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Green Blades Preaching Roundtable

3rd Sunday After Pentecost

Year A
June 18, 2023
Rev. Greg Kaufmann

Exodus 19:2-81
Psalm 100
Romans 15:1-8
Matthew 9:35 – 10:8(9-23)


Ex. 19:2-8a

            Esther Menn (LSTC) wrote the study notes for Exodus for our Lutheran Study Bible. In her comments on Ex. 19:6 she noted “The Israelites are a ‘priestly kingdom and a holy nation’ – a people set apart for a special calling to do God’s work among the nations. In a similar way, as Christians we all share the work of worshipping God, serving our neighbors, and caring for God’s good creation.”

            So what is God’s work? What does it look like? When one couples this idea with Genesis 1 and its creation account, we remember that we relate to all of creation in the same way God does. Dominion or rule in the OT is all about serving, not dominating. How do we serve each other? How do we serve God’s creation? How do we faithfully participate in the ongoing creation process? For further insights into this idea, check out Enter the Bible: https://enterthebible.org/passage/genesis-126-28-in-the-image-of-god

A short 1 minute video by Dr. Fretheim sharpens that focus. It can be accessed here:

https://enterthebible.org/video/understanding-creation-genesis

            What might that mean for us as we face ecological disasters on so many fronts – many of which are directly the result of lifestyle choices we all have made/are making? As God’s holy nation, how might we act differently if we actually believed our baptisms have called us into this holy task?

            I love the response of the people in Ex. 19:8 “Everything that the Lord has spoken, we will do.” Where to start is the only question! We know how the Lord loves the creation, and we know what its current condition is. Pick something and start! Maybe it is converting some grass to pollinator friendly habitat in your yard or your congregation. Wondering how to do that? Here is an amazing collection of resources that can help.

https://www.ecofaithnetwork.org/



Psalm 100

Psalm 100:1 caught my attention right away. “Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth.”

It is spring as I write this, and more migratory birds are arriving daily. Talk about making a joyful noise! Nothing quite like a flock of Greater Sandhill Cranes flying low overhead as they swoop in for a landing. I couldn’t help coupling Esther Menn’s observation with the Psalmist’s invitation.

How might we play a role in making it possible for all of the creation to make a joyful noise to the Lord? Or not!

What different choices might we make in almost all aspects of our lives if we stopped to ask a simple question like this: “Does this choice make it easier, harder, or impossible for all of creation to make a joyful noise to the Lord?”

Another way to imagine this is to borrow a perspective from our Native American siblings, who consider the impact of today’s decisions on the next 7 generations.

Psalm 100:3 reminds us whose we are! “It is he that has made us, and we are his. We are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” Since we can trust in God’s promise made to each of us in baptism that we are indeed his, and don’t have to spend our life clawing our way up to heaven, we are free to serve God by serving our neighbors and God’s good creation. OK, I borrowed that idea from Luther! Wondering if there are resources to help you and your congregation actually do that? Check out these resources:

https://nwswi.org/social-justice-advocacy/creation-care



Matt. 9:35 – 10:8 (9-23)

Matt. 9:35-36 “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, and proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and curing every disease and every sickness. When he saw the crowds he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.”

These familiar words from Matthew 9:35-36 can serve as the background for a lively conversation around the diseases and sicknesses that afflict our current culture. You know your context.  Jesus had compassion on the people he met, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. I know a little bit about the imagery Jesus used. My wife and I still live on the farm we purchased in 1980. For several decades we raised sheep – 80 milk ewes, about 300 lambs, along with a 1000 chickens – all rotationally grazed on our then 22 acres of pasture. I learned a lot raising sheep, including how keenly they come to know and trust the voice of their shepherd – my wife, not me! We also learned how rotationally grazing animals on pasture can bring life back to soil that had been row cropped for decades.

I believe our Gospel lesson challenges us to think deeply about the diseases and sicknesses that afflict our planet and all life on it. As sociologists and climatologists have reminded us, many issues of justice are interrelated. Our choices do matter – to the planet as well as the critters, plants and people living on it.

While not a fan of the fad from past years of wearing a bracelet with WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) it does cause us to apply a different lens to choices we make every day. How is our choice either proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, or satisfying my own unique set of desires and needs?


Romans 5:1-8

Which brings me to our NT text from Romans 5. Where do we find the courage, much less the will, to ask different questions and make different choices? How do we align ourselves with the marginalized rather than the powerful? Why would we care about the flora and fauna as much as our own comfort? Romans 5:5 suggests an answer: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit that has been given to us.”  It gets better. Romans 5:8 “God proves God’s love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us.”

While we were yet sinners! That pretty much sums up my current condition. And probably yours as well if we are both honest.

While I still don’t understand how small choices that I make or my little congregation makes can make a dent in the ecological crisis facing the planet, we gain courage to act, knowing that God didn’t wait until we had this whole salvation thing figured out. While we were yet sinners…while we were yet ruining the very planet that sustains us…while we turned a blind eye to the impact our lifestyle choices make on the most vulnerable populations…Christ died for us.

A few chapters later in Romans (8:18-23) Paul comments on how the entire creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God.

I am reminded of one of Paul’s favorite expressions to help his auditors (few people could read) figure out how exactly this new life in Christ should look. You will find these passages helpful as you consider whether or not the effort you put in to live in harmony with God’s good creation is worth it.

·      I Cor. 4:16

·      I Cor. 11:1

·      Gal. 4:12

·      Philippians 3:17

·      Philippians 4:9

·      I Thess. 1:6-7

·      2 Thess. 3:7

May it start with us – today.


Rev. Greg Kaufmann
Rev. Greg Kaufmann
Eau Claire, Wisconsin

"Pastor Greg Kaufmann, recently retired, served congregations in Colorado and Wisconsin between 1975-2000. He served as Assistant to the Bishop of the Northwest Synod of Wisconsin from 2000 – June 1, 2023. In 1993 he helped begin that synod's Lay School of Ministry, and currently teaches its Bible courses. In 2000 he helped start his synod’s resource center and still volunteers as its director. He was a member of the ELCA’s Book of Faith leadership team, and currently is part of the ELCA’s Life of Faith Initiative leadership team and the ELCA’s Lay Ministry Programs leadership team. Greg retired in August, 2024, as the Director of the ELCA's Select Learning ministry, a position he held since 2006. In “refirement” Greg serves on the board of directors of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, on his synod’s Neighbor2Neighbor board, and Greg is one of 3 synod representatives on the planning team of the 2025 EcoFaith Summit of the Upper Midwest. Greg has written a number of the quarterly adult Bible studies for Augsburg Fortress, and recently completed a course for Select Learning on the formation of the NT.

https://www.selectlearning.org/store/all/how-we-got-new-testament-dvd
When not teaching, writing or volunteering, you can find Greg enjoying his three grandchildren, on top of 14,000 foot mountains in Colorado, canoeing the Boundary Waters, hybridizing daylilies on his farm, or visiting national parks with his family, in his RoadTrek camper named Slinky."

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