Advent Lutheran Church

"Final Instructions: Gather and Love (Holy Trinity Sunday)"

Grace and peace to you from God, the Creator, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. 

Wow.  What a week it will be here at Advent, with the combined energy of all those who have been preparing for VBS and the more than 200 kids who will attend!  Almost exhausting when you even think about it, and I hope you’ll take a moment today to thank those who have put in so many hours to get ready for the event.  Bet they will be ready to “kick back” at the end of the week. 

We hit the wall, too, sometimes - amid too many storms, economic recession, wars and rumors of wars - we’d like to “withdraw” from the world.  We want to come here, and just sit and ponder something else, something good, something loving, something of God.  Sort of like a getaway vacation, or the wonders of Rainbow Trail in the Rocky Mountains, or this wonderful, fanciful forest that has been fashioned in which some of God’s creatures, the pandas of PANDAMANIA live, and will carry the gospel of God’s love to all those children this coming week at Vacation Bible School. 

Go ahead, relax, and kick off your shoes – for you are on holy ground - the ground on which the Body of Christ gathers to remember and celebrate how well we are loved by God.

Our story from Matthew’s Gospel today is known as “The Great Commission,” which tells you that someone is being commissioned to do something. But, “go, therefore and make disciples of all nations…sounds suspiciously like “witnessing,” and we Lutherans only get excited for mission if it’s a secret mission!  But don’t worry.  You are supposed to make DISCIPLES, not make BELIEVERS (for that is the work of the Holy Spirit.)  You are called to BE who you ARE and DO what you do for the healing of the world and that vocation has no private vs. public face.  It does, however, come with a power beyond you.

            But Pastor Susan, we hear you talk about going and spreading the gospel all the time!  What does it mean and how do we fulfill our call and “make disciples?” Luckily, Jesus’ Final Instructions are the perfect Handbook for Mission. And the answer lies clearly in the next two verses:  first, baptize using God’s full name:  Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and then, teach them to obey what God commands.

Wait a minute.  I can’t baptize!  And I certainly cannot TEACH!  I, know, normally, Holy Baptism is done here in the church among the gathered people of God.  It is one of our two Sacraments.  But Sacraments are simply a pattern of how God works in world (per Barbara Brown Taylor.) God uses created things: bread and wine, water and people, our feet, our hands our hearts.  And God promised to be present “for us” in these special places of Holy Communion and Holy Baptism. 

Handbook for Mission Directive #1:  “…baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit…”  Look at the pattern. In baptism, we are gathering folks into a new relationship with us and with God.  It is visible word, as we participate in God doing what is being said, and we tell the story as we play out the actions:

 

“In the name of the Father…” Jesus called God Abba (Daddy, or Papa,)

and God is the Creator of all that is, even our feet!  The Father of us all;

the One who Wild About Us, and the beginning and ending of all things. 

 

“…and of the Son.”  Jesus, the one who brings Light into the darkness; who lightens our burdens and enlightens our minds. 

 

And “…and of the Holy Spirit…” the Comforter, the power.

 

“Baptizing” is simply a way of starting relationship with others, gathering all in a neighborhood of faith, a community of faithful, while we are telling the story of  Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  And you can DO that.

Handbook for Mission Directive #2:   “…and teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you.”  Do you remember all that Jesus has commanded of us?  Me, neither, and I’ve been in the ministry for almost 25 years!  So here’s the Cliff’s Notes:  a good place to begin is with the New Commandment that Jesus gave to his friends the last night they shared a meal together in Jerusalem.  “I give you a new commandment, to love one another.” Wait a minute!  That’s not new, in fact, it’s all over the Old Testament, “Love God; Love your neighbor...” Ah, yes, but Jesus said, “Love one another AS I HAVE loved you…” That’s where the teaching gets tough on us, when we are called upon to “do” the story, to actually love as Jesus loved in the places where loving is beyond our own powers.

A colleague, Pastor Dee Peterson, tells the story of the Moravian church sending out its students into the mission field.  Some of them were certain to meet a violent end, so it was the practice for the students to pack up their belongings in their coffins - both practical and symbolic of giving their lives, everything they were and everything they had, for mission – living the story and telling the story.

Making disciples in this day and age could get tough, and yet: “Remember, I am with you always, to the close of the age.” It’s really kind of basic – telling this Story that you know as well as you know your own feet, or your hands or your heart.  But it takes practice to learn how to tailor the God-story to every person and their particular situation.  So this week, practice with the Prayer List in the bulletin. How would you “gather and love” these examples:  a friend concerned for another’s health; a crisis of faith; the death of a parent; a relative with cancer; a difficult surgery recovery; a toddler in need of prayer; a brother hospitalized overseas; ongoing ministry programs and preparation for another week of VBS. 

The power of community and of God’s care expressed within and through us are the parts of the story that the world cannot get enough of, because it needs God’s gathering and God’s love.  The world doesn’t need the church.  The world needs God.  The world doesn’t need judgment, or consequences, or punishment.  The world needs Jesus, the Light of the World. The world doesn’t need more religion.  The world needs the Spirit of the Living Christ to bring new life where once there was no life.  The world needs what you have: call it “baptizing and teaching” or “gathering and loving” it’s still Handbook for Mission basics. It’s your job.  So go. Amen.