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You Could Miss It 5.24.26 · St. Paul Podcast

• 0:06
  SPEAKER_01: Hi everyone and welcome to the St.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: Paul Podcast.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_01: My name is Mark Neethammer, Senior Pastor at St.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_01: Paul Lutheran Church, located in Davenport, Iowa, part of the Greater Quad Cities area of Iowa and Illinois.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_01: Right here each week you will find beautiful music and a message of hope and good news to guide your life.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_01: I am hopeful that this podcast can inspire you and help you on your journey of faith as you grow in love and trust in our God.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_01: Over time, some have come to call Pentecost the birthday of the church, which makes a little bit of sense.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: It's from a story in the book of Acts where the Spirit of God was unleashed in the world, and the disciples, those followers of Jesus, were somehow able to speak and be understood across many cultures.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_01: At its core, Pentecost is all about the Spirit of God moving through the world.
• 3:08
  SPEAKER_01: In worship this weekend, we didn't read that story from Acts, instead, focusing on an event that took place on what we would now call Easter.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: From John's Gospel, we will hear about Jesus showing up in a room that was locked, and he was breathing peace onto his friends who were scared.
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's a giving of the Spirit, but in kind of a different way.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: So take a listen.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_01: Here's a reading from the twentieth chapter of John.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: When it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and the doors were locked where the disciples were, for fear of the Judeans, Jesus came and stood among them and said, Peace be with you.
• 3:51
  SPEAKER_01: After he said this, he showed them his hands and his side.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_01: Then his disciples rejoiced when they saw the Lord.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus said to them again, Peace be with you.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_01: As the Father has sent me, so I send you.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_01: When he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, Receive the Holy Spirit.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_01: If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_01: If you retain the sins of any, they are retained.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: This may not be the event, the moment of Pentecost, but Jesus showing up through a locked door can be helpful for us, especially in a world where we feel particular pressure to keep appearances up despite what we may actually have going on.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: So here's my sermon on the Spirit of God fear and locked doors.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: So we find Jesus' disciples, they are in a room together, the door is locked, no one is getting in or out.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_01: And this group was together hiding.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: They were hiding because they were afraid.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_01: That's how we find Jesus' disciples in this really brief but consequential reading.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_01: And we can't really blame them for feeling this way, for being this scared.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: It was a really scary time for them.
• 5:25
  SPEAKER_01: They thought that their lives could have been in danger.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_01: For all they knew, Jesus had just been crucified.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_01: Those who thought Jesus was some kind of a threat and who needed to get rid of him had accomplished their task.
• 5:42
  SPEAKER_01: And for all these disciples knew they were next.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_01: Whether that is a correct assessment or not is not the point.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_01: It's how they felt.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_01: And for them, that's what made it real to them.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_01: So that's what I want us to look into today.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: I want us to think about the things in our lives that cause us to lock ourselves in and hide.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: I want us to name some of the things that we worry about day and night, because in these few verses, Jesus has a particular a particular word that I think would be good for us all to really take in over these next few minutes.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_01: Now, to guide us on this deliberation, I want to tell you about a man who dove willingly into something that was pretty scary, and he learned a lot from it.
• 6:35
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you've heard his story before.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_01: His name is Andrew Forstoffel.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_01: It's a great last name, Forstoffel.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_01: In 2011, he graduated from college and decided that he should just walk across the country, as one does, apparently.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: As he walked, his goal was to carry a sign with him that said, walking to listen.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_01: And really, his goal for however long it took, which or however long it took, was to talk to as many people as he possibly could and learn something about this world that he was now entering into as an adult, presumably for the first time.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_01: So Andrew sets off from the Pacific to the Atlantic.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_01: He has some beef jerky and some peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in his pack, and that's it.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_01: He did not have a smartphone.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: These were the dark ages, remember.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: This was 2011.
• 7:38
  SPEAKER_01: Ultimately, Andrew wanted to hear an answer from as many people as he could to this question.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_01: If you could go back, what would you tell yourself at 23 years of age?
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_01: To Andrew's surprise, the vast majority of people he talked to were happy to share their stories with him.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: And they all offered some good advice to their 23-year-old selves, in addition to offering him cold beverages and shelter in storms and occasionally, occasionally questionable food.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_01: But one observation he made after he was after he finished his walk, which took 11 months for those of you keeping score, was that nobody he talked to would encourage their 23-year-old selves to be more fearful.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: Hear that again.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_01: Nobody, not one person would go back and tell their younger selves to be scared.
• 8:45
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, that's easy to say.
• 8:47
  SPEAKER_01: It's different to live, though, I think.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_01: One other interesting thing to note about Andrew's walk, everyone told him, as they were saying goodbye, to not trust the people that he was going to meet next, because, as they all inevitably said, they aren't like us.
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_01: But you know what he found?
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_01: Those people he wasn't supposed to trust because they're not like us, those people down the road he hadn't yet met.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_01: Those are the people who fed him.
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_01: They gave him rides.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: They passed him some Gatorade.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_01: A particularly memorable character on Andrew's walk appeared as he was leaving New Orleans.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_01: He was walking past a house, a typical old southern house with a big front porch and a rocking chair.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not sure if there were banjos along the way or not.
• 9:41
  SPEAKER_01: But the man sitting on the rocking chair yelled out yelled something out to Andrew.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: I don't remember what it was.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: And after answering, the man said, So you're a Yankee?
• 9:52
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: He said, This road is a dividing line.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_01: If you come over here, you might be in a world of pain.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_01: Andrew, yelling from afar, told him what he was doing.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_01: That he was walking across the country to listen to people, hoping to hear some advice.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_01: And then the man asked if Andrew wanted to come over, to sit on the rocking chair, gave him an iced tea, and they talked for a few hours.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_01: In that time, this man kind of bore his soul to Andrew.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: And then when it was time, Andrew got up, they hugged, and he went on his way.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: His walk continued.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_01: Don't be afraid of what is to come.
• 10:41
  SPEAKER_01: Which again, easy to say, easy-ish to hear, but hard to live into because this world can feel like kind of a scary place full of really scary kinds of people.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe in a way it is.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: But there has to be more than that.
• 11:01
  SPEAKER_01: If only we can get out of our own heads and see that the resurrection of Jesus and the sending of this Holy Spirit actually makes a difference in the world.
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_01: So we remember those in John's gospel again, those disciples who are locked in the room out of fear.
• 11:21
  SPEAKER_01: And it kind of starts to make us wonder about the ways that we lock ourselves into various places, whether in our own minds or otherwise, scared of what might happen if the truth of who we are got out.
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_01: Addiction is kind of the primary example of people that can get locked in and not letting others in for help or otherwise.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_01: And it can start slowly.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_01: You get home from work and you need a drink to make the stress of the day go away, and one drink becomes two, becomes more, and then all of a sudden you realize that you can't go a day without it, but you also can't let anyone know that you're struggling because that admits that there's a problem and that you need help.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_01: So you lock yourself in.
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_01: Scared of what can happen, of being vulnerable, of getting some help.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_01: The new addiction in our society or new-ish is uh revolves around online sports betting.
• 12:22
  SPEAKER_01: About 27% of Americans have an online and an active online sports betting account.
• 12:29
  SPEAKER_01: And of those, one in three has debt associated with the habit.
• 12:35
  SPEAKER_01: But many get locked into this pattern of behavior, doing this gambling without letting anyone know, fearful of what would happen if the truth came out, fearful of the consequences of admitting that you have this debt, watching the games no longer with friends, but on your phone, cursing at the running back for fumbling, losing you 50 bucks.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: We lock ourselves in so much, refusing to let the world help.
• 13:04
  SPEAKER_01: And that's not just in our own minds, but there are reasons to be afraid all over the place.
• 13:10
  SPEAKER_01: Will our kids be able to function in this world on their own?
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_01: Are my parents safe behind the wheel?
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_01: Will I have enough money to survive?
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: Is the surgery gonna hold?
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Is the planet gonna be inhabitable when I'm older?
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_01: Will there be an America in X years?
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_01: Will there, will I, when will?
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_01: This can feel like a really scary place and a really scary time.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_01: And so many, maybe you live each day in fear, locked in some pattern, worried about yourselves, your family, your legacy, your neighbor.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: But what happened to those fear-filled disciples?
• 13:53
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus came in.
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_01: Not only through the locked door of the room, but through the locked door of their hearts.
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_01: And Jesus breathes.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: He breathes on them the gift of peace, breathes on them an assurance of forgiveness and mercy, breathes on them the blessing that even in fear, the accompaniment of God is there, and the promise of life with God is there.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus enters into their fear, acknowledges that it's real and that life is really hard, and says, peace be with you.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_01: I'm guessing people didn't say this out of a blind sense of optimism, but in a way that acknowledges the challenges.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, life can be hard, but it's also worth living.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_01: Yes, there will be challenges along the way.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: Not everyone you meet will be kind and gracious, but we cannot live each day as if the worst is going to happen.
• 15:06
  SPEAKER_01: We can't do that.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Friends, we all know that it's easy to be scared by the future.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: That's why so many idealize the past.
• 15:15
  SPEAKER_01: We know how those stories end, and we don't know how this one ends.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_01: But don't forget that the Spirit of God didn't just show up once when Jesus breathed peace on his friends those many years ago.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: The Spirit of God moves in our world even today, every day, reminding us that our job, our gift as followers of Jesus flows from receiving that peace.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: So we get to love people.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: With that peace in us, we get to forgive them.
• 15:51
  SPEAKER_01: We get to bless and heal the nations, we get to feed the hungry and help remind everyone of their inherent God-given dignity.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_01: And the sooner we all get on board with that, the sooner we'll realize that the work of the church, then, is simply to be a vessel for healing where we're reminded weekly to go and serve, to go and do, to go and love.
• 16:18
  SPEAKER_01: The season called Pentecost that we're entering into is a beautiful opportunity to reopen ourselves to the beauty of this amazing world that God made, to reopen ourselves to a spirit of generosity of all that God has blessed us with.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_01: We are all still fallen and broken people.
• 16:38
  SPEAKER_01: This we know this is our constant.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_01: But we all may find our own healing, our own joy in this world by being a conduit for the peace that Jesus has already breathed into each of you.
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_01: Those Pentecost winds are blowing.
• 16:55
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you can see them, I hope you can hear them and feel them.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: So when you leave here today, take that peace with you.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_01: Don't be afraid because you're not going alone.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_01: Give us today our daily bread.
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_01: Forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_01: For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and forever.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_01: There certainly are reasons to be afraid in this world that we live in.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_01: There are myriad reasons to lock ourselves in various rooms, whether literal or figurative.
• 21:22
  SPEAKER_01: It's easier to hide than engage.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: But don't forget, the Spirit of God is moving even in these complex times, and Jesus always shows up with a word of peace, even as God continues to do new things each day.
• 21:39
  SPEAKER_01: So don't lock yourselves away.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_01: You may just miss what God is doing in you.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_01: Amen.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_01: I hope you've enjoyed this podcast, and thanks for your support of the ministries of St.
• 21:56
  SPEAKER_01: Paul Lutheran Church, our commitment to endeavors that lend hope to.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_01: Other people stretches across the country and around the world.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_01: We hope that in a good way you feel a part of that reach.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Tune in next Thursday for another edition of the St.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_01: Paul Podcast.