ITE, MISSA EST

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I want to start with an exercise I’ve done here at Messiah Lutheran a few times over the last several years. I’m going to assign each of you a number according to your birthday, and then I will assign an “act of service” for each number, so remember your number!

Here they are: if you were born in January, February or March—and that includes me—we are number one. If you were born in April, May or June, you are number two. Those of you born in July, August or September are number three. Last, if you were born in October, November or December, you are number four.

Now, I will assign an “act of service” to each of those numbers. 1) All of us number ones, we need to find someone and ask him/her to tell us one thing for which we can pray about them, and then commit to praying for them for the next three days. 2) Those of you who are number two: find someone and give them a twenty-second shoulder massage. 3) Number threes, you need to find someone you have not yet officially met and introduce yourself to them. 4) Finally, if you are a number four, find someone and tell him/her one reason you’re glad to see him/her here today. You have forty seconds to do your act of service, starting right now…

Good work! Some of you were nervous while I was giving the assignments. Was this harder to do for some than others? Of course! Remember, though, just because something is challenging or a bit scary doesn’t mean we’re not called to do it! You’ve done this at least once now, so you know how it feels. More important, you know how you feel after you’ve done it. Let this only be the beginning!

A couple of things happened last weekend that I found especially inspiring. The first is from last week’s synod assembly[1] where all three pastors—Joe, Steve and I—were last week. Our keynote speaker was Dr. Samuel Torvend who brought a message to us that I want to share with you this morning. The second inspiring thing happened here, last Sunday at the 11:00 traditional service. The three of us heard about it second-hand, but what we heard has made a huge impression on us and is right on target for this message.

So, first, today’s sermon title comes directly from a phrase in Dr. Torvend’s presentation, “Ite, missa est.” It’s from the old Latin Mass. Some of you former Catholics may find it familiar. “Ite, missa est.” Say that once together: [Ite, missa est.] It’s the way the church service used to end, and it’s why I’ve waited until the very end of this service to preach.

We usually end our services by saying, “Go in peace, serve the Lord,” and you answer…[“Thanks be to God!”] It’s similar to ite, missa est. Say that first word: “ite.” Ite is a command to “Go!” We would translate it as “You, go!” but it’s a plural “you.” Believe it or not, that is a very important distinction!

We make fun of that southern redneck drawl, but at least they have had enough classical sense to know that there ought to be a separate word for you, plural: “Y’all.” “Ite,” not just “You go,” but “Y’all go!”

My wife and I enjoy Jeff Foxworthy. Some of you might know of him from the “You might be a redneck if…” jokes. He was talking to the audience about the southern pronunciation and language when he reminded the crowd that most of Jesus’ disciples weren’t exactly urban, uptown elites. So, he said, “Don’t be surprised, when we’re all standing in line there on the other side, and St. Peter pulls up in his Chevy pickup and calls out, “Y’all get in the truck, we’re goin’ up to the Big House!”

Ite, Y’all go! Do you see how important this idea is…in this individualistic world with individual rights and individual choices? Even though we say to the whole congregation, “Go in peace, serve the Lord,” I think we usually hear it individually: “Each of you, go.” It’s not an individual command, but a collective command: “Y’all, You all go!”

And even though we disperse from and spread out from each other until there are miles and days between us, we remain a part of that collective commandment, a part of the whole, the “You All” or, “Y’all” that is the Body of Christ. Each of us is a part of and accountable to the Whole Body.

I’ve said this several times, but hear it today like you’ve never heard it before. You, each of you, wherever you go from here, each one of us represents the whole body; in our homes, in traffic, at school, at work, at the Super Mall, at the sports pub, tomorrow, Wednesday, Friday, you are Messiah Lutheran Church in that place. More important, you are the Christian Church in that place!

This is true even if you are visiting us today, because you came here and breathed in the spirit, the breath of God’s Word and song here. You need to breathe it out for us, for all of us—out into your world wherever your wheels or feet take you.

I mention breathing, that we come here to breathe in. This is another image from Dr. Torvend’s talk, that we come to worship to breathe in the Word and breath of God.[2] So, we gather on Sunday to breath in together; what does that mean?

First, it may show why it’s important to brush your teeth before coming to church. (I’ve always been curious, after hearing the story of creation: God took a lump of clay and breathed life into it. I’ve always wondered: is God’s breath minty-fresh?)

The breath of Life is the same power of Grace from the same God who gave us life in the first place, the same minty-fresh breath. Forgiveness is eternal life out from death from the same God who gave us our first breath.

I hope you heard it in our psalm this morning. Psalm 32 says something along this line, that “while I kept silent, while I kept my mouth closed off, when I quit breathing in, my body wasted away. I groaned. My strength dried up. In other words, I was dying…an eternal death.

“And then, I let it go. I opened my mouth and you forgave me! You surround me and deliver me. I open my mouth and breathe in forgiveness. I can breathe again!”

How I wish—whenever we confess our sins, like we do every Sunday—that we could feel the weight and significance, and the life-and-death of it the way that this psalmist did! When we hear the declaration of God’s forgiveness, the incredible, unearned power of it all should fill our lungs with new air…near to bursting! If we really heard, we’d all be floating around this nave like a bunch of over-filled balloons singing our hymns and liturgy at the top of our lungs, only to be filled the more!

When you really listen and begin to understand the forgiveness of God, then you are like the woman in our gospel lesson. More than the polite courtesy of a foot wash, handshake and kiss of greeting, this woman let it all hang out. Exposing her hair like that was no less than exposing her heart. She, and all her sinfulness, she was dying there at the feet of her Lord.

But then: life, forgiveness, air and breath! —her sins, “which were many,” were forgiven. You see, the more we expose ourselves to God, the more we involve our hearts and minds here in authentic worship (each of us), the more we will experience the forgiveness and love of God…the peace that is always there. And the deeper we breathe it in here, the better we will be able to share it elsewhere.

Breathing out. Breathing in is only the first half of it. To be alive, to stay alive, the body must do the whole rhythm: breathing in and breathing out. My wife is taking yoga classes and she tells me that one of the most important things they’ve been taught now is how to breathe.

Ite, missa est. Say the last part of that: [missa est]. Ite, missa est means, “Y’all go! It is being sent.” “It is being sent!” That breath you took must be sent out. If the body does not breathe out, it will poison, stagnate, eventually die. The body breathes it in here, and must breathe it out there. “Y’all go, it is being sent.”

What “it” are we breathing out? Call it the Living Word; call it the Spirit of Christ or God; call it the singular Mission of God—“Ya’ll go! It is being sent!”

The last few words of worship are probably the most important words for describing the mission and real purpose of gathering for worship, or gathering even for Sunday school. This may be a bit hard to hear, and harder to accept. The focus of worship, the focus of Bible study, the focus of Christian fellowship, is not us or our needs!

It’s true, we do bring our needs here, and it’s true that they are met, but they are met so that we can turn away from ourselves…with faith and confidence to help God’s world. The focus of worship is not us, but beyond us. The focus is God’s world.

Listen to this. Listen to each word. We will end our service in a couple minutes by saying, “Go (y’all go) in peace, serve the Lord.” That’s why we gather! That’s what we’re here for! We breathe in, so that the Body of Christ can breathe out!

Go—embraced by, convinced of and resting in—peace, in order to take it to the world, to your world and your weekday life! Carry your forgiveness with you, so that you can forgive others. Carry your faith with you, so that you can be brave enough to reach out to others. Breathe in comfort; breathe it out. “Gather, Grow, Glorify,” all in order to “Go!”[3] Ite, missa est! Y’all go; it is being sent!

I want to finish by describing the second thing that I found so inspiring from last week. I was told that right during the sermon, while Dr. Gene Colburn was up here preaching about the Good Samaritan of all things, we had a visitor. There was a slight language barrier, but he was in the narthex and explained to one of our members that he was looking for “the priest.” Someone pointed to Dr. Colburn up here preaching. So the man came in, genuflected, took a pew, and sat there praying and weeping for a while.

Then, he came up to the front to Joyce Crain, who was helping with liturgy, and showed her his arms where she could see he recently had IV’s attached. He handed her a note that said something like, “Father, please help.” Joyce assured him that if he waited for the service to end, she would help him immediately. So he sat back down.

Then, one of you came and sat beside him while he cried, and put your arm around him. After the service, several of you got together. You found out that he had recently gotten out of the hospital and needed to get home to California. You got in contact with his family and friends. You pooled some money together. One of you took him to the bus station, bought him a ticket and gave him money for food along the way. You called his family to let him know when he would arrive.

The Good Samaritan, the Body of Christ, and your collective commandment; can you see how this all comes together?

Someone told me about this scene and said, “Of all the Sundays, of all Sundays for all three pastors to be gone! This was the worst!” But I quickly realized and said, “No…of all the Sundays for us to be gone, this was the best!” This was the ministry of the congregation, and a gift from God to you.

We often imagine that we call pastors to “do ministry” for the congregation. That’s really not true. Ministry is something we all should be doing, all the time. In one sense, I should be “doing ministry” on my own time. We call pastors, not to “do ministry,” but to encourage the ministry of the congregation.

You are the ministers of Christ. Last week proved it. You are the ministers in here and out there, in the true mission field. Ite, missa est. Y’all go! It is being sent! Amen.

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Any questions, comments or thoughts, please email: mailto:[email protected] and type “Ite, Missa Est” in the subject line.

[1] ELCA, Southwest Washington’s 2001 Synod Assembly.

[2] As a side note (mentioned in the service): all three, Hebrew, Greek and Latin, each had a single word that was used to describe breath, wind and spirit. Hebrew had ruah: breath, wind, spirit. Greek had pneuma—from which we get “pneumonia”—breath, wind, spirit. Latin had spiritus—from which we have “inspire,” “respiration” and “inspiration”—breath, wind, spirit. The unifying idea behind them was “life,” each brings life. What brings life to the world? Breath, wind and spirit.

[3] Messiah Lutheran Church’s Mission Slogan