Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Central Lutheran Church - Elk River
Unity through Reconciliation with Sonja Knutson
Unlock the path to unity and reconciliation within the Christian faith with us, as we journey through the profound teachings of Ephesians. What if the divisions that seem insurmountable are actually hiding the true calling that lies within each of us? Join our pastoral associate, Sonia Knutson, as she opens the door to understanding Paul's letter to the Ephesians, reminding us of the unity gifted to us through Jesus's sacrifice. Together, we'll reflect on Pastor Ryan's insights about embracing our identity as a people of the cross, transcending the allure of power, and the critical role of cultural elements in forging genuine human connections amidst diversity.
Get ready to confront the metaphorical walls that keep us from experiencing harmony in faith. Through Sonia's guidance, we'll delve into personal and cultural barriers, confronting the struggles and grievances that threaten our peace. Inspired by scripture, we'll explore a transformative journey from despair to hope, embraced by a figure in red who leads us towards a vibrant community of forgiveness and redemption. Listen to stories and prayers that beckon us to break down our divisions, paving the way to a shared, brighter future in His kingdom, where every person is equal and valued.
Join us! Facebook | Instagram | www.clcelkriver.org
You may be seated. Good morning, central. Good morning. I'm going to tell you the first service. When Ben did that experiment, I was like literally sweating and I'm not a sweater. I'm like, oh my gosh, what if that egg drops? What a mess. But I was prepared this time. However, this time it was super fun to watch your faces as he was doing it. Kelsey Dueserman was like oh, it was super fun to watch your faces as he was doing it. Kelsey Duserman was like oh, it was so fun.
Speaker 1:So I think we could end with his message alone about how we can bring an egg and a toilet paper roll and a paper plate and a cup of water to show the unity that we have in Christ. Amen, I don't need to be standing up here. We could go to lunch and breakfast and the day could be started outside of this place, right, but we're going to preach anyway. For those of you who may not know me, my name is Sonia Knutson. I'm the pastoral associate here. It's such a privilege to come alongside this team Pastor Ryan, ben, peter, olivia, kirsten, isabel, who's out with her family in Omaha this weekend, and Pastor Ryan is in Illinois watching his son play lacrosse at his first college lacrosse game, so that's pretty fun for him, so he could get away. But we are working through this Ephesians series right now. We started on September 15th and we're going to be going another I think, five weeks. We're going to go all the way up through Advent. So, whatever, how many ever weeks that is, we have been busy this fall with learning and digging deep into God's Word through this book of Ephesians. But also we've encouraged you to pick up a book called the Myth of a Christian Nation. If you haven't already done so, we would encourage you to stop by the Connect Center or the office or see Peter, who's in charge of our house churches and journey groups, and he will connect you to that. We're encouraging you to read it alone, but, more importantly, read it with others, whether you're doing it as a journey group or a house church, and then dig into that alongside Ephesians, because we believe here as staff that both speak well into the seasons this world is currently wading through, whether it's the political stage or natural disasters that we're experiencing, or wars or more topical issues. Both the Ephesians and this book will give us examples of how we are to respond as Christ followers.
Speaker 1:So far, pastor Ryan has taught and preached on chapter 1 and part of chapter 2 of the book of Ephesians Last week. He jumped ahead because he was supposed to preach last week but he wanted to go to Illinois to see his son this weekend so we flip-flopped. So last week he preached on verses 19 through 22. And if you weren't here, he taught what it means to be a church and a people of the cross, not a people of power. So he talked about right-handed power and left-handed power. And if you weren't here, I'm sorry, we had technical difficulties last week so it's not online anywhere. And so if you were at home watching the game, I mean, where should you have been?
Speaker 1:I was teasing a friend of ours who stayed home and he was in his man pit watching the game and I was kind of harassing him a little bit like I can't believe you were there instead of church. And he's two things he said well, ryan gave us permission back in June to use our Sabbath whatever day we want, so he was using it for that. And then his second argument was that if Jesus were walking with us right now, he'd be in my man cave with me right now watching the game with the other sinners. I'm like, okay, what else do I say to that? So last week we were in 19 through 22, and today we're jumping back, as Janet read for us in verses 11 through 18, and we're going to share this idea of reconciliation through unity. We have a lot to cover, so let's begin in prayer. Father, we thank you for this opportunity that we can share in your word and Paul's ideas, as he shared in this book, ways that we can reconcile the brokenness in our lives and we can find ourselves unified with you. That's what your death was all about, jesus, and so I pray this morning that you will use my words as your words, as a vessel into the hearts and the minds that have come to receive you. We love you, jesus. In your name, we pray, amen. Well, ephesians is my favorite book in the Bible.
Speaker 1:This book, a letter, really was written by Paul from prison around 60 to 62 AD, and this letter was found around the third century with a couple other letters. It is suspected that the letter was written as a circulation to the new Christians of the time to praise them for their faith and their love and their growth in the will of God. So Paul is writing to commend them and encourage them to maintain the unity that Jesus offered through his death. This letter hits a wide range of moral and ethical behaviors and is designed to ensure believers are living in the kingdom calling. And today, in our reading, we talk about how we can and how we should maintain unity, a unity that is designed and implemented by Jesus, which is hard when all around us, the world builds walls of diversity that blocks this idea and this act of unity.
Speaker 1:A world that sees culture not as a gift to nurture, but often considered a symbolic threat, where people feel their values and their identity and their way of life is being challenged. Culture, defined as a set of attitudes, behaviors and symbols shared by large groups of people, usually communicated from generation to the next and categorized by different norms and conventions, is good and it's necessary because humans must have concreteness to relate to one another. We must have, like a language and a rules of engagement, common stories, common food and shared values, something that will allow us to connect to others. Something that will allow us to connect to others, and that is good. But cultures can also be very challenging and very scary, whether it's a surface culture, which is something that you can see and you can touch, such as food or music or holiday or your color of your skin. That would be considered a surface culture, or something that is below the surface. Another idea of culture would be something that's harder to grasp onto, like, for example, a thought pattern, worldviews, communication styles, whether it's non-verbal or verbal, emotions or attitudes. So there's many types of cultures, and whenever two cultures that differ come in contact with each other, the natural tendency is to withdraw deeper into the boundaries and make them stronger.
Speaker 1:Go to any sporting event to experience this right. If you go to a Viking and a Packer game at the US Bank Stadium, you better be careful if you're wearing your cheese head in there, right, because the purple is going to let you know that you are in their territory. Same with the Cornhusker culture. My son went to the U of N in Lincoln, nebraska, for his undergrad, and Nebraska football is a culture that is not of this world, and I get it, because Nebraska really doesn't have that much other things to offer, right? What I mean by that is they don't have a lot of other pro sports or other large universities that would compete with the Cornhuskers.
Speaker 1:So on game day, this state shuts down, and I'm not kidding. We one time went to a game for Phillip's freshman year and we thought, oh, we'll get some errands done before the game. So the game started at 5 pm in the afternoon and we go to a Great Clips to get his haircut. We're going to get him some groceries. And we walked in and she's like I'm like, can we get him, can we squeeze him in for a haircut? And she goes well, it's 10 o'clock. Yeah, well, it's game day. Okay, well, we shut down on game day. I'm like, oh, oh, okay, I get this. This culture is crazy. And from five or six blocks out from the stadium it is a sea of red and corn heads everywhere. And I would say that if you're from the opposing team, let's just say you should expect a couple hot dogs thrown at you as their walls of hostility go up.
Speaker 1:Now multiply this idea times all of the thousands of cultures that exist in the world, cultures intertwined due to space and land, and jobs and families and marriages. And land and jobs and families and marriages. It can and should be a beautiful mosaic portrait, but it also can look and feel messy and can lead to separation and conflict and war based on differences with race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, disability and political beliefs, not to mention attitudes and assumptions made by misinterpreting and misunderstanding others. Look at the wars around the world currently Russia and Ukraine, gaza and Sudan, israel and Iran, colombia and Latin America All wars led, lived and are dying due to cultural differences. And this is the diversity, the walls that people is referring to in our reading today that Jesus broke down for the Jews and Gentiles and for you and me.
Speaker 1:So how do we do this in a world that thrives on wall building? Well, my good friend would probably say let's just sit down and watch a good Hallmark movie together and eat a bowl of ice cream or popcorn and just have a good cry. And as much as I wish that could work for all of these situations, I think it's going to take a little bit more than that. So I would encourage you to open your Bibles to page 950 and peek at our reading today in chapter 2, starting at verse 11. Paul shares right out of the gate this simple how, by saying don't forget. Now your Bibles would read so then remember, which also means don't forget. Don't forget that you used to be an outsider. You were at one time without Christ. He is speaking to the new Christians, who are a mix of Jews and Gentiles that at one time lived by their cultural beliefs and despised each other, and it wasn't until Christ's death and resurrection that they were cleansed and understood the unification that he brought to all. And he is saying to them don't forget those days when you were an outsider.
Speaker 1:How many of you ever felt like you were an outsider in your life? Yeah, I immediately go back to elementary school. My family moved to Minnesota from Iowa, which, hello, you're immediately an outsider. Right, my parents were divorced another sign of being an outsider, especially in the 70s. We wore odd clothes. I remember wearing the wrong tennis shoes. We supposedly had an accent from Iowa to Minnesota. But the most that I felt an outsider was in gym class. I remember the times when they'd say hey, johnny, hey, jeff, pick your teams right. Guess who was picked last? Pretty much the first couple months that we belonged in this new, brand new elementary school. I was probably six feet tall already in third grade. So, hello, I had an accent. Remember, I was kind of shy, I didn't know anybody and so I was picked as last, until we got to the basketball season and I could shoot a three-pointer from half court. Yeah, I couldn't. I could never do that.
Speaker 1:But that feeling is hopeless and lonely, isn't it? As an outsider? And it definitely builds up walls. And Paul is saying don't forget. You were once considered unclean heathens who built walls to protect yourselves. In other words, remember your past, not to use the past hurts as a crutch, but to remember where you came from and how you have grown in one body. And then Paul shares. But now Look at verse 13. It says but now you, who were once far off, are near through his blood. He is saying once you were separated, but now we are one because of Jesus' sacrifices, and in our faith we are unified. I love the, but now moments are one because of Jesus' sacrifices, and in our faith we are unified. I love the but now moments in our lives. But now often follows something hard and something challenging. The hurricane hit hard last week, but now we are working together and we are in cleanup mode. Little Johnny was sick, but now he is feeling much better. The Vikings have had several gloom seasons, but now they seem to be on the rise. Amen, finally.
Speaker 1:But now gives us hope and light, especially in conflicts. And yet we tend to use phrases like yeah but instead of but now, the yeah buts hold our past and our hurts and our beliefs, segregate us from others and empower our anger and our frustration and our emotions and our attitudes. They hold timelines, don't they? Yeah, but remember that one time back in 1970? Yeah, but last Friday you said this to me. Yeah, but a while ago you hurt my feelings. Yeah, but fill in your own blank.
Speaker 1:My dad used to say the yeah but is in Africa when he would attempt to deflect our poor arguments as our siblings were going at it. I love my dad-isms yeah, but it's in Africa. I fact-checked him one time and there's no yeah but in Africa. But there's also no place for yeah buts in conflict, because they have a hold on us and they restrict us from growth and from healing. But now gives us fresh eyes to see and ears to hear, and the but now with Jesus is freeing on another level, because it understands and it accepts. It offers grace and love and forgiveness and repentance and this beautiful thing called reconciliation.
Speaker 1:The but nows are about conversations that we may never have if we live in anger, and the yabbats it's about sitting down and asking questions and listening. It's about trying to understand and be understood. And in those conversations, in those but now moments, we begin to find peace through reconciliation and in our faith. He makes us one which then breaks down the walls we form to protect ourselves. He makes us one which then breaks down the walls we form to protect ourselves.
Speaker 1:When we reconcile our divides, our struggles and our hurts, our walls begin to break down, the walls of hostility, the walls of separation, the walls of assumptions and attitudes, and the Holy Spirit then moves into this place of peace for all not for some people, but for all believers. Look at verse 18. It reads for through him, both of us have access in one spirit. My NLT version reads now all of us can come to the Father through the same Holy Spirit because of what Christ did for us. Who can come to him? All of us. All of us can come to him. It doesn't matter what our culture, belief is, it doesn't matter what group we're in or if we're in the in group, but all of us can come to him. And this happened because Jesus himself moved beyond the boundaries of his culture in order to love the other. And although his movement led to his death, his resurrection demonstrates the new life us in his kingdom.
Speaker 1:He unified us a long time ago so we can live in our callings, not behind the walls that divide us, no matter how hard and large the walls feel and I know some walls feel as if they can never be torn down. They may be personal struggles with loved ones, co-workers, extended families, maybe with a neighbor you don't see eye to eye with. Your wall may be a business transaction that's gone wrong and you're angry and you're frustrated and you're hurt. Perhaps your wall is a difference of political or religious views. Your wall may be something that happened to you years ago and you think that that thing defines you. Whatever your wall is and we all have them as a unified body and as Christ's follower know this Christ has already done the hard work for you. He died for you and me and our walls so that we can have new life. And in Christ, out of death comes new life, so central. What is your wall? What is separating you from the call in your life in his kingdom? Who or what has a hold on you that should be torn down?
Speaker 1:I want to end with sharing a story, this story from chapter 2, verses 11 through 18. It's a story for sinners who are seeking grace, because often I feel that I come here and I will hear a scripture, and I will hear a message, and I will think to myself that was a nice message, but I leave these doors and I don't know how to apply it to my life. And yet I strongly believe that every story in God's word, every story is used to speak to us about our story, through God's story. So the lights are going to go dim and Ray is going to play quietly on the piano, and I want you just to focus on the images and the cross and find yourself in this story.
Speaker 1:Imagine you live in a brown desert lake, a place where you were born and you grew up, a place that was small and bleak and had few opportunities, a place where your family was, but most had moved on or had died there. It's not a safe place and you had experienced some bad things there. Perhaps we've done some bad things there. This land has no hope, not in the past and not in the future. You have heard of a better country, a better land. You hear this is a land of opportunity and hope and where dreams come true. You hear this is where animals roam freely and lush plants grow. You hear people are happy and are singing and are full of life there. But there is a problem. Your land and this new land are at war. Both are sworn enemies and as a citizen of the dry dead land, you are considered an enemy. But you decide that maybe, just maybe, they will receive you. So you head out to the new place and as you go you pass death and skeletons of your past.
Speaker 1:You walk for miles in the dust and dry land and just when you think you cannot walk any farther, you spot something in the horizon. At first you think it is a mountain range, because it stretches as far left and right as your eyes can see, but then you realize it's a wall, a wall of stone and brick and mud and tar, a wall of tangible substance. No ladder is tall enough to climb over it and if you had a shovel you could never dig beneath it. So you are stuck. There is no way over or under the wall. You stand and stare at the wall and you hear life on the other side. Your voice is laughing and singing and birds chirping and cows mooing, and you know, if you can just get over the wall, you will be saved. So you begin to shout hello, hello, help me, save me.
Speaker 1:A handful of people appear above the wall, looking over at you, and they are wearing white tunics. They throw a rope over the wall and they begin to lower it. And you start to feel hope. But just as the rope reaches you, they stop lowering it and you hear a voice call out Are you one of us? You don't know what that means and you say back who are you? The voices say we are the chosen. Who are you? You say I'm not sure who I am. The voices begin to ask questions as they hold the rope just out of your reach Are you clean or are you dirty? Do you eat meat or seafood with shells? Do you work on Saturdays? And to all of those questions you answer yes. There is a pause and those at the top of the wall begin to pull the rope back. They start to throw things at you Sticks and rocks, and scraps of rotten food and uncouth words, and you flee the wall for safety.
Speaker 1:And as you run back to the lost, dry, hopeless land, you trip over an open grave, a grave where there once lay a body but now displays a small wooden cross that reads here lay King Jesus, he shed his blood so enemies who repent their sins and believe in him may freely come into this land and country. As you look down at the cross in this land of death, you start to examine your own heart. You know you were born in a bad place and should be left for dead. But the cross says you can be saved from yourself and death and you can live in this new land. And so you pray and you hope beyond hope that you will be delivered.
Speaker 1:As you pray, the ground begins to rumble and shake and the wall that is the size of a mountain begins to break down and crumble and fall. And when the dust settles and the rumble stops, you see a man in red walking towards you from the land. He has a bright expression of hope that approaches you with open arms. He embraces you and invites you to walk and follow him. And you do this slowly, making your way through the rubble of stones and mud and brick and broken pieces. And you do this slowly, making your way through the rubble of stones and mud and brick and broken pieces. And although the journey is treacherous, your steps are easy as you follow to the land of singing birds and waterfalls and lush fields of grass and wheat and harvest, and in the distance you see a city of richness.
Speaker 1:But before you turn to that, take that path to the city, the man in red leads you to the group of people in white tunics who call down to you from the top of the wall. With fire in his eyes, he picks up their rope and rips it to shreds. You look into the faces of the men and women who tried to drive you away and you see real humans with real faces and real lives. See real humans with real faces and real lives. And they see you too. With tears in their eyes, they tell you how sorry they are and they embrace you. Then you hear the king in red say to all welcome to my land and city. You are all citizens and equal and important parts here. Let's both escape them together, amen.
