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Between Sundays for Week of February 24, 2025

In the first part of Jesus’ sermon on the plain, Jesus teaches that in the realm of God the way things are is not the way they always will be. For those who follow Jesus, the ups and downs of life can never separate us from God’s great love. As Jesus continues his teaching (Luke 6:27-38), the tone shifts. Jesus moves to actual commands: I say to you . . . love, bless, prayer, offer give, and as if that wasn’t hard enough, Jesus lifts up an impossible standard:

“Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you,

bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If anyone strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also; and from anyone who takes away your coat do not withhold even your shirt. 

Give to everyone who begs from you;  and if anyone takes away your goods, do not ask for them again. 

Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

Jesus’ standard isn’t impossible because we’re not strong enough or good enough, it’s impossible because we’re human. We nurse grudges. We seek retribution. We lash out at those who hurt us. We prefer tit-for-tat. We heap shame on our enemies. We judge and belittle and blame. We cut out the voices who challenge us. We decry as unrealistic or weak, those who ask us to imagine or even work for a world where the blessed ones and the cursed ones stand on a level playing field. Our desire may be for love, but our nature is something very different.

Jesus doesn’t command us to a life of greater love and mercy because he thinks we can will ourselves to success. Rather, through his teaching he’s revealing that the only hope we have for a way out of this transactional, tit-for-tat existence that we find ourselves mired in is through acts of mercy and love.

We can’t do this by ourselves and so the Spirit has been given so that collectively, as the church – Christ’s body alive in the world – we can practice together what it means to be the delivery system for God’s healing power and God’s mercy and show the world a different way. . . the way of Jesus.

Jesus calls us resist evil and to embody mercy with empathy and courage, not because we’re strong or good, but because we have received such mercy ourselves from our creator. By the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us, we are called to live the mercy that God has breathed into us. May this be so!

P.S. Watch Sunday’s service and view past services on the Share in Worship page of BLC’s website!

P.P.S. If you’re wondering how to support immigrants, Global Refuge (formerly Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services) is the ELCA’s partner for this important ministry of welcome. You can participate in quarterly call with Global Refuge on Wednesday, February 26 at 2 PM Eastern  to learn more. Register here to participate.

Lent starts in just over a week. Did you know that making pretzels is a traditional Lenten activity?
Pretzels remind us of two Lenten practices: fasting and prayer. During Lent in the 600’s, these practices were not a choice. It was the law for people to fast and not eat eggs, milk, and fat. Because of this law, a monk had an idea and made the first pretzels using water, flour and salt. The common way to pray at that time was to hold your arms over your chest. The monk decided to shape the pretzels to look like folded arms. Pretzels became a traditional food for Lent in the Middle Ages. The Latin word for pretzel is “bracellae” meaning little arms. The Germans called them “bretzels”. Today both hard and soft pretzels still have this shape.
Telling this story to our children can be a memorable way to introduce the rituals and traditions we observe in our congregation at this time of year. Try making soft pretzels together, buy frozen ones to bake, or get a bag of hard pretzels as a visual while talking about prayer.
After taking time to talk about ways we pray and when we pray, think of how a pretzel snack can be used during Lent and other times of the year as a reminder to take a moment to pray. (adapted from a lesson by Debbie Streicher, Milestones Ministry)

Patty Chaffee

Family Faith Formation Coordinator

Between Sundays . . . As we plan for Lent, listen back to past episodes of Between Sundays. Episode 131 includes a conversation with Pr. Lee Miller, Bishop of the Upstate New York Synod, talking about the ways that the church is called to follow Jesus in the world today. Find this episode on the BLC website or wherever you like to listen to podcasts!

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Ponderings

In her podcast Everything Happens, Kate Bowler interviews Anthony Ray Hinton, a Black man in Alabama who was unjustly convicted of two murders and sat on death row for twenty-eight years until Equal Justice Initiative and Bryan Stevenson helped overturn his conviction and set him free. In a powerful interview (Season 5, Episode 16) Hinton shares a Christlike vision of mercy for all: “We are all worthy. The good and the bad among us, the criminals and the saints, the deserving and the undeserving.” Jesus offers a message of forgiveness and mercy that grounds our lives as Christians. (You can also read the transcript of the episode.)