May 16, 2023 · 2:51 pm

Hope might not mean what we think it means

St. Peter and St. Paul etching from the Roman Catacombs containing an ancient Chi-Rho symbol, a christogram representing the first letters of “Christ” and thus Jesus himself. Etching CC BY-SA, Image source worldhistory.org.

This sermon was preached at Christ Lutheran Church (Fredericksburg, VA) on the Sixth Sunday in Easter, May 14, 2023.You can find the text of this sermon and a video of me preaching it below.

As humans, we can hope for all kinds of things. We can hope it doesn’t rain. We can hope we get good grades. As in so many Disney movies, we might hope that one day our prince or princess might come. We may even hope just to get through another difficult day.[i] As humans, we would love to be in control of our future. And in some ways, yes, our decisions and efforts can impact our outcomes positively or negatively. Yet, there’s much more that we cannot control. People who we count on might fail us, or gremlins seem to take over the mechanisms of our day. Unexpected storms come too.

Therefore, some people go beyond the entertainment of astrology and seek to use it as a guide. There are still people today who cast spells and make incantations hoping for their desired outcome. We might also know Christians that hang onto a religious medal or a cross as if they were a lucky rabbit’s foot. We all can fall into such traps at times. Hopeful thinking can easily become wishful thinking or even magical thinking. “If I do this just right, God will surely give me that or do this” – as if we cantrol God. There’s a reason scripture argues against such things. God wants us to remember that we aren’t God. We cannot control everything no matter how hard we try. We cannot bribe God to love us more than God already does. No amount of manipulation or preparation or wishing can make us perfectly prepared for the life that lies ahead. Only God’s love has that power. So, why don’t we trust in God’s love offered to us so freely?

Isn’t it interesting that Paul writes so much about hope? He does so because Paul’s concept of hope isn’t made of powerless wishes. It is based on jesus. Paul hopes because he trusts in the Triune God: a god who created us out of love, who died for our sake, and who is with us now (loving and trying to guide us!) amidst any suffering or challenge. It is that god, our God, who will never let us go – who promises to help us get through our days. Paul knows full well that things will go wrong (not might go wrong but will go wrong at times). He has had friends die. He was almost stoned to death himself and was shipwrecked in a storm. He was imprisoned. he was abused. Paul knows life is hard and unfair, but he also knows with his head, and more importantly trusts deep in his heart, that a God who is love will never fail or abandon us; will never lie to us. God in Jesus Christ has promised to never do so with his blood; dying for our sake.

Certainly, we must remember that Paul was incredibly gifted at the art of rhetoric. As a Pharisee, he had to be, and those skills helped him as a converted Apostle. We startg today in Chapter 3 of his “Letter to the Romans.” That’s his latest and last letter that we know about, likely reflecting his most developed understanding of God’s love. It it he proclaims Good News. After unpacking our common sins…that we can make almost anything an idol and we struggle with sin in both body and mind….after warning about hypocrites (perhaps you and me at times) who call out people for sin while blind to their own…Paul proclaims Good News for all of us in our shared sinfulness: A person is justified by faith apart from any works that we can do. Whew, the pressures off! God is not expecting perfection from us, because we cannot attain it.

In Christ, God had promised grace and peace for us, not toil and burden. In return, all that Christ asks of us to be his agents of peace and reconciliation in the world (2 Corinthians 5:11-21) reflecting God’s own love for us. One scholar writes, “Romans as a whole is about Paul’s appeal to new relationships, of which human beings fail to extend to others outside of their cultural circles.”[ii] We tend to judge people. Remember, it seems that perhaps Jewish-Christians and Gentile-Christians in that Roman community experienced tension and mutual condemnations at times. As with so many of Paul’s letters, he is concerned with our unity in the body of Christ. As God is one, we are to try to be one. Not only that, but God will also save us in the same way. Paul writes, God “will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith” (Romans 3:30, emphasis mine). Faith is the key.

Digging deeper into his very dense writing style and theology, we see the name of our Lord Jesus Christ begin and end this important section of Chapter 5 like two bookends. Everything in our lives, he will argue, is encompassed by Christ, the Alpha and Omega. Everything is based upon “God’s faithfulness through Jesus and how our lives are different under Jesus’ lordship.”[iii] This is the point in his argument where he will pivot from the problem of sin and disunity and point us toward what God is doing now and will come next – our assurance of salvation and ongoing transformation by the Holy Spirit through our faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus death and resurrection has changed everything for us. We are not in the same situation due to Christ’s death and resurrection. There’s an access to God in a new way…our relationship has changed. He points to what God is doing now and what will happen next. We find even now that we are already loved….already victorious. He addresses the past, present, and future where our God has been and will be proven always faithful even as we struggle to be faithful ourselves.

Already, Paul has alluded to the faith of Abraham and God’s covenant with the Jewish people. God made a promise to Abraham and his descendants. God has made a similar promise through Christ. This timeless promise is being offered to all, for God’s love is an expansive, growing, encircling love…embracing love. For not only did God make a promise to Abraham, God promised in the Jewish Testament that the Jewish people would be used to bless all the world’s people so that they could be included in this promise too. As argued elsewhere, “Paul insists that God is the God of Israel specifically.” (in the Hebrew scriptures the Lord is called our God remember), yet God is “not ‘only’ the God of Israel.”[iv] Indeed, in and through Jesus Christ, “God has been faithful to both Israel and the Gentiles simultaneously.”[v]

True, a critical symbol of that faith and covenant for the Jews was circumcision. Some in that ancient time argued circumcision was helpful for hygiene but also helpful for procreation. We might debate these beliefs today with our understanding of medical science, but symbolically what we have is a covenant not just about a promised land but also about people[vi], a people God promised would be numbered more than the grains of sand on any beach or stars in the heavens. In the ancient Jewish understanding, “the particular aspect of circumcision that saves is said to be the blood that is shed.” It is a kind of ancient blood pact between God and God’s people. In fact, the ritual requires at least one drop of blood to symbolize this joining of God and God’s people. As the bleeding occurs, the circumciser quotes Ezekiel 16:6, “As you lay in your blood…live.”

No, Paul doesn’t rail against circumcision. He has just come to understand that the act isn’t saving in and of itself. He remembers Genesis 15:6 (recounting a time before Abraham was ever circumcised) where “Abraham already had faith in the Lord, who reckoned it to his merit.” (It was a justifying, saving faith.) For Paul, through Christ’s own sacrifice, he has come to understand faith in God is what saves. Through the cross, Christ’s own blood is poured, and with it, a promise of new life was declared. Something did change with Jesus’ dying and rising in a way not even Abraham dared hope for. The Holy Spirit can now reside in our hearts. That’s all true, Jesus acted to save us and fulfill the Law. Still, trust in Christ’s final sacrifice saves us, as much as Abraham’s trust in God saved him. In trusting God’s love and promises for us, we become part of God’s plan…claimed by God “for a future filled with hope” (Jeremiah 29:11)…We enter into a life where all things become possible for those who believe (Mark 9:23).

In our modern world, we tend to delude ourselves that we control our destiny. We can seek to avoid suffering, but suffering and disappointment will come for us all at times. We might even confuse God’s love as if it is the absence of suffering. (Why would we do so, when Jesus and the early Apostles who he loved suffered so much. The absence of suffering does not prove God’s love.) Yet looking back through the history of salvation, Paul recognizes something else entirely. He sees that God uses all of it – both good and bad. Through those experiences, God will make good come for the glory of God and our ultimate benefit (Romans 8:28). In his mind, Paul has come to understand that “suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.” Justified by Christ’s blood, redeemed by his own sacrifice, God will never forsake us or forget us even if our parents were ever to do so (Psalm 27:10). We are never asked to be perfect. We are only asked to trust and try…try in response to love as God has loved us (1 John 4:19) in thanksgiving.

As the weights of this world oppress us, whatever those weights might be for you, we can live in hope – not in magical thinking, not in others, not even in ourselves. Like Paul, we can hope in God’s steadfast love and promise at work even now. God’s love has been poured out to bring us peace…to live in us and flow through us out into the world. Faith…trust…in this new reality…turns the worst of our days into a new day of hope where we will live to witness that God’s love never fails (1 Corinthians 13)…where we will experience firsthand and eternally “God with Us.” Amen.

[i] Elizabeth Shively, Lecturer in New Testament Studies, University of St. Andrews, St. Andrews, Scotland, UK. Working Preacher (2017). https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/ordinary-11/commentary-on-romans-51-8-2.

[ii] Israel Kamudzandu, Associate Professor of New Testament Studies, Saint Paul School of Theology. Working Preacher (2020) https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-in-lent/commentary-on-romans-51-11-6

[iii] Sarah Henrich, Professor Emerita of New Testament, Luther Seminary, St. Paul, Minnesota, Working Preacher (2008) https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-in-lent/commentary-on-romans-51-11-3.

[iv] Levine, A. and Zvi Brettler, M., Editors (2017). The Jewish Annotated New Testament 2nd Edition. “God is one for all humanity (Rom. 3:30).” New York: Oxford University Press USA.

[v] Ibid., “God is one for all humanity (Rom. 3:30).”

[vi] Ibid, “Circumcision.”

My children’s sermon begins at about the 17:35 minute mark. My sermon begins at about the 25:45 minute mark. Preaching text: Romans 3:28-30 and 5:1-11.

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April 20, 2023 · 9:04 pm

In darkness, Jesus remains our Light.

Photo by Federico Respini on Unsplash. Used by permission.

You can find a recording of this post at my 2 Penny Blog Podcast.

I struggle to imagine the fear the first disciples felt. Yet, I expect that the disciples could at best only approach the open tomb hesitantly; not knowing what to expect themselves. As they peered into the darkness, could they find a spark of hope? Dare they believe what seemed impossible? Looking into the opening before them, how could they not become frozen by fear? And yet, in the end, they entered the tomb.

Considering their experience, I can find many parallels with our own lives. Any time we face change or uncertainty, we can start to focus on fear and forget whose we are. Facing major obstacles, we can shrink before their seeming power and enormity ignoring the even larger, more powerful God who stands with us. In our weakness, we can feel small and alone. Our future can seem as if entombed in darkness.

If the first disciples had not stepped into the darkness of the cave, they might not have discovered the glory of God at work in their lives. If they had not later gone into strange and sometimes threatening communities, often facing persecution if not death, Christ’s light might not have shown as brightly in the world. Sometimes, all we can do is walk into the darkness as the early disciples did, trying to trust that God’s light and love are already waiting to be discovered there.

“We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose,” wrote St. Paul (Romans 8:28). As we relive the events of Holy Week, we recall the darkness of Christ’s extensive suffering and death. However, we would not encounter them the same if he had not risen. These terrible things were allowed to happen, so that the world could be blessed. Bad things can happen to us, or we might fall short, and still, God promises to love us and to turn our “bad” into the goodness of God. God’s light seeks to be revealed in and through our complicated, sometimes frightening lives.

As we see darkness at work inside or outside of ourselves, we need to remember the life changing and sustaining truth, “Christ is risen! He is risen indeed!” The beloved chant from Taizé comes to my mind and proves true. “Our darkness is never darkness in [God’s] sight. The deepest night is clear as the daylight.” We can get through it, whatever “it” is. We can let things go as we must, so that we can hold onto grace all the more and move forward more freely. We just need to trust. For Christ remains our light, no matter what we do or fail to do, whatever powers rise against us. Jesus remains our light shining in the darkness even when our eyes cannot sense him. He rose, not for his own sake, but for our own.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this post are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation.

Originally published in the April newsletter of Christ Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, VA.

© 2023 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author.

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March 14, 2023 · 5:19 pm

St. Joseph’s Day: Faith & food go well together

The Holy Family in Egypt, Coptic Orthodox icon

Most everyone in the United States recognizes St. Patrick’s Day (March 17) as a day for fun and wearing green. The genesis of our modern celebration comes from the many past Irish immigrants to the United States. We can trace the celebration’s origins back to New York in 1762 when Irish soldiers serving in the British military marched through the city to commemorate the “holy day,” giving rise to one of the most famous parades in the world.[i] Yet at its heart, St. Patrick’s Day is a religious feast day on the liturgical calendar. In Ireland, families traditionally go to church and have festive dinners. Although to be frank, the American style of celebration (too often centered on drinking beer to excess) has begun to impact Ireland over the last decades.

However, St. Patrick’s Day is not the only big day during this coming week. Just two days later (March 19), we mark the religious Feast of St. Joseph. Like the story of St. Patrick’s Day, Italian immigrants maintained and expanded upon traditions from home, as did Czechs, Poles, and many others who are inspired by St. Joseph. In many Italian communities, St. Joseph’s Day is HUGE. Reasons for this affection vary. There are indeed mythic if not superstitious stories of people saved from famine, shipwreck, or other calamity when they asked for St. Joseph’s blessing. Although we Lutherans reject the petitioning saints[ii] for aid since the Reformation, Lutherans still have Joseph on our liturgical calendars on March 19. The Church gives God thanks for Joseph’s loving life and witness of faith, and since at least the 9th Century, Joseph has been honored with the titles of Guardian, Educator, or Adoptive Father of our Lord.

With the feasts close association to the Italian community, how do people traditionally celebrate? Well, some cities offer special worship, festivals, or parades. Italians in New Orleans will have their parade on March 25th this year. Bostonians, near where I grew up, wait until July for their major festival. With St. Joseph’s Day falling on a Sunday in 2023, some will celebrate on the following Monday.

As they celebrate St. Joseph’s Day, people often wear red in the United States. I’ve not been able to determine why. I suspect it might be related to Joseph’s being a patron of workers in Catholicism. Workers movements often wear red, and as a carpenter (or builder) himself[iii], St, Joseph has been historically held up in opposition to Communism. In 1955, an additional feast day was declared by Pope Pius XII and is celebrated on May 1, International Workers’ Day (or May Day), rebranded as the separate Feast of St. Joseph the Worker.[iv]

Yet in light of his role in the Holy Family, people often seek to celebrate “family” as they remember St. Joseph. As they gather, families might create large St. Joseph Tables (or St. Joseph Altars) with three tiers of food, three representing the Trinity. These are sometimes created in a cross shape. People place flowers, limes, wine, fava beans, cakes, breads, cookies, and other meatless dishes (due to the feast day falling during Lent), as well as zeppole, an Italian pastry consisting of a deep-fried dough ball of varying size. Zeppole is often topped with powdered sugar or filled with custard, jelly, cannoli-style pastry cream, or a butter-and-honey mixture. In lieu of zeppole, a treat popular in Naples, Sicilians tend to prefer Sfingi, donuts that are often made from a dough of flour, sugar, eggs, and ricotta and rolled in sugar.

Why so many pastries? There’s an old legend that while exiled in Egypt, Joseph supported his family by selling…pancakes! (This was not necessarily our modern dish but suggests a Middle Eastern bread-like meal like pancakes.) Indeed, March 19th serves as Father’s Day in Italy. Originating in Tuscany and Umbria, Frittelle di San Giuseppe, a fried rice “pancake” (more like a small American doughnut), is now often served throughout the nation. If you are afraid to make such traditional Italian pastries and treats yourself, they are usually available on St. Joseph’s Day at local Italian deli-bakeries. Just ask. If that’s not for you, why not just have a pancake supper with your family?

Embodying sacred stories in celebration help create wonderful memories, but they also can plant seeds of faith. Thus, many Italians prepare special Lenten dishes that include breadcrumbs. The crumbs are meant to remind us of the Joseph’s vocation as a carpenter. You can also find artisan breads of varied shapes: a Latin cross (to remember Christ’s sacrifice), a baby (to honor Joseph’s role in the Holy Family), St. Joseph’s staff (legend has it that St. Joseph’s staff blossomed into a lily, a symbol both of life and death), a purse (a reminder to give alms), a sheaf of wheat (reminding us of John 12:24-26 but turned upside down serves as St. Joseph’s Beard), and many more.[v]

Due to the Joseph-related stories involving famine in Sicily, food proves a large part of the festival. Yet it isn’t a day for self-indulgence, hospitality is the goal along with providing food to any hungry neighbors. Making donations to help meet the needs of others is a common, important family or congregational activity. You might run across congregations inviting you to come help fill “St. Joseph Bags” for the hungry. People might give extra alms. So, perhaps you might like to make a special donation to a food bank, pantry, or other service organization this year? Donating to enCircle (formally Lutheran Family Services of Virginia) might be a worthy charity as they do so much work supporting families and foster care children.

Whatever you do to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, St. Joseph’s Day, or any holiday, I encourage you to seek activities that nurture relationship, teach and affirm our faith, and serve our neighbor. If you have some fun as well, that’s ok too.

For those who want to an authentic dish, you can find a recipe for one version of Pasta di San Giuseppe (Pasta of St. Joseph) that I used last year here: https://orderisda.org/culture/our-recipes/authentic-st-josephs-day-pasta/

Image property of Italian Sons and Daughters of America.

[i] O’Brian, S. (March 7, 2023). How did St. Patrick die. Irish Central. Downloaded on March 8 at https://www.irishcentral.com/roots/history/how-did-saint-patrick-die.

[ii] Lutherans do have feast days to remember the life and Christian witness of remarkable people, but they serve as models for us, “that we may follow their faith and good works, according to our calling.” We do not “pray to saints” (ask for their intercession), as “we have an Advocate with the Father” (1 John 2:1). Learn more by reading Article XXI, Of the Worship of the Saints, in the Augsburg Confession: https://bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/of-worship-of-saints/ You might also like to read Article II, Of the Mass, in the Smalcald Articles: https://bookofconcord.org/smalcald-articles/ii/of-the-mass/

[iii] Although commonly called a carpenter, it might not be that simple. “The word the Gospels use is téktōn, a common term used for artisans, craftsmen, and woodworkers (so, yes, it can translate as “carpenter”), but also, interestingly, it can refer to stonemasons, builders, construction workers, or even to those who excel in their trade and are able to teach others (as in the Italian maestro).” See Esparaza, D. (February 8, 2019). Aletia. Were Jesus and Joseph Really Carpenters as downloaded on March 14, 2023 from https://aleteia.org/2019/02/08/were-jesus-and-joseph-really-carpenters/

[iv] See https://www.sju.edu/news/10-facts-about-st-joseph-honor-his-feast-day

[v] Roman Catholic Diocese of Charlotte (2020). St. Joseph’s Table: An Italian tradition as downloaded at https://yearofstjoseph.org/devotions/st-joseph-table/

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this post are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation.

Originally published in the March 14, 2023 weekly newsletter, the Hub, of Christ Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, VA, it was expanded upon for this post.

© 2023 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author.

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March 7, 2023 · 8:09 pm

What did St. Patrick know that we should too?

Ring of Kerry, Photo by Nils Nedel on Unsplash. Used by permisson.

You can find a recording of this post at my 2 Penny Blog Podcast.

There’s an old prayer attributed to St. Patrick. As with many of Martin Luther’s own hymns, the style mimics that of the culture around him. It echoes druidic incantations of the day for protection on a journey. Invoking the Trinity and reflecting the many signs of blessing that can help us greet any new day with confidence, his long prayer ends with these words:

Christ with me,

Christ before me,

Christ behind me,

Christ in me,

Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ on my right,

Christ on my left,

Christ when I lie down,

Christ when I sit down,

Christ when I arise,

Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

I arise today

Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,

Through belief in the Threeness,

Through confession of the Oneness

of the Creator of creation.

The prayer is known as St. Patrick’s Breastplate. Translated into English verse by Cecil Frances Alexander in 1889, it inspired the hymn “I bind unto Myself Today” found in our worship book (ELW #450).

St. Patrick had quite a challenging life. Although some details might be more mythic than truth due to his living so long ago (5th Century AD), it is generally accepted that he was born the son of a decurion (Senator and tax collector) in a Roman city of Britain. His grandfather, Potitus, is reported to have been a priest from Bonaven Tabernia, but it appears Patrick did not actively practice the Christian faith as a youth.

According to the Confession of St. Patrick, he was kidnapped when young and enslaved by Irish pirates. Escaping after six years as a slave in Ireland (perhaps with signs of divine intervention depending on the story), he made it back home. Patrick went on to become an active Christian and eventually a priest. That might have been enough of a story on its own, but one day, he had a vision. He wrote, “I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: ‘The Voice of the Irish’. As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea—and they cried out, as with one voice: ‘We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.’” Despite his past enslavement, Patrick ended up returning to Ireland as a missionary and bishop.

We cannot know all the struggles of faith and other tribulations Patrick faced during his lifetime, but his words and example can be instructive for us. Whatever our situation, trust Christ is with you. Whatever your call, know that Christ desires to be reflected in your work. In all our relationships, seek to love others, including our enemies. In striving to do this, even imperfectly, our own lives can become a song which glorifies God. With Patrick, and his predecessor, St. Paul, we can trust through the gift of faith, “it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Walking among others, remember, Christ will be there too. 

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this post are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation.

Originally published in the March 2023 newsletter of Christ Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, VA.

© 2023 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author.

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March 2, 2023 · 9:48 pm

Forgiveness is complicated

Joseph Chaumet, detail of Via Vita, 1894-1904. Sculpture, Musée eucharistique du Hiéron, Paray-le-Monial, France.

This sermon on Matthew 18:15-35 was preached at Christ Lutheran Church (Fredericksburg, VA) on the First Sunday in Lent, February, 26, 2023.You can also find a recording of this post at my 2 Penny Blog Podcast.

We just listened to a bit of the fourth of five great discourses made by Jesus as recorded in Matthew’s Gospel. Just as the Books of Moses came in five – called the Pentateuch, the first five books of the Hebrew scriptures – Jesus’ teachings come in five primary installments as Matthew tells the story. Again, this, Matthew hopes, will help people identify Jesus as the Messiah…a figure similar too but greater than Moses, as Jesus is no ordinary prophet. Matthew wants us to see that Jesus is truly the Son of God.

This discourse (our teaching segment today) is often called the Discourse on the Church, for it anticipates the shared life and ministry of the future community we now call “Church.” As humans that form the Church, we live within human relationship and mutuality, bound by the Holy Spirit. Still, some people among us will struggle with vanity, selfishness, or lose their way. There will be a need to call people to correction, but just as with the Old Testament, we will hear Jesus speak of justice wrapped within mercy and grace as well. Humility, self-sacrifice, and love, Jesus teaches, are the virtues that will bind this new community together and help it thrive.

Among the many difficult dynamics that come with human relationship, among the most complicated of topics that Jesus addresses, remains the gift of forgiveness. And indeed, forgiveness is a gift at its heart. After all, Jesus died for the forgiveness of our sins before we even asked…Before we were even born, Jesus responded to our need. Our salvation is pure gift, and with his cross and resurrection, Jesus died for all our sin: the sin that’s always part of us as human, fallen creatures; the sins we have done; and the sins we have yet to do. As John writes in one of his letters (1 John 4), “In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” He argues that we love because God loves us first. Thus, through Jesus’ own example and teaching, we should understand that we also forgive because God forgave us first. Yet, we aren’t Jesus. We can struggle mightily with forgiveness.

When we are hurt deeply, we can tend to cling to our anger and pain. We can become too focused upon it. We can get stuck and ruminate on our wounds. Now, anger itself isn’t sin. Jesus who never sinned got angry at times, but we are cautioned in scripture to avoid sinning in our anger (Eph. 4:26). So, as we focus on the sin we see as perpetrated against us, we might feel justified anger, but we can also slip into sin. We aren’t Jesus. Normal humans can tend to hold onto grudges and even nurse them. Then like a disease, those human, sinful feelings can begin to seep out of our wounds, misshaping our choices along with our view of others and our world.

There’s an old saying, “hurt people hurt people,” and although it is simplistic, I find it often profoundly true. Looking at criminal offenders or people in our family who perhaps don’t love us like they should, we often find their behaviors might not be able to be explained away, but we can often see that their own lives lacked love, tenderness, and forgiveness. They themselves might have been abused or forgotten, and their hurtful choices often might reflect their desire to be significant, have their needs met, or act out like a small child. They might not know the words for their pain and longing. They might not even be aware they are in pain. That’s just what they know. Sadly, the examples they have seen of loving relationships are too often far from the love that Jesus teaches about and exemplifies. Of course, they can be bent inward upon themselves, selfish, as Luther says. The best humans can make bad choices when they have free choice.

In families, the sins of the parents can be revisited upon several generations until someone finally says enough is enough and seeks to return to God’s ways…or so says Deuteronomy 5. Yet, not everyone who grows up exposed to brokenness offends, and just because a parent struggled to love you doesn’t mean that God could not have taught you how to love in some other way. Again, there’s an element of free choice. God can send us people to love us in lieu of a family incapable of loving as they should. So, we should not be too quick to just say “turn the other cheek” or “forgive and forget.” I am not suggesting wrong should be explained away. For our safety, for the safety of others, and even for the protection of the person we are mad at, erasing any error might cause more harm than good. Consequences can sometimes protect people or help teach people to do better.

Some of you have heard my story of a women I met as an officer while on a domestic dispute. She had faced many years of emotional and physical violence, and this night, she had been injured. Her spouse hit her so hard that her cheek was swollen up like a grapefruit. When I suggested to her that she might need to put up some protective boundaries between her and her husband, she ironically said with her swollen face in tears, “But Jesus told us to turn the other cheek.” I had to explain to her that Jesus loved her too, and he likely wasn’t calling her to martyrdom (or more likely unnecessary victimhood) at the hands or her husband. Jesus loved her too, and sometimes when situations are toxic or dangerous enough, it might be best to turn the other cheek and walk away.[i] This doesn’t mean we stop loving them, or praying for their welfare, or caring. It might just be a humble recognition that we aren’t the one’s called to save them from themselves…In such cases, we might need to love ourselves as much as we say we love them. After all, Jesus said the law and the prophets was summarized in our loving God with all that we are and loving others as ourselves…not better than ourselves.

Yes, forgiveness is complicated. Wounds can run deep and last long. A man once told me that he used to get in terrible fights with his wife. Yet it wasn’t the physical wounds that bothered him. Those scars can heal. He wouldn’t think of those physical incidents unless he stopped to look at his scars. No, often for him, the wounds that come from ill chosen words, gossip, betrayal…emotional wounds…those can be the ones that last the longest. Those can be the hardest to forgive and heal. And yes, he is right. Forgiveness is hard. Jesus never said forgiveness would come quickly like someone turning off a light switch. We might need to try to forgive, and then try again, and again. We might find a place of peace only to have something remind us of past pain, and we need to forgive yet once again. It might take a lifetime to forgive, and we might never quite fully make it. Yet, we aren’t only asked to forgive for the sake of the offending party. In just trying to forgive, in our willingness to be open to it, forgiveness heals and frees us whether the other person benefits or not.

When we seek to forgive, it is not admitting what they did was ok. Counselors suggest, “By forgiving, we are making a conscious decision to let go of any resentment, vengeance, or anger that came from being hurt because we believe we will be better off not having those emotions and thoughts floating around inside us.”[ii] It is not about the person deserving forgiveness or changing their ways. It shouldn’t be that we want the person to suffer more before we forgive. Those are ultimately justice and trust issues, and as an Orthodox saint[iii] reminds us, if God was truly and only just, each of us would be in BIG trouble. As fallen humans, we ourselves can never be fully trusted, and we can never earn our salvation. In God, of necessity, justice comes with mercy. So again, modern counselors note, the person who hurt you might not deserve forgiveness…they might not be worthy of trust… “but that doesn’t mean you deserve to live with the resentment and bitterness.”[iv] Our ability to heal and move on requires forgiveness, so Jesus (who loves us and wants what is best for us) asks us to forgive. It might take a lifetime of trying, but in trying, in praying for our enemies, we will discover that we are always blessed…and sometimes reconciliation might yet come.  

How often should we forgive? Peter likely reflecting a the shared consensus of the Apostles suggested seven times. He was being stingy…better than many, but stingy. In context of this conversation, Jesus shares the parable of the Unforgiving Servant in response to Peter’s guess. The parable applies to Peter too, as much as it applies to us and to all. Jesus says we should forgive seventy-seven times (or in some texts seventy times seven times)…an eternity of times, because we have through faith forgiveness for eternity. Jesus is asking us, “Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?”

Ultimately, sin has the potential to harm communities including families. It can injure or murder the spirit of someone. We cannot take it lightly. Yet as professors like Dr. Kimberly Wagner of Princeton University point out, “just because sin has the potential for collective harm, doesn’t mean the sinner should be dealt with harshly. Instead, the text lays out a process that foregrounds compassion, strives to avoid shaming and embarrassment [as demanded in Deuteronomy by the way], and ultimately seeks restoration.” This “is a procedure that insists that the spiritual and relational wellbeing of each person is something worth fighting for and restoration to community is worth our time and energy.”[v]

Yes, we are asked to recognize the consequences of sin, but we are also asked to see the humanity in one another…including our vulnerability and need. We all need forgiveness. Grounded in God’s grace, seeking to love others as ourselves, praying for our enemies even as we ask help in forgiving, or as we ask for the wisdom to know what we need to repent from and set aright…trust that justice will come from God eventually, but the blessings that flow from forgiveness can be ours right now. Amen.

[i] Hemfelt, R., Minirth, F., & Meier, P. (2003). Love Is a Choice: The Definitive Book on Letting Go of Unhealthy Relationships. Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers.

[ii] See https://www.emerycounseling.com/3-reasons-why-people-dont-forgive

[iii] Isaac the Syrian or of Nineveh (613-c. 700 AD)

[iv] Ibid.

[v] Wagner, K. (2023). Commentary on Matthew 18:15-35 at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/forgiveness/commentary-on-matthew-1815-35-3

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this post are from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVue) translation.

© 2023 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author.

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February 26, 2023 · 7:46 pm

Seeing things in a new way (Sermon)

Raphael’s Transfiguration (1516-1520), Oil tempera on wood. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

This sermon was preached at Christ Lutheran Church (Fredericksburg, VA) on Transfiguration Sunday, February, 19, 2023.You can also find a recording of this post at my 2 Penny Blog Podcast.

Some of you might have read the story by Antoine De Saint-Exupéry called The Little Prince.[i] If you haven’t, you might have at least heard of the title. After eighty years in print, it is still considered a masterpiece for its exploration of the themes of loneliness and love, loss and friendship. It is said to reflect the ever-changing nature of life, and thus it resonates with many.

The narrator begins weaving this tale by pointing out something important. Grown-ups often struggle to identify important things as they truly are (or perhaps can be) even when the truth lies right in front of them. As the story unfolds, we learn of a young prince visiting various planets in space, including Earth. It is a fanciful story in many ways, perhaps seeming obtuse to some, but there is much wisdom to be found.

On one stop of the recorded adventures, the Little Prince visits a small world with a great king…at least he tries to be great. The King is the first grownup the little prince meets, and the King exemplifies the often-foolish desire of grownups to be obeyed. This need in the King is so great that he will revise his orders endlessly just so that it seems like he is always being obeyed by everyone and everything. In trying to prove his authority and benevolence, the King offers the Little Prince the role of Minister of Justice, but the Little Prince rightly notes that there’s no one else on the empty planet to judge. And here, unwittingly, and ironically, the King speaks a great truth. He says, “It is much more difficult to judge oneself than to judge others. If you succeed in judging yourself rightly, then you are indeed a man of true wisdom.”[ii]

Sadly, the King does not judge himself rightly at all. He’s delusional in his feelings of import and power. And yet, there’s a little bit of the King in all of us as humans. We can become puffed up, lording over others, as Paul warns against in his letter to the church in Corinth.

Yet perhaps more often for many of us, we can also tend to underestimate our significance… a significance that is based on God’s great love for us. Each one of us with all our liabilities…with all the sin we struggle with…is invited to be part of the coming Kingdom…not just that, but heirs to Christ himself. That is partly why chrismation – the mark of the sign of Christ’s cross (traditionally using olive oil) – is used as part of the baptismal ritual. You are being anointed and dedicated to a special purpose, as the pastor proclaims, “Child of God, you have been sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked with cross of Christ forever.” You might look the same. You might feel the same…but what the Church is trying to tell you in the name of Jesus is that you are not the same. You are part of God’s plan in a special, more intimate way now. In fact, God promises to be with you through the power of the Holy Spirit every step of your way.

Yet, we aren’t the first ones to ever underestimate ourselves. The early Church did too. When Matthew shared this story of the Transfiguration in his Gospel, it was likely sometime between 80-90 AD. Think about what was going on by then. The first Christians who were Jews initially expected to continue worshipping in the Synagogue if not the Temple. After all, Jesus came to fulfil the law and prophets, not destroy them. Yet against expectations, even though Jesus shared warnings, they found themselves thrown out of synagogue communities and often persecuted.

As for the Kingdom of Judah and its capital Jerusalem, the Romans had grown tired of its rebellious ways. The Romans had crushed the nation, destroyed the Temple, and carted off its treasures in 70 AD. A great diaspora began as Jews were forced to leave their homeland and only a few remained. By the time of Mark’s Gospel, faithful people were asking, “What was God doing?” If not doing, what was God allowing? Many felt confused if not powerless.

Yes, it seemed an apocalyptic time. You know what I mean, “Human sacrifice! Dogs and cats living together! Mass hysteria!”[iii] Ok, that’s a quote from Ghost Busters, but hopefully you are starting to catch my drift…Things were profoundly wrong, and many Christians were afraid and doubting. It seemed like the end of the world.

Rome was a threat. Jews who did not believe that Jesus was “bringing about the transition from the broken present age to the [Kingdom] of God” were a threat. Christians were even fighting one another over what should be done with the new gentile believers among them. How Jewish should the Church remain? My goodness, even the Temple, the sign of God’s presence among God’s chosen people was no more. It was not just the Temple rocked off its foundations by this, the Jewish people and the Church were too.

Here, Professor Ronald Allen (of the Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis) rightly points out, that Matthew writes the First Gospel “in part, because some in the congregation are losing confidence in the coming of the Realm. Some are drifting away. Matthew shapes the narrative of the first gospel to encourage them to remain faithful even in the midst of the fractiousness of their moment in history.”[iv] Matthew, for his part, “wants the community to interpret their struggles beyond and within the congregation as suffering on behalf of the” coming Kingdom. God will use, repurpose, and redeem their suffering![v] As Professor Allen also writes, “At the transfiguration, God gives the Matthean church a vision of the future: Jesus as he will be on the day God resurrects him and as he will be when he returns to complete the work of replacing the old world with the new.”[vi] That’s right…this will happen at the End of Time when Jesus comes again.

And for the modern Church…the afflicted Church amidst growing doubt…with people losing heart if not faith and sometimes wondering away…with threats from powers of this world all around us…this is where we also find ourselves. We are in “the in-between time” – Jesus risen and ascended, but not yet returned…the Kingdom broken into our world, but not in its fullness. Suffering happens. Death still happens. We are here awaiting the day when all tears will be wiped away.

Facing this reality, like the Matthean Church, we might ask God, “What are you thinking?” We might wonder even if being a Christian is worth it. Following Jesus can be scary. Yet in response, we hear God’s words speaking directly to us just as they did to the earliest, persecuted, suffering, doubting, struggling-with-sin Church that came before us, “This is my Son, the Beloved; with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”…Trust in him.

God’s asking us to see what we are going through in a new way…to see ourselves in a new way…not with arrogance, but with spiritual maturity, bravery, and humility. It is much like what the Fox in the Little Prince tries to teach, “It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye.”[vii] It is the truth of the Gospel, such as when Thomas learns that he must stop doubting and believe as his hands touch Jesus’ wounded side, or when Paul boldly proclaims we must live by faith and not be sight. This is an eternal truth being revealed to us, that something more is going on in us, through us, and around us – thanks be to God – than we often comprehend.

We cannot always recognize God at work, that’s why Luther often calls God our “Hidden God.” We cannot often fully understand what’s really happening…how everything will work for our good…that’s why we are not ourselves called God. Yet, God promises to be with us, and to use us, and to free us. That, my friends, is God’s will…that will which Jesus taught us to pray for.

And so, there are powerful, transforming implications of the Transfiguration playing out every time we seek to love another in Christ’s name, or forgive, or when we ask to be forgiven, or when we must sacrifice or even suffer in faith. It is like that painting from Raphael of the Transfiguration.[viii] I shared it before our Monday Night Bible Study on our social media. In the painting, we see Jesus in his glory up above in the top panel, but juxtaposed to this, connected to this directly underneath, we see Matthew pointing to a scene of the Church. And there, we see disciples healing a demon possessed boy. The boy’s healing helps testify to Christ’s power displayed in the Transfiguration but also alive in and at work through Christ’s Church…in you and me…just waiting to be lived out if we only can hold on in faith.

With our adult eyes, surrounded by what we might be tempted to call reality, we might struggle to see things as they truly are and can be…see them as Jesus does. We have been chosen. We have been called for a time like this. Just as Jesus’ friends were told that they could not stay on the mountain top, we, too, have work to do. We must go down into those valleys because of the Shadow of Death that’s there.

I know it is easier up on the mountain – those times we see God more clearly, sense joy and love more fully, maybe even experience God’s peace. I’d love to keep the pain of life away, but that isn’t why Jesus came, nor is it why we were created and called. It is in following Jesus that Christ becomes our life, and we begin to share concretely in his glory. Often, this includes our own crosses.

Therefore, we must understand that nothing should stop us from following Jesus…not our stupid most embarrassing sins, nor “torments brought on by memories of a recent or distant past.”[ix] Much like low self-esteem or low confidence may cause us to hide ourselves away from social situations, cause us to stop trying new things, or avoid things that we find challenging[x]…a lack of faith can do the same.

Yet remember, we are promised that “the Holy Spirit comes to help us in our weakness.” No life that God created and called is meaningless no matter our education, abilities, our age, or station. For with every relationship…in every person we meet…others who suffer and doubt like we do…our lives and love might become a lifeline to hope…to Jesus himself…and that’s a miracle.

What miracles will you see this week? Child of God…not “Grownup of God”…Child of God…you are certainly going to be provided opportunities to see yourself and this world in new ways. Facing the enormity of the Little Prince’s grief at the loss of just one rose that he loved, feeling his own limitations, the narrator says, “It is such a secret place, the land of tears.”[xi] Through the Transfiguration, Jesus seeks to remind us that this land of tears, as secret and beyond comprehension as it might seem, is meant to become a sacred place…and will…as we watch, as we wait, as we seek to love and serve one another and our Lord.

Oh, yes, Jesus is coming back, but Child of God, don’t you see? Don’t you hear? Jesus is not missing in action…he’s alive through the faith, hope, and love that we dare to try to share as Church despite any odds. Children of God, let us judge ourselves rightly. There’s important work for all of us to do in Christ’s name. Wherever and whenever we find ourselves, no matter how bad things get, Christ is there too. As Jesus declared in the Beatitudes, we are blessed. Amen.

[i] The following edition was used as a resource for this sermon: Saint-Exupery, A. (2021 electronic edition; first edition 1943). Woods, K., translator. Italy: M.E. editions.

[ii] Ibid., p. 50-51

[iii] Ghost Busters (1984). Written by Aykroyd, D, Ramis, H., and Moranis, R.

[iv] Allen, R.J. (February 19, 2023). Commentary of Matthew 17:1-9. Downloaded from https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/transfiguration-of-our-lord/commentary-on-matthew-171-9-6 on February 16, 2023.

[v] Ibid.

[vi] Ibid.

[vii] Saint-Exupery, A. (2021), p.  85.

[viii] See this painting with citation at the head of this article.

[ix] Br. Roger of Taizé. (May 1995). Choose to Love. As downloaded at https://christian.net/pub/resources/text/taize/lt96gb.html

[x] National Health Services (u.d.). Raising Low Self-Esteem. United Kingdom: Crown. As downloaded at https://www.nhs.uk/mental-health/self-help/tips-and-support/raise-low-self-esteem/

[xi] Saint-Exupery, A. (2021), p.  35.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this post are from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVue) translation.

© 2023 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author.

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February 24, 2023 · 12:30 pm

Lutherans fast? Sometimes…

Christ in the Desert,
by Ivan Kramskoi, oil on canvas, 1872.
Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Many people ask pastors about fasting as Lent begins. For Lutherans, it is commended, but it is in no way a mandate. Why do some choose to fast during Lent? We do so because of Christ’s own example during his forty days in the wilderness, but it is also recommended to us in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures as a helpful spiritual discipline – not just during Lent but at any time of the year. It can also serve as a sort of penance.[i] The Augsburg Confession states, “Fasting in itself is not rejected, but what is rejected is making a necessary service of fasts on prescribed days and with specified foods, for this confuses consciences. . . . Such outward forms of service do not make us righteous before God . . . therefore it is not a sin to omit them.”[ii]

Primarily, fasting often involves a restriction on when, how much, or what type of food (for example, choosing fish or vegetarian dishes over meat) one might eat. We should not fast from food if it puts our health at risk. You might like to speak with your doctor as to what might work for your circumstances, and please stop fasting if you begin to feel unwell. Yet in modern times, many people fast from activities or things such as social media, enjoyable hobbies, or drinking alcohol. If choosing to fast, you might like to choose something meaningful to you, so that when you feel the pangs of any absence or sacrifice, you might draw your thoughts to God and Christ’s own sacrifice for our sake. Prayer, meditation, and Bible study are helpful during a fast, as they can make the experience all the more meaningful as God’s Spirit seeks to speak to us. Through fasting, we wish to open and refocus our hearts toward God with the Spirit’s help.

Certainly, some kinds of fasting might help us curb unhelpful behaviors or improve our health. Yet, never think we earn more of God’s love in the process. We cannot earn such a gift already freely offered us by Jesus. In speaking about fasting, Martin Luther argued:

“The Scriptures present to us two kinds of true fasting: one, by which we try to bring the flesh into subjection to the spirit, of which St. Paul speaks in 2 Cor 6:5: ‘In labors, in watchings, in fastings.’ The other is that which we must bear patiently, and yet receive willingly because of our need and poverty, of which St. Paul speaks in 1 Cor 4:11: ‘Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst,’ and Christ in Mt 9:15: ‘When the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, then will they fast.’ This kind of fasting Christ teaches us here while in the wilderness alone without anything to eat, and while he suffers his penury without murmuring. The first kind of fasting, one can end whenever he wills, and can satisfy it by food; but the other kind we must observe and bear until God himself changes it and satisfies us. Hence it is much more precious than the first, because it moves in greater faith.”[iii]

Can’t fast for forty days? Well, try it for a week or on the occasional day during Lent. Whatever you choose to do or don’t do, offer it up in love to the glory of God. Prayerfully and expectantly watch and wait for the Spirit to help and guide you.

Want to read Martin Luther’s sermon? Visit this link: Sermon for the First Sunday in Lent; Matthew 4:1-11

[i] Penance is an outward expression of one’s desire to repent, to turn our hearts back to God and make amends for our wrongs toward our neighbors.

[ii] See https://bookofconcord.org/augsburg-confession/#article26.33

[iii] Excerpted from Volume II:133-147 of The Sermons of Martin Luther, published by Baker Book House (Grand Rapids, MI). It was originally published in 1906 in English by Lutherans in All Lands Press (Minneapolis, MN), as The Precious and Sacred Writings of Martin Luther, vol. 11. Original sermon title: “The fast and temptation of Christ.” Downloaded at liturgies.net/Lent/Sermons/lutherlent1.htm on February 23, 2023.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this post are from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVue) translation.

© 2023 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author.

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February 3, 2023 · 12:48 pm

Burn brightly

St. Blaise (1740), Maria-Trost Church, Berg bei Rohrbach

Today, not on our Lutheran calendar but celebrated by many other Christians, is yet another feast day connected to spring and growing light, the Feast of Saint Blaise (pronounced blayz).

Blaise is considered to be an historic figure, but there has grown a great deal of myth around his life. A physician and bishop of Sebastea in historical Armenia, he died as a martyr on February 3 sometime around 316 AD. He is remembered for many miraculous (if perhaps mythic) healing stories to include saving a child from chocking on a chicken bone while on his way to his own judgement and death. He is said to have died by beheading.

And so being the day after Candlemas and with his being associated with stories about the throat, some early Christians through to this day often have their own throats blessed, sometimes while two candles blessed on Candlemas are layed in a crosslike shape upon their throat. Indeed in the Middle Ages, Blaise was considered one of “the Fourteen Holy Helpers” who during the time of the plague became popular for intercession for everything from a headache to an unexpected death.

Photo credit: Figurines of the Fourteen Holy Helpers by an unknown artist, Chapel on the Michaelsberg, Untergrombach, Germany, by H. Zell, CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

These kind of practices – and the sometimes mythic aspect of these fourteen saints themselves – often caused them to diminish in stature following the Protestant Reformation. Our Augsburg Confession, Article XX1 teaches us: “Of the Worship of Saints they teach that the memory of saints may be set before us, that we may follow their faith and good works, according to our calling, as the Emperor may follow the example of David in making war to drive away the Turk from his country. For both are kings. But the Scripture teaches not the invocation of saints or to ask help of saints, since it sets before us the one Christ as the Mediator, Propitiation, High Priest, and Intercessor.” We remember and give thanks for the example of all the saints whether on a list for recognition or not, including Blaise, but even as we might venerate and honor them, we seek to reject superstition and, as Lutherans, we do not invoke them.

For his part, Martin Luther, seeing many abuses and evidence of magical thinking and idolotry in some cases, argued, “No one can deny that by such saint worship we have now come to the point where we have actually made utter idols of the Mother of God and the saints, and that because of the service we have rendered and the works we have performed in their honor we have sought comfort more with them than with Christ Himself. Thereby faith in Christ has been destroyed. [E 28:415; quoted in MartinLuther, What Luther Says, Vol. III, ed. Ewald Martin Plass (St Louis: Concordia Publishing House, 1959), 1254; cf. LW 36:299-300]. There is no explicit biblical citation supporting invocation of the saints (so Christians might disagree), but a larger concern for Martin and the earliest Reformers remained our human tendency for magical thinking.

Many great saints and martyrs have long been forgotten by the world, but they are never forgotten by God. Not everyone makes a liturgical list. Some through no fault of their own have become wrapped in myth. Yet, through the gift of faith, the legacy of any saint can instruct or inspire us in some way. They can serve as great examples for us. So, rest in peace, Blaise. Your efforts still burn brightly…not because of what you did or failed to do, but because the light of Christ chose to shine brightly through you love.

Through remembering the saints and martyrs, Jesus reminds us, “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” With God’s help, may our lives burn brightly, too.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this post are from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVue) translation.

© 2023 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author.

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February 1, 2023 · 6:00 pm

What does Lent mean?

Photo by Francisco Gonzalez on Unsplash. Used by permission.

You can find a recording of this post at my 2 Penny Blog Podcast.

As Lent approaches once again, I recall my return to the Church during a similar Lent about thirty years ago. As I have already mentioned in worship, life had banged me up pretty well. Growing up, I faced many challenges, and as a young police officer, I was often subjected to violence, loss, and death. Indeed, I escaped near death experiences several times. Like many young adults, I had also made some bad choices, but I had likewise allowed myself to drift aimlessly from the faith community. I was easily distracted from faith matters by what seemed more accessible and important – things of this world. My faith, for the most part, had become just words.

My heart was sick although I did not realize it. When things seemed the worst, memories of what I had learned in campus ministry, youth groups, and even long-ago Sunday school classrooms spoke to me. These memories of relationship and seeds planted called me back. I was able to contact some of these past people who had befriended me on my earlier faith journey, and they became touchstones to help me find my way back to Christ. A lot of life has happened since, and it hasn’t often been easy. Yet with God’s help and the help of others, my “face has been set like flint” (Isa. 50:7) toward something greater than myself, a God who loves me.

Perhaps I experienced a synthesizing of faith more than a conversion, as I was baptized and grew up in the Church, but something significant and life-changing happened on the evening of March 7, 1992. (Ash Wednesday was March 4th that year.) I decided whatever the implications, I would commit to follow wherever Jesus led. Lent was a perfect time of year for this new start. As a community and individuals, we join Jesus as he sets his face toward Jerusalem, and we are asked to turn to the Lord and live. In worship, we often hear of prophets speaking of a God who, although wounded by our indifference if not antipathy, only has love for us. We learn of Jesus who seeing the marginalized and lost, rather than judging them, befriends them as his own and heals them. Through scripture and song, we discover a God who gives all out of love for us. By his death, with Christ’s last breath, we experience this. Jesus doesn’t curse us, but instead asks, “Father forgive them, they know not what they do” (Luke 23:24).

Lent is not meant to be a burden. It isn’t about feeling sorry for ourselves or judging ourselves harshly. It serves like a voice in the wilderness where God uses the Church community to call us home. Years can take us far away, but no matter how far we have strayed from our path following Jesus, somewhere in the depths of our heart, the Spirit is calling. Do we notice this quiet whisper of our name? This Lent, I hope each of us experience or rediscover the deepest meaning of Lent. God loves us and wants us to come home. God wants us to love like Jesus loves us – with more than words.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this post are from the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV) translation.

Originally published in the February 2023 newsletter of Christ Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, VA.

© 2023 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author.

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January 10, 2023 · 5:21 pm

Jesus was baptized for you

You can find a recording of this sermon on my blog’s companion podcast located here.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today’s sermon is a little different. You see, I have been reminiscing a bit more than usual through the holidays and with the New Year. I think that’s not uncommon at such times. Then, the Facebook memories function went ahead and reminded me of a momentous day in my life. It is hard for me to believe, but as I reflected upon today’s text about Christ’s baptism, I remembered my own…60 years ago, this coming December 2023. Wow, it blows my mind that so much time has passed, and yet it remains one of the most profound and sometimes underappreciated events of my life in my busyness. Hopefully, your baptism is recognized for its profound and lasting impact, but I must confess that I sometimes don’t stop to remember the power of my own.

Now, I am not trying to suggest you remember the day in detail. Afterall, I certainly don’t. I was only 11 days old. Yet I do know the stories and people involved thanks to my family. For one thing, with baptism, I officially received my “Christian name.” That’s commonly called being “christened.” In Martin Luther’s time, one practice was to be named after the “saint of the day” on the liturgical calendar. So, Martin, born on November 10, is named after St. Martin of Tours, the saint remembered on Luther’s baptism day of November 11. As is a tradition among some Italian families, my dad was named after his maternal grandfather, Luigi Marini, and Luigi after his maternal grandfather before that. The name was ultimately in honor of a popularly venerated saint, Aloysius of Gonzaga (in Latin). He is more commonly called Luigi of Gonzaga in Italian. Born in the US, my dad’s name was Americanized, so you narrowly escaped having a Pastor Luigi standing before you today. Yet with my name, in my baptism, I was encouraged to represent myself well. For though it and my life, I represent the legeacy of my genetic family, my Christian family today and throoughout time, and Christ’s own name. I come to bear the name of Jesus Christ. That’s no small thing.

He Qi, “Baptism of Jesus.”

And thus, as I was baptized, I was also gifted two wonderful, loving godparents, ultimately what we often call sponsors today…to be with me at my baptism, to speak for me, and there, promise to love, help, and guide me (the best that they could) into a life of faith. (In the old days, there might even be an expectation of adoption if the parents died, but that’s not the case today.) Arthur Coughlin, my godfather, was a dear friend of my dad’s. He ultimately co-owned one of the most successful sporting goods stores in the Boston area, Holovak and Coughlin. Yet what he was most known for was his deep religious faith that one could see evident in the way he walked through daily life, in his long-lasting friendships, and perhaps most especially from his generosity. He and his business donated lots of money and time to those in need. And, he was among one of the first people to sense a special call by God in my life. I remember clearly the exact moment he asked me about this at my eldest sister’s wedding…He had seen me help at the service, and refelcting upon what he knew of me and my life, he asked, “Have you ever considered being a priest?” An important seed was planted. (And as Pastor Anne can tell you as a member of the Virginia Synod vocations team, that’s a thing we look for – not just an interior sense of call, but that someone sees something at work in you.) Meanwhile, my godmother, Anna Kendrick, was my mother’s cousin. She was never married but worked all her adult life with an accounting firm. Yet what stood out to me most, once again, was her love, grace, and piety. She humbly and efficiently cared for and loved her widowed mother, who was declining with an early onset of dementia. All the while Anna kept working, sacrificing, and keeping the extended family going. Through both people, I was gifted with their prayers, a willingness to love and support me, but perhaps most wonderfully, a witness to faith that went beyond words. They helped preach those sermons I could see.

So, now you know that I was baptized as an infant, and that leads to a third, likely most significant impact leading to many other countless ramifications…many I won’t likely ever recognize in this life…In baptism, I became a child of God in a special way. Through the Water (a sign) and the Word (the promise of God), my intimacy with God changed. Did you catch that nuance? All members of humanity are at some level created in love by God and loved by God as children. And explicitly according to scripture, Jesus came to call all people into relationship. Yet, we also know that there are some who respond to God’s call through faith more than others; while some not at all. Thus among the faithful, we hopefully seek to listen to and follow Jesus Christ. And one of his most important commands was made to his new Church as he prepared to ascend to heaven. As recorded (in Matthew 28:18-20), “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything that I have commanded you. And remember, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” In Mark 16, he goes so far to declare one who believes and is baptized will be saved (Mark 16:16a). And so today, the Sunday following Epiphany, as the Church sets out into another new year, we annually remember Jesus’ own example. We stop and ask, “Why is baptism so important that Jesus, born without sin, be baptized? Why should we be baptized? So, let’s gather at the river for a moment and take a closer look.  

As we heard during Advent and hopefully over the years, John was the greatest of all prophets according to Jesus. He had the special job of preparing the way. He called people into repentance, and he baptized them as a symbol of their new start. Yet he wasn’t the first to baptize. Baptism was already a ritual of the Hebrews. Each synagogue had ritual baths for people and items to help them fulfill Levitical and rabbinic laws and teachings. The Mikvah, or bath, was used and is still used by our Jewish siblings, for full immersion in water of people and things for ritual purification…the restoration to a condition of “ritual purity” in specific circumstances. I’ve read it was not called baptism per se, but it is like baptism. Also in John’s time, the Essenes, a mystic Jewish sect, lived out in the wilderness as they sought to separate themselves from the sin of the world. They shared a communal life. They committed to practice piety toward God and righteousness toward their neighbor. Many of the Essene groups appear to have even been celibate. They lived a spartan life, as John did, as a sign of their heart’s desire to repent. And as new members joined their community, they were invited to be immersed…to be baptized. Yes, John’s activity was firmly rooted in what came before and other practices around him…and yet…and yet…he pointed to something new. He pointed to Jesus and a new baptism. “I baptize you with water for repentance,” he cried, “but one who is more powerful than I is coming after me…He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.” And so, Jesus did come, and John resisted baptizing one he knew to be the Son of God, one without sin. “I need to be baptized by you,” John argued.

This is a critical passage. This is a major event. At some level, our baptism is meant to be a physical sign of a new covenant, a loving promise more than a contract, in a long line of increasingly intimate covenants. God has reached out over and over again to humanity, whereby now, we can be marked by the cross of Christ and sealed by his Holy Spirit through baptism forever. Indeed, God’s promise made to us at baptism is more important than any of those we make near a font, pool, or river. Using baptism, God is fulfilling an ancient promise made for the final age. It is found through the words of the prophets, such as Ezekiel (36:26), “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.” John knew that his baptism was for repentance, a symbol. With Christ, access to something new came…baptism of fire and Spirit.

No, our Christian baptism isn’t just a bath. It is not just about ritual purification or blessing. It isn’t just a symbol of new birth or entrance into a community. It is these things, BUT it is more than those things. Baptism as understood by the majority of Christians across the world…the vast majority today and throughout time…has been recognized as transforming. Baptism changes us. The Spirit claims us…grabs hold of us in love, and never wants to let us go. Throughout one’s life, the Spirit is at work. Sometimes easily seen, that work can be subtle as well. Luther used to say God seemed often hidden, yet God never stops working to call us more deeply into relationship…to make us holy…to save us. In baptism (as with the Lord’s Supper), we are promised that God touches us with grace in a most intense way. It is a means of grace…a way of grace to strengthen us on our way. It saves us as we become part of God’s most intimate family, the church. It saves us as the Spirit tries to protect, bless, and guide us each day. It will help save us as we appear before the throne of God to face judgement, not because we did something to earn salvation, but because in baptism, God has gifted us something which enfolds us more fully into Jesus’ own saving ministry… his own life, death, and resurrection. (See Romans 6:3-11 for example.)

In the early Church, baptism was thought so important, converts in biblical times would be baptized by household – fathers, mothers, grandparents, children, servants and yes, even slaves. As the church formalized, baptism became part of the worshipping community’s activities, often celebrated at the high feast of the Resurrection of our Lord, commonly called Easter. Throughout Lent if not longer, adult converts would be called catechumens and be prepared to receive the sacrament…to try to teach them about a mystery that no one can ever know enough about…a love so vast that no human mind or words can ever capture it. And so, because we can never know or do enough, there also remained the practice to baptizing infants among the faithful. For whom can ever know enough to earn God’s grace…do enough…no one can but Jesus is worthy. Thus, two or three (or more) gathered in Jesus’ name gathered (and continue to gather) at a river, pool, or font…turn to God and ask in faith for the Holy Spirit to be present in that infant’s life…not just that day…but forever. And it is Jesus himself who says that God will surely answer such prayers.

Yes, some who are baptized can wonder away. Not all the slaves baptized likely had any heart of faith. Even adults can think they are ready to commit to Christ but fall into grave sin after baptism. Yet the Church says, echoing promises of scripture, even then…even if you were to give up on God…God will not give up on you. God will never give up on you. I see that in my own life looking back. Despite my good start, the world was hard. You’ve heard some stories before today, and we don’t need to revisit them now. Just know that I wondered far. Trusting in God’s grace, I confess openly that I deeply hurt myself and others. Yet I can look back on my life and now see people, places, and events…even an interior stirring (or burning of the heart as Wesley and other saints have spoken about)…calling me back by name…inviting me into a living forgiveness… allowing me a new start each day…calling you, too.  

In Jesus’ baptism, we hear an affirmation of his sonship. We learn that the Spirit will affirm him, drive him forward, and sustain him. Jesus humbled himself. As Paul writes, he emptied himself by taking the nature of a servant. (See Phil. 2) Thus, his baptism teaches us of our own. As Professor John Yieh proclaims, “For Jesus and for Matthew, the righteousness of God is a gift from God that requires believers’ commitment to hunger and thirst for it (5:6, 10), to practice (5:20), to seek (6:33), and to bear its fruit (3:8; 21:43). In other words, Jesus is showing his followers how they should take seriously the ritual of baptism, the life of repentance, and the pursuit of righteousness as he did through his humble baptism by John in the Jordan, and in his whole life” (Workingpreacher.org, January 8, 2023).

As this new year begins, no matter what we have done or failed to do, no matter what questions we still have about our worthiness or purpose…in baptism, God has declared us loved and God’s own. Don’t give up, but seize the day…seize the gift being offered you…no matter how hard. For, God is not done with you yet. Or as Martin Luther puts it, even more forcefully: God, who cannot lie, has bound himself in a covenant with [us], not to count [our] sin against me, but to slay it, and blot it out’” forever. (Treatise on Baptism).

Whatever comes, seek to remember your baptism, for God remembers you. God has chosen to love us forever…And if you haven’t been baptized? In the name of Jesus Christ, we invite you to do so. For God loves you, too, child of God, and is calling you by name. Amen.

Unless otherwise indicated, all scripture quotations for this post are from the New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVue) translation.

© 2023 The Rev. Louis Florio. All content not held under another’s copyright may not be used without permission of the author.

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