Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount” is one of his best known sermons. Found in the beginning of Matthew’s gospel, this sermon outlines for Jesus’ new followers what it means to be disciples. Spoiler alert—it’s going to be harder than they think! 

Journey is headed—to crucifixion, death and resurrection. Here at the beginning, everything is still new and exciting. But, it won’t always be that way. So, Jesus sits everyone down and preaches about who he is, who God is and who God is calling us to be in the world.

Following Jesus is hard. If it’s not, then you might want to ask yourself who you are actually following. Following Jesus means getting outside of our comfort zone to love those we cannot stand, serve those from whom we would rather look away and shape our priorities in ways that are counter to the culture around us. It means being different, which is both a blessing and a challenge at times.

If you have a few minutes this week, I encourage you to sit down and read the whole Sermon on the Mount. You can find it in Matthew 5-7. Spend some time listening to what God is saying to you through these words. One of the wonderful and challenging things about Jesus’ words is that they are just as applicable to us today as they were to his first followers. Anger, love for enemies, the discipline of prayer, struggling with worry, judging others—these are all themes you will find in Jesus’ sermon and, if you are anything like me, will find are things you struggle with today.

Following Jesus is hard, but it is also the most transformational thing we can do—not only for ourselves, but also for our world.

This weekend we will observe the festival of the Presentation of our Lord. This is one of those special days of the church year that we only celebrate when the festival day falls on a Sunday.

The Presentation of our Lord takes us back to the early months after Jesus’ birth when Mary and Joseph brought Jesus to the temple to be dedicated to God. According to the book of Exodus, every first born human and animal was to be set apart for God. (You can read all about it in Exodus 13:1-2, 11-16.) Having given birth to their first born male child, Mary and Joseph knew this law applied to Jesus and they followed it. While Mary and Joseph went to the temple to do what all first born parents of male children did, they left the temple amazed about what was said about their son.

At the temple they met Simeon, who proclamation that Jesus was “a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for the glory to your people Israel.” Simeon recognized Jesus as the light of the whole world. He was and is God’s revelation for all people. Because of Simeon’s proclamation, in some places this festival is referred to as “Candlemas” and is a time to bless all of the candles that are to be used during worship in the coming year. 

Mary and Joseph also encountered a prophet named Anna. She, too, recognized that God was doing a new thing in Jesus’ birth, bringing light and hope into the world.

You hear me often preach, “God is not yet done with us or our world.” God continues to be doing new things in our midst, bringing light and hope into the world. The Holy Spirit, the breath of God, continues to stir among us at Abiding Presence and throughout the world to reveal the glory of God in Christ. In the midst of a world that often seems a mess, the fact that God is not yet done with us and is still doing new things is central to my faith.   

This weekend we will officially welcome our newest staff members. Pastor Joe Vought will be installed as our Teaching Pastor and Sarah Snow will be installed as our Congregational Care Minister. After a year of many transitions, I’m excited to settle in with our new staff team and get to work.

I’ve learned, however, that God rarely calls us to just settle in and get comfortable. So, let us keep anticipating and keeping our eyes open for the next new thing that God will do. Our new staff team and I will be watching, waiting and preparing. We hope that you will be, too!

During this time after Epiphany our scripture lessons will focus on the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. We will hear about the calling of the disciples and Jesus’ first sermon in Matthew’s gospel—the Sermon on the Mount. In these first two months of the new year, we will wrestle with what does it actually mean to follow Jesus.

The time after Epiphany is one of my favorite seasons of the year to preach. I love the stories of Jesus’ calling of the disciples and his building of the ministry team that will journey with him. I find the Spirit coming alive in these passages offering so much for us today through them. Following Jesus has never been easy. It’s always been a little strange and left people scratching their heads. 

Reading, studying and preaching the disciples’ call stories always reminds me of my own call story, too. This Wednesday will mark the 13th anniversary of my ordination into the ministry of Word and Sacrament. Some days of ministry have been just what I expected while other days have been far from it. Being a pastor—specifically, being your pastor—continues to be my “dream job.”

As I reflect on the calling of the disciples, my own call and our ministry together at Abiding Presence, I cannot help but wonder who else among us God might be calling into the ministry. Could it be you?

In celebration of Abiding Presence’s 40th anniversary a few years ago, we launched the Abiding Presence Fund for Leaders in Mission Scholarship. We are currently working to build an endowed scholarship that will provide financial support for members of Abiding Presence and others to attend an ELCA seminary to become a pastor or deacon. We want to ensure that not only Abiding Presence, but also the whole ELCA has faithful and innovative pastors and deacons to lead them into the future. This is one way that Abiding Presence is working to make a lasting impact on the larger church. 

Just as it did when Jesus called the disciples long ago, the church continues to need people willing to say, “Yes,” to God’s call. 

“What then are we to say about these things,” the apostle Paul asked in the 8th chapter of the book of Romans. The things of which Paul spoke were the “sufferings of this present time.” Of course, the time of Paul’s first century world was much different than the time in which we find ourselves today. That said, we still know suffering—in so many different ways, shapes and forms—all too well. We continue to face things that leave us wondering what to say and where to turn.  

In particular, this past week felt like one filled with uncertainty as we  watched and waited to see how things would play out in various places around the globe. It left me wondering with the apostle Paul, “What then are we to say about these things?” I wound up posting the following on my Facebook page:

Praying with sighs too deep for words for:
Peace in the midst of violence
Calm in the midst of rising tensions
Safety for those in harm’s way
Sleep for all who worry.
We may no longer be in the season of Advent in the church year, but as God’s Advent people I am praying, “O Come, O Come Emmanuel.” Come quickly, Prince of Peace.

We do not know what the future will bring, but we do know with certainty that whatever happens it will not be able to separate us from God. Paul writes in Romans 8:38-39, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” There is nothing in this world that is a greater force than God. God’s presence with us is certain and God’s love for us is unwavering. 

In the midst of our present times, I cling to Paul’s words. I take great comfort in the conviction that there is nothing in all of creation that can separate us from the love of God. We can pray and act in confidence that God is with us. God is not done with us or our world. 

Happy New Year!

As we prepare for Epiphany Sunday, I want to share with you a reflection from Martin Luther on the wise men from a collection of his sermons in Martin Luther’s Christmas Book edited by Roland H. Bainton. Here’s what Luther preached:

“When they had heard the king, [the Wise Men] departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was. When they saw the star, the rejoiced with exceeding great joy.”

Now the Wise Men had the faith to follow the word of the Prophet Micah. They were not offended that the king was not born in Jerusalem. They left the Temple and went to the cow stall.

If I had been there, I would have stayed in the Temple and said: “God dwells here and if the Child is to be found anywhere in the world, it will be where all the priests are gathered and God is served.” We may profit from the example of these heathen, who, took no offense when directed from Jerusalem, the great city, to little Bethlehem. They followed the Word, and God comforted them by putting back the star, which led them now to Bethlehem and to the very door where the young Child lay.

Here the Evangelist (the writer of Matthew’s gospel) shows us the true nature of faith, how they believed simply what they had not seen and held fast to the Word. That is why God brought them from their land to where they should hear the Word, but God let them first fall into error and bewilderment. They thought the Child would be born in the capital, Jerusalem, and that is where they went. Then the star left them and no one in the city so much as knew that a king was to be born. The Wise Men supposed that he would be born in circumstances of pomp like the son of a potentate. God did not leave them long in their error but showed them through the Scripture that they would not find him as they supposed in the big city, but in a little village, and he directed them to the royal town of Bethlehem.