1. Today we gather here in comfort. Comfort is defined as – a state of
physical ease and freedom from pain or constraint/ the easing or alleviation
of a person’s feelings of grief or distress. When I Googled “comfort in the
Bible,” one site came up, “25 encouraging Bible verses for comfort.” Another
site “59 Bible verses about comfort – Knowing Jesus.” The word comfort or
variation appears 131 times in the King James Bible. Based on this
information, it appears to me that the Bible is a good place to start when you
are looking for comfort.
For example, a verse we are all familiar with, Psalm 23:4 “Even though I
walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are
with me, your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. Isaiah 40:1 says,
“Comfort, yes. My people says your God.” And 2 Corinthians 1:3 says
“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
mercies and God of all comfort.”
When we are in need of comforting, many of us turn to the Bible for
these comforting versus. We turn to God and ask for his comfort in prayer.
Last year when we studied prayer during the Lent study program, we all
agreed that the most frequently we pray is when we are seeking comfort.
Is comfort one of the reasons you belong to St. Benjamin’s? So often we
speak about what a friendly place we are and how much like a family. Doesn’t
that bring us comfort? Is the choice of practicing your faith through the
Lutheran Church a comfort? We come to church knowing it will be like it is
every Sunday. Every Sunday we may hear a different message, but we know
the cadence of the liturgy will remain the same. We don’t choose to go to a

2. “fire and brimstone” church where lots of spontaneous things could happen,
where we could be yelled at by the Pastor for hours on end. No, we like, are
comfortable, knowing that church will be about 1 hour and 15 minutes, follow
a certain set pattern and have a sermon that is less than 10 minutes long.
Many of us speak of weekly communion as a comfort. We are spiritually
renewed by the word and the sacramental union. In the Memorial Acclamation
of the Eucharistic Prayer, we hear, “and all who share in the body and blood
of your Son may be filled with heavenly peace and joy, and receiving the
forgiveness of sin, may be sanctified in soul and body.” These are comforting
words.
But, I ask you, is following Jesus comfortable? Didn’t Jesus say to his
disciples, if you want to be my follower you have to give up a lot? Matthew
16:24 says “Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. “Anyone who intends
to come with me has to let me lead. You’re not in the driver’s seat; I am.
Don’t run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I’ll show you how. Self-
help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself,
your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose
yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?” In fact, Jesus is asking us
to leave our comfort zones.
Look at the Romans 12:9-21 which talks about Love in Action. Love
must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10
Be devoted to one
another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11
Never be lacking in
zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12
Be joyful in
hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13
Share with the Lord’s people

3. who are in need. Practice hospitality. 14
Bless those who persecute you; bless
and do not curse. 15
Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who
mourn. 16
Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing
to associate with people of low position.[c] Do not be conceited. 17 Do not
repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of
everyone. 18
If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with
everyone.19 Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s
wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,”[d] says the
Lord. 20
On the contrary:“If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty,
give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his
head.”[e]21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” These
versus challenge us to interact with others in a manner that is outside our
comfort zones.
This week we enter the season of Lent. Lent is traditionally marked by
fasting, both from foods and festivities, and by other acts of penance. The
three traditional practices to be take up with renewed vigor during Lent are
prayer (justice towards God), fasting (justice towards self) and almsgiving
(justice for neighbors). I challenge you to think about Lent as a time to move
out of your comfort zone. During your time of prayer, ask God to work with
you on this. If you were to move out of your comfort zone, how would God
direct you? All of us have what we call our comfort foods. If you are choosing
to abstain from something or fast during Lent, think about giving up your
comfort foods.

4. For the past 3 months I have been actively engaged in the application to
seminary and to the synod to be accepted into the program to become an
ordained minister. This process requires much discernment and introspection.
I am continually asked to describe my faith journey and explain why I feel
that I’ve been called by God. For me, my faith lies following Jesus’ footsteps
in his justice. So, I particularly encourage you to almsgiving, justice for
neighbors.
I remember when Mark preached last fall and asked the children if they
were rich. He spoke about how rich he is. Funny, I wouldn’t look at Mark and
Roxanne and say they are rich. But as Mark said, they live a comfortable life.
They are rich financially and spiritually. We can all say that we are rich
financially and spiritually. I challenge you during Lent to think about those
who aren’t rich financially and spiritually. What can you do, what can we do
as a congregation to bring comfort to these people? How do we need to move
out of our comfort zone to support others?
Today we ask that you support the ELCA World Hunger program. More
than 800 million people, 1 in 8 people, in our world are chronically hungry
and cannot lead active daily lives. 1.2 billion people live in extreme poverty,
living on less than $1.25 per day. In the United States, more than 50 million
people do not know where their next meal will come from and 46.2 million
Americans are living in poverty. More than 16 million, 22%, of these are
children. So, at the very least, I ask you to support the ELCA church-wide
effort.

5. Today, in the US, we celebrate a big holiday. It is Super Bowl Sunday.
Last year more than 114.4 million people watched the Super Bowl in the US.
According to Forbes, it costs $4.5 million for a 30-second ad spot during the
game. This cost is estimated to generate as much as $10 million in ad value to
the company running this ad. The Super Bowl is also the biggest sports
gambling event of the year. The American Gaming Association predicts there
will be $100 million worth of legal action and $3.8 billion in illegal bets
placed this weekend. The Denver Broncos and the Carolina Panthers each
have a team salary of $145,080,447.Each player on the winning Super Bowl
team will receive $102,000 and the players on the losing team will receive
$51,000 just for playing in the Super Bowl. I suspect this is more salary for
losing one football game than many of us make going to make working all
year. Cam Newton, the Carolinas’ quarterback has an annual compensation of
$15.429 million.
In 2012 support to ELCA World Hunger totaled $18.6 million, only $3
million more than Cam Newton’s annual salary or ¾ of the total annual salary
of an NFL team. So I challenge you to be out of your comfort zone tonight as
you settle in to your favorite jersey, in your warm and comfortable house,
with your favorite foods and drink, with your family and friends to be
entertained to think of those around the world and here in Westminster who
struggle to figure out where their next meal is coming from, how they are
going to afford this month’s rent and BGE bill.
Maybe we should be asking God to move us out of our comfort zones
instead of asking God to provide us comfort.