Pentecost 18 B / Proper 21
Numbers 11:4-6, 10-14, 24-29
James 5:13-20
Mark 9:38-41
September 27, 2015
Pastor Susan Henry
House of Prayer Lutheran Church
Hingham MA
Grace to you and peace from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
“How Can We Help?”
If we weren’t fully in Oktoberfest mode this weekend, I’d invite you to grab a cup
of coffee and come talk together about our brother in Christ, Pope Francis. I’m really
curious about how you’ve responded not just to what he’s been saying but perhaps
even more to what he’s been doing and to the quality of his presence. Personally, I find
places of agreement and disagreement with what he says and I’ve been very moved by
his humility and by his gracious way of being in the world, whether he’s speaking truth
to power or tenderly touching the cheek of someone whom the world sees as
powerless.
It’s actually not a big leap from Francis’ concern for people who are vulnerable or
marginalized to our own concern for them. That concern plays out on this particular
weekend. What’s most obvious about Oktoberfest, of course, is the oompah band and
the huge tent full of people enjoying food and drink and one another’s company. Less
obvious is how the Oktoberfest committee’s planning and the congregation members’
serving creates this time and place where “all are welcome.” We sing about that in
worship sometimes, we hear that before we come to the Lord’s table to be fed, and we
embody that under a big tent this weekend.
Now, tending to bratwurst and weisswurst, accepting credit cards for the first
time, ferrying slices of cake, clearing trays, managing parking, overseeing spin art, and
peddling pretzels will demand our attention, our energy, and our patience during these
two days, but underneath all the busy-ness is faithfulness to Jesus’ call to love God and
love our neighbors. That faithfulness on our part is worth remembering when our ears
are ringing or our energy is flagging or our feet are aching.
Specifically because of Oktoberfest, we get to love our neighbors through our
connections with Wellspring, Habitat for Humanity, the Dianne DeVanna Center, the
Hingham Food Pantry, and Ascentria Care Alliance (which used to be called Lutheran
Social Services). The common good and the well-being of all in our commonwealth are
intimately connected to our self-understanding as people of God called “to actively
reach out to help and serve others.”
A couple summers ago, our VBS curriculum was focused on hunger, and what I
loved about its approach to this sometimes-overwhelming topic was that, after we heard
the hard and sad truth about how many people are hungry, we asked a simple,
important, empowering question: “How can we help?”
Now, as a congregation, we can’t make sure that no one goes to school or to bed
hungry – but we can help pack groceries for people who come to the Hingham Food
Pantry, and we can divvy up all the nonperishable food items people bring to
Oktoberfest to stock food pantry shelves. We can provide Christmas and Easter boxes
for Wellspring clients. and we can share some of the Oktoberfest proceeds so that
Wellspring staff and volunteers can provide counseling, legal services, education,
clothing, transportation and food to the neighbors Jesus calls us to love. So, that’s not
just a vast variety of delicious baked goods we’re offering – it’s help for today and hope
for tomorrow.
As a congregation, we can’t see that everyone has a roof over their heads and a
place to call home, but we can work on a Habitat build and make lunch for a crew and
serve as the starting place for the Habitat Ride – and we can share some of the
Oktoberfest proceeds so that a family’s sweat equity and Habitat’s expertise and
materials result in a dream come true. So, that’s not just a silent auction bid on a
couple Patriots tickets that we’re encouraging. It’s a little bit of what will make a house
a home.
As a congregation, we can’t do all that the DeVanna Center does to support
families at risk – but we can do diaper drives, and we can share some of the
Octoberfest proceeds so that staff can teach, accompany, nurture, counsel, and
befriend those whose family life may be fragile and complicated. So -- that’s not just a
bratwurst sampler we’re serving up. It’s a bit of strength for some family’s journey
As a congregation, we certainly can’t do all that Ascentria does to assist children,
youth, families, people with developmental disabilities or mental illness, refugees, those
who are economically disadvantaged, older adults, and the elderly – but we can provide
Christmas presents for some of those youth who are in foster care. We can share some
of our Oktoberfest proceeds so that what began through the generosity of (believe it or
not) “a pious brewer . . . whose summer farm in West Roxbury would eventually
become the Martin Luther Orphan’s Home” can continue in new and creative ways. It’s
not just a cup of coffee or a cold brew we’re serving up. It’s empowerment and the
opportunity for people to flourish.
Our readings from scripture today are at least a little bit about “How is everything
that needs done going to get done?” The writer of James says that what needs done
gets done best together – in singing, in confession, in anointing, and in prayer.
Especially in prayer. God works in and through prayer.
In our Old Testament reading, a weary Moses asks God to just put him out of his
misery, but instead God puts a portion of God’s spirit upon seventy leaders in the
community. Two of them, for some reason, don’t show up at the tent of meeting but
stay in the camp instead. When Joshua wants them to stop prophesying there, Moses
responds, “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put
his spirit on them!” Evidence of the Spirit’s presence is revealed beyond the tent of
meeting – and outside the church today. God works in unexpected places.
In our gospel for today, the disciples are frustrated by their inability to control
those who are not like them, even though those people are acting in Jesus’ name and
doing “deeds of power.” Jesus pretty much tells the disciples to get over themselves. It
seems that, when people are doing things in Jesus’ name, they are changed by what
they experience. They are no longer the outsiders they appeared at first to be. God
works through unexpected people.
If we gathered together with us all those staff and volunteers at Wellspring,
Habitat, the DeVanna Center, the Hingham Food Pantry, and Ascentria, we might be
surprised to see how and where and through whom good things, God-inspired things,
are happening. It seems that God can care for those who are poor or powerless
through people who share our faith, people of other faiths, and people of no particular
faith. We who are called “to actively reach out to help and serve others” find ourselves
in the good company of all kinds of people who also help and serve.
“How can we all help?” For us, it’s through Oktoberfest and in myriad other
ways. Our Farmers’ Market will provide a community garden through the ELCA Good
Gifts program. Our relationship with Father Bill’s continues to grow and deepen. And,
in the face of a worldwide refugee crisis, we can help through Lutheran Disaster
Response, Lutheran World Relief, or Lutheran Refugee and Immigration Services.
For thirty years, this congregation has used its gifts and skills to “help and serve
others” through first-hand experiences together and through partnering with others by
sharing the Oktoberfest proceeds. It’s a long way from that first Oktoberfest Phil
Philipon described to me: a pot luck picnic on the front lawn where a record player on a
card table provided the German music and where someone said, “Maybe we should do
this again, not just for us but for others, too.”
The congregation said – and is still saying -- “Yes” to that. Our “Yes” is for the
sake of those who come to enjoy the weekend, but it is even more for the sake of those
whom God cares for, heals, supports, and befriends through Wellspring and the
Hingham Food Pantry, through Habitat and the DeVanna Center and Ascentria. Our
“Yes” to Oktoberfest is our “Yes” to loving God and loving our neighbor.
Amen