Sermon preached by Matt Staniz at Temple Lutheran Church. Includes reflection on recent ELCA Assembly decision to open rostered/ordained ministry to individuals in committed same-sex relationships. Also includes reflection on upcoming changes in the worship schedule at Temple Lutheran Church.
Bible Texts:
Deuteronomy 4:1–2, 6–9 (The Israelites believed the law was a divine gift that provided guidelines for living out the covenant. Moses commands the people to obey the law and neither to add to nor subtract from it. The Israelites are also to teach the law to their children and their children’s children.)
Mark 7:1–8, 14–15, 21–23 (Mark’s gospel depicts Jesus as challenging traditional ways in which religious people determine what is pure or impure. For Jesus, the observance of religious practices cannot become a substitute for godly words or deeds that spring from a faithful heart.)
James 1:17–27 (Christians are encouraged to listen carefully and to act on what they hear, especially by caring for those least able to care for themselves.)
The 2009 Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) voted today to open the ministry of the church to gay and lesbian pastors and other professional workers living in committed relationships.
The action came by a vote of 559-451 at the highest legislative body of the 4.6 million member denomination. Earlier the assembly also approved a resolution committing the church to find ways for congregations that choose to do so to "recognize, support and hold publicly accountable life-long, monogamous, same gender relationships," though the resolution did not use the word "marriage."
The actions here change the church's policy, which previously allowed people who are gay and lesbian into the ordained ministry only if they remained celibate.
On Tuesday, August 25, Pastor Matt Staniz shared a press conference with Mayor Michael Nutter as Philadelphia was declared a ONE City. Cofounded by U2's Bono and other campaigners, the ONE Campaign was launched five years ago in Philadelphia.
With Mayor Nutter signing the ONE City proclamation, Philadelphia joins more than 130 cities across the nation working to mobilize public support behind initiatives to fight poverty, combat diseases like AIDS and malaria, put children in school and increase opportunity for those living in extreme poverty around the world.
MAYOR NUTTER'S REMARKS
PASTOR MATT'S REMARKS
Transcript of Pastor Matt's Remarks Today is a good day in the "City of Brotherly Love". Today, Philadelphia once again lives up to that name by placing the name of our city side-by-side with the ONE Campaign, a movement more than 2 million strong committed to to the fight against extreme poverty and preventable disease. The ONE Campaign is a vital movement in the world today. It reflects the type of love that we must have for each other: a love that is reflected in justice, equality, and action. This is Philadelphia-style "brotherly love" at it finest! I want thank Deesha Dyer and the volunteers she guided for making this day possible. Every letter, every phone call, every ounce of effort and every second of time that you gave has produced results. Thank you. Everything that begins today, begins because of you.
And thank you to mayor Michael Nutter for hearing Deesha and the volunteers. Thank you, mister mayor, for declaring the city of Philadelphia a ONE city. It really is a natural fit. It was just a few blocks east of this building on Independence Mall where the ONE Campaign was launched in 2004. A year later, it was few blocks up the Benjamin Franklin parkway where over a million of us gathered for "Live 8" and raised our voices to "make poverty history". Philadelphia has been at the heart of this movement. Today we proudly celebrate that this movement reflects the heart of Philadelphia.
This declaration is evidence of visionary leadership rooted in hope: hope for a future shaped by action today. As we celebrate this commitment to fight extreme poverty, mister mayor, we also look forward to working together, every one of us, to keep these promises being made today to our poorest sisters and brothers around the world. I am also convinced that as we make these commitments to the poor around the world, it will also guide our continued efforts to care for our friends and neighbors right here in the city of brotherly love. Raising a voice on behalf of the poor is how faith creates action, it is how compassion creates justice, it is how being concerned leads to changing things.
Today we stand together as ONE. We stand as ONE with the poor. We stand as ONE with the billion people trying to survive on less than a dollar a day. We stand as ONE with the thousands who are dying of preventable and treatable diseases. We stand as ONE with millions of people committed to changing these realities. Today we stand together as ONE Philadelphia. We are the city of brotherly love, and we are a ONE city!
A ONE Family: Pastor Matt Staniz, Monica Staniz, Amber Staniz
But he himself went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors." Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat." He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and said, "Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you." 8He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. Monica Staniz
Sermon preached by Matt Staniz at Temple Lutheran Church in Havertown, PA on August 2, 2009.
Sermon title: Grown Up Faith: Knowing Jesus Together
Scriputure text: Ephesians 4:1–16
I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore it is said,"When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people."(When it says, "He ascended," what does it mean but that he had also descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love. Monica Staniz
Ephesians 3:20–21"Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Monica Staniz
Sermon preached by Matt Staniz at Temple Lutheran Church, Havertown, PA on July 19, 2009.
Sermon Text: Mark 6:30–34, 53–56
The apostles gathered around Jesus, and told him all that they had done and taught. He said to them, "Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a deserted place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they hurried there on foot from all the towns and arrived ahead of them. As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd; and he began to teach them many things.
When they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennesaret and moored the boat. When they got out of the boat, people at once recognized him, and rushed about that whole region and began to bring the sick on mats to wherever they heard he was. And wherever he went, into villages or cities or farms, they laid the sick in the marketplaces, and begged him that they might touch even the fringe of his cloak; and all who touched it were healed.
Sermon webcast from June 28, 2009. Sound quality is slightly lower than other webcasts.
Sermon theme: Interrupted or Intertwined Text: Mark 5:21–43
21When Jesus had crossed again in the boat to the other side, a great crowd gathered around him; and he was by the sea. 22Then one of the leaders of the synagogue named Jairus came and, when he saw him, fell at his feet 23and begged him repeatedly, "My little daughter is at the point of death. Come and lay your hands on her, so that she may be made well, and live." 24So he went with him.And a large crowd followed him and pressed in on him. 25Now there was a woman who had been suffering from hemorrhages for twelve years. 26She had endured much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had; and she was no better, but rather grew worse. 27She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, 28for she said, "If I but touch his clothes, I will be made well." 29Immediately her hemorrhage stopped; and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30Immediately aware that power had gone forth from him, Jesus turned about in the crowd and said, "Who touched my clothes?" 31And his disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing in on you; how can you say, 'Who touched me?'" 32He looked all around to see who had done it. 33But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling, fell down before him, and told him the whole truth. 34He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease."35While he was still speaking, some people came from the leader's house to say, "Your daughter is dead. Why trouble the teacher any further?" 36But overhearing what they said, Jesus said to the leader of the synagogue, "Do not fear, only believe." 37He allowed no one to follow him except Peter, James, and John, the brother of James. 38When they came to the house of the leader of the synagogue, he saw a commotion, people weeping and wailing loudly. 39When he had entered, he said to them, "Why do you make a commotion and weep? The child is not dead but sleeping." 40And they laughed at him. Then he put them all outside, and took the child's father and mother and those who were with him, and went in where the child was. 41He took her by the hand and said to her, "Talitha cum," which means, "Little girl, get up!" 42And immediately the girl got up and began to walk about (she was twelve years of age). At this they were overcome with amazement. 43He strictly ordered them that no one should know this, and told them to give her something to eat.
On Tuesday, August 25, Pastor Matt Staniz shared a press conference with Mayor Michael Nutter as Philadelphia was declared a ONE City. Cofounded by U2's Bono and other campaigners, the 
