Call and Response - A Sermon for February 8 2026

Word

God speaks to us in scripture reading, preaching, and song.

To help us prepare for the hearing of the Gospel,

I’d like to invite you into a brief time of conversation,

form groups of 3 people if possible,

Share with your group your thoughts:

Why did you come to church today?

Encourage you to be honest - name the positive reason you came to church,

and if you’re willing,

maybe name a not-so-positive reason.

Gospel: John 4:46-54; 5:1-18

The holy gospel according to John.

Glory to you, O Lord.

Chapter 4

  ⁴⁶ Then he came again to Cana in Galilee, where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. ⁴⁷ When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. ⁴⁸ Then Jesus said to him, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” ⁴⁹ The official said to him, “Sir, come down before my little boy dies.” ⁵⁰ Jesus said to him, “Go; your son will live.” The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. ⁵¹ As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. ⁵² So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, “Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.” ⁵³ The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, “Your son will live.” So he himself believed, along with his whole household. ⁵⁴ Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.

Chapter 5

  ¹ After this there was a festival of the Jews, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.
  ² Now in Jerusalem by the Sheep Gate there is a pool, called in Hebrew Beth-zatha, which has five porticoes. ³ In these lay many ill, blind, lame, and paralyzed people. ⁵ One man was there who had been ill for thirty-eight years. ⁶ When Jesus saw him lying there and knew that he had been there a long time, he said to him, “Do you want to be made well?” ⁷ The ill man answered him, “Sir, I have no one to put me into the pool when the water is stirred up, and while I am making my way someone else steps down ahead of me.” ⁸ Jesus said to him, “Stand up, take your mat and walk.” ⁹ At once the man was made well, and he took up his mat and began to walk.
  Now that day was a Sabbath. ¹⁰ So the Jews said to the man who had been cured, “It is the Sabbath; it is not lawful for you to carry your mat.” ¹¹ But he answered them, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Take up your mat and walk.’ ” ¹² They asked him, “Who is the man who said to you, ‘Take it up and walk’?” ¹³ Now the man who had been healed did not know who it was, for Jesus had disappeared in the crowd that was there. ¹⁴ Later Jesus found him in the temple and said to him, “See, you have been made well! Do not sin any more, so that nothing worse happens to you.” ¹⁵ The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. ¹⁶ Therefore the Jews started persecuting Jesus, because he was doing such things on the Sabbath. ¹⁷ But Jesus answered them, “My Father is still working, and I also am working.” ¹⁸ For this reason the Jews were seeking all the more to kill him, because he was not only breaking the Sabbath but was also calling God his own Father, thereby making himself equal to God.

The gospel of the Lord.

Praise to you, O Christ.

Sermon

The assembly is seated.

The Annual General Meeting is an opportunity for us

to give thanks for God’s work in our midst

over the last year,

and it is an opportunity to look forward,

to consider God’s will for our congregation.

For example, we have a budget to be presented,

and this budget is a theological statement,

together we are saying this is how we believe

God is calling us to be faithful in ministry

Put another way,

today we consider what kind of Church God is calling us to be,

what kind of person

is God is calling you and me to be;

How might we live in the world?

And why do we do the things that we do?

What we proclaim is Christ and him crucified.

Everything we do ought to be a the proclamation

that Jesus is Lord and Saviour.

I also suggest we look to Micah 6:8,

what does the Lord require of you?

Do justice.

Love kindness.

Walk humbly with your God.

That’s Micah 6:8.

This is God’s will for you,

for ancient Israel,

for Christ’s Church.

Do justice,

love kindness,

walk humbly with your God.

So here is my question for us all,

for the life-long Lutheran,

for the new to faith Christian,

and perhaps especially for me, your pastor:

Does your practice of religion

move you closer to Micah 6:8?

Does our practice of religion

move us to do justice,

to love kindness,

and walk humbly with our God

outside of these walls?

Somehow, in God’s infinite wisdom,

God sees fit to command us to worship God.

but I am convinced that God does not need our worship,

God doesn’t need you and me to say the right words

to puff up God’s chest.

God doesn't need an ego boost.

With or without our worship,

God is good,

faithful,

and just.

With or without our worship,

God is going to do what God is going to do.

I am convinced God wants us to worship

for our own benefit,

and for the sake of the world.

Sometimes you need to worship because you are the person in need.

We all need healing when wounded,

we all need to be fed and nourished

amidst the hungers we face.

Luther’s final words ring true here,

We are all beggars, this is true,

part of the reason we come to worship

is because we need God,

we all reach out our hands to be fed at the table.

Do you want to be made well?

healing is yours in Jesus’ name,

but you might have to pick up your mat and walk.

Healing is yours in Jesus’ name,

but you might have to leave something behind.

The man in the story had all sorts of reasons why not.

I wonder if in our own way,

Jesus comes to us,

asking us if we really want to be made well,

and we come up with excuses.

I invite you to consider that God’s reality is greater

than what the World offers,

and to trust that something real happens here,

that there is power in God’s Word and Sacrament.

Soon you will be invited to the foretaste of the feast to come.

in the words of Ralph Jorgensen,

Christianity shouldn’t work,

but it does.

It is backwards that a little morsel of bread

and a sip of wine

can fill your cup to overflowing,

but it does.

It is backwards that these little elements

hold the fullness of God’s grace,

but it works.

Forgiveness, life, salvation are yours

at this table.

Your salvation is secure.

It is promised to you,

given freely by God in baptism.

You are freed from having to work out your own salvation,

because you can’t,

you can’t save yourself - God alone can save,

and that work is finished,

on the tree of the cross,

with your names inscribed in the palms of Jesus’ hands,

your salvation is secure.

Do you want to be made well?

stop trying to earn your salvation,

that’s a good start.

Why did you come to church today?

We have so many reasons why - both good and bad.

I invite you to consider this reason why we might worship:

call and response.

For example,

I might say “The Lord be with you”

and you might respond “and also with you.”

God’s word accomplishes that which it purposes,

God’s word does not return empty,

our God speaks - and we respond

and even our response is God’s Word, returned.

Think of it like rehearsal, or practice.

We do church, we worship,

God speaks - and we respond,

we rehearse,

we practice to be a different kind of people

than we had once been.

God speaks,

God changes us,

we respond.

That is worship.

When we pray,

it is not just rote words,

but we live the things we pray.

We pray for those who are hungry,

and then those of us with bread

share what we have.

We live the things we pray.

At the Lord’s table,

God speaks forgiveness, grace, love, inclusion,

in, with, and under the bread and wine,

and we become one with Christ.

At the Communion Table,

we are Christs,

with and without the apostrophe.

By God’s work,

we belong to Christ,

and by God’s work and nourishment,

we become like little Christs to the world.

Christ is incarnate in you.

Trust and believe that the sacraments are doing something!

They are healing you,

making you whole,

and this life pours out into the world

in and through us.

Communion isn’t about us changing bread and wine

into the body and blood,

Communion is Jesus changing us,

for our own benefit,

and for the good of the world.

I heard a little devotion at Kuriakos last weekend:

What kind of elevator person are you?

You see the elevator open ahead,

and you speed up a little bit,

you get your spot inside,

and then you see the person 20 feet away,

moving towards you at the elevator.

Do you press the “close door” button

and make sure you get up to your floor quicker,

after all, first come first served,

Or do you see the person coming for an elevator lift,

and you hold the door open for them?

The other day - I was the one pushing the close door button.

Does your practice of religion move you

to do justice,

to love kindness,

and walk humbly with your God?

That’s the point.

God feeds us,

nourishes us,

gifts us for life

and calls us into life,

blessed to be a blessing.

Grace is something we cannot hoard for ourselves.

Hear the good news,

you are the body of Christ,

you are filled with grace,

God will give you strength for your journeys,

and then may we become bread for the world.

Covid didn’t help things.

all of a sudden,

we couldn’t worship in the same way

and we moved worship online,

And with cameras

and streaming platforms

all of a sudden,

church became a television production.

Sometimes worship might feel like a job to be completed.

But worship should not be a production,

in that TV show way.

The Sunday service is not its own end,

but Rehearsal - practice

for the game of life.

The man lay beside the pool,

and church happened.

Jesus asked “Do you wish to be made well”

and the man was invited into the miracle.

no more excuses.

Pick up your mat and walk.

If you wish to be made well,

you have come to the right place,

for here is Jesus,

with healing in his wings.

But you are not just an empty vessel,

you are God’s child,

and God has a call for you too.

May you be healed in Jesus name,

as you practice faith here,

as you feel the waters of baptism

and remember you belong to Christ,

as you taste the body and the blood,

trust and believe that God is filing you,

healing you,

bringing you the peace that surpasses all understanding.

But that’s not the end of it.

You are made well,

that the world may be made well.

The miracles, the signs in John’s Gospel,

the people simply do what Jesus tells them to do,

and then they believe.

Maybe those of us who struggle to believe

ought to just do what Jesus tells us to do,

and faith will follow.

May you be a vessel for the healing of the world,

made well in Christ,

and filled with the Word of God,

may you join God’s work of blessing the world,

like opening elevator doors.

Healing for you

and healing for the world,

starts here,

with worship,

with the God who saves,

with the God who speaks.

This is Christ and him crucified.

May God heal us,

and use us for the healing of the world.

Thanks be to God. Amen.