"For They are Yours" - a sermon for the community of Urland Lutheran Church

Hello, friends - 

Today I had the joy and privilege of joining the Urland Lutheran Church community in their worship - got to preach and preside over communion for the second time. I ran into a lot of people who I knew, who knew my family, and who were all extraordinarily kind, genuine, and warm-hearted. It was a fantastic morning! Here's the sermon manuscript, beginning with the Gospel text - John 17:6-19. 

"I have revealed you to those whom you gave me out of the world. They were yours; you gave them to me and they have obeyed your word. Now they know that everything you have given me comes from you. For I gave them the words you gave me and they accepted them. They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours. All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them. I will remain in the world no longer, but they are still in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name, the name you gave me, so that they may be one as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them and kept them safe by that name you gave me. None has been lost except the one doomed to destruction so that Scripture would be fulfilled.

I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of my joy within them. I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified."

Friends, grace to you and peace from God our Creator and God’s Son Jesus the Christ. Amen.

Thank you for having me today. My name is Dean Safe. I’m a Cannon Falls native, having grown up on a farm just a few miles from here. I’m currently studying at Luther Seminary to become a pastor in the ELCA. I’ve been a lifelong member of Spring Garden Lutheran Church, just up the road. I’m thankful to Pastor Yackel for offering me the opportunity to be here today, and it is my joy to join you in your worship this morning.

In May of 2012, I was a new college graduate, with my Bachelor of Arts in English Literature and Creative Writing. My parents, when I was in college, always wanted me to have a plan – “What are you going to do with your degree?”, they’d ask. Instead of going to find a job that paid a normal-person’s-living-wage, I decided to go work in the mountains of Washington State at Holden Village, a small Lutheran retreat center, where I cooked for a year, for almost no money. I made some smart life choices.

I’ve always been really bad at saying goodbye, and this journey to Holden Village was no exception. I was facing the facts that I wouldn’t see my family for months, and I’d be far away from the close-knit community I had been raised in. I had decided to take the Amtrak Empire Builder out west, and so here we stood in the train station, my mom, my dad, and I, at 11:00 at night, saying goodbye, with a “Be safe”, and “We’ll see you later”, and “Have fun!” It was a whirlwind of emotions – elation, excitement, terror, and deep sadness – as I turned away from my parents, stepped onboard the train, and found a seat. I wasn’t sure if I was ready to say goodbye, to leave Cannon Falls and all that I knew – but I boarded the train anyway.

The next day, I found myself surrounded by some pretty fascinating people. I ran into a man who had plans for an off-the-grid homestead in eastern Montana, and he told me how he never cared to marry and just wanted to raise chickens. There was another guy who was thrown off the train and arrested in Glasgow, Montana, and a kind elderly woman paid for my breakfast the second morning aboard. I finally made my way to Holden after 38 hours traversing the western half of our country, and I quickly found myself wrapped up in all that Holden Village has to offer – work, play, worship, and friends. I had traded one community; my home of Cannon Falls, for another.

Our Gospel text for today is also concerned with farewell, in prayer form. In John’s account we encounter Jesus saying goodbye to his disciples. Jesus is leaving his followers, his work – what he knows, in order that the disciples may carry on his work and ultimately for Christ to fulfill his mission – death on the cross for the salvation of the whole world. There is no turning back from this point, as in the scene after this he is arrested, beaten, and crucified, in rapid succession. He has been telling his followers that he must go to his Father, and has eluded plenty to the death that he will die. His disciples don’t necessarily understand. Jesus knows he has one more chance, after a succession of farewell speeches, and he knows that he has to get this one right. Jesus prays a prayer of goodbye and farewell that is deeply meaningful and intentional towards both the disciples as well as to us today.

Jesus’ relationship with his disciples is intimate – after all, they have been talking, teaching, and doing God’s work together for the past three years – for all of Christ’s public ministry. He prays to keep his disciples in God’s love as he says, “They knew with certainty that I came from you, and they believed that you sent me. I pray for them. I am not praying for the world, but for those you have given me, for they are yours.” I think Christ knows that the road ahead will be hard. He’s tried to teach them, through his series of farewell discourses, how life will be after he is ascended to the Father, but I don’t think the disciples yet fully understand just how important this is. In Jesus’ death, the ministry is handed over to the people, to the disciples – and that is no small task. They are being charged with speaking words of peace, doing acts of justice and reconciliation, and telling of God’s intentions for the whole world.

The disciples won’t always be liked, however, for doing this. Jesus says later in the prayer, “I have given them your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one.” There will be people who will be against their words, against their actions, and the road in ministry won’t always be perfect. When they were working with Jesus, God had protected them, but now Christ must depart. I can imagine the disciples hearing these words being fearful and unsure what to expect in the coming days and months. In the end, almost all of the disciples die defending the faith that Christ instilled. But, no matter what, Jesus assures them that they belong to God – for they are not of the world any more than Jesus himself is. They have been together for three years, and through Christ’s actions they have seen how God works in the world. Their work together has been full of holy and ordinary moments, and Jesus promises that it won’t stop once Jesus is taken down from the cross.

We here at Urland Lutheran, at Spring Garden, at St. Pius, at First Baptist, at St. Ansgars and the Church around the world have the joy of finding out what God is doing in our lives and in the lives of other people. This prayer is ultimately about the love of Jesus that is for the people, and that includes you and your neighbor and me. We are each claimed by God to use our gifts and talents for the continued ministry of the church. What we do each day might not seem like much, and it might not seem like it’s important. We look at what the disciples did, in the era of the early church, and wonder how we compare. That’s the beauty of how God works, though. We are called to use our gifts, no matter what they are, or how significant a contribution they bring – because we are all a part of the Christian community and all of it advances God’s work here on earth which is full of reconciliation, justice, and words of hope in our broken, messy world.

My friends, we are lucky. Because we know that this prayer, the one that Jesus prayed for his disciples before his death, is not only for them. It is also for us, today, in Cannon Falls, Minnesota. We still are protected and called by the love of God, and we are still sanctified in the truth of Christ’s promises as we continue to carry out ministry together. It is a prayer of farewell to the disciples but it is also a prayer of invitation, one that we are welcomed into each and every day. I encourage you this week to notice the ways you see Christ’s love intersecting with your everyday life, because I promise you – we are called beloved of God each and every day. For that, I say “Thanks be to God”. Amen. 

God's Peace,

Dean 

"We are the Branches" - a sermon for the community of St. Andrew's Lutheran Church

Hello, friends -

Today I had the privilege and joy of leading the community of St. Andrew's Lutheran Church in worship, as well as preaching and presiding over communion for the first time! What an fun, fun time - I found myself smiling like an idiot the whole time I was in front. The people that make up that congregation have such sincere hearts, and it is a work of God to see how intentionally they worship. A fantastic day. Without further ado, here's my sermon manuscript:


"John 15:1-8 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vine grower. 2He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. 3You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. 4Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. 5I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. 6Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples."

Friends, grace to you and peace from God the Creator and the risen Son, Jesus the Christ. Amen.

It is a joy to be here today at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church. My name is Dean Safe. I am just wrapping up my second year at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, where I am studying to be a pastor. Next year, I’ll be going out on internship to Pelican Rapids, Minnesota, where for a year I will try on the role of pastor. I got my beginning in this very congregation, however, where for a year I worked in the Grand Rapids community and among you faithful people. It is a joy to be back here once again leading worship and preaching – thank you for having me.

I grew up in the country, on a dairy farm nestled on the plains and hills of southeastern Minnesota. Some of my earliest memories are earthy – the smell of the cows in the barn, the sight of corn being harvested, and the sound of onions being pulled from the garden. We had a large garden just up from our house, and my grandfather was the gardener. He told me when I was small that you could pluck an onion up, and most times they were so sweet he could eat them like apples. He would wash them under the hose and eat them right there. I never understood how he could do that. Every year after the harvest was out he would cover our garden in leaves, and sometimes trim back and prune our strawberry patches when they got too big – so that next year, the garden would be abundant with ripe fruit and we would have all we needed. My grandfather was an excellent teacher, and got me interested in what it means to tend a garden – planting, watering, waiting, and harvesting – that rhythm of life is central to producing fruits and vegetables that are perfectly ripe and ready to be picked. Today, we still garden together.

Our text for today in the Gospel of John finds Jesus using gardening metaphors – pruning, bearing fruit, branches withering, and the like, and at first you can feel like you’re lost in metaphor trying to understand what this passage means. I spent a lot of time over these past few weeks conversing with friends in order to understand what this text is saying. I, admittedly, am still working through it myself, but I think there are treasures in this text that speak volumes to God’s working in the world through God’s love. I must be clear about something before beginning. I don’t think that this text is speaking about salvation – because it can be very much read as “some people are in, and some people are out”. In Christ, our salvation has been decided, and I firmly believe that every single person in this sanctuary is extraordinarily loved by a God who does radical, earth changing things. Your belief, whether you call out to God in prayer regularly or haven’t in years, doesn’t disqualify you. Your heart, your disappointments, your failures, and your actions – those don’t disqualify you. Know that God has laid claim to you and calls you his beloved each and every moment.

This text is not about salvation. Rather, I believe that this text is speaking about what it means to abide in something. To abide means generally to remain, continue, or stay invested in something, and that easily translates into our lives today – we are dedicated to our jobs, we are invested in our family, and are involved in our church and our life together. Those are all good things. But what about if things aren’t so great right now? I know I’ve kept a bad job, and stayed in an unhealthy relationship a time or two because I was afraid of how I would be perceived if things changed – I abided, I remained in situations that weren’t good. Even if what we abide in isn’t healthy or life giving, it’s admittedly hard to change habits or ways.

This is where today’s Gospel lesson comes in – this is where Jesus intersects our very own realities, no matter how good or bad life is right now. The text today is part of Jesus’s farewell speeches, that he gives to his disciples and followers in preparation for his crucifixion, essentially saying The ministry is turning to you now, so this is how you should live. The words Jesus speaks are ones of invitation and welcome. Yes, he says, life will be difficult. You will be persecuted, you will be beaten down, you will become weary of what this life holds for you – but know that in my resurrection life you will encounter a hope beyond your wildest imagination. This is where we meet Jesus in the text today. He uses metaphor. God is the vine grower, Jesus himself is the true branch. We, the people, the followers, are branches. We either grow fruit or we don’t. We either abide in Christ, or we don’t. Regardless, I believe God still calls us God’s beloved.

That’s a question worth pondering, I think. What does it mean to “abide” in Christ? I could offer theological responses on what that means, but I think a simple answer will be more than enough. God gives us the choice as to whether or not we want to live fully in Christ’s promises for us and for the world. To not abide in the life that Christ offers does not mean damnation, but rather that things aren’t as full and as vibrant as they could possibly be. When we get weighed down with whatever is difficult in our life, it does become difficult to notice Christ in our midst. I’ve noticed that in myself. When I get too focused on the things that hurt, I lose sight of what it means to be a Christ follower. Loving others becomes difficult. Doing ministry becomes a chore – and I know that that is not what God intends. He intends for this: for us to abide and bear fruit. To put it simply, those who live in Christ experience what the Spirit brings forth in each of us – love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Those who abide in Christ are continually refined – pruned, as it is in the text – to continue to bear more good fruit, more works of ministry, to live humbly, honestly, and authentically out of the Christian life. As I said, the choice is ours.

Jesus continues on to say that “Abide in me as I abide in you” – that when we are living life in Christ’s hope, then so is Christ in us. When we are abiding in Christ and he is our true hope and our highest joy, suddenly the things that hurt aren’t as hurtful. Mourning will turn into joy. We love our neighbor and we love ourselves because we know that Christ abides in us and loves us. And that, my friends, is what it’s all about. I believe that it is happening in our very midst. It is evident in the things we do in this congregation. In my year here at St. Andrew’s, and even now – I have the joy of witnessing ministry done and conversations had that have been full of that kind of life, from pie auctions to Grace House work to wedding policy conversations to so much more. All of that, done out of abiding in Christ’s life, furthers God’s work in this world. We are, even 2000 years later, living in the footsteps of the first disciples and followers.

Christ, through God, has encountered us in real and tangible ways as we do ministry here at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church. Good, rich fruit has been produced, and as we continue to do this work together in the resurrection hope that Jesus offers, I encourage you to look for ways you find yourself – or not – abiding in the risen Christ. Where does your life intersect with the holy? Notice where you are bearing fruit, because if it is in Christ, you will live in abundance, and I promise there, you will find the very heart of God. Thanks be to God. Amen.

God's Joy this night, my friends -
Dean