Video of service
Worship Booklet
Sermon
Sermon by Rev. Renee LiaBraaten
We are going to start with a couple questions to help get us thinking together this morning.
What is your favorite salty snack?
How do you feel when someone is kind to you?
Can you believe that the first month of 2023 is over? It is already the 5th Sunday after Epiphany. We only have 2 Sundays left before the season of Epiphany will be over. I always hate to leave the season of Epiphany—the Season of the Star, when we celebrate the power of even the smallest light to dispel the darkness…The Season of Illumination…of Revelation.
Worship Booklet
Sermon
Sermon by Rev. Renee LiaBraaten
We are going to start with a couple questions to help get us thinking together this morning.
What is your favorite salty snack?
How do you feel when someone is kind to you?
Can you believe that the first month of 2023 is over? It is already the 5th Sunday after Epiphany. We only have 2 Sundays left before the season of Epiphany will be over. I always hate to leave the season of Epiphany—the Season of the Star, when we celebrate the power of even the smallest light to dispel the darkness…The Season of Illumination…of Revelation.
FULL SERMON
In the name of the God of all Creation,
The God alive in each of us as God was alive in Jesus,
And the power of God known in the Spirit. Amen.
The God alive in each of us as God was alive in Jesus,
And the power of God known in the Spirit. Amen.
We are going to start with a couple questions to help get us thinking together this morning.
What is your favorite salty snack?
How do you feel when someone is kind to you?
Can you believe that the first month of 2023 is over? It is already the 5th Sunday after Epiphany. We only have 2 Sundays left before the season of Epiphany will be over. I always hate to leave the season of Epiphany—the Season of the Star, when we celebrate the power of even the smallest light to dispel the darkness…The Season of Illumination…of Revelation.
I don’t know if you realize this, but each Sunday in Epiphany something is revealed to us about Jesus. It all begins with the story of that bright star that guides sages from the East to the Christ Child. They arrive in Jerusalem asking, “Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled his birth and have come to worship him.” This story revealed to us that Jesus is no ordinary child. His birth had been promised and prophesied and awaited for centuries among the Jewish people and also noted by sages from afar.
Next, on the first Sunday after Epiphany, we heard the story of Jesus’ baptism which revealed to us that Jesus is God’s beloved son, chosen and marked by his love…so blessed and blessed so that he can reveal the depths of God’s love for all people.
The following Sunday John the Baptist revealed that Jesus is the Lamb of God, the Anointed One, the long-awaited Messiah, the one who will baptize not with water, but with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
On the third Sunday after Epiphany we learned that we are invited to join Jesus in his mission, which is to fish for people—to gather all people into the net of God’s love. And we also learned that Jesus has the ability to heal people of any sort of disease or disability.
Last Sunday we heard the first part of Jesus’ first sermon. Here it becomes crystal clear that Jesus is a powerful preacher and teacher, sent by God to help people realize their blessedness.
And that brings us to our gospel lesson for today, where we heard the second part of Jesus’ sermon and received some new revelations about not only who Jesus is, but who we are. In fact, in this familiar passage, Jesus reveals answers to two of the most insistent questions of the human heart:
Who am I? And, Why am I here?
To the first question, “Who am I?” Jesus answers: “You are the salt of the earth.” “You are the light of the world.”
To the second question, “Why am I here?” Jesus responds, “You are here to do good works that point others to the goodness of God.”
Now all we have to do is figure out what Jesus means by this. Because one of the other things that has been revealed to us about Jesus is that he tends to speak in poetic, metaphorical language, which is not typically self-explanatory or cut and dried. The richness of this sort of language leaves lots of room for imagination and various interpretations and applications.
But this means that we need to give ourselves some time to think about what Jesus says, and to imagine what these words might be saying to us. The Divine connects with us—speaks with us—through our imaginations during times like this or during times of prayer and meditation--when we settle down, open our hearts and really listen.
This is why we call scripture the “living word.” The Spirit of God lives in the words and each time we give these words a chance to percolate within us, the Spirit reveals new things to us. When we meditate on scripture regularly, our lives are filled with all sorts of “epiphanies”—“Ah-Ha moments.”
So this morning, let’s give our imaginations some time to ruminate on these ancient, familiar words from scripture and see what new things the Holy Spirit calls to mind.
The first thing we might notice is that Jesus does not say, “You should be the salt of the earth. You should be the light of the world.” He is not telling us that we need to work at becoming salt and light. He says, “You are salt and light.” This is who we already are. We are salty and shiny. God created us this way, blessed us with these specific gifts so that we can use these gifts to bless the world. But it is up to us to realize this about ourselves—to own these gifts and to use them. God needs us to put our saltiness and shininess to work—not just leave our salt on the spice rack or keep our light to ourselves.
Another thing to think about is that when it comes to salt and light, it doesn’t take much to make a big difference. It only takes a pinch of salt to bring out the other flavors in a dish. And it only takes a small candle to illuminate an entire room or landscape. Did you know that on a clear night, a single candle is visible from 1.6 miles away? The small things we do to bring our salt and light to any given situation can make a huge difference. Mother Theresa often referred to the power of “doing small things with great love.”
Or how about the fact that salt makes people thirsty? When we eat those salty snacks we love, we get thirsty. Scripture tells us that human beings have a deep, innate thirst for God—a desire to connect to the Divine. As the salt of the earth, we are called to live in such a way that our lives intensify that thirst for God in others. Being salt means that the way we treat people, the way we handle the difficult things in life, the way we love one another makes those around us want to know more about this God, whose presence fuels, inspires and guides our lives.
And salt is also used to preserve food—to extend life. As the salt of the earth, we are called to preserve the earth—to keep it from being spoiled by the greed that continues to create pollution, over-development and un-checked consumerism. A couple nights ago, a professor from the University of Arizona said that the Colorado River will be bankrupt in 2 years if the 7 states that depend on it for water do not lower their consumption.
We could go on and on imagining all the possible layers of meaning in these words of Jesus. And if you ever need help jumpstarting your imagination when you are reading the Bible, get a copy of Pastor Eugene Peterson’s translation of the Bible called The Message. Listen to how the Holy Spirit inspired him to interpret the passage we’ve been discussing:
Jesus continued to teach them saying, “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness?
Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.”
To help keep us salty and shining and doing all the good works God has blessed us to do, I want to tell you a story. It’s a true story. I heard it about 30 Epiphanies ago, and every time the season of Epiphany rolls around, I remember this story. I call it the Story of the Stars.
Pastor Craig Moorman graduated from seminary in the early 1990’s. His first call was to a small Lutheran congregation in a farming community in Maryland. It didn’t take him long to discover that there were a surprising number of older people in his congregation and many of them were sick. Within his first 4 months, he conducted 10 funerals, and all his funeral sermons were starting to sound the same to him.
He was sitting in his office on a bleak, cold January morning, feeling depressed and discouraged when the phone rang. He picked up the phone and heard a voice on the other end of the line say “Pastor, this is Madeline Webster. I haven’t felt well enough to come to church since you arrived, but I would love to meet you. I was wondering if you have time to come for a visit?”
“Of course, Madeline,” Pastor Moorman replied, immediately feeling guilty that he hadn’t known she was sick and hadn’t already visited her. “Is today a good day?”
“Oh, yes,” Madeline answered. “Today would be perfect.”
“Ok, then. I’ll see you in about 20 minutes.”
Pastor Morman hung up the phone, sighed a heavy sigh, replenished his home communion kit and bundled up. As he began his drive across the barren brown and grey fields, he realized that they were a perfect reflection of his inner landscape. He felt like all the color, all the inspiration, all his enthusiasm for ministry was slowly being drained out of him.
When he arrived at Madeline’s home, her husband greeted him at the door, and took him back to the bedroom. As Pastor Moorman was introducing himself to Madeline, something on her dresser caught his eye. He looked more closely and saw that there were yellow stars taped all over it. Something was written on each star. Madeline followed his gaze and said, “Oh yes, those are my stars.”
“Your stars?” he inquired.
Madeline proceeded to tell him about a pastor who had come to serve the church when she was 18 years old. Every Epiphany this pastor told the story of how the wisemen followed the star and how that star led them to Jesus. Then the pastor gave each member of the congregation a star with one of the fruits of the spirit written on it. He invited each person to focus on that spiritual fruit during the coming year. He urged them to strive to produce this fruit of the Spirit in their daily lives. And he promised them that if they did, they would be led to a closer and deeper relationship with Christ.
Well, Pastor Moorman was quite intrigued by this. He noticed that Madeline had dated each star and written some notes on them. Over the course of the next three months, before she became too ill to communicate, Madeline shared the stories of her stars. She explained how the stars had not just changed her life, but had also touched the lives of those around her.
In 1952 she was given the star of peace. That was the year she felt led to take the initiative in resolving her long-time estrangement from her father. They were reconciled, but he died one year later suddenly and unexpectedly.
In 1954 she received the star of generosity. Later that year her sister’s home was destroyed by fire and Madeline felt led to give the money in her savings account to help her sister’s family recover from the loss.
In 1958 she was given the star of patience and Pastor Moorman noticed that she got the star of patience for 5 years in a row. Madeline explained that these were the years she was longing to have a baby. All her friends either had or were having children. She kept praying and praying but year after year – no baby- only another star marked “patience.”
Pastor Moorman noticed that one year was missing. There was no star for 1963. Madeline smiled as she explained that she didn’t get a star because she wasn’t in church on Epiphany. That was the year following the five years of patience, and she was in the hospital delivering their first child.
Over the course of those 3 months, Pastor Moorman learned more about what it meant to walk by the light of Christ than he’d learned in 4 years of seminary. And he learned that one of the great privileges of being a pastor is the opportunity to listen to the spiritual wisdom of those who know what it means to walk through the years with God—in sickness and in health, in life and in death.
Over the years the stars had led Madeline to focus her life around the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Each year the stars led her to a deeper awareness of God’s presence in her life and God’s purpose for her life. By the time Pastor Moorman met her, she had become a star herself—reflecting Christ’s light—radiating God’s love. Without leaving her bed, Madeline was able to rise and shine like a bright star in the night sky! She had learned that the secret to rising and shining is walking close enough to Christ to reflect his great light.
In just a moment, we are each going to receive a star. The ushers are going to pass around baskets of stars and I invite each of you to take a star out of the basket. Take it home and place it somewhere in your home or car or office where you will see it each day. For those of you who are with us online, please email the church office with your name and address and we will send you a star. I encourage you to think about the fruit of the spirit written on your star as you walk through this year. Let the Spirit of God help you imagine how this fruit of the spirit might apply to your life as it unfolds over the next 11 months.
The first month of 2023 is over. And what a month it has been.
The war has raged on in Ukraine resulting in growing numbers of casualties and unfathomable devastation.
There were anti-democracy riots in Brazil.
There were torrential rains in California and deadly winter storms across our nation.
In Memphis, the brutal police beating of Tyree Nichols led to his death.
And right here, in our lovely state, Governor Ron DeSantis announced plans to block state colleges from offering programs on diversity, equality and inclusion, and teaching critical race theory.
Beloved community, the earth needs our salt. The world needs our light. God needs us to bring out the God-flavors of the earth and the God-colors of the world…The flavors and colors of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control—the fruits of the Spirit.
It’s time. It’s time for us to rise and shine and bear fruit! Amen.
What is your favorite salty snack?
How do you feel when someone is kind to you?
Can you believe that the first month of 2023 is over? It is already the 5th Sunday after Epiphany. We only have 2 Sundays left before the season of Epiphany will be over. I always hate to leave the season of Epiphany—the Season of the Star, when we celebrate the power of even the smallest light to dispel the darkness…The Season of Illumination…of Revelation.
I don’t know if you realize this, but each Sunday in Epiphany something is revealed to us about Jesus. It all begins with the story of that bright star that guides sages from the East to the Christ Child. They arrive in Jerusalem asking, “Where can we find and pay homage to the newborn King of the Jews? We observed a star in the eastern sky that signaled his birth and have come to worship him.” This story revealed to us that Jesus is no ordinary child. His birth had been promised and prophesied and awaited for centuries among the Jewish people and also noted by sages from afar.
Next, on the first Sunday after Epiphany, we heard the story of Jesus’ baptism which revealed to us that Jesus is God’s beloved son, chosen and marked by his love…so blessed and blessed so that he can reveal the depths of God’s love for all people.
The following Sunday John the Baptist revealed that Jesus is the Lamb of God, the Anointed One, the long-awaited Messiah, the one who will baptize not with water, but with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
On the third Sunday after Epiphany we learned that we are invited to join Jesus in his mission, which is to fish for people—to gather all people into the net of God’s love. And we also learned that Jesus has the ability to heal people of any sort of disease or disability.
Last Sunday we heard the first part of Jesus’ first sermon. Here it becomes crystal clear that Jesus is a powerful preacher and teacher, sent by God to help people realize their blessedness.
And that brings us to our gospel lesson for today, where we heard the second part of Jesus’ sermon and received some new revelations about not only who Jesus is, but who we are. In fact, in this familiar passage, Jesus reveals answers to two of the most insistent questions of the human heart:
Who am I? And, Why am I here?
To the first question, “Who am I?” Jesus answers: “You are the salt of the earth.” “You are the light of the world.”
To the second question, “Why am I here?” Jesus responds, “You are here to do good works that point others to the goodness of God.”
Now all we have to do is figure out what Jesus means by this. Because one of the other things that has been revealed to us about Jesus is that he tends to speak in poetic, metaphorical language, which is not typically self-explanatory or cut and dried. The richness of this sort of language leaves lots of room for imagination and various interpretations and applications.
But this means that we need to give ourselves some time to think about what Jesus says, and to imagine what these words might be saying to us. The Divine connects with us—speaks with us—through our imaginations during times like this or during times of prayer and meditation--when we settle down, open our hearts and really listen.
This is why we call scripture the “living word.” The Spirit of God lives in the words and each time we give these words a chance to percolate within us, the Spirit reveals new things to us. When we meditate on scripture regularly, our lives are filled with all sorts of “epiphanies”—“Ah-Ha moments.”
So this morning, let’s give our imaginations some time to ruminate on these ancient, familiar words from scripture and see what new things the Holy Spirit calls to mind.
The first thing we might notice is that Jesus does not say, “You should be the salt of the earth. You should be the light of the world.” He is not telling us that we need to work at becoming salt and light. He says, “You are salt and light.” This is who we already are. We are salty and shiny. God created us this way, blessed us with these specific gifts so that we can use these gifts to bless the world. But it is up to us to realize this about ourselves—to own these gifts and to use them. God needs us to put our saltiness and shininess to work—not just leave our salt on the spice rack or keep our light to ourselves.
Another thing to think about is that when it comes to salt and light, it doesn’t take much to make a big difference. It only takes a pinch of salt to bring out the other flavors in a dish. And it only takes a small candle to illuminate an entire room or landscape. Did you know that on a clear night, a single candle is visible from 1.6 miles away? The small things we do to bring our salt and light to any given situation can make a huge difference. Mother Theresa often referred to the power of “doing small things with great love.”
Or how about the fact that salt makes people thirsty? When we eat those salty snacks we love, we get thirsty. Scripture tells us that human beings have a deep, innate thirst for God—a desire to connect to the Divine. As the salt of the earth, we are called to live in such a way that our lives intensify that thirst for God in others. Being salt means that the way we treat people, the way we handle the difficult things in life, the way we love one another makes those around us want to know more about this God, whose presence fuels, inspires and guides our lives.
And salt is also used to preserve food—to extend life. As the salt of the earth, we are called to preserve the earth—to keep it from being spoiled by the greed that continues to create pollution, over-development and un-checked consumerism. A couple nights ago, a professor from the University of Arizona said that the Colorado River will be bankrupt in 2 years if the 7 states that depend on it for water do not lower their consumption.
We could go on and on imagining all the possible layers of meaning in these words of Jesus. And if you ever need help jumpstarting your imagination when you are reading the Bible, get a copy of Pastor Eugene Peterson’s translation of the Bible called The Message. Listen to how the Holy Spirit inspired him to interpret the passage we’ve been discussing:
Jesus continued to teach them saying, “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness?
Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.”
To help keep us salty and shining and doing all the good works God has blessed us to do, I want to tell you a story. It’s a true story. I heard it about 30 Epiphanies ago, and every time the season of Epiphany rolls around, I remember this story. I call it the Story of the Stars.
Pastor Craig Moorman graduated from seminary in the early 1990’s. His first call was to a small Lutheran congregation in a farming community in Maryland. It didn’t take him long to discover that there were a surprising number of older people in his congregation and many of them were sick. Within his first 4 months, he conducted 10 funerals, and all his funeral sermons were starting to sound the same to him.
He was sitting in his office on a bleak, cold January morning, feeling depressed and discouraged when the phone rang. He picked up the phone and heard a voice on the other end of the line say “Pastor, this is Madeline Webster. I haven’t felt well enough to come to church since you arrived, but I would love to meet you. I was wondering if you have time to come for a visit?”
“Of course, Madeline,” Pastor Moorman replied, immediately feeling guilty that he hadn’t known she was sick and hadn’t already visited her. “Is today a good day?”
“Oh, yes,” Madeline answered. “Today would be perfect.”
“Ok, then. I’ll see you in about 20 minutes.”
Pastor Morman hung up the phone, sighed a heavy sigh, replenished his home communion kit and bundled up. As he began his drive across the barren brown and grey fields, he realized that they were a perfect reflection of his inner landscape. He felt like all the color, all the inspiration, all his enthusiasm for ministry was slowly being drained out of him.
When he arrived at Madeline’s home, her husband greeted him at the door, and took him back to the bedroom. As Pastor Moorman was introducing himself to Madeline, something on her dresser caught his eye. He looked more closely and saw that there were yellow stars taped all over it. Something was written on each star. Madeline followed his gaze and said, “Oh yes, those are my stars.”
“Your stars?” he inquired.
Madeline proceeded to tell him about a pastor who had come to serve the church when she was 18 years old. Every Epiphany this pastor told the story of how the wisemen followed the star and how that star led them to Jesus. Then the pastor gave each member of the congregation a star with one of the fruits of the spirit written on it. He invited each person to focus on that spiritual fruit during the coming year. He urged them to strive to produce this fruit of the Spirit in their daily lives. And he promised them that if they did, they would be led to a closer and deeper relationship with Christ.
Well, Pastor Moorman was quite intrigued by this. He noticed that Madeline had dated each star and written some notes on them. Over the course of the next three months, before she became too ill to communicate, Madeline shared the stories of her stars. She explained how the stars had not just changed her life, but had also touched the lives of those around her.
In 1952 she was given the star of peace. That was the year she felt led to take the initiative in resolving her long-time estrangement from her father. They were reconciled, but he died one year later suddenly and unexpectedly.
In 1954 she received the star of generosity. Later that year her sister’s home was destroyed by fire and Madeline felt led to give the money in her savings account to help her sister’s family recover from the loss.
In 1958 she was given the star of patience and Pastor Moorman noticed that she got the star of patience for 5 years in a row. Madeline explained that these were the years she was longing to have a baby. All her friends either had or were having children. She kept praying and praying but year after year – no baby- only another star marked “patience.”
Pastor Moorman noticed that one year was missing. There was no star for 1963. Madeline smiled as she explained that she didn’t get a star because she wasn’t in church on Epiphany. That was the year following the five years of patience, and she was in the hospital delivering their first child.
Over the course of those 3 months, Pastor Moorman learned more about what it meant to walk by the light of Christ than he’d learned in 4 years of seminary. And he learned that one of the great privileges of being a pastor is the opportunity to listen to the spiritual wisdom of those who know what it means to walk through the years with God—in sickness and in health, in life and in death.
Over the years the stars had led Madeline to focus her life around the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Each year the stars led her to a deeper awareness of God’s presence in her life and God’s purpose for her life. By the time Pastor Moorman met her, she had become a star herself—reflecting Christ’s light—radiating God’s love. Without leaving her bed, Madeline was able to rise and shine like a bright star in the night sky! She had learned that the secret to rising and shining is walking close enough to Christ to reflect his great light.
In just a moment, we are each going to receive a star. The ushers are going to pass around baskets of stars and I invite each of you to take a star out of the basket. Take it home and place it somewhere in your home or car or office where you will see it each day. For those of you who are with us online, please email the church office with your name and address and we will send you a star. I encourage you to think about the fruit of the spirit written on your star as you walk through this year. Let the Spirit of God help you imagine how this fruit of the spirit might apply to your life as it unfolds over the next 11 months.
The first month of 2023 is over. And what a month it has been.
The war has raged on in Ukraine resulting in growing numbers of casualties and unfathomable devastation.
There were anti-democracy riots in Brazil.
There were torrential rains in California and deadly winter storms across our nation.
In Memphis, the brutal police beating of Tyree Nichols led to his death.
And right here, in our lovely state, Governor Ron DeSantis announced plans to block state colleges from offering programs on diversity, equality and inclusion, and teaching critical race theory.
Beloved community, the earth needs our salt. The world needs our light. God needs us to bring out the God-flavors of the earth and the God-colors of the world…The flavors and colors of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control—the fruits of the Spirit.
It’s time. It’s time for us to rise and shine and bear fruit! Amen.
