Blog – Page 41

The Next Right Thing

February 9, 2025 By Vicar at Mount Olive

God calls us to be healing for this world. But often, we count ourselves out because we don’t believe we have what it takes. But if we trust God and do the next right thing, God transforms our hearts to prepare us for each moment that we’re in.

Vicar Natalie Wussler
The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, Lect. 5 C
Texts: Isaiah 6:1-8; Psalm 138; 1 Corinthians 15:1-11; Luke 5:1-11

Beloved in Christ, grace to you and peace in the name of the Father, and of the ☩ Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

The invitation has been sent. God has called you, and me, and this community to be essential pieces in the healing in this world. To walk in justice, and mercy. To be uplifters of marginalized voices and be Christ to a world that cries out for hope. To bear the Gospel that we have received, as Paul says. To enter into the pain and despair of the other and find some semblance of hope. God wants us and invites us to get out of our boats and follow beyond what we ever thought we could do. But that’s the problem, isn’t it? God’s call to us very rarely lets us stay within the realm of what we think we can do. And we’re usually called to do hard things during volatile times and sometimes we worry we don’t have what it takes.

We see this huge gap between who we are in this moment and who we think we need to be to embrace God’s call. We get scared that we won’t be able to bridge that gap, and ashamed that we’re not where we’re “supposed to be.” We disqualify ourselves before we even have a chance to prove these doubts wrong. The fear of doing the wrong thing, or saying the wrong thing, or not having the right resume, and the shame of all the ways we’ve screwed up or missed the mark paralyzes us. And instead of acting in love, mercy, and justice, fear causes us to retreat into ourselves, to stay in the familiar and build walls around what we think can and can’t do. Questions and doubts start running through us–how could I bring any good to such a time as this? But I’m probably too messed up and broken for this, right? Why would God ever want to use me? Beloved, hear this, if that’s ever been you, then you’re in the company of people like Isaiah and Peter and most other people who God calls in the Bible.

Because even after these two witness these manifestations of God’s divine power and God makes it very clear that Isaiah and Peter are wanted and needed for God’s mission in the world, this is how they respond: “Woe is me! I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips” says Isaiah. “Go away from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man”, Peter cries. Peter and Isaiah’s hearts race, as they remember all the ways they’ve missed the mark, all the moments they didn’t do the right thing or say the right thing.

And what a gift their reactions are to us! This is Isaiah, one of the most prolific and influential prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures, and Simon Peter, the one who Jesus later called the rock that the church will be built on. And THIS is where their God-given call starts. Afraid, doubtful, overwhelmed, ashamed. Remembering all their past failures, and not believing they have what it takes. But God still calls them. If that’s true for them in their doubt and worry, why not us? Not even our doubts in ourselves can keep us from the mission God’s given each one of us. We are still called. We are still needed.

And God continues to send out the invitation despite Peter and Isaiah’s knee-jerk self-deprecation. Isaiah needed forgiveness, so God gave him forgiveness. Peter was afraid, and Jesus took care of his fear. Almost as a way of saying, “yeah, what you’re worried about, that’s not really the main concern here. Now go, I’ve got work for you to do.” And the same can be said of you. Despite the problems, the inadequacies, and the sinfulness you might hyperfixate on, God sees you for what you are: a beloved child perfectly made for the moment you’re in. God sees you for all that you can do, all the people and places that need you to live as Christ, in a way only you can.

And so Isaiah and Peter take their next steps in their journeys, with an enthusiastic “Here am I, send me” from Isaiah, and Peter dropping all he’s ever known to follow a divine stranger. Their trust in God grows greater than their fear of inadequacies, and they follow. And with God as their strength and sustainer, they begin to do immeasurably more than either believed they were capable of. Isaiah preaches judgment and deliverance to the Israelites as the threat of exile comes closer, and Peter is a key leader in the earliest movements of the church. And their transformation is a promise to us. Because God molds our hearts and grows our capacity with each faithful next step. And step by step, the things you believed you were out of reach yesterday become the possibilities of today. You can trust that even if you stumble, God’s grace will pick you up and transform your insecurities into trust that God will give you what you need to be healing agents.

And it all starts with a call from God and a “yes” from us. And continues with us trusting God and doing the next right thing. To trust that God is with you and is a sure foundation. Trust that God is leading you to where you’re supposed to be. Trust that you are the work of God’s hands, that you are equipped for the moment you’re called to. Trust that you are not a mistake, and you are needed in this very moment.

And especially in those moments that make us feel small or powerless, or not good enough, like the world’s problems are too big and too hard for us to handle, we can call out to God, who strengthens our soul as the Psalmist says. We can trust that God will meet us where we are to give us the courage to take the next step forward, even if it is scary. We can trust that God will fill us with the love and compassion, the thirst for justice that we need to be agents of healing in the world and to be living manifestations of Christ. We can trust that God will give us a community to support and encourage us along the way, as food for the journey. And even though we don’t know where our journeys will lead, our faith and support for each other will give us the boldness to do the next right thing.

To take the next step. Do the next loving thing, the next compassionate thing. Love the next neighbor in front of you. Take the next step toward justice and mercy in whatever way you can. Do the next thing that creates joy that drives out fear. Breathe love into the next moment you’re in. The next thing the Holy Spirit leads you to.

And to trust that though we have been called to ventures that we’re not even sure if we’re good enough to walk, God will give us the faith and foundation to go out with good courage, to do the next right thing. And that along the way, it’s the God who created us and loves us dearly that is sustaining and supporting us, calling us beyond what we believe we can do and into deeper trust in our God and in ourselves.

In the name of the Father, and of the ☩ Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Worship, February 9, 2025

February 7, 2025 By Pr. Joseph Crippen

The Fifth Sunday after Epiphany, Lect. 5 C

Download worship folder for Sunday, February 9, 2025.

Presiding: The Rev. Art Halbardier

Preaching: Vicar Natalie Wussler

Readings and prayers: Peggy Hoeft, lector; Kat Campbell Johnson, assisting minister

Organist: Robert Buckley Farlee

Download next Sunday’s readings for this Tuesday’s noon Bible study.

Click here for previous livestreamed liturgies from Mount Olive (archived on the Mount Olive YouTube channel.)

The Olive Branch, 2/5/25

February 4, 2025 By office

Click here to read the current issue of The Olive Branch.

Even the Sparrows

February 2, 2025 By Pr. Joseph Crippen

God’s freedom and redemption are meant for all people, and we’re called to be a part of it.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Presentation of Our Lord
Texts: Psalm 84; Luke 2:22-40

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

We once had a bat in church in a former parish.

Bats are wonderful, but swooping down over worshippers’ heads, veering around the altar, these behaviors raise anxiety. So Psalm 84, which began our liturgy, is confusing. It delights in finding refuge, healing, and hope in God’s house, like finding an oasis in the desert. But then the psalmist gushes: “even the sparrow has found a home [here], and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young, by the side of your altars, O God.”

I’ve never met an altar guild who’d be thrilled at a bird’s nest adorning the side of the altar. Having birds take shelter in here isn’t an obvious sign to us of God’s love and care.

Maybe it should be. Here we find refuge and healing, sanctuary from a world of fear and danger. Here we find community and welcome, a place to rest, to pray, to be with God in God’s house.

But this psalm says our refuge in God is refuge when everyone has it. Even birds find safe harbor in the Temple, that’s how you know it’s God’s house. No one’s safe until everyone is safe.

Today we celebrate Jesus’ presentation in that Temple.

This coming to the temple wasn’t about refuge. It was a normal thing for Jewish families then, honoring tradition and God’s law. But two servants of God meet this new family and everything changes. One, Simeon, declares this baby to be God’s Christ, God’s Messiah, a light to non-Jews, and the glory of Israel. Simeon says that in Jesus all peoples are in God’s care. No one is left behind. And Simeon rightly says this means Jesus will cause problems, will be opposed, will expose people’s inner thoughts about God and the world.

Then Anna speaks about this child to “all who were looking for the redemption of Jerusalem,” Luke says. Naturally. She’s spent decades living in the Temple, centering her life on the God of Israel. But she seems to affirm only half of Simeon’s promise: this child will be the one to free Jerusalem. The glory of God’s people Israel, as Simeon said.

But Anna’s saying something very different, that, once we see all Jesus did and taught, will challenge us to re-think the whole idea of redemption and freedom. What it looks like, how God will accomplish it.

Throughout Jesus’ ministry, and if we’re honest, throughout Christian history, there’s been tragic confusion about God’s intentions and plan.

Anna’s people, “those looking for the redemption of Jerusalem,” could’ve hoped for to overthrow Roman occupation and politically free God’s people. This hope dogged Jesus even after the resurrection. When the Emmaus couple talk with the risen Jesus unawares, they sadly say, “we’d hoped that he was the one to redeem Israel.” To free us. In Acts 1, the disciples still asked if now he was going to restore the nation.

Christians have followed this path far too often. Whenever we get political power, Christians and Christian leaders try to cement control over it, assuming if we’re running things in Christ’s name it’s all good. But it’s usually led to destruction, oppression, slaughter, discrimination, inquisition, war, violence. Inevitably in world history if Christians make Jesus a political Messiah, trying to rule in his name, we’ll be doing some kind of evil.

Including today. Right wing Christianity in this country barely acknowledges the teachings of Jesus, the center of his mission and call, favoring making him a god-mascot whose image gives them permission to be in charge. To control others in his name, to do whatever benefits them with impunity and with the passion of believing God on their side. What they’re doing is an old, old game, using Christ as permission to act as power-hungry people, to cover up well-known human desires and need for control.

But at Emmaus Jesus doesn’t answer the couple, “Now I’m alive, I’ll take over.”

He opens their hearts to the Scriptures instead, to show what God’s plan actually is. And when the disciples want him to restore Israel he says to wait in the city for the Spirit to come upon them. Not so they can control others. So they can witness to God’s mission and love for the world.

The mission and love that is evident every time you open God’s Word. God’s care for those who are poor and oppressed fills the words of the whole Bible. God’s welcome to all who are outsiders, aliens, strangers, outcast, is everywhere. God’s healing grace for all who are broken, sad, grieving, sick, in pain, is central to God’s will throughout the whole of Scripture.

That’s what redemption means for God. The redemption of Jerusalem, Anna’s proclamation, is always only part of God’s promise. In the Torah, in the prophets, in the psalm today, in Simeon’s words and Jesus’ ministry, Israel is the start and all God’s people are the final goal.

And it’s not political freedom or power God promises. It’s freedom, redemption, to be the loving people God made in the first place. People who embody God’s care, God’s welcome, God’s healing grace. Who have the same no boundaries approach to any who are in need. Who are shaped by the Spirit to the same self-giving, vulnerable love the Triune God has repeatedly shown to the world.

Until everyone is safe, no one is safe. Until everyone knows God’s love, no one knows love.

And you know that, even when you come here to God’s house for refuge and healing. Even though you wish some days you could just make sure you were OK and didn’t have to think about all who are hurting and being hurt. Because as a pastor once said to me, “Once you know the grace of God is yours, how can you live knowing there are others who don’t know this for themselves?”

Even birds are welcome to nest in God’s house. All God’s creatures need to know God’s love. Only then can God’s dream of justice, love, and peace for all come to be.

What this will look like for our ministry here together, or for your own walk in Christ we need to talk about and listen and discern in these hard days. The answers will not always be obvious, but they will come. They won’t always be easy, but we are assured God’s Spirit will guide us and hold us in all things.

And little step by little step we’ll see with wonder how God’s home is broadening and embracing more and more into life and hope and justice and healing. Until our eyes, like Simeon’s, are able to see God’s salvation come into being.

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen