September 12, 2022 · 12:33 am

God will never leave us to drown

Photo by Phillip Flores on Unsplash

In this sermon, I take a deeper look at how our interactions with “the floods” of our modern lives can be changed by reflecting upon the promise found in the ancient tale of Noah’s flood. I do not suggest that no one ever drowns, or suffers, or dies. In the real world, people do. Yet, thanks be to God, not even death need be the end of our story. This sermon was preached on the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost (September 11, 2022) at Christ Lutheran Church in Fredericksburg, VA. You can listen to the sermon on my companion podcast: S1, Ep19.

That such ancient stories as Noah’s ark should apply to us today, or even encourage us, might surprise some people…especially when the story of Noah is so violent and filled with death. If we think about it, despite the many baby rooms decorated with arks, animals, and rainbows, we don’t discover a children’s story. We encounter our God who goes to war against a prideful, self-centered, violent humanity. One point of the flood was to destroy and kill. (That does not seem like a very warm and fuzzy bedtime story to me.) Yet, we also should keep in mind that this God (our God) who judges, punishes, and destroys so often in the Hebrew scriptures is the same God who has come to save us. If we look deeper, we find God’s justice in tension with God’s mercy. We can find both law (a kind of accusation or judgement against us in our sin) and gospel (good news of God’s love come to save us). Remember, God also used the waters of the flood to make all things new.

         As humans, we tend to be myopic and dualistic in our thinking. We like to have things clearly labeled good and bad in our minds, but when the world is at its worst – if we step back – we find it is often somewhere in the in-between. In my own life, I know I can struggle with this at times. Some of you know that I have had a lot of challenges over the recent weeks. I could easily make a list of all the personal struggles and losses I have faced. Beyond personally having complications with COVID due to some immunity issues, I also had two extended family members die from COVID while I was recovering. That was sobering and a heavy burden. And while still ill, my truck broke down not once but twice. My trash disposal stopped disposing, and my air conditioner stopped conditioning on a ninety-degree day. There were other troubles too. I was like, “Where’s that kick me sign on my back. I want to get it off,” but I never found one. I was feeling overwhelmed and wondering what was going on.

Yet as I thought about it, I recognized that this is just kind of the way life goes sometimes. At times, problems do seem to come fast and furious, and things don’t work out. And, we actually know from research – and what we learn in the Bible bears this out – that if we can accept that we live in a fallen world and there are problems…if we can accept them, not meaning we never fight them by trying to do our best amidst them…yet if we accept them in the sense that we don’t dwell on them and recognize that God loves us and cares for us no matter what is going on…we actually can prove more resilient. We can do better fighting disease and in our relationships. We live in a troubled world, and sometimes troubles will come. We will be ok.

Yet even in the best of times, I could make a very long list of troubles at almost any time, because as a fallen human, my heart can easily focus on the bad, the fearful, my need for hope. Woe is Lou. Certainly, such troubles – some passing and some not in this life – can capture our attention. At some level, they need our attention, but we can go too far. We can dive to deep into our troubles. We can give up hope while focused solely on the bad, even though “no temptation has overtaken us except what is common to all of humankind.” And as Paul further suggests, when we are so tested, “God will provide us a way out.” (See 1 Corinthians 10:11-13.) These are common struggles and feelings that pop during dark or troubling times. My goodness, look in the Psalms and you can find such dilemmas of faith. Even Jesus on the cross (quoting the psalms) asked, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” He might not have given up on God the Father, but Jesus in his humanity hurt. Although fully divine, he was fully humane too. His heart hurt, and he felt alone.

Like a horse, we humans tend to have blinders on while God wants us to take them off to see the bigger picture…so that we remember God’s promises. Instead, genetically, we tend to focus on the threat before us because that seems to need our attention most. Yet unlike the horses using blinders for protection (to keep them focused on their task), they don’t work so well for humans. We can miss opportunities and options with blinders on. We can overlook the good of God at work around us…the promise from God through Jesus that all things will work for the good of those that love God. It is a promise still being worked out even in the worst of times. We might forget that our story isn’t over yet…that God is still speaking…acting…loving. Indeed, God is still with us amidst any annoyance or suffering, even when we don’t see God. Jesus promises to always be with us to the end of the age.

So, how can a cataclysmic story like Noah’s help refocus our gaze….or help shape our own lives for the good that is promised us? Well, first off, in this story, we meet a God who isn’t far away…disengaged and thundering in the clouds. Our God cares…always cared…for us. Creation has come. The Fall has happened. Yet God doesn’t give up on us. God was paying attention to this world and its creatures, and God noticed there was a problem. Humanity had become consumed by evil thoughts and actions. Violence reigned in the world, and God cared that the fallen human condition did not reflect God’s will for humanity or even the tiniest of creepy crawly things crawling on the earth.

True, God’s sense of justice was pushed toward a breaking point back then. God was close to starting things over. Yet, God noticed one person, a man named Noah…just one in a world of many…and God’s own heart was moved to mercy. We hear that Noah found favor with God, not so much because Noah is perfect…we see later in scripture that he was not…but that Noah was righteous. “Noah walked with God,” we are told. In the Hebrew way of understanding…and remember this is a story preserved in the Hebrew scriptures…righteousness is not an abstract notion but rather consists in doing what is just and right in all relationships.[i] What is the fulfillment of the law? Not rigid perfection, but loving God with all that we are and our neighbor as ourselves. Noah finds favor with God because of his open heart…and thus God gifts Noah with unmerited grace.

Through Noah and his family, God will seek to correct humanity’s course…but not just humanity’s…all of creation’s course. And isn’t that also partly why we as Christians are told that we are gifted with God’s grace and saved through faith? Jesus came for the renewal of a fallen world…the ultimate creation of a new heaven and earth where we will live with our God forever. Notice…Noah’s call and Jesus’s own purpose are united in a shared goal. God’s vocation (so to speak) is seeking the welfare of the wider world, and we, as Christ’s body are invited to also play a part. We are part of that same story.

While the human heart can still turn from God and often tends to ignore God’s love, God turns toward the world and would not give up on it or us. Seeing the human heart in conflict with God’s own, the scriptures tell us that God’s heart filled with pain. God grieved and suffered much as a loving parent might when a child goes astray. Yet instead of turning away, God at the time of Noah decided to enter our brokenness[ii]…which of course, he will do even more intimately and ultimately through Jesus.  

No question, the flood was a horrific event with great loss from the human perspective. Yet, the flood also served to make all things new. People of that age saw God as a warrior, much as other gods were envisioned and understood at the time. And so, it is no small thing that God puts his bow down in the sky to declare peace. God covenants (or promises) to never destroy the world or its creatures in such a way again. God commands with steadfast love (as God first did at creation), “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth” (Gen. 9:1).

God’s decision for the flood was no arbitrary act. Amidst the flood, we find, as one scholar suggests, “a God who expresses sorrow and regret; a God who judges but doesn’t want to, and then not in arbitrary or annihilative ways; a God who goes beyond justice and determines to save some creatures, including every animal and bird; a God who commits to the future of a less than perfect world; a God open to change and doing things in new ways; a God who promises never to do this again.”[iii]

With the flood, there’s no real difference made in humanity, just less humans around.[iv] We remained sinners. Yet with God, through God, love has grown.[v] A new way is possible now. God commits to love us, not in spite of our sin, but because of it. Through the flood, we see the tension between God’s sense of justice and mercy resolved as God wills not to destroy but rather to save.[vi] And now, wrapped within that loving promise, Noah and Noah’s descendants can move forward through any challenges and horrors with confidence and hope…if they dare to believe.[vii]

When we face challenges…when we face pain…when we experience want or loneliness…we may encounter the same powerful God as Noah. We are asked to trust in God’s promises. Our hearts may cry, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!” Yet we should try to remember that God’s heart is oriented toward us in love even then… perhaps even more so then. Why are we afraid, we of little faith? Why do we only look for the bad and the fearful instead of to the hills for God’s coming help? At such times, our worry can become a flood,[viii] and those floods might seem to last for too long a time. Yet God’s love for us is more enduring still. God will never leave us to drown. Jesus who has power over wind and wave has power over death itself, and he wills to claim us as God’s own forever. He died to make it so. Amen.

[i] https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/righteousness

[ii] The New Interpreter’s Bible, Vol 1. (1994). Nashville: Abingdon Press, p. 395.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Narrative Lectionary 324: Flood and Promise, a podcast by Working Preacher. September 2, 2018.

[v] Ibid.

[vi] The New interpreter’s Bible, Vol. 1 (1994). Nashville: Abingdon Press.

[vii] Ibid.

[viii] “Flood” by Jars of Clay.

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

© 2022 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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June 12, 2022 · 4:26 pm

A God beyond us, but always with us

This sermon was preached on Trinity Sunday (June 12, 2022) at Christ Lutheran Church in Fredericksburg, VA. You can listen to the sermon on my companion podcast: S1, Ep18, or watch it on our congregational YouTube channel.

Dance of the Trinity (water color on canvas) by Margie Thompson, SSJ, M.F.A. (The artist reserves all rights to the painting. Citation includes link to her work.)

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

            On this Trinity Sunday, I was reminded of a brief but illuminating story shared elsewhere. An elder member of a congregation was feeling lonely in a nursing home when members of his congregation stopped in for a visit. While there, one read some scripture, another offered prayer, and together they all shared memories of their past along with the joys and sorrows of their present. As the visit concluded and the visitors prepared to depart, the older man said, “How did you know this is what I needed today? This was awesome!”

            There had been no visions or prophesy shared. There were no miraculous healings visible. Yet, the man and his visitors both knew they had shared something sacred – something awesome and holy had been experienced. The man felt strengthened and encouraged for whatever lay ahead. He felt connected to these people, his congregation, and God once again. He was reminded that he was not alone…was never alone…and remained loved. That’s no small thing. And so, the man expressed his amazement and wonder the best way he knew how. He named what he had experienced with one, imperfect word, “Awesome!”[i]

            When we sense that we have experienced the sacred, our human words often fall short. Poets and artists might try. Scientists of faith (such as Isaac Newton, Robert Boyle, George Washington Carver, or even Florence Nightingale in her work to create safer and more sanitary medical care)…so many scientists including many modern ones…have experienced awe inspiring, faith affirming events through their work. Yet whoever they were or are, they could never fully explain their experience. There was always something more to know. Yet this shouldn’t surprise us. How can a limitless, infinite, omnipresent and omniscient God be captured by any human means of communication, art, or even science? With our limited abilities and brain space, as created beings, we cannot fully understand God, or we would be God.

            So, we try as best we can to make sense of it all and express the mysteries of God. We use allegories, allusions, similes, and more to capture bits and pieces of who God is and how God interacts with us. Theologians write and write and write trying to identify God and our relationship with God. In Martin Luther’s case over fifty-five very thick volumes of his writings have been collected and translated into English (just those in English!). Still, these millions of words fall short. God’s works are so wonderous and so many that the psalmist writes, “Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted” (Psalm 40:5).

            This holy conundrum represents the issues we might experience with our theological understanding of God as a Trinity. We cannot fully explain the relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We cannot fully describe our encounters with God. Indeed, from the earliest times of the Church, some people have rejected this Trinitarian construct. Early radicals and nonconformists of the Church tried, but their teachings were deemed heretical and rejected. Later, Christianized barbarians and still other believers rejected the Trinity, and the Church answered them all with creeds – imperfect yet concise statements of our belief (credo means “I believe” in Latin”). Indeed, even today’s Feast of the Holy Trinity was addred to the Church Year to help combat the rejections of and misunderstandings related to the Holy Trinity or Godhead – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

            The Apostles’ Creed, the Nicene Creed, and the Athanasian Creed all speak of God in terms of Father who is the Creator, Son who is Savior, and the Holy Spirit which prays for us, guides, protects and nurtures us, and draws us into belief of and communion with our Triune God and Christ’s Church. The Athanasian Creed (the last creed created as agreed to by east and west) proclaims as it begins, “Now this is the catholic (universal) faith: We worship one God in trinity and the Trinity in unity, neither confusing the persons nor dividing the divine being. For the Father is one person, the Son is another, and the Spirit is still another. But the deity of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is one, equal in glory, coeternal in majesty. What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit.” The creed goes on and on (it’s the longest of our three Ecumenical Creeds), but in short, it identifies that the Godhead or Trinity has varied attributes or characteristics, different functions that we might see or recognize, but somehow, some way, remains always one. Again, the creed reminds us, “What the Father is, the Son is, and so is the Holy Spirit.” At some level, the Church knows it (the Trinity) when we see it, but we see it only when and as God reveals itself to us. Thus, we cannot exactly put our finger on it, but with God’s help, we know it is there. (Whew! Does your head hurt yet? Now, you know a bit of what it feels like to be in seminary.)

            In our first reading, we meet a personification of Holy Wisdom as a female. When God made the heavens and created all things, it was there. So, many see this passage as a reference to the Holy Spirit. Jesus, himself is called the Alpha and Omega in scripture (the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet) to help us understand that Jesus always was, is, and will be. God, who is called Father in one popular prayer gifted to us by Jesus, is also alluded to as being like a Mother Hen, or like a mom nursing a child, as well as described with other feminine imagery. We are told that God, our Creator, spoke everything that is into being out of nothing. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are one…of spirit…existing in and outside of time simultaneously …working within and yet not subject too all the physical and metaphysical laws and constructs one might be able to identify. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were one at creation. And with the many male and female attributes of God, it has been revealed that God is neither male or female but ultimately spirit, and we are told that male and female alike are created in God’s image.

            Yet, humans meet God over linear time. We came to understand God better as we met God throughout history…much like a deepening relationship. And so, we are tempted to think that God the Creator came first, then Jesus was born, and then the Holy Spirit came on Pentecost. That make sense to us because we live in time, yet…ehhhh (making a buzzer sound)…that’s wrong…totally wrong. As some hymns try to convey (“Lord of the Dance” or “Come to the Dance of the Trinity” for example), it is as if the three persons of the Trinity eternally dance together throughout time, outside of time, and in our lives. God is Lord of the Dance, and we created creatures are invited to dance amidst the Trinity. It is in dancing that God reveals God’s self, and we come to know God, but God always was, is, and will remain more than what we experience or understand.  

            In today’s Gospel from John, we hear Jesus definitively make such connections without using any pure and pat Trinitarian formula. What belongs to God belongs to Jesus. What the Spirit shares comes from (belongs to) Jesus and thus also God the Creator. They are one, unified in purpose, essence, in all things. And yet, curiously, Jesus doesn’t go into any long explanation. Who God is gets revealed to us, and at best, it remains a matter of trust (of faith) because we cannot know all there is to know. Would Jesus lie about such things? I don’t think so. And yet, I must confess, I cannot fully understand the Trinity either. No human can.

            As humans, it can be hard to accept that we can never fully obtain knowledge of God in this life. We like being in control, and knowledge gives us such power to contain and organize our lives that we might think that we are in control. Yet, life is never fully controllable. Good things happen to bad people at times, and bad things happen to the good among us at times. And yet, as we hear scripture where new meanings are discovered that seem to speak directly to us and our situation, when we fall in love with someone who just seems to get us, when someone calls at just the right moment, when the door that helps us escape an unpleasant situation opens toward a new future filled with hope, when we witness a new birth in creation or our family…ah, we know it (the Trinity) when we see it. A spark within us helps open us to the sacred at work right in front of us, and we perhaps come to believe just a little bit more. Maybe there is a meaning to life after all? Maybe there is a God who loves us?

            And perhaps when all the words are spoken, when there are no more scientific theories to be conjectured, and when artist’s imaginations run dry…perhaps then, we will see God as God truly is….as John elsewhere writes, “God is love.” Maybe that’s enough for us to know. God created the world out of love. Jesus offered his own life for us out of love. The Spirit resides with us, guides us, and connects us out of love. We are told that God loved us in our mother’s womb, down to each hair on our head. God loves us even when we run away like Adam and Eve or any of the Prodigal Sons and Daughters among us, or even as we fail. God love us enough to share in our death, so that we can be free from the power of death. God loved us before we ever knew of God, and our Triune God promises to actively, presently, always and forever love us. I don’t know about you, but I would say that God is awesome. Maybe like the man in the nursing home, that’s all one can really say. Amen.

[i] Story adapted from “Daily Discipleship” (June 3, 2007) by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

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

© 2022 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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May 23, 2022 · 5:28 pm

The Spirit is on the Move

Photo by Oliver Hihn on Unsplash

This sermon was preached on the Sixth Sunday in Easter (May 22, 2022) at Christ Lutheran Church in Fredericksburg, VA. You can listen to the sermon on my companion podcast: S1, Ep17, or watch it on our congregational YouTube channel.

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

        Through our Gospel lesson this morning, we have just heard part of Jesus’ farewell discourse from the night before his death. As he speaks of his departure, his death, resurrection, and ascension as well, the Apostles suspect that there are many dangers which lie in wait for them. There’s both anxiety and questions in their life. There’s also misunderstanding. As Prof. Elisabeth Johnson points out, “First Peter (John 13:36), then Thomas (14:5), then Phillip (14:8), and then Judas (not Iscariot)[i] (14:22) ask for clarification about what Jesus is telling them,”[ii] as they gather for the last time.

        Not included in today’s assigned reading, the Apostle Judas (not Iscariot), sometimes identified as Jude, has just asked, “Lord, how is it that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?” The answer is not found in some secret spiritual knowledge. It is not a matter of extensive study or any kind of perfection. Jesus seeks to make clear that the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, will come in a new, intimate way as a gift. Those of the world will not recognize the Spirit any more than the world has recognized Jesus. Yet that won’t stop the Spirit’s purposeful movement or power. Jesus’ children will hear that voice, and as a result, those children will share the love of God with the world.

        Yes, Jesus reveals himself through the Holy Spirit, just one part of our one Triune (Trinitarian) God…a Spirit which was, is, and always will be one with Jesus. Through that Holy Spirit on the move through circumstances and individual hearts, Jesus continues to work in the world. As noted in many Bible commentaries, Jesus’ promise stands out “that the Father will send the Holy Spirit to be alongside his disciples, to teach them and remind them of all that Jesus has said to them (John 14:26).”[iii] As Advocate, the Spirit acts like our ambassador or attorney, conveying our needs to God and guiding us -advising us, counseling us. It empowers us through grace and forgiveness and thus makes us holy. The Spirit is also called the Paraclete, meaning “called along beside.” For as predicted through the prophets, the Spirit will finally come to reside in our hearts through the experience of Pentecost. The Spirit goes with us into the world, binding us with God and in communion with one another as one holy catholic (or universal) Church.

        Just as the earth was first shaped with the God’s breathing of commands (“Let their be light!”), life came into the first human beings through God’s breath, “the breath of life.” And as the Church comes into being, the risen Jesus will breathe upon his disciples to gift them peace and guide them. Finally with the event called Pentecost, the Spirit will come to the disciples in a locked room amidst a sound like the rush of a violent wind and appearing as if tongues of fire. The Spirit, often portrayed as wind or breath, comes to breathe life into our lives, comes to protect us in our life, and call us into deeper trust of God. It is through the Spirit that the disciples finally, truly became Church, and we ourselves have come to believe. For no one can come to acknowledge Jesus as Lord without the Spirit’s help (see 1 Cor. 12:3). No one can truly live or experience an abundant life without that “breath of life”…the gift of the ever active, always present, Holy Spirit.

          Now, we don’t have time to do this right now, but if we were to break into small groups and consider how God brought us to this place, as we are on this day, we would likely identify miraculous and expansive connections – an intermingling of events and people – that have guided us, shaped us, and perhaps even thrust us into this time and place as the people we have become. Without even knowing the details of your history, I know that nothing that you’ve experienced (good or bad), none of your weaknesses or strengths, nor even any of your relationships (no matter how deep, hurtful, or blessed) has been wasted by God. God has the will and the knack for using everything for our good (see Romans 8:28) because God loves us.

        However, this love means that God is not done with us. We certainly aren’t keeping Jesus’ word perfectly even as we try to do so…that’s impossible for any human, imperfect sinner-saints that we are…so God through the Holy Spirit acts for us, and in us, and upon us. In a fallen world…a fallen life…God has not given up on you. God never gives up on us. The Spirit blows where it will, and in being part of our lives…in bringing us faith and peace…we are shaped and sanctified (made holy) over time through the Sacraments, the Word of God that we hear and read, and even through our experiences encountered through faith. We are blown forward toward God’s goal despite what choices we might make. God’s will will be done.

        Yes, with complete confidence, I can proclaim that all of us have been led here for a singular, shared – yet at the same time unique to each one of us – purpose. God is doing something in our lives whether we see it or not, feel it or not, or understand it or not. Indeed, not one of us came up with the idea of God or understanding of Jesus on our own. The Good News of Jesus was heard and received through others. It is exactly as Luther identified long ago, “[One] would find Christ must first find the Church.”[iv] You have to hear the Good News of Jesus Christ from somebody. When all is said and done, the Spirit spreads faith and increases the Church through imperfect, unfinished people like you and me.

        And is not that what we see today in Lydia’s life back in Philippi? Throughout all the Book of Acts? God’s love spreads (as an old French proverb suggests) similar to a disease…from person to person…but in a good way. Paul had a vision of someone calling for his aid, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” As Lydia happened to hear Paul, Silas, and Timothy preach and teach, “The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message.” She already believed in God, but something changed. She grew in faith and understanding. She came to know Jesus. And that experience led her to welcome Paul into her home…welcome Jesus into her heart. That small home Church would eventually become the famous church of Philippi, and in her hospitality, we discover that relationship and community matter. Human relationship, community, is used by Spirit to make the Church and individual believers grow.   

        Throughout time, we see this repeatedly. For example, Martin Luther’s faith and understanding did not grow in isolation. He treasured the transcendent, heart-centered faith of the mystics before him (in the period of the 1000s to 1200s) – voices shared with him through both books and teaching. He learned from them of a loving God offering grace. He benefitted from the grace-filled, loving faith and guidance of his confessor, Johann von Staupitz. He learned from the witness of reformers like Jan Huss who came before him, even as he grew in the present from what became known as his Table Talks. These gatherings were simply where questions, doubts and faith were shared over food and beer among friends…perhaps as you might share about life and faith at your own table. Martin Luther and others grew in faith and found strength through such communal meals.  

        Later, Moravians, formally the United Brethren (followers of Huss’ teachings), came to better understand Martin Luther’s theology through a Lutheran named Zinzendorf who offered the Moravians protection from persecution in the early 18th century. Luther’s Catechism is still studied by the Moravians today. And as some Moravians read Luther’s Preface to the Epistle to Romans, sang and prayed, John Wesley overheard them and felt his heart “strangely warmed.” Wesley came to a deeper, more personal, enlivened faith;a witness that lives on in the faith tradition we know as Methodism. What we see here is an example of how the Holy Spirit works. Zigging and zagging through time and individuals, the Spirit draws us together, moves us apart, and drives us forward as much as Jesus was driven into the wilderness.

        So, how did you come to know Jesus? What parent, grandparent or friend spoke in such a way that opened your heart to Jesus? Was it an instantaneous change or did their faith plants seeds to grow yours over time? Perhaps you aren’t that far on your journey, and you come with deep questions…more questions than answers perhaps. Those are gift of the Spirit too. The Spirit was at work in all such moments. That’s worth thinking about, giving thanks for, and talking about perhaps as you go home today. Your story is connected directly from person to person all the way back to Paul and Lydia’s story and the story of all in the early Church. And you might not feel like it right now or recognize it, but listen closely….Your story is as sacred as what we find in any piece of scripture…your story, your experience, your struggles, your hopes are as sacred as what is recorded in the scriptures for God’s Spirit is there alongside you…in you.  

        For those here who already believe, your faith is not an accident. For those here who struggle to believe, don’t think for a moment that God is not reaching out to you. We are told that the Holy Spirit is always active, reaching out to one and all through the imperfect lives of those around us as well as through direct whispers, dreams and visions received through our hearts. We aren’t alone. The Holy Spirit is always with us even when we are not aware of it.[v] Just wait and watch. Seek and eventually, thanks to the Spirit, we will discover our sacred purpose within God’s own story and plan. Amen.

[i] “Judas (not Iscariot)” is used by the evangelist to differentiate this Apostle from Judas who betrayed Jesus. Outside of scripture, there arose a tradition to call him Saint Jude to help avoid this confusion.

[ii] Johnson, E. (May 1, 2016). Commentary on John 14:23-29. Downloaded from workingpreacher.org on May 14, 2022.

[iii] Ibid.

[iv] Martin Luther, “Sermon for the Early Christmas Service; Luke 2:15-20” (1521-1522). Luther’s Works, Sermons II. Ed. Hans J. Hillerbrand, Helmut T. Lehmann (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1974),  vol. 52: 39-40.

[v] “God of love, by the Holy Spirit you are always present. Your presence is invisible, but you live at the center of our soul, even when we are unaware of it.” – Br. Roger of Taizé

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

© 2022 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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May 13, 2022 · 9:13 pm

Still Risen

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash. Used by permission.

You can listen to a podcast version of this post on anchor.fm, season 1, episode 16.

As we move further into spring after Easter each year, we ponder the earliest stories of the Church. We see Peter grow from a struggling fisherman to a skillful shepherd. We meet Stephen, the first martyr, and encounter a new Apostle, at first a persecutor of the Church and now surprisingly called to serve the gentiles. His name will be changed from Saul to Paul; reflecting the change in his heart and understanding. We learn of resurrections of the dead such as Tabitha (raised through Peter’s faith) and Eutychus (raised through Paul’s faith). Such events don’t become a norm, but these miraculous healings, exorcisms, and resurrections serve as a sign of the truth to what God has done through his only Son, Jesus. In all these things, people will not only come to believe, but they will also continue to grow in belief as they maintain their walk with Jesus.

The liturgical season of Easter is only fifty days, lasting through Pentecost (on June 5th this year), but the impact of the resurrection is eternal. The story is not over, for it continues to be spoken by God in and through our lives. We find that we aren’t so different than those who came to believe so long ago. We face disease, war, poverty, and all kind of sin as they did. We struggle to believe at times just like them. And yet through it all, at any time, Jesus can appear to us. His words remembered can strengthen us. We encounter him in the Word heard preached and our participation in the Sacraments. We can meet the Risen Christ through those who need us, and those we need. Even in the face of those whom we don’t like, Jesus might be staring into our eyes asking forgiveness. Jesus is risen. His resurrection speaks to us of a present and future with him.

As school ends and summer begins, as Easter turns into the Season after Pentecost, we will be likely traveling more and having more opportunities for fun. Yet as you rightly enjoy these things, I encourage all of us to look for Jesus wherever we might be and whatever our circumstances. Remember the assembly and your call to service. Consider how work, sport, and all your activities, even rest, might serve the Risen Christ and proclaim his glory. Faith is not just for a season. It leads to life itself. Jesus is and remains risen so that people may experience abundant and eternal life in him.

Originally published in the May 2022 newsletter of Christ Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, Virginia.

© 2022 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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May 8, 2022 · 8:55 pm

Jesus is the Final Word

Raising of Tabitha, sarcophaus fragment, Musee de La’Arles Antique, 4th century AD. Giuseppe Wilpert. Rome: Pontificio Istituto di Archeologia Cristiana, 1929. Plate CXLV, no 6.

This sermon was preached on the Fourth Sunday in Easter (May 8, 2022) at Christ Lutheran Church in Fredericksburg, VA. Currently the worship video is not available due to a techincal issue. You can listen to the sermon on my companion podcast: S1,E15.

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

        As the Book of Acts recounts the anecdotes of the early Church, we see Jesus’ teachings play out, become real, and even be expanded upon if not clarified within ordinary, everyday human lives. God works in history, yet these stories aren’t meant to be historical in the modern sense. In short, Acts is primarily a theological treatise hoping to spark and sustain faith.

        Indeed, the author of Acts, St. Luke, writes that he set pen to paper to help provide the world with “an orderly account” of the promises that had been fulfilled among them as the early Church (see Luke 1:1). Starting in his gospel account of Jesus and extending into life amidst Christ’s earliest followers, Luke supplies us with a kind of “apologetic historiography” that helps establish and justify the origin and development of Christian peoples among the many faith traditions and cultures of his time.

        Basically, as Professor Carl R. Holladay outlines in one of my favorite scholarly journals called Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology[i], Luke seems to tell his story in such a way to help the hearers believe, but also he wishes to help us identify divine cause and effect. For example, Paul’s mission to eastern Asia Minor leads to the Jerusalem Conference (Acts 15) to discuss the future of Gentiles in what has primarily been a Jewish movement at that point. Then, the decisions made at that conference lead directly to Paul’s mission in the region of the Aegean Sea and eventually toward Rome. Indeed, in Luke’s understanding, just as the prophets’ life and testimony pointed to and connects with Jesus’ own glory, it is Jesus who animates and sends us out into the world. Our story is sewn into this larger, eternal story. Christ’s love at work in our lives leads to miracle upon miracle.

        And in approaching history in this way, Luke understands that God’s ways are woven into all the tapestry of history, including individual lives and the smallest events. There’s both a personal intimacy and an overarching divine purpose being worked out among us…being fulfilled among us. We aren’t subjected to dumb luck or coldhearted fate; God has a loving plan for us…each and every one of us. And although bad things can happen to good people in a fallen world, or we can make bad choices hurting ourselves and others, it remains ok. God has the power and God wills to ultimately work things out for our welfare and to God’s glory. That’s partly why Luke doesn’t account for the Apostle Mark’s work establishing the Church in Egypt, or St. Thomas’ work in India, or other important Apostolic stories. It isn’t that these events weren’t significant or that miracles didn’t happen. No, Luke’s focus is on the grand design that wishes to spread faith from the center of the Jewish world, Jerusalem, into and throughout the gentile world as represented by Rome. Luke wants to clarify the Church’s role in the world in comparison to its two primary, contemporary accusers, Judaism and Roman religion and culture. So, his tale tends to follow Peter and Paul in their roller coaster ride toward Rome.

        Certainly, Luke is not recounting some dull and dusty history. Luke is telling the story of Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, who died and is risen from the dead…for you and for me. And Jesus’ power is still at work in, through, and around us. Luke sees a connection between what happened in “former times,” what is happening in his day, and right through our lives to “the last days” – the end of time. There’s a singular, loving purpose connecting all lives and moving us toward an ancient promise yet to be fulfilled – the resurrection of the dead and establishment of a new heaven and earth where we will live eternally with God in glory. As such, the Book of Acts incorporates the stories of many diverse individuals, and again, Luke assumes we play a part in this narrative too.

        And so, we now come to the story of Tabitha – a life linked to the story of Jesus and our own. A fellow graduate student of mine, now a seminary professor, Dr. Raj Nadella, succinctly summarized the scene: “The story of Peter raising Tabitha from the dead parallels the story of Jairus’ daughter in Luke 8:40-56. While Jairus’ people advocated for his daughter in Luke 8, believers at Joppa advocate for Tabitha in this chapter. In both stories, the miracle occurs in a private setting. Just as Jesus sends everyone except Peter, James, and John out of the room prior to the miracle, Peter sends everyone out in this story. In both accounts, the deceased comes back to life after being ordered to get up. It is as if Peter, who was present when Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead, replicates a similar miracle at Joppa.”[ii] Do you hear the recurring, reverberating sound of God’s love at work as Luke tells it? God’s love echoes throughout time. As so many observe, Luke sees that history repeats itself. Yet, it is not exactly the same story, is it? Things have changed. Most importantly, Christ is risen! (Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!) That Easter promise is still unfolding; the Kingdom of God birthing into our world through our lives. In this incident of resurrection, people with the help of the Spirit can understand that Christ’s authority has been truly shared with his followers. It is a hope-filled experience where Luke sees the victory of God and God’s people over the forces of death. Luke’s expectation and hope is that those who hear it for the first time or remember it in the future will come to an ever-deepening trust in Jesus as Lord.

        Sadly, there are some who argue against the truth of such stories because they have never seen such things. Others in their enthusiasm or greed, sell videos on how you, too, can raise the dead. (It is true. As crazy as it might sound, I’ve seen them, and I know of someone who fell for this scam.) Yet even the Bible indicates raising from the dead is a rare thing. Surely, it wouldn’t be deemed such a big miracle if rising folks from death was a norm. It is important for us to recall that with the thousands of years covered, the Hebrew scriptures only preserves a handful of resurrection accounts enabled through the faith of prophets. Perhaps more surprisingly, Jesus himself is reported to have raised only three people from the dead during his earthly ministry (the widow’s son at Nain, Jairus’ daughter, and Lazarus). When someone is raised from the dead or miraculously healed…or not…one can always be sure that God has a very good and special reason for what God does or does not do. Somehow, God’s answer to our prayer – whether yes or no – will always be informed by God’s love for us and the world.

         And so despite doubters, one can certainly find stories here and there of those risen from the dead or miraculously healed or helped if one looks. In my own life, there was a time when I served as a hospice chaplain to a person actively dying. (This means there were medical signs of impending death as judged by competent medical authorities). The family was Christian, but they had a hard time accepting his death and prayed for a miracle. As I prayed, they started to take over. They begged, pleaded and cajold hoping against hope that they could have even one more day with the one they loved. As I left that night, he was in a comatos-like state. When we were done praying, I said my goodbyes and went home. The next day, I received a call from a nurse. Somehow, someway, he was up and walking around, alert and talking, the next morning. The man’s doctor, nurse and hospice staff were rightly amazed. I was amazed. Science could not explain it. Yet the family that prayed so diligently, so passionately, with me that night saw this clearly as an affirmation of their own faith and hope. They gave thanks to God. All good things come from God, so who can say – however it happened – that they are wrong. I certainly will not! Strange things happen…miraculous and unusual things. Yet with all such miracle stories – whether Lazarus, Tabitha, or even the man I knew who was actively dying – the people involved eventually died. This incident wasn’t the End Times’ eternal, resurrected life with Jesus that we have in this passage. No, these miracles happen to call people into or affirm faith while we wait for that day. That’s what God uses miracles for. The love of God shows itself in a unique, concrete, if not intimate way for a particular and greater purpose. And so perhaps today’s account isn’t ultimately about Peter’s exemplary faith or Tabitha’s getting up from being dead after all? These details remain important, but I would like to suggest with others that Luke is pointing us toward something more. Again, this story is our story.

        In Tabitha, we have a poor woman (a person at the margins of society likely due to her social and economic status and sex), and yet, our mighty God graciously, unexpectedly chooses to work miracles in her life. By that, I don’t mean God worked just through her resurrection (for that’s the low hanging fruit of the story). No, humble Tabitha, named Dorcas in Greek, was a seamstress who was known for her “good works and acts of mercy.” She echoed God’s love throughout her life. Her life and faith touched the lives of others and changed them for the better through relationships built on love. As Dr. Nadella also notes, “Her compassion and care allowed her to build a beloved community that became her family.”[iii] That’s the big and lasting miracle here – her legacy of love…ultimately Jesus’ legacy. Tabitha would experience death again, but in Christ, through her love shared and still being passed on through the Church, she lives on. And one day, Christ promises that we will all stand with him resurrected in his glory forever. Her story, our story, in no way ends with death.

        For some, no matter what is said or how one tries to account for it, the story of Tabitha will remain an old wives’ tale. Yet, I believe with the early Church that the same divine love which raised her to life can be found at work in the lives of all those ordinary people who trust in Jesus – including yours and mine. That love was at work in Tabitha all along even before she or others perhaps recognized it, and it is still at work now. It is always at work even when we don’t see it or fully understand it. As a past seminary professor of mine attests, “God’s love creates, redeems and sustains without ceasing.”[iv] Through a faith, hope, and love lived out…echoing from and embodying Christ’s own life given for us…we become one with Christ’s story, power, and purpose…one with his love. We are transformed through that love into a resurrected people, walking in the world to change it, sharing in a legacy of love that will ripple throughout time without end. We can live generously like Tabitha, assured that death does not have the final word, because Jesus is the final word. And, it is he who has claimed us as his own forever. Amen.

[i] Holladay, C.R. (July 2012). “Interpreting Acts.” Interpretation: A Journal of Bible and Theology, 66(3), 245-258. Washington, DCs: Sage Publications

[ii] Nadella, R. (May 2022). Commentary on Acts 9:36-43 as downloaded from workingpreacher.org on May 5, 2022.

[iii] ibid

[iv] Stjerna, K.I. (2010). “Editors Introduction” in Two Kinds of Love: Martin Luther’s Religious World, by Mannermaa, T. p. XI.

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

© 2022 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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April 17, 2022 · 4:55 pm

What can one say? Christ is risen!

By Luca Giordano – Web Gallery of Art:   Image  Info about artwork, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15454818

This sermon was preached on the Feast of the Resurrection of our Lord (April 17, 2022) at Christ Lutheran Church. Currently the recording and video is not available due to a techincal issue.

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

        On a perfect Easter morning, as the sun rises and sanctuaries overflow with the scent of spring flowers…as we hear the giggles and screams of children searching for all those elusive Easter eggs…it is easy to be caught up in all the excitement. The music, the greetings, songs and prayers, even the food shared…all of this creates a tone of celebration if not victory. Rightly so, for Christ is risen! (Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!).

        And yet at the same time, how far away from that first Easter morning we can thus find ourselves. No, nothing was certain or celebratory on that first Easter morning. People only understood that Jesus had died. Those who loved him had hurriedly placed him in the tomb before the start of the sabbath, and now on the first day of the Jewish work week, women who loved him, disciples, came to finish their job preparing Jesus’ body for eternal rest. Amidst the pain and worry of the last week, Jesus’ promises of resurrection had been pushed aside…if not forgotten. The immediacy of the threats around them captured their attention. The grief related to his tortuous death consumed them. There was no celebration as they came to the tomb. They expected the worse. They expected death. Indeed, most of Christ’s disciples had abandoned him at his arrest and remained in hiding.

        Yet when times get hard, why do we look for the living among the dead? We are much like those first disciples – those in hiding and those women trying to muddle through by doing just what they need to do to get through their day. We can forget about Christ’s resurrection promises. We can focus on our need, our grief, or our obligations and worry instead. We get lost in the present when Jesus and his Spirit all along keep trying to point us toward a future filled with hope. Yes, how humbling…those disciples are much like us. We can struggle to believe. We can wrestle with our faith. We can doubt.

        And at such low points in our lives, the empty tomb lies before us. Its legacy reaching through the ages to confront our unbelief, our doubts and darkness. Again, why are we looking for the living among the dead? Why don’t we live as if Jesus lives? As we spoke about a few weeks ago, the stench of death is always floating around us, taunting us…telling us to be afraid. And yet so much more is going on. Jesus rose to defeat sin and death and guarantees us (guarantees us!) that even as we might struggle for our daily bread…or hope…an abundant, fruitful life can be ours starting now – from the very moment we believe. Amidst death, we can choose life…we can choose to trust in Jesus…because Jesus lives.

        Much like those women, if we come to belief in Christ’s resurrection, we will likely struggle with our words. It might seem an idle, foolish tale to even our friends and family. It might be hard for us to believe never mind express. Christ is risen! (He is risen indeed!) Yet what does that mean for us…to us? How does his victory over sin and death resonate if not resound in and through our lives? Christ’s resurrection should matter with our every breath and transform each of our steps into sacred ones. Yes, “As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!’” (Romans 10:15).

         With the resurrection of Jesus, everything has changed. All is new. Truly, St. Paul called it the start of a new and final age of history…a time for expectation to replace fear. We understand from scripture that the Kingdom of God is no longer just near, it has broken into our world and is still rushing in until it reaches its fullness. Imagine, heaven in the real world! It seems preposterous…impossible… and yet that is what the resurrection proclaims to us. In the risen body of Jesus transformed from death to life, we are asked to find an affirmation of all that Jesus taught and promised. Facing the empty tomb with these women disciples and Peter, we are asked to remember Jesus’ words and choose to believe.

        Prior to Jesus’ death, he asked his disciples, “Who do you say that I am?” That question has only now grown in importance. We know what others might say, but who do you (Robert, Judy, John, Anne and Lou, whoever you may be)… Jesus is asking, “Who do you say that I am?” We cannot explain the mystery of the resurrection, so why do you…why do we…believe? That’s a sobering question because we can never know enough about Jesus. As imperfect humans, we can never understand enough or become worthy enough. At some point, we must surrender our need for knowledge and explanation; throwing our lives into the arms of our Risen Lord who is waiting to welcome us. In our weakness and want, we can only trust.

        Having come to belief, the women did not know and understand all. As they went to tell others, they struggled with their words. The other disciples wrestled to trust in their story. Peter himself ran to the tomb to see for himself…only to find it empty…and with all that he had heard and seen, he walked away – not confirmed in his faith – but amazed…amazed! He was scratching his head…rubbing his eyes…trying to make sense of it all…wondering if his hope could really prove true. These great saints, the first of Christ’s chosen ones, struggled with faith. And so perhaps we can go easy on ourselves if we struggle at times too. Yet although gentleness might be called for, we are asked to share in not just their amazement and wonder but also their courage and hope. We are invited to believe without seeing and have our lives transformed.

        As I’ve said elsewhere, the resurrected life that we are invited to share in is one of living relationship and experience. Faith must be lived. According to Jesus, ours is to be a resurrected life of service, fellowship, and corporate worship. It is one where we seek to follow Jesus each day as best as we can and introduce him to others even as we stumble in our telling. It is one where we might yet be called to share in the sting of Christ’s sacrifice and cross out of love for God and others. In hoping, believing, seeking…in daring to live for Jesus without all our questions being answered…Jesus will make himself known to us on our way. Jesus will prove true to his promise because Jesus does not lie.[i]

        Yes, for our part, we are asked only to dare to hope…dare to hope…that this two thousand plus year story is true. It has come to us from person to person – against all odds – from people who had their lives changed for the better through belief while often under severe persecution. It has been affirmed through reported miracles. And indeed, some of these miracles were great, but most often miracles are ordinary things…small things…understood in an extraordinary, grace-filled way. I’ve also seen the resurrection testified to through the lives of others…great saints and ordinary ones…like my friends’ parents who loved me as a troubled youth and testified to Jesus in the way they did so…or as with the Ethiopian pastor who I met who rather than recant his faith suffered imprisonment and torture…or my friend from Bosnia who escaped genocide (crossing snow covered mountains on foot) under the threat of death because he knew he could not…would not…give up his resurrection hope in Jesus. For centuries before us, people have been willing to testify to the resurrection with their lives…risking their lives…stretching their lives to welcome others in Christ’s name…They did so because they dared believe in Christ’s resurrection. Such people and stories encourage me to risk believing and loving daily. As I recall such people and their stories, they help me walk on in faith.  

        Yes, the conundrum of the resurrection will never be solved by science. It cannot be proven beyond the shadow of a doubt with any human words. Yet, its truth can only be found through faith…in daring to live as if it is true…and the Risen Christ, because he loves us, will reveal himself to us…not just in times of victory but also amidst our times of doubt and darkness too. Christ is risen! (Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!) Jesus is no longer amidst the dead. He is heaven in our very real world, inviting us to follow him…to walk with him…and to come see his glory for ourselves. As a friend wrote, “It is he, the Risen Lord, who brings us together. Although he remains invisible to our eyes, he can be mysteriously present for every human being, for each one of us.”[ii] We gather, and serve, and hope because Christ is Risen! (Christ is risen indeed! Alleluia!) Amen.

[i] “Jesus does not lie” was a favorite saying of Martin Luther.

[ii] The Risen Christ Makes Us Passionate Seekers of Communion, by Brother Alois of Taizé, 19 April 2014 as downloaded at https://www.taize.fr/en_article16665.html.

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

© 2022 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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April 4, 2022 · 4:00 pm

Death is in the air

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is smoke_lent5c_incense_710x340px.jpg

The following is a sermon preached at Christ Lutheran on the Fifth Sunday of Lent, April 3, 2022. You can listen to the audio of the text here (recorded at the 9 am worship service) or watch the video from the 11 am worship service posted below. Photo credit: Pascal Meier on Unsplash; licensed under CC0 as found at WorkingPreacher.org.



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

        When we think about this passage…if I were to ask you as I did our weekly Bible study group what stands out to you…it is likely that two answers would emerge: 1) the selfishness of Judas; and 2) the lavish generosity of Mary. In the same room…facing the same future possibilities…there’s a clear tension here between Judas who is false and Mary who is true. And within that tension, we have a scene also pointing us forward. Mary’s washing of Jesus’ feet foreshadows the time when Jesus will wash his disciples’ feet in loving service. Judas’ desire for money prefigures the time when he will betray his friend for thirty pieces of silver. And in this situation, we are also reminded of our own.

        Yes, John shares this scene with us…not just to report history…but to help us wrestle with our present and future. We are in that very room in a sense to stare down death with Jesus. In the face of current or upcoming hardship, struggle, or loss – and in life we experience all these things for we cannot avoid them – will we choose the extravagance, pleasure, effusiveness, and exuberance of Mary’s choice, as one pastor[i] calls it, or will we be overly concerned with self-preservation, practicality, and getting what we think we deserve? Will we echo Mary’s loving actions in our life, or will we choose Judas’ path? What will be our legacy? Each and every day, if not moment, we must choose between death and life…selfishness and generosity…isolation (with its me first attitudes) or community (loving God and neighbor as oneself).

        If life were a dinner party, it certainly would be like the room we enter through this story today. You see, the stench of death is in the air of that room, just as it lingers and taunts us in our lives. Remember, Jesus has announced he would be entering Jerusalem even though he knows he will die. Much as Thomas verbalizes elsewhere, Jesus followers expect to perhaps die with him. At the best, they know whatever comes will likely hurt. Lazarus, who was only recently raised from the dead was there eating with them. His presence is a consistent reminder of death. Judas is a prime mover in today’s passage. For the early Christians who heard this passage just as we have, they know what he will soon do. He is a betrayer and false friend. His actions no matter how one might rationalize them or try to understand them helps lead to only one outcome…Jesus’ crucifixion…and perhaps Judas might remind us of people who have been false to us…or how we have been false to others. And the smell of that perfume – oh, that perfume – one used commonly for preparing the one you love for burial…it lingers thickly, perhaps suffocatingly, in the air. Some dinner party! If you have ever said a final goodbye to someone you love, you know a bit of what it was like to be in that room.

         Now, I know I likely have a different intimacy with death than some of you. (And, I don’t share this to shock you, but it helps explain my point of view.) I first encountered death in kindergarten. Death was part of the daily reality of my military and police service – potential death and actual death as when a police colleague of mine was violently slain – and in total, in and out of police work, I have had four people – four people – I know and love who have been murdered. I later served as a hospital and hospice chaplain accompanying people as they died. In doing so, they have become part of me, because I came to love them. In my missionary work among Native youth, I had children die…children die…long before what should have been their time. Yet, despite all this experience with death, I do nit and will not claim any comfort with death. (It is always uncomfortable and painful, no matter how hard we might try to hide it.) I don’t claim to understand all about it. (No one can.) Still, I do seek to accept a Lenten, hopeful, realism about it. (Yes, it can be hopeful.) “Remember you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”

        With that in mind, let me explain further. I recall an older friend who was immensely popular in his region; loved and respected for his work, generosity, and loyalty. He was a steadfast friend and loving person, so as people were sick or entered the hospital, he would surely go visit and offer support. And if they were to die, he would be there to grieve, but also to honor the love shared with his friend by seeking to extend that love to the friend’s family and other mourners assembled. Yet as he aged, and more and more friends died – and he had so many – he felt like he was always going to funerals. It was rightly depressing. And one day he asked me about it. It seemed sort of unfair…hard to escape. Why does God allow so much pain in the world? Why does the smell of death linger so?

        I don’t know in detail the answer to his question, but I did point to Jesus. He humbled himself to share in our life and our death. He suffered for our sake, so that we could live eternally. He chose to love in the face of misunderstanding, rejection, and outright hatred for our sake. Whatever the cost, even death, Jesus chose to love everyone. And in accepting his death on the cross, he knew that it could only lead toward more light and love than we could ever dare hope for.

        Somehow, mysteriously, God has a plan to restore us from our fallen, sinful, selfish nature, into the children of God. Part of that plan is for us to follow Jesus in faith…into and through death…accepting our own sacrificial crosses on the way…and in the manner we choose to love God and others…in the way we pray and live…“Father, not my will, but your will be done.”

        No, we aren’t ever to accept death any more than Jesus does. We don’t seek to accommodate it. And we certainly don’t ignore it…Death is in the room…but as Christians, we choose to resist and fight death. Now, we don’t do so by clinging to life (selfishly, desperately holding on). Instead, we choose to surrender our lives. We offer our lives – our body, mind and soul and all that we have – because death has absolutely no real and lasting power over us. We can always choose to love. There is a grief author (Megan Devine) that observes: “When we choose to love, we chose to face death and grief and loss, again and again and again. Just as much as we welcome the friendlier parts of love, it’s all there, present and contained in everything.”

        Yes, Jesus says there will always be poor with us, but we are to choose to share what we have with them anyway. There will always be war until Jesus comes again, but we are asked to seek and nurture peace instead. There will always be disease, but we are charged by Jesus to comfort the sick and dying. We are to do so because even with the smell of death persistent in our nostrils…death is not the only thing in the room. Jesus is there too…the one who has conquered sin and death through his resurrection and who will not rest until sin and death is utterly destroyed…trampled underoot…gone from our lives forever.

        As the disciples gathered, they had every right to be sad. Jesus had made it clear that they were about to face some very difficult days ahead…just like us. (We cannot avoid this condition, try as we may.) Thus, let us find courage as we remember that in the face of death, God has chosen to gift us with life. We bathe in the grace of baptism where it is God  – not the pastor – who baptizes us and claims us forever. We eat of it at the Lord’s Supper, where again we truly encounter the very real body and blood of Jesus along with forgiveness of sin and promise of eternal love and life. We meet and interact with Jesus as we gather as one body…in the best of times and worst of times, never alone…for Jesus promises to be with us whenever two or three gather in his name. More than that, he promises to be always with us with his ever-present Spirit finding a home in our hearts.

        Graciously, we walk wet through the power of our baptism[ii] – claimed, empowered, and loved by God – throughout our life and beyond our death. For as Luther wrote, baptism is that “which delivers us from the jaws of the devil and makes us God’s own, suppresses and takes away sin, and then daily strengthens” us. Baptism remains always efficacious to us, for even if we were to fall away, Jesus loves those entrusted to his care. He will constantly seek us out. Baptism empowers us to love in the face of death, because it along with the Lord’s Supper gives us the grace which we need to help us daily choose to love as God loves us. These Sacraments change us and our experience with death. For nothing, not even death has the power to separate us from a love like Jesus has for us. In Jesus, God remains extravagantly, lavishly, effusively generous to us.

        Yes, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Yes, the stench of death is in the room, and it seeks to accost our sensibilities and frighten us. Lent reminds us of this. And yet, that is not everything we are to remember…We are to remember Jesus…I think Professor Powery of Messiah College summarizes this passage and the daily choice before us well. “John 12 is a reminder that death will not have the final word. Lazarus is a reminder of that promise, even though his human body will die again. The ointment is a reminder of that promise. The people who gathered for another meal are a reminder of that promise. The prepared, anointed body of Jesus, of course, is the ultimate reminder of that promise. Death will not have the final word. During the season of Lent, we remember that death will not have the final word.”[iii] Amen.

The recorded 11 am worship service can be found below. The service starts at about the 7:30 minute mark…

[i] Skinner, M. (March 21, 2010), Commentary on John 12:1-8. Downloaded from https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-in-lent-3/commentary-on-john-121-8  on April 1, 2022.

[ii] Bishop James Mauney of the Virginia Synod used to often preach about the ongoing power of our baptism by proclaiming that we “walk wet.”

[iii] Powery, E. (April 3, 2022). Commentary on John 12:1-8. Downloaded from https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-in-lent-3/commentary-on-john-121-8-5  on April 1, 2022.

Many thanks to Professor Powery for his splendid essay on Working Preacher which very much served to inspire this sermon and me. Death is truly in the air, but it does not have the final word.

[iii] Powery, E. (April 3, 2022). Commentary on John 12:1-8. Downloaded from https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-in-lent-3/commentary-on-john-121-8-5  on April 1, 2022.

Many thanks to Professor Powery for his splendid essay on Working Preacher which very much served to inspire this sermon and me. Death is truly in the air, but it does not have the final word.

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

© 2022 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 31, 2022 · 7:30 am

Arising love

Image edited from a photo by Wolfgang Hasselmann on Unsplash

The audio version of this post can be found here.

What must it have been like for those first disciples? Facing defeat, struggling to accept that Jesus had been crucified, feeling exhausted, frightened and alone, they must have been devastated and in shock. Yet, the story doesn’t end there. Despite the threat of arrest or even attack, some came to the tomb to care for the body of Jesus. (In those days, families and friends directly cared for the burial of loved ones.)

Death could not stop their love for Jesus. And lo and behold, they were met by an angelic being who asked, “Why are you looking for the living among the dead?” On this Resurrection Morning, everything had changed. Sin and death had been defeated, and a new life was now possible thanks to Jesus. The Kingdom of Heaven had broken into the real world like a spring tulip or shaft of wheat might break through the ground. We still can only see the first signs, but once Jesus rose, there was no going back. “He *is* risen!” we shout. Jesus lives and remains lovingly at work in the world, even as he awaits the day when he comes again in glory.

So perhaps instead of focusing too much on what is bad with the world or our individual lives, we can use our time to look for Jesus among the living: as we seek to serve refugees, feed  our hungry neighbors, care for the homeless, volunteer with friends at local nonprofits, watch and wait with others in medical centers or prisons, share in sabbath rest or fellowship together, even as we might pray for peace in our world. In all things, we can look for the Risen Christ and make him known. As Paul advised long ago in the face of persecution, “…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.” (See Phil. 4:1-9)

No, Jesus is not among the dead. Nor is Jesus lounging in some remote heaven far above and away from us. Jesus might seem hidden at times, but he promises that he is with us always – in those we need and those who need us, and yes, in our hearts, too. Therefore, he’s ready to surprise us as he bursts into our lives, much as he busted out of that cave-like tomb. Like the first disciples, we will probably be surprised. Whatever is happening in your life – good, bad, or indifferent – rejoice and be glad, for Jesus has risen for you…is risen for you. Death cannot stop his love for us, and it never will. “Love is come again like wheat arising green.” (1)

Blessed Holy Week and Easter,

Pastor Lou

(1) Now the Green Blade Rises – Evangelical Worship, Hymn #379

Originally published in the April 2022 newsletter of Christ Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, Virginia.

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

© 2022 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 1, 2022 · 8:07 am

Sackcloth, Ashes and Joy

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With spring comes new life, better weather, and spring cleaning. Lent also comes along. As I have probably told you before, the word “lent” comes from an Old English word lencten (related to “lengthen,” referring to the lengthening of days) that simply referred to the season of spring. It is fitting that days lengthen as we remember the Light of the World’s victory over sin and death and a future filled with hope opened up before us. The season also lends itself to some spiritual spring cleaning as we prepare for Easter.

No, our spiritual disciplines never earn us credit for heaven. We can’t overshadow the light of the resurrection, but we can cooperate with it’s grace. We can seek to listen more closely. We can try humbly walk more in sync with our God. (See Micah 6:8.) We can even love because Jesus loved us first! (See 1 John 4:19.) For forty days before Easter – not including Sundays which are liturgically each a kind of “little Easter” – the Church is encouraged to dust up on Ash Wednesday as we recall the old practice of sackcloth and ashes as a sign of repentance. (See for example Job 42:6, one of twenty-three scripture references.) We also remember the ash heap of our sin, hurting God, ourselves and others, and the dust that we are and to which we will return one day. (See Matthew 7:12 and Genesis 3:19.) Then, we get to work.

Perhaps we fast. Fasting can be giving up food or activity. As we “hunger” for these things, we might recall hunger in the world, our spiritual hunger and needs, and the needs of the world better. Or maybe we reflect on scripture and the story of Jesus more – study with others might be best. We could even seek to experience the suffering and death of Jesus in a new way through art, poetry, walking the Way of Jesus (also known as the Stations of the Cross) mentally or physically. In doing so, we hopefully will be graced with the gift of an enlivened Spirit as we better understand what Jesus has done for us. We might even serve or give more as we are called and able, loving just a bit more like Jesus. And as both Pastor Ethan and Pastor Anne have been recently reminding us, we could even seek some holy rest. Sometimes, we just need to be still and know that God is God as commended to us in the Psalms. Or maybe during such times of quite, we will hear a still small voice as Elijah did. One never knows.

Whatever you choose to do or not do, trust that Jesus has chosen to die for you. Jesus loves you and longs to share his life with you. Risk following him more earnestly and see where he just might lead you. Wherever that might prove to be, whenever Jesus decides to reveal himself more to you, I trust you will find joy on the journey. I pray that Jesus shines more brightly in both your days and at times of night.

“Sackcloth and Ashes Crown of Thorns” Learn more about this art project here

Originally published in the March 2022 newsletter of Christ Lutheran Church, Fredericksburg, Virginia.

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

© 2022 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 13, 2022 · 1:00 pm

Loved, Craddled, Blessed

“Can a woman forget her nursing child, or show no compassion for the child of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you” (Is 49:15). Image: Mother and child, from Clipartkey. Used by permission.

The following sermon was offered at Christ Lutheran Church on February 13, 2022, the 6th Sunday after Epiphany. Due to the positive feedback and discussion, that followed, I am posting the text here. I have also embeded the worship service below. Primary text: Luke 6:17-26, the Beatitudes.

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

Well, settle in. This is a critically important discussion today, and it is one I know will be difficult for me, and likely for some of you – hopefully touching our hearts deeply. So, I will try to do my best. With St. Valentine’s Day upon us, it is a happy coincidence that our assigned lectionary readings lead us to reexamine the Beatitudes. The early Church consider them formative values that should shape our life together in the world. Yet I clearly recall as a youth forced to memorize them for confirmation, I really didn’t get them. I looked at them as maxims or even law like – a pronouncement from some distant God up high and far away. Perhaps that’s partly because the Beatitudes aren’t really meant to be memorized. They are meant to be integrated into one’s heart and soul, and that might take a mature faith born of suffering.

At their simplest, you can understand the Beatitudes as sayings of Jesus. Some of you might know or recall that our Jewish siblings often call what we know as the Ten Commandments the “Sayings of God.” Yes, they are at some level laws on how the community of faith should get along with one another and the world, but recall what Jesus and prophets said before him. The fullness of the law is love – in particular loving God and others as oneself.

And so, if you read Martin Luther’s Large Catechism or Rabbinical interpretations, they don’t always sound like stark law or mandates. They are a way of love…a means of walking through life with more joy and peace…literally walking humbly in the way of and with our God. The sayings – not numbered in the Bible but by people after the fact – are sometimes numbered differently, yet they are not legal codes. They are unique because through them God speaks love to those he has chosen, so that that they might…just might…become a blessing of love at work in the world. You can find moral and ethical dimensions to be sure, but they are all wrapped up in love.

With such a gift, it can be such a shame that we lack the understanding, the spiritual maturity, that they are meant to be so much more than Law. There’s Gospel infused into them too, because God spoke them and gave them to Moses for the people of God as a gift. God wanted the Israelites…and now through faith us…to become the Holy People of God…עם האלהים, a phrase in the Hebrew scriptures mentioned exhaustively and one I thus lift up to you often. We are a people set apart, made holy by God, called to live in holy ways, but not for our own sake. We are charged with a loving purpose in a fallen world.

Well, as scripture reveals to us, and our own more recent history makes plain, we cannot do this on our own. Scripture is a help. Thou “shalts and shalt nots” might inform, guide and challenge us to do better, but perhaps you have noticed that we live in a challenging world. Everything isn’t cherubs and boxes of chocolate. (My apologies to Forest Gump!) Love can be hard, and even when we try our best, we can fall, fail or suffer.

And so, out of love for us, Jesus offers us new sayings, blessings. (That’s really what beatitude means anyway – blessing.) These blessing will serve to draw us closer, more intimately toward God and one another. Yet unlike Moses’ experience, they are not sayings given directly to a prophet and by extension to the People of God. No, Jesus is God incarnate, and so these sayings are beyond special. They are not mediated but given directly to us. In a fallen world, these blessings recognize our suffering, but they tell us…promise us…God’s love is with us! Always with us! More than that, these sayings remind us that nothing can separate us from such a love.

 In Luke’s telling, his witness, of the Gospel, there are some significant differences from the account in Matthew 5. (I’m not going to address those in detail today. I’ve tried to explain why such differences exist in detail on Facebook, my blog, Bible studies, and elsewhere recently.) Yet, consider who Luke was. He was a human just like you and me. He was of likely Greek descent, many think a Gentile, but some suggest perhaps that he was a Hellenized Jew. And in his life and time, he had the good fortune to become a doctor, meet Paul in his travels, and become a coworker with him. Luke inherited these stories, and so in the Gospel according to Luke, we hear his witness of Jesus. Much as if you or I were telling a story, the truth is transmitted through his lens (his context and experience), and he likely wanted it to relate to and be understood by his audience – those many Gentiles and Hellenized Jews we know surrounded him. (They are who he first wrote to.) In short, Jesus is a God of suffering. No, not causing suffering, but Jesus is willing to suffer for us and with us, and ultimately the answer to all suffering in the world.

Through Luke’s vocation (as doctor and servant of Christ with Paul), Luke knew the extreme suffering of his century. Luke would have been all too familiar with sickness, injustice, poverty, violence and death and the grief that always results. Thus, Luke recognizes the special nature of Jesus as God who has profoundly come to us as one of us. Jesus came to share in that suffering and reach out to the outsider (like gentiles and widows, immigrants, the lonely, the sick in body and spirit). Jesus was and remains God with us in our imperfection and suffering. At the same time, Jesus came as the answer to the Fall. Jesus came to heal and restore. This is exactly what Luke remembers and shares with us as Jesus prepares to share his most central of teachings. Luke points out to us in the opening verses, “Jesus heals! Jesus saves! Jesus loves those entrusted to his care amidst the evil and loss of our very real world!”

At this point in the story, people didn’t fully understand Jesus yet. (I’m not sure we really do today. I know I don’t!) Still, in hearing of his teaching and preaching, as well as the authentic love that he gifted to others, crowds came from all around the region often walking miles and miles and miles. Luke tells us that the people were desperate, so desperate for hope and healing, that they wrestled with one another reaching out to Jesus just in the hope of touching him, for “power came out from him and healed all of them.”

It is here that Jesus chose to share Good News with the crowd – and with those who might come afterward – to all those yearning to just touch the hem of his garment…to experience a little bit of hope if nothing else. Jesus knows not all of those in need could touch him in that sea of humanity any more than we might with him now ascended to heaven. Yet, Jesus wants us to listen and believe.

So, listen to what Jesus says. Reread it when you get home, and then over and over again. Treasure and ponder these words. In the beatitudes, Jesus is telling us that he already loves us amidst our suffering, and he invites us to love others as best as we are able. Whatever our sufferings are – big or small; transitory or seemingly permanent – he is God with us and already loves us. We can rejoice when our crops fail as the prophet Habakkuk announces. We can cast all our cares upon him for he cares for us, as Peter urges. We can recognize with Mary in her song, the Magnificat (also in Luke’s Gospel), that our soul magnifies the Lord, and we can rejoice in God our savior, as lowly as we might be. John says in Revelation, there will be a day when all our tears and suffering will be washed away, a future filled with hope Jeremiah called it, but John, too, acknowledges we aren’t quite there yet. All creation groans for redemption, as Paul tells us, so why are we surprised at suffering. Indeed, Jesus suffered for us. Yet suffering is not all that there is, for God is not only with us, God in Jesus is for us. We belong now to Jesus, and not one of his sheep will be lost.

What I am getting at is that all of scripture is filled with similar promises. The Beatitudes bring these promises into focus telling us that we should not trust our eyes or other senses. God is already blessing us with fortitude, hope, understanding and counsel and so much more. When we don’t have the words, we are promised the Holy Spirit lifts up our deepest needs and wounds to God. Life is hard…we might even at times rightly use more forceful, descriptive words than that…but don’t think for a moment that God’s love has abandoned us…abandoned you! Hope truly can be born of suffering.

At times, we might kid ourselves to think that we can just keep our chins up and make it through. We might internalize and deny our pain or the pain of the world. Yet we lie to ourselves when we share the old maxim, “God won’t give us anything more than we can handle,” for in the verse that inspires such hubris (1 Corinthians 10:13), we are instead told that our suffering is just part of our world…common at some level to one and all of us…but Paul actually writes, “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, [but if you are] with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.” Did you catch that? When we feel overwhelmed and cannot go on, when all hope seems lost, and we might feel like the biggest losers of victims in the world, dead inside, God will be there to bless us! Jesus plans our resurrection! It is God who will give us the way out and a way forward…always. It is God who will turn our suffering on its head and declare ultimate blessing. Even in suffering, more is going on than we can see or understand. God’s love for us overflows. Just hang on to the promise like a life preserver.

Now, I know I have gone on longer than normal, and I am the only thing standing between you and your Super Bowl fair, but please bear with me. After all, this is among the most important passages of promise offered us in scripture. As Christians we need to consider where we can testify to the Good News, and that can often come from our own stories and experience. So, I want to share one difficult but profound experience of grace from my life.

If you have experienced the death of a child, or experienced such deep loss in any way, you might relate to the seemingly inconsolable pain that such an experience can create. My wife and I have no children, which is a kind of loss for us emotionally, but I have experienced the death of beloved children at very young ages that I have had deep relationships with – a cousin at 16, and children and youth that I cared for in mission and other vocations. I have also seen children and infants brutalized and sometimes die. And as a police, hospital, and hospice chaplain, I have walked alongside officers, and nurses and families that have shared in such tragedies and walk wounded afterward as a result…often brought to tears just at the memory. How can we speak love at such times? Well, we can try to because God is there…perhaps hidden…hard to see…but our God who is love is there. So, we are asked to press on, reach out, and watch and wait for Jesus.

As a young chaplain, I was called to the hospital from home. A newborn infant had just died, and the family was gathered. The family had already been presented a memory box with a hand and footprint, a lock of hair and other small mementos of an all too short life. I came into the room not knowing exactly what to expect. I didn’t know what I could say, as I’m pretty sure no human words are ever good enough. As I turned the corner, almost startling me from my thoughts…there was the mom, held by the dad, right in front of me. The mom in her turn was lovingly, ever so gently, cradling her baby’s body in her arms. (It is an image I will never forget.) They had been praying…praying so very hard…and yet their beloved child had been taken from them. It was brutal. It was unfair. It remains beyond understanding. “That God would take a child from its mother as she prayed” was appalling.[i] I think a little bit of me died in that room in that moment.

Then awkwardly, hopefully, the mom reached out to me. She asked me to hold the baby in my own arms and bless the gift that it was and remained to them. And in that sacred moment, and still today, I know that as hard as it was to see through their tears and now my own, God was with us. God was in that shared love found in family and community. God was in the mom’s eyes looking at me with love and hope. God was in the caregivers and volunteers who supported them and those like them. I discovered that God was even trying to break into the world through me and my own heart which was now being torn apart. It wasn’t being torn for the sake of suffering. No, in that suffering, my heart was being opened so that that I could better welcome and embrace those in need before me.

 This was a difficult, horrific event, perhaps one of the worst of my life and certainly their own. Why did this happen? I had and have no answer. Yet with that small body cradled in my arms, I recognized (perhaps it was God speaking) that God was cradling us in our suffering. It wasn’t about me and my abilities as a chaplain or human at all. God was at work, and Jesus opened my eyes to it. And so, I found I was empowered to bear this moment and perhaps somehow serve as a sign of grace to try to bear them up too…perhaps simply by my presence then…and perhaps now in my testifying of this sacred moment to you…As I walk on from it, even as it wounded me, healing was and is still entering the world.

As a Christian singer who experienced the loss of her own baby wrote in a song I deeply love and appreciate: “This is what it means to be held; How it feels when the sacred is torn from your life; And you survive. This is what it is to be loved; And to know that the promise was; [that] When everything fell, we’d be held.”[ii] I wish I could speak a word, and all your pain and the pain of the world would be gone. And, I don’t pretend to know why God has allowed things to be this way with so much suffering and pain. Yet I do know this…“Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you will be filled. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.”

My beloved, God is with you and loves you. It is Jesus, after all, who said this, and proved it through his own suffering, death, and resurrection, so that we might experience life with him. These blessings are not about you, your strength of faith, or your perfection. They aren’t really about suffering either, even as they call us to be something (someone) more in the face of the suffering that is in the world. These blessings are about a new reality whether you believe it or not…God is active in our lives and our world – a God who is only love.

Go to Jesus as you can, not as you hope that you might. Reach out to him even when he seems too far away (if not hidden) from you, or when you think your suffering might be more or less than the crowd around you. For you and your struggles matter to Jesus, and he is already reaching out to you. Jesus is with you, always with you, and it is he who cradles you lovingly in his arms. Receive the blessing and believe. Amen.

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[i] Natalie Grant, “Held” (2006).

[ii] Natalie Grant, “Held” (2006).

© 2021 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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