” Yesterday, she was so strong; today she is so weak; and tomorrow, she is gone. She is dead.  It happened so suddenly (snap).  She wasn’t expecting it. None of us were, especially her family. Jesus said, “And so the end will come suddenly (clap), unexpectedly, like a thief in the night; like a trap that snaps shut… so quickly.

It is with these images that we approach the gospel lesson for the First Sunday of Advent. The theme for the First Sunday of Advent is always this: be ready, be alert, be ready at all times to meet your God because suddenly, the end of all history is going to be here.  Because, suddenly, the end of your history is going to be here; the end of my history is going to be here.  The invitation for you and me today is to be ready, is to be ready at all times, to meet God face to face.

Thanks to Rev. Edward Markquart. 

Where is God revealed?  Where does God hide…  the joy of children, nature, the cross of Christ?

One of the first lessons that grows out of this parable is the awareness that our God, the true God, the one God who created the universe, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, the God who raised Jesus of Nazareth from the dead; that our true God is a hidden God. 

Our God hides most completely in the faces and places of suffering. The awareness that our God is a hidden God who hides in suffering is a stark contrast to other religions of the world. In all the other religions of the world, they talk about their god who reveals himself in the beauty of the sunset, the birth of babies, and in the bounty of nature. But our God is the only God in the whole wide world who hides under the faces and places of suffering. Let me explain.

A number of years ago when our children were young and small, we used to play a game almost every night for a while. My car would come down the driveway and they would hear the car and go and hide. Joel would hide underneath the kitchen table. Anne would hide behind the door in our bedroom. I would come in the front door and shout, “Where are the children?” Then I would look underneath the sofa, the dining room table, the curtains, and all around, still calling out, “Where are the children?” Anne and Joel would make noise, I would find them, they would shout, “boo”. The point is: the children would hide in obvious places. But every once in a while, they would seriously hide and go down into the basement, way down into the utility room, into the storage room, back behind the water tank, back there and they would hide. I would come and I couldn’t find them. I couldn’t find them at all.

By analogy, in all the religions of the world, their gods hide themselves in the obvious places: underneath the kitchen table. underneath the bed, behind the back door. These gods hide themselves in the beauty of the sunsets, the birth of babies, the bounty of nature. But our God, the true God, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our God does down into the basement. Our God goes down into the basement and hides in a place that people don’t know. God hides in the midst of suffering, hides in the water, wine and wafer, but the primary place is in the cross. No other God in the whole wide world gets crucified. When our God is crucified, our God is the most hidden.

The real lesson of this parable today is an invitation for you and me to seek out this hidden God. Not in the beauty of the sunsets or the birth of babies or the bounty of nature. Not to find God in the obvious places such as the beauty of Mt. Rainier or Yellowstone National Park, and conclude that there is a God. The real lesson of this parable is to seek God in the difficult places, hiding behind the faces and places of suffering people.

What does this mean for us? What does it mean to embrace a suffering world?

First, it means to have the love of Christ inside of you. You cannot be this kind of loving person unless the love of Christ is living in you. It is not you. It is not me. It is the love of God living inside of us. You can’t embrace hurting people unless the love of God lives in you.

It begins at home, in the unconscious acts of generosity to your husband, wife, family. You don’t even realize you are doing it. I can give you hundreds of examples, but I will only give you a few. Gary and Carolyn Spies were down at the hospital for weeks, taking care of their sick child, as were many other parents caring for their child in similar circumstances. You say to these parents, “You are loving your son in a special way.” They reply, “What is wrong with you. We are doing what any loving parent would do.” They don’t even realize the good that they are doing. The same is true as Dorothy Smith cares for her mother at the nursing home, as do Doug and Joan Anderson with their mother and so many of you doing the same. You think nothing of it, except that it is a lot of work and the way that love works. Neil Bender has taken care of his wife, Eva, for decades as she is home as an invalid. He just lovingly does it. Neil didn’t have to go to Bangladesh to find a ministry; he went no further than his own bedroom and kitchen table. If you suggest to him he is a good and loving person, he would laugh and then cry. So would Bill Bentzen as he cares for his wife, Hulda, with Alzheimer’s. What I am suggesting is that this quality of love begins at home with these unconscious acts of generosity.

When Jesus addressed the sheep about going to heaven, the sheep didn’t even realize that they had been generous. They were not even aware. That is the way it is with love, the true love of God. You forget yourself in loving and caring for another person.

This quality of love then spreads from your home, to the neighbor down the street and to the man who had a stroke, to a person who had a car accident and is all crippled up. For some reason, you become involved.

This love spreads. You begin to realize that your brothers and sisters in Africa or Asia or Latin America or in our ghettos are hungry and starving. This quality of love cannot help but reach out to them. We are family. The love of God living inside of us begins to reach out to all kinds of people and we don’t even know it.

You see, the truth about the gospel is that our God is a hidden God. And more than that, we are invited to seek God where God is to be found.

By Rev. Edward Markquart

Here in my hand, I have a bare stem from a grapevine; it has three grapes on it.  You know when you see this stem that it is an anomaly.  You know something is wrong with it; that someone has taken the grapes off of it.  But here in my other hand, is a large cluster of grapes and there must be a hundred.  You know that this is the way that God makes grapes, in large abundant clusters. 

That is the same way that God makes all human beings. All human beings are made with large clusters of talents, clusters of abilities, clusters of aptitudes, and clusters of resources.  God is enormously generous with each one of us.

Your gifts are the sum total of all the resources that God has given to you. 

Your gifts or talents are not just your genetic abilities and natural aptitudes, although these are part of your gifts.  Many of your most precious gifts are qualities and resources that have been developed in you over time.  That is the way it always is. Talents, resources and abilities are developed over time. There is no exception to that.

We know that God wants us to use these gifts. God wants us to use our God-given gifts, however varied and numerous those gifts are.

What are the talents that God has given to you?  What are the talents that God has poured into you? 

Mary Schramm has written a book entitled, GIFTS OF GRACE.  She suggests that there are five steps in ascertaining and using your gifts, and I would like to walk through those steps with you.

The first step is to discover your gifts, and you always discover your gifts in relationship.  You rarely or never discover your gifts in isolation.  You discover your gifts through your parents, teachers, coaches, instructors, friends and others. Other people help you to discover your gifts.

The second step is to accept the gifts that God has given you.  This is the art of maturity, learning to accept the gifts that God has given to you and not given to you.  A key thermometer is how jealous and envious you are of other people and their gifts.  If you are jealous and envious of other people’s giftedness or feel inferior, chances are you have not really accepted your own blend of gifts that God has given to you.  One of the primary keys of life is to accept the gifts that God has uniquely given you, your unique blend of talents, aptitudes, abilities, life experiences, the sum total of all your resources.  That means to accept the gifts you don’t have, get on with life, and use the God given gifts that you have been given.

The third step is to enjoy your God-given gifts.  To take pleasure in them, to appreciate what God can do through your life.

The fourth step is to mature or develop those gifts.  Like all gifts, they need to be put to work, to be exercise, developed.  Nothing in this world becomes stronger without hard work and investment of time, self and energy.  Just to rely on native talent and avoid the hard work of developing that gift will lead you nowhere, but will cheapen your gift and you as a person.  We all know people who live off their gifts and resources and not truly discipline themselves.

And the fifth step involves all of the steps, and this is to surrender all your gifts to God.  It means to give all of your gifts to Jesus Christ. If you don’t, you will use your gifts for your own benefit…to glorify yourself or to satisfy yourself. And it’s either/or; one way or another; there is no middle ground.  Either you give your gifts to the service of Christ and his mission in this world, or you don’t. 

When you discover your gifts, use your gifts, and surrender your gifts, you are doing the will of God for your life.  Many people ask, “What is God’s will for my life?”  Very simply, you do God’s will in your life when you discover, surrender, and use your gifts to bless the world around you.  It’s not that difficult.  People make “finding and doing the will of God” such a complex issue. To do the will of God is to discover and use your God-given resources to make the world a better place

In our society, a talent is not a measure of the amount of silver but a measure of the amount of gifts/resources/abilities that God has given to each one of us. While the owner/God is away on a journey (although God is never really away from us), we are to use the varying gifts/resources/abilities that God has given to each of us.

The one who had received the five talents went off at once and traded with them, and made five more talents. This slave was industrious with the capital that his master had entrusted him and he doubled the money.

-In the same way, the one who had the two talents made two more talents. This slave doubled the money.

Notice that the “five talent” person and the “two talent” person did not get into psychological games about who had the most talent. They didn’t get into games about “I am superior because God gave me five talents” or “I am half as good because God gave me only two talents.” There were no “comparison games” being played here.

Both people realized that their master and owner had given them resources and they were both to use these resources to benefit their master. That was simple and clear. They had to turn in an account of how they had used the gifts that the owner/God entrusted to them.

Similarly, Christ is our master and owner and has lent us our resources/gifts/abilities and we are to use these God-given resources to benefit our master. I am not to play the “comparison games” and compare the resources that God has entrusted to me with the resources that God has entrusted to someone else. 

-But the one who had received the one talent went off and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money. Here is the problem. One slave buried the gift that the master had given him.  It seems that this slave was embarrassed that God gave him only one talent and so he went and buried the talent that God had given him.

Remember this talent was not meager in and of itself: it was worth three years of wage. Three years of wages is a considerable sum of money. But compared to the servants who had been given fifteen years of wages or six years of wages, the gift of three years of wages seemed meager to the person who was given one talent.

Similarly, God has been generous to all of us, including those who feel that God has not given them sufficient gifts. Every one of us has received clusters of talents, clusters of gifts, clusters of resources.

We as human beings can bury treasures/resources that God has given each one of us. We can minimize God’s gifts to us and complain, “I have been given only one talent.” The one talent person may claim that God/the Master is a harsh owner, judgmental and to be feared. God’s harshness is used as an excuse for not being faithful and not using his/her one talent for God. The “one talent” man/woman needs to find an excuse for not being faithful in the use of his/her talents and the clever excuse for disobedience is to blame God.

The point is: One talent is worth three years wages. The owner didn’t need to lend even one talent, but he generously did. God’s gifts are always generous regardless of the size.

Just as the cluster of grapes, remember that God has given you and I clusters of talents, clusters of resources, clusters of gifts. God wants us to use these gifts to bring blessings to the world around us.

By Rev. Edward Markquart

Weddings were part of every day life. Weddings were familiar territory. Everybody loved weddings and everybody knew how weddings worked.

In every single one of his parables, they were an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. And you the audience had to figure out the meaning of that story and figure out how it applied to your life.

Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom. Jews went to weddings often. Weddings were common. The lamps were olive oil lamps.

In this story, Jesus = the bridegroom. The followers of Christ can be divided into two camps: five foolish = five foolish followers. Five wise = five faithful followers of Christ. The wedding feast = heaven.

This parable is more like an allegory than a parable that only has one primary point. There is much symbolism in this parable. It functions more like an allegory.

-Five of them were foolish, and five were wise. “Wise and foolish” is a theme that we have heard before in Matthew. Foolish were the people who built their house upon the sand and wise were the people who built their house upon the rock. Those who built their house on the rock in Matthew 7 were those who heard the word of God AND did it. Those who built their house of the sand were those who heard the word of God but did NOT do it.

-When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with their lamps. Jesus was using everyday logic. You need to bring oil for your lamps in case they run out of oil.

Today, it is foolish not to have sufficient gas in the tank of your car and run out of gas on some remote highway.

Note that the wise people took flasks of oil with them for their lamps. Similarly, wise people today often carry an extra five gallon plastic can of gasoline in their boats. If you run out, you have some gasoline in reserve.

The five wise maidens were prepared for waiting for the bridegroom to come.

-As the bridegroom was delayed, all of them became drowsy and slept. This is the second time in the gospel stories that we have confronted the word “delayed.” We can hear the rumors buzzing in the early church: “The Second Coming of Christ has been delayed. How are we to interpret that?” Many Christians had become drowsy and began to fall asleep. They had secretly assumed that Jesus Christ was not coming back, that maybe their new religion was all a hoax, and so some of these first Christians became “lax” in their living out of their faith.

Several of Jesus’ other parables during this section of his life say, “Stay awake. Don’t fall asleep. Watch. Be alert.” These women fell asleep.

-But at midnight there was a shout, “Look! Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” Suddenly, expectedly but unexpectedly, the bridegroom, whom everyone has been waiting for, finally arrives. What good news. What great news. The party is on.

In this parable, it is a thief who comes in the night but the bridegroom who comes at midnight.

-Then all those bridesmaids got up and trimmed their lamps.

-The foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” The foolish bridesmaids were running low on fuel. They needed oil for their lamps.

-But the wise replied, “No! There will not be enough for you and for us; you had better go to the dealers and buy some for yourselves.” The wise were smart enough to realize that they would not have enough oil if they give some of their oil to the five foolish maidens. They advised the foolish ones to go to the oil dealers and buy olive oil for their lamps.

This parable is still spiritually true. That is, after all these centuries, people are still running out of “oil” and having to go to dealers and buy some more. They fall asleep. They get lethargic. And they miss the party. They miss the miracle. They miss the bridegroom coming.

-And while they went to buy it, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went with him into the wedding banquet; and the door was shut. What does that mean? Is the door to heaven closed for some people? Is that what it means?” Yes, that is what it means.

Later the other bridesmaids came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” The five foolish ones wanted to get into the wedding banquet/heavenly party and begged to be admitted. 

But he replied, “Truly I tell you, I do not know you.” These words are harsh but are Biblical. That is, throughout the Scriptures, Jesus has repeatedly taught us about the Son of man and the coming Judgment Day. On that Judgment Day, not everybody is going to get into the door. On that Judgment Day, not everyone is going to get into the heavenly party. That knowledge is always a surprise for some permissive and lenient people who believe that God’s grace should overwhelm his final judgment.

But earlier in the teachings of Jesus, we persistently heard about this divine wrath and punishment of God. We recall in Mathew’s gospel, this theme of judgment in the teachings of Jesus was very clear. 

We also have learned from the teachings that we human beings are never to judge who “gets in and who is left out.” That is the role of Christ. Christ is to be the judge. Using the analogy from baseball, the umpire makes the calls and the players do not. The role of the Son of man is to be the judge. That is his role. This is his function.

In Matthew’s gospel, we have heard similar stories. About the final separation of the sheep from the goats, the final separation of the good fish from the bad in the fishing net. There are numerous final judgment stories and final separation stories on the lips of Jesus.

All these other Bible verses in Matthew are consistent with Jesus’ other teachings about the final separation. The five brides maids who were not prepared? The door was shut to them. There will be a final separation, a final division, a final severance.

-Keep awake therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. This is the warning: we are to be alert at all times for our salvation.

Sermon by Rev. Edward Markquart

Theme:   Just as there is fake jewelry, Jesus says there is “make believe”
faith too.

Hypocrite. We all know the word, “hypocrite.” What is a hypocrite? A phony. A two-faced person, pretending to be a friend but is really an enemy in disguise.

A hypocrite is a pretender, pretending to have love for you but does not. A hypocrite says the pretty words of love, makes the motions of love, puts on a good face of love, is totally charming and loving. But that person does not really love you.  Pretending to have strong feelings for you but it is all a farce.

Hypocrites give the illusion, the pretense, the deceit of authenticity, but it is all an illusion.

We all know what fake jewelry is. We know what fool’s gold is. It looks like gold but it is not. It fools you. The fake gold necklace, the fake gold ring, the fake gold earrings…. you look at the price tag and you know it is fake gold. The necklace, ring and ear rings give the appearance of genuine gold but they are not.

We also know about the fake diamond, the fake ruby, the fake pearl. Sometimes you look closely at a diamond or ruby or pearl and say, “Is it real? Is it genuine? Is it the real thing?”

People like me love to go to the theater and see plays. If the play is exceptionally fine, it is usually because there are great actors and actresses on the stage. These great actors and actors play their parts so well that you think that he or she is actually that person but it is all “make believe.” The sets are all “make believe” to give the illusion that you are really there.

Sometimes, when seeing a play, an actor or actress is incredibly believable in their role. The actor or actress seems so authentic, so genuine, so real that it is hard to comprehend that it is all “make believe.”

The English word, “hypocrite,” comes from the Greek word, “hypocresis” which is the Greek word for “actor.” A good “hypocresis” is a good actor. A good actor is good at playing a part, playing a role, playing a character.

That is what the story from today’s gospel is all about. The Pharisees of Jesus’ day were the symbol of hypocrisy, the symbol of phoniness, the symbol of pretense and duplicity. If anyone was a religious fake, it was the Pharisees of Jesus’ day. They pretended to be genuinely religious but it was all a sham, a charade. It was a deceit, a deception. Like any good actor, they were all “make believe.”

In Matthew’s gospels, Jesus’ words against the phoniness of the Pharisees are enormously confrontational. Unlike any other place in the four gospels, his words against the Pharisees drip with intensity and scathing indictments.

When we get to chapter 23 in the Book of Matthew, it is as if his feelings have come to a boiling point. Think of a pan of water on the stove and you turn the burner on high and slowly the water becomes warmer and warmer and begins to give off steam. And then, there are a few bubbles in that water and those few bubbles come to the service. And pretty soon the water in the pan is rolling with bubbles because the water has come to its boiling point.

So it is with the words of Jesus in Matthew 23. His words come to a boiling point. This is the angriest that you will ever experience Jesus in the Scriptures.

In the following phrases from Matthew 23, Jesus reaches a climax of intense anger towards the Pharisees.

Listen carefully to Jesus’ feelings that are boiling and roiling against the Pharisees in Matthew 23.

-They preach but they do not practice.

-They lay burdens on others shoulders but they do not lift a finger to help.

-They do all their deeds to be seen by men.

-They love the places of honor at feasts and greetings in the market places and being called rabbi.

Then the gospel text switches from “they” to “you.” In both English and Greek, there is emphasis on the “you” in each of these statements. Talk about being in your face. Talk about calling a spade a spade. Talk about boiling and roiling. A person can hear the “you”s that drip with sarcastic indictment.

-Woe to you scribes and Pharisees for you shut the kingdom of heaven. You do not enter the kingdom and you prevent others from entering it.

-Woe to you Pharisees, you blind guides, you blind men.

-Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you tithe on the trivia but you neglect the weightier issues of law, justice, mercy and faith.

-Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for outwardly you appear beautiful but inwardly you are full of dead men’s bones.

-You are the sons of those who have murdered the prophets.

-You serpents and brood of vipers, how are you to escape being sentenced to hell?

Jesus was deeply offended by the hypocrisy of the Pharisees. The Pharisees were a bunch of phonies who did not do what they preached.

So it is with many people of faith: on the outside and the showy parts of their lives, they give a good performance of being a Christian, but it is all “a front.” Inside, their hearts are far from the love of God/Jesus and neighbor.

An important issue of our day is still hypocrisy. Jesus still hates hypocrisy. Why is hypocrisy offensive today, especially to people outside the church?

More of Rev. Edward Markquart’s sermon

You will notice that these doors are essentially useless without the two hinges, one on the top and the other on the bottom of the door.  Without the two hinges, this door just doesn’t work; it isn’t very useful; it doesn’t do what it is supposed to do.  For these doors to operate correctly, they need two hinges. One hinge won’t suffice.

If you go home to your house, I ask you to examine every cupboard door throughout your whole house or apartment.  Every cupboard door has at least two hinges; one on the top and one on the bottom.  If you examine every doorway door in your house, you will also notice that all the big doors in your house have at least two hinges.  If your house is not new, all the doors leading outside of your house will also have two hinges.  The codes have changes for newer homes, and three hinges are now found on the outside doors.  The point is; every door in your house or apartment has two hinges.  That’s just the way it is. You need two hinges for doors to work. 

Here in my hands I have two sets of hinges.  One pair is a smaller set of hinges that is used for any normal sized door.  The second pair is absolutely enormous; they are large decorative black hinges.  But large or small, the function is the same:  these are needed to make the door work.  The doors don’t work without these two hinges. 

So one day, one of these Pharisees came to Jesus and asked him a question in order to trap him, “Jesus, of all the 613 rules and regulations of the Old Testament, which one is the most important?”  Jesus answered, Deuteronomy 6:4, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your soul.”  This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second (he had only asked for one but Jesus gave him two.) one is like it.” And Jesus reached back into the book of Leviticus, chapter 18, about the lepers, and there in Leviticus 18, he chose an obscure line, “And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments HINGE all the Law and the Prophets.”  On these two commandments, HINGE the whole Bible. 

Jesus said:  “Do these and you shall live.  Do these two commandments and you shall finally find life.”  He didn’t say:  memorize these two commandments. He didn’t say:  recite these two commands for confirmation. He didn’t say: think about these two commandments every day.  He said:  “Do these and you shall finally find life and what it means to truly live.”  

So what does this first upper hinge, which is so essential, represent?   You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul.  What does it mean to love God that way, with everything you have and are?  I think I understand.  Let me explain. 

When I was young, I was wildly infatuated with a girl by the name of Adelma Garber; but then a year later, it really happened!!!  True love!!!  Do you remember her name from past stories?  Of course, Lorna. Lorna Finkelbaum.  How I loved Lorna.  I thought of her every morning, noon and night.  I wanted to be with her every morning, noon and night.  I talked with her every morning, noon and night.  My life revolved around my awareness of her.  I spent a good deal of time at her locker at school every day.  I was conscious and subconscious of her all the time.  I gave her my all. 

And so it is with God.  To love God with all your heart, mind and soul is to think of God…morning, noon and night, to want to be with God, morning, noon and night, to talk with God, morning, noon and night.  I spend time every day with God at my prayer locker.  My whole life revolves around my awareness of God who is the center of my existence.  I know what it means to love God with everything I have and am; and that’s not primarily a matter of being churchly and being Bibley.  It’s to love God deeply. Yes, we know what it means to love another deeply.

The bottom hinge represents the love of neighbor.  The top hinge is to love God with all our heart mind and soul and the second is like it, to love your neighbor as yourself. 

Intuitively, I think we substitute the word, “family” for neighbor.  We are to love God with all our heart, mind and soul and our family as ourselves.  Our Mom and Dad, brother and sister, Grandma and Grandpa, we are to be filled with love for our family.  Intuitively, I think many of us interpret “neighbor” as family.  But even the Pharisee loved their children and parents. 

Or we think that to love our neighbor is to love our friends, our friends at church, our friends at school, our friends at camp.

Or we think that to love our neighbor is to love the people next door, the people in the house or condominium or apartment next to us who drive the same kind of cars and wear the same kind of clothes as we do ourselves. We are to love them as we love ourselves.  So intuitively, we think we think we know what the word, “neighbor,” means.

But in Luke’s version of this story for today, the Pharisee then asked the question:  “Well, Jesus, who is my neighbor?”  He wanted a definition of neighbor and so do you and I. Who do you mean by “neighbor,” Jesus?  Jesus said, “There once was a man walking down the Jericho Road and he was beaten up (sharply smash one’s fist into the palm of one’s hand several times) by life and left there to die.  Who is our neighbor?  They are the people who are beaten up (repeat image of fist into palm) by life, who get smashed up by life:  in the gospel of Luke, the poor, the maimed, the blind and the lame, the lepers.  And who gets beaten up and smashed up in your world and mine today?  The poor.  Drug infested families.  Starving people. Hungry people.  Those in jail, prisons, sick, homeless.  Who is my neighbor is not my family, friends or the people next store but those who are being beaten up by life. 

You young people wrote unusually beautiful papers for confirmation this year, all entitled “my relationship to Jesus Christ.” We, on the church council, were deeply moved to hear your stories.  I enjoyed all the papers, but yours, Megan, touched me in a special way when you told how you get up at 4:30 AM on a regular basis, come here to church early in the morning before school with your mom to prepare breakfast for the men at our homeless shelter.  You know what the meaning of the bottom hinge is:  what good is all the confirmation learning without the two hinges, to love God and your neighbor…such as the homeless men you make breakfast for. 

A door needs two hinges to work properly. Pharisee approached Jesus and asked:  “Jesus, of all the 613 commandments in the Old Testament, which one is the most important?”  Jesus answered:  “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and soul and the second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments hinge all the Law and the Prophets.  Do these and you shall live.”

Rev. Edward Markquart