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
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