A Call to Worship: Father's Day Prayer

Pastor: God our Father,

All: We give thanks for Fathers near and far.

Pastor:  We pray for young fathers, who newly embrace parenthood; and we pray for fathers of all ages & circumstances: may they find courage and patience, & perseverance.

All: We pray for fathers around the world

Pastor: whose children are lost or suffering; may they know that the God of compassion walks with them in their sorrow as a Good Shepherd.

All: We pray for men who are not fathers

but still mentor & guide us with fatherly love and advice. We pray for loving faithful communities.

All: We remember fathers, grandfathers, & great grandfathers

Pastor:  who are no longer with us, but who live forever in our memory & nourish us with their love.

All: We give thanks for Fathers near and far. Amen

 

Gospel: Matthew 9.35 – 10.8

The Harvest Is Great, the Laborer’s Few

35 Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. 36 When he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 37 Then he said to his disciples, ‘The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; 38, therefore, ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.’

The Twelve Apostles

10 Then Jesus summoned his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to cure every disease and every sickness. 2 These are the names of the twelve apostles: first, Simon, also known as Peter, and his brother Andrew; James son of Zebedee, and his brother John; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax-collector; James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed him.

The Mission of the Twelve

5 These twelve Jesus sent out with the following instructions: ‘Go nowhere among the Gentiles, and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 As you go, proclaim the good news, “The kingdom of heaven has come near.” 8 Cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons. You received without payment; give without payment.

 

SERMON The Road of Compassion

Today is Father’s Day, and we give thanks for fathers near and far: fathers old or young, loving and beloved, missed or absent, biological or chosen & given, - we give thanks for fathers and father figures in our lives.

We do so here in our church where tradition calls our God for Father: Father, Abba as Jesus said in Aramaic, Fader Vor, Vater Unser, Heavenly Father, Padre Nuestro, Notre Pere. Our Father.

For most of us, Father is a good word and a good comforting image of God – even if I have added a lot of my mother’s caring qualities to my image of God as a Father, as a good parent.

 

We do celebrate our Father’s Day today here in church, not only praying Our Lord’s Prayer to our Father in Heaven, not only singing beloved hymns like “This is my Fathers’ World.” Or “Children of the Heavenly Father.” – we, even more, listen to the Gospel according to Matthew chapter 9.35 – 10.8 with 3 distinct chapters:

The Harvest Is Great, the Laborer’s Few

The Twelve Apostles

The Mission of the Twelve

These three sections tell us about the mission of Christ and the sending of the 12 male disciples: sons, fathers, and brothers. I will get back to that later.

 

But the core sentence of today’s Gospel is 9.36:

When Jesus said the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep with a shepherd.

He had compassion for them.

He had compassion.

He was compassionate in the world.

 

This is exactly how Jesus prayed for more laborers in his world and how he asked his disciples to Proclaim the good news, cure the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, and cast out demons. Have compassion.

This compassion also carries the beautiful hymn we sang before the sermon: “Healer of our every ill” by Marty Haugen. It has become one of my favorite hymns by him.

 

Refrain:

Healer of our every ill,

light of each tomorrow,

give us peace beyond our fear,

and hope beyond our sorrow.

 

3 Give us strength to love each other,

every sister, every brother.

Spirit of all kindness, be our guide.

 

4 You who know each thought and feeling,

teach us all your way of healing.

Spirit of compassion fills each heart.

 

Spirit of Compassion fills our hearts, we sing and pray today.

Spirit of Compassion fills our hearts, as fathers, mothers, siblings, sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, friends, wives, husbands, and strangers. Let the spirit of Compassion fill us as Jesus was filled by that same Spirit.

 

When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep with a shepherd.

 

This is how Christ send his disciples into the harvest, and this is how we are sent.

Among the disciples were fathers, sons, and brothers. But we also know that among the followers and first believers were many mothers, daughters, and sisters too.

 

The Southern Baptist Convention states in its documents and confirmed this week -  in the conflict with Saddleback Church which was expelled from the convention over having women in the role of pastors,  -  that: “the office of the pastor is limited to men as qualified by scripture.”  Well, that is simply not true. No one in Christian Scripture had to study Theology, apply to Seminary, or go through a complex candidacy process to become a pastor as we do in modern times, - but both women and I were called by God and their communities into public ministry. Just read the bible. Too often there seems to be a confusion between what the Bible says and what the tradition has taught.

 

Yesterday I stumbled over a quote from pastor Rev. Jeff Hemmer from Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church in Illinois, which is a Missouri Synod Lutheran Church and not an ELCA like us.  

Jeff Hemmer presented himself in a very endearing humorous way: he is a husband of in his opinion the most wonderful woman in the world, the father to the five most delightful children he’s ever met, the pastor of Bethany Evangelical Lutheran Church in Illinois, a wannabe farmer, a maker of some things, a fixer of some other things, a grower of beards, and general curmudgeon. His truck is probably a sign of his insecurity.”

And after googling pastor Hemmer I can ad

Hemmer and his wife, Laura, now have seven children, with an eighth on the way.

 

 And he wrote:

“Men are not called to be the spiritual coaches of their households, calling the shots from the sideline, telling others what they are to do and be.

They are to be leaders, facing the future, forging the way forward, showing by example what their children are to be doing.”

 

Well, this is certainly written by a man and expressed into a certain tradition and stereotype of looking at gender and roles in families. So, women are spiritual coaches and men are leaders.

Missouri Synod like Southern Baptist Convention has a much more conservative teaching on marriage, sexuality, female pastors, etc., and according to them,  I had to sit down, be quiet, and certainly not think that I as a woman could be called to be a pastor or a leader. I should focus on being a spiritual household coach, calling the shots from the sideline, not leading.

I probably don’t have to say: but I don’t agree with pastor Hemmer or Southern Baptist Convention.

Biblical both men and women were leaders and disciples. Period.

And as fathers and mothers, I do think it is a shared responsibility for fathers and mothers to be leaders and coaches and show examples of how to live and where to go. As I think that both women and men are called to be parents, leaders, and good examples. And pastors.

 

Let me quote from another favorite singer and songwriter to tell us something about being mothers and fathers, leaders and coaches:

Fathers be good to your daughters.

Daughters will love as you do.

Girls become lovers

who turn into mothers.

So, mothers be good to

their daughters too... (John Mayer.)

 

This song and this chorus resonate with me as it tells us as fathers and mothers, as parents that we have a responsibility to be good spiritual coaches, to be faithful leaders, to be compassionate parents, to be good examples – as our sons and daughters will live and love like us.

 

When Jesus saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep with a shepherd.

Jesus sent his disciples, women, and men, young and old, into the world, into the harvest as faithful laborers and compassionate leaders.

Jesus sends us into the world, into the harvest, into our families and communities, to become faithful laborers and compassionate leaders.

Not only in church communities and in families. But in society and private businesses too. How we lead with compassion instead of selfish gain or by shady means.

Just take an honest look at the history of male leadership – maybe it is time for more female-compassionate leadership.

 

Leaders must demonstrate compassion.

Compassion is the quality of having positive intentions and real concern for others. Compassion in leadership creates stronger connections between people.

It improves collaboration, raises levels of trust, and enhances loyalty.

In addition, studies find that compassionate leaders are perceived as stronger and more competent.

This is the result of recent research by Potential Project, an organization researching and developing global leadership, with a Danish CEO Rasmus Hougaard.

Research has shown that compassion on its own is not enough. For effective leadership, compassion must be combined with wisdom, i.e., leadership competence and effectiveness. This often requires giving tough feedback, making hard decisions that disappoint people, and, in some cases, laying people off.

 Showing compassion in leadership can’t come at the expense of wisdom and effectiveness. You need both.

The optimal style is wise compassionate leadership.

 

I think Jesus showed wise compassionate leadership. He was direct when he told the disciples when they were wrong: he was constructive in his criticism, but first, he was wise in his compassionate approach in every aspect. Jesus met everyone with compassion. Jesus looked at everyone with compassion.

Jesus preached compassion.

Jesus was compassionate.

Jesus was the good shepherd showing compassion to all who were harassed or helpless, curing the sick, raising the depressed and despaired, casting our demons and demonic thoughts, cleansed and nourished, and with compassion leading the way – was the way.

As a wonderful female leader said:

The fruit of love is service, which is compassion in action. Mother Teresa

 

Paul wrote in one of his many letters to the new emerging first Christian congregations, guiding them:

 "clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience" (Col 3:12,).

 

So as fathers, mothers, sons and daughters, sisters and brothers, siblings, friends, wives and husbands, congregants, and pastors, this is how we are sent into the world, clothed in and embraced by compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

 

 Give us the strength to love each other,

every sister, every brother.

Spirit of all kindness, be our guide.

 You who know each thought and feeling,

teach us all your way of healing.

Spirit of compassion fills each heart.

Amen.