17th Sunday After Pentecost (and a formal greeting)

I have decided to add a blog to our church's website which includes the sermon and thoughts for the week. Not that anyone needs something else to read, nor would anyone get great joy out of reading a sermon from a pastor serving in a small village in northeast Iowa - yet the ministry and blog that now evolves is just as important as those classmates of mine from seminary who are serving those mega parishes in far more sinful places like Minneapolis - sin city ya know.

Greetings to you all as we together embark on a discovery of intellect, a smattering of thoughts, and a other such wanderings to give you food to chew on during your week. Our four legged leader, Madison, pictured to the left has agreed to serve as editor for this blog as long as I continue to provide peanut butter flavored dog treats and scratch her belly. Loyalty and kindness doesn't even begin to describe her - she is that well worn pair of jeans, or like the shoes that no matter how many holes seem to leak in water still find there way on our feet.

We live in times which are marked by much disconnect and confusion. Communities and churches even in rural areas are struggling to identify who are their neighbors let alone figure out what happened even within their own families to cause disconnect. From the hill here in Waterville we begin a journey into the text weekly and hopefully more often I can share other thoughts as a new way to live out my calling as Pastor to Waterville Lutheran Church.

Be sure not to miss out on Podcasting of our services by clicking on the link on this front page. Now for the sermon from today. Good luck and Godspeed.

Pastor Kris

Reconciliation Reconsidered
Dealing with Conflict by following Matthew 18

Key Questions:

What do we do when we are faced with conflict in our homes? In our schools? In our communities? How about here at church?

Can we follow this model for reconciliation? What happens when it does not work? How far do we go to make this happen?

How must we live as Christians in a world full of conflict and injustice?

We know the stories of conflict which have brought change in our lives. Broken relationships, church divisions, and fights and personal attacks. Yet what about those moments when we have witnessed the power of reconciliation? Is it possible even after years of separation and division? What happens when we have forgotten what we fought over? Can we remember what caused the issue and point of conflict?

DATELINE - Sacramento, Calif. A man who hit his wife with a frozen squirrel was jailed on suspicion of spousal abuse, police said Monday. The man, 26, had been arguing with his wife early Monday morning when he walked into the kitchen and took several frozen squirrels from the freezer, police spokeswoman Betsy Braziel said. The woman told police that when she walked in the room, her husband swung the squirrels at her and struck her in the head with at least one of them. She fell against a table and received a one-inch cut above her eye, Braziel said. The man was booked into the county jail. What is the moral of this story?

There are better ways of handling conflict in our homes, schools, churches, places of work, and our daily relationships. Jesus gives us a better way today.

Applying the Text

In order to understand conflict and how to use this Biblical model from Matthew 18 we need to understand what our reaction to conflict is. When faced with conflict and a situation when someone has “sinned against us” what is our natural reaction?

Stuff it, plot for the repayment, share it, recruit converts

1. Step One: Seek one on One Restoration

“If a member of the church sins against you, go and point out the fault when the two of you are alone. If the member listens to you, you have regained that one.”

“Put on the armor of light” when we go to the one who has sinned against us. What does this look like?

This is the heart of the confessional rite. I have sinned against you O God by what I have done and left undone. I have not love you with my whole heart. I have not loved my neighbor as myself.

When you have sinned against your neighbor take the first step towards regaining that relationship. What does this look like for a church? For a community? For a disciple of Jesus? That we are bound to the command to live out the “new commandment” that we love one another as Jesus first loved us.

Does this mean that we won’t have conflict? We will. Does this mean that we will always agree and never hurt each others feelings? We will. It does mean that we are holding each other accountable to live according to Jesus command today to seek out the one we wronged with the ideal of regaining community and wholeness. We need to be the “two or three gathered”, we need each other to fulfill the mission of this congregation.

So who here today is missing because of a long ago conflict? What member of families is missing because conflict and sin have built a wall between us and them? Can we take that first step today to build a bridge?

2. Step Two: Seek out a witness.

“But if you are not listened to, take one or two others along with you, so that every word may be confirmed by the evidence of two or three witnesses.”

“Let us live honorably as in the day, not in reveling and drunkenness...not in quarreling and jealousy. Instead, put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh.”

Putting on the Lord Christ means that we seek peace over our desires to seek repayment for those who wrong us. If we ourselves cannot obtain peace please do not give up on the possibility of peace in our church, our homes, our schools, and in our relationships. We are called to be peacemakers for each other - so use this gift that exists within the body of Christ.

3. Step Three: Involve the Body of Christ, the church.

“If the member refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church, and if the offender refuses to listen even to the church; let such a one be to you as a Gentile and a tax collector.”

Often by the time the conflict gets to this level the community is already involved through gossip and other means of human brokenness. Can the conflict be redeemable?

“Turn back from your ways” and see how God can work to bring about restoration and renewal, even in the most fractured of situations. We have been there in times when we wanted the chance to work things through but it was taken away from us. I know your painful journey here at Waterville Lutheran. How can begin the peace process and reach out to our brothers and sisters in Christ who have wronged us?

Follow the guidance of these verses and know deep in your hearts that God will walk with you as you seek out those who have wronged you. As a church we begin this process by finding ways to come together as “two and three” under the same Lord Jesus. We set aside the thing which tear us a part and seek ways to build up the body of Christ. It takes work, it takes love, and it takes believing in a Lord who has done the same for us.