Abundant Life - Pastor Angelika Beer
The following sermon was preached by Pastor Angelika Beer, from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mălâncrav/Malmkrog, on the Second Sunday of Epiphany. The Gospel reading was the Wedding at Cana (John 2.1-11.) I met Angelika at a round table on the mission of the church in our contemporary world, and was delighted when she accepted my invitation to preach. It happened to be the Sunday in the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, but that was a coincidence! The German-speaking Evangelical Lutheran Churches have a close relationship with the Church of England, and last year marked thirty years of women’s ordination in the Church of England and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Romania - so it was a joy also to celebrate this in a small way together.
Fr Nevsky
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord bless his words we heard on our hearts and souls. Amen.
Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,
Where I come from, from hilly Transylvania on the other side of the Carpathian Mountains, from the rural region around Sighișoara, from Mălâncrav, many people there have back pain right now. Their backs hurt and they don't really know why. Tensions that settle in the body, tensions that become hard and therefore heavy.
Dear brothers and sisters, there are just enough crises that can drag you down. And I'm not surprised that so many people complain about back pain. The heaviness that settles over our life. All the heaviness that has to be carried and endured. There in the village and probably you here in Bucharest know this too – whether it manifests itself in back pain or otherwise.
On the other hand, God wants to bring us joy, to make life easy and beautiful. Just as Jesus showed with the turning of water into wine at the wedding in Cana. Anyone who reads the Gospel of John from the beginning will notice that the second chapter begins with this miracle, this sign that Jesus performed. This act with which he began his ministry, his first sign out of seven. Jesus makes it easy – for the wedding couple who know nothing of their happiness. Jesus makes it easy – for the servants who have the heavy jars filled with water. About 30 or 40 litres fit into one large jar. There were six jars, so more than 200 litres in total. 200 litres of delicious wine – that's something!
God does not feed us. God wants an abundant life for us – even in all adversity and in all crises. Do you see it? Do you feel it? Can you taste it? It is there. Let God open your eyes to his world, to his signs in this world. Let God open your ears to his world and let God open your taste buds to the fullness of life that is there. We can taste it later in the Holy Communion.
My yoke is easy and my burden is light (Matthew 11:30), says Jesus in another passage. ‘Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.’
Not more heaviness, but lightness and gentleness and clarity. That's what God prepared for us and our lives. And is still preparing. Yesterday, on the train journey here to Bucharest, I was recommended a new book: Sanfte Radikalität, Gentle Radicalism by Jagoda Marinic. In it, she pleads for a continued commitment to the good, to beauty, to the fullness of life – instead of freezing up and being helplessly at the mercy of all crises and conflicts And a third Bible verse: Test everything and keep what is good, what is beautiful (1 Thessalonians 5:21). This verse is the motto (Jahreslosung) for this year in the Protestant churches.
'Do not quench the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt but test them all; hold on to what is good, reject every kind of evil. May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through.'
Paul writes it to a young congregation. And is giving them a compass: Keep what is good, keep what is beautiful, keep what makes you happy, blessed and light.
Rejoice, it will be easy. Amen.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.