Here is something for the baseball-philes out there. Most every year I forecast the season and will attempt to do so now.
American League
East- Yankees
Central- Twins
West- Angels
Wild Card- Rays
National League
East- Phillies
Central- Cardinals
West- No clue. Dodgers maybe but I'm not confident of that.
Wild Card- Braves
I like the Yankees and the Cardinals to reach the World Series. I think the Yankees are built for the regular and the post season. The Cardinals and the Phillies both have some questions but I think the Phillies have more. Bullpen is a big question for both teams and the Cardinals have the edge in starting pitching. For the Phillies, after Halladay, who is the big guy? Hamels could be it but he's been up and down.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Worship into all the world
Sadly, realistically, amongst Lutheranism, worship wars exist. And these wars center around the very heart of worship. Why are we gathered at a certain time on a certain day?
As I have aged, my understanding of worship has changed, and continues to do so (I hope). The more we can lift up the rich traditions that have been handed down to us, and the more we seek to understand how these traditions came to be and why they are done, the more grounded and relevant our worship and our faith will be to us. And if we are certain of our faith and trustingly believe the Gospel message, the more relevant we will appear to the world around us. We will be who we are, and more than that, we will be who God has made us to be.
Check out this video segment of Lutheran Christians in Africa. They are singing from a new French-speaking hymnal. This worship is neither traditional or contemporary, labels that mean nothing and help no one. It is simply worship. And it is grand. Cut and paste the http into your search engine.
Here is a YouTube video of a congregation singing at the Seminary in Dapaong, Togo - Africa on Feb 29, 2010. They are singing “Dearest Jesus We Are Here” from the Liturgies et cantiques luthériens. http://bit.ly/9cjuqM
As I have aged, my understanding of worship has changed, and continues to do so (I hope). The more we can lift up the rich traditions that have been handed down to us, and the more we seek to understand how these traditions came to be and why they are done, the more grounded and relevant our worship and our faith will be to us. And if we are certain of our faith and trustingly believe the Gospel message, the more relevant we will appear to the world around us. We will be who we are, and more than that, we will be who God has made us to be.
Check out this video segment of Lutheran Christians in Africa. They are singing from a new French-speaking hymnal. This worship is neither traditional or contemporary, labels that mean nothing and help no one. It is simply worship. And it is grand. Cut and paste the http into your search engine.
Here is a YouTube video of a congregation singing at the Seminary in Dapaong, Togo - Africa on Feb 29, 2010. They are singing “Dearest Jesus We Are Here” from the Liturgies et cantiques luthériens. http://bit.ly/9cjuqM
Today's Thought on Joy
Judas Conspires with the Authorities: "Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money." {Luke 22:3-5}
How often, Lord, have I been only too happy to betray you, even plotting against you. For you have said, "Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done it to me." At least Judas did it for money. I most often do it for nothing but vainglory. Forgive me my wretched sins. I gladly die with you. Plunge me into your death by my baptism that I may rejoice again. Amen.
How often, Lord, have I been only too happy to betray you, even plotting against you. For you have said, "Whatever you have done to the least of these, you have done it to me." At least Judas did it for money. I most often do it for nothing but vainglory. Forgive me my wretched sins. I gladly die with you. Plunge me into your death by my baptism that I may rejoice again. Amen.
Tuesday, March 30, 2010
Today's thought on joy
Day of Controversy and Parables: "His master said to him, "Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master." {Matthew 25:23}
How many times have I wasted my "talents." How many times have I not been faithful in the little things. Forgive, restore, renew. In Christ I know that I shall nevertheless hear one day, "Enter the joy." Grant it by your mercy, O Savior. Amen.
How many times have I wasted my "talents." How many times have I not been faithful in the little things. Forgive, restore, renew. In Christ I know that I shall nevertheless hear one day, "Enter the joy." Grant it by your mercy, O Savior. Amen.
Stunning!
The mystery of the Sacrament (of Communion) is not to be investigated but adored.
-Loci Communes, Philip Melanchthon
-Loci Communes, Philip Melanchthon
Monday, March 29, 2010
Today's thought on joy
Jesus clears the Temple: "I will bring them to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all people." {Isaiah 56:7}
O burning Fire of Righteousness, by my own greed and selfishness, I have established a den of thieves in the temple of my own heart. I am weak! I am lost! Cleanse the temple, Lord! Turn the tables! Forgive my many sins that I may humbly offer you the sacrifice of a broken heart with joy, and joyfully pray to you; through Jesus. Amen.
O burning Fire of Righteousness, by my own greed and selfishness, I have established a den of thieves in the temple of my own heart. I am weak! I am lost! Cleanse the temple, Lord! Turn the tables! Forgive my many sins that I may humbly offer you the sacrifice of a broken heart with joy, and joyfully pray to you; through Jesus. Amen.
Palm Sunday sermon
Palm Sunday
March 28, 2010
John 12:12-19
Make it, Fake it, or Take it?
In the name of Jesus, amen. John’s gospel lesson will be our sermon text this morning and it underlines what I’ve thought for a long time, that the word ‘expectation’ is the cruelest, harshest, most vile four letter word in the English language. Expectation is cruel, harsh, and vile when those expectations are unknown. Because then all sorts of misunderstandings and hurt feelings can arise.
The triumphal entry of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem was an event loaded with expectation. In reading some of the other gospel accounts of this story, the disciples found everything just as Jesus had told them- the colt tied up just where it was supposed to be, the owner saying just what he was supposed to say. They had their expectations met. And when they saw and heard the commotion, they likely had more expectations come to their mind.
The crowds who spread their cloaks on the ground and waved the palm branches triumphantly had some different ideas. This was a triumphant day. This day appeared to be all that the OT prophecies had foretold. The king was here! Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed be the son of David. Glory, majesty, might, power- all of these thoughts were with the crowd. They expected God to fulfill his promises, and now, right in front of their eyes it was happening.
There were some enemies present who saw this and did not share in the happiness and joy. They had heard that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead and that many people had started to believe in Jesus because of this sign. The Pharisees were being challenged. Their way of life was being threatened. And they thought that something had to be done. They regarded Jesus as a fraud. There were many people who claimed to be the Christ and it was their expectation that Jesus would flame out like all the rest had before him. But their stranglehold on the religious life in the region of Palestine was slipping.
Expectations were probably running pretty high amongst the friends and enemies of Jesus, and among the casual onlookers.
Yet it is obvious to us, quite painfully obvious at times, that expectations go unmet. This life we live seems to go from one letdown to another. Promises are made and then broken. It is disappointing, discouraging, and depressing. Rather than being people who trust other people, we start to trust ourselves. Why look to someone else when I’m only going to get burned. I’d rather not get burned anymore.
And so we start to regard life as something that we make. Make your own happiness. Create your own truth. And you know what, that works in some areas. I fix my own breakfast. I dress myself. If the garden is going to get weeded, I’m going to be the one on my hands and knees pulling those weeds out by the roots. In our work life, if you want a promotion or a raise, you know that you have to show up on time, do what needs to be done, certainly do more than the minimum so you can get noticed. In some areas we can make our life.
And we can make happiness. If a nap makes you happy, you can carve out an hour in the afternoon, close the door to your bedroom, turn off the lights, and close your eyes. If reading a book can make you happy, you have the ability to pick up that book, sit in a comfy chair and lose yourself in the pages.
At times we fake our way through life. We honestly do not know everything and so we pretend that we do. Parents understand that sometimes you have to fake your way through your day. You pretend you know what you are doing, hoping that your kids won’t discover the truth that you have no clue what to do next. We do that in school when we get summoned to the chalkboard and we fake our way through that scientific equation or when we discuss one of Shakespeare’s plays in English class. We fill essays with adjectives and adverbs, hoping that the flowery language will mask the fact that there is no other way we could write a five page paper with just the knowledge in our head.
We fake our way through our jobs. We fake our way through our relationships. We want to give the appearance that we know what we are doing, but the truth is quite the opposite. We cover up our faults. We hide our insecurities behind a fake smile. We bury our emotions beneath the veneer that everything is all right when everything is most definitely not all right. Being wrong is to be avoided. Showing your emotions is a sign of weakness. Admitting that you don’t know everything is viewed as a detriment. Thus we fake our way through our life.
We fake our way towards our salvation. We pretend that we know all the answers, that we know how we are supposed to act, what we are supposed to say in order for God to be pleased with us, in order for God to love us, in order for God to save us.
Palm Sunday presents this relevant truth to us that we cannot make or fake our salvation. Here comes Jesus, riding on a donkey, humbly, lowly, doing what He was sent to do.
This past Thursday we had our very first Annunciation service. The angel Gabriel from heaven came to Mary in Nazareth and told her that she would conceive in her womb and bear a son. Quite logically Mary said, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” Gabriel answered by saying, “With God all things are possible.”
This coming Thursday, in Gethsemane’s garden, Jesus will say, “Abba Father, all things are possible with you.”
It was the will of the Father that Jesus would put on flesh and bone, that he would take up residence in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. And Mary was scorned because of this. You can imagine what the others in Nazareth were saying, pointing at her expanding belly and shaking their heads in pity at a young woman would not admit her wrongdoing. And Joseph? What a fool for not putting her away and washing his hands of the whole situation.
Yet it was the will of the Father that His Son would walk the way of scorn and shame. It was the scorn of the crowds. It was the shame of the cross. It was the scorn of those who hated him. It was the shame of being abandoned by his disciples, completely denied by Peter. That shame, that scorn…that brought to us our salvation. Take it.
You cannot make it and you cannot fake it. All that the Father asks is that we take the salvation that is held out to us and marvelously, joyously receive it!
Take Palm Sunday as the day Jesus came to endure His Passion, His passion for your redemption. Take God’s grace as the opportunity to live as God’s son or daughter, as your opportunity to reflect God’s love to the many people in your life. Take God’s mercy as the beautiful knowledge that in Christ you are forgiven. Unexpected, but true. Take the gift God offers. SDG
March 28, 2010
John 12:12-19
Make it, Fake it, or Take it?
In the name of Jesus, amen. John’s gospel lesson will be our sermon text this morning and it underlines what I’ve thought for a long time, that the word ‘expectation’ is the cruelest, harshest, most vile four letter word in the English language. Expectation is cruel, harsh, and vile when those expectations are unknown. Because then all sorts of misunderstandings and hurt feelings can arise.
The triumphal entry of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem was an event loaded with expectation. In reading some of the other gospel accounts of this story, the disciples found everything just as Jesus had told them- the colt tied up just where it was supposed to be, the owner saying just what he was supposed to say. They had their expectations met. And when they saw and heard the commotion, they likely had more expectations come to their mind.
The crowds who spread their cloaks on the ground and waved the palm branches triumphantly had some different ideas. This was a triumphant day. This day appeared to be all that the OT prophecies had foretold. The king was here! Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Blessed be the son of David. Glory, majesty, might, power- all of these thoughts were with the crowd. They expected God to fulfill his promises, and now, right in front of their eyes it was happening.
There were some enemies present who saw this and did not share in the happiness and joy. They had heard that Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead and that many people had started to believe in Jesus because of this sign. The Pharisees were being challenged. Their way of life was being threatened. And they thought that something had to be done. They regarded Jesus as a fraud. There were many people who claimed to be the Christ and it was their expectation that Jesus would flame out like all the rest had before him. But their stranglehold on the religious life in the region of Palestine was slipping.
Expectations were probably running pretty high amongst the friends and enemies of Jesus, and among the casual onlookers.
Yet it is obvious to us, quite painfully obvious at times, that expectations go unmet. This life we live seems to go from one letdown to another. Promises are made and then broken. It is disappointing, discouraging, and depressing. Rather than being people who trust other people, we start to trust ourselves. Why look to someone else when I’m only going to get burned. I’d rather not get burned anymore.
And so we start to regard life as something that we make. Make your own happiness. Create your own truth. And you know what, that works in some areas. I fix my own breakfast. I dress myself. If the garden is going to get weeded, I’m going to be the one on my hands and knees pulling those weeds out by the roots. In our work life, if you want a promotion or a raise, you know that you have to show up on time, do what needs to be done, certainly do more than the minimum so you can get noticed. In some areas we can make our life.
And we can make happiness. If a nap makes you happy, you can carve out an hour in the afternoon, close the door to your bedroom, turn off the lights, and close your eyes. If reading a book can make you happy, you have the ability to pick up that book, sit in a comfy chair and lose yourself in the pages.
At times we fake our way through life. We honestly do not know everything and so we pretend that we do. Parents understand that sometimes you have to fake your way through your day. You pretend you know what you are doing, hoping that your kids won’t discover the truth that you have no clue what to do next. We do that in school when we get summoned to the chalkboard and we fake our way through that scientific equation or when we discuss one of Shakespeare’s plays in English class. We fill essays with adjectives and adverbs, hoping that the flowery language will mask the fact that there is no other way we could write a five page paper with just the knowledge in our head.
We fake our way through our jobs. We fake our way through our relationships. We want to give the appearance that we know what we are doing, but the truth is quite the opposite. We cover up our faults. We hide our insecurities behind a fake smile. We bury our emotions beneath the veneer that everything is all right when everything is most definitely not all right. Being wrong is to be avoided. Showing your emotions is a sign of weakness. Admitting that you don’t know everything is viewed as a detriment. Thus we fake our way through our life.
We fake our way towards our salvation. We pretend that we know all the answers, that we know how we are supposed to act, what we are supposed to say in order for God to be pleased with us, in order for God to love us, in order for God to save us.
Palm Sunday presents this relevant truth to us that we cannot make or fake our salvation. Here comes Jesus, riding on a donkey, humbly, lowly, doing what He was sent to do.
This past Thursday we had our very first Annunciation service. The angel Gabriel from heaven came to Mary in Nazareth and told her that she would conceive in her womb and bear a son. Quite logically Mary said, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” Gabriel answered by saying, “With God all things are possible.”
This coming Thursday, in Gethsemane’s garden, Jesus will say, “Abba Father, all things are possible with you.”
It was the will of the Father that Jesus would put on flesh and bone, that he would take up residence in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. And Mary was scorned because of this. You can imagine what the others in Nazareth were saying, pointing at her expanding belly and shaking their heads in pity at a young woman would not admit her wrongdoing. And Joseph? What a fool for not putting her away and washing his hands of the whole situation.
Yet it was the will of the Father that His Son would walk the way of scorn and shame. It was the scorn of the crowds. It was the shame of the cross. It was the scorn of those who hated him. It was the shame of being abandoned by his disciples, completely denied by Peter. That shame, that scorn…that brought to us our salvation. Take it.
You cannot make it and you cannot fake it. All that the Father asks is that we take the salvation that is held out to us and marvelously, joyously receive it!
Take Palm Sunday as the day Jesus came to endure His Passion, His passion for your redemption. Take God’s grace as the opportunity to live as God’s son or daughter, as your opportunity to reflect God’s love to the many people in your life. Take God’s mercy as the beautiful knowledge that in Christ you are forgiven. Unexpected, but true. Take the gift God offers. SDG
Friday, March 26, 2010
Annunciation Sermon
Annunciation Vespers
March 25, 2010
Luke 1:26-38
And of His Kingdom there will be no end
In the name of Jesus, amen. In the heart of Lent, as Holy Week is just days away, the Feast of the Annunciation reveals the heart of God, the heart of God overflowing with grace, with mercy, with divine and lasting peace.
The angel Gabriel came down from heaven and did his angel-thing. An angel is a messenger, and Gabriel was one of God’s messengers. Gabriel came not with his own words but with the words of God the Father. And this message concerned God the Son. The message that Gabriel delivered to the virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph concerns us.
Gabriel came with a job to do. He brought a strangely glorious, a confoundingly wonderful message. You, Mary, have found favor with God. Not because of anything Mary had done, as if she had earned God’s favor, but because of what would take place. You will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you will call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. All of that was future, will and shall. But what great promises were given that were set to find fulfillment in nine months!
On this day, Jesus, the eternal Son of the Father, true God, begotten of the Father, took up residence in the protective womb of Mary so that in nine months he would be revealed as Jesus, true man, born of the virgin Mary and our Lord. If we rejoice with exceeding joy at the birth of salvation in December, we also rejoice this day in the work that Gabriel did, announcing the mysterious and marvelous love of God for His humanity.
Gabriel plays an important role, but he is merely a supporting character. The blessed virgin is likewise important, yet she is not the primary focus either. The attention for Annunciation is placed where it always is placed: on God the Father, on His Christ and on the ever-present Spirit.
Annunciation is about God’s love- love for sinners, love for those who have strayed, so basically a pure and steadfast love for all people. It was out of love that God sent His Son on this day, to become incarnate, to put on human flesh and live in this world.
Annunciation has lasting significance in terms of divine love. When Gabriel went the first time to Nazareth and found Mary and gave her this great Good News, the world was struggling. Mary was a faithful Jewish woman, waiting patiently for the consolation of Israel, for the birth of the long-expected Messiah. So was Joseph. So was Simeon and Anna and Zechariah and Elizabeth. On a religious level, there was oppression as religion became a burden. The sacrifice had to be perfect, absolutely perfect. The prayers had to be offered sincerely, absolutely sincerely. The worship had to be holy, absolutely holy. The religion of joy and comfort had morphed into a crushing burden. Civilly, the Roman rulers were equally oppressive, taking their taxes and offering no benefit in return. The Romans cared nothing about Judaism, viewing it as something trivial and insignificant. There were many gods, so we’ll let the Jews worship their peculiar god. And the Romans let the Jews govern themselves in terms of religion. And the faithful suffered.
Annunciation was needed. It still is. For suffering is still the rule of the day. God’s people suffer. Unbelievers suffer. Famine doesn’t care whether you fear God or not. Earthquakes shake everyone. Fire burns the good and the bad alike.
In our day religion continues to oppress. Sacrifice is still demanded to be perfect, perfect in terms of how much money you give. Prayers have become an opportunity to dictate to God when he will act and how he will act. Worship has become a holy performance, for the sake of the performer more than anybody else. In secular matters, what do we notice? Soccer leagues schedule their games on Sundays. Jobs are not only open 24 hours a day, but seven days a week. Churches have a harder time buying property because municipalities would rather sell that parcel of land to a business for the tax revenue it might generate.
We need this day, nine months before the Savior’s birth, to celebrate the tender compassion of our God. The Son of the Most High will be given the throne and he will reign over the people of God forever. Jesus reigns as king. He is our leader. He is our champion. He is our judge, judging us for our faults, commending us for our faithful living, always judging us according us to our mercy. And Jesus reigns as our redeemer. Of his kingdom there will be no end.
The kingdom of God is eternal, going on into the ages of ages. The kingdom of God incorporates us. And the declaration of God through his eternal and living Word continues, declaring us righteous, holy, forgiven through the life, the death, the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the son of Mary, the son of the Most High God. Amen.
March 25, 2010
Luke 1:26-38
And of His Kingdom there will be no end
In the name of Jesus, amen. In the heart of Lent, as Holy Week is just days away, the Feast of the Annunciation reveals the heart of God, the heart of God overflowing with grace, with mercy, with divine and lasting peace.
The angel Gabriel came down from heaven and did his angel-thing. An angel is a messenger, and Gabriel was one of God’s messengers. Gabriel came not with his own words but with the words of God the Father. And this message concerned God the Son. The message that Gabriel delivered to the virgin betrothed to a man named Joseph concerns us.
Gabriel came with a job to do. He brought a strangely glorious, a confoundingly wonderful message. You, Mary, have found favor with God. Not because of anything Mary had done, as if she had earned God’s favor, but because of what would take place. You will conceive in your womb and bear a son and you will call his name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end. All of that was future, will and shall. But what great promises were given that were set to find fulfillment in nine months!
On this day, Jesus, the eternal Son of the Father, true God, begotten of the Father, took up residence in the protective womb of Mary so that in nine months he would be revealed as Jesus, true man, born of the virgin Mary and our Lord. If we rejoice with exceeding joy at the birth of salvation in December, we also rejoice this day in the work that Gabriel did, announcing the mysterious and marvelous love of God for His humanity.
Gabriel plays an important role, but he is merely a supporting character. The blessed virgin is likewise important, yet she is not the primary focus either. The attention for Annunciation is placed where it always is placed: on God the Father, on His Christ and on the ever-present Spirit.
Annunciation is about God’s love- love for sinners, love for those who have strayed, so basically a pure and steadfast love for all people. It was out of love that God sent His Son on this day, to become incarnate, to put on human flesh and live in this world.
Annunciation has lasting significance in terms of divine love. When Gabriel went the first time to Nazareth and found Mary and gave her this great Good News, the world was struggling. Mary was a faithful Jewish woman, waiting patiently for the consolation of Israel, for the birth of the long-expected Messiah. So was Joseph. So was Simeon and Anna and Zechariah and Elizabeth. On a religious level, there was oppression as religion became a burden. The sacrifice had to be perfect, absolutely perfect. The prayers had to be offered sincerely, absolutely sincerely. The worship had to be holy, absolutely holy. The religion of joy and comfort had morphed into a crushing burden. Civilly, the Roman rulers were equally oppressive, taking their taxes and offering no benefit in return. The Romans cared nothing about Judaism, viewing it as something trivial and insignificant. There were many gods, so we’ll let the Jews worship their peculiar god. And the Romans let the Jews govern themselves in terms of religion. And the faithful suffered.
Annunciation was needed. It still is. For suffering is still the rule of the day. God’s people suffer. Unbelievers suffer. Famine doesn’t care whether you fear God or not. Earthquakes shake everyone. Fire burns the good and the bad alike.
In our day religion continues to oppress. Sacrifice is still demanded to be perfect, perfect in terms of how much money you give. Prayers have become an opportunity to dictate to God when he will act and how he will act. Worship has become a holy performance, for the sake of the performer more than anybody else. In secular matters, what do we notice? Soccer leagues schedule their games on Sundays. Jobs are not only open 24 hours a day, but seven days a week. Churches have a harder time buying property because municipalities would rather sell that parcel of land to a business for the tax revenue it might generate.
We need this day, nine months before the Savior’s birth, to celebrate the tender compassion of our God. The Son of the Most High will be given the throne and he will reign over the people of God forever. Jesus reigns as king. He is our leader. He is our champion. He is our judge, judging us for our faults, commending us for our faithful living, always judging us according us to our mercy. And Jesus reigns as our redeemer. Of his kingdom there will be no end.
The kingdom of God is eternal, going on into the ages of ages. The kingdom of God incorporates us. And the declaration of God through his eternal and living Word continues, declaring us righteous, holy, forgiven through the life, the death, the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the son of Mary, the son of the Most High God. Amen.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
Today's Thought on Joy
"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit." Romans 14:17
Grant, gracious God, that I delight in and find joy in my Christian freedom, for all good gifts of food and drink come from you and give joy to my heart (Psalm 104). But help me always to use this freedom to advance your righteousness and for peace and joy in the Spirit, for the sake of your kingdom. Amen.
Grant, gracious God, that I delight in and find joy in my Christian freedom, for all good gifts of food and drink come from you and give joy to my heart (Psalm 104). But help me always to use this freedom to advance your righteousness and for peace and joy in the Spirit, for the sake of your kingdom. Amen.
Lenten Midweek Sermon
Lenten Midweek Service 6
March 24, 2010
1 Peter 4:1-6
I need this…and this…and this…
In the name of Jesus, amen. One of the seven things that Jesus said from the cross was the simple sentence “I thirst”. We are aware that a jar of cheap wine vinegar was nearby and that a soldier soaked a sponge with that wine, put it on a stalk and raised it Jesus’ lips. What do you thirst for? What do you need?
Does that sound like a trap? You’ve heard enough sermons in your life that you know you shouldn’t ‘thirst’ for things. We shouldn’t want things, but that’s not where I am going. This is no trap! I am making an assumption this evening, assuming that I am talking to the Church, to those redeemed by the blood shed by our Savior on the cross, those whom the New Testament calls “the body of Christ”. I’m talking to you, for you fit the description of 1 Peter 4:1-2: Since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions, but for the will of God.
We hear Peter calling us to ‘arm’ ourselves with the same thinking of Christ. We hear Peter saying that we are done with sin, but we know that our struggle with sin continues. Tonight, let us think about ourselves as the body of Christ, as sinners but as saved sinners who are already armed with the same manner of thinking as Christ. With this in mind, what do we thirst for?
We thirst for justice, for healing, for an end to suffering. We thirst for a more robust economy, for those without work to find employment, for people to be able to provide for their families. We thirst for safety, for those suffering in Haiti and in Chile, for the innocent victims in Iraq and Afghanistan. We thirst for an end to human trafficking, for an end to abortion and infanticide, for an end to sin, death, and the power of the devil. One look at our weekly prayer list reveals what we thirst for. We pray for the needs and desires of our country and our local community. We pray for wholeness and healing. We pray for people who are known to us and to people who are strangers, yet we pray for them because they are loved by someone we know. We pray for those who are struggling with all kinds of difficulties- physical, emotional, mental. Our thirst is revealed through God’s gift of prayer.
Here’s the part of the sermon where I’m supposed to tell you that in the way that Jesus was given relief through the wine vinegar, God will also meet our needs. This is the portion of the sermon where I am supposed to say that your thirst will be quenched as well. I’m not going to do that. Because it’s not true. We thirst, and sometimes there is just no relief from our thirst. Loved ones suffer and they die. We age and our bodies wear out. We can no longer do what we used to. We thirst for our younger years but that thirst never finds relief. We thirst for more people to join us in the pews, to join in hearing the Word, in finding strength in the Sacrament, in joining us to uncover the God who lives and loves, yet we struggle in our efforts. We thirsted to put a new road sign out on Rte. 4, had the design picked out, had the money set aside, seemed to have a listening ear with the school board and yet our thirst was not relieved. The school board was unwilling to pay the money to apply for zoning allowances. It was disappointing. We endeavored to do what the school board asked of us, knowing that they would someday build a school on their property. We thirsted for a road sign so that our name and a message would be visible to those driving up and down the road, yet our thirst was left unquenched.
Sometimes the cancer is not cured. Sometimes there is no job. We heard that story last week of the two children rescued from the rubble. But remember that one of their siblings died. He asked for water on Wednesday, on Thursday, and on Friday. And there was no water. He died of dehydration. Sometimes we thirst and nothing comes to meet our need.
Being in the church, and being a church person, we have countless phrases to call upon in these thirsting situations, phrases used so often they can become cliché. And they even become meaningless. In the face of such horror, such desperation, I’m supposed to point to a man suffering on a cross? That doesn’t make sense. It’s foolishness. I’m supposed to have something to quench their thirst? How can I do that when I’m empty myself?
You thirst. And I thirst too. But still it is our calling from God to trot out these Gospel clichés…something like ‘Jesus lives’. Maybe that is what you’re expecting. And it is exactly what I am going to do, because it is the most important thing I can do. Jesus lives. If this good news- this Gospel- that Jesus lives doesn’t seem like enough, perhaps it is because we don’t realize what we need. Again, if the news that Jesus lives doesn’t seem like enough, it might be that we do not even know what our need is.
We live amongst a society that lives in the moment. We live in the midst of whatever suffering we are currently in, and cannot see what we really need. We focus all our attention on alleviating the suffering right in front of us. We want an end to that suffering. That man, thirsting on the cross, would come to an end of his suffering. He would die. And when he died he paid for the sin which has brought so much suffering into the world and into our lives. But an end to suffering is not enough. Even if the pain is numbed, the wound remains.
What we need is healing! And that is the promise we see in Christ’s resurrection. Jesus lives. And because He lives, we too shall live. With his resurrection Jesus brings more than an end to our suffering. He brings us the promise of a day where all will be put right. All will be healed. All will be made whole. All things that hurt us and make us something less than God created us to be will be no more. There will come a time when death will be swallowed up and God himself will wipe away every tear from our eyes. What we truly need is not simply for the pain to end, but to be healed, to be made whole.
This is the hope which keeps us going in the midst of suffering. This is the certainty which arms us, as Peter says, with the same way of thinking as Christ. But we still thirst. Our prayer list is still needed. Yet God is daily intervening. In countless ways God is indeed giving us little sips of water so we can endure throughout this drought. Even though those two little children from last week’s sermon lost their brother, they were both rescued. And that is one of the reasons why we are here. We are the body of Christ in this hurting and suffering world. We are often the instruments God uses to alleviate suffering and bring hope in the here and now. We are instruments of God’s peace in a chaotic world as we wait for the day when God’s final healing will come. We help to wipe away the tears of those who sorrow. We bring a cup of cold water to someone in the midst of great dryness.
We sang a familiar hymn as our opening hymn: Go to dark Gethsemane. Learn from Jesus Christ to pray. Learn from Him to bear the cross. Learn from Jesus Christ to die. Christ is risen, he meets our eyes. Savior, teach us so to rise. Amen.
March 24, 2010
1 Peter 4:1-6
I need this…and this…and this…
In the name of Jesus, amen. One of the seven things that Jesus said from the cross was the simple sentence “I thirst”. We are aware that a jar of cheap wine vinegar was nearby and that a soldier soaked a sponge with that wine, put it on a stalk and raised it Jesus’ lips. What do you thirst for? What do you need?
Does that sound like a trap? You’ve heard enough sermons in your life that you know you shouldn’t ‘thirst’ for things. We shouldn’t want things, but that’s not where I am going. This is no trap! I am making an assumption this evening, assuming that I am talking to the Church, to those redeemed by the blood shed by our Savior on the cross, those whom the New Testament calls “the body of Christ”. I’m talking to you, for you fit the description of 1 Peter 4:1-2: Since Christ suffered in the flesh, arm yourselves with the same way of thinking, for whoever has suffered in the flesh has ceased from sin, so as to live for the rest of the time in the flesh no longer for human passions, but for the will of God.
We hear Peter calling us to ‘arm’ ourselves with the same thinking of Christ. We hear Peter saying that we are done with sin, but we know that our struggle with sin continues. Tonight, let us think about ourselves as the body of Christ, as sinners but as saved sinners who are already armed with the same manner of thinking as Christ. With this in mind, what do we thirst for?
We thirst for justice, for healing, for an end to suffering. We thirst for a more robust economy, for those without work to find employment, for people to be able to provide for their families. We thirst for safety, for those suffering in Haiti and in Chile, for the innocent victims in Iraq and Afghanistan. We thirst for an end to human trafficking, for an end to abortion and infanticide, for an end to sin, death, and the power of the devil. One look at our weekly prayer list reveals what we thirst for. We pray for the needs and desires of our country and our local community. We pray for wholeness and healing. We pray for people who are known to us and to people who are strangers, yet we pray for them because they are loved by someone we know. We pray for those who are struggling with all kinds of difficulties- physical, emotional, mental. Our thirst is revealed through God’s gift of prayer.
Here’s the part of the sermon where I’m supposed to tell you that in the way that Jesus was given relief through the wine vinegar, God will also meet our needs. This is the portion of the sermon where I am supposed to say that your thirst will be quenched as well. I’m not going to do that. Because it’s not true. We thirst, and sometimes there is just no relief from our thirst. Loved ones suffer and they die. We age and our bodies wear out. We can no longer do what we used to. We thirst for our younger years but that thirst never finds relief. We thirst for more people to join us in the pews, to join in hearing the Word, in finding strength in the Sacrament, in joining us to uncover the God who lives and loves, yet we struggle in our efforts. We thirsted to put a new road sign out on Rte. 4, had the design picked out, had the money set aside, seemed to have a listening ear with the school board and yet our thirst was not relieved. The school board was unwilling to pay the money to apply for zoning allowances. It was disappointing. We endeavored to do what the school board asked of us, knowing that they would someday build a school on their property. We thirsted for a road sign so that our name and a message would be visible to those driving up and down the road, yet our thirst was left unquenched.
Sometimes the cancer is not cured. Sometimes there is no job. We heard that story last week of the two children rescued from the rubble. But remember that one of their siblings died. He asked for water on Wednesday, on Thursday, and on Friday. And there was no water. He died of dehydration. Sometimes we thirst and nothing comes to meet our need.
Being in the church, and being a church person, we have countless phrases to call upon in these thirsting situations, phrases used so often they can become cliché. And they even become meaningless. In the face of such horror, such desperation, I’m supposed to point to a man suffering on a cross? That doesn’t make sense. It’s foolishness. I’m supposed to have something to quench their thirst? How can I do that when I’m empty myself?
You thirst. And I thirst too. But still it is our calling from God to trot out these Gospel clichés…something like ‘Jesus lives’. Maybe that is what you’re expecting. And it is exactly what I am going to do, because it is the most important thing I can do. Jesus lives. If this good news- this Gospel- that Jesus lives doesn’t seem like enough, perhaps it is because we don’t realize what we need. Again, if the news that Jesus lives doesn’t seem like enough, it might be that we do not even know what our need is.
We live amongst a society that lives in the moment. We live in the midst of whatever suffering we are currently in, and cannot see what we really need. We focus all our attention on alleviating the suffering right in front of us. We want an end to that suffering. That man, thirsting on the cross, would come to an end of his suffering. He would die. And when he died he paid for the sin which has brought so much suffering into the world and into our lives. But an end to suffering is not enough. Even if the pain is numbed, the wound remains.
What we need is healing! And that is the promise we see in Christ’s resurrection. Jesus lives. And because He lives, we too shall live. With his resurrection Jesus brings more than an end to our suffering. He brings us the promise of a day where all will be put right. All will be healed. All will be made whole. All things that hurt us and make us something less than God created us to be will be no more. There will come a time when death will be swallowed up and God himself will wipe away every tear from our eyes. What we truly need is not simply for the pain to end, but to be healed, to be made whole.
This is the hope which keeps us going in the midst of suffering. This is the certainty which arms us, as Peter says, with the same way of thinking as Christ. But we still thirst. Our prayer list is still needed. Yet God is daily intervening. In countless ways God is indeed giving us little sips of water so we can endure throughout this drought. Even though those two little children from last week’s sermon lost their brother, they were both rescued. And that is one of the reasons why we are here. We are the body of Christ in this hurting and suffering world. We are often the instruments God uses to alleviate suffering and bring hope in the here and now. We are instruments of God’s peace in a chaotic world as we wait for the day when God’s final healing will come. We help to wipe away the tears of those who sorrow. We bring a cup of cold water to someone in the midst of great dryness.
We sang a familiar hymn as our opening hymn: Go to dark Gethsemane. Learn from Jesus Christ to pray. Learn from Him to bear the cross. Learn from Jesus Christ to die. Christ is risen, he meets our eyes. Savior, teach us so to rise. Amen.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Todays Thought on Joy
"Zaccheus, hurry and come down, for I must stay at your house today." So he hurried and came down and received him joyfully..."Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it forefold." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." Luke 19:5ff
You, O Lord, are the great consolation of the poor and needy. Give me the zeal and sheer joy of Zaccheus to see you in your Church in time, and in eternity in heaven. Give me the humility to amend my sinful life and make four-fold restoration when I sin against others. Amen.
You, O Lord, are the great consolation of the poor and needy. Give me the zeal and sheer joy of Zaccheus to see you in your Church in time, and in eternity in heaven. Give me the humility to amend my sinful life and make four-fold restoration when I sin against others. Amen.
Monday, March 22, 2010
All is not lost
My champion pick for the NCAA tournament is gone, but I still have three of the final four left. Based on score alone, I could make a comeback from my current last place standing. Since everything is so topsy-turvy, others likely will stumble. So we'll just wait and see. At least it's entertaining.
Today's thought on joy
"Let your priests be clothed with righteousness, and let your saints shout for joy." Psalm 132:9
In your wondrous Church, O Lord, we are all priests. We present our hearts' lament to you, and we offer the sacrifice of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. We offer the sweet smelling sacrifice of love to our neighbor. Only continue to cover us with your righteousness, O Christ, that we may be your saints and shout for joy! Amen.
In your wondrous Church, O Lord, we are all priests. We present our hearts' lament to you, and we offer the sacrifice of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving. We offer the sweet smelling sacrifice of love to our neighbor. Only continue to cover us with your righteousness, O Christ, that we may be your saints and shout for joy! Amen.
Sermon for Fifth Sunday in Lent
Fifth Sunday in Lent
March 21, 2010
Philippians 3:8-14
A present-day colony from the future
In the name of Jesus, amen. There is a lot that we know. We know many things on an intellectual level. ABCs, 123s, multiplication, long division, spelling, state capitols…there are many things we know. Some of the things we know are more specialized. My friend Jeff from my childhood, his mother didn’t know how to drive. Some of us know how a garden grows and some of us don’t. I don’t know how to make tomato sauce from scratch and I don’t lose one nanosecond’s worth of sleep over it as long as Ragu is still in business. And as we advance, our fields become even more specialized in medicine, finance, the sciences, things like that.
As Christians, there are also many things we know. True or False: Jesus Christ went to the cross to destroy death and to give you the gift of eternal life. True. True or False: Because of what Jesus did for you on the cross, your sins are forgiven, you are covered in the righteousness of Christ, you are declared holy and just before the throne of God. True. True or False: On the day of resurrection you will experience never-ending joy and peace as you stand face-to-face with your Lord and Savior Jesus. True.
See, we know a lot. Then why does criticism bother us so much? Why do we spend so much time worrying about the future? Why are we so unhappy and discontented with the way our life has turned out? If we know as much as we do, why are we so unsatisfied? You just scored 100% on a quiz! You made an A. But we often call ourselves failures.
“Indeed, I count everything as loss.” That is how the apostle Paul begins our Epistle lesson this morning. Everything as loss- might sound odd considering the number of churches that Paul founded, the volumes that Paul wrote, the miracles Paul performed, the number of souls in whose ears Paul preached the Gospel. But Paul was imprisoned, was beaten, chased, driven from towns, was persecuted, eventually was beheaded. Paul didn’t just count things as a loss. He counted everything as a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ as Lord.
The words that we heard this morning present for us the strength that sustained Paul. Paul was given strength, courage, boldness, joy, humility, compassion, and hope all because he knew Christ Jesus his Lord. Paul knew that one day he would see Jesus face to face. The unshakable goal of Paul’s life was to attain, by the grace of God, the resurrection from the dead. This goal was certain for Paul knew that on the day of resurrection he would finally be with Jesus his Savior forever.
Since Paul knew what his future would be, where his future would be, and who his future would be lived with, Paul was sustained in his present-day living. Just like we are. Paul knew that one day, in the future, he would be with Jesus in heaven. And that future certainty changed his present-day outlook.
And Paul’s future certainty is our future certainty. The baptism that we rejoice in is the same baptism that Paul rejoiced in. The Christ that Paul proclaimed is the same Christ that we follow after, the same Christ we celebrate, the same Christ who comes among us with consolation, comfort, and courage.
We are a present-day colony from the future. We are living in this present time, and we experience all the great joys and all the great struggles that this life contains. Just like everybody else we wait in line at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, we clip coupons, we notice all the beauty and all the ugliness that surrounds our living.
If we know that we live fully in this world, we also know that we are strangers. Just a simple journey back to your elementary school days calls to mind the lessons of the colonists. Whether the colonists were pilgrims in the Massachusetts Bay Colony or the Cavaliers in Jamestown, they were strangers in this land.
And being called a colonist is no longer a compliment. So to be a member of a present-day colony from the future might be a very hard banner to lift. We live among this world and do things that are strange. Mercy is strange. Forgiveness is odd. Requiring a pound of flesh is the common practice. Grace is not a way of life. Instead, crudity is common, self-centeredness is celebrated, and arrogance is approved.
But we know Jesus. Since we know our sin, our greed, our corruption, we know mercy. We bask in forgiveness. We put grace into practice. While living in this age, we know our future. Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Knowing our future, knowing that there is an upward call coming our way, we live in this present-day. We show our new self, our redeemed self. We do not pretend at our perfection, we point to a perfect savior. We are a colony from the future, receiving all goodness and grace from God and putting God’s gifts into practice.
We know a lot. More than knowing our ABCs and 123s, we count all of that as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as our Lord. SDG
March 21, 2010
Philippians 3:8-14
A present-day colony from the future
In the name of Jesus, amen. There is a lot that we know. We know many things on an intellectual level. ABCs, 123s, multiplication, long division, spelling, state capitols…there are many things we know. Some of the things we know are more specialized. My friend Jeff from my childhood, his mother didn’t know how to drive. Some of us know how a garden grows and some of us don’t. I don’t know how to make tomato sauce from scratch and I don’t lose one nanosecond’s worth of sleep over it as long as Ragu is still in business. And as we advance, our fields become even more specialized in medicine, finance, the sciences, things like that.
As Christians, there are also many things we know. True or False: Jesus Christ went to the cross to destroy death and to give you the gift of eternal life. True. True or False: Because of what Jesus did for you on the cross, your sins are forgiven, you are covered in the righteousness of Christ, you are declared holy and just before the throne of God. True. True or False: On the day of resurrection you will experience never-ending joy and peace as you stand face-to-face with your Lord and Savior Jesus. True.
See, we know a lot. Then why does criticism bother us so much? Why do we spend so much time worrying about the future? Why are we so unhappy and discontented with the way our life has turned out? If we know as much as we do, why are we so unsatisfied? You just scored 100% on a quiz! You made an A. But we often call ourselves failures.
“Indeed, I count everything as loss.” That is how the apostle Paul begins our Epistle lesson this morning. Everything as loss- might sound odd considering the number of churches that Paul founded, the volumes that Paul wrote, the miracles Paul performed, the number of souls in whose ears Paul preached the Gospel. But Paul was imprisoned, was beaten, chased, driven from towns, was persecuted, eventually was beheaded. Paul didn’t just count things as a loss. He counted everything as a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ as Lord.
The words that we heard this morning present for us the strength that sustained Paul. Paul was given strength, courage, boldness, joy, humility, compassion, and hope all because he knew Christ Jesus his Lord. Paul knew that one day he would see Jesus face to face. The unshakable goal of Paul’s life was to attain, by the grace of God, the resurrection from the dead. This goal was certain for Paul knew that on the day of resurrection he would finally be with Jesus his Savior forever.
Since Paul knew what his future would be, where his future would be, and who his future would be lived with, Paul was sustained in his present-day living. Just like we are. Paul knew that one day, in the future, he would be with Jesus in heaven. And that future certainty changed his present-day outlook.
And Paul’s future certainty is our future certainty. The baptism that we rejoice in is the same baptism that Paul rejoiced in. The Christ that Paul proclaimed is the same Christ that we follow after, the same Christ we celebrate, the same Christ who comes among us with consolation, comfort, and courage.
We are a present-day colony from the future. We are living in this present time, and we experience all the great joys and all the great struggles that this life contains. Just like everybody else we wait in line at the Bureau of Motor Vehicles, we clip coupons, we notice all the beauty and all the ugliness that surrounds our living.
If we know that we live fully in this world, we also know that we are strangers. Just a simple journey back to your elementary school days calls to mind the lessons of the colonists. Whether the colonists were pilgrims in the Massachusetts Bay Colony or the Cavaliers in Jamestown, they were strangers in this land.
And being called a colonist is no longer a compliment. So to be a member of a present-day colony from the future might be a very hard banner to lift. We live among this world and do things that are strange. Mercy is strange. Forgiveness is odd. Requiring a pound of flesh is the common practice. Grace is not a way of life. Instead, crudity is common, self-centeredness is celebrated, and arrogance is approved.
But we know Jesus. Since we know our sin, our greed, our corruption, we know mercy. We bask in forgiveness. We put grace into practice. While living in this age, we know our future. Forgetting what lies behind and straining forward, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Knowing our future, knowing that there is an upward call coming our way, we live in this present-day. We show our new self, our redeemed self. We do not pretend at our perfection, we point to a perfect savior. We are a colony from the future, receiving all goodness and grace from God and putting God’s gifts into practice.
We know a lot. More than knowing our ABCs and 123s, we count all of that as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus as our Lord. SDG
Friday, March 19, 2010
Today's thought on joy
" I rejoice at the coming of Stephanus and Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence..." {1 Corinthians 16:7}
Through your faithful Apostle Paul, Lord, you have repeatedly shown that you delight in Christian friends who love and cherish one another in joy. Grant that this day I may be a joy to a brother or sister in Christ, and especially to my pastor. Grant him blessed joy in me, and in all his flock this day. Amen.
Through your faithful Apostle Paul, Lord, you have repeatedly shown that you delight in Christian friends who love and cherish one another in joy. Grant that this day I may be a joy to a brother or sister in Christ, and especially to my pastor. Grant him blessed joy in me, and in all his flock this day. Amen.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
St. Patrick- One day late
I was out of the office yesterday, so I missed posting about St. Patrick. The holiday is so much more than blarney stones and beer. St. Patrick was the missionary to Ireland who brought the saving gospel to people in the face of pagan druidism. He has left a lasting legacy for the Christian Church in the use of the following song. The tune is quite challenging, some would say even difficult, but once you get to learn it, you love it. His hymn, entitled St. Patrick's Breastplate, is a wonderful 'textbook' on the Trinity.
604 I Bind unto Myself Today
1 I bind unto myself today
The strong name of the Trinity
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.
2 I bind this day to me forever,
By pow’r of faith, Christ’s incarnation,
His Baptism in the Jordan River,
His cross of death for my salvation,
His bursting from the spiced tomb,
His riding up the heav’nly way,
His coming at the day of doom,
I bind unto myself today.
3 I bind unto myself today
The pow’r of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need,
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward,
The Word of God to give me speech,
His heav’nly host to be my guard.
4 Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile foes that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In ev’ry place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me those holy pow’rs.
5 I bind unto myself the name,
The strong name of the Trinity
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three,
Of whom all nature has creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word.
Praise to the Lord of my salvation;
Salvation is of Christ the Lord!
Text (sts. 1–5) and Tune: Public domain
Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.
604 I Bind unto Myself Today
1 I bind unto myself today
The strong name of the Trinity
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three.
2 I bind this day to me forever,
By pow’r of faith, Christ’s incarnation,
His Baptism in the Jordan River,
His cross of death for my salvation,
His bursting from the spiced tomb,
His riding up the heav’nly way,
His coming at the day of doom,
I bind unto myself today.
3 I bind unto myself today
The pow’r of God to hold and lead,
His eye to watch, His might to stay,
His ear to hearken to my need,
The wisdom of my God to teach,
His hand to guide, His shield to ward,
The Word of God to give me speech,
His heav’nly host to be my guard.
4 Against the demon snares of sin,
The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
The hostile foes that mar my course;
Or few or many, far or nigh,
In ev’ry place and in all hours,
Against their fierce hostility,
I bind to me those holy pow’rs.
5 I bind unto myself the name,
The strong name of the Trinity
By invocation of the same,
The Three in One and One in Three,
Of whom all nature has creation,
Eternal Father, Spirit, Word.
Praise to the Lord of my salvation;
Salvation is of Christ the Lord!
Text (sts. 1–5) and Tune: Public domain
Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.
Sermon from March 17
Lenten Midweek Service 5
March 17, 2010
1 Peter 1:6-9
I can’t believe in a God who would…
In the name of Jesus, amen. I imagine that the reversal would have had to be stunning. I know Jesus knows all things, but the reversal of the crowds still would have cut quite deeply. “Save yourself! Come down from the cross.” That was quite a change from “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Once the crowds had hung on his every word, now they just wanted him hung. They turned on Jesus in a most vicious way. The chief priests and the scribes pointed out the utter folly of the so-called Son of God: “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Even one of the criminals joined in the jabbing. Jesus hung on the cross, hung between two criminals, hung between heaven and earth, utterly alone. His followers had fled into the darkness the night before, and except for his mother, two Marys and John, all his people seemed to turn on him.
Jesus turned his eyes where he was certain to find some respite. Intensely Jesus looked to heaven, searching for a sign of deliverance from His God. But even the midday sky closed itself to him. The clouds were thick and the sun was nowhere to be found. All Jesus saw was black nothingness. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!” How could God leave him like this? How could he trust in a God who would abandon him in his time of greatest need?
On January 12, 2010, Odinel was in her first floor apartment preparing rice and beans for her family’s dinner. She had six children to feed, five were doing their homework in the family room and one was playing outside. It was a day like any other day, until the earth shook itself and convulsed, bringing the six-story building crashing down upon them in a few moments of chaos. Stunned, Odinel was incredibly able to compose herself and dig herself free, but she feared the fate of her five children who had been inside with her. She was sure they were dead as she saw layers of concrete lying where the children had been studying. She could never move that kind of concrete by herself, so how could her children? Everybody else was scrambling for their own survival and this mother faced the harsh reality that her children were dead or soon would be. In a matter of moments, five of her children were snatched from her motherly embrace.
That Haitian earthquake killed an estimated 230000 people. The world was staring into the abyss. Until the Chilean earthquake struck. Until there was an earthquake in Tokyo. Until torrential rain fell on top of melting snow. We are pressed by the brutality of this world on so many different sides. There are everyday struggles of family and health that we long for when we are receiving news about wars and terrorist threats, lost jobs, tragic car accidents, and long battles against disease. In those times we come face to face with utter helplessness. We cry out for help- to anyone! We look to anybody for some sort of answer. We especially pray to God, time after time. But what do our cries get? Often the same thing that Jesus got- silence.
How many Christians have prayed to be delivered from clutches of cancer or some other terrible illness to no avail? One or two make it against the odds, but what about the rest? How often do people pray over their failed relationships? How many cry out over the despair of joblessness? Does God ever hear us? Is God even real? 230000 dead in Haiti. 3000 killed in the United States on 9-11. Did God ignore the cries of those people, of anyone caught in peril or distress?
As the dark clouds hung over the head of Jesus, he faced his greatest trial. Everything he stood for hung in the balance. In a matter of hours he would be dead. He had already been shamed, humiliated and discredited. Everyone around Jesus had reason to abandon faith because the pressure to despair was immense. What good, what benefit was there for Jesus to patiently wait any longer?
How could this be the arrival of God’s kingdom that he had so forcefully preached? How could he be the Messiah and long-awaited king of Israel if it was going to end like this? Now was the time for Jesus to give it all up, and no one would fault him for it. But stubbornly, defiantly, Jesus pressed onward. He did the unthinkable, resolving himself to patiently wait on his Father in heaven. Jesus refused to give up his hope that God’s kingdom was at hand. He did not fight to bring himself down from the cross. He did not call on an army of angels to intervene. He did not curse God. Some mocker would say that like a fool Jesus threw himself into the hands of his God. A scoffer would ridicule Jesus for blessing and loving those who stood against him. Following the way of love, Jesus persisted till the end and refused to back down. He would not be deterred. He threw himself headlong into the destructive path of death itself. And to the despair of those who stayed and watched, death did not yield. It pushed forward and crushed Jesus under its feet.
Under six stories of broken building, seven year old Kiki, his ten year old sister Sabrina, and their little brother were buried alive. Tucked away in a small pocket in the concrete rubble with the corpses of their other two siblings, these three had amazingly been spared. But they were trapped- alone, hungry, thirsty, weak. Days passed, and they heard no one calling for them, and there was no sign that rescue was on the way. Kiki and Sabrina’s little brother cried and cried, begging for water. Powerlessly they were unable to satisfy his need. He asked for water on Wednesday, and on Thursday, and on Friday, but there was no water. Fatigued and dehydrated, he died of thirst in their arms. Surrounded by the decaying bodies of their brothers and sisters, Kiki and Sabrina clung to each other and waited. Though it would have been easy to simply surrender in despair, slipping into death like their brothers and sisters, they continued to hope beyond all hope that they would be rescued. They found their solace in one another, strengthened by the fact that they were not alone.
In this world death stands on your doorstep- disease, disasters of every sort, wars, and violence rage all around threatening to tear your life apart. Will you continue to look to God in hope or will you walk away in despair? Alone, you will eventually fall into despair. With others, there is a chance for hope. Like Kiki and Sabrina, it is important that you and I face the harshness of reality in the company of one another. If you and I try to go it alone, then we will not make it- we are simply not strong enough. God has graciously given us a community of brothers and sisters that we might build each other up and strengthen ourselves in the face of the world’s darkness. Peter’s first letter was written to Christians who were dealing with persecution. They were people tempted to give up on God. ‘Now for a little time you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These come so that your faith- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire- may be proved genuine.’ Those facing persecution were part of a community in Christ. Without community, the task ahead of us would be too much. When we stare death in the face, refusing to buckle, we need each other.
On Friday they laid Jesus’ body in the tomb. He had stared into the abyss and it had swallowed him up. It looked like the kingdom he had preached never came and now he was just another dead messiah, a failure. Scoffers said his trust in a god who would let him face rejection, suffering, and crucifixion was nothing but a joke. They reveled in their ridicule. How could he have thought that such a god was real? His god had been too late. His trust had been in vain. In a world where the strong conquered, Jesus was weak. In a world where wisdom rules, Jesus was foolish. In a world where death was the final word, Jesus was dead. The dark, unforgiving world once again asserted its strength. But as it pressed relentlessly on this weak and seemingly foolish Jesus, its iron grip began to slip. On Sunday morning, the way of the world was shown to be a fraud. The world that everyone thought they knew was completely turned on its head. Jesus, the crucified failure, was bodily raised to life! His foolishness proved to be true wisdom- his weakness, true strength! Everything the world thought it had figured out began to crumble to rubble.
A week after the disaster, Kiki and Sabrina’s aunt Devinal returned to the family’s apartment to look for some belongings. As she looked through the rubble, she heard what she thought were faint cries. She started to dig with a crowbar. She then went to find help and some rescue workers from New York and Virginia came to the scene and moved in to help. After four hours of digging and cutting through five layers of crushed concrete, they came upon Kiki. Huddled next to the corpse of one of his siblings they were able to pull him free. They then released Sabrina who was trapped behind a metal chair. After eight days with no food or water the two children were reunited with their mother amidst tears and laughter and joy. Their foolish hope was answered, and a small window into another world was revealed.
In the story of Kiki and Sabrina, in countless other stories throughout the world, we are given small reminders that our natural understanding of what is good and evil, right or wrong, wise or foolish, strong or weak, has been turned upside down in Jesus Christ the crucified. The insignificant and humble ways of faith, hope, and love are shown in Christ to be God’s way. The dark world around us will continue to mock the Christian’s foolish hope. But our assurance is that the outcome of faith in Jesus’ God is nothing short of true rescue on the other side of death.
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. Though you do not see God, you know that you will be saved from the evil clutches of a world of disease, disaster, war, and broken relationships. Cling to God in all things and you will be raised from the dead, just like Jesus! As you lie on your deathbed, and all the days leading up to it, you can be certain that your God, the God of Jesus, acts on the other side of death, on the other side of the abyss. Our God resides in a crucified Jesus. You would be a fool to believe in a God like that- a God you cannot see, a God on the other side of death! Yeah, you would be a fool, just like Jesus. ‘You believe in him, and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls!’ SDG
March 17, 2010
1 Peter 1:6-9
I can’t believe in a God who would…
In the name of Jesus, amen. I imagine that the reversal would have had to be stunning. I know Jesus knows all things, but the reversal of the crowds still would have cut quite deeply. “Save yourself! Come down from the cross.” That was quite a change from “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.”
Once the crowds had hung on his every word, now they just wanted him hung. They turned on Jesus in a most vicious way. The chief priests and the scribes pointed out the utter folly of the so-called Son of God: “He saved others; he cannot save himself. Let the Christ come down now from the cross that we may see and believe.” Even one of the criminals joined in the jabbing. Jesus hung on the cross, hung between two criminals, hung between heaven and earth, utterly alone. His followers had fled into the darkness the night before, and except for his mother, two Marys and John, all his people seemed to turn on him.
Jesus turned his eyes where he was certain to find some respite. Intensely Jesus looked to heaven, searching for a sign of deliverance from His God. But even the midday sky closed itself to him. The clouds were thick and the sun was nowhere to be found. All Jesus saw was black nothingness. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!” How could God leave him like this? How could he trust in a God who would abandon him in his time of greatest need?
On January 12, 2010, Odinel was in her first floor apartment preparing rice and beans for her family’s dinner. She had six children to feed, five were doing their homework in the family room and one was playing outside. It was a day like any other day, until the earth shook itself and convulsed, bringing the six-story building crashing down upon them in a few moments of chaos. Stunned, Odinel was incredibly able to compose herself and dig herself free, but she feared the fate of her five children who had been inside with her. She was sure they were dead as she saw layers of concrete lying where the children had been studying. She could never move that kind of concrete by herself, so how could her children? Everybody else was scrambling for their own survival and this mother faced the harsh reality that her children were dead or soon would be. In a matter of moments, five of her children were snatched from her motherly embrace.
That Haitian earthquake killed an estimated 230000 people. The world was staring into the abyss. Until the Chilean earthquake struck. Until there was an earthquake in Tokyo. Until torrential rain fell on top of melting snow. We are pressed by the brutality of this world on so many different sides. There are everyday struggles of family and health that we long for when we are receiving news about wars and terrorist threats, lost jobs, tragic car accidents, and long battles against disease. In those times we come face to face with utter helplessness. We cry out for help- to anyone! We look to anybody for some sort of answer. We especially pray to God, time after time. But what do our cries get? Often the same thing that Jesus got- silence.
How many Christians have prayed to be delivered from clutches of cancer or some other terrible illness to no avail? One or two make it against the odds, but what about the rest? How often do people pray over their failed relationships? How many cry out over the despair of joblessness? Does God ever hear us? Is God even real? 230000 dead in Haiti. 3000 killed in the United States on 9-11. Did God ignore the cries of those people, of anyone caught in peril or distress?
As the dark clouds hung over the head of Jesus, he faced his greatest trial. Everything he stood for hung in the balance. In a matter of hours he would be dead. He had already been shamed, humiliated and discredited. Everyone around Jesus had reason to abandon faith because the pressure to despair was immense. What good, what benefit was there for Jesus to patiently wait any longer?
How could this be the arrival of God’s kingdom that he had so forcefully preached? How could he be the Messiah and long-awaited king of Israel if it was going to end like this? Now was the time for Jesus to give it all up, and no one would fault him for it. But stubbornly, defiantly, Jesus pressed onward. He did the unthinkable, resolving himself to patiently wait on his Father in heaven. Jesus refused to give up his hope that God’s kingdom was at hand. He did not fight to bring himself down from the cross. He did not call on an army of angels to intervene. He did not curse God. Some mocker would say that like a fool Jesus threw himself into the hands of his God. A scoffer would ridicule Jesus for blessing and loving those who stood against him. Following the way of love, Jesus persisted till the end and refused to back down. He would not be deterred. He threw himself headlong into the destructive path of death itself. And to the despair of those who stayed and watched, death did not yield. It pushed forward and crushed Jesus under its feet.
Under six stories of broken building, seven year old Kiki, his ten year old sister Sabrina, and their little brother were buried alive. Tucked away in a small pocket in the concrete rubble with the corpses of their other two siblings, these three had amazingly been spared. But they were trapped- alone, hungry, thirsty, weak. Days passed, and they heard no one calling for them, and there was no sign that rescue was on the way. Kiki and Sabrina’s little brother cried and cried, begging for water. Powerlessly they were unable to satisfy his need. He asked for water on Wednesday, and on Thursday, and on Friday, but there was no water. Fatigued and dehydrated, he died of thirst in their arms. Surrounded by the decaying bodies of their brothers and sisters, Kiki and Sabrina clung to each other and waited. Though it would have been easy to simply surrender in despair, slipping into death like their brothers and sisters, they continued to hope beyond all hope that they would be rescued. They found their solace in one another, strengthened by the fact that they were not alone.
In this world death stands on your doorstep- disease, disasters of every sort, wars, and violence rage all around threatening to tear your life apart. Will you continue to look to God in hope or will you walk away in despair? Alone, you will eventually fall into despair. With others, there is a chance for hope. Like Kiki and Sabrina, it is important that you and I face the harshness of reality in the company of one another. If you and I try to go it alone, then we will not make it- we are simply not strong enough. God has graciously given us a community of brothers and sisters that we might build each other up and strengthen ourselves in the face of the world’s darkness. Peter’s first letter was written to Christians who were dealing with persecution. They were people tempted to give up on God. ‘Now for a little time you may have to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These come so that your faith- of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire- may be proved genuine.’ Those facing persecution were part of a community in Christ. Without community, the task ahead of us would be too much. When we stare death in the face, refusing to buckle, we need each other.
On Friday they laid Jesus’ body in the tomb. He had stared into the abyss and it had swallowed him up. It looked like the kingdom he had preached never came and now he was just another dead messiah, a failure. Scoffers said his trust in a god who would let him face rejection, suffering, and crucifixion was nothing but a joke. They reveled in their ridicule. How could he have thought that such a god was real? His god had been too late. His trust had been in vain. In a world where the strong conquered, Jesus was weak. In a world where wisdom rules, Jesus was foolish. In a world where death was the final word, Jesus was dead. The dark, unforgiving world once again asserted its strength. But as it pressed relentlessly on this weak and seemingly foolish Jesus, its iron grip began to slip. On Sunday morning, the way of the world was shown to be a fraud. The world that everyone thought they knew was completely turned on its head. Jesus, the crucified failure, was bodily raised to life! His foolishness proved to be true wisdom- his weakness, true strength! Everything the world thought it had figured out began to crumble to rubble.
A week after the disaster, Kiki and Sabrina’s aunt Devinal returned to the family’s apartment to look for some belongings. As she looked through the rubble, she heard what she thought were faint cries. She started to dig with a crowbar. She then went to find help and some rescue workers from New York and Virginia came to the scene and moved in to help. After four hours of digging and cutting through five layers of crushed concrete, they came upon Kiki. Huddled next to the corpse of one of his siblings they were able to pull him free. They then released Sabrina who was trapped behind a metal chair. After eight days with no food or water the two children were reunited with their mother amidst tears and laughter and joy. Their foolish hope was answered, and a small window into another world was revealed.
In the story of Kiki and Sabrina, in countless other stories throughout the world, we are given small reminders that our natural understanding of what is good and evil, right or wrong, wise or foolish, strong or weak, has been turned upside down in Jesus Christ the crucified. The insignificant and humble ways of faith, hope, and love are shown in Christ to be God’s way. The dark world around us will continue to mock the Christian’s foolish hope. But our assurance is that the outcome of faith in Jesus’ God is nothing short of true rescue on the other side of death.
Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy. Though you do not see God, you know that you will be saved from the evil clutches of a world of disease, disaster, war, and broken relationships. Cling to God in all things and you will be raised from the dead, just like Jesus! As you lie on your deathbed, and all the days leading up to it, you can be certain that your God, the God of Jesus, acts on the other side of death, on the other side of the abyss. Our God resides in a crucified Jesus. You would be a fool to believe in a God like that- a God you cannot see, a God on the other side of death! Yeah, you would be a fool, just like Jesus. ‘You believe in him, and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls!’ SDG
Too much
stuff going on that I haven't been able to spend any time 'preparing' for the Tournament today. I think I have my brackets done, but haven't checked in the last 36 hours.
I remember when life used to stop at this time of the year. Classes would be skipped just to watch the games. Now there are other things going on. I might not watch any of the games today or tonight. The Office is on and that will likely be more entertaining. And as long as espnradio.com is working, who needs to watch?
Sigh.
I remember when life used to stop at this time of the year. Classes would be skipped just to watch the games. Now there are other things going on. I might not watch any of the games today or tonight. The Office is on and that will likely be more entertaining. And as long as espnradio.com is working, who needs to watch?
Sigh.
Today's thought on joy
"Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer." {Romans 12:12}
Lord God, Heavenly Father, through tribulation you produce patience and hope. Grant that I not fall into despair and doubt regarding your mercies or purposeful actions in my life. Increase my life of prayer. Cause me to rejoice in all humility before you; through Jesus Christ, my only hope. Amen.
Lord God, Heavenly Father, through tribulation you produce patience and hope. Grant that I not fall into despair and doubt regarding your mercies or purposeful actions in my life. Increase my life of prayer. Cause me to rejoice in all humility before you; through Jesus Christ, my only hope. Amen.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Today's thought on joy
"And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your son and your daughter, your male servant and your female servant, the Levite who is within your towns, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow who are among you, at the place that the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell there." {Deuteronomy 16:11}
Most Holy Trinity, you dwell in your Church by your mighty Word, enfleshed in Jesus. By the eternal Word of all joy and mercy, cause me to love my neighbor, to be generous to the needy. Grant that my congregation and my pastor overflow with love for the least of these my brethren. May it please you to use me as a vessel of your mercy- now, today. Amen.
From: A Little Book on Joy, Pastor Matt Harrison
Most Holy Trinity, you dwell in your Church by your mighty Word, enfleshed in Jesus. By the eternal Word of all joy and mercy, cause me to love my neighbor, to be generous to the needy. Grant that my congregation and my pastor overflow with love for the least of these my brethren. May it please you to use me as a vessel of your mercy- now, today. Amen.
From: A Little Book on Joy, Pastor Matt Harrison
Monday, March 15, 2010
Daily thought on joy
I've received a new book "A little book on joy: The secret of living a good news life in a bad news world". It is wonderful because it is not a harangue and it is not guilt-inducing. Haven't you noticed that most sermons preached on joy, or lectures on joy are really quite depressing because the overall impression is that joy is something you create within you. Joy is something you have to manufacture, and if you are sad, then it is your fault. And that stinks!
Joy is gift! Joy acknowledges that sometimes there is no joy. But joy is gift because joy is Jesus.
At the end of this book are some daily passages to ponder and reflect upon- joys upon joys. There are 90 such passages that cover the seasons of joy in the Church, the seasons of Lent and Easter. I endeavor to post these things daily for our benefit. Here we go for Monday:
"And Hannah prayed and said, 'My heart exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.'" {1 Samuel 2:1}
Like Hannah, I offer to you, O Lord, the favorite son of my soul- my pride, my bitterness toward others, my thankless joyless heart. Cause my enemies- sin, death, and the devil- to flee before you, that I may rejoice in your salvation. In Jesus, Amen.
Joy is gift! Joy acknowledges that sometimes there is no joy. But joy is gift because joy is Jesus.
At the end of this book are some daily passages to ponder and reflect upon- joys upon joys. There are 90 such passages that cover the seasons of joy in the Church, the seasons of Lent and Easter. I endeavor to post these things daily for our benefit. Here we go for Monday:
"And Hannah prayed and said, 'My heart exults in the Lord; my strength is exalted in the Lord. My mouth derides my enemies, because I rejoice in your salvation.'" {1 Samuel 2:1}
Like Hannah, I offer to you, O Lord, the favorite son of my soul- my pride, my bitterness toward others, my thankless joyless heart. Cause my enemies- sin, death, and the devil- to flee before you, that I may rejoice in your salvation. In Jesus, Amen.
Sermon for Fourth Sunday in Lent, March 14, 2010
Here's the sermon from yesterday's service. If you caught it 'live', you might notice some differences. I'll be honest in that I seemed to deviate from my printed text more than is typical. C'est la vie!
Lent 4
March 14, 2010
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
On whose terms?
In the name of Jesus, amen. Reading the fine print is a chore. It takes time. It’s hard to read the print and it’s hard to understand the terms. I utilize iTunes on my computer to listen to the radio and download podcasts and things like that. Periodically there are updates that I need to install and part of the installation process is to agree to some terms. You have to click on agree, otherwise the installation will not take place. I never read what the terms are. There are a lot of terms and all I want to do is move on and listen to some music. There have been some economic reforms recently undertaken to try and rein in the credit card industry. How many people can really understand the terms on the back of those credit card applications? It often is the case that we are buried under terms and conditions that we just roll over and sign whatever is put in front of us.
That’s a dangerous thing to do. The terms I agree to on iTunes are harmless. The terms people agree to with credit cards are more serious. The terms that apply to our salvation, they matter a great deal! And so we thank God our Father that he forgives us on his terms, not ours.
Forgiveness on our terms does not work. Today’s Gospel lesson paints that picture for us. The prodigal aka the wasteful aka the younger son, he wanted life on his terms. He sinned before God and his father. By asking for his share of the inheritance, what was he asking of his father? He was asking his father to hurry up and die. This younger son wanted to run his own life without any restrictions, to be his own god. And he took his inheritance and drank it away, partied it away, squandered it recklessly. Then the young man tried to solve his problems himself, yet that only made the situation worse. All of that takes place in verses 12-16! A life is wrecked in four short verses.
And the young man recognizes the wreckage of his life. He came to himself, which is a nice way of saying that the boy realized the mess and the destruction.
That sounds good, especially when we see this story as a mirror that reflects our own life and situations. But the young man drew up the terms of the forgiveness he was seeking. He planned to confess his sin. That is good. I’ll never say that is a bad thing. And he felt that he was no longer worthy to be called a son. I think that is also correct. The young man had taken his sonship and elevated himself over his father. He treated his father as if the old man had nothing to offer but money. And then the prodigal decided that he would work as a servant. He would earn his keep so that he would have enough to eat. He wanted forgiveness, but only on his terms.
We want life and forgiveness on our terms too. We have sinned before God, against our friends and family, and have inflicted damage upon ourselves. We are the prodigals who view our heavenly Father merely as the giver of gifts. As Christians, we feel that we deserve God’s goodness simply because we are his children. God owes us because we are his.
We want to dictate the terms of our life. We want no restrictions on what we can do; consequently we break all his Commandments. We squander time. We waste our abilities and talents. It is a certainty that God has blessed us with many wonderful qualities but we frequently keep those qualities to ourselves, never daring to use them in a beneficial way.
Many times we make our bad situations worse by doing good only for the sake of earning God’s favor. We hope that if we do enough things that are right, that will cancel out all the things that are wrong. If I can simply do one more good thing than bad, I’ll have ended my day with a positive balance. But that hope is earthly, that hope is common, that hope is human-centered. Sadly, that hope is in vain.
And when we cannot fill our bellies on the pods that the pigs are eating, we come to ourselves. We wake up, yet we stumble in a daze as we draw up the terms of our forgiveness. We choose the time, the place, and the words. And when we do that, don’t our confessions take on the tone of ‘The devil made me do it’? My brother lured me into sin. I wanted to fit in with the cool kids at school, that’s why I did it. I was lured into gambling because it seemed like a sure bet, like easy money. I was lured into addiction because it seemed so harmless at first. Our confessions devolve into attempts at self-justification and we heap excuses upon all the people around us. I must confess- it’s not my fault!
Traveling that road leads us not to salvation but to despair. We decide on our own that we have forfeited our rights to be called a son or daughter of God. We believe that we no longer have an heir’s right to Christ’s inheritance. And we ask God to watch us work out our own salvation. We ask God to watch us prove how truly sorry we are for our sin.
Forgiveness on our own terms is a real problem throughout the religious world. Many Christians are deluded by this false hope. Followers of Islam are deceived by the notion that only the morally perfect will attain perfection. Buddhists and practitioners within the cult of Scientology share in that same misguided thinking- that a person can be perfect in this life if they only try really, really hard. It is very sad to watch this poison infect people.
As a Christian it is particularly depressing to notice how often the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is turned into a carrot on a stick. You know how that works. You try to entice people to do certain things, act a certain way, speak a certain way. You hold out something good in the hopes that someone will do something. Parents do it to children. Husbands do it to wives and wives do it to husbands. Christians do it to one another and Christians do it to God! Forgiveness on our terms does not work!
But there is a different way. God shows us a better way. Our Father, who art in heaven, with a name that is hallowed, He shows us a better way. For God forgives on His terms.
The father goes out to meet his son while the son was still a long way off. He doesn’t scold or punish but rather embraces and kisses him. With disarming forgiveness, the father shows his love and compassion by restoring this son to the family as a rightful heir. A banquet is authorized and gifts are given. This is a different way indeed, and a better way. It is the way of the Father’s forgiveness.
The father also goes out to the older son, whom we can probably relate to at times. The older son is still a rightful heir too. It is fitting to celebrate, because the family is whole again. This brother of yours was dead but is now alive. He was lost, but now is found.
Our heavenly Father takes the initiative to forgive us on his terms. Despite our sins, which are many and great, God continues to love us. God seeks us out, and God deals with us on his terms of love and mercy. After all, our sin was placed upon him who knew no sin, so that in the Christ the sin-bearer we might become the righteousness of God. The punishment that our sins deserved was paid in full upon Calvary’s cross.
It is sometimes difficult to believe the terms of God when we are so conditioned by the terms of this world, of this life, but God reassures us that we are heirs of God and our names are written in the Book of Life. There is an eternal banquet being prepared for us and for all the believers in God’s promises. In the reality of Dick and Sam’s memorial services, we celebrate the comforting knowledge that God has welcomed them into His presence through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus our Lord.
Our Father comes to us with assuring and comforting words. We know we need them. Our Father brings us to times of feasting and rejoicing, because we need those times. Our Father brings us time for prayer, for silence, for praise, again, the very things that make our life so full and rich. Our Father brings us times to come to ourself and then to return to the Lord in repentance, and our Father is there with open arms, loving and forgiving us on His terms. SDG
Lent 4
March 14, 2010
Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
On whose terms?
In the name of Jesus, amen. Reading the fine print is a chore. It takes time. It’s hard to read the print and it’s hard to understand the terms. I utilize iTunes on my computer to listen to the radio and download podcasts and things like that. Periodically there are updates that I need to install and part of the installation process is to agree to some terms. You have to click on agree, otherwise the installation will not take place. I never read what the terms are. There are a lot of terms and all I want to do is move on and listen to some music. There have been some economic reforms recently undertaken to try and rein in the credit card industry. How many people can really understand the terms on the back of those credit card applications? It often is the case that we are buried under terms and conditions that we just roll over and sign whatever is put in front of us.
That’s a dangerous thing to do. The terms I agree to on iTunes are harmless. The terms people agree to with credit cards are more serious. The terms that apply to our salvation, they matter a great deal! And so we thank God our Father that he forgives us on his terms, not ours.
Forgiveness on our terms does not work. Today’s Gospel lesson paints that picture for us. The prodigal aka the wasteful aka the younger son, he wanted life on his terms. He sinned before God and his father. By asking for his share of the inheritance, what was he asking of his father? He was asking his father to hurry up and die. This younger son wanted to run his own life without any restrictions, to be his own god. And he took his inheritance and drank it away, partied it away, squandered it recklessly. Then the young man tried to solve his problems himself, yet that only made the situation worse. All of that takes place in verses 12-16! A life is wrecked in four short verses.
And the young man recognizes the wreckage of his life. He came to himself, which is a nice way of saying that the boy realized the mess and the destruction.
That sounds good, especially when we see this story as a mirror that reflects our own life and situations. But the young man drew up the terms of the forgiveness he was seeking. He planned to confess his sin. That is good. I’ll never say that is a bad thing. And he felt that he was no longer worthy to be called a son. I think that is also correct. The young man had taken his sonship and elevated himself over his father. He treated his father as if the old man had nothing to offer but money. And then the prodigal decided that he would work as a servant. He would earn his keep so that he would have enough to eat. He wanted forgiveness, but only on his terms.
We want life and forgiveness on our terms too. We have sinned before God, against our friends and family, and have inflicted damage upon ourselves. We are the prodigals who view our heavenly Father merely as the giver of gifts. As Christians, we feel that we deserve God’s goodness simply because we are his children. God owes us because we are his.
We want to dictate the terms of our life. We want no restrictions on what we can do; consequently we break all his Commandments. We squander time. We waste our abilities and talents. It is a certainty that God has blessed us with many wonderful qualities but we frequently keep those qualities to ourselves, never daring to use them in a beneficial way.
Many times we make our bad situations worse by doing good only for the sake of earning God’s favor. We hope that if we do enough things that are right, that will cancel out all the things that are wrong. If I can simply do one more good thing than bad, I’ll have ended my day with a positive balance. But that hope is earthly, that hope is common, that hope is human-centered. Sadly, that hope is in vain.
And when we cannot fill our bellies on the pods that the pigs are eating, we come to ourselves. We wake up, yet we stumble in a daze as we draw up the terms of our forgiveness. We choose the time, the place, and the words. And when we do that, don’t our confessions take on the tone of ‘The devil made me do it’? My brother lured me into sin. I wanted to fit in with the cool kids at school, that’s why I did it. I was lured into gambling because it seemed like a sure bet, like easy money. I was lured into addiction because it seemed so harmless at first. Our confessions devolve into attempts at self-justification and we heap excuses upon all the people around us. I must confess- it’s not my fault!
Traveling that road leads us not to salvation but to despair. We decide on our own that we have forfeited our rights to be called a son or daughter of God. We believe that we no longer have an heir’s right to Christ’s inheritance. And we ask God to watch us work out our own salvation. We ask God to watch us prove how truly sorry we are for our sin.
Forgiveness on our own terms is a real problem throughout the religious world. Many Christians are deluded by this false hope. Followers of Islam are deceived by the notion that only the morally perfect will attain perfection. Buddhists and practitioners within the cult of Scientology share in that same misguided thinking- that a person can be perfect in this life if they only try really, really hard. It is very sad to watch this poison infect people.
As a Christian it is particularly depressing to notice how often the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is turned into a carrot on a stick. You know how that works. You try to entice people to do certain things, act a certain way, speak a certain way. You hold out something good in the hopes that someone will do something. Parents do it to children. Husbands do it to wives and wives do it to husbands. Christians do it to one another and Christians do it to God! Forgiveness on our terms does not work!
But there is a different way. God shows us a better way. Our Father, who art in heaven, with a name that is hallowed, He shows us a better way. For God forgives on His terms.
The father goes out to meet his son while the son was still a long way off. He doesn’t scold or punish but rather embraces and kisses him. With disarming forgiveness, the father shows his love and compassion by restoring this son to the family as a rightful heir. A banquet is authorized and gifts are given. This is a different way indeed, and a better way. It is the way of the Father’s forgiveness.
The father also goes out to the older son, whom we can probably relate to at times. The older son is still a rightful heir too. It is fitting to celebrate, because the family is whole again. This brother of yours was dead but is now alive. He was lost, but now is found.
Our heavenly Father takes the initiative to forgive us on his terms. Despite our sins, which are many and great, God continues to love us. God seeks us out, and God deals with us on his terms of love and mercy. After all, our sin was placed upon him who knew no sin, so that in the Christ the sin-bearer we might become the righteousness of God. The punishment that our sins deserved was paid in full upon Calvary’s cross.
It is sometimes difficult to believe the terms of God when we are so conditioned by the terms of this world, of this life, but God reassures us that we are heirs of God and our names are written in the Book of Life. There is an eternal banquet being prepared for us and for all the believers in God’s promises. In the reality of Dick and Sam’s memorial services, we celebrate the comforting knowledge that God has welcomed them into His presence through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus our Lord.
Our Father comes to us with assuring and comforting words. We know we need them. Our Father brings us to times of feasting and rejoicing, because we need those times. Our Father brings us time for prayer, for silence, for praise, again, the very things that make our life so full and rich. Our Father brings us times to come to ourself and then to return to the Lord in repentance, and our Father is there with open arms, loving and forgiving us on His terms. SDG
Funeral Sermon for Sam Wagner
Funeral Sermon for Sam Wagner
March 13, 2010
John 5:24-29
The soldier’s Soldier
In the name of Jesus, our commander and Sam’s commander, Amen. Our sermon text is from the Gospel lesson, reading in part, “Truly I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
Sam was a gentleman that I admired very much, and even though I did not know him as a man who would talk all that much, the times that he did talk were times I enjoyed listening to him. I liked listening to his stories from the years he served you and me in the army. He served during the Korean War and he had some stories to tell. His daughters, his beloved wife Lorma who preceded him in death, his beloved wife Marian, now they may have heard the stories many times, but I enjoyed not only the history but the way those stories impacted this faithful, strong, brave, and gentle Christian man.
We incorporated Psalm 23 into our service. For many people it is a beautiful picture of the God works, of how he reveals himself to his people. Sam shared with me how this psalm became a reality during his time in Korea. He was patrolling and they were going through a valley. It was perilous. And the reality of the danger was heightened because in the valley were corpses- North Korean, South Korean, Chinese, American. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. How could you pray those words at that time?
Sam would have said that he didn’t know. He told me as much. He simply believed these words, “For thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.” Sam knew that God was with him, that the shepherding God was with him, shielding him with love, grace, and mercy. Sam knew that. Sam told me how much he thought of the Lutheran chaplains he met in the service, who through the Word of God and the Sacrament of Holy Communion brought the reality of God to Sam and his fellow soldiers. In receiving the body and blood of Christ, given and shed for Sam, Sam knew of God’s abiding love and eternal forgiveness. It was warm light for those dark night patrols. Our men and women who serve in harm’s way are blessed with the assurance that they are not alone in their service.
I really enjoyed listening to Sam’s stories. He didn’t talk a whole lot but the stories were packed with meaning. The stories revealed Sam’s awareness of just how close God was to Sam. As Sam’s pastor the last few years, I took a great deal of comfort from that. My brother is a sworn officer in the Fairfax County Police Dept. He’s risen to the rank of detective. He is garnering his own share of stories. I worry about him from time to time. I remember when he graduated from the police academy and at the graduation ceremony, something was said that brought me one of those, “What am I worried about?” moments. Chief Rohrer, the chief of the entire department, was speaking to the class of graduates. He spoke about the good things happening within the police department, but also mentioned how police work has changed over the last few decades. He told the patrolmen that the time would come when they were on patrol in the wee hours of the morning and they would need to call for backup. He then went on to tell them that it was quite likely that dispatch would tell them ‘backup was unavailable, proceed with caution’.
That was not comforting for me, or for my parents who were there. But then Chief Rohrer told the graduates this: “Before you step out of your cruiser, while you are trying to remember all that you learned here, remember this- the Lord Jesus Christ is your best and certain backup.” I was stunned. I looked at my father, also a pastor, and mouthed the words, “Did he just really say that?”
And he did. And it was true. Walking through a valley filled with corpses. Responding to a domestic abuse call with reports of firearms present. Going to work at GM day after day to provide a decent life for your family. Attending countless Boy Scout meetings with the aim of instilling quality values in a fun atmosphere. All of those things took place, and still happen today, under the protecting, shielding, sustaining presence of God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit.
We would be absolutely right in acknowledging that Sam responded to the call to service that came his way. He responded with love to the love he received from Lorma and then from Marian. He guided his girls in the best way he knew. He cared for all sorts of people because that was what he knew they needed. He shared with me the stories of his life, stories that were quite frightening and quite amusing.
And through it all, Sam emphasized the love of Christ that guided him throughout his life. That is the joy of a funeral like this. We don’t have to proclaim the love of God. We get to proclaim the love of God. The love that was present the moment Sam was baptized, the love that Sam tasted in the communion meal, the love that Sam knew was with him as he walked through the valley of the shadow of death. It is the love of God the Father, it is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit that has brought Sam from death to life. Sam believed that his heavenly Father sent Jesus Christ for this purpose- that Sam would have eternal life, and that all of us who loved Sam, who knew him, and who miss him would have joy amidst our sadness, would smile through our tears, and would praise God for being present with us, just as He was with Sam. To the eternal God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be all the glory forever. Amen.
March 13, 2010
John 5:24-29
The soldier’s Soldier
In the name of Jesus, our commander and Sam’s commander, Amen. Our sermon text is from the Gospel lesson, reading in part, “Truly I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgment, but has passed from death to life.”
Sam was a gentleman that I admired very much, and even though I did not know him as a man who would talk all that much, the times that he did talk were times I enjoyed listening to him. I liked listening to his stories from the years he served you and me in the army. He served during the Korean War and he had some stories to tell. His daughters, his beloved wife Lorma who preceded him in death, his beloved wife Marian, now they may have heard the stories many times, but I enjoyed not only the history but the way those stories impacted this faithful, strong, brave, and gentle Christian man.
We incorporated Psalm 23 into our service. For many people it is a beautiful picture of the God works, of how he reveals himself to his people. Sam shared with me how this psalm became a reality during his time in Korea. He was patrolling and they were going through a valley. It was perilous. And the reality of the danger was heightened because in the valley were corpses- North Korean, South Korean, Chinese, American. Yea though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. How could you pray those words at that time?
Sam would have said that he didn’t know. He told me as much. He simply believed these words, “For thou art with me, Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.” Sam knew that God was with him, that the shepherding God was with him, shielding him with love, grace, and mercy. Sam knew that. Sam told me how much he thought of the Lutheran chaplains he met in the service, who through the Word of God and the Sacrament of Holy Communion brought the reality of God to Sam and his fellow soldiers. In receiving the body and blood of Christ, given and shed for Sam, Sam knew of God’s abiding love and eternal forgiveness. It was warm light for those dark night patrols. Our men and women who serve in harm’s way are blessed with the assurance that they are not alone in their service.
I really enjoyed listening to Sam’s stories. He didn’t talk a whole lot but the stories were packed with meaning. The stories revealed Sam’s awareness of just how close God was to Sam. As Sam’s pastor the last few years, I took a great deal of comfort from that. My brother is a sworn officer in the Fairfax County Police Dept. He’s risen to the rank of detective. He is garnering his own share of stories. I worry about him from time to time. I remember when he graduated from the police academy and at the graduation ceremony, something was said that brought me one of those, “What am I worried about?” moments. Chief Rohrer, the chief of the entire department, was speaking to the class of graduates. He spoke about the good things happening within the police department, but also mentioned how police work has changed over the last few decades. He told the patrolmen that the time would come when they were on patrol in the wee hours of the morning and they would need to call for backup. He then went on to tell them that it was quite likely that dispatch would tell them ‘backup was unavailable, proceed with caution’.
That was not comforting for me, or for my parents who were there. But then Chief Rohrer told the graduates this: “Before you step out of your cruiser, while you are trying to remember all that you learned here, remember this- the Lord Jesus Christ is your best and certain backup.” I was stunned. I looked at my father, also a pastor, and mouthed the words, “Did he just really say that?”
And he did. And it was true. Walking through a valley filled with corpses. Responding to a domestic abuse call with reports of firearms present. Going to work at GM day after day to provide a decent life for your family. Attending countless Boy Scout meetings with the aim of instilling quality values in a fun atmosphere. All of those things took place, and still happen today, under the protecting, shielding, sustaining presence of God the Father, the Son, and Holy Spirit.
We would be absolutely right in acknowledging that Sam responded to the call to service that came his way. He responded with love to the love he received from Lorma and then from Marian. He guided his girls in the best way he knew. He cared for all sorts of people because that was what he knew they needed. He shared with me the stories of his life, stories that were quite frightening and quite amusing.
And through it all, Sam emphasized the love of Christ that guided him throughout his life. That is the joy of a funeral like this. We don’t have to proclaim the love of God. We get to proclaim the love of God. The love that was present the moment Sam was baptized, the love that Sam tasted in the communion meal, the love that Sam knew was with him as he walked through the valley of the shadow of death. It is the love of God the Father, it is the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, it is the fellowship of God the Holy Spirit that has brought Sam from death to life. Sam believed that his heavenly Father sent Jesus Christ for this purpose- that Sam would have eternal life, and that all of us who loved Sam, who knew him, and who miss him would have joy amidst our sadness, would smile through our tears, and would praise God for being present with us, just as He was with Sam. To the eternal God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be all the glory forever. Amen.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Midweek Lenten Service Sermon
Lenten Midweek Service 4
March 10, 2010
1 Peter 4:7-11
Who am I?
In the name of Jesus, amen. The end of all things is at hand! Is that the best way to start a sermon? How many of us pay attention to the nut jobs who carry signs that say ‘The end is near’? Do we think the message is less nutty when it is the apostle Peter saying that the end of all things- all that we have seen, heard, experienced, all the people we have known, loved, cried with and laughed with- was near? Do you just shrug your shoulders and move on, doubting that it was even true? People have been saying that the end of the world has been around the corner for centuries, yet you and I are still breathing. But the end is near. Tonight’s service is sandwiched between two memorial services. There is real injustice in this county, this state, this country, this world. There is pain and sickness and death and Peter’s words are terrifyingly real. Each of our own days is numbered.
To think about the end of all things, let’s consider a sinking ship. We may think that when a ship begins to sink, the noble call of “Women and children first” is something oddly hopeful in a dire situation. In the midst of danger, people are looking out for others over and above their own needs.
There is a famous story about the HMS Birkenhead. It was a British warship that was transporting army personnel and had about 20 women and children on board. The ship struck a large rock off the coast of Africa and began taking on water and the end was near. What did the captain say? “Ever man for himself.” Seems perfectly reasonable- you gotta do what you gotta do, right? Self-preservation is a basic human instinct, maybe even a God-given human instinct.
But what followed was not a mad rush of people trying their best to run just a little faster than the next. It was not a chaotic dash for the lifeboats. The soldiers and the commanding officer refused to heed the ship captain’s call of ‘Every man for himself’. They were afraid that if they rushed for the life boats the women and children would be swamped.
I’m not recounting this historical story to lift up the nobility of men or to say that women and children are helpless and need burly strong men to save the day. I simply want us to see that in a time of peril, there were people who considered the lives of others above their own.
During such perilous times there seem to be two types of people: Those who are only looking out for themselves and those who recognize the need to look out for others. Who am I? Who are you? When you know the ship is sinking, that your life is in danger, that the end is near, you have to ask yourself: are you only looking out for #1 or do you owe something to the people around you?
We are in perilous times. This world is like a sinking ship and the end of all things is drawing close. When will it all be over? When will Jesus return to judge all people? When is not given to us to know. But we do know that it is at hand. As we’ve said in the previous weeks, the people Peter wrote to were people that were living in desperate situations. They faced all sorts of trials and persecutions because of their faith. We know the natural response to such circumstances-every man for himself. But instead Peter points them to Jesus. And to each other. Be clear minded and self controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. We too, when this storm-tossed and sinking world becomes too much for us to bear, can look to Jesus our Savior and to one another as the brothers and sisters of Christ that we are.
Once our rebellion against God wrecked this perfect creation, God could have easily abandoned us to drown in a sea of our own destruction. But that is not what happened. Instead, our Father promised a savior who would save, a redeemer who would rescue. Living among us Jesus did not seek to save his own life, but willingly sacrificed it for us so that our sins would not be held against us and so that we could hold fast to the hope he gives us in his resurrection. He has power over this world and even death. Because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection we need not fear the end, but look forward to it!
Yes. We look forward to the end. The end of the world is at hand, but it has not come yet. Until our Lord returns, we still find ourselves aboard a sinking ship. Not every moment is bad, in fact, God blesses us with many wonderful moments and pleasures in life. For me the good far outweighs the bad and I suspect I’m not alone. But we’re still surrounded by peril and danger. So who are we? Are we just a collection of individuals who only care about ourselves? Or are we children of God, gathered together by him a community that supports and upholds one another? Are we together in the sunshine and the peaceful times only? Or are we present even when the waves of life batter us?
And why has Jesus saved us? So that he might set us adrift in a lifeboat that aimlessly floats along? Or has Jesus saved us for something better?
Even on the cross, in his dying woes, Jesus knew that we would need each other. He had taught his disciples to depend on one another and he urged them to go out and make disciples, to spread the good news of forgiveness and hope, to build the church to be a refuge for the community of believers. And so Jesus told John, take care of my mother because she is now your mother. And to Mary, Jesus said, you have someone to love and care for when I am gone.
And so the answer to our sermon title is that I am a community. We are a community. A caring community that is self-controlled and sober-minded and a community that loves earnestly. We show hospitality to one another without grumbling. We are a family brought together by God to serve each other using the gifts of God. In that book Life Together, here is a key, a challenging, and a comforting thought:
“Nobody is too good for the meanest service. We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and cancelling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions. We may pass them by, preoccupied with our more important tasks, as the priest passed by the man who had fallen among thieves, perhaps- reading the Bible. When we do that we pass by the visible sign of the Cross raised athwart our path to show us that, not our way, but God’s way must be done.”
Isn’t it wonderful to know that even though the waves of this life continue to batter us and the world is slowly succumbing to the corruption of sin, Jesus has shown himself powerful and victorious over these things? In his mercy he does not abandon us. He strengthens us to be members of the community that care more for each other than for our own self. In Christ’s love, we do not fear that the end is at hand, for the end is in the Lord’s hand. We are the Lord’s. That is who we are. SDG
March 10, 2010
1 Peter 4:7-11
Who am I?
In the name of Jesus, amen. The end of all things is at hand! Is that the best way to start a sermon? How many of us pay attention to the nut jobs who carry signs that say ‘The end is near’? Do we think the message is less nutty when it is the apostle Peter saying that the end of all things- all that we have seen, heard, experienced, all the people we have known, loved, cried with and laughed with- was near? Do you just shrug your shoulders and move on, doubting that it was even true? People have been saying that the end of the world has been around the corner for centuries, yet you and I are still breathing. But the end is near. Tonight’s service is sandwiched between two memorial services. There is real injustice in this county, this state, this country, this world. There is pain and sickness and death and Peter’s words are terrifyingly real. Each of our own days is numbered.
To think about the end of all things, let’s consider a sinking ship. We may think that when a ship begins to sink, the noble call of “Women and children first” is something oddly hopeful in a dire situation. In the midst of danger, people are looking out for others over and above their own needs.
There is a famous story about the HMS Birkenhead. It was a British warship that was transporting army personnel and had about 20 women and children on board. The ship struck a large rock off the coast of Africa and began taking on water and the end was near. What did the captain say? “Ever man for himself.” Seems perfectly reasonable- you gotta do what you gotta do, right? Self-preservation is a basic human instinct, maybe even a God-given human instinct.
But what followed was not a mad rush of people trying their best to run just a little faster than the next. It was not a chaotic dash for the lifeboats. The soldiers and the commanding officer refused to heed the ship captain’s call of ‘Every man for himself’. They were afraid that if they rushed for the life boats the women and children would be swamped.
I’m not recounting this historical story to lift up the nobility of men or to say that women and children are helpless and need burly strong men to save the day. I simply want us to see that in a time of peril, there were people who considered the lives of others above their own.
During such perilous times there seem to be two types of people: Those who are only looking out for themselves and those who recognize the need to look out for others. Who am I? Who are you? When you know the ship is sinking, that your life is in danger, that the end is near, you have to ask yourself: are you only looking out for #1 or do you owe something to the people around you?
We are in perilous times. This world is like a sinking ship and the end of all things is drawing close. When will it all be over? When will Jesus return to judge all people? When is not given to us to know. But we do know that it is at hand. As we’ve said in the previous weeks, the people Peter wrote to were people that were living in desperate situations. They faced all sorts of trials and persecutions because of their faith. We know the natural response to such circumstances-every man for himself. But instead Peter points them to Jesus. And to each other. Be clear minded and self controlled so that you can pray. Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers a multitude of sins. We too, when this storm-tossed and sinking world becomes too much for us to bear, can look to Jesus our Savior and to one another as the brothers and sisters of Christ that we are.
Once our rebellion against God wrecked this perfect creation, God could have easily abandoned us to drown in a sea of our own destruction. But that is not what happened. Instead, our Father promised a savior who would save, a redeemer who would rescue. Living among us Jesus did not seek to save his own life, but willingly sacrificed it for us so that our sins would not be held against us and so that we could hold fast to the hope he gives us in his resurrection. He has power over this world and even death. Because of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection we need not fear the end, but look forward to it!
Yes. We look forward to the end. The end of the world is at hand, but it has not come yet. Until our Lord returns, we still find ourselves aboard a sinking ship. Not every moment is bad, in fact, God blesses us with many wonderful moments and pleasures in life. For me the good far outweighs the bad and I suspect I’m not alone. But we’re still surrounded by peril and danger. So who are we? Are we just a collection of individuals who only care about ourselves? Or are we children of God, gathered together by him a community that supports and upholds one another? Are we together in the sunshine and the peaceful times only? Or are we present even when the waves of life batter us?
And why has Jesus saved us? So that he might set us adrift in a lifeboat that aimlessly floats along? Or has Jesus saved us for something better?
Even on the cross, in his dying woes, Jesus knew that we would need each other. He had taught his disciples to depend on one another and he urged them to go out and make disciples, to spread the good news of forgiveness and hope, to build the church to be a refuge for the community of believers. And so Jesus told John, take care of my mother because she is now your mother. And to Mary, Jesus said, you have someone to love and care for when I am gone.
And so the answer to our sermon title is that I am a community. We are a community. A caring community that is self-controlled and sober-minded and a community that loves earnestly. We show hospitality to one another without grumbling. We are a family brought together by God to serve each other using the gifts of God. In that book Life Together, here is a key, a challenging, and a comforting thought:
“Nobody is too good for the meanest service. We must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God. God will be constantly crossing our paths and cancelling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions. We may pass them by, preoccupied with our more important tasks, as the priest passed by the man who had fallen among thieves, perhaps- reading the Bible. When we do that we pass by the visible sign of the Cross raised athwart our path to show us that, not our way, but God’s way must be done.”
Isn’t it wonderful to know that even though the waves of this life continue to batter us and the world is slowly succumbing to the corruption of sin, Jesus has shown himself powerful and victorious over these things? In his mercy he does not abandon us. He strengthens us to be members of the community that care more for each other than for our own self. In Christ’s love, we do not fear that the end is at hand, for the end is in the Lord’s hand. We are the Lord’s. That is who we are. SDG
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
As Rebels, Lord, Who Foolishly Have Wandered
There is a new hymn for us to learn this coming Sunday. It is LSB 612. Rev. Stephen Starke (the best Lutheran hymn writer alive today IMO) wrote the text, and Jeffrey Blersch (a music prof either at Seward or Mequon) wrote the tune. Both men are still living, so this is about as contemporary a hymn as anything.
The lesson of the Prodigal Son is on display in this hymn. And the lesson of the Prodigal Son is not centered on the actions of the two boys, on their thoughts, on their decisions, but on the welcome of the Father, his tears, his desires.
612 As Rebels, Lord, Who Foolishly Have Wandered
1 As rebels, Lord, who foolishly have wandered
Far from Your love—unfed, unclean, unclothed—
Dare we recall Your wealth so rashly squandered,
Dare hope to glean that bounty which we loathed?
2 Still we return, our contrite words rehearsing,
Speech, that within Your warm embrace soon dies;
All of our guilt, our shame, our pain reversing
As tears of joy and welcome fill Your eyes.
3 A feast of love for us You are preparing;
We who were lost, You give an honored place!
“Come, eat; come, drink, and be no more despairing—
Here taste again the treasures of My grace.”
Text (sts. 1–3): © 1992 Stephen P. Starke Used by permission: LSB Hymn License .NET, number 100011977.
Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.
The lesson of the Prodigal Son is on display in this hymn. And the lesson of the Prodigal Son is not centered on the actions of the two boys, on their thoughts, on their decisions, but on the welcome of the Father, his tears, his desires.
612 As Rebels, Lord, Who Foolishly Have Wandered
1 As rebels, Lord, who foolishly have wandered
Far from Your love—unfed, unclean, unclothed—
Dare we recall Your wealth so rashly squandered,
Dare hope to glean that bounty which we loathed?
2 Still we return, our contrite words rehearsing,
Speech, that within Your warm embrace soon dies;
All of our guilt, our shame, our pain reversing
As tears of joy and welcome fill Your eyes.
3 A feast of love for us You are preparing;
We who were lost, You give an honored place!
“Come, eat; come, drink, and be no more despairing—
Here taste again the treasures of My grace.”
Text (sts. 1–3): © 1992 Stephen P. Starke Used by permission: LSB Hymn License .NET, number 100011977.
Created by Lutheran Service Builder © 2006 Concordia Publishing House.
March 14 worship information
Here is the information for our upcoming worship on March 14.
Hymns
611 Chief of Sinners Though I Be
612 As Rebels, Lord, who Foolishly Have Wandered
605 Father Welcomes
706 Love in Christ is Strong and Living
Scripture lessons
Isaiah 12:1-6
Psalm32
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Luke 15:1-3a, 11-32
Collect of the Day
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, Your mercies are new every morning; and though we deserve only punishment, You receive us as Your children and provide for all our needs of body and soul. Grant that we may heartily acknowledge Your merciful goodness, give thanks for all Your benefits, and serve You in willing obedience; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Hymns
611 Chief of Sinners Though I Be
612 As Rebels, Lord, who Foolishly Have Wandered
605 Father Welcomes
706 Love in Christ is Strong and Living
Scripture lessons
Isaiah 12:1-6
Psalm32
2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Luke 15:1-3a, 11-32
Collect of the Day
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, Your mercies are new every morning; and though we deserve only punishment, You receive us as Your children and provide for all our needs of body and soul. Grant that we may heartily acknowledge Your merciful goodness, give thanks for all Your benefits, and serve You in willing obedience; through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Monday, March 8, 2010
Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent
Lent 3
March 7, 2010
Ezekiel 33:7-20
Sharp is good
In the name of Jesus, amen. Teeth are important. I went a few years between dental visits and I’ve been reminded of the truth of what I just said: teeth are important. In other areas, we know that teeth are important. Try cutting a steak with a butter knife. Or cut a chicken breast with that same butter knife. Civil laws are thought to work better if they have what? Teeth. People drive fast, excessively so at times, because they know that if they get caught, the fine will be minimal. The hope is that if the law has teeth and the fine is considerable, the speeders will ease off the gas pedal. Things with teeth are good. And sharp is good.
Ezekiel was called by God to be His watchman to the children of Israel. Ezekiel went into exile with the first wave of the Israelites that were taken captive. Many were predicting a short stay in Babylon, almost that the captivity would be like a trip to a day spa, or at worst, one of those luxurious minimum security prisons. But Ezekiel warned them not to think those thoughts. Ezekiel warned them to repent. Ezekiel told them that their stay would be long. It would be hard. It would be very unpleasant. Ezekiel was a watchman.
He stood on the highest point of the city wall, and by blowing a trumpet, the watchman could warn the people of coming danger. The watchman could also tell of an approaching messenger, or relay the progress of a battle. Ezekiel was to warn God’s people of their sin, and the coming danger of that sin. The warning was to be issued not as a bothersome disruption of people’s lives, but so that they would repent of their sin and experience the new life that only God could give. Turn and live. Ezekiel’s message of repentance and faith, Law and Gospel, was not to be taken lightly. It had teeth, sharp teeth. And sharp is good.
Ezekiel’s charge is as important now as it was then. It is as serious now as it was then. If Ezekiel did not warn the wicked to repent, not only will they die for their sin, but the blood would be on the watchman’s hands. If the watchman warns the wicked but they do not listen, the wicked will receive the payment for their sins. The watchman will be spared because the watchman had done his duty.
God’s Word has teeth to work repentance in us. It’s what we call God’s Law. When God warns us of our sin, it is a serious matter. Sin certainly leads to death, for the soul who sins shall die. Our good works are good, but that’s all that they are. Good works, self-righteousness, kindness to puppies- none of those things can save us.
But we do not like the teeth of God’s Law. We wish that God’s Law had false teeth, so that we could remove those teeth whenever it suited us. God’s evaluation is too harsh, too severe. God’s evaluation is cut and dried. Can’t there be some sort of nuance or context that we can put our lives in? Can’t we explain the reasons for our greed, for our judgmental attitudes, for our racism, for our selfishness? If I could talk with God and explain to him the reason why I am so self-centered, then surely God would see things my way. But the wages of sin is certain. St. Paul assures us that we will receive from God our payment, and the payment of sin is death.
But we are also assured of God’s nature to be just. And he will judge us accordingly.
The Law has work to do. And when the Law of God has done its work, there’s no need for us to despair, as the house of Israel thought. God’s Word also has teeth that cut the opposite way. They cut for our salvation. It might be strange to call them teeth, but I think they are.
God’s Word has teeth to work faith unto salvation in us. We call that the Gospel. When we stand convicted of our sin, we turn to God in repentance and faith, begging, “How then can we live?”
And God makes His promise with an oath- “As I live, declares the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” The pleasure of the Lord is that the wicked will turn and live.
How then can we live? We have new life through Jesus, our savior.
Jesus didn’t just talk about love; he loved with teeth. Jesus acted out divine love by going the way of suffering and death on the cross. On Calvary, Jesus suffered the just wrath of God’s punishment, punishment with sharp teeth, as he died on the cross for the wrongs I had committed, for the sins you commit day after day after day. As Jesus shed his blood on the cross, justice was served. Atonement for sin was made once for all.
Jesus’ death had teeth, and we know the truth of those sharp teeth as the temple curtain was torn, or can we say, cut in two. Jesus’ resurrection had sharp teeth as no stone was too big for Jesus to move, no death was too final for the Lord of life to overcome. Satan was impotent to keep Jesus from rising from the dead.
Sharp is good. Turn to page 224 in our hymnal for a moment. This is part of the Te Deum we sometimes sing during Matins. Hear the sharp desire the Father has for you as we witness the serious love of Jesus: When you took upon yourself to deliver man, you humbled yourself to be born of a virgin. When you had overcome the sharpness of death, you opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Who? All believers. Sharp is good.
Through his means of grace, God works repentance and faith in everyday life. Our God goes to the heart of the matter by transplanting our dead heart, killed by the Law, with a transformed heart. Our faith is strengthened through a life of repentance. Daily we drown our sinful nature as we remember and rejoice in our baptism. Our sanctified life is uplifted as our teeth literally touch Christ’s body and blood with his assurance of forgiveness in Holy Communion. Taste and see that the Lord is good!
God asks us, “Why will you die, O my beloved? I have sent you watchmen to show you your sin. When my Law has done its work, you need not despair, for I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” Through our crucified and risen Lord, we have life, life with teeth in it, life with the sharp teeth of salvation. SDG
March 7, 2010
Ezekiel 33:7-20
Sharp is good
In the name of Jesus, amen. Teeth are important. I went a few years between dental visits and I’ve been reminded of the truth of what I just said: teeth are important. In other areas, we know that teeth are important. Try cutting a steak with a butter knife. Or cut a chicken breast with that same butter knife. Civil laws are thought to work better if they have what? Teeth. People drive fast, excessively so at times, because they know that if they get caught, the fine will be minimal. The hope is that if the law has teeth and the fine is considerable, the speeders will ease off the gas pedal. Things with teeth are good. And sharp is good.
Ezekiel was called by God to be His watchman to the children of Israel. Ezekiel went into exile with the first wave of the Israelites that were taken captive. Many were predicting a short stay in Babylon, almost that the captivity would be like a trip to a day spa, or at worst, one of those luxurious minimum security prisons. But Ezekiel warned them not to think those thoughts. Ezekiel warned them to repent. Ezekiel told them that their stay would be long. It would be hard. It would be very unpleasant. Ezekiel was a watchman.
He stood on the highest point of the city wall, and by blowing a trumpet, the watchman could warn the people of coming danger. The watchman could also tell of an approaching messenger, or relay the progress of a battle. Ezekiel was to warn God’s people of their sin, and the coming danger of that sin. The warning was to be issued not as a bothersome disruption of people’s lives, but so that they would repent of their sin and experience the new life that only God could give. Turn and live. Ezekiel’s message of repentance and faith, Law and Gospel, was not to be taken lightly. It had teeth, sharp teeth. And sharp is good.
Ezekiel’s charge is as important now as it was then. It is as serious now as it was then. If Ezekiel did not warn the wicked to repent, not only will they die for their sin, but the blood would be on the watchman’s hands. If the watchman warns the wicked but they do not listen, the wicked will receive the payment for their sins. The watchman will be spared because the watchman had done his duty.
God’s Word has teeth to work repentance in us. It’s what we call God’s Law. When God warns us of our sin, it is a serious matter. Sin certainly leads to death, for the soul who sins shall die. Our good works are good, but that’s all that they are. Good works, self-righteousness, kindness to puppies- none of those things can save us.
But we do not like the teeth of God’s Law. We wish that God’s Law had false teeth, so that we could remove those teeth whenever it suited us. God’s evaluation is too harsh, too severe. God’s evaluation is cut and dried. Can’t there be some sort of nuance or context that we can put our lives in? Can’t we explain the reasons for our greed, for our judgmental attitudes, for our racism, for our selfishness? If I could talk with God and explain to him the reason why I am so self-centered, then surely God would see things my way. But the wages of sin is certain. St. Paul assures us that we will receive from God our payment, and the payment of sin is death.
But we are also assured of God’s nature to be just. And he will judge us accordingly.
The Law has work to do. And when the Law of God has done its work, there’s no need for us to despair, as the house of Israel thought. God’s Word also has teeth that cut the opposite way. They cut for our salvation. It might be strange to call them teeth, but I think they are.
God’s Word has teeth to work faith unto salvation in us. We call that the Gospel. When we stand convicted of our sin, we turn to God in repentance and faith, begging, “How then can we live?”
And God makes His promise with an oath- “As I live, declares the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked.” The pleasure of the Lord is that the wicked will turn and live.
How then can we live? We have new life through Jesus, our savior.
Jesus didn’t just talk about love; he loved with teeth. Jesus acted out divine love by going the way of suffering and death on the cross. On Calvary, Jesus suffered the just wrath of God’s punishment, punishment with sharp teeth, as he died on the cross for the wrongs I had committed, for the sins you commit day after day after day. As Jesus shed his blood on the cross, justice was served. Atonement for sin was made once for all.
Jesus’ death had teeth, and we know the truth of those sharp teeth as the temple curtain was torn, or can we say, cut in two. Jesus’ resurrection had sharp teeth as no stone was too big for Jesus to move, no death was too final for the Lord of life to overcome. Satan was impotent to keep Jesus from rising from the dead.
Sharp is good. Turn to page 224 in our hymnal for a moment. This is part of the Te Deum we sometimes sing during Matins. Hear the sharp desire the Father has for you as we witness the serious love of Jesus: When you took upon yourself to deliver man, you humbled yourself to be born of a virgin. When you had overcome the sharpness of death, you opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers. Who? All believers. Sharp is good.
Through his means of grace, God works repentance and faith in everyday life. Our God goes to the heart of the matter by transplanting our dead heart, killed by the Law, with a transformed heart. Our faith is strengthened through a life of repentance. Daily we drown our sinful nature as we remember and rejoice in our baptism. Our sanctified life is uplifted as our teeth literally touch Christ’s body and blood with his assurance of forgiveness in Holy Communion. Taste and see that the Lord is good!
God asks us, “Why will you die, O my beloved? I have sent you watchmen to show you your sin. When my Law has done its work, you need not despair, for I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” Through our crucified and risen Lord, we have life, life with teeth in it, life with the sharp teeth of salvation. SDG
Sunday, March 7, 2010
Funeral Sermon for Dick Scott
Here is the funeral sermon for Dick Scott.
In the name of our Lord, and Dick’s Lord, Jesus, amen. Simple yet complex. A real mixture of different components. Those brief thoughts can sum up Richard William Scott, but they also comprise the living and active Word of God. In the Scripture lessons that were read this morning we are blessed to hear how life is more than what we perceive it to be. And for that, we say thanks be to God.
Dick’s daughter Sue read familiar words from the book of Ecclesiastes, words that embrace the whole of life, from the time of our birth to the time of our death. If you only met Dick in November of 2009, you’d probably think that his life was pretty miserable- doctors visits, bad news, a bleak horizon. But that was only for a few months. And many of you know that Dick and Joanne were blessed to have multiple visits with their entire immediate family. Sitting with Dick and Joanne in their home, I recall warm smiles and funny stories. For sure there has been weeping and there has been laughing.
So when we consider what we knew of Dick and what our experiences were with him, we recognize the fullness of his life. He delighted to protect his family, to shield and shelter them from harm and danger, from the arrow that flies by day and the pestilence that stalks in the night. Dick desired to take care of his family and provide for them. Part of Dick’s desire was in the simple provision of house and home, food and drink, clothing and shoes. And that protection extended to the way he patiently and lovingly taught his children. He would demonstrate how something was done, and he would let his children try it for them selves, try to figure out how things were put together, how they functioned. In doing that, Dick was ‘protecting’ his children by giving them the tools they would need for their living.
Dick’s desire to shelter his family and provide for them was done as a response to the shelter Dick had received from the Lord. His son Mike read Psalm 91 for us moments ago. Psalm 91 is the soldier’s psalm, I pray with obvious reasons. The Lord God is the refuge and fortress for his children. Whether the thickness of our walls is measured in feet or in inches, the safety of those walls is irrelevant if the Most High God is not present. For the soldier, when they go out on patrol, when they fly their airplane, when their ship leaves port, the unseen member of their platoon, of their flight crew, of the navigation squad is Jesus. Dick was a veteran. Mike served in the military. This psalm has particular meaning for the family and the words of this beautiful hymn have been fulfilled in their lives.
Dick called to the Lord and the Lord answered. Dick was in trouble, these last few months and at other times in his life, being the ‘man of the house’ when he was 14 years old, Dick was in trouble and God was with him. On Feb. 14th, God rescued Dick and bestowed great honor on him. At this moment, Dick enjoys long life in the Lord’s presence and with his own eyes Dick is seeing his salvation.
Dick and his family prayed the soldier’s psalm. They lived it too. But I don’t think any of us would label the members of the Scott family as warlike, fierce, pugilistic, tyrannical, or any other such synonym. This is where we might use that phrase that Dick and his family were lovers, not fighters. We will not pretend, we will not fool ourselves, they had their moments of squabbling and bickering and disagreements. You’re going to have something to disagree about when you’re married for 54 years and you have four children. Joanne knew about Dick’s mistress, the computer, and his iTouch and all the other gadgets. But all the disagreements or fights even, came from love, from bearing, hoping, and enduring all things. An older way of talking about endurance and patience is to say long-suffering. A lot of life and a lot of love, a lot of celebrating and a lot of long-suffering was packed into these 75 years. And all of those memories will remain. Faith, hope, and love abide for us, with us, and in us, but the greatest of these is the accepting love, the welcoming love, the forgiving love, the merciful love that Dick reflected.
Love did not originate with Dick. It came to Dick and he passed it on. I fear that my remarks might embarrass this faithful man who always seemed more concerned with others than with himself. Dick was more concerned with His Lord than with the latest gadget. Dick’s inquisitive curiosity led him to learn about the satisfying love of God.
If Dick was a ‘complex’ individual, a loving fighter, a crying laugher, or a silent speaker, one who was energetic and still all at the same time…all of that is simply a reflection of the Lord God Almighty.
It was a still December evening as the shepherds huddled together and as a young lady labored when God’s messenger announced to the shepherds that salvation had been born. And the stillness was shattered as the whole heavenly host energetically broke into song: the Redeemer is living! The Redeemer is wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Glory to God in the highest and peace to His people on earth. The sad energy surrounding the trial, the energy the torturous soldiers put into whipping Jesus, the energy of the dying thief to pile insults on Jesus, all of that was stilled as Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’, as he breathed his last and commended His spirit to His Father. I’m certain the stillness was crushing as the faithful followers of Jesus wondered what would come next. The stillness was likely pervasive as the women went to the tomb early on Sunday morning, carrying spices to properly finish the burial of Jesus.
But the steadfast, loving energy of God had shattered the stillness. The rock was rolled away. The Redeemer was living. The Redeemer was loving. It was this energetic stillness that captivated Dick, that led him to the gift of baptism the day before he and Joanne were united in marriage. The energetic and still love of God is what filled Dick to pass that love on to his children and grandchildren, to his friends and coworkers, to his beloved brothers and sisters in the faith.
The love of God the Father, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the enduring fellowship of the Holy Spirit helps us cut through all the complexities. It remains true that we are individuals. It remains true that our likes and dislikes will change. It remains true that at the same time we are sinners and saints. It remains true that Jesus Christ has taken all of our sin upon himself in order that we would be redeemed.
Let us pray…Eternal God, send me a resurrection when everything looks dead and buried. Send me light when the night seems too long. Send me spring when the cold and frozen season seems endless. Send me an idea when my mind is empty. Send me a thing to do when I am just waiting around. Send me a new friend when I am alone. Send me peace when I am afraid. Send me a future when it looks hopeless. Send me your resurrection when I die. To the only God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be all the glory alone, amen.
In the name of our Lord, and Dick’s Lord, Jesus, amen. Simple yet complex. A real mixture of different components. Those brief thoughts can sum up Richard William Scott, but they also comprise the living and active Word of God. In the Scripture lessons that were read this morning we are blessed to hear how life is more than what we perceive it to be. And for that, we say thanks be to God.
Dick’s daughter Sue read familiar words from the book of Ecclesiastes, words that embrace the whole of life, from the time of our birth to the time of our death. If you only met Dick in November of 2009, you’d probably think that his life was pretty miserable- doctors visits, bad news, a bleak horizon. But that was only for a few months. And many of you know that Dick and Joanne were blessed to have multiple visits with their entire immediate family. Sitting with Dick and Joanne in their home, I recall warm smiles and funny stories. For sure there has been weeping and there has been laughing.
So when we consider what we knew of Dick and what our experiences were with him, we recognize the fullness of his life. He delighted to protect his family, to shield and shelter them from harm and danger, from the arrow that flies by day and the pestilence that stalks in the night. Dick desired to take care of his family and provide for them. Part of Dick’s desire was in the simple provision of house and home, food and drink, clothing and shoes. And that protection extended to the way he patiently and lovingly taught his children. He would demonstrate how something was done, and he would let his children try it for them selves, try to figure out how things were put together, how they functioned. In doing that, Dick was ‘protecting’ his children by giving them the tools they would need for their living.
Dick’s desire to shelter his family and provide for them was done as a response to the shelter Dick had received from the Lord. His son Mike read Psalm 91 for us moments ago. Psalm 91 is the soldier’s psalm, I pray with obvious reasons. The Lord God is the refuge and fortress for his children. Whether the thickness of our walls is measured in feet or in inches, the safety of those walls is irrelevant if the Most High God is not present. For the soldier, when they go out on patrol, when they fly their airplane, when their ship leaves port, the unseen member of their platoon, of their flight crew, of the navigation squad is Jesus. Dick was a veteran. Mike served in the military. This psalm has particular meaning for the family and the words of this beautiful hymn have been fulfilled in their lives.
Dick called to the Lord and the Lord answered. Dick was in trouble, these last few months and at other times in his life, being the ‘man of the house’ when he was 14 years old, Dick was in trouble and God was with him. On Feb. 14th, God rescued Dick and bestowed great honor on him. At this moment, Dick enjoys long life in the Lord’s presence and with his own eyes Dick is seeing his salvation.
Dick and his family prayed the soldier’s psalm. They lived it too. But I don’t think any of us would label the members of the Scott family as warlike, fierce, pugilistic, tyrannical, or any other such synonym. This is where we might use that phrase that Dick and his family were lovers, not fighters. We will not pretend, we will not fool ourselves, they had their moments of squabbling and bickering and disagreements. You’re going to have something to disagree about when you’re married for 54 years and you have four children. Joanne knew about Dick’s mistress, the computer, and his iTouch and all the other gadgets. But all the disagreements or fights even, came from love, from bearing, hoping, and enduring all things. An older way of talking about endurance and patience is to say long-suffering. A lot of life and a lot of love, a lot of celebrating and a lot of long-suffering was packed into these 75 years. And all of those memories will remain. Faith, hope, and love abide for us, with us, and in us, but the greatest of these is the accepting love, the welcoming love, the forgiving love, the merciful love that Dick reflected.
Love did not originate with Dick. It came to Dick and he passed it on. I fear that my remarks might embarrass this faithful man who always seemed more concerned with others than with himself. Dick was more concerned with His Lord than with the latest gadget. Dick’s inquisitive curiosity led him to learn about the satisfying love of God.
If Dick was a ‘complex’ individual, a loving fighter, a crying laugher, or a silent speaker, one who was energetic and still all at the same time…all of that is simply a reflection of the Lord God Almighty.
It was a still December evening as the shepherds huddled together and as a young lady labored when God’s messenger announced to the shepherds that salvation had been born. And the stillness was shattered as the whole heavenly host energetically broke into song: the Redeemer is living! The Redeemer is wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Glory to God in the highest and peace to His people on earth. The sad energy surrounding the trial, the energy the torturous soldiers put into whipping Jesus, the energy of the dying thief to pile insults on Jesus, all of that was stilled as Jesus said, ‘It is finished.’, as he breathed his last and commended His spirit to His Father. I’m certain the stillness was crushing as the faithful followers of Jesus wondered what would come next. The stillness was likely pervasive as the women went to the tomb early on Sunday morning, carrying spices to properly finish the burial of Jesus.
But the steadfast, loving energy of God had shattered the stillness. The rock was rolled away. The Redeemer was living. The Redeemer was loving. It was this energetic stillness that captivated Dick, that led him to the gift of baptism the day before he and Joanne were united in marriage. The energetic and still love of God is what filled Dick to pass that love on to his children and grandchildren, to his friends and coworkers, to his beloved brothers and sisters in the faith.
The love of God the Father, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the enduring fellowship of the Holy Spirit helps us cut through all the complexities. It remains true that we are individuals. It remains true that our likes and dislikes will change. It remains true that at the same time we are sinners and saints. It remains true that Jesus Christ has taken all of our sin upon himself in order that we would be redeemed.
Let us pray…Eternal God, send me a resurrection when everything looks dead and buried. Send me light when the night seems too long. Send me spring when the cold and frozen season seems endless. Send me an idea when my mind is empty. Send me a thing to do when I am just waiting around. Send me a new friend when I am alone. Send me peace when I am afraid. Send me a future when it looks hopeless. Send me your resurrection when I die. To the only God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, be all the glory alone, amen.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
March 3 sermon
Here is the sermon from our midweek service:
Midweek Lenten Service 3
March 3, 2010
1 Peter 1:3-5
This is it???
In the name of Jesus, amen. The time was coming when everyone would be reminded why he was the king. He was timeless, his followers spanned generations. This would be his greatest moment. The dancers had gotten ready, the venue was prepared, and tickets had sold out in minutes. This would be the performance of a lifetime, something that no one would forget. It would cement the legacy of the king, the king of pop. For Michael Jackson these concerts would be imperishable, undefiled, and unfading for all time. This was going to be it!
But it wasn’t, was it? It didn’t happen. He died before HIStory could be retold. The greatest performance there was ever going to be ended up as a movie made up of rehearsals for the greatest performance ever. Now the movie is going to be the highest grossing musical movie ever, but it is not the legacy that Michael Jackson was looking to have. It was not the perfect ending to an imperfect career. And some people were angry. Some people were confused. How could this happen to my idol? Some were lost in a flood of emotion: “This man meant so much to me, he touched my life.” And some were just apathetic to the whole situation: “What a shock. Another celebrity dying before his time.” The king of pop was perishable, he was defiled by the controversies in his life and his legacy will fade. This is it???
Is that like our story? If you were to wrap up your life in one story, just one story, what would it be? What would be the one big story that makes sense of all the other little stories? Countless little stories fill our lives. We go to work in the morning and come home at night, but as we advance in our careers, we seem to get home later and later at night. With each promotion comes more work. When we are offered to work on a salary, we give up the opportunity for overtime at time and a half. How do we define ourselves? Some people go big and try out for American Idol or dream of having their own reality show. Some go small and just hope to leave a little something for their kids. Some of us just want enough stashed away so that we can go see the world and then post our pictures on the web so everyone can see what we are doing. Other people go on mission trips to do something of value in the world. We are all searching for that thing that gives life meaning. We hope it will be imperishable, undefiled, and unfading for all time. What is our story?
The two thieves that were crucified with Jesus had a story. Each of us has a story. Your stories are not mine and mine are not your neighbor’s stories. Each of us has our own stories yet our individual stories overlap. That was certainly true of the thieves. The overlap was in their life of crime, their condemnation, and their execution. But in the end, each thief was defined in a dramatically different way.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Jesus: “Aren’t you the Christ?” Save yourself and us! That thief’s defining story is cynicism, death, and eternal death.
The other criminal rebuked him, “Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
The second thief has simple story: confession of sin, forgiveness from Jesus, the promise of paradise. This is it, not with a curious question mark but with an exclamation point. This is it! This is the big story that brings all of our little stories together. This is the defining story that helps us understand who we are and where we are going.
Our life together is defined by the incredible story we heard in our 1 Peter lesson. Let me read it for you one more time. Because of the loving acts of God, you and I have a resurrected Savior who gives us hope and heavenly inheritance.
It used to be in this nation that going to church was a social norm. America was overtly Christian and most people, whether they were churchgoers or not, most people knew their Bible stories. Today all kinds of stories are being told in America and the Christian story is no longer the privileged story. Perhaps our situation is similar to the situation of the recipients of Peter’s letter. The people Peter wrote to were not people of privilege. They had never been the majority party and they had no hope of becoming so.
Rather than being depressed and resigned to this situation, we should live as they did. Amid all the stories swirling in our fractured and fragmented society, Peter encourages us to live together in the story that defines us. The apostle Peter would yearn to have us immerse ourselves in the story of God’s mercy, his acts of loving-kindness to you.
In his great mercy he has given us a new birth. The resurrection of Jesus our Lord is our story and it is a story of hope. It is a new birth into a living hope, a story about living with a goal- to an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade- kept in heaven in for you. And our story is a shielded story. We are protected by God through our faith. Faith is like a fortress and the teachings of Jesus that are the foundation of our faith guard and keep us safe. Surrounding ourselves with these teachings of faith is the way the Spirit of God keeps us safe for eternity.
You and I and the world are in the same position as those thieves on the cross. Michael Jackson too. Where is my imperishable, undefiled, and unfading life? We sang about our life earlier. This is it: Jesus, may our hearts be burning with more fervent love for You; May our eyes be ever turning to behold Your cross anew. Till in glory, parted never from the blessed Savior’s side, Graven in our hearts forever, dwell the cross, the Crucified. Truly this is it, amen.
Midweek Lenten Service 3
March 3, 2010
1 Peter 1:3-5
This is it???
In the name of Jesus, amen. The time was coming when everyone would be reminded why he was the king. He was timeless, his followers spanned generations. This would be his greatest moment. The dancers had gotten ready, the venue was prepared, and tickets had sold out in minutes. This would be the performance of a lifetime, something that no one would forget. It would cement the legacy of the king, the king of pop. For Michael Jackson these concerts would be imperishable, undefiled, and unfading for all time. This was going to be it!
But it wasn’t, was it? It didn’t happen. He died before HIStory could be retold. The greatest performance there was ever going to be ended up as a movie made up of rehearsals for the greatest performance ever. Now the movie is going to be the highest grossing musical movie ever, but it is not the legacy that Michael Jackson was looking to have. It was not the perfect ending to an imperfect career. And some people were angry. Some people were confused. How could this happen to my idol? Some were lost in a flood of emotion: “This man meant so much to me, he touched my life.” And some were just apathetic to the whole situation: “What a shock. Another celebrity dying before his time.” The king of pop was perishable, he was defiled by the controversies in his life and his legacy will fade. This is it???
Is that like our story? If you were to wrap up your life in one story, just one story, what would it be? What would be the one big story that makes sense of all the other little stories? Countless little stories fill our lives. We go to work in the morning and come home at night, but as we advance in our careers, we seem to get home later and later at night. With each promotion comes more work. When we are offered to work on a salary, we give up the opportunity for overtime at time and a half. How do we define ourselves? Some people go big and try out for American Idol or dream of having their own reality show. Some go small and just hope to leave a little something for their kids. Some of us just want enough stashed away so that we can go see the world and then post our pictures on the web so everyone can see what we are doing. Other people go on mission trips to do something of value in the world. We are all searching for that thing that gives life meaning. We hope it will be imperishable, undefiled, and unfading for all time. What is our story?
The two thieves that were crucified with Jesus had a story. Each of us has a story. Your stories are not mine and mine are not your neighbor’s stories. Each of us has our own stories yet our individual stories overlap. That was certainly true of the thieves. The overlap was in their life of crime, their condemnation, and their execution. But in the end, each thief was defined in a dramatically different way.
One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at Jesus: “Aren’t you the Christ?” Save yourself and us! That thief’s defining story is cynicism, death, and eternal death.
The other criminal rebuked him, “Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong. Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Jesus said to him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”
The second thief has simple story: confession of sin, forgiveness from Jesus, the promise of paradise. This is it, not with a curious question mark but with an exclamation point. This is it! This is the big story that brings all of our little stories together. This is the defining story that helps us understand who we are and where we are going.
Our life together is defined by the incredible story we heard in our 1 Peter lesson. Let me read it for you one more time. Because of the loving acts of God, you and I have a resurrected Savior who gives us hope and heavenly inheritance.
It used to be in this nation that going to church was a social norm. America was overtly Christian and most people, whether they were churchgoers or not, most people knew their Bible stories. Today all kinds of stories are being told in America and the Christian story is no longer the privileged story. Perhaps our situation is similar to the situation of the recipients of Peter’s letter. The people Peter wrote to were not people of privilege. They had never been the majority party and they had no hope of becoming so.
Rather than being depressed and resigned to this situation, we should live as they did. Amid all the stories swirling in our fractured and fragmented society, Peter encourages us to live together in the story that defines us. The apostle Peter would yearn to have us immerse ourselves in the story of God’s mercy, his acts of loving-kindness to you.
In his great mercy he has given us a new birth. The resurrection of Jesus our Lord is our story and it is a story of hope. It is a new birth into a living hope, a story about living with a goal- to an inheritance that can never perish, spoil, or fade- kept in heaven in for you. And our story is a shielded story. We are protected by God through our faith. Faith is like a fortress and the teachings of Jesus that are the foundation of our faith guard and keep us safe. Surrounding ourselves with these teachings of faith is the way the Spirit of God keeps us safe for eternity.
You and I and the world are in the same position as those thieves on the cross. Michael Jackson too. Where is my imperishable, undefiled, and unfading life? We sang about our life earlier. This is it: Jesus, may our hearts be burning with more fervent love for You; May our eyes be ever turning to behold Your cross anew. Till in glory, parted never from the blessed Savior’s side, Graven in our hearts forever, dwell the cross, the Crucified. Truly this is it, amen.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Center for the Families of the Fallen
I want to share as briefly, but hopefully completely, the very interesting time I spent at Dover AFB today. Our Delmarva Circuit was able to tour a C-17 and a C-5B. These immense planes help transport materials and troops where they are needed. The pilots and loadmasters that gave us the tour of the planes were (of course) very knowledgeable and they seemed more honored that we were interested in what they were doing than we were of what they were doing. The men and women who serve us are worthy of great honor.
We also drove past the Center for the Families of the Fallen. Our government is in the process of consolidating all the mortuary services to Dover. The CFF is open all the time, which is a sad but necessary reality. The men and women who receive the bodies, take part in the Dignified Transfers, and the chaplains who are there for their work and counseling serve in a highly stressful position. The mortuary and the CFF seems to be a very respectful place.
We were also able to visit the museum that is on base. It was extremely informative and had some good exhibits. I hope to go back and take the kids so they can see some of the nice exhibits at the museum.
We also drove past the Center for the Families of the Fallen. Our government is in the process of consolidating all the mortuary services to Dover. The CFF is open all the time, which is a sad but necessary reality. The men and women who receive the bodies, take part in the Dignified Transfers, and the chaplains who are there for their work and counseling serve in a highly stressful position. The mortuary and the CFF seems to be a very respectful place.
We were also able to visit the museum that is on base. It was extremely informative and had some good exhibits. I hope to go back and take the kids so they can see some of the nice exhibits at the museum.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Hockey bump?
I'm not convinced the NHL will get a huge lift from the Olympic hockey. The gold medal game between Canada and the US was great. It got a huge rating. But as the regular season for the NHL resumes Monday night, we're not going to be watching All-Star caliber players anymore. The good teams have two lines of very good players, but the vast majority of the teams struggle to put one very good line on the ice. You try to watch Carolina and Nashville play and then convince me that is as good as the Olympics.
Shrink the NHL, get rid of Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay, Phoenix and Dallas and move some teams back to Canada. At least our neighbors to the north appreciate hockey. With fewer teams the quality players will rise to the top and the energy from the fans in Canada will help generate some passion.
The Olympics were very good, and I'm anxious for the Stanley Cup playoffs, but the NHL will quickly return to the after-thought sport that it currently is.
Shrink the NHL, get rid of Carolina, Florida, Tampa Bay, Phoenix and Dallas and move some teams back to Canada. At least our neighbors to the north appreciate hockey. With fewer teams the quality players will rise to the top and the energy from the fans in Canada will help generate some passion.
The Olympics were very good, and I'm anxious for the Stanley Cup playoffs, but the NHL will quickly return to the after-thought sport that it currently is.
Feb. 28th sermon
Here is my sermon from the Second Sunday in Lent, Feb. 28:
Lent 2
Feb. 28, 2010
Luke 13:31-35
In praise of rejection
In the name of Jesus, amen. Rejection hurts. That is a simple truth that remains true regardless of what stage of life you find yourself in. I worked through college to help pay for books. My primary job was a janitor in the campus community center but whenever the opportunity to make extra money rose, I took it. One of my jobs was to make phone calls for what was called the phonathon. We’d call alumni and ask for money. That’s not too far-fetched of a thing to do. Lots of universities call their alumni and ask for money for the dear old alma mater. The challenge that I faced was that overwhelming majority of the alumni I was calling were Lutheran pastors, parochial school teachers, parish musicians, stay-at-home moms. I heard ‘No’ an awful lot. It was quite depressing.
Jesus, in spite of being the rejected prophet, still will journey to Jerusalem, the rejected city. Nothing anyone could do, not even Jerusalem’s own rejection of her Savior, will prevent Jesus from coming to her one more time, the one more time that also brings Jesus to us.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Right? If that is true, then what hell and fury awaits those who scorn a mother hen who longs to gather her chicks under her wing. What fury is in story for those who spurn their Creator? What hell lies ahead for those who would dare to destroy the one sent to save them from that fury?
Amazingly, Jesus goes to the city that has rejected the prophets of God. He is walking into the lion’s den because Jesus longs to gather them, all who reject him, just as Jesus longs to gather us. When Jerusalem has earned only wrath, Jesus will still go to gather.
Deceits and threats would not dissuade Jesus. Jesus had set his face toward Jerusalem and he was going to go. The Pharisees sound so helpful. They sound like they care about Jesus. Don’t go to Jerusalem because Herod wants to kill you. But if Jesus doesn’t go, what would happen to Jesus’ reputation? Jesus would be discredited in the eyes of the people, and if Jesus was discredited, who would gain? The Pharisees. They care, but their care is only for themselves. Anyone who wants to be a leader among the Jews must go to Jerusalem and establish himself. If they can keep Jesus from reaching the city of David, then the Pharisees would be helped again. The Pharisees had already rejected Jesus and his purpose, so do not be deceived by the Pharisees ploy of helpfulness.
There were real threats facing Jesus. Our lesson is from the 13th chapter of Luke. Already in Luke 6 we find talk of death and plotting against Jesus. Going to Jerusalem will really be the death of Jesus.
Jesus was very clear with his disciples of what it meant to go to Jerusalem. Jesus was going to suffer rejection, but also to be betrayed, arrested, put on trial, suffer at the hands of sinners, and be crucified. So Jesus goes ahead with his plans to go to Jerusalem even though he knows that rejection awaits him like a slap in the face.
The false threats of Herod will not deter Jesus. But neither will the real threats. Jerusalem had a long history of rejecting and killing the prophets that God sent to them. Jeremiah faced death and others experienced it.
Jesus, the very Son of God, sent by the Father, for the reclamation and redemption of the world, is the true Prophet. Going to Jerusalem is his duty. Jesus goes to Jerusalem and his death in willing obedience to his Father.
Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem thus becomes the way of life for his every follower. A disciple of Christ cannot be deceived when life seems to offer an easier, safer way. We’d like to avoid confrontation, embarrassment, sacrifices for our faith. As we are bound together in love, we do make sacrifices, do we not? We make sacrifices of our time. We realize the shallow chase for pleasure and ease that many of our neighbors make and we sacrifice some of the comforts of life for the sake of others. We make financial sacrifices. All the money that we raised for Haiti relief could have been used to buy yourself a new TV, to take advantage of the President’s Day sale at Dick’s Sporting Goods to buy yourself a new golf club. We are helping our brother Jim with his tuition expense at the seminary knowing that Jim is being formed to serve brothers and sisters in Christ with the gospel. And these are people that we might not ever meet.
Every Christian lives with this reality: to be a follower of Jesus requires carrying crosses. We must go on Christ’s way today and tomorrow and the next day until we he brings us to his goal. Not our way but Christ’s. Not our goal, but Christ’s.
Jesus goes unafraid to the city of David. Why would he want to when they have rejected him? After all, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Imagine the hell of a God who had been scorned. The Lord has tried and tried and tried again to love these rebels. How many times can one- even God- be hurt and not give up? There were quite a few nights where I left work at the phonathon resolved not to come back, because the ‘nos’ were getting to me. Hearing the stories of our alumni who were struggling to live on their paychecks was depressing, especially as I considered that, God willing, I would be a pastor in a few years!
So we can understand. We’ve reached out, put our feelings on our sleeves, loved or offered our love, and been rejected. It doesn’t take too long before we pull back.
Why go to Jerusalem? Let ‘em rot. That’s what they deserve.
We’re Jerusalemites. How often have we rejected Christ’s love extended to us?
We have been made God’s chosen people. God has given us eternal life and we say, “Ho hum. What have you done for me lately?” Our Lord Christ comes to us today in His Word, at His table, and daily in our Baptism yet we want something more exciting. Do we understand how deserving we are of the fury of a lover scorned?
For their rejection of the Messiah, Jerusalem will be rejected. The beloved city will be destroyed by the Romans in AD 70. Such fury!
So the place of God’s honor is now wherever Christ’s people are gathered around Him in Word and Sacrament. This place is the place of God’s honor. Immense cathedrals and straw huts, where God’s Word is proclaimed and the Sacraments are given in their truth and purity, there is the place of God’s honor.
Jesus’ heart sent him to Jerusalem. “You will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” On Palm Sunday Jesus would come and he would be acclaimed with those very words. And he would be rejected. And he would be crucified. But that is precisely why he came: to save his people from their sin. Jesus came to gather all who repent under his wing of grace, mercy, peace, and love.
By his rejection we are saved. In spite of our rejections, God gathers us through the proclamation of the eternal Gospel. And we are now Christ’s chosen people to travel his way with him and there is nothing to deter us. Hell hath no fury for us. Our Prophet has come for us, to us, to save us. SDG
Lent 2
Feb. 28, 2010
Luke 13:31-35
In praise of rejection
In the name of Jesus, amen. Rejection hurts. That is a simple truth that remains true regardless of what stage of life you find yourself in. I worked through college to help pay for books. My primary job was a janitor in the campus community center but whenever the opportunity to make extra money rose, I took it. One of my jobs was to make phone calls for what was called the phonathon. We’d call alumni and ask for money. That’s not too far-fetched of a thing to do. Lots of universities call their alumni and ask for money for the dear old alma mater. The challenge that I faced was that overwhelming majority of the alumni I was calling were Lutheran pastors, parochial school teachers, parish musicians, stay-at-home moms. I heard ‘No’ an awful lot. It was quite depressing.
Jesus, in spite of being the rejected prophet, still will journey to Jerusalem, the rejected city. Nothing anyone could do, not even Jerusalem’s own rejection of her Savior, will prevent Jesus from coming to her one more time, the one more time that also brings Jesus to us.
Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Right? If that is true, then what hell and fury awaits those who scorn a mother hen who longs to gather her chicks under her wing. What fury is in story for those who spurn their Creator? What hell lies ahead for those who would dare to destroy the one sent to save them from that fury?
Amazingly, Jesus goes to the city that has rejected the prophets of God. He is walking into the lion’s den because Jesus longs to gather them, all who reject him, just as Jesus longs to gather us. When Jerusalem has earned only wrath, Jesus will still go to gather.
Deceits and threats would not dissuade Jesus. Jesus had set his face toward Jerusalem and he was going to go. The Pharisees sound so helpful. They sound like they care about Jesus. Don’t go to Jerusalem because Herod wants to kill you. But if Jesus doesn’t go, what would happen to Jesus’ reputation? Jesus would be discredited in the eyes of the people, and if Jesus was discredited, who would gain? The Pharisees. They care, but their care is only for themselves. Anyone who wants to be a leader among the Jews must go to Jerusalem and establish himself. If they can keep Jesus from reaching the city of David, then the Pharisees would be helped again. The Pharisees had already rejected Jesus and his purpose, so do not be deceived by the Pharisees ploy of helpfulness.
There were real threats facing Jesus. Our lesson is from the 13th chapter of Luke. Already in Luke 6 we find talk of death and plotting against Jesus. Going to Jerusalem will really be the death of Jesus.
Jesus was very clear with his disciples of what it meant to go to Jerusalem. Jesus was going to suffer rejection, but also to be betrayed, arrested, put on trial, suffer at the hands of sinners, and be crucified. So Jesus goes ahead with his plans to go to Jerusalem even though he knows that rejection awaits him like a slap in the face.
The false threats of Herod will not deter Jesus. But neither will the real threats. Jerusalem had a long history of rejecting and killing the prophets that God sent to them. Jeremiah faced death and others experienced it.
Jesus, the very Son of God, sent by the Father, for the reclamation and redemption of the world, is the true Prophet. Going to Jerusalem is his duty. Jesus goes to Jerusalem and his death in willing obedience to his Father.
Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem thus becomes the way of life for his every follower. A disciple of Christ cannot be deceived when life seems to offer an easier, safer way. We’d like to avoid confrontation, embarrassment, sacrifices for our faith. As we are bound together in love, we do make sacrifices, do we not? We make sacrifices of our time. We realize the shallow chase for pleasure and ease that many of our neighbors make and we sacrifice some of the comforts of life for the sake of others. We make financial sacrifices. All the money that we raised for Haiti relief could have been used to buy yourself a new TV, to take advantage of the President’s Day sale at Dick’s Sporting Goods to buy yourself a new golf club. We are helping our brother Jim with his tuition expense at the seminary knowing that Jim is being formed to serve brothers and sisters in Christ with the gospel. And these are people that we might not ever meet.
Every Christian lives with this reality: to be a follower of Jesus requires carrying crosses. We must go on Christ’s way today and tomorrow and the next day until we he brings us to his goal. Not our way but Christ’s. Not our goal, but Christ’s.
Jesus goes unafraid to the city of David. Why would he want to when they have rejected him? After all, hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. Imagine the hell of a God who had been scorned. The Lord has tried and tried and tried again to love these rebels. How many times can one- even God- be hurt and not give up? There were quite a few nights where I left work at the phonathon resolved not to come back, because the ‘nos’ were getting to me. Hearing the stories of our alumni who were struggling to live on their paychecks was depressing, especially as I considered that, God willing, I would be a pastor in a few years!
So we can understand. We’ve reached out, put our feelings on our sleeves, loved or offered our love, and been rejected. It doesn’t take too long before we pull back.
Why go to Jerusalem? Let ‘em rot. That’s what they deserve.
We’re Jerusalemites. How often have we rejected Christ’s love extended to us?
We have been made God’s chosen people. God has given us eternal life and we say, “Ho hum. What have you done for me lately?” Our Lord Christ comes to us today in His Word, at His table, and daily in our Baptism yet we want something more exciting. Do we understand how deserving we are of the fury of a lover scorned?
For their rejection of the Messiah, Jerusalem will be rejected. The beloved city will be destroyed by the Romans in AD 70. Such fury!
So the place of God’s honor is now wherever Christ’s people are gathered around Him in Word and Sacrament. This place is the place of God’s honor. Immense cathedrals and straw huts, where God’s Word is proclaimed and the Sacraments are given in their truth and purity, there is the place of God’s honor.
Jesus’ heart sent him to Jerusalem. “You will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’” On Palm Sunday Jesus would come and he would be acclaimed with those very words. And he would be rejected. And he would be crucified. But that is precisely why he came: to save his people from their sin. Jesus came to gather all who repent under his wing of grace, mercy, peace, and love.
By his rejection we are saved. In spite of our rejections, God gathers us through the proclamation of the eternal Gospel. And we are now Christ’s chosen people to travel his way with him and there is nothing to deter us. Hell hath no fury for us. Our Prophet has come for us, to us, to save us. SDG
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