"Unbinding Glory;" Sermon for All Saints' Sunday by Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

The journey of the saints onward and into the Kingdom of God…  Sounds fairly surreal doesn’t it? Martin Luther said: “Being a saint isn't about what I do or don't do but about who I am in relationship with; God.”  We are both sinner and aspiring saint or as the original Latin says: “Simul Iustus et Peccator.”

Our lives are like the seasons in many ways with moments or tides of change—some more welcome than others, as well as some being grieved.  While others may find it easy to throw away the past and bury it forever, others can’t and we cling to it causing it to become a burden. Hope however is a great gift of faith that encourages us to carry on for a greater purpose and a greater goal.

That greater goal isn’t to build and climb upon a “Jacob’s Ladder” to worldly glory however… For as St. Paul said: “We all fall short of the Glory of God” and I might add that God’s glory is contrary to our understanding of Glory. It is another one of those abstract, “Pandora’s box” words that we have unfortunately woven the notion of glory to the ego—the world of the self. Since we have ventured away from the glory of God being the splendor of the New Creation with all its New Creatures living Grace as everything beautiful… How do we go forward?  In essence as the old sayings go, we have struggled and been challenged by ‘Living into an attitude of gratitude,’ feeling ‘blessed to be a blessing’ to others which is living hope, persevering onward for the Gospel’s sake—a greater purpose far beyond ourselves.

It is hard for where we are in the reality of a world chuck full of temptations to sin, to dwell in death and grieve… and on occasion be swayed by the empty promises of evil. Evil feeds our moments of desperation, teetering upon the edge of despair.  Many of the strategic speeches made in WWII by Adolf Hitler to a desperate German people actually fueled their despair to justify, frankly support the diabolical evil of ethnic cleansing, murder—destruction! The whole of World War II you could say was like the rise of Evil, then, as a shroud of death, war and destruction abroad.  ISIS is doing the same thing today by recruiting their radical ideologies through social media to young, impressionable minds…

During World War II, ordinary people were compelled to come forward to stay off evil even to the point of sacrificing their lives for a greater good.  Ordinary people like Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer who couldn’t turn an indifferent eye to the horrors that war laid bare.  I don’t think he should be labelled a saint for again as that scriptural insight from St. Paul nails it on the head: We all fall short of the glory of God for we are limited but God is NOT.  The actions and intentions of his heart, however, should continue to influence us.

Lutherans talking about the Holy Spirit is nearly an anomaly. I like to be a Maverick in that realm for I think it is critically vital to revealing the Biblical Truth—we cannot and should not deny the Spirit!  We have a hard time with it though, as well as the concept and practice of evangelism, though some of the alphabet soup-group Lutherans unabashedly still incorporate the word, “Evangelical” in their titles… Where perhaps they should be embarrassed by their poor incorporation of it!

Aside from that, the reality of aspiring towards the “beautiful attitude within the Beatitudes;” requires us to make very real in our hearts Christ’s Easter victory of defeating sin, death and the power of evil at that Cross, in that resurrection and ascension to a Kingdom we will only fully know upon our death.  Jesus in today’s Gospel says it loud and clear: ⁴⁰…“Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

If is that mirror of the Law our hearts need to use to remind us of what we must do in order to grow in Faith. For if we choose to cave into our struggles, evil’s temptations upon our lives… we deny ourselves of truthfully moving forward for a greater goal and purpose.

Right now the world is advancing but in all the wrong things you could say.  We have lots of technology out there, we have essentially “connected the world” through cyber space…. But we still have not connected or grown into the truth of who we are, whose we are and what we are really to be and do for heavenly gain, not material! We still murder, we still operate for the self and its gain and glory and we either deny or can’t love God and neighbor because we’ve made it all about us!

What we do and say is reliant on our understanding and development of faith—our spiritual, New Natured potential lies deeply planted by the Grace of God given to us by Christ Jesus, our Crucified Lord and Savior! Those who have gone before us as an example of living faithfully can still teach us many things.  The reality of the spiritual world is something we’ve only just started to tip toe into since it is beyond our understanding. 

I say this because I have for the past several months heard my grandmother’s voice speak to me through the white noise of my sound machine.  Every night around the same time about 2:30-3am, I can faintly hear her whisper my name and trailing disembodied statements of loving advice and concern for my future.  She has said things about not only meeting God but things about my future! It frankly is both fascinating as well as truly affirms for me in a very super-real sense that life continues on in dimensions of time and space that we cannot fathom but know is an aspect of the awesome, mysterious power, creation of God!  In short, the reality of my grandmother’s spirit “visiting” me affirms my faith greatly.

From death to New life is realizing a New Earth by being “down to earth” in faithful living, loving—all naturally born fruits of the Spirit nurtured by Grace.  The Franciscan order I will begin taking part in brings to bear a focus on what Luther says in the beginning: “Being a saint isn't about what I do or don't do but about who I am in relationship with God.” 

I want to conscientiously nurture my faith formation with intentional prayer, meditation and opening.  Opening my heart to new blessings the Lord needs me to continue to grow and be shaped by.  A blessing for this coming week was being able to be squeezed into a mini chapter retreat led by another spiritually focused community, the Society of the Holy Trinity.  They are not an order and incorporate different practices but BOTH groups are about shaping and nurturing that inner journey—relationship to God.  Those two days will be like the eye betwixt the storm, a well needed time of rest and prayer, together in spirit.

If we are going to take the reign of this world away from the Evil one; we must always be aspiring with humility, our calling to FAITH through Grace for the Glory of God, period. Saying this made me think of a recent Wired Word installment the Thursday night study looked at that featured a trend of what the author called as the “Non’s” going to seminary not for a calling to serve or for faith at all but simply to gain professional “training” in ethics.  Yikes, I’m sorry but this is a scary trend if you ask me.

Why this is a scary trend is simple: if we can’t or deny having faith or believing in anything how can we know and example compassion for others? It is not man-made, it is spiritually made! How can we be people of mercy, kindness, selflessness, consideration and care without believing/ living into a great purpose that we KNOW or DENY is the TRUTH!?  Being a “good” person is built by faith not works righteousness/ social justice and intellectual idolatry/ progressivism.

The only thing the world is progressing in at the moment is to an end… that is not a worthy goal yet alone built by and for a greater purpose.  Growing, progressing in the world as disciples of Christ is all about the spirit.  It is not about us more than it is to be about God—spreading His example in the world—the reality of Grace—the Kingdom of God and all its righteousness!

Let us Pray—

Gracious Lord,

Help to continue to encourage

Our faithful journey

To be prayerfully shaped by and for Grace

May those whose hearts influenced us to be “aspiring saints”

Still teach us as Your Living Word of life

Opens and grows that New Nature within us

For Your Kingdom’s Glory

Amen

All Saints' Sunday; November 1st, 2015; Year B; SOLA Lectionary

Sermon by Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 24; Isaiah 25:6-9; Revelation 21:1-6 & John 11:32-44

Below is the youtube link to the delivery of this Sermon at the Grace Hub Discipleship Ministries' house church service at 8am: https://youtu.be/lp4kFMfkz3E

"Abiding Truth;" Sermon for Reformation Sunday by Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

When’s the last time that you felt unfettered and truly alive?  Do you really know what freedom is—or better said, are you really free? Every time Reformation Sunday comes around, my mind goes to hearing that biting, fantastic dialogue delivered with fury by Jack Nicholson in a ‘Few Good Men.’  As we know the original film is a drama about soldiers dealing with war and service.  In looking at this from the lens of being a freely responsible servant of Christ—we’re dealing with another kind of war, spiritual warfare, demanding another kind of action entirely!

Here’s a snippet of the infamous dialogue between Jack Nicholson as Colonel Nathan R. Jessup & Tom Cruise as Lieutenant Daniel Kaffee:

“Jessup: You want answers?!

Kaffee: I want the truth!

Jessup: You can't handle the truth! Son, we live in a world that has walls, and those walls have to be guarded … Who's gonna do it? You? I have a greater responsibility than you can possibly fathom. … And my existence,… saves lives! You don't want the truth, because deep down in places you don't talk about…you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall. We use words like "honor", "code", "loyalty". We use these words as the backbone of a life spent defending something. You use them as a punchline. I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who rises and sleeps under the blanket of the very freedom that I provide, and then questions the manner in which I provide it! I would rather you just said "thank you", and went on your way… Either way, I don't give a damn what you think you are entitled to!”

You have to love the bulk of Nicholson’s lines especially when you look at them with the eyes of freedom through Christ.  We do indeed want to know the truth to why we must abide in Christ Jesus & His Word.  We do indeed live in a world that is surrounded by many walls.  Some of these walls are around our fragile developing selves in, with and through Christ! These fragile spiritually forming walls needed to be guarded from sin, death and the power of Evil! Some walls, are also built by the years of bondage, stumbling blocks that the Evil One has helped us to build when we deny our sinful nature & take no spiritual responsibility to aspire to a True righteousness that a heart healed, shaped & built by Grace can become and respond through!

Can you imagine for a moment removing the story’s details of the military drama here & picture Jesus being irate with us about straightening up and flying right? Those walls built by our sin and bondage do need to come down & we must be prepared to be and become fully accountable & fully free! We want Jesus on that wall of bondage to help tear down those walls through Grace and live faithfully into the cost of discipleship!

What do we think of when we think of words like honor, code and loyalty? How does the heart respond to these words? Honor itself is one of those tightrope words that apply to both the ego and to selflessness.  We naturally tend to sway towards it being a matter of the ego—or more specifically pride. Works righteousness feeds the ego, feeds pride and denies us of knowing the humility that Grace needs to shape our hearts to. True honor through Christ is true service to God and neighbor through a commitment to love—abiding through love for a greater goal: The Gospel imperative!

In essence just falling back on saying I’m only human as well as God does it all for me is a denial of the true reforming work that God is holding us accountable to willingly incorporate as a child of Grace and promise.  Grace is not a formula and neither is the church to be an indoctrinated institution but a liberating gathering place that requires the 1^st church of the Heart to abide in.

Code in regards to understanding the epiphany St. Paul speaks from in today’s snippet from Romans is that illusive ever challenging concept of justification—we are justified by Grace through faith apart from works prescribed by the law. Grace through faith equaling our response is the Gospel imperative, the TRUTH, we can’t handle within, revealed from the Word of God!  It is a spiritual truth that our hearts sway to either be indifferent to or faithfully challenged by to reform—transform from the Old Nature’s ways to the New Nature—with its beautiful hope of truly and truthfully living into Grace.

In regards to loyalty, the word abide literally means being aligned to, true to, loyal to something of great purpose.  Being is a state of living but living through Grace takes loyalty and trust to something beyond your understanding that truly gives our lives meaning.  The Kingdom of God is opposite to the Kingdom of the world though we try to conveniently blur the boundaries with our brazen disobedience to the New Covenant God has set before us to adhere to!

Just this Saturday morning in my text study group, we talked about the horrors of the concentration camps and the satanic efforts made to dehumanize people.  Not wanting to share the graphic and gory details but the way people were fed and sanitary conditions set up it was a diabolical effort to break people—their spirits, who they were and even more.  If you recall the recent efforts of horrible evil through ISIS; this included the raping, beheading and crucifying nude of women missionaries… throughout the regions of Syria.  If that doesn’t shake you down to your core of being… I don’t know what else would.

You want the Truth? Then Live it! 500 something years ago, our beloved founder, Martin Luther went out of his way to tear down those walls of bondage and took a stand by nailing a large treatise upon the doors of the Wittenburg Cathedral long since closed spiritually to the Truth of the Gospel Imperative! Those nails pierced through the doors as if they were a confession and acknowledgement of the sacrifice Christ Jesus gave for us, on our behalf… and we most certainly fall short of the glory of God! This is what it means to be human and means to acknowledge with faith the sovereignty of God. Luther wanted those closed behind those doors, behind the walls of that cathedral to face the TRUTH that what they were doing was definitely not being accountable to Christ but being accountable to the ruler of the world—Satan.

I don’t know how many people realize that the Roman Catholic concept of church was literally meant to be the encased Kingdom of God in this world.  In some senses, the church was to be a hub of supernatural influence on all those who entered the doors.  But when you think about it, we humans constructed it, claim it represents God but then we have gotten lost… You can say that we have gotten spiritually lost in truly knowing the TRUTH of the Living Word of God that is supposed to be Re-forming, transitioning and shaping us now as we speak!  Nothing is predestined, no one is to assume chosen-ness—this is the boasting St. Paul was warning us of. We are children of God, we are human.

Take a stand, moving forth boldly as a disciple of Jesus is hard stuff! Just this past week more than a dozen life events have taken place in my life. One could say on the outside that it is nearly overwhelming to say the least!  My husband & I just bought the parsonage for the church I will be going to serve fairly soon… In fact, God’s timing has our new home set to close on the day before Thanksgiving! Talk about wonderful things to be grateful for!

Other events include flying to New York & taking part of a wonderful service beginning my step forward as a postulant in the (Lutheran) Franciscan Order of the Divine Mercy and last but not least finalizing a year and a half of boxes by stepping on the gas-pedal to pack and move to Oregon! There have been new complications that have fueled more nights of lightly sleeping… but I just like we all must have written on our hearts—that New law that God loves us and indeed, we can do all things through God who strengthens us!  God Strengthens us to go out into the world through Grace and reform the world we have allowed to cave into sin, death and evil.

Realizing Grace in your life is realizing the awesome power of God.  The sermon song for this morning is coming from the artist side of me it is ‘A Free man in Paris.’  If you read the words in the print out, putting aside some details but hearing the voice of a New kind of freedom peeking through—you will see how I saw this song as the song of a Freely, responsible servant to the Gospel—our calling as the priesthood of all believers, saint & sinner, to be beacons of light for the world but of the Kingdom of God!

AMEN

October 25^th, 2015; Reformation Sunday; Year B; SOLA Lectionary

Sermon by Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 46; Jeremiah 31:31-34; Romans 3:19-28 & John 8:31-36

The link below is to the sermon being delivered at the Grace Hub Discipleship Ministries' House church service 8am:
https://youtu.be/IAZJBwRS_cw

"Prioritizing Passions;" Sermon for October 18th, 2015 by Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

Jesus says a lot to try to help us prioritize, even in another Gospel, Matthew’s Gospel, we hear Him speaking to us not to “spin our wheels:” Jesus says—“²¹For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also…” One of the wonderful things I have been reflecting on nearly every waking moment of the day and night recently has been upon the notion of being “called.”

When you think about it, God spends a lot of time working through the Holy Spirit to get us to not only LISTEN to what He is trying to teach us but to live into His Word by DOING! I often like to joke about those early seminary days of clinical pastoral education.  My 1^st unit was like ‘boot camp’ with evasive commentary, seemingly outrageous personal violations in some senses and sometimes dead-on observations!  One observation that has served to both haunt and teach me, still to this very day, was made by the crabby old supervisor of this unit nearly yelling at me: “Quit trying! Just DO it!”

He was right though, for we often are like Peter in today’s Gospel where we’re scared to completely trust in God leading and guiding us into that brand new horizon.  In fact, we can often become cynical and pessimistic like Ecclesiastes warning against the futility of life if we try to live into a self-fulfilling prophecy rather than God’s goal for each and every one of us. Realizing God’s love is hard especially if we have a hard time loving ourselves in order to selflessly serve and love God and neighbor.

The prophetic Words within the letter of Hebrews for today are about truly and truthfully living into God’s Word: “¹² Indeed,” (the author of Hebrews says), “the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. ¹³And before him no creature is hidden, but all are naked and laid bare to the eyes of the one to whom we must render an account.”

The thoughts and intentions of the Heart need to be shepherded by God working through you in all that you DO and say on behalf of the Gospel of Christ. The Good Shepherd, Jesus, our wonderful Loving and Gracious Father—I have always loved that image of the Good Shepherd with the sheep!  God does indeed work in amazing and mysterious ways that’s for sure! A dear colleague in the Lutheran world let me have my ordination at his church which was Good Shepherd Lutheran church in Chicago and fairly soon I will be serving a church with the same name!

You think God is trying to tell me something?  Oregon as well, I know God serendipitously works through “Murphy’s law,” since around the same time in January of this year that I was ordained, I had to sadly turn down an opportunity to be a hospice chaplain in LaGrande, Oregon because my husband & I had no money to move & we couldn’t even find a place to move there! BUT God said Ha!  98 miles slightly northwest of there I have been called to be the pastor at Good Shepherd Lutheran in Boardman, Oregon.

This time around through God’s miraculous efforts, I have a momentary opportunity as an outside contracted chaplain working for the Navy of all things, (my hubby’s former employer) at Great Lakes Naval Base, in Great Lakes, Il!  Not only has this been a wonderful blessing to help contribute to fund our move out there but it has been teaching me to reflect on what God’s priorities are not only for my life but what I need to DO with the passion of serving!  Learning how to trust God is learning how to LOVE.

Again, yet another miracle of God’s timing and handiwork, but a home shows up literally 128 feet across from the church for sale.  This coming week, we are in the process of securing this home, buying it, in order to truly and faithfully serve God and the people of Good Shepherd—what a gift! So much to be in store for!

There is so much to DO! You can’t “try” to work through the challenges God gives you in order to grow… You must let go of trying and grow to DO-ing! This is not easy, there is a lot that we have to lift up to God in prayerful tears. There’s a Joni Mitchell song, ‘I Had a King,’ that has had some haunting lyrics for me to contemplate during this time of preparation:  “I can't go back there anymore; You know my keys won't fit the door. You know my thoughts don't fit the man... They never can.” This is the reprise throughout the tune.

While I’ve been driving through the streets of my old neighborhood on the Northside of Chicago, I have been playing this song on my smartphone following it up with Matthew West’s wonderful song; ‘Strong Enough.’ Within this song, the reprise is floating around one of my favorite verses from Philippians 4—“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me!” Joni’s song is more about the Old Nature and Matthew West’s song is about the New Nature.  Something we are always going to be torn by and spiritually battle with—the Old and the New.  We often place ourselves in bondage to the Old Nature & its worldly perspective, quote logic but then it festers & only lays heavy upon the heart: Where DO my priorities lie? Where DO my passions lie?

The Good Shepherd once again has something to say, preach to the heart of the believer from today’s Gospel: “²⁹Jesus said, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields, for my sake and for the sake of the good news, ³⁰who will not receive a hundredfold now in this age—houses, brothers and sisters, mothers and children, and fields, with persecutions—and in the age to come eternal life. ³¹But many who are first will be last, and the last will be first.’”

Jesus is telling Peter and the other disciples that the priorities of the Good News bears wonderful fruit over and above anything the world has to offer.  To move forward for the sake of Christ Jesus and His beautiful Gospel of Love and Grace—YOU have to MOVE into His priorities, DO, not try for His sake! Being thankful to God is so much more than what the world could ever have to give!

Sometimes though, God has a hard time getting it through our thick heads so He has to keep plugging away by revealing little miracles in our lives that we sometimes do and do not even realize!  He does it with a sense of humor too—or as I like to believe, He works serendipitously through ‘Murphy’s Law’—Good Shepherd Chicago, Good Shepherd Oregon.  Ok God I got the message LOUD and clear: Oregon or bust! Alleluia & Amen!

With a year and a half of previously packed boxes, God’s lesson there was to think about what happens when we don’t MOVE forward.  It was both a literal material message as well as profoundly a spiritual one…  The burden and the pain of your life wrapped up in tape, stuffed away from realizing true freedom—wow, there’s the Living Word of God again working at this very moment inside that 1^st church, my heart.

The Passion of Christ Jesus for our behalf set a whole New Natured priority to be ours, this we must never forget.  What we should forget or move on from is all that holds us down, keeps us in bondage.  All that holds us down and away from the peace of God right at our very doorstep! Open that DOOR! Make that grand leap of faith by stepping out, closing that door behind you, losing the key—that never really fit too well anyway and DIVE into a whole NEW life!  This is the New Nature’s priorities for our lives as children of Grace and Promise!

For the love of God and neighbor, I am closing that door and stepping out boldly… even with grinding anxious teeth, and light insomnia that my sweet little cats are very happy about—I AM DOING over trying, for the Gospel’s priorities have fueled a New Natured Passion that I will be obedient to.  The futility of the world and its empty material offerings cannot give your being real, holistic purpose; only the Kingdom of God can and DOES!

Let us pray—

Gracious Good Shepherd,

Continue to guide us to develop New Natured Priorities

That embolden us with a Passion

For the pursuit of righteousness, truth, love, mercy and so much more!

Help us to face our fears and close the door to all that puts us in bondage

Help us to realize the peace and blessings

Of all that You have to offer

May we never not be grateful for all You have given us!

AMEN

October 18^th, 2015; 21^st Sunday after Pentecost; Proper 24; Year B; SOLA Lectionary

Sermon By: Reverend Nicole A.M. Collins

Psalm 119:9-16; Ecclesiastes 5:10-20; Hebrews 4:1-16 & Mark 10:23-31

The link below was from the sermon being delivered at the Grace Hub Discipleship Ministries' House church service at 8am October 18th, 2015
https://youtu.be/xSDk2S4a8dg