Mark 8: 31-38

Sisters & brothers, grace to you and peace from God the Serving One, from Christ the Calling One, and from the Spirit the Strengthening One. Amen.

Today we hear the disrupting and disturbing call of Jesus to deny ourselves, to take up our crosses, and to follow him. This call is far more disruptive and disturbing than what I’m going to ask you to do right now, in the spirit of total disruption and disturbance. But what I’m going to ask you to do right now, I would ask everyone to do — including choir and organist and assisting ministers and acolytes and every worshipper who is able to stand and walk without difficulty — and that is to relocate to the opposite side of the sanctuary from where you are presently seated. If you are in the back on the right, move to the front on the left. If you are on a side aisle up front on the left, move to a center aisle in back on the right. Mix it up! Change it up! Go now! Get up! Move your Lutheran be-hinds to another location.  This is not the sharing of the peace (that comes later) so don’t bother greeting your neighbor as you go, just move! And by the way, I would suggest you wait until the sharing of the peace to go back to your regular-scheduled place, if you must.

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Mark 1: 9:15

Sisters & brothers, grace to you & peace from the God of grace, the Christ of compassion, and the Spirit of life. Amen.

As we begin our 40-day Lenten journey together as a community, I invite you to turn to Hymn 325 and join me in singing this affirmation and invitation for Jesus to join us on the road to the cross and the empty tomb.

Sing ELW 325 — I Want Jesus to Walk with Me

Our Lenten journey has begun. And this past Wednesday, whether you were able to be here or not for the ashes, served as a not-so-subtle reminder that we are most certainly not “going on a sentimental journey” with Jesus.  Rather, we were (and are) reminded that Jesus walks with us all the way — “all along our pilgrim journey” — from our birth to our burial, from the cradle to the grave, and ultimately from death to life.

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John 3: 14-21

Sisters & brothers, grace to you and peace from the God of all love, from the Christ of all compassion, and from the Spirit of all grace. Amen.

For those of you who might have come to church this morning looking for a sign, I didn’t want to disappoint you. (hold up “3:16″ sign) Except that usually you don’t see this sign displayed in church as much as at the end zone of a football field, or in the stands at the basketball game, or some other athletic contest where a TV camera might zoom in for a close-up of the sign or, more often, a close-up of the dingbat who’s holding it up. (present company excluded, of course!)

It’s sort of an insider message actually — because what the bearers of these signs are intending to do is deliver a rather cryptic message. “3:16″ refers to chapter and verse from the Gospel of St. John, our Gospel text this morning. But I’m never quite sure what they expect people to do with those numbers.  Will people think it’s someone’s score prediction?  Will anyone cross the court or playing field to inquire?  Will someone think it’s a secret ratio with a hidden meaning?

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John 12: 20-33

Sisters & brothers, grace to you and peace from the Triune God: Source, Savior, and Spirit.  Amen.

We are nearly through the season of Lent.

Four weeks ago this morning, as we gathered on the First Sunday in Lent, we sang the first stanza of the old spiritual “I Want Jesus to Walk with Me,” inviting Jesus to walk with us on this Lenten journey to the cross.   Today, as we stand on the threshold between Lent and Holy Week, I invite you to turn once again to Hymn No.  325, and join in singing the second & third stanzas as this 40-day journey with Jesus approaches its destination, and as his words to us today get us ready for the looming days ahead.  We sing stanzas two & three…
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“The Word of Victory” : John 19:30

What kind of victory is this? With sour wine still dripping from his parched lips, Jesus is at the finish line of his life. He has “run the race” for 33 years, and now his earthly journey is over. With only his beloved mother and the disciple whom he especially loved standing nearby, Jesus comes to the end of his days betrayed, abandoned, stripped of his clothing and dignity, and left to die by torture. And now, lingering on the threshold between life and death, he breathes these three most astonishing words: It is finished.

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Alleluia! Christ is risen!
Christ is risen indeed, Alleluia!

Friends in the Risen Christ, in the words of the psalmist this morning:  this indeed is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it!

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When I awakened early this morning to “put the finishing touches” on this homily (ahem), and while I was taking those first sips of coffee I decided to first update my status on Facebook by quoting one line from the homily on love which is today’s second reading. I quoted verse 11 from 1 John 4: Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. And then I simply added the words, “end of sermon.” Within a minute or two of posting that update, two seasoned church musician friends of mine instantly indicated their pleasure. “Larry likes this.” “Mark likes this.”  And I know of at least one other inhabitor-of-the-bench who, if she had the opportunity to register her approval to such brevity, would indeed do so!

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Jesus did not seem very friendly this week in Long Beach. At least not at the convention on worship facilities and technology I attended for one of the very longest mornings of my life in recent memory. All I wanted out of this little excursion down to the Long Beach Convention Center was to possibly get a little information on wireless lapel microphones for our sanctuary, but instead what I ended up getting was a load of theologically-offensive rhetoric which was so shocking to my ears that I could hardly see straight. (but then again, seeing “straight” has never been a real forte.)

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Dear St Paul’s Community,

Welcome to this season of the Spirit in the life of our community. On Sunday, May 31, we celebrate the Day of Pentecost and remember how the Holy Spirit of the risen Christ infused and empowered the disciples to be witnesses not only in Jerusalem, but also beyond there into Judea; and not only in Judea but also beyond there and beyond their comfort zones into Samaria (where the dirty, rotten scoundrels lived); and not only in Samara but beyond their wildest imagination to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8).

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“Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them (the disciples), and a tongue rested on each of them.”

In the words of American Idol judge Randy Jackson, “Dawg, check it out!” Check out this worship space today, lovingly bedecked by a caring Altar Guild in the fiery flames of Pentecost. Check it out: they are above our collective heads in this grand arch (and that would be thanks — more accurately – to a caring custodian!).

Check it out: they are just over your shoulder and above your head in the flickering flames — and don’t worry — there’s earthquake putty under those votive candles just in case — or perhaps I should say “violent windstorm” putty — should the gale of God whip up a whirling wind among us here this morning!

And check it out: the illustration on the cover of the bulletin: flaming tongues not unlike those floating around in this mighty mobile above my head. And if that weren’t enough, check it out: even the pew cushions and the carpet in this room assist in reminding us today that we are indeed immersed, deluged, baptized, surrounded, overrun, overwhelmed, completely inundated, and absolutely filled to overflowing in and by the Holy Spirit.

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