THE NINETEENTH SUNDAY AFTER
PENTECOST
Year A, Lectionary 29
October 19, 2014
1 Thessalonians 1:1-10
Matthew 22:15-22
Pastor David Tryggestad
Concordia Evangelical
Lutheran Church
Duluth, Minnesota
The painting of the side of the church was completed this
week. Now, when the sun shines, you can hardly bear to look directly at the
side of the building for the brilliant glare.
So I’m wondering how Concordia Lutheran
Church will be known to
the community, now that the stain is gone.
About a year or so ago in the sauna at the YMCA, I was
talking about Concordia. One of the guys asked where we were located. He’s not
from around this neighborhood, so when I described the location, he had to
think about it for a while. He wondered if we were Glen Avon Presbyterian down Woodland Avenue.
When I told him we were further north, just below Hartley Nature
Center, he asked, “Are
you the church with the big stain on the side?” “Yes, that’s Concordia,” I
said.
“How appropriate,” I said, “to be known as the church with the
big stain on the side. Our theology holds that we are both saint and sinner,
and the stain of sin is always with us.”
So I’m wondering how Concordia Lutheran
Church will be known to
the community, now that the stain is gone.
Just last week I had a conversation with a member who is not
sure that it’s a good thing that the church is freshly painted. “The stain
reminded me of the blood of Jesus,” she said. I thought to myself, “It’s a good
thing to be constantly reminded of the source of our salvation.”
So I’m wondering how Concordia Lutheran
Church will be known to
the community, now that the stain is gone.
A month of so ago I ran into an acquaintance of mine who is
a member of another church of another denomination here in Duluth. It’s a congregation that worships in
an exquisitely beautiful building, and they have a large endowment to keep the
facility in perfect condition. The first thing he said to me was, “When are you
going to paint your church and get rid of that big stain on the side of the building?”
So I’m wondering how Concordia Lutheran
Church will be known to
the community, now that the stain is gone.
How will we be known?
Many years ago Kennan Callahan wrote a book, Twelve Keys to an Effective Church. His
research indicated that effective churches that bring satisfaction to their members have ministries that change people’s
lives. He also noted that poorly kept facilities detract from effective ministry and lead to dissatisfaction in ministry. I’m thinking of the stain on the side
of our building. But what was intriguing to me was that, when deficiencies in
facilities are corrected—like a new paint job—the end result it not higher satisfaction in the overall
ministry. In other words, the elimination of dissatisfaction does not, in and of itself, result in satisfaction. I suspect that in a few
weeks, no one will drive past the church and exclaim: “Look at the new paint
job!” Rather, it will be taken for granted. It’s expected that a church—or any
public building—will keep the facilities in good repair.
So that brings me back to my question that has become my
mantra: So I’m wondering how Concordia
Lutheran Church
will be known to the community, now that the stain is gone.
We will not become known as the church that painted over their stain.
This takes us to our Second Reading from the Apostle Paul,
his First Letter to the Thessalonians:
And you became imitators of us and
of the Lord, for in spite of persecution you received the word with joy
inspirited by the Holy Spirit, so that you became an example to all the
believers in Macedonia
an in Achaia. For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you not only in Macedonia
and Achaia, but in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we
have no need to speak about it. For the people of those regions report about us
what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to
serve a living and true God . . . (1 Thessalonians 1:6-9)
“For the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you . . .
in every place your faith in God has become known, so that we have no need to
speak about it.”
Imagine a church that has no need of advertising—no
billboards, no radio spots, no newspaper ads. Imagine a church that has no need
of advertising, because “the word of the Lord has sounded forth from you” and
“in every place your faith has become known, so that we have no need to speak
about it.”
So I’m wondering how Concordia Lutheran
Church will be known to
the community, now that the stain is gone.
The church in Thessalonica—and throughout Macedonia—northern Greece—became known for their
generosity. Hear Paul in his Second Letter to the Corinthians: “. . . for
during a severe ordeal of affliction their abundant joy and their extreme
poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part” (2 Corinthians
8:2).
Scholars are unanimous in telling us that First
Thessalonians is the first letter of Paul that we have, dated from around ten
to fifteen years after the death of Jesus. It is the earliest Christian writing
we have. Ancient coins discovered in Thessalonica indicate that people in the
city honored Julius Caesar as “God” and worshiped Emperor Octavian as a “son of
God.”
This brings us to our Gospel. The Jewish leaders, trying to
trap Jesus, ask, “Is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor—Caesar—or not?” Jesus asks them to produce a coin and
they present a denarius, a Roman coin with Caesar’s head on it. As it was
considered idolatry to pay homage to any graven image other than to God, the
Jewish leaders have already indicted themselves by having in their possession
such coins.
We have a bird feeder outside our dining room, and our
favorite thing to do is to sit and watch the many birds that come to feast. The
problem is that the squirrels have managed to outsmart the so-called
squirrel-proof feeder. This past week, almost immediately after I had once
again filled the feeder to the top with birdseed, one particular squirrel came
and held forth over his newly-claimed kingdom. He chased all the other
squirrels away and scared off all the birds. The birdseed was his and his
alone. I grieved for all the birds he chased away.
I thought about us and our human penchant to believe that
all that we have is ours and ours alone. Meanwhile our Lord is watching through
the dining room window, lamenting that we guard so closely the abundance the
Lord gives to us, intended that we might bless others. Our Confirmation lessons
these past two weeks have been about God’s Covenant with the Patriarchs and
Matriarchs, that God blessed them to be a blessing.
So I’m wondering how Concordia Lutheran
Church will be known to
the community, now that the stain is gone.
Our Lord is calling us to be glad and generous stewards of
all that God has given us. What would it take for Concordia Lutheran
Church to be known to the
community as the church of generosity?
Thanks be to God!
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