“I’ll see you in the funny papers” is a phrase reportedly dating back to the 1920s. It was a lighthearted way to say goodbye. Yet true goodbyes are never easy, especially when forced upon you by unfortunate events. Due to a reported financial crisis at my most recent congregation, I was advised in October by leadership that there would be a recommendation made to transition to a single pastor model. So, long story short, I’ve resigned in exchange for a severance package.
Today (December 1, 2025 as I write) was my first day without a full time call since ordination in 2007. My office is empty, some tears have been shed over these last weeks, but my heart remains full and hopeful. I will be working with the bishop’s office to discern my next call in a congregation or in some other role. Prayers are appreciated as I seek whats next, although I firmly believe God’s in the mix and always working for my (really our) welfare. You can learn something from bad experiences as well as good even if only to hold on to God more tightly than one did before. (God will ultimately never disappoint.)
Indeed, wherever we go, whatever our vocation or situation, we can always love and serve God and neighbor, and that’s been a source of great joy throughout my life – working, laid off; in higher income positions, lower income positions, or with no income at times. (I’ve been through all such periods before having worked in both secular and faith based positions.) I firmly believe that money is really only a tool. It’s the giving and receiving that comes through love based relationships and service that makes one truly rich.
Farewell gathering (November 16, 2025)
Looking back, I will certainly miss most deeply the youth at my recent congregation as I walk on, and I will always love them. I witnessed unique gifts in each one of them, and I found blessing through our time together. (I hope they did too.) As with others who I have come to love before through my police work, volunteering with the Community of Taize,’ as a houseparent and teacher at St. Joseph’s Indian School, as a researcher and writer at First Nations Development Institute, or while serving as a hospice and hospital chaplain as well as many other places and spaces, I know they have become part of who I am and how I will love and serve the Lord and others forever. The communion of saints is real, and nothing can truly separate us when God has connected us through love.
My favorite comic strip as a young adult was always Bloom County, and it still can make me smile reading the old strips that are now digitized or in collections on my bookshelf. As a fan, I developed a special affinity for Opus the Penguin. I admired his innocence and how that could lead him to make keen if ironic observations about life. I came to think of him this week in relationship to my current situation. In the “final” strip, you see the familiar scenes empty of life. The colorful artwork fades to white within the panel, and Opus waddles on into the unknown to the distress and sadness of fans. (He looked sad, too.)
Bloom County, August 6, 1989
Yet ultimately this departure led to new books, totally new comic strips with reimagined characters and plots, and adventures on television including a Christmasspecial. Bloom County even came back after a prolonged absenceas the original comic strip in recent years thanks to social media. So maybe there’s something we can learn from the funny papers after all. Life is not always easy. It won’t always be funny or fun. Yet who one shares life with brings joy to our journey. And a somewhat innocent, hopeful attitude can help us on our way no matter how many times life knocks us down.
Best of all, our own story never really ends…God’s making all things new (Isa. 43:19). Thus, I guess it’s time for me to waddle my way toward what God has in store for me next. I can do so boldly and with confidence (with the Spirit’s help and support of family and friends anyway). Whatever condition I might find myself in, it can serve God’s will and prove to my benefit. For as Paul writes, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28); including within any unexpected end to one’s position or perceived security.
Keeping the faith, really trust in God, is not easy in a fallen often unfair world. So, how do we walk on?
It helps if we tend to our whole being as best we can before disaster strikes. Tend to our mind, body and emotions, but seek the Lord, too. Friendships grow in love and trust as you spend more time with them. This proves true with Jesus as well. Prayer, worship, scripture study, fellowship with believers, service in his name can all help you grow stronger in faith and understanding. These can also help lift your spirits and sustain you.
Amidst any storm, turn to him most certainly but look for the resources and supports God has thrown you to keep you afloat until safety returns. Remember, it’s ok to not be ok. Consider counseling, support groups, and medical assistance if needed. Turn to and be vulnerable with trusted friends and family who love you. Remember that you belong to Jesus. This, too, shall pass.
Like the psalmist, express your emotions honestly with God. God understands you are only human, but understand that God’s love for you is steadfast and perfect; beyond anything any human can offer you. We might be tempted to give up, but look to the hills for your help.
God sees us, and God will deliver us. As I’ve said before, God will not give up on us. Keep your head up, and look with confidence for your Lord who loves you.
They are four simple words, “Thy will be done.” It’s a phrase easy to say, but it proves hard to live. On the mountain top, it’s easier to trust God’s love. It seems that you can see forever. Walking in the messy, dark valleys of our days, it proves much harder. Even Elijah almost gave up when his life was at risk. So, is it really a surprise that we who are not great prophets can struggle?
No, God understands our weakness, but more than that, God loves us. As a favorite song of mine says, God can’t love us more than God loves us right now. We are promised God’s will is for our ultimate good. Can we hold on? In our day, can we see signs, no matter how small, to help sustain us? God’s Spirit groans in prayer for us with words we can’t seem to say. Angels might be ministering to us in ways we can’t detect. The laughter of a child or smile of a friend can bring us joy. The songs of birds at the sunrise invite our own hearts to sing in praise.
“Thy will be done” is often rightly said in the acceptance of suffering as Jesus did before he was crucified. Yet, never forget that God’s ultimate will is to love us forever. Pain passes and even death has no power over us. So, maybe…just maybe… “Thy will be done” should be said with hope, although we might still say it through tears.
As we accept our crosses, real or imagined, remember the resurrection that we will be part of someday. As Paul rights, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). We are loved and chosen. We will never be forgotten or cast away by God even when it seems the world might give up on us or want to cast us aside. In fact, Jesus promises he’s here with us always to the end of the world.
Amidst any suffering, accident or betrayal, whatever happens or fails to occur like we wish, Jesus, too, is here with us; calling us to accept our cross, pick it up and walk in faith. All is well even when life’s seemingly unfair.
Image: Charles O’Donnell, Detail from “Ancient city of Jerusalem with Solomon’s Temple,” ca. 1871.Public domain, via Wikimedia commons.
The below sermon was preached on Reformation Sunday, September 28, 2025, following the Narrative Lectionary (Year 4). The preaching text was 1 Kings 5:1-5; 8:1-13.
For those who might not know, the Books of First and Second Kings were originally one book. The stories within cover an expansive narrative of Israel’s kings from the end of David’s reign through the Babylonian Captivity. (That’s about 400 years.) In them, you can discover ancient history with moral and ethical high points, and often people who fall short in their love for God and neighbor.
Today, we join King Solomon, David’s son, blessed with great wisdom by God, as the nation dedicates its long-awaited Temple for their God on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem. With that gift of wisdom, Solomon had led his people well. Israel was experiencing both peace and prosperity. His God given gift has led to this great blessing for the people of Isreal. They are a people whom God has declared Qodesh Olam, “the Holy People of God.” Yet, they aren’t Holy because of anything they do. They are holy because God has chosen them, loves them, and wishes to live among them.
Yet hold on to your hammers and nails, you good Lutherans out there (it is Reformation Sunday after all), because there’s much more to this story. The Temple Mount and the Temple itself have long been a part of salvation history before we ever come to this day of Temple dedication – the Temple being what becomes the center of all priestly activities and place of cultic sacrifice. You might recall the story of Abraham binding Isaac so that Isaac might be sacrificed on a mountaintop in the Land of Moriah. In lieu of this, God provides a ram to be sacrificed. This is believed by many Jewish, Christian, and Muslim persons to be the site of what is now called the Temple Mount. You can find a large bolder there located under the present-day mosque which people suggest is where it all happened.
As the story of the Jewish people unfolds through a time of slavery in Egypt and beyond, we eventually get to King Saul. The people have been tribal and nomadic once in the Holy Land. The were anxious to move from governance by tribal leaders, known as Judges, toward governance by kings. God indicated that the Israelites did not really need a king. God was their ultimate king. Still, God said, “OK.”
Then, when David replaces Saul, he conquers a city, named Jebus, owned by a foreign people. Now firmly Isreal’s, David renames the city, Jerusalem. It will become their capital. He joyfully dances before the Ark of the Covenant as it is carried to be placed within the Tent of Meeting. As the Tent of Meeting and the Ark moved through the desert with Moses’ people, wherever they people camped, it was always placed in the center of the Tribes. Symbolically, this reminded them that God and their Holy Covenant was to remain central to their lives within community. The city itself was also chosen to be the capital because it was in a relatively central, neutral location between the twelve tribes, had strong defenses, and was where the story of Abraham and Isaac occurred. Jerusalem would become where the Tent and Ark would now dwell.
As the nation grew and David and his people looked around at other growing nations or city states, David began to think, “Hmmm, maybe we need a great Temple to honor God as well as our nation.” That’s what all his neighbors had after all, so why not Israel? Well, through the Prophet Nathan, God basically says, “I was perfectly happy traveling with you in the wilderness within the Tent of Meeting. I don’t need a Temple…but if you do, ok.” God relents once again. Yet because of David’s sin and other faith issues, always still beloved by God, God decrees that the Temple will not be built until David’s son becomes the king. This is not too unlike Moses when he was not allowed to see the Promised Land. David never gets to see the Temple.
Finally, we arrive back to the glorious dedication of the Temple with Solomon. Seven years have passed since work began with a great financial cost, the investment of lots of sweat and toil, and like modern construction sites today, perhaps at the cost of some lives as well. That would be likely. Great excitement and joy must have been generated in the city as the Israelites prepared to move the Ark from Mount Zion to the neighboring Mount Moriah.
Again, today this location is known as the Temple Mount. All the religious and political leaders are there (the “insiders”), but all the commoners and less than common people are there too (the average people and the “outsiders”). All the people, no matter how rich or poor, weak or strong, perfect or imperfect, have been decaled the Holy People of God, so they are there. The covenant and promises made with Abraham, Moses, and other patriarchs include each and every one.
God will reside in the inner sanctum of the Temple, an area available only to Priests and hidden behind a large curtain. (This curtain will tear as Jesus dies. Some suggest this symbolizes the Kingdom breaking into our world through Jesus’ death and resurrection.) Golden cherubim located opposite one another over the Ark will sit with wings spread toward one another. This will continue to serve as God’s throne, his “mercy seat,” where God’s presence was said to dwell, and the ultimate God would mercifully deign to speak to and bless his Holy People. They must have thought that the Temple might last forever just like their God…but it didn’t. Babylon will invade Israel and destroy it. Cyrus the Persian will defeat the Babylonians and rebuild it. It will be defiled later by the Greeks and even later conquered by the Romans.
Then, Herod the Great, will be installed as a vassal king serving Rome, and he will look at the Temple and think in his pride, “We need better to reflect my glorious reign.” And as we know from scripture and historians of the time, he was not a great believer, but Herod the Great understood politics. His expansion of the Temple would beautify a place for faithful people to gather, but it was also a place to reflect his own glory as it becomes through its size and splendor a Wonder of the Ancient World.
Yes, Herod the Great’s work will become the Temple that Jesus and his Apostles would know and love. It will be the Temple the Apostles will marvel at before Jesus’ death because of the large and ornate stones. Yet Jesus would respond, “As for these things that you see, the days will come when not one stone will be left upon another; all will be thrown down” (Luke 21:5). Later, Jesus will declare that he will become our cornerstone (Luke 20:16-18). The Apostles and world will soon learn that life has never been about just nations or kings, tents or temples, sacrifice or worship. Jesus wanted to build a Church out of you and me and millions of others like us. Over the centuries as had happened with the Jewish People, what will matter most is that God comes again and again, despite our pride or mistakes, success or failures, to form us into one Holy People of God. We will stand together forever through God’s power, promises, and help.
And when the Temple is finally destroyed in 70 AD, and all that fine furnishings, holy vessels, and wealth were carried away by the Roman Legion to Rome, we see that Ecclesiastes was right. “All is vanity.” The earliest Christians finally came to understand promises of old in a new way. From Ezekiel we hear, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws” (Ezekiel 36:26-27).
No temple, church building, or anything else is needed other than faith in Jesus. For through faith, we become a “living temple” where God has longed to reside. Yes, it was God’s plan all along. Just as a cloud filled the Temple, the Glory of the Lord hungers to fill us and overflow. It desires because of love for us to dwell in our hearts and make us one through God’s own Spirit.
As Professor Amy Oden suggests,[i] I think people do like to try to put God in one place…to restrain God and define God for their own advantage or comfort…or to limit or doubt the capacity for God to save (perhaps not always wittingly)…or maybe it is because they don’t yet fully trust God’s love or love God fully with their hearts. Despite human doubts and darkness, or any evil of this world, likely because of it, we are told the Spirit is on the move (Genesis 1:2, Acts 2:1-4). God is doing new things (Isaiah 43:19). And God guides and blesses us on our way as we move through valleys of darkness and the heights of joy (Psalm 23).
Certainly, temples can be destroyed. People and their congregations will die before Jesus returns. Yet, we are to always trust God’s great and steadfast love for us. For even as we stand between hope and despair, God becomes our bulwark defending the weak and helpless (Psalm 9:9, 12:5). “Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; [God] lifts his voice, the earth melts,” and yet, the God of Jacob proves our mighty fortress (Psalm 46:6-7, NIV translation).
Friends, we might not always feel like it, nor live up to it, but God has declared that we are the Holy People of God. We have become Christ’s body by our faith and baptism through grace alone. Whatever comes our way, through fire or pouring rain,[ii] as the Evil One devises any plans,[iii] we need not be shaken. Although our own strength might fail us, God never will.[iv] God’s love and mercy will see to it that the Holy People of God will stand eternally. Amen.
[i] Ogden, A.G. Commentary on 1 Kings 5:1-5; 8:1-13. Working Preacher.
[ii] Bethel Music. “We Will Not Be Shaken (Live).” We Will Not Be Shaken, Bethel Music, 2015.
[iii] The Imperials. “Let the Wind Blow.” Let the Wind Blow, Myrrh/Word Records, 1985
[iv] Martin Luther, “Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott.” 1529.
The Apocrypha including texts like the Book of Sirach is not considered part of the Protestant cannon of scripture, but Martin Luther did suggest the Apocrypha was “profitable and good to read.” The Apocrypha is a collection of works primarily in Greek, and they can help provide historical context for the period between what is identified as Jewish scriptures and the Christian scriptures. They also can help us better understand God and our world.
As they contain teachings that some traditions find unbiblical, they can be challenged. Jewish people of Luther’s time and today have consistently found that they are not the level of scripture. That said, the Roman Catholic and Orthodox world both consider the Apocryphal texts scripture, but they do recognize some different texts as part of those works. So, there’s no fully ecumenical or interfaith consensus. Our Lutheran bibles often include them with explanation (and we do study them in seminary), but I’ve read some Protestant editions began to drop them over time after the Reformation to help make the Bible more affordable. So, they aren’t always well known.
And still, some Evangelicals and others – like Pat Robertson who I saw once denounce them as dangerous – have had no use for them. It’s a minority voice among worldwide Christianity, and I have suggested that if such people don’t want you to risk reading the Apocryphal texts, then perhaps they should offer the same counsel about their own writings available for purchase. For, those aren’t scripture either.
I stand with Luther. There’s no consensus among Jewish traditions nor Christian ones regarding them. That gives me pause to consider them scripture. Yet, they are profitable and good to read, for historical insights or wisdom including this saying by Sirach about friends (Sirach 6:14-17):
14 A faithful friend is a sturdy shelter: he that has found one has found a treasure. 15 There is nothing so precious as a faithful friend, and no scales can measure his excellence. 16 A faithful friend is an elixir of life; and those who fear the Lord will find him. 17 Whoever fears the Lord directs his friendship aright, for as he is, so is his neighbor also.
Through chapter 6, he argues, “True friends are discerned not by prosperity (v. 11), but through the trials of adversity: distress, quarrels (v. 9), sorrow (v. 10) and misfortune (v. 12) (USCCB Daily Readings, 2025).
The Book of Sirach which was written in Hebrew remains the oldest example of such wisdom literature. It is absolutely applicable to modern times as it addresses friendship. Similar to Proverbs or Ecclesiastes, it offers helpful sayings about ethics written by Yeshua ben Eleazar ben Sira (Ben Sira), a Hellenistic Jewish scribe of the Second Temple period, yet it also can inspire or encourage.
Friends prove a treasure as other scriptural texts and my own life suggest. Friends helped me reconnect to the Church and lift me up after traumas in my past. Friends helped identify my call as a pastor, and they have concretely and through prayer supported my work. Friends helped me as I grieved the death of loved ones, faced cancer, or experienced past jobless periods in my life. In many ways, I discover Gospel truth and holy wisdom through them, not of the level of scripture but true nonetheless.
Friends, new and old, I covet your prayers always, and give thanks for you as I pray. Peace+ and love be with you this day and always. Yet if you ever find yourself doubting or afraid, if you ever feel like giving up, remember your trusted friends. For Christ is waiting in their hearts ready to help and embrace you.
Over the last few years, I’ve had people besmirching my reputation and my faith because I’ve defended police (all cops are not bastards), prayed for the President after an assassination attempt, or said national guard troops were not appropriate for a police issue, or argued that anyone deported or arrested should always be treated with respect. I even had someone claim that I likely would burn my VMI diploma because I suggested slavery was the cause for the Civil War and the southern memorial statue (clearly propaganda) should not be returned to Arlington Cemetery. (They said I was an embarrassment to VMI.)
There are other examples, but basically, I always try to speak the truth as I see it and repent if proved wrong. This song by my friends Nick Henretty and Sarah Henretty has been helpful in helping my yes mean yes and my no mean no, as Jesus said and I’ve quoted much of late. (It’s true that my VMI experience helped me here too.) Yet, it also holds true when people who should have been more transparent with you aren’t and recognized your love for them but don’t.
God is my defender. I know God is near in my distress. I don’t have to fear. I don’t have to strike back. I can choose to do good to the best of my ability even amidst great sadness, gossip, threats, or lies. I invite you to listen. For God defends you too when you trust in him. Do and say what’s right, as best as you can discern it, no matter the opposition or how people might let you down or oppose you. God will help us stand – forever.
Image: VMI Cadets on House Mountain, from House Mountain Reserve and the Virginia Military Institute. They retain all rights.The words below are my own, and do not reflect the views of these or any other entities or persons.
The below sermon was preached on the Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost, September 28, 2025, following the Narrative Lectionary (Year 4). The preaching text isExodus 2:23-25; 3:1-15; 4:10-17:
Thirty-nine years ago, among a crucible of challenges faced as I began to attend the Virginia Military Institute, New Cadets (nicknamed “Rats” for their lowly position at the school) were “invited” to hike up House Mountain. This mountain is a beautiful mountain indeed shaped a bit like a house, and it reaches about 3600 feet in elevation. It stands uniquely alone in the skyline, a bit separate from the other mountains of the Shenandoah Valley, and it is clearly visible from the Institute.
This annual event made the mountain a bit like holy ground for us. The forced march, a very fast one, up a very steep and fatiguing incline, was a tool used to bind us closer together. On the way, New Cadets were not only expected to challenge themselves individually, but they were also to help and encourage one another on the way – carrying their “Brother Rats” if necessary. And once the arduous climb to the top is done, you look around at the beautiful expanse of the valley below you, and you feel pride for your accomplishment, but also a deeper connection to those around you and to those who came before. Dare I say that you get the sense that you find yourself in a kind of sacred space and time. To this day, whenever I drive up and down route 81 and see that mountain, I remember the importance of that cherished experience.
There’s something empowering about mountaintop experiences. Sure, the climb can be challenging and the view spectacular, but I find that I often get the sense that amidst my smallness, I am part of something greater than myself. Throughout history, mountaintops have been used for signal fires, monuments, and just a place to see the scenery, but they also have been used for religious rituals and prayer. They have often proved the site of important spiritual awakenings or experiences for people throughout time and across cultures. This is much as the Lakota and Cheyanne look at Bear Butte in South Dakota as a sacred site…praying on and around the mountain, performing rituals or leaving sacred offerings at the top. We might come to understand why the “high places” so often referred to in the Bible were outdoor religious sites on mountaintops. Where was Abraham to sacrifice Isaac?[i] It was to be on a mountaintop, much as the pagan religions around him sacrificed their children. When we lift our eyes to the hills (to the mountains or high places), from whence does our help come from?[ii] God is the answer, for God has dominion over the high places. El Shaddai is one of the names for God used in Jerusalem meaning “God Almighty.” In the most ancient times, it appears that among what would become the Jewish people (as with other peoples around them), the gods were often associated with peoples and places, especially mountains. And in the Akkadian language, the earliest known Semitic language, the root of Shaddi – shadû – means “mountain.” Some suggest that El Shaddai conceives of our God as holding dominion over their regional high places.
Therefore, I don’t think it should surprise us that Moses’ own call story takes place on such heights. Indeed, it was already thought to be sacred ground, “the Mountain of God.” It was a place said to be where God rested at times, but it was to become a place where Moses’ life and the life of his people would be changed forever. Though, it really isn’t the ground or the elevation that’s key to this story. It is the relationship forged between Moses and his God that truly matters. Within our text, we can see a number of ancient hints for this. For example, Moses takes off his shoes to approach the burning bush. That’s an ancient sign of respect. Through the outward sign of humbling oneself, one is reflecting an inward sign of reverence and worship. For God’s part, God calls Moses forward while reminding Moses of past powerful relationships, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” The three covenants or promises made by God to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – three being itself a symbol of perfection and fullness in Judaism – still hold. God broke into these lives with the intention of changing the course of history, and that remains God’s will. With this mountaintop experience, God intends to break into and claim Moses’ life so that he can be used for a sacred purpose. We are witnessing what is known as a call story.
And in the face of such power (as displayed by a burning bush which really didn’t burn), Moses turned away. Ancient peoples believed that if a mortal was to look upon such immortal power, one would die. Instead of destroying Moses, God chooses to be humble and approachable. God offers Moses a sign of friendship…a name, “I am who I am.” In ancient cultures through the indigenous cultures of today, a person’s name is deemed sacred. It is thought to have a kind of force. Yes, it might identify one’s heritage or family, or represent what they have experienced or hope to accomplish in life, but it commonly was believed (and in some cultures is still believed) to give one person power over another. That is why one usually blesses or curses using a name in most traditional cultures, and the ancient Jews refrained from using the Lord’s specific name for a fearful respect of the power it represents and could unleash. This Jewish traditions is captured in our modern bibles when you see LORD (in all capital letters) in lieu of speaking God’s name. We even baptize in the name of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, but also officially give infants a name. We are said to Christen them.
Through this account, we are witnessing something extraordinary. Our perfect Almighty God from on high comes down to meet Moses (and us) as imperfect as humans are. Unlike other gods, our God is not distant and uncaring. God hears the groaning of God’s people and acts when the time was right. This is just as we are told later – Jesus came when the time was right (Galatians 4:4-5). It is still that way as Paul writes, “Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we do not know how to pray as we ought, but that very Spirit intercedes with groanings too deep for words” (Romans 8:26).
Yes, this powerful yet merciful god was calling a very ordinary, imperfect human to do great things. Still as many humans do…all humans at times…Moses resisted. He doubts instead of trusts. No wonder God gets angry? I think of Jesus, too, who was so often frustrated by his disciples’ unwillingness to trust him no matter how many miracles were performed. Yet to be fair, Moses by many human standards was a very unlikely prophet. Remember, Moses descended from a lowly people, slaves. He was a murderer, killing an Egyptian slave master. Moses was only a poor shepherd with an adopted family and home. He had no great family name or social status. Significantly, Moses apparently had a speech impediment. As Professor Fretheim of Luther Seminary in St. Paul wrote, “Moses raises sharp objections to God regarding this calling. One could name a total of eight objections on Moses’ part, ranging from issues of competence to knowledge to the nature of the situation and the kind of people (and God!) involved.”[iii]
In this very dynamic back and forth of confrontation met by assurance, God basically reminds Moses by word and deed…as God will do throughout the entire cycle of the Exodus story over and over again…“I am with you…I am your God…I am yours, and you are mine.” Where Moses is so hesitant to give of himself, God offers the divine-self to Moses. As Moses seeks to trust and move forward, than trust and move forward a bit more…trust grows…a heart of faith based on a personal relationship with God begins to flourish. Our God is willing to be present in Moses’ life and work through it…that’s what gave his life and our lives true meaning…that’s what makes an ordinary human extraordinary.
Eventually, Moses will prove to be one of the greatest of God’s prophets. No, he will never be perfect. Just like us, Moses will struggle to trust at times, and with his people, grumble or drag his feet. Yet in the end, Moses will walk on in trust…step by step into the unknown but seeking to trust the god revealed to him. This revealed and now known god, our God, is with him. It is God that gives Moses his vision…a vision that directs Moses’ life through many adversities in order to help his faith grow and bless others.
Yet again, it isn’t the high ground, or Moses, or his staff who has the power and glory…it is God alone. Despite any of Moses’ flaws or hesitation, even his sin, God wants to work through Moses and with Moses to change the world. Much as with Moses, God wishes to interact with us…to enter a powerful, personal relationship with us. Yes, we can confess our weaknesses to God. We can speak of our faults or fears…even our doubts. Yet, we can’t let them shape our lives. It’s God’s presence and promise that matters.
Through our faith and baptism, God is always with us…truly with us. And by Christ’s death and resurrection…through the Holy Spirit (reflecting the power of Pentecost)…we have an ongoing, intimate, most powerful and lifechanging access to God in ways that Moses did not. True, we might never prove to be an Abraham, Isaac, or Jacob, but we are their descendants through our shared faith. We may never be a great prophet like Moses. As recent days remind us, we can surely be a lowly, sinful people. Yet, God still claims us and is with us. At any time, where we walk might become like holy ground for us as we sense God’s presence more clearly, feel the holy communion with Christ’s Church more dearly, or sense the Spirit’s call to love, forgive, and serve others and our world. [This is much as St. Richard of Chichester, (c. 1197–1253), prayed: O most merciful redeemer, friend and brother, may I know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, and follow thee more nearly, day by day. Amen.]
In response to such an invitation, we should seek to answer our unique call from God. This might in the end be just to do small but hard and necessary things within the sphere of influence where we have been planted – helping as we can, loving and forgiving with God’s help, being patient and gracious toward others, maybe not saving the world but just saving or positively shaping or redirecting even just one life that we come in contact with. God can use us in that way to change the world, too.[iv]
Indeed, we are used by God daily…aware of it or not…when we just try to love as we have been loved by God. For through this messy, stressful, frightening life, God is leading us together toward the highest ground…an eternal life to be shared with the one revealed to Moses as “I am who I am,” and comes to us as Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
[iv] There is an ancient Jewish precept, “Whoever saves one life is considered as if he saved an entire world.” This highlights the infinite value of each life and our interconnectedness.
If you would like to listen to the above sermon or watch our service, the video can be found below. The sermon begins at about the 11:14 minute mark.
What our Jewish siblings call the Writings (or Ketuvim) are examples of “wisdom literature.” They are the third and final section of the Tanakh (the Jewish scriptures, or what many Christians call the Old Testament). These selections are found after the Torah (“instruction”; the five Books of Moses, also called the Pentateuch) and Nevi’im (the “prophets”). How does this journey to wisdom start? Proverbs tells us, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.”
No, we aren’t supposed to run away from God like Adam and Eve after sinning in the Garden of Eden. We are supposed to seek after God. We experience a holy fear as we encounter the one true God, and we come to understand our vulnerability and reliance in something greater than ourselves. We tremble before God’s greatness, because we discover we are not God, nor even masters of our destiny. In fact, on our own, we are worthy of condemnation. To think otherwise is vanity. Yet, we turn to God humbly, because we discover that God is only love, and we know we need God’s grace and salvation. We also know through Jesus and the tug of the Holy Spirit, God desires to save us, not destroy.
A favorite Christian musician and Bible scholar of mine back in the 1990s was a man named Michael Card. He used his love of scripture to ponder God’s greatness through music. He created a three CD work contemplating the Torah, The Prophets, and the Writings. In his reflection song on Proverbs, he reframes this fear with these words, “The Way of Wisdom beckons us; To find the end of fear that perfect love pursues; Wisdom did not come to simply speak the words of truth; He’s the Word that makes us true.” In other words, our holy fear leads us eventually to our grace-filled salvation found only in Jesus. Jesus’ love has the power to transform us.
The path of wisdom leads us from fear toward a perfect love, one that wishes to help and embrace us. Indeed, Wisdom in the Writings is often personified as a welcoming woman. It is much as the Jewish faith has often contemplated and represented God’s Spirit in female imagery in art and other poetry. As Jesus describes God’s love as a Mother Hen, Proverbs tells us that Wisdom beckons us home in our weakness and need. It invites us to knock at the door and seek as Jesus did saying, “I love those who love me, and those who seek me diligently find me.”
So how do we seek? The way of Wisdom calls us to live a life in community where forgiveness is offered, where support is shared, where we meet Christ in one another as well as the Word and Sacraments. The original wisdom works were based on observations and experiences rather than visons and dreams – people found God at work in real life and reflected upon it.
Through their lives, poetry, and sayings preserved in scripture, we learn that our seeking is not just a Sunday adventure or a diversion to our week. It cannot be fully explored alone. We seek to listen for Wisdom daily as we interact with the world. For, God is there. We uncover our true place is among God’s chosen people, and we see that God is at work around us. Even in small acts of love or kindness to our neighbor, we might spot Wisdom.
It is only through such Wisdom that we find our true significance. As we are promised, whoever finds Lady Wisdom, finds true life. I think it comforting that the source of such Wisdom, the Holy Spirit (by the way, spirit is a feminine word in ancient Hebrew), is already seeking and reaching out to us. Perhaps, we should stop, look, and listen for her during our busy days or on days when we feel overwhelmed or afraid. She’ll be there waiting to not just teach us, but embrace us, as our Triune God’s children.
Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this post are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation.
Originally published in the July 18, 2023 weekly newsletter, the Hub, of Christ Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, VA, this post was edited and expanded upon for my blog.
A 2023 study found that 40 percent of both Biden and Trump supporters “at least somewhat believed the other side had become so extreme that it is acceptable to use violence to prevent them from achieving their goals.” That’s pretty disturbing. Yesterday, I could sadly look at my feeds on social media and make a list of people that feel that way from the left and right, some who I know personally. According to Stefani McDade in Christianity today, “Most Americans are in shock, grieving, and rightly concerned for the future of our nation [after the assassination of Charlie Kirk]. Yet there are outliers on both ends of the ideological spectrum who seem inclined to assign a deeper meaning to Kirk’s murder—one that instrumentalizes it to galvanize further support for their respective camps and causes.” That’s not healthy or right either. Making violence sacred in one’s preferred image is itself a form of idolatry.
Many have said that there’s no going back even though our future is never set in stone. Some have just suggested that the Rubicon crossed will lead to more violence (which is likely correct knowing human nature). Others, unwittingly or not, want more – the destruction or elimination of the other, and that’s a bad bridge to cross. “The (fill in the blank party) are evil.” (They don’t act with evil, they are evil, they say. That’s a serious and unbiblical accusation.) People angrily resist that violence is an “us” problem, not just “them.” (Martin Luther in his Large Catechism argues quite effectively that we are all murderers.) They can point out the plank in other people’s post easy enough (Matthew 7:3-5), but they often fail to see how their own vitriol potentially facilitates evil actions of others (if not eventually their own down the line). It’s easy to hate those we objectify. They can become to us something less than human, a being made in God’s image who Jesus died to save.
Jesus calls us to be more and do better. Aggression and violence is a choice, to be an exception in a fallen world, always tainted by sin, if one believes what Jesus taught and exemplified. This is why the Orthodox and others encourage soldiers to go to confession with a priest after wartime experiences. Violence is never “pure” as too many wish to frame it. None of our actions are if we ascribe to Lutheran or Reformed theology. Indeed, because of sin, even the concept of free will is a deception. (Read Luther’s The Bondage of the Will if interested in hearing that argument.)
Instead, we are invited, “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good” (Romans 12:21). Love and forgiveness can always be a choice too…always. If you feel stuck in your anger, unable to forgive, pray about it. Talk to a pastor, rabbi or other spiritual leader. (And if they are preaching about retribution or going to war over cultural or political issues, perhaps go somewhere else. Spiritual leaders can live in error, too.) Read and meditate upon the Jewish scriptures and Jesus’ teachings about love of others, forgiveness, and violence. God’s Spirit will help.
Yes, Jesus wishes us his peace, a peace beyond understanding (Philippians 4:7). Jesus offered this to his first disciples and to us when he said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”
People can quibble about the veracity of research studies regarding our divisions, or who did what first, but Jesus is clear. “Love one another, as I have loved you” (see John 13). Let us choose to abide in his love.
A Smithsonian Institution sign is seen on the National Air and Space Museum on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on March 28, 2025. KEVIN DIETSCH/GETTY/Newsweek – See the Newsweek article sparking this post.
Recently, the President pondered about slavery in the context of what he suggested was one sided history presentations at the Smithsonian. Certainly, one can point to possible errors, but the President made a big one himself. Plenty of people on social media have regrettably expressed similar things before and since. He said that their portrayal of U.S. history was too negative and focused too much on “how bad Slavery was.”
Well, unfortunately, slavery was worse in the USA than many understand or admit. Don’t take my word for it. Read first hand slave narratives from diaries and interviews: extreme poverty, dismemberments, whipping, rape, murder, and more abominable acts were a norm. Many potential slaves, Native American, African and others, historically feared slavery more than death. In fact, you read of suicidal acts rather than being dragged into slavery or returned to it.
So if anyone is wondering, in the best of circumstances one could imagine, slavery is wrong. It was and always has been steeped in sin, a sign of our fallen world not God’s Kingdom. In Genesis, every human was created in God’s image, male and female alike. Some (I sadly know from experience) will say God allowed it. They will point at a few verses which l agree seem to affirm slavery in that period, but even in speaking of the Ten Commandments, Mosaic law called for better treatment and freedom processes for slaves.
God’s patience with our sin should not be confused with God’s approval of it. (God was not too keen on Israel having a king other than God or the Temple in Jerusalem being built either, for they could lead to idolatry and other sin. Yet, God consented.) By the time the Church comes around, Jesus has extended the understanding of the neighbor whom we should love as oneself to include everyone. Paul emphasizes how slave and master should live within the existing structure while prioritizing Christ, as he did regarding women, but he never argued for slavery. He argued that Christ’s plan is to make all one. In the dangerous context of the Roman Empire where slavery was so embedded, order valued, and social roles defined, he expects Jesus back soon. He didn’t want anything to hinder the spread of the Gospel, so within an unjust fallen world, he counsels humility, patience and love even to one’s enemy. Living faithfully was his primary concern whether a slave or any other lot in a fallen life.
Yet, God did not stop speaking in biblical times. As the Church grows and becomes more diverse, as education spreads (both knowledge and wisdom are said to be gifts of the Spirit), as people pray, meditate on scripture, preach and teach about our Lord, the consensus and understanding grew that slavery and prejudice of any kind is sin. The Spirit works through such holy discernment to try to open our hearts to God’s truth. So again, God called and created everyone. Jesus is to call all peoples to himself. And we are to love one another and see the Christ, the sacred, in one another – in everyone whether friend or foe, believer or not.
Still to this day, prejudice of all kinds, slavery, and ignorance sadly continue to exist. Some people don’t want to see their ancestors as “bad,” but we are all sinnners, so let’s get over it. Going in circles about the multiple causes of the Civil War is a distraction distancing us from the horror. Slavery always takes away a person’s self determination, rights, dignity, health and ultimately life. It’s a kind of theft and murder, as Luther extended those commands similarly to many sins in his Large Catechism. (He suggests we are all murderers at times as we lack care for our neighbors or live selfishly.) As I often quote from Jesus, let your yes be yes, and your no be no. Slavery was evil. It was and remains sin. Let’s leave it at that.
Our ancestors might not have understood this was a sin, but we now do. So, we shouldn’t forget or be shy about their errors. We can learn from them. Sinner-saints all, certainly there could be signs of kindness or generosity back then like now. Yet let God be their ultimate judge, for we have our own sins still to address including modern slavery and human trafficking.
Good thing God is still patient and kind. For, we all need his forgiveness.
Husband, Pastor, Law Enforcement Chaplain, and member of the Clerical Errors (aka "The Three Priests"), I'm sharing my two cents with anyone who cares...
You can also find me on social media as Loudluthrn (Lou-d-Luthrn or Lou the Lutheran). It is a moniker given me while attending a Presbyterian Seminary, but I'm a loud and proud Lutheran too (just not too loud and proud, mind you).
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