Sermons By Alan Bentrup

Tonight Jesus washes those chipped and cracked and broken pieces. He’s lovingly preparing these chipped and cracked and broken pieces, because Jesus has something better in store for them. And Jesus is lovingly preparing us, too. Because Jesus has something better in store for us.

I invite you to join us for the triduum, the great three days, as we walk from the upper room to the garden to the cross. You’ll be seeing these bowls again this week. Their brokenness, as a symbol of our brokenness, will be a guide for our Holy Week. I can’t wait to see what God can do with them. And I can’t wait to see what God can do with us. I bet it will be so, so beautiful.

With each step Jesus is saying, “don’t be afraid, I am with you.” With each step Jesus is saying, “you can’t do it all, you need each other.” With each step Jesus is saying, “I will heal you, forgive you, and make you whole.” With each step Jesus is saying, “I will pursue you to the very end even to death and beyond.” With each step Jesus is saying, “I love you.” We just need to open our hands, let go of the stones, and hold on to Jesus.

Learning to love, and learning what to love…learning what to hold on to and what to let go of…that’s the real work of Lent. That’s when Lent gets through to me. That’s when I stop doing Lent, and when I start letting Lent do it’s work on me.

Jesus sees you when you are poor and when you are rich. Jesus sees you when you are hungry and when you are well-Ξlled. Jesus sees you when you are weeping and when you are laughing. Jesus sees you when you are excluded and when you are brought in. Jesus sees you. Even on the days when it is hard to look in the mirror…Jesus sees you. There isn’t anything you can do to change that. Nothing you do can make God love you less, and God won’t ever give up on you. God is with us. God is for us. God loves us. God sees us.

Jesus has a broad and expansive and abundant vision for his ministry, and the people seem to have a diΛerent, more narrow and scarce vision. They are so caught up in their own agenda they can’t hear, let alone participate in, God’s agenda. What do you think? Does that ever happen in today’s world? In the church? In our own lives?

Will we ask ourselves what Jesus is telling us to do? What is Jesus telling you to do? What is Jesus telling St. Martin’s to do?

Where does Jesus meet us in our expectations?

“...the Word became Οesh and lived among us.” It did in Jesus. And it did in two Ξshermen from Virginia. It did in the lawn guy with a truck. So, what about you and me?

That’s why we gather on this night year after year. To hear once again the story of God’s Hope. God’s Peace. God’s Joy. God’s never-ending, never failing, never-ceasing Love. No matter where you are. No matter what you’re feeling. No matter the burden you’re carrying. Listen to what God is saying to you…open your eyes to what God is showing you…through a little boy born this night… I love you any way you feel, no matter what you do. I love you any way you are, I love you because you’re you!

It is Advent. We’re waiting for the world to change. We’re waiting for our world to change. And that usually starts by us making a change. So go and do the next right thing.

If Christ is our king, then we are free to truly see each other… If Christ is our king, then we are free to truly hear each other… If Christ is our king, then we are free to truly love each other.

What does the world need St. Martin’s to be? What does God want St. Martin’s to be? We aren’t the St. Martin’s of Ξfty years ago when those six families got together. We aren’t the St. Martin’s of 21 months ago before COVID. We aren’t even the St. Martin’s of four months ago before I moved here. We can’t be limited by the ideas of who we were, or even who we wanted to be, in those times and in those places. Because we are St. Martin’s, now. This time. This place. And we have to open our imaginations to what new thing Jesus might be calling us to be.

We’re called to love when it’s hard. We’re called to love when it might cost us something. We’re called to love when we don’t know how the journey will look. We’re called to love, period.

This blind man could see that following the way of Jesus meant risking ridicule by shouting out. This blind man could see that following the way of Jesus meant giving up any thoughts of power. This blind man could see that following the way Jesus meant leaving behind everything he had.

Jesus is inviting the young man to give up relying on himself and instead become a disciple. To become part of something greater than he can imagine. To become part of something that will change the world. And Jesus is asking us to do the same thing.

We’re about to baptize two babies. Their parents and Godparents will make some promises, the whole congregation will make some promises, and then these two little babies will be baptized. They didn’t do anything to deserve it, they don’t even yet know what it means. But God knows what it means. It means that they are, today, a child of God. They are, today, a sibling of all of us. And it means they have everything they need to follow Jesus. Sure, they’re going to grow and learn and do great things. But nothing they can learn or do will make them any more a part of God’s family. Nothing they can learn or do will ever make their voice more important to God.

Regardless of our career, our call is the same. Sometimes that journey will be scary. Sometimes that journey will be lonely. But we still must go. And like Tommy...like Bishop Chase...we know that Jesus is with us every step of the way.

I wonder if this new story can help us redefine our priorities to be more in line with those of Jesus…. I wonder if this new story can help us better see each other as brothers and sisters and siblings in Christ... I wonder if this new story can help us take God more seriously than we take ourselves… Everything we do here, from worship to formation to fellowship to service in the community, the purpose of all of this is to help us learn what it means to be followers of Jesus. I wonder what Jesus is going to teach us next…?

Scripture doesn’t ever really give us an answer to the question of suffering. Scripture is full of stories of bad things happening to the righteous and the unrighteous, however we’d define those groups. Scripture is full of bad things happening to people that love God. We’re not promised a life free of suffering. We’re not promised a life free from heartbreak. But God does promise to draw near.