sabbath | 2pennyblog

The below sermon was offered at Christ Lutheran Church in Fredericksburg on February 2, 2025. It is definitely much longer than my normal sermon, because the topic was immediate, adjusted last minute to a high profile current event on the fly, and about an issue prone to nurture strong disagreement. Although our denomination, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America leans politically liberal, multiple surveys suggest that the membership leans toward the center. Indeed at this congregation, we have strong supporters for President Trump and those adamantly against him. This sermon was intentionally crafted so that all people could hear and reflect about these things without shutting down. Maybe it would spark conversation? I cannot change Elon Musk’s mind with my sermon, but I might be able to help my congregation see things in a new way.

In my time with Brother Roger and his community in France, the Ecumenical Community of Taizé, we often had people come who lived in severe conflict with one another in their home country or region. How can we speak to one another with open hearts if we call one another names or shut down? So in small groups, people were asked to share their experiences of faith, but not in a way of debate or even to convince. Listen for the Spirit in what others say. I also learned and came to believe that the Spirit is calling all people and within them even before they might realize it. We should treat them with respect, even if we struggle to like them or do not approve of what they do or say.

This was modeled in Brother Roger’s own history. Before the community formed, he risked his life to help Jews escape persecution in France. As a result, he was narrowly escaped arrest by the Gestapo. After the war, he offered care and hospitality to German prisoners returning home. This was not popular with some of his French neighbors who had suffered so much and were rightfully angry. And living in one of the most Communist areas of post-war France, amidst people who sometimes overtly hated Christ and his Church, he and his brothers helped their neighbors no matter their political leanings. They even were able to start food cooperatives which benefitted all. In time, authentic love at work in his life and the lives of other brothers earned trust and effected change. This witness has impacted the way I try to address conflicts of our day and in my life. It shows in this sermon.

Some pastors and others will likely say I did not go far enough to condemn or fight what they perceive as evil. (They might be right. At the very least, it is a mistake to have stripped the funding in the way it was done – too carelessly and with false accusations – likely a sin, certainly a shame despite any intentions.) Yet, like the brothers, I feel a profound call to try to live as an agent of reconciliation. (See 2 Corinthians 5:17-20.) If we wait for people to be perfect before we seek to reconcile, reconciliation will never happen. In reconciling, sometimes people change or see their wrongs more clearly. It proves a give and take process, requiring ongoing forgiveness and patience along with self-awareness.

Further, this sermon was shared with people whom I know well and deeply love. Sometimes a pastor can do more good using the gentle nudging of a staff rather than the full force of a rod. And I take Jesus’ mandate for us to love one another very seriously. I want my congregation to as well. I think this approach might prove the same for you in your relationships even if not a pastor.

The text of my sermon follows, but I will also include the YouTube link at the bottom of this post if you prefer to watch all or part of the service. I have tried to adjust the original manuscript to better reflect what was said balanced with clarity. Is a sermon ever truly done? I am confident I will write or speak more about what appears to be bad policy if not illegal as it impacts a nonprofit I know to be honorable. This is only a start of a conversation.

To listen to the mp3, click here.

Peace+
Pastor Lou

It has been a stressful 2025 for many of us. There’s a lot going on in the world – wars and pestilence – but there’s been a lot of change, too. Whether you like change or not, whether good or bad, our recent political changes are still change. And as any health practitioner will tell you, “Even good changes can leave you feeling drained, out of control, and depressed.”[i] And as our national administration does change things, we have seen many fast and furious changes making some neighbors of ours worried about the security of their jobs, what might happen to their medical aid, or even the legality of their marriage. And much as it was when I lived along the Arizona border while in the Army, a lot of people are rightly afraid of some of the violence or other negative issues that can come with unbridled, unsecured immigration, and perhaps at the same time, we might be concerned about our friend, or neighbor, or fellow employee, or fellow student who has a questionable immigration status – someone that might have been here for many years, who is a good worker and kind neighbor, but at risk because of past choices they made. (Or maybe, adult relatives made a choice for them.) And I know of friends that have already had their adult child lose their government job suddenly as a result of different government priorities. It happens. My uncle used to be an executive with Lincoln-Mercury, and he had to lay people off at times… regrettable, difficult, but it happens.

Yet coming in this morning (I’m going off text now, so hang in there), I saw a tweet from Elon Musk, and it talked about “the Lutherans.” Oooo, that tweaked my attention. Basically, he was complaining about all the money going to Lutheran parachurch organizations for their social services. Yet, he never explained what this money went for. His main concern was probably immigration, because there are elements that do help with refugees and other immigrants including our allies from Afghanistan. (Some of these live right here in Fredericksburg.) Yet, he lumped all the services together. The thing that I would like you to know…that I know because I used to be on the board of Lutheran Family Services of Virginia (now enCircle)…is that Lutheran Services of America, the overarching organization (which is kind of like the United Way) helps one in fifty Americans with all different kind of things. (This is a correction from the recording. I said, “one in five,” in error. Still, this is a staggering, impressive number.)

And so, when you look at a group like Lutheran Family Services of Virginia (now enCircle), they have some programs that help refugees and immigrants, but they also facilitate adoption and foster care. They help with counseling services which some people in our community have taken advantage of. They help with schools for at-risk youth. They have helped with kids who are on the spectrum. They helped with elder care. They have houses for folks with intellectual disabilities and help them live independently or in community. So, there are a lot of things that go into these nonprofits…these parachurch organizations (started by the Church, but not the Church). And they receive grants from the government, yes, but also from industry and other nonprofit funds, and then, they get funding from good people like you who donate in support of what they do. Yet as funding streams change, so does their ministry or outreach. Even in the nine years that I was a board member, Lutheran Family Services did that.

And so, funding streams are changing because political priorities are changing. And that really is “fair,” right? That’s the way our government works. That’s the way the world works. Yet, I do hope that we are concerned that with doing things quickly…lumping all things together…that maybe, some people will be left behind or hurt unintentionally. And that, I think, is something that we can certainly speak about as Christians. We want to do things “smart.” We want to do things in a way that doesn’t hurt others and make things worse.

So, with all these political changes, right or wrong (as you see them), good or bad (as time will tell), I hope we can recognize that this is a stressful time for many people. During this period of change, mistakes might be made, and there are things people will have to adjust to, but some people might even be afraid. (Whether you understand why or not, they might be afraid.) And that is no secret. You can just look at social media posts and see that. Yet, whenever we strive for justice and peace, to do the right thing, whether left or right in our political leanings, we as Christians are supposed to approach others empathetically…care for them…offering mercy and help as we can (as all the prophets say)…forgiving when they make mistakes…and try to love and help them as they are…even as we see them as totally wrong, or sinful, or whatever the problem may be. Even when I was a police officer, long ago in the 80s and 90s, and I would arrest people…one of the things I learned as I came back into the Church again…started to really believe this Jesus stuff was true…one of the big challenges I had as I arrested people for violations that were serious remained: How do I treat this arrestee as a human? Do justice, but how do I show mercy in the way I relate to them. That’s a kind of love and a kind of Christian witness, too. So, I know it is hard…but with God’s help, we can do it. We can do it and change becomes possible.

These are all huge issues that we are talking about nationally and locally…important issues! You should care! And I am not going to tell you today how to vote or think. I am not going to dissect policies or waste your time during this sermon pointing fingers at those “bad people.” You can fill in the blank for who those bad people are. Yet, I do believe today’s sacred stories perhaps ask us not to point at others, but instead, maybe point at ourselves. Where am I in all of this? What am I doing or failing to do? These stories lend themselves to discernment. Are we responding from our faith, hope, and love as we should, or are maybe some other influences…even sin…are affecting our decisions? This comes up with issues of religiosity (how we behave in church, how we live our faith), politics, or any other areas of our lives. Are we responding in faith, or is something else guiding us? So, we can always do better whoever we are, because none of us are perfect in our ability to love…ever.

In fact, our friend Martin Luther always sought to remind us that we can be sure that we are absolutely, positively not perfect. You and I are a mess. Selfishness, shortsightedness, and other sin can always creep in to blind us, to trick us, so that we start to call bad something good. In fact, he argued that really, we don’t truly have free will. We think that we do, but we don’t, because sin is so powerful that even when we do our best, what we do is always tainted…always. We remain fallen creatures even if are saved; sinner-saints all.

And so much like the days of old, theological and political debates can happen, and they can merge into hot button issues of our day. Thus, we must ask ourselves, how should we act? What are the right standards to maintain? How do we uphold justice while trying to be merciful at the same time? And faithful people, “good people,” end up all over the political spectrum. And why is that? Because they are applying their experiences, their knowledge, the wisdom God has given them, but in the end, it is all coming through and from a human being. So, we come to different conclusions. (Sometimes these are very wrong conclusions.) And so, that begs us to try to treat each other with a great amount of compassion or patience. We are only human. And only God perhaps knows the best and perfect answer for any situation you can come up with. We are like beggars that can only reach out for grace-filled guidance and commit to try to do our best in striving to be like Jesus…yet also always ready to repent…and always ready to forgive.

Certainly, one side of any human argument might be closer to God’s truth than the other, but in humility…recognizing our own human fallibility…perhaps we should not be so quick to think that we are totally, infallibly correct and the other side totally, unbelievably wrong. Again and again, it must be said, we are all human with limited intellects and an imperfect capacity for unselfish love. We need God’s help. We need to listen to God, as well as listen and learn from one another. Spiritual and moral truths exist to be sure, but our ethical and our concrete situations change. How we apply our beliefs and laws need to change sometimes. We must keep our minds open to new possibilities when a God claiming to always be doing something new comes around.

Today’s passage proves an example of situations just like that. Jesus doesn’t cancel out the law, but we see him reapply and interpret it under specific, challenging circumstances. He kind of expands our understanding of the law. So, here we are…in a field with Jesus on the Sabbath. His disciples are hungry, and so they plucked some heads of grain. They took what they needed to satiate their hunger and no more. That was an allowable practice on other days…except on the Sabbath. So, what should Jesus have done? Let them starve? Does God’s care for the hungry end on the Sabbath? Jesus thinks not. Jesus understands that he is Lord of the Sabbath, but also, the Sabbath is a gift to us. It serves us. It blesses us. We don’t serve it.

In fact, there is the precedent with David as he fled from King Saul, and he ate the bread of the Temple meant to be offered to God. Technically by the law, this was explicitly wrong, but in that situation, he is not condemned by scripture. Jesus declares, “The Son of Man is the Lord of the Sabbath,” and it is not the other way around. Now, Jesus isn’t throwing the law away or ignoring it. He’s reapplying it in a way that allows for a greater capacity to love in a certain circumstance…a way that honors God’s original intentions. His teaching is consistent with the love of God and neighbor accentuated in Deuteronomy 11. When it comes to the laws of God, they are always meant to prove a blessing and not a curse.

And similarly, on another Sabbath Day, Jesus is faced with a man who has a withered hand. He could have waited until the Sabbath was over to heal him, but is our God a God of love or indifference…a God of life or death? Jesus has come to proclaim the Good News that the Kingdom of God is at hand, and so healing such illnesses were an important sign of the things to come. Could there be any better place than the sanctuary in the context of praise and worship among God’s beloved people to make God’s love known through healing? The time was right and the place appropriate, so Jesus opted for life and love (the intended fulfillment of the law) over a rigorous observance of the law.

As one commentator points out, Pharisees were like the mainline Protestants of first century Judaism.[ii] They were trying to bring faith into the community and into the home. They created local houses of worship, the synagogue. And they also suggested religious disciplines, practices, that people could do to embody the faith…deepen their faith. They studied the Word of God arduously and tried to apply it to the everyday life rigorously. And so, we have extra-biblical writings – the teachings of the rabbis, not always agreeing – describing how faithful Jews should live out their faith as best as they can. They believed all the actions of our lives, even those of less consequence, should seek to reflect our faith in the one true, living God concretely. I hope all of us agree with that, for faith should inform our lives.

Yet at that time, keeping the Sabbath holy was a critical, central faith conviction of the Pharisees as well as other Jews. Yet what constituted rest and what constituted work…ah, that’s the question. It appears that at least some Pharisees tended to opt for the strictest construction of the Law – no work at all, even to feed people who are hungry or heal someone in need. Over time, very fine points of Jewish ritual law have been defined by Rabbis – both in and outside of scripture – in admittedly a copious and complex way. On one Jewish site that I visited, the consensus suggested that we really can never learn enough about keeping the Sabbath holy.[iii] Yet even today, the more orthodox believers of Judaism avoid writing, erasing and tearing paper on the Sabbath for that is work…a kind of physical exertion. They aren’t allowed to make business transactions or prepare food either. (That can be done ahead of time with proper planning.) As kindling or sparking fires were prohibited in the Levitical law, turning on lights or a stove (allowing for a sparking of electricity) remain forbidden today. And the list goes on and on, but this is not out of some obsessive love for the Law, but it is an explicit, intentional attempt to encourage people to honor and love our one true God with their lives…through those actions, to bring God to the forefront of our minds and hearts. It stops us during our day to think about God in our life.

These two Sabbath controversies are about observing the Sabbath day rightly, but it is also ultimately about how we should honor and love God and neighbor. That dual command of loving God and neighbor that Jesus lifted up over and over again is critical to interpreting the scene put before us today. Loving God and neighbor as ourselves, reflecting the biblical teachings and mandates, proves the highest form of worship and holy living according to Jesus. Our actions should embody this faith. Yet, this wasn’t new with Jesus…just sometimes not properly applied or understood. Many of the earliest Jewish interpretations (through many today) always emphasize that saving a life always overrides Sabbath law.[iv] They agree with Jesus’ interpretation.

Name whatever hot button political issue you like…consider any ethical dilemma you are facing (or our nation might face for that matter)…we are to consult scripture and discern our response the best we can. (Hopefully, we do so in community.) According to Luther, the prophets, and Jesus, loving God and neighbor as ourselves is to remain our ultimate maxim and measure. When justice and mercy are at odds, there is to be a bias toward mercy.

Yet when we are asked to love others, this doesn’t mean we aren’t to love our community, family, or ourselves and automatically ignore any of our risks or needs. No, no, no, the context matters, and that’s what makes Christian ethics so difficult. The context matters. Our options and gifts that we have been given matter. Our willingness to be open to God’s love and sharing that love with others matters. We should wrestle with our problems intentionally, not fall back into some kind of autopilot, for if we have not love, we gain nothing. (So, St. Paul argued.)

As we face the many controversies of our own time, I am not called here as pastor to provide you specific, political answers for your life. I’m human, and I can be just as wrong or more wrong than you. (I’m wrong all the time…ask my wife.) Instead, what I wish to do is encourage us all to engage the issues of our days in a faith-centered, faith-filled, intentional way as Jesus did. In doing so, seek to be gracious and humble. Seek to listen more than we talk…to love more than we judge or condemn…to try to understand and be empathetic toward the opposition rather than for us to worry about being understood…because when we do that, then we might just learn something. All these hot button issues are important. In some cases, they are life or death matters. So, I don’t think we should expect easy, pat answers…We should more likely expect a cross.

Therefore, our Savior is rightly consulted and trusted: through prayer and bible study…through following Christ’s own example of humility, gentleness and peace…and yes, through listening to the concerns and cares of our neighbors…even those opposed to us…even those we might think have lost their way or lost their minds…for God has often used “the least of these” to help redirect others whom God loves. It might even be helpful to take a moment to rest, to step away from all that troubles us, or to find others to share our time with. So, don’t feel obligated to post that meme that might insult another or stir the pot. If you see something offensive to you, it is ok to turn the other cheek and scroll right by it. After all, among all the controversies Jesus faced and busyness of starting his ministry with others, there’s one little verse today that we might have missed (v. 12)…this is about Jesus: “Now during those days he went out to the mountain to pray; and he spent the night in prayer to God.” Facing all these controversies and dangers, he stopped to pray, to rest.

I don’t have all the answers to the troubles of our time any more than you, and that’s ok, because we are not God. Yet, we can turn to God in trust. We can seek to love one another as best as we are able, even our enemy. As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe ourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience (Colossians 3:12). Fast and pray, repenting of our own sins first, before trying to fix others…because we really cannot fix anybody. That’s the way of true wisdom; leading us to where we need to be…walking with Jesus as his disciples…loving and learning as we go. Amen.

[i] “How to Cope with Stress and Change,” Newport Healthcare (November 5, 2024) at https://www.newporthealthcare.com/resources/industry-articles/10-ways-to-cope-with-change/.

[ii] Allen, O. Wesley Jr. (2017) Commentary on Luke 6:1-16 at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/narrative-lectionary/healing-on-the-sabbath/commentary-on-luke-61-16-4.

[iii] https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/5724/jewish/Questions-Answers.htm

[iv] The Jewish Annotated New Testament, Editors: Amy-Jill Levine, Marc Zvi Brettler (2017). Oxford University Press. Footnotes on Luke 6.

My sermon starts at 21:40 on this video of our service from February 2, 2025.