September 27, 2015 – Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29; Mark 9:38-50

Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29; Mark 9:38-50

Spirit of Community

Lectionary 26B – September 27, 2015

First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB

 

The people are hungry for something besides Manna and Moses is at his wits end today.

See: God called him to be the leader for this people.

God called him to be the one to lead the people out of slavery in Egypt.

And God called him to be the one to lead the people through the wilderness to

the Land of Promise.

In Confirmation Class we learn that the time the Israelites were wandering in the

wilderness is time of learning for them.

They have to un-learn the way of life they were accustomed to in Egypt.

They were accustomed to a way of life in which the few rich exploited the few poor.

In which a few rich people hoarded the wealth and left the vast majority in poverty.

In the wilderness, the Israelites learn a new way:

the way in which all the gifts of a gracious God are shared equitably for

the good of all people.

God begins to teach the people by using manna,

a food God graciously sends to the people every morning.

The people learn their daily work consists of collecting the manna and

distributing it equally among all the people, so that none have too much and

none have too little.

They are learning a new way of living and being in the wilderness and

it seems to be totally different than the way of Egypt – or any other Middle Eastern

Empire of the time.

It will take 40 years – a whole generation will have to be schooled in this way –

before they are ready to graduate and live what they have learned in the Land of Promise.

 

Today we learn that the people are not satisfied with the manna God provides.

I suppose we can totally relate to that.

It seems very human to want more – we often live in a state of perpetual dissatisfaction.

And that is not necessarily a bad thing.

It leads us to want to improve things and make things better.

It leads to innovation and progress.

But there is a downside, the downside of greed and of never being satisfied with

the amazing gifts you have and of always wanting more more more.

In the story today, the people want meat, and not just manna.

And Moses is at his wits end with the people.

They complain – and he is expected to do something about it!!!!

So Moses, taking a cue from the people, voices his own complaint to God.

If he were able to text God he would text, “Hey God!  Guess what! NMP! Not my problem!”

Which is essentially what he is saying.

In brief, he tells God he is sick and tired of trying to care for this people alone.

He feels like God is not doing the divine share to care for this people.

And he tells God, correctly, “This people is YOUR people, not mine.  They belong to you.”

Sounds like a legitimate complaint to me.

The thing is: Moses trusts God to hear his complaint – and to respond.

 

Moses is feeling what I’m sure every generation of church leaders have felt.

The feeling that the burden of caring for the people is too great.

The feeling that the weight of responsibility for a single person to bear is too much.

The feeling that you are alone in your work and

that it is wearying work and that you cannot carry on and that maybe God is far away

and maybe doesn’t even care.

I’m sure every pastor has felt that at some point, and some I think feel it all the time.

But I think the same holds true for lay leaders in the church.

Many generations of lay leaders have felt that they do so much and that the responsibility

can be overwhelming.

 

Today is the eve of my 15th anniversary of being a pastor –

I was ordained 15 years ago tomorrow right here at First Lutheran Church.

And it will be the 15th anniversary of my being the pastor of First Lutheran Church tomorrow.

When I came, I admit: I did feel at times like Moses.

I felt like there was so much to do and so much to accomplish and that

it was too much for me to bear.

So early on, when Larry Sigurdson was our president, he asked me: how can council help?

What can we do to make the burden of your work easier?

And there were some specific things we addressed, and that was helpful.

But deep down I knew that the best thing for the work God wanted to do here was to

become a true community of people who felt like they were all invested in

this ministry together and that they all had a share in it.

 

Well, I don’t know what Moses expected God to do about it.

Did he just expect God to swoop in and perform miracles?

Did he just expect divine intervention?

Did he expect God to just wave a magic wand and do everything and

just make the problems go away?

I don’t know.

But what we all know is: that is just not the way God rolls.

Those of us who know Jesus’s story know that the first thing Jesus does is

to call disciples to help him in his work.

It doesn’t seem the most efficient way to bring healing and mend the universe.

But it’s the way God wants to work.

Those of us who know Jesus’s story know that when the disciples are faced with

5000 hungry people and look to Jesus to provide the answer, he simply says to them:

You give them something to eat.”

Jesus has confidence in them that they can do what needs to be done,

more confidence certainly than they have in themselves.

And so it does not surprise us that God doesn’t swoop in and take away Moses’s responsibility

and leadership and care.

Instead, God shares that responsibility out among the people.

God finds others to share Moses’s burden.

God takes some of the Spirit he has given to Moses and gives it to 72 others.

A couple of them are not in the tent at the time of distribution – but no matter.

Moses just says to people who complain about the improper order of that,

“Would that everyone had the Spirit on them!” Yah!

And those of us who know Jesus’s story know that on the day of Pentecost,

50 days after Easter Sunday, Jesus does indeed give his Spirit to all people,

so that in their baptisms all God’s people receive a share of Jesus’ Spirit

to do the work of Jesus in the world,

the work of healing and mending and sharing.

 

Friends, this is happening here at First Lutheran Church.

I have not felt for a long time that I am carrying this responsibility alone.

I never feel like I am alone in my work or that it is too heavy for me.

I feel the Spirit so strongly at work here among all of you, who, together with me,

share the burden of caring for one another and for this community God has placed us in

at Sargent and Victor.

When Melinda and I put away last year’s Community Meal Sign Up Sheet this past week,

it was so gratifying to see all the spaces filled in of people who signed up to feed

the hungry of their own free will and at their own expense!

The miracle of manna is happening right here at Sargent and Victor!

Jesus says, “You give them something to eat, you have my Spirit”: and you do!

To me, that sign up sheet is always a miracle and proof that the Spirit of Jesus rests on

the people here at First Lutheran Church.

And that is not the only proof.

 

Week by week not a day goes by that I don’t see the miracle of shared ministry,

of the Spirit truly being poured out on all people,

for the healing and mending God intends.

As recently as last Sunday I saw a powerful example of that.

One of you came to me before worship, feeling so helpless in the face of trouble.

Feeling so alone and isolated – feeling that the burden of caring for a spouse in chronic pain

who is having an impossible time getting off prescribed pain medication was

too much to bear.

At your wits end.

Well, like Moses, I have actually learned something in wilderness school here at First Lutheran.

I’ve learned, like the disciples of Jesus this morning, that the Spirit of Jesus is at work

all over the place, not just in the properly called and ordained person.

I’ve learned that the Spirit of God is at work among all the baptized.

And so when one of you came to me with such a burden,

I knew precisely who could lighten that load.

Because I had seen here that morning two of you who had struggled with precisely the same

            burden – and who were now experiencing relief and health and well-being and freedom.

I said to the burdened one, “I know exactly who you need to talk with.  Come with me now!

And so the two shared their experiences, their struggles, their hard won wisdom,

as well as resources in the medical community they have found to be helpful.

And two hours later, heavy crosses that were borne were being turned into resurrection life.

And this week I have continued to witness new life, new hope, and

the beginning of healing in the continuing of this story.

I have seen the Spirit powerfully at work in this community.

That is the power of God’s people gathered together in trust and in hope,

That is the power of intentional Christian community.

For any who think you can be christian without being a member of a church community,

I hate to say it but it is impossible, as least in the imagination of Jesus.

The church is where the spirit is shared for the benefit of all.

No one has the entire spirit of God except Jesus – we each have a bit of it.

We need one another, we share the spirit with one another like happened last Sunday,

and together we share it outside these walls.

 

There is nothing more gratifying than witnessing that Spirit at work here at First Lutheran.

The way it is shared so generously and graciously,

with one another and with our friends in the community.

I am so grateful to be part of God’s people here at Sargent and Victor.

I am so grateful that together we share God’s Spirit for the work God calls us to do.
I am so grateful to share the burden of that work with you, the work of manna sharing,

the work of sharing the gifts God gives us for the benefit of all.

So, together, let us say, “Amen.”

 

Pastor Michael Kurtz

 

 

Sermons

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