Epistles from Exile

SID in Convention: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

2012-02-20T17:09:00.001-06:00

Despite some evidence to the contrary, I do not like playing the political game. I've done it when I though it necessary in the young and callow days of my youth, though I am neither mentally nor emotionally equipped for a life of politics, whether it's the state or ecclesiastical kind. I've been bitten in the butt (if you'll pardon the expression) one too many times to enjoy that game, so I avoid these days it when I can. However, sometimes it becomes necessary to put your hand in the flame.

Last week, February 16-18, 2012, the Southern Illinois District of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod met in its 56th triennial convention. It was our duty to elect officers, to listen to reports concerning the district’s activities and health, and to act upon or reject various resolutions which had been submitted to the district for our consideration. Some of those things were fairly agreeable—for example, it took no great deliberation to thank former District President Herb Mueller for his service to the district, service which was interrupted by his sudden drafting into Synodical service as First Vice-President. Upon his departure, Timothy Scharr, who had served as the district’s First Vice-President, was elevated to the office of President; and it was our glad duty to confirm that elevation by electing him to that office so that he could continue his faithful service in that capacity. We also, with few exceptions, elected a fairly good slate of district officials.

However, even in as solid a district as ours, there is never full agreement or cooperation when it comes to our doctrine and practice. A fairly innocuous resolution to encourage the exclusive use of doctrinally pure liturgical materials was so watered down by amendments that it was unpalatable even to some of those who originally supported it. Words like "legalism" and "lack of trust" were thrown around by those who felt their liturgical freedoms were being endangered. At the end of a convention a resolution was introduced to bring the district's differences regarding liturgical uniformity to the Synod's Koinonia Project, a program designed "to discuss and clarify how faithful teaching (doctrine) and faithful doing (practice) are intimately connected and ought be congruent." (In other words, we'll discuss our differences so we'll understand each other better and hopefully find some sort of unity. We'll talk, and then we'll talk, and then we'll talk some more, until we've talked through all the things we need to talk about.)

One of the high points of the convention for me was spending time with y wife. She served as my congregation's lay delegate to the convention and as a member of one of the floor committees. We spent more quality time together in about 48 hours than we have in a long time. Our teenage daughter watched the Terrible Trouble Twins in our hotel room. Since the hotel and convention center were connected, we could visit the kids during breaks and were available in case of emergency. While they played games in our rooms, Faith and I sat together and enjoyed just being "alone" together without the kids getting jealous of our attention--something we don't get to do very often.

Another high point was the presentation of Bishop Wilhelm Weber of the Lutheran Church in South Africa. The LCSA is a mission partner of the Southern District, and it's encouraging to see fellow Lutherans in another part of the world clinging faithfully to the Word of God. In fact, it seems as though their faithfulness is a beacon to the rest of the world, just as Africa was a beacon of early Christianity through such worthies as Saint Augustine and Saint Ambrose. Perhaps they can teach us a thing or two.

The presence of LCMS President Matthew Harrison for the first evening of the convention was a tremendous blessing, especially considering the long day he had already had after testifying before Congress regarding the Obama administration's incursion into the First Amendment rights of both church bodies and individual Christians (and Jews, by the way). He received a standing ovation for his bold and faithful testimony before the princes of this world, and then he taught us boldly from the Word of God.

Something I had never seen before at a district convention was the opportunity for individual confession and absolution. Though I did not avail myself of this opportunity, the fact that it was even offered at what is, in essence, a business meeting, was an encouraging sign for our church body.

And of course, any time a group of pastors gets together, we tend to enjoy periods of relaxation around a Lutheran beverage of choice. Spending time with the brothers over a can, bottle, mug or glass of beer (couldn't find a stein anywhere) is always a pleasant way to pass a few hours time. The consolation of the brothers is a blessing not to be missed.

All was not wine and roses, however. I've already mentioned the lack of unity in doctrine and practice among the delegates. I don't want to dwell on that, lest I get frustrated and cynical (or even more so than usual).

In addition to the obvious disparity in doctrine in practice was what might have seemed a passing comment in a sermon. One of the preachers talked about birth control, saying that those who "close themselves to the possibility of children have something in common with those who are pro-choice." In other words, he taught from the pulpit that those who practice any form of contraception are sinning against the Fifth Commandment. To preach that from the pulpit, while possibly not untrue (though you'd have to have extremely clear and compelling evidence from Scripture to convince me), would require a lot of teaching on the part of a preacher before he could say such a thing without unduly binding the consciences of the sheep in his care. And to throw it in as an offhand statement? Let's just say *I* won't be preaching that from the pulpit any time soon.

For the most part, the convention was a pleasant surprise for me. Not that I'd want to do it all the time, but I suppose I can handle it every three years. I hope my pessimism will prove to be unfounded concerning the Koinonia Project, and I hope that the Lord will restore true unity in the Church. Nonetheless, I won't be surprised if our fellowship remains fractured as long as the Church awaits the return of Christ in glory.

Sermon for 2/19/12--Quinquagesima (LSB 1-year)

2012-02-20T12:05:00.000-06:00

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Lord, Have Mercy!

Luke 18:31-43

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Kyrie eleison! Lord, have mercy. It is perhaps the simplest prayer you could pray or sing. Yet within those simple words are packed more great stuff about God than we can hardly imagine. We pray them at least twice in our communion liturgy. We sing it this morning in the office of Matins. Lord, have mercy. The words roll off your tongue like you’ve been saying them your whole life. But what do they mean? What do they tell you about who you are as a sinner and who Jesus is as Lord?

Our text begins with Jesus taking his disciples aside to tell them what’s what. He takes them aside to tell them that he is going to be handed over to the Gentiles, spat upon and mocked, suffer as a common sinner, and die the death of a criminal. This is God’s future. The disciples had been with Jesus for over two years, but the point of His life was hidden from their understanding.

Before we go on to look at the blind man, let’s stop here for a minute. How often is it that you come to church, go to Sunday School or Bible class their whole lives, and yet miss the point? We like to think that just going through the motions is enough. But going through the motions is not the same as faith. Remember that Jesus’ disciples had been with Him every step of the way. Some had even seen Him transfigured before them. They had received a glimpse of God’s glory. Time and time again he had predicted His death and resurrection for the forgiveness of sins. This was the point! Yet Jesus’ disciples couldn’t believe that He was going to die, even though it was right in front of their faces!

This is true in our own lives as well. Like the seed that went upon the rock or in the thorns from last week, many come week after week, but they don’t hear the simple truth of Law and Gospel: You are a sinner, and Jesus comes to save sinners just like you. It’s pretty straightforward, isn’t it? Jesus wants you to be in His house so that He can forgive your sins and bring you to heaven. This was the message that the disciples couldn’t get, and this is the message that we as sinners forget again and again week after week after week. It shouldn’t surprise us, then, that some stop coming to church entirely.

Let’s move on. Jesus then is on the road to Jericho. While he’s on the road, a crowd of onlookers follows him around. As they are on the road, a blind man alongside the road hears the crowd and asks what’s going on. He heard from the crowd that it was Jesus who was passing by. When he heard this, he cried out, saying, “Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!” Kyrie eleison! It is the cry of every sinner who needs Jesus. It is the cry of every soul that is weighed down by the cares of this life, by the trials that we all face as children of Adam. It is the cry that doesn’t try to manipulate God or make demands. It is the cry of faith. Kyrie eleison! Lord have mercy.

This blind man, upon hearing that Jesus was close by, cried out to the Son of David for mercy. And notice that this cry continued, even after the crowds tried to shut him up. The blind man cried out because He knew that God would give Him mercy. He knew that God loved Him with an everlasting love. He knew that God would hold him in the palm of His hand and would keep him forever.

Lord, have mercy. What does it mean? It means that the blind man recognized that Jesus is Lord. He recognized that Jesus has power over life and death. Because of this, he could cry out to this Lord for mercy. He asked that God would not give Him what He deserved. He knew that he deserved the blindness of his eyes just like we deserve the blindness that sin brings. But he prayed that God would open his eyes in sight just as He opens our eyes to see His mercy.

The blind man isn’t afraid to ask God what he wants. Are you? Are you afraid to ask God for forgiveness? Are you afraid to ask God to be with you in times of trouble? Are you afraid that God will abandon you when you need Him most? Don’t be afraid. This week’s epistle is the great love chapter--I Corinthians 13. It is perhaps the most beloved chapter in the Bible. But what some miss about this chapter is that Paul is describing God’s love, not ours. God’s love is so deep and wide that it will engulf the sinner in a flood of forgiveness. His love will put you back together when you are beaten and broken by sin and oppression. His love doesn’t look for the easy way out. God’s love goes the very hard road, the road to Calvary and death on a cross. That’s how far His love will go to save you.

This week we begin our Lenten journey to the cross. This is a time of deep reflection for the Christian. This is the time when we look at our sin with the eyes of the Law and realize the depth of our sinfulness. But this is also the time when we look to Jesus Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising its shame. This is the time when we cry out with the Church of all ages: Kyrie eleison! Lord, have mercy. And hearing this prayer, even as He did for the blind man, Jesus opens your eyes to see His saving work for you. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 2/12/12--Sexagesima (LSB 1-year)

2012-02-14T08:40:00.000-06:00

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Hearing the Word

Luke 8:4-15

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Even to us who live in the midst of agriculture, the image of the sower who sows his seed by hand is something from the distant past. At one time, of course, before the coming of mechanized farming, the figure of the lone farmer hand-casting his seed was commonplace about anywhere in the world, giving this parable an immediate appeal; it was one to which most people could instantly relate. While He spent time in the cities and towns, much of Jesus’ ministry was spent in the little villages and the countryside of Palestine. As time passed, opposition to Jesus began mounting up. The teachers of the law had turned hostile toward Him. The Pharisees were beginning to gang up on Him. He had been driven from the synagogues and even from his hometown. There had been setbacks and discouragements. And now even His disciples and close followers began to show signs of discouragement. Was that great Kingdom of God to which Jesus had called them doomed to failure from the start?

The parables of Jesus normally follow the rules of popular story-telling, which means that the emphasis falls at the end; in this case, the abundant harvest. In spite of all hazards and losses, in the end the farmer reaps a splendid crop. Likewise, in spite of all frustrations and failures, the kingdom of God makes its way, and His harvest exceeds expectation. To be sure, the kingdom of God encounters opposition. It experiences what the world considers failure. Yet it triumphs. Just as unproductive pockets of soil belong to sowing, so opposition and failure belong to history and sinful human nature. But the kingdom of God belongs to the realm of eternity, and what we have to keep always in view is the harvest—not the failures.

To begin with, then, on the lips of Jesus this parable was a ringing encouragement to His disciples to not fear, to have faith in their God. It is still a clear call to all the fearful saints of our day. We see how many enemies have ranged themselves against the Church. We see the Church’s setbacks and failures. All around us are empty pews and dwindling, even dying, congregations. Spiritual apathy seems rampant. We must learn from Christ Himself that, however gloomy the outlook for the Church may seem to be, the Holy Spirit is unceasingly at work wherever the Gospel is preached. That “little flock” which the Good Shepherd gathered on the hillsides of Galilee continues to stand under the blessing of God, and will never be permitted to fade away. Our gracious God, who has already done so much for us through Jesus Christ, will continue doing even more, and can be trusted to complete the good work He has begun in us.

But this was not the only purpose Jesus had in mind when He told this story about the sower and his seed. Make no mistake about it: the description of the various soils is by no means accidental. It is a reflection of His own experience of preaching the Gospel of the kingdom, and His awareness of our need to hear it, to listen carefully and attentively to what He is saying.

How do we hear the Gospel? There are various ways of hearing. We can listen only with our ears, as often happens in polite conversation; that is a case of “in one ear and out the other.” This suggests the seed that fell on the footpath; it made no impression at all. Or we can listen with our minds only, as we might do to a great orator. As he is speaking, we may be thrilled and moved by his words and even persuaded, for the moment; but all of those responses evaporate as quickly as did the moisture from the shallow soil. Or we can be listening attentively, only to be distracted by other voices or other life concerns that take over our attention, like the thorns that choked the life out of the young shoots of grain. But, one day that same message is spoken to us in a way that we hear our own name in it; perhaps it is at a moment of sickness or weakness, or at the height of a profound temptation, or in the depths of sorrow and despair. And that is when we hear not with ears only, or with minds only, but with ear and mind and heart, and everything there is about us. Whether or not we are hearing rightly is a matter of life or death! This is the kind of hearing the Gospel calls for, and we must listen!

If we listen to this parable again with this kind of hearing, will we not ask ourselves questions like these? “What kind of soil am I? Am I hard, shallow, thorn-infested soil, or good soil?” Of course, we may brush aside these questions, and say, “I am just the way God made me and there is really nothing to be done about it." There are some who actually think that that is the Biblical view of who we are; but in fact, this sort of fatalism is really a denial of the truth of the Gospel. The grace of God changes hearts and lives! The real truth is that in each of us there is something of all four soils. Do not let the seed of God’s Word fall on hard ground. Don’t be so spiritually shallow that God’s Word cannot take root in you. Weed out those thorns. God will use His Gospel to make you His good soil, receptive to all He does, hearing well everything He says.

As you stand on the far side of the cross and resurrection, you know who the Speaker of the parable is. He is the “Word made flesh,” God’s own dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, true God and true Man. He is the one who give moisture to you in Holy Baptism, planting the seed of the Word in you and watering that seed to grow in you. He is the one who weeds out the thorny sins that would choke your faith to death with the words of Holy Absolution. He is the one who shed His blood and died to make your faith fertile, feeding that faith in the Holy Supper unto live everlasting.

What we do with Jesus and the Gospel is of everlasting importance. How we hear Him is everything. Pray to the Lord that, as He sows His Word among us, as He speaks His Gospel to us in Word and in Sacrament, our ears would be wide open to hear Him, and that our hearts would be that good and fertile soil which receives Him. He is the Lord of the harvest, and He will gather you in. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 2/5/12--Septuagesima (LSB 1-year)

2012-02-06T12:36:00.001-06:00

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The Unfair God

Matthew 20:1-16

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

To understand rightly the Gospel appointed for today, we need to remember two things. First, Jesus was answering His critics, the Pharisees, who were convinced that their piety entitled them to a special claim on God’s reward. Their complaint was that Jesus was opening the gates of God’s kingdom to all of the undesirable characters in Israel, perhaps even to Gentiles, which would have been unthinkable. The second thing is this: the real heart of the account comes with the settlement after sunset, and the astonishing generosity the owner showed to the late-comers to his vineyard, who, in the eyes of the Pharisees represented the tax collectors and “sinners.” And so, the point is that it is really not the story of the laborers in the vineyard. The owner is the chief character. And that gracious owner, of course, is a picture of God in his remarkable goodness.

Jesus is not talking about economics, but about theology. He is saying that reward in the kingdom of God is not measured by what men deserve, but by the pure grace and goodness of God. In the end, God treats sinners in the same way this vineyard owner treated these unemployed men. Of course, the One who told this parable knew the Father’s nature and will better than any other man born of woman, and what He tells us about God the Father is as true in the year 2012 as it was when first told. God is like that owner. When it comes to pouring out His grace and salvation, He makes no distinctions among His children. God has no red-headed step-children; all are His by creation and by recreation in Jesus Christ. In an earthly family, a good father will give to his children according to their needs and not according to their abilities or what they have deserved. So it is, and even more so, in that great Kingdom over which our heavenly Father rules. God is infinitely good to His children. As David had so wonderfully put it in the Psalms: “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy…He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities. For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us.”

And yet, some are sure to object that this story is long out of date; the Pharisees Jesus answered are long since dead and buried. But are they really? Does not every age have their counterparts? Does not every generation produce its own crop of Christians who would make a “closed shop” of God’s kingdom, and try to keep out all who do not measure up to their standards, not God’s standards, but theirs? There are always people in the church who assume that their piety gives them a special claim on God’s favor, and they look with something less than the eyes of love on those who seem to them less worthy. Truly they have their reward, for they have earned the respect of their peers. There is no higher honor in this world; but their reward is a worldly one. They have received what they deserve; and to their everlasting regret, that is all they will receive.

How blessed you are that God does not deal with you according to your sins. Where would you and I be if God exacted strict justice for every idle word or thought, for every time you have lashed out in anger at another as a means of dealing with some other problem, for every time you have lied or cheated or in some way deceived your spouse or children or friends? The mercy of God is a wondrous thing. He deals with you in ways you would never deal with each other. For the sake of His dear Son, who bore all punishment for sin, He deals with you patiently, lovingly, forgivingly.

God’s thoughts and ways are not your thoughts and ways. The love of God is broader than the measure of a man’s mind. He sees and knows things about you and what the future holds for you that you cannot know. And a large part of faith is trusting the Lord to always know and do what is right.

God is impartial when rewarding his children with eternal life, for this is not a reward they have earned, but a reward of grace. Does this shock or startle you, that God would reward equally even the poorest and least worthy of Christians with the greatest of His saints? Granted, it does not make sense; and to human ears, this does not sound at all fair. But that is the will of God, and that is what makes it wonderful! After all, it made no sense that God would deliver up His own Son for your sins. It certainly was not “fair” to the perfect and holy Son of the heavenly Father to be punished for what He had not done. But as the parable said, does not the Father have the right to do as He pleases with what is His? And what He has been pleased to do is to offer His Son as the sacrifice for your sin, and then to call you all into His kingdom, that He might pour out on you the riches of His grace in ways that sinners will never fully comprehend! In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 1/29/12--Transfiguration of Our Lord (LSB 1-year)

2012-01-30T12:20:00.001-06:00

"Hear Him!"

Matthew 17:1-9

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

It is a constant temptation to make faith into something all about ourselves, to measure and calculate it by what we get out of it. Does it make me feel good? Am I living a good enough life? Do I really love the Lord enough? Do I have enough faith? Do I tell enough people about Jesus? Does God love me because I try hard to be a good person? When we lose interest in church because we don't seem to get something out of it—because it doesn't strike an emotional chord, or because we just think it's boring—we have made religion and faith about us instead of what it really is about: Jesus. That is why the Transfiguration is so important in our time. Today we see Jesus shining in all His glory, and it reminds us that it's all about Him: who He is and what He has done for us.

When Jesus is transfigured, He talks with Moses and Elijah. Moses is the giver of the Law; Elijah is one of the great prophets. Moses and Elijah in their ministries pointed ahead to the coming Savior. To see Jesus with Moses and Elijah means that He is the One who is to fulfill all of Scriptures. And He will fulfill them by going all the way to the Jerusalem and the cross. Here on the mountain, Jesus is strengthened in His purpose of dying to save sinners. It's all in the balance. If Jesus doesn't go to Jerusalem, we're doomed. If He doesn't go to suffer and die, we have no hope. We can't hope in ourselves. Our hope and trust must be in the Son of God. If He doesn't fulfill what He came to do, there is nothing for us but to remain in our sins. But Jesus is strengthened for His mission. He is reminded once again by the Father's voice that He has come to do the will of the Father. It will be hard. It will kill Him. But He does it because He perfectly loves and obeys the Father. And He does it to rescue you from sin and death because He perfectly loves you, as well.

The Father’s voice says, “Hear Him!” Peter, ever the example of the kind of religion we like to have, wants to stay there with the shiny, happy Jesus. “Lord, let us make some shelters.” Peter wants to be where God's glory is evident and easy to see. Peter doesn't want the God who is dead on the cross; He wants the glorious one. So it is with so many Christians who worship by trying to have some feeling and somehow touch or experience God's “glory.” In many churches, worship is designed to bring about a powerful emotional experience and response. But in doing that, we've made religion about us, about how we can praise Him just a little bit better if we just feel it. But the Father corrects all that with these words: “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” Hear Him, because faith isn't about our emotions but about Jesus and His saving Word that gives life. So what does Jesus say? The Father says to listen to Him; and the very next words out of Jesus' mouth to the frightened disciples are, “Do not be afraid!”

When we make religion about ourselves, we're constantly trying to find a way to make ourselves feel good, worthy. But when faith is centered in Christ, His Word says, “Don't be afraid.” There is true comfort because it is the Lord who says it. He is the One who brings true peace to us by the forgiveness of sins that He accomplished for us on Calvary. This “don't be afraid” extends to the font, where the Word and water rescue us from death and the devil. It is heard in the Absolution, which tells us not to be afraid of our sins. It is spoken with the Words of Institution so that we don't fear death, for the body and blood of Jesus overcome death. It is no longer about what we can do and how we live and how we feel. It is about the promises of God Himself to be our God and defend us from all evil, even unto eternal life. The big deal isn't that we can feel good about Jesus but that Jesus saves us from sin, the world, death, and the devil’s power.

Now, after they come down from the mountain, Jesus tells His disciples not to tell anyone what they've seen until after He's been raised from the dead. But after that, Peter tells us that, because He was an eyewitness of the glory of Christ, the Word He preaches is sure. To hear St. Peter preach is to hear Christ. To hear called and ordained pastors preach is to hear Christ. The Transfiguration of Jesus means that, now that He has been raised from the dead, the Word that is preached has all of God Himself standing behind it. Peter's words in His epistle remind us that, unlike what the world would have us think, the Word we hear preached is not made up. Jesus was seen by eyewitnesses, and they have passed down His Word faithfully. “Hear Him” means to hear Jesus. And that's what the Bible is all about. That's what the Word preached in His church delivers to us.

When Jesus speaks to them, the disciples look up and see Jesus only. What a picture of our faith! Jesus only. The Transfiguration is written down for us to rescue us from a religion that is all about ourselves, to turn our hearts in faith to “see Jesus only.” Only in Him do we have the truest comfort and the voice of God Himself telling us not to be afraid. With such a Savior who is God and man, we have the unshakable promise that now, in Christ, we too are God's beloved sons. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

On the Radio (whoa)

2012-01-28T09:51:00.002-06:00

On Monday afternoon, Jeff Schwarz, the producer from Issues, Etc., sent me an e-mail to ask if I'd be interested in appearing on the show. This is not the first time he's asked, and I've been on the show before. But last time I was part of a roundtable discussion on the Fifth Commandment (right click to save and listen). This time I'd be on my own, and I'd be discussing a topic about which I'd written an article for Higher Things Magazine but am no expert: Christian stewardship concerning the environment. Neither factor was particularly encouraging, but Jeff is quite persistent. So I agreed.

Though I was quite nervous--I started shaking a half-hour before and didn't stop until about an hour after--I enjoyed myself. Pastor Todd Wilken, the host, is experienced in leading his guests fairly gently, and Jeff edits segments after the fact so that guests like me son't sound too much like an idiot. I had a bunch of resources in front of me--printed passages from the Bible and Catechism, a copy of my article, and a few other useful notes and facts--so I could fall back on notes if my mind blanked. All in all, it's one of the few things I've done outside of my comfort zone that I've really enjoyed.

If you'd like to listen, right-click this link to save the audio to your computer: http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3/issuesetc.org/podcast/931012312H1S1.mp3

Sermon for 1/22/12--Third Sunday After Epiphany (LSB 1-year)

2012-01-22T12:37:00.000-06:00

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Jesus Under Authority

Matthew 8:1-13

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

When a congregation installs a new pastor, they expect certain things from him. Listen again to these vows which a pastor makes at his ordination. “Do you promise that you will perform the duties of your office in accordance with these Confessions and that all your preaching and teaching and your administration of the Sacraments will be in conformity with Holy Scripture and with these Confessions?” “Will you faithfully instruct both young and old in the chief articles of Christian doctrine, will you forgive the sins of those who repent, and will you promise never to divulge the sins confessed to you? Will you minister faithfully to the sick and dying? Will you demonstrate to the Church a constant and ready ministry centered in the Gospel? Will you admonish and encourage the people to a lively confidence in Christ and in holy living?” “Finally, will you honor and adorn the office of the holy ministry with a holy life? Will you be diligent in the study of Holy Scripture and the Confessions? And will you be constant in prayer for those under your pastoral care?” And with the help of God, the pastor answers, “I will.” These are weighty promises, and while Christians understand that their pastors are sinful men and thus will not always perfectly keep the promises they have made, they rightly expect their pastor to hold his life and his doctrine and practice to a high standard.

Like the centurion, a pastor has to understand authority. On the one hand he is called upon to speak in the stead of Christ when it comes to the preaching of the Word and the administration of the Sacraments. Your pastor speaks; and with the authority of Christ in his hands and mouth, sin and death and the power of the devil have no choice but to depart. On the other hand he is a servant of the congregation when it comes to temporal matters. When a member is sick and in the hospital, your pastor is duty-bound to visit that member and pray for him and bring him the comfort of the Word.

Whether you like it or not, your pastor is required to remain faithful to the Word. He is under the authority of the congregation, surely; but he also speaks with the authority of Christ when it comes to His Word and Sacraments. He cannot deviate from that message. He must not drift with the currents of popularity. You may roll your eyes when, for example, your pastor harps on the frequency of Holy Communion or your daily return to Holy Baptism through repentance and faith; but when he does so, he is only doing what you have Called him to do: to speak of the gifts of God to you, to teach you regarding the benefits of those gifts, and to exhort you to the frequent reception of those gifts. You don’t like to hear that you’re a sinner, do you? You don’t like to hear that you need something you cannot get on your own. You don’t like to be convicted of your sinfulness. The preaching of the law is not a popular message; but that’s precisely why Christian congregations extend the divine call to a man whom Christ has set apart as His hands and mouth: so that he may say the unpopular thing, so he may tell you that you are a sinner, so that he may tell you of your need for the gifts of God. He has no choice. But then, when you approach in repentance and faith, it is also his duty to administer to you the forgiveness of your sins.

What is true of your pastor is also true of Jesus. When he praises the faith of the centurion, Jesus is not just praising the man for understanding that He didn’t need to enter the man’s house to heal his servant. He was also praising the man for understanding that the One with the authority to heal from a distance, the One to whom will be given all authority in heaven and on earth, Jesus Himself, is also under authority. The Old Testament set forth the manner in which the Messiah would act. He would preach the Word. He would make the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the lame to walk, the leper to be cleansed, and the dead to rise. The Messiah would be recognized by His actions. Jesus had no choice but to act as He did, for He had placed himself under the authority of His own Word!

What a blessing for you! For the obedience Messiah don’t stop with the blessings of the body. Hear what the Apostle Paul said to the Philippians: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.” Jesus was the One promised to Adam and Eve in the Garden, the One who would crush the head of the serpent, the One who would redeem fallen man. He allowed Himself to be bruised, to be crucified and put to death, bearing your sins to the death you deserved. And then, as the Old Testament foretold and even ordered, Jesus rose again, bearing you up with Him to new life in the waters of Holy Baptism.

This very day you approach the altar to receive the body and blood of the obedient Christ. Some of you may have learned during your catechism instruction to say this pray as you approach the altar: “Lord, I am not worthy that you should come under my roof. Only say the word, and my soul shall be healed.” This is a salutary prayer, and it is one which Jesus delights to answer in the affirmative. And it is not only His delight to grant you that blessing; it is also His duty, for He can do nothing else but bless those who approach Him boldly in faith. Do not be afraid; ask, and He will give. And when He gives, your soul will be healed. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 1/15/12--Second Sunday After Epiphany (LSB 1-year)

2012-01-18T13:49:00.001-06:00

My apologies for the lousy audio. This time it's because my voice was nearly gone!

Audio:

Text:

Both Body and Soul

John 2:1-12

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jesus turned water into wine. Why didn’t Jesus simply make wine out of nothing? Why did He take a substance that was already there and use it to make something new and different? Though it’s not easy to know the mind of God, God certainly knows the mind of man. If Jesus had created wine out of nothing, it would be all to easy for sinners to question whether or not He really had any authority over the created realm. Some might have questioned whether or not the substance was real. Others might have doubted that anything had been done at all, that it was all an illusion, or even a scam! But the unquestioned physical character of the water from which He made the wine meant that the wine itself was real. Why does it matter? It matters because Jesus here reveals that He has authority and power not only over spiritual things but over material things as well. His work is real; it involves real people and real things.

We are now in the season of the Epiphany, the time of the revealing of Jesus as the One who was promised, that One who would come to redeem this world from sin and death, and all of their consequences. Epiphany and Christmas, just past, fit together like a hand and glove. The baby born in Bethlehem was a real, live, baby boy. He did not just “appear” to be human, as one of the ancient heresies of the Church claimed. He did not come merely in the guise of a man. Remember what John wrote: “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory.”

God has become a Man--a real flesh and blood Man. He has taken our poor human flesh from the womb of His virgin mother and has filled it with His glorious divinity. Just as He did with the water, so has He done with our flesh. The glory that is truly His is something we will here about again, in a few weeks, on the Sunday of the Transfiguration. But do not forget this: the body that He took to Himself, the flesh that He made His own from the womb of Mary, that same body, although purified and glorified, is still a real, human body. Our salvation is not just “spiritual.” The salvation our Lord Jesus has won for us will affect our bodies as well.

To be a human being is to be a person who exists as both soul and body. Jesus did not come merely to save “souls.” He came to save persons, those who are both soul and body. Jesus Christ took upon Himself real, live, genuine human flesh from His virgin mother. In Jesus Christ, God the Word united Himself with our flesh, becoming one flesh with us. This is very much like the union that occurs when a bridegroom unites himself with his bride and becomes one with her. For Christ Himself has a Bride, one which He has purchased with His own blood, one to whom He has given His Holy Spirit as a pledge of His faithfulness, a gift of His love. For God the Son is the Bridegroom, and we who are flesh, freed from all sin through Him, are His Bride. And both together are united in Him.

Jesus Christ has done all of this that He might take away the shame and stain of our sin, and present us to Himself as a glorious Bride, free of all spot and blemish. He has put away our sin, first, by His holy conception and birth, for the flesh of our Bridegroom, although it is fully and completely human, is also pure and unstained by any personal sin. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect Bridegroom and Husband. He has laid down His life for the Church. And He has blessed the holy estate of marriage in this world as a sacramental picture of the mystery of the life of the world to come. Marriage is a divine institution into which God promises to pour His abundant blessing upon those who live in that state of marriage faithfully. St. Paul wrote, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the Word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish… For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.’ This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the Church.”

It is right and proper, therefore, that Christian weddings be times of holy joy and celebration. A Christian wedding is a picture of the marriage feast of the Lamb! The Scriptures picture heaven as an ongoing feast. As Christians we gather at the altar for a feast given by God, a feast at which the Bridegroom Himself, the Lamb of God, is both the host and the food. It is a foretaste of the feast to come. This feast is the one our Bridegroom has given for our celebration now, as we await what He will yet give us.

Jesus turned water into wine. He took ordinary means and through His Word made that everyday substance into something extraordinary. He did the same thing in Holy Baptism, where He puts His Word in the water to make it a life-giving and life-sustaining flood to drown the old, sinful Adam and wash away your sins. Thanks be to God, for in His flesh Jesus reveals that He has power over all things—the spiritual and the physical—and in His miracle at Cana, He reveals that His love guides Him to use that power for the good of His people both now and forever. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 1/8/12--Epiphany I/Baptism of Our Lord (LSB 1-year)

2012-01-09T12:39:00.000-06:00

Audio (sorry about the distortion):

Text:

Christ Is in the Water

Matthew 3:13-17

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

John the Baptist had been sent from God to prepare the way of Christ. To do this, he was preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. John said to those who were coming out to him, "Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bear fruits worthy of repentance." Certainly not a very popular message, but it was one that needed to be spoken. Only through true repentance would the people be made ready to receive the Messiah. They were full of self-righteousness and worldliness and corruption. They needed to be brought to their knees through the preaching of wrath so that they might be lifted up through the preaching of the Gospel and baptism for the forgiveness of sins.

John's message is also for you still today. The spiritual condition of mankind hasn't changed. At heart you are no different than those Israelites of old. You are by nature children of the evil one, filled with His poison. Now, your old Adam doesn't like to hear that sort of preaching. When your pastor speaks that way, your sinful nature says, "Come on, I'm not that bad. Sure, I'm not perfect, but who is? Compared to other people, I think I'm doing OK." Fallen man is so shrouded in deceit that God has to reveal the way things really are. And so John's message of repentance still rings out. "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!"

And, indeed, it is at hand, for the King of the kingdom of heaven reveals Himself at the Jordan River. The Messiah shows Himself publicly. But then He asks John to baptize Him! Now why would He do that? After all, John's baptism was for sinners, and Jesus is sinless. What’s going on here? The answer to that question comes from the exchange that is recorded between John and Jesus. John tried to stop Jesus by saying, "I need to be baptized by You, and are You coming to Me?" But Jesus persuaded him: "Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness." In other words, Jesus was saying, "This is what must be done to fulfill the righteous plan of My Father who sent Me. I must be counted among the sinners and become one with them to make them holy."

At His baptism, then, Jesus was showing forth His unity with fallen man. Not only did our Lord humble Himself to take on your flesh and be born of a Virgin, but now He takes the next step. In the water He stands with you and absorbs into Himself the curse of your sin. He goes so far as to take your place and put Himself into your bondage so that He might burst the bars of your captivity and conquer your satanic captor. As Isaiah prophesied, God's Servant Jesus will "bring out prisoners from the prison, those who sit in darkness from the prison house." Thus, our Lord's Baptism and His holy cross are connected. He is there as your substitute. Your sin becomes His sin; His righteousness becomes your righteousness. He trades places with you to set you free from the power of death and to give you His everlasting life.

This is why we hold baptism in such high regard. This is why it is such a powerful act of God: our Lord Jesus has put Himself into it! He who paid the penalty for our sins on the cross has sanctified the water with His real presence. Christ is in the water to make baptism a fountain of grace and forgiveness and life. There are those who hold baptism in low esteem and consider it to be a mere ceremony or human act of dedication. And so the Small Catechism poses the question, "How can water do such great things?" The answer: "Certainly not just water, but the word of God in and with the water does these things, along with the faith which trusts this word of God in the water." The presence of Jesus in the water makes baptism a life-giving, faith creating event. He who needed no baptism put Himself into the River in order that your baptism would be a holy cleansing.

Since Jesus stood with you in the Jordan, and since you are joined to Him by water and the Word, what took place here in the Gospel is true also for you. It is recorded that when Jesus had been baptized, He came up immediately from the water and the heavens were opened to Him. So also heaven has been opened to you who entered baptismal waters with Him. The pathway that once was closed has now been cleared for you through Christ the Mediator. For He said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." Just as Israel crossed the Jordan to enter into the Promised Land, so now you cross the Jordan with the Lord Jesus to enter the promised land of life with God in heaven.

When the Father saw His Son humbly and willingly taking on the task of becoming the Redeemer of the world, His voice came from heaven declaring, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Meanwhile, the Spirit descended like a dove. All three persons of the Trinity were revealed at this momentous event. So also this same threefold God was present to put His name on you as you were baptized; and as you came out of the water, the Father's voice declared, "You are my beloved child, in whom I am well pleased." At the holy font you truly were incorporated into Christ's body, made to be the temple of His Spirit. Having been washed, you have become part of the divine family, children of the heavenly Father, with whom He is truly well-pleased. Paul wrote, "You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ." No longer are you the offspring of the devil. You are sons of God in Christ, forgiven and redeemed and holy children.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, the Jordan River is found for you in the holy font of baptism; and our Lord continues to dwell in those waters. Return daily to your baptism through repentance and faith in Christ. Do not stray far from these holy waters, for Jesus Christ is present there. And in these waters is the forgiveness of your sins and eternal life. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Now available in print (aka BUY MY BOOK!!!)

2012-01-04T09:53:00.001-06:00

I participated in National Novel Writing Month for the first time in 2007. I'd always wanted to write a novel, and I'd even made a few abortive attempts in my younger days. But if I was going to actually complete a novel, I knew I couldn't just sit down and write one. So I went into NaNoWriMo with a plan. I'd spent my free time the previous three months writing character profiles, making detailed setting descriptions and sketches, and formulating chapter lists and chapter outlines. Even with all that planning, it still surprised me when, at the end of November, I emerged with over 50,000 words and an almost-complete first draft of a novel.

I spent a lot of time over the next four years looking at a pile of papers. I would take a pen to it every so often to proofread and edit, but for long stretches it just sat there. I didn't really foresee a market for it, as the novel itself is very Lutheran, and the Lutheran publishing house associated with my church body doesn't really publish much in the way of fiction; and with all the Lutheran apologetics that made its way into the novel, I just didn't see anyone else wanting to publish it. I did some vague explorations into the realm of self-publishing, but I decided at first that I didn't want to go that route. I was worried about formatting the pages. I was worried about assembling the files. I was worried about a cover picture. And, to be honest, I was worried that it just plain sucked.

But when I once again successfully navigated NaNoWriMo this past November and wrote book two, a sequel to the 2007 novel, I decided it was time to give self-publishing another look. I took some preliminary steps, asked some proofreader friends to take a look at what I had, and gave the novel another long, hard look.

Today, for the first time, my novel is in print! Love Divine, book one in the "Thy Strong Word" trilogy, has been called a "reluctant love story". It is the tale of a single Lutheran pastor and a young widow who meet when neither of them is expecting a relationship. He's content with his life as it is; she has finally found peace nearly three years after the death of her husband. How will their lives and vocations be affected when God brings them together? How will Justin's congregation react to their pastor's new social life? How will Beth overcome the guilt she feels in moving on with her life?

If you would like to learn the answers to these questions, consider purchasing a copy by clicking on this link. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Sermon for 1/1/12--The Name and Circumcision of Jesus

2012-01-01T11:26:00.000-06:00

Here's the audio:

And here's the text:

Shedding Blood

Luke 2:21

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

As we’ve heard in Bible class over the last month or so, on the eighth day after his birth, each male child in Israel was to be circumcised, according to the covenant between God and Abraham. And so, eight days after His birth in Bethlehem, Jesus was circumcised according to the Law. Eight days after His birth, He took His place under the Law and became obligated to it. Eight days after His birth, He shed His first blood under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law and in bondage to sin.

Circumcision might seem like an unusual topic to discuss on this first day of a new calendar year. Imagine old Abraham who was ninety-nine years old when God commanded that he be circumcised. Had Abraham not believed God, he would have laughed to think that circumcision could possibly have any spiritual meaning or consequence. But circumcision was an Old Testament sacrament in much the same way we understand the Sacraments today when we speak of them as means of grace, the means by which God’s gifts of salvation are applied to us. It was a mark of God’s favor, a visible Word, a saving work of God. It was also a mark of ownership, saying that you belonged to the Lord, that you and your household were heirs of God’s gracious promise. With all of Israel, you could say with certainty, “The Lord is our God, and we are His people.” You could eat the of the Passover feast. You could pray in the temple. You belonged. In circumcision, God named you and claimed you and your household as His own.

And so, circumcision taught a number of things about God’s salvation. That it took place on the eighth day after a child’s natural birth meant that its blessings reached beyond the seven days of the old creation into the first day of the new. It was a new birth—a heavenly birth into a new creation. The same is true of Baptism. The apostle Paul wrote: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” To be in Christ as a baptized believer is to live in the eighth day, the first day of the new creation.

Circumcision also taught the truth of original sin. It taught that sin was handed down in an inherited way through the procreation of children. Therefore, sin is like a genetic disease, passed on certainly and infallibly from one generation to the next, from the father to the children.

Circumcision also taught that covenant with God involved the putting away of our sinful flesh and its desires. It meant a decisive break with sin, a killing of sin in the flesh. Circumcision taught that covenant with God involved suffering and pain, and the shedding of blood. On this eighth day of our Lord’s human life we cannot really sing that verse of the Christmas carol, “But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes;” not on this day, at least, the day of His circumcision and naming.

This doesn’t have the ring of the sentimental. The idea of the Lord and King of the universe lowering Himself to this level, submitting to circumcision in His own sinless flesh, can make us uncomfortable. Babies and mangers, shepherds and angels—all of those fixtures of the Christmas season are appealing to us. But circumcision? It would be better not to talk about that! And yet, this is at the very heart of the work of Jesus: to fulfill God’s Law perfectly as our Substitute, to suffer and to shed His blood and die as the perfect Sacrifice. He is God’s substitute Sacrifice for sinners. Not only did the Son of God willingly give up His divine honor and glory for a time, to take on the lowly form of a servant, but He humbled Himself to the very depths of human existence by becoming obedient under His own Law, even suffering and dying under that Law.

The sinless Son of God was treated as a sinner. In the flesh of Jesus the world was circumcised. As Paul wrote: “In the fullness of time, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might receive the adoption of sons.” This is the first blood Jesus shed for our salvation.

This little Child endured all this for you. When He was only eight days old, the Son of God permitted Himself to be wounded, and His blood to be shed, that you would be saved from death and hell. He did not have to do any of this. He had no need of circumcision for Himself; He did not need to become obedient to the Law for His own sake. But He has done all of this for you, so that you would belong to Him.

Circumcision pointed forward to Holy Baptism; and you who bear the greater sign of Baptism on your foreheads and on your hearts have your Christmas joy made new on this eighth day of Christmas, the day of our Lord’s name and circumcision. The Law stands fulfilled in Jesus, down to the least stroke of the pen. All of it, He has kept for you. His circumcision, His perfect obedience, His suffering and death, are yours; and through Holy Baptism, you are His.

The remembrance of the circumcision of Jesus is not a sentimental celebration. There is no glorious angel, no humble shepherds, no stylized manger scene. There is only blood—the blood of Jesus shed for you, shed to perfectly fulfill the law, shed for you and for your salvation. By the grace of God, you drink the blood and eat the body of the One who was pierced on your behalf, a feast in which you receive all that Jesus was born, lived, died, and rose to bring you: the forgiveness of sins, salvation, and eternal life. In the name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 12/31/11--New Year's Eve

2012-01-01T08:01:00.000-06:00

Here's the audio:

And here's the text:

Waiting for the Master

Luke 12:35-40

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Whether or not you stay awake tonight, the clock will strike Twelve and the New Year will begin—unless, of course, the Lord should return in glory before the stroke of midnight. It’s going to happen whether or not you’ve got your drink in front of you and your best gal or guy to kiss. It doesn’t take a lot to be prepared for the New Year. It’s going to happen, even if you sleep through it.

In the Holy Gospel appointed for today, Jesus tells His hearers to be ready, to watch, to be alert for His return on the last day. This being New Year’s Eve and all, you know exactly how long you have to stay awake if you want to ring in the new year right when it happens. Unlike the transition from 2011 to 2012, however, Jesus won’t let you sleep through His return. The problem is, you don’t know the day or the hour in which the Son of Man will return in glory to judge the living and the dead. If you knew, you wouldn’t have any reason to remain vigilant, to remain faithful, while you await Christ’s return.

That’s exactly what Jesus is talking about when He says to be ready. He’s not saying that you must lose sleep over His return. He’s already done all the work, so there’s nothing you have to do to be ready. There’s no need for last day resolutions like we all tend to make as we ring in the New Year. But He does want you to take stock of your life. Examine yourself through the lens of the Ten Commandments. Are you truly being vigilant, ready for the Lord’s return, when you wallow in your sins? Are you truly prepared for His return when you take lightly the Word of God, treating it as something to hear on Sunday morning and special occasions and then disregarding it the rest of the time?

Jesus says that He’s coming at an hour you do not expect. He also says something about Himself that you expect, perhaps, even less than His return. “Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them.” Of course, you know that He is the Master and we are His servants. That much is obvious. But He does not rule by tyranny. He rules by grace. Unexpectedly, He serves us!

If you think it is a burden to be a servant of God, then your sinful flesh is sadly mistaken. Your sinful flesh wants to be a lazy slob. It wants to rebel against the demands of faith. But Jesus tells you something different than your sinful flesh would have you believe. “The Son of Man came not to be served, but to serve.” He delighted in His humble birth, laying in a manger in Bethlehem, because He did it for you and for your salvation. He delighted in the humiliation of a farcical trial before the Sanhedrin, before Herod, before Pilate, for He received the sentence you deserved. He delighted in suffering and dying on the cross, for He bore to the cross that death sentence which is the wages of sin. He delighted in rising again from the dead, for in Holy Baptism He raises you to new life with Him.

He also delights in setting before you this heavenly banquet of His own body and blood, a foretaste of the eternal feast which Christ will share with His holy Bride, the Church Triumphant—and in this feast He lays before you the riches of a glory that will be fully yours in heaven. The Master serves the servants, so that His servants are prepared for when He returns. He comes to you that you would be strengthened and lifted up. He blesses you so that you overcome in the time of trial and temptation, so that you may remain awake and vigilant. And when He returns in glory, you will dwell with Him, face to face, for all eternity. In the name of the Father and of the (+) Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 12/25/11--The Nativity of Our Lord (LSB 1-year)

2011-12-25T08:12:00.000-06:00

The Word Became Flesh

John 1:1-14

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Where is the Lord? How shall we find Him? Where do we go to receive Him? Many people search for God and go from here to there, from one religion to another, from one dose of “spirituality” to another, looking for whatever they think God is. And they don't find Him because they are not going to the place He Himself has promised He will be. The Lord is always where He promises to be. In the incarnation, the conception and birth of Jesus, God has come to us, and He does so in a way that is not difficult to receive: He has come in the flesh, as one of us.

In the Old Testament, the children of Israel camped at Mt. Sinai and the Lord was upon that mountain in smoke and fire. Yet the children of Israel couldn't stay there forever. They were bound for the land promised years before to their father Abraham. And the Lord would go with them. So Moses was commanded to make a tabernacle, a great big tent that could be put up and taken down. When the cloud of the Lord's glory stopped, the tabernacle was set up and the Lord's glory filled the Tabernacle. Whenever Moses would speak to the Lord and the Lord to Moses, it happened in the Tabernacle. There He was, the Lord, right there where there was no mistaking Him. If you wanted to find the true God who made the heavens and the earth, you went to the Tabernacle, and there the priests would intercede for you. But there was no mistaking that the Lord was there, in that spot. The Lord cannot be contained in one spot, of course. He fills heaven and earth. Yet, by His Word, He promised to be where the Tabernacle was; and the people who worshiped there were His people. But the Tabernacle, the Tent of Meeting, as it was called, was only a shadow of things to come. The fulfillment of what the Tabernacle showed came in Christ.

St. John wrote, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” But what he is literally saying is this: “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” There is an important connection here. The same Lord who has come to His people in fire and smoke and cloud in the tabernacle now comes to us as one of us: in the flesh—in a specific place, a particular spot. Born of woman. “No one has seen the Father,” John wrote, “but He who was in the bosom of the Father has made Him known.” It is Jesus who reveals the heart of the Father to us. God, who pours out His judgment upon sinners, shows us in Christ that that judgment will instead fall upon His Son, so that those who are in Christ are now beloved of the Father. So the question is: Where is God? Where do we find the Lord? The answer: In Jesus Christ, true God and true Man, born of the virgin Mary. The celebration of Christmas is a celebration of the Lord Himself coming to us! And in that flesh, Jesus comes to live our life, perfectly obedient to the Father. He comes to die our death, suffering on the cross for our sins.

If all of our salvation is in Jesus, then where do I go to receive Jesus? Many will acknowledge that Jesus is God; but then, as we heard last Sunday, not all those who look for the Christ know how to find Him. So where is He? Many religions and preachers turn it back into something we must do, to figure it out for ourselves. They put Jesus in all kinds of places except the places He has said He would be. But Jesus comes to us. He is present in this place, His church; for He promises to be present where two or three are gathered in His name. He comes to you in the waters of Holy Baptism, and He continues to come to you in the Word of Holy Absolution and in His own body and blood. His own words tell you. “Go and baptize all nations.” “Whosoever's sins you forgive, they are forgiven.” “Take, eat; this is my body; take, drink; this is my blood.” With these words and promises, the Lord tells us right where He'll be: in His church, where the ministry of the Gospel and Sacraments is carried out faithfully and in accord with His Word. The Word became flesh; and it does not stop being flesh. He has taken on a body for all eternity, and He gives us that very flesh and blood which was born in Bethlehem and nailed to a cross and rose from the dead—that very flesh to eat and to drink for the forgiveness of sins. That means when someone asks, “Well, where is God?” you can say boldly and with confidence, “God is in the flesh in Jesus, and Jesus is in the church where the font and the altar are full of Jesus and His gifts.”

The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us; and He continues to dwell among us. He's physically and eternally present in His church through His Word and Baptism and Supper. No longer do you flail about in the darkness, looking for the Light. He's right where He said He would be: present as He promised in the means of grace. The Word became flesh and dwelt among us—and we know right where He is for our salvation. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 12/18/11--Fourth Sunday in Advent (LSB 1-year)

2011-12-20T10:27:00.000-06:00

The Season of Light

John 1:19-28

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

At the time of John the Baptist, many were in the dark. Oh, they knew that God had promised to send Light to His people. They knew that the same God who had led His people in the desert with a pillar of fire by night had also promised to bring light to those walking in darkness. And with His promise was also His admonition, as spoken by the prophet Isaiah: “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord.” The priests and Levites knew light was coming, but still they were in the dark. For one thing, they did not know when it was coming. But at the same time, they really did not understand what that Light was. And so, when it did come, they did not see it.

One of the tragic things about people walking in darkness is that many of them do not even realize their condition. It is like dressing yourself in the dark. Can you imagine what you would look like when you had no idea what clothes you were putting on? And yet, that is how we must look to God; people whose spiritual appearance reveals the darkness of our sin. Most people do not even realize this spiritually embarrassing situation. They are perfectly content to live in sin and ignorance, unaware of the will of God. They feel no need for light because they don’t know they’re in darkness.

Even you who know the Lord slip into this realm of darkness. You shun the light of God, and live for yourselves rather than for Him. You neglect Him in every day things, where too often the darkness of the world begins to overwhelm your faint reflections of the Light. You stand more like flickering candles about to be extinguished than as beacons guiding others to the Light of Christ. It is no wonder that John the Baptist, who came to bear witness to the true Light, also came with a message of repentance. The light of Christ exposes your deeds of darkness.

Of course, knowing that you need the light does not guarantee that you can find the switch that turns it on. Here is where the priests and Levites had their problem. They were looking for the Light, but could not find it. “Who are you,” they asked John? “Are you the Christ?" John humbly gave His answer: "No." He was not any of those; but he added, “I baptize with water, but there stands One among you whom you do not know.” The same ones who came looking for light missed it. And they would continue to miss it. Jesus, who gave sight to the blind, who said so clearly, “I am the Light of the world,” who would be put to death in a world and on a day noted for supernatural darkness; this Jesus was condemned by these men who were looking for the Light! How easy it is to miss the true Light by pursuing any number of false but flashy lights: the bright lights of materialism and the brilliant light of pride. And yet, how many today either miss or misunderstand the Light of God; and as a result, they miss the whole purpose of this season of light. Thank God that man’s light is completely overshadowed by the true Light of the world.

Thank God for John and the witness he gave to that Light who gives light to all men; for you cannot find it on your own. You need someone to show you the light, to turn it on for you. John’s witness comes to you once again in this Advent season. John points you directly to who that Light is: God’s true and only Son, who came to die bearing your sins, who came to redeem you from the power of darkness, who suffered the darkest depths of hell in your place, and who rose in glory to give His light and life to all the world.

When you come confessing your sin, when you admit that you are walking in darkness, then suddenly and wondrously the light comes on, and you see your Savior, Christ the Lord. You behold a baby in a manger, but you understand that this crib of Christmas will find its meaning fulfilled only in the cross of Calvary. This child has come to die for you, so that you need not suffer the darkness of death. You are led out of darkness into His marvelous light.

When the light of Christ is turned on, the world changes. You see your entire life in a new way. No longer do you need to live in a world of fear, for your sins have been forgiven and the power of Satan has been crushed. No longer do you need to grope about in the darkness, fumbling around in a futile search to find purpose amidst the confusion of life. For you have seen the true light. God has shown you the Truth. With eyes firmly fixed on Jesus, you can walk confidently in faith through your life on this earth to the everlasting light of heaven.

This is the season of light. You know the One true Light is coming; and you shall see Him in the full revelation of the glory of that Baby, a Savior who is Christ the Lord, whom we shall meet in the light of heaven, where we will live in His light forever. “Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!” In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 12/11/11--Third Sunday in Advent (LSB 1-year)

2011-12-12T12:15:00.001-06:00

“Should We Expect Another?”

Matthew 11:2-11

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Without a doubt, John the Baptist is the strangest figure in the New Testament. Outfitted in a suit of camel hair and living off a diet of grasshoppers dipped in honey, nothing was ordinary about John the Baptist. Even his birth was unusual. His parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, were well past the age of parenting. They had prayed for a child but none had been given. Then one day, when Zechariah was taking his turn performing his priestly liturgy in the temple, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him that he and his wife Elizabeth would have a son. Like Elijah of old, the son that was to be born to this old couple would be filled with the Holy Spirit and he would turn many to the way of the Lord. In time this angelic word was fulfilled as Elizabeth gave birth to a little boy named John.

John would grow into manhood, and in time, in God's time, he would appear in the wilderness surrounding the Jordan River preaching and baptizing, calling all Israel to repentance and faith in the Messiah whose coming he announced. John the Baptist was a servant of a Christ, a faithful steward of the mysteries of God. As Paul says of preachers in today's epistle, "Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful." John was faithful in the task that the Lord God had given him. He preached a sermon that was not popular. It can be summed up in a single sentence: "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." John did not flinch in this preaching. To preach repentance is to name sin for what it. John proclaimed the law of God that calls the Pharisee, the Sadducee, even Herod—and you—to repentance. It was politically incorrect for John to expose Herod's adultery and ultimately it would cost him his life. Nevertheless, John the Baptist preached that Word to high and low alike. That was his calling, his office.

For John, as for all genuine preachers, the law was preached in service of the gospel. The law was preached to lead sinners to repentance, that is, to kill in them any thought that they could right themselves before God. John was a gospel preacher. He proclaimed the Christ, the Lamb of God who would take away the sin of the world. John's whole life was spent in the service of this Christ. Of Him, John said, "He must increase and I must decrease." So it was that as the brightness of Jesus Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, dawned on this sin-darkened world, John the Baptist faded into the shadows. He was not the light. He came only to bear witness to the light. That was fine for John. He had no need to call attention to himself, to gain any kind of personal prestige or prominence. He was willing to be spent and consumed for the sake of making Christ known. And soon he was consumed. John's faithfulness landed him in jail. Soon he would be put to death for his faithful service to Christ.

John sent his disciples to question Jesus: "Are You the Coming One, or should we expect another?" In response, our Lord points to the messianic signs. "Go and tell John the things that you hear and see: The blind receive their sight and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel preached to them." John’s preaching has not been in vain. Jesus is the Messiah. There is no other.

Is this the Jesus you’ve come here to seek this morning? Are you here because this Jesus can cure your depression, your poverty, your cancer, your humiliation? Jesus can do all these things. But is that all you want from him? John sent his disciples to Jesus to calm them of their doubts and fears. They had not followed John in vain, for John led them to Jesus. But look at how Jesus builds it up for them: the blind see, the lame walk—He cures the body. The lepers are cleaned, the deaf hear—He cleanses the body of things that make it spiritually unclean. The dead are raised, and the poor hear the Gospel—He gives life. This is the Jesus who comes to you this day. Not only does He remove your physical ailments—for those are but the wages of sin. He also cures your spiritual ailments, and in the waters of Baptism He raises you to new and eternal life with Him.

Jesus says, “Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me." Those words spoken by our Lord to John are also for you. Your blessedness comes not by way of human approval, but through faith in Jesus Christ. He says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to Father but by Me." The world judges that truth claim to be the highest form of intolerance. So Christians are branded as narrow-minded bigots. Those who claim to be so tolerant become very intolerant of the confession of Jesus. Jesus Christ is still the cause of offense.

"Blessed is he who is not offended because of Me." You who were dead in your sin have been raised with Christ through Holy Baptism to new life, eternal life in Christ. By the faith you were given in Holy Baptism, you cling to the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. You who were silent before the Lord have been given the words to confess His holy name and to sing His praises. Your blind eyes have been opened to see your Lord, present in this holy meal. You who in sin were lame, unable to approach the Father, have been healed so that you may approach this altar. Expect no one else, for in this meal you receive the Christ who comes to you in His body and blood. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 12/4/11--Second Sunday in Advent (LSB 1-year)

2011-12-04T07:42:00.001-06:00

Signs

Luke 21:25-36

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Lord is coming back any time now. Don’t expect your pastor to speculate as to the exact date, but the Lord is coming again in glory, and He is coming soon. If you doubt it, just listen to these words: “And there will be signs in the sun, in the moon, and in the stars; and on the earth distress of nations, with perplexity, the sea and the waves roaring.” Now look around you. Look at the skies. Back in September, scientists observed two massive X-class solar flares. A total lunar eclipse occurred in June, and another is actually due to happen this weekend. Once again this past month we saw in our skies the annual Leonids meteor shower. And then look at the world around you. The world’s economy is in a nightmare state. Wars continue across the world. The tsunami in April devastated Japan, taking the lives of nearly 16,000 people, damaging or destroying 125,000 buildings, and causing explosions in at least three nuclear reactors.

So now that you’ve seen the signs, it’s time to speculate concerning the day and the hour in which the Lord will return—and that way you can know the exact moment when you should repent of your sins and make your peace with God; and in the meantime you can live exactly the way you want—right? You know better than that, of course. There are really two things that distract from Christ's return and hinder preparation. On the one hand, it’s so easy to get wrapped up in the pursuits of the flesh that it seems like it doesn’t matter if Christ is coming. It’s easy to live as if there is no Last Day, no fearful judgment upon sin on that day. On the other hand, the cares of this life can be a heavy burden, and it’s hard to believe that there will be an end to all these trials when the Lord appears the final time. Either way, we live as if there is no Last Day, no Lord who is coming back to judge.

Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.” Right there, Jesus has given you the answer. Everything around you is passing away. Some people live as if this life is it, and they decide to live as if there's no tomorrow. Some are so worried about the end of all things, they try to make themselves ready. But Christ gives us the answer: His Word never passes away. It's simple, really: heaven and earth will pass away. Christ's Word does not pass away. What about you? Brothers and sisters in Christ, you have His Word. You cannot pass away. You cannot perish. You cannot be destroyed. The Word of Christ spoken with water at the font means you will outlive the passing away of this earth and heaven. The Word of Holy Absolution spoken to you means you will not pass away with the unrepentant masses who despise Christ and His salvation. The Body and Blood of Christ Himself are your sure promise that since Christ can't pass away, neither can you.

Last Sunday we began our observation of Advent with the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. Advent begins with Palm Sunday to remind you that Christ came to die for you. You have Palm Sunday; and then five days later you have Good Friday. In Advent we have Palm Sunday and then a week later the end of the world. The Church, guided by the Holy Spirit, put these readings together to connect in your mind that the Last Day, Judgment Day, can never be separated from Good Friday. On Good Friday, on the cross, the sins of the world were judged, and the wrath of the righteous God poured out on Jesus. On that day, the sun was darkened and the earth shook, and it probably seemed like the end of the world. That's because the End of the World, Judgment Day, happened that day at the cross. There, on Calvary, The Son of Man was there in all His glory, saving you. When you think of Judgment, the Last Day and the End of the World, think first of all of Good Friday. Think of Christ suffering the judgment against your sins. Only with this Good News that your Savior has shed His blood for you can you truly lift up your heads and rejoice on the Last Day when He does come again.

Where Christ is present in His Word, Judgment Day has no power to terrify. The Last Day cannot bring fear to those who know their Savior has already undergone Judgment Day. But apart from Christ, apart from His Word, there is nothing but fear. In Christ, Judgment Day has already come; outside of Christ, Judgment Day is still coming. In Christ, the Day is joyfully anticipated; outside of Christ, that Day comes like a thief. Jesus tells you, “Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” How do you watch? How do you pray? The Lord invites you to this place, where you can confess your sins and hear the Good News that the Judgment upon those sins has already been placed on Him. He invites you to come to this altar and receive His body and blood in the Holy Supper, a foretaste of the eternal heavenly wedding feast that awaits all those whom He has made worthy and who cling to Him by faith.

The signs of the Last Days are all around. The world is going to pieces. Wars, rumors of wars, plagues, famine, and all sorts of natural disasters are all around. The nations are in chaos. You are living in the last days before the Lord returns. But you do not need to fear or despair. Lift up your heads, for your redemption is near. Right before your Lord comes to you in the Sacrament of His Body and Blood, you hear, “Lift up your hearts!” And now you lift up your heads, for He will soon appear on the clouds with great glory. And that will be the day of rejoicing, the day of the end of all misery and woe. Your Lord is coming, and He Himself has prepared you by giving you His Word which will never pass away. And because you have been raised with Him in Holy Baptism, you won’t pass away, either. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 11/27/11--First Sunday in Advent (LSB 1-year)

2011-11-28T11:12:00.000-06:00

Here's the audio for the sermon below.

"Behold, Your King Is Coming"

Matthew 21:1-9

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The world celebrates holidays all backwards. Have you ever noticed that? All of the celebrating is virtually done before the day ever arrives. This is especially so with Christmas. All the feasting, the decorating, the nostalgia are done up front. You've got Christmas movies and Christmas music not only before Advent but even before Halloween! By the time the actual holiday arrives, Christmas seems anti-climactic. By December 25th, you're tired of the songs and the phony holiday cheer, and you're ready to move on—especially when things didn't quite live up to Hallmark expectations. It’s not unusual to see Christmas trees out with the garbage the day after Christmas!

The church doesn't celebrate a holy day until it actually arrives, and in the days following. The 12 days of Christmas that you hear about in the carol are the days from Christmas to Epiphany on January 6th. That's the real Christmas season. What we're in now is the Advent season, and Advent is a time of penitent and hope-filled preparation. Believe it or not, in the early church, Advent was a time for fasting. This is a time not for mere sentimentality, but a time but to dwell more fervently on the Word of God to make ready the way of His coming to us. We eagerly anticipate Christmas, of course; but now is not the time for the full celebration. Now is the time for waiting and discipline and focusing on the coming of our Lord in the flesh to save us.

That's why we have the Gospel that we do today. The Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem may seem out of place at first here in Advent, but in fact it dramatically emphasizes what this season is about. Advent means "coming." This Gospel teaches that our Lord comes to us humbly, whether on a beast of burden or in a lowly manger. Jesus comes not simply to be born; He is born to humble Himself even to death on a cross, to give His life to rescue us from sin and death and the devil.

Jesus rides two donkeys: an older one, the mother, and a younger one, a colt, the mother's foal. These two donkeys represent God's Old and New Testament people. First, Jesus rides the old, to show that He is the fulfillment of all that Israel was about and all that its prophets foretold. Then Jesus rides the new, which is born from the old. Our Lord comes to make all things new by dying and rising again. Out of the old order of death comes a new order of invincible life for us in Jesus. He unites all believers, from the Old Testament and the New, from every nation and race, together as His true and everlasting Israel.

And do not forget that you are the donkey: a very stubborn animal, hard-headed, set in your sinful ways, eager to go your own direction. You must be driven. Christ rides you; and gently but firmly He drives you toward the cross. He drives you to die with Him, to die to sin, so that you may also rise with Him to new life. He drives you to repentance through the Law, so that through the His redeeming work you may have His full and free forgiveness.

That's the sort of king you have in Jesus: not one who forces His subjects to serve Him, but one who lays down His life to serve His subjects. Every other king sends out soldiers into battle to fight on His behalf. But this King goes into battle Himself to fight on your behalf. He rides not on a stallion with glittering armor, but on an ordinary donkey, an animal of peace; for He comes to bring you peace. This King will ascend His throne, not by wearing a crown of gold, but a crown of thorns; not by defending Himself, but by becoming defenseless; dying so that you may live. This is the King who comes.

And do not fail to note that He's the One doing the traveling. You don't have to go out searching for Him, as though He were some far-off guru sitting high atop a Himalayan mountain. No, Jesus searches you out and comes to you. You don't come to God through your own spirituality or works or emotions. But God can and does come to you in His grace. He came down from heaven right to where you're at, taking up your human nature in the womb of the Blessed Virgin. He even went so far as to come into contact with the filth of your sin and death on the cross so that you might be cleansed and rescued from them by His precious blood.

And the Lord comes to you even today to dish out all the benefits He won for you. But don't look for glitter and fanfare. You must learn to see the meek and humble ways in which Jesus still enters into this place and into your lives. This church is Jerusalem. And the gates through which Christ enters this holy city are the Word and the Sacraments. The King rides to you on the waters of Holy Baptism. He travels to you through His spoken and preached words. And indeed, you have the triumphal entry in every celebration of the Sacrament of the Altar. The Lord who came in His flesh and blood to Jerusalem comes also to you here in His body and blood to give you the forgiveness of sins which He purchased on Calvary. That’s why we sing the Sanctus which contains the very same words that were shouted to Jesus: "Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest."

Let us, then, come forth to meet our King Jesus with heartfelt Hosannas. Hosanna means "Save now." "Save us, Lord." It is a cry of praise, a cry full of the sure and certain hope that the Lord will help you. Jesus comes to you here, to give poor beggars His royal and divine treasure. While the world madly rushes by seeking to create a perfect moment of nostalgia and find peace and comfort, let us receive Him who alone gives real peace and lasting comfort, who comes to you humbly and lowly. "Daughter of Zion, behold, your King is coming to you. He is righteous and having salvation!" In the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Audio: Sermon for 11/24/11

2011-11-25T10:26:00.000-06:00

Here's the audio of today's sermon.

Sermon for 11/24/11--Harvest Festival/Day of National Thanksgiving

2011-11-23T09:48:00.001-06:00

Sometime during this week, my blog passed the 20,000 visitor mark. Thank you, loyal readers! Of course, I'd continue blogging if no one read what I wrote, but it's nice to have visitors from time to time. If you haven't already done so, please feel free to introduce yourself and tell me where you're from.

Eat, Drink, Be Merry

Luke 12:13-21

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Your life does not consist in the abundance of your possessions. That’s worth some serious thought. To illustrate this truth, this warning, Jesus tells the parable of the rich fool. The rich man’s land produces plentifully, so much so that he doesn’t have enough room to store all of his crops. So he decides to tear down his barns and build bigger ones so that he can store more grain or goods. Then he gives one of the silliest speeches recorded in Scripture: “Soul, you have ample good laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” After all, isn’t that what the soul is all about?

Hardly. God has the final word in the parable, saying to the rich man, “Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?” There’s nothing inherently evil about relaxing, eating, drinking and merriment: but these are helpful for the body and mind, not the soul. The rich man expects his riches to take care of his soul for years to come. But saving souls is the work of God, and there’s the rich man’s problem—as soon as he’s declared that his good will take care of his soul, he’s made them into a false god. When God requires his soul that night in the parable, the relaxing and eating and drinking and merriment do nothing for him in the Judgment. So the rich man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. They cannot prevent his death; and when he dies, they do nothing for his soul.

The parable is a clear warning: beware the sin of greed. Obsession with possessions is a terrible temptation. It leads you to value things over God. It leads you to put your trust in things that fall apart and pass away. It tempts you to resent God if you don’t have all you want. It seduces you to believe that your soul is good in God’s eyes because you have enough things. Greed is a dangerous idol, and it’s never satisfied: the more you have, the more you want.

You don’t even have to have possessions to be guilty of the sin. While the rich man in the parable already has all sorts of wealth, Jesus tells the parable because of a man who desires wealth. This whole thing begins with someone saying to Him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” It’s a family squabble, with an inheritance to be shared. Though as God He provides all things, Jesus isn’t there to divide out the family farm: He hasn’t come for such temporal things. He’s come to do what goods and grain, what relaxing and eating and drinking and merriment can’t do: He’s come to save their souls for eternity.

So Jesus warns, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness.” And then He adds, “One’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” We should expand that, too, because you’ll covet and be greedy for more than grain and goods. Your life does not consist in the abundance of your popularity. Your life does not consist in the abundance of your looks or fashion sense. Your life does not consist in the abundance of your health. Your life does not consist in the abundance of the knowledge you’ve accrued, or the peace within your family, or the goals that you’ve attained, or the promotions you’ve received, or the items you’ve crossed off your bucket list. But you’re tempted to covet all of these things, to believe that they are what give you life, and to believe they are good for your soul. But none of these things give life to your soul. Flee these temptations, and repent when you give into them. All of these things are false gods when you put your trust in them, and putting your trust in them reveals even more about you than greed or covetousness.

Now all of this is true, but please note: we’ve answered this all according to the Law. The Law says to guard against all covetousness because it’s a sin, because it’s a sin to believe that your life does consist in the abundance of your possessions. However, there’s some very good news to be found here. If your life does not consist in the abundance of your possessions, then of what does your life consist?

The Lord gives you so much more than the abundance of possessions or other things that will pass away. He gives you gifts that do not pass away. He gives you life that does not pass away. Jesus became flesh and went to the cross for you. He died for you, bearing your sin—including greed and covetousness and every evil desire. He died your death for you, so that you might not go the way of all things in this world which pass away. He rose again to give you life—eternal life in heaven. He has made you a child of God in Holy Baptism, so that now you’re an heir of the kingdom of heaven.

You still have the specter of death hanging around, but you also have hope in Christ. Where you worry about what you do not have, you consider the lilies of the field and the sparrows of the air, knowing how much the Lord cares for them: because you know that Jesus didn’t become a lily to redeem lilies or a sparrow to redeem sparrows. He became man to redeem you: and if He redeemed you at the cost of His own blood, He will not fail to give you forgiveness and life.

You have hope— not nebulous, pie in the sky wishes, but sure and certain hope—and you have this hope because your life does not consist in the abundance of your possessions. You have a much greater abundance than that: your life consists of Christ in you, the hope of glory. Your life consists of His life, because He’s joined you to His death and resurrection so that you might live forever. Your life does not consist of things that pass away, but of Christ who keeps you for eternity. You are rich in heavenly treasure because the Father pours out His riches upon you—grace and life and every blessing in Christ—and you will dwell in His house forever.

You’ll always be tempted to hear Jesus as a killjoy as He warns you against love for the things of this world. But ultimately, His message is this: He has better things to give—eternal things. Your life isn’t the sum total of your possessions. The Lord is your life and your salvation. Eternal life is yours because Jesus pours out abundantly on you the riches of His grace, so that you are forgiven for all of your sins. Thanks be to God for such bounty! In the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

"What did I do to deserve this?"

2011-11-22T00:40:00.001-06:00

I hope you'll pardon this departure from my usual fare. This has been on my mind for a long time, and it's time to get it out.

It was September of 1984, and I was coming off one of the best summers of my life. That summer my baseball team went 10-2 in the regular season and in the playoffs won the North Tonawanda American Little League minor division championship. Baseball was everything to me back then, and, in all modesty, I was a big part of why my team did so well that year. I was the star pitcher. Of course, it wasn’t hard to be a star pitcher when you’re one of the biggest people in the league and all you have to do is throw a baseball as hard and as straight as you can. Even so, it meant a lot to me, and that accomplishment had the potential to boost me into a great school year.

I don’t remember how it happened. Maybe my classmates had a meeting to decide who the whipping boy for the year would be. Maybe I did something really stupid on the bus on the way to school that first day—though I don’t recall doing anything any more stupid than usual. Maybe it was just that at age 10 or 11 you discover just how great is your potential to be beastly to someone else, and you want to try it out as often as you can. Whatever it was, from that first day onward throughout my whole fifth grade year, I was at the receiving end of daily bullying—and when I say daily, I mean every day, throughout the whole day. If the teacher’s back was turned, my ears would be finger-flicked or my back would be poked with anything from a finger to a ruler to the point of a pencil. Walking down the hall, I would be tripped or punched or kicked or pushed into a wall or mocked by a collection of my classmates. A couple of my more creative classmates made up a song about my underwear. In the lunch room, crumbs would be dropped on me or drinks would be spilled on me or my sandwich would be smooshed or my bag lunch would be taken and hidden or thrown away. In gym class and recess Dodgeball was the big game, and when we played with multiple balls, the biggest and fastest and strongest boys on the other team would line up with all the balls and throw them at me as if this were an execution and I was the one with the cigarette in my mouth and the blindfold over my eyes—and they didn’t even have the decency to give me a cigarette or a blindfold. I couldn’t avoid gym class, of course, but for recess, my teacher actually gave me permission to sit in our classroom, where I would play games on the computer while everyone else ran around and worked out at least some of their aggression on someone other than me. All of this took place at a Christian day school.

I don’t know how I survived that year. I guess, in a way, I was fortunate. I wasn’t the biggest kid in the school, but even as the youngest kid in our class I was one of the biggest. I wasn’t the fastest kid, but I was one of the fastest. I wasn’t the smartest kid, but I was one of the smarter ones. I did what I could to outsmart the fastest kids, outrun the biggest kids, and use my size to my advantage in dealing with the smarter boys. I couldn’t escape most of the time, but at times I was able to avoid some of the worst of the abuse. Nevertheless, it was a long year, full of physical and emotional pain and the constant demolition of my self-confidence.

The thing about bullying is that it doesn’t just affect you where it’s taking place, and it doesn’t just affect you while it’s happening. During the worst of the bullying, it wasn’t just that I was being hurt. I had trouble paying attention in class because I was constantly worrying about where or when the next attack would be. I sat in the front seat on the bus and tried to stay away from the rest of the kids—most of whom weren’t in my class, many of whom weren’t even from my school. When I got home, I didn’t say much to my parents, and I don’t think I ever told them why I was so withdrawn all the time. And I certainly couldn’t tell them I was being bullied—after all, I thought, who wants a son who whines to his parents about his problems instead of taking care of the problems himself? My teachers knew, and while one of them was at least sympathetic enough and let me hide in the classroom during recess, the other teacher (who doubled as the principal) seemed content to let it go, as if our classroom was the world of Lord of the Flies and my daily swatting was just a natural part of our world.

And the consequences of that one year of bullying? Where do I begin? The next summer, playing baseball, my favorite thing in the whole world, I constantly had to fight the voices in my head that kept nagging that I wasn’t good enough—and at times those voices were too loud to overcome. I had a lousy season, and that, of course, ruined my whole summer. But that’s a relatively minor aftereffect. Much bigger than that was the horrible state my self-confidence was left in after that year. I had become mired in indecision, fearing where any decision would take me. I was riddled with self-doubt. Nothing I did was good enough. And I wasn’t good enough. Nothing about me was good enough. My relationships with family members and friends suffered because I felt I couldn’t talk to them about what was going on or what had gone on in school. And I tried never to stand out too much at anything, for fear that standing out would make me a target again. My lack of self-confidence helped cut-short or delay my dreams of professional baseball (which were probably unrealistic anyway, but dreams are allowed to be that way), teaching music, writing novels, and a great many of my other desires. I didn’t date at all in high school and very little in college, in large part because I never had the confidence to ask out even girls who seemed to like me. (And yes, as an adult I know that dating in high school can be rather silly, but tell that to my fifteen year-old self.) And the one girl I did date in college for more than the proverbial cup of coffee was someone who lived hundreds of miles away, and we seldom saw each other, so I always had time to screw up my courage and hide my self-loathing before we got together in person.

To this day I don’t understand it. Was it because I was the youngest person in the class? Was it because I was skinny as a twig back then? Did I stutter back then—or was the stuttering problem I have to this day caused by the bullying of that year? Were my classmates jealous of me for some unknown reason—and if so, what on earth could I have possibly had that would make them jealous? If it seems like I’m grasping at straws, it’s because I have absolutely no idea what it was about me that would make me a target. I think about the reasons kids are bullied today—homosexual tendencies, being the member of a minority in society, having different religious beliefs, coming from a poorer household, whatever—and none of those really applied to me. (And I’m not saying any of those traits make someone worthy of being bullied.) Oh, sure, my family didn’t have a lot of money, but that wasn’t really something we talked about back then. I wore sneakers and jeans and t-shirts or polo shirts just like everyone else.

It’s been twenty-six years since that school year ended. I’ve come a long way since then, of course—graduating high school and college, earning my Master of Divinity degree and my certification for Ordination, meeting Faith and getting married, surviving my unceremonious dismissal from a congregation I was Called to serve, having kids, managing a community center for three years, writing two novels, and a host of other accomplishments which my nine and ten year-old self would have thought impossible. But the aftereffects linger even today, whether it’s my discomfort on the telephone and in large groups of people, the fact that I’ve written two novels and nearly two-hundred poems and have never sought publication for them, my temper combined with my passive-aggressive nature, indecision… The list could go on and on; and as I said, I’ve come a long way in a quarter-century.

Some psychologist or some other mind-bender once said that bullying is as harmful for the bully as it is for the victim. In the sense of eternal life, I suppose that could be true. But as one who was bullied and who has fought for over twenty-five years to overcome the damage which being bullied did to my psyche, I doubt that the psychological damage done by beating up on someone day after day is as profound as the psychological damage done by being beaten up physically and mentally without reprieve.

I do not say all this to garner pity, and I don’t say all this because I hold a grudge. In the time that has gone by, I’ve grown and become a loving and God-fearing adult, and the man I am today has a lot to do with what happened in fifth grade (and seventh grade, too, by the way, though not as badly). And as for a grudge, I’ve since become friends with some of the people who participated in my bullying. Though I’ve never spoken this to them—why bring up bad memories for me or shame for them—I do forgive them. But there are lessons to be learned from all this.

The bullying on which the mainstream media seems to be focusing most these days is the bullying homosexuals receive—and rightly do they focus on it, because it seems to be the most pervasive bullying today. Numerous homosexual friends have commented about the bullying they’ve received from their peers and the complete condemnation they’ve received from the Church. As a Lutheran pastor who believes that the Bible is the inspired, inerrant Word of God, I cannot condone the homosexual agenda or the active homosexual lifestyle. That being said, bullying someone for their homosexual urges is evil, and we as individuals and as citizens of a nation that claims to be a melting pot must be more loving toward our fellow man. And as the Church, while we must of course continue to speak forthrightly regarding all sin and must not give in to the postmodern “tolerance” which says that each person decides what is right and wrong for himself, we must not fail to demonstrate the love of Christ, the One who loved all sinners so much that He died for them.

Bullying comes in all forms, and it is aimed at people of all shapes, sizes, races, colors, creeds, languages, and all other differences. You don’t have to be a homosexual or a racial minority or a woman or a Muslim or Jew or speak with an accent or have a physical or mental disability to be the victim of bullying. Sometimes bullies are people who are just like you.

But more important than that, bullying doesn’t have to be the end. It hurts. A lot. Believe me when I say that I know just how badly it hurts and how much someone being bullied just wants it to end. But what someone else thinks of you or even what someone else does to you doesn’t mean that you have to believe what they say, and you don’t have to allow yourself to be victimized by what they do. Tell your parents. Tell your teachers. If your teachers are unsympathetic, tell your principal. If your principal is unsympathetic, tell your school board. Tell a police officer. Tell anyone who will listen. Seek support from wherever you can. Don’t let someone else’s evil bring about your destruction. Don’t even think about ending your own life. There is more to you than what anyone else can say or do to you. And no matter what, even if you can find no other avenue of support, you can commend all this to your Father who is in heaven. He will never leave you or forsake you.

Be still, and know that I am God…

—Psalm 46:10

Audio: Sermon for 11/20/11

2011-11-21T10:48:00.000-06:00

Click this link to download and hear the audio from my sermon for November 20, 2011. Or check out the sermon, which is embedded below.

Sermon for 11/20/11--Last Sunday of the Church Year (LSB 1-year)

2011-11-20T07:11:00.000-06:00

Wise Virgins

Matthew 25:1-13

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The point of today's parable is preparation. Simply put, there were five virgins who were prepared to meet the bridegroom and celebrate his marriage; and there were five virgins who were not prepared and were excluded from the festivities. Both preparation and the lack of preparation carry consequences in every area of life. The student who refuses to prepare for a difficult exam will likely fail the test. The athlete who neglects preparation will likely lose. But the consequences of the lack of spiritual preparation far outweigh a failed test or a lost game. As our parable shows us, the consequences are eternal.

Jesus calls the five virgins who were prepared "wise." Now, in the Scriptures, wisdom is not equated with a high IQ or great learning. One may be wise without being very smart. In the Bible wisdom is seeing things from God's perspective. It is no wonder, then, that Moses prays in Psalm 90, "Teach us so to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom." Moses' prayer is not simply that we might be smart, but that we might see our fleeting days from God's perspective. And so, five of the virgins were wise. They did not live for the moment. They lived as those who had been invited to a wedding. They did not know at what hour the bridegroom would come and lead them into the wedding hall. But they knew that the bridegroom was coming; they were his invited guests. So their lives are lived toward that wedding. Nothing else was as important as was that wedding. So they are prepared for the wait. They check their lamps. They buy extra oil. Their flasks are full. No doubt they seemed kind of foolish lugging around those extra jars of oil. Maybe they were told to loosen up and have a good time, instead of running back and forth to the oil shop. Nevertheless, these wise women paid attention to the oil and when the bridegroom finally arrived, they were prepared ready for the marriage feast. But it was too late for the five foolish virgins. The bridegroom arrives while they’re off to purchase oil. They are unprepared for the feast and unable to enter into the joy of the celebration. The door is shut and they are excluded.

What does this mean for us? Jesus' own explanation of the parable says it all: "Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man is coming." We do not know when the Lord will return. He will come with the suddenness of the flood of Noah's day. He will come with the suddenness which caught the unbelieving population of Sodom and Gomorrah off guard. So Jesus tells us to watch. Watching does not mean speculating about the day or the hour. In the early years of the church, the Apostle Paul had to correct the Thessalonians on this very point. At the turn of the years of both 1000 A.D. and 2000 A.D., the world was predicted to end. And, of course, we’re all familiar with the failed predictions of Howard Camping, who said the world would end two different times this year. And there are many more.

As surely as our Lord came in flesh and blood to suffer and die for the sins of the world, even so He will surely come again to judge the living and the dead. But we do not know the day nor the hour. God calls us not to speculate but to be prepared. Jesus says, "Watch." We are called to vigilance. A church that ceases to watch will lose the Gospel. A church that becomes lazy or complacent regarding God's doctrine is in danger of apostasy, of loss of faith. Therefore, the Apostle Paul writes to Pastor Timothy and all pastors: "Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers." Our watching is not a gazing up into the heavens, but attentiveness to the voice of our Good Shepherd as He speaks to us in His Word. Again Paul wrote to Timothy, "For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings, and will turn away from the truth to wander into myths." We are now living in that evil age. And so we are to watch. We are to watch by clinging to God's Word, hearing it, learning it, and taking it to heart. We, like the virgins in today's parable, are living in the evening of the wedding feast.

We are living in the time when the oil of the Word is still available. In fact, there is more than enough oil. For the oil of the forgiveness of sins purchased and won by our Savior through His atoning death on the cross is for the whole world. There is no shortage of supply in His grace and mercy. This oil is distributed now in the preaching of the Gospel and the giving out of Jesus' body and blood in the Holy Supper. The wise cannot get enough of these for they always give us more of Jesus; and the more we get of Him, the more ready and eager we are to receive Him when He comes again in glory.

The wise know the One for whom they wait. The One who is coming is the Bridegroom, Christ Jesus. He is the Lord who loves His church "and gave Himself up for her, that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water and the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish." He is coming to take the Church as His holy bride. What awaits those who are prepared for the Lamb’s High Feast? What awaits us is a new heaven and a new earth; an end to tears and sorrow; the consummation of our redemption; the fulfillment of our salvation. But for now, we wait for the Lord. The Lord said, “Behold, I am coming soon.” And even as we wait for His glorious return we pray with John, “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.” In the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Audio: Sermon for 11/13/11

2011-11-14T14:54:00.001-06:00

Click this link to download and hear the audio from my sermon for November 13, 2011. Or check out the sermon, which is embedded below. I'm using a different podcast service than before, and this one, buzzsprout.com, is so much easier to use.

Sermon for 11/13/11--Second Last Sunday of the Church Year (LSB 1-year)

2011-11-13T08:02:00.000-06:00

The sermon hymn this morning is The Son of Man Returns in Glory, which is based on the Gospel appointed for the day.

Sheep and Goats

Matthew 25:31-46

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Jesus is coming to judge. The task of judgment has been entrusted to Him by the Father in heaven. All nations will be gathered before His glorious heavenly throne; all the living and the dead from every nation, tribe, people, and language. All will be gathered before Christ, who will appear, enthroned in heavenly splendor surrounded by His angels. Everyone must appear at His summons—there will be no exemptions.

When you hear this Gospel reading, as it was with the Beatitudes last week, the natural reaction of your sinful nature is to take it as a set of guidelines for what you should be doing so that Jesus will allow you to enter heaven. Your fallen human nature concludes from the Word of God that you need do good works if you are going to be counted worthy to enter heaven. It is a constant temptation to take the Word of God and turn it into a list of requirements that you can fulfill that will make you right with God.

Your works will be judged on that day; but we will not be judged by your works. The judgment on that day will not be based on what you have done or left undone, but on what you are. Are you a sheep, or a goat? It really is as simple as that. What you are determines where you go, and the sheep on the right hand hear nothing but blessing. "Come, O blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” You will receive a gift that has been in the works since before the creation of this world. God was at work preparing this gift of salvation for you even before you were born. And please note that it is an “inheritance” that you will receive at God’s right hand, not wages for work done. An inheritance is a gift based not on what you have done, but on the good pleasure of the One who is giving out His gifts.

Simply put, this is the Scriptural doctrine of election, a teaching that unfortunately frightens more people than it should. God has been working for your salvation since before the foundation of the world. He made His promise to Adam and Eve in the garden for you and your salvation. For you He guided Israel out of Egypt and into the promised land. For you He caused His Son to be born of the blessed Virgin Mary, the Son who suffered and died, and rose again, for you. God brought you to His Word through Baptism. Everything has been worked out by God so that His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, could hand over the kingdom to you on that day, and say, “Here; it is all yours. Your Father in heaven has been working on this for a long time.”

On that day, the works of the sheep will be judged righteous. You will be lauded for your works. “I was hungry and you gave Me food, I was thirsty and you gave Me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed Me, I was naked and you clothed Me, I was sick and you visited Me, I was in prison and you came to Me.” Actually, you have not done any of these things by yourself. Jesus did them, and He does these things for others even through unbelievers. After all, plenty of unbelievers do good works for the needy. What’s the difference? The difference is that Jesus receives those works done in faith as works done for Him. “Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.” You will be amazed to learn that you were doing any of these things for the Lord. “When did we do these things?” you will say. You did not see Jesus when you did them. You saw only someone in need and did what anyone would do. Doing something for Jesus was the last thing on your mind. Faith gives food to the hungry, drink to the thirsty, clothing to the naked, welcome to the stranger, comfort to the sick and imprisoned. Faith in Christ does what needs to be done even before the Law demands it.

Jesus is hidden behind the mask of “the least of these My brethren.” The One who fasted for us in the wilderness is hidden in the hungry. The One who cried out from the cross, “I thirst,” is hidden in the thirsty. The One who came as a stranger, despised by His own people, is hidden in the stranger in our midst. The One who became sick unto death with our sin is hidden in the sick. The One who became a prisoner under the Law in our place is hidden in the one who is in prison. Jesus became the least, so that through His poverty we might become rich in God’s mercy. When we love the least, we love Him whose love for us took Him into death.

For the goats the situation is entirely different. They are cursed instead of blessed. “Depart from Me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” The goats hear nothing but condemnation. They rejected the hungry, the thirsty, the stranger, the naked, the sick and imprisoned because they rejected the Christ who was hidden in them. They rejected the One who comes, humbly hidden in water and Word, in bread and wine. They did what comes naturally to unbelief; they refused and rejected the gifts of God. Though God desires none to be condemned, the faithless have rejected God’s goodness. There is no place for them in the Kingdom.

This parable demands a question. Are you a sheep, or are you a goat? Your sin and the Law tells you that you are undeniably a goat by nature. You have neglected those who have required your care; and whatever you have done is not enough. And yet, your Baptism and the Gospel tell you that you are sheep. You have been “branded” with His cross, the seal of Him who died for you. Through His Word, God raises His sheep, those who trust in Jesus and not in themselves. He buries the goat in you in the death of Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He raises the sheep in the life of the Lamb who now lives and reigns forever. This is what the Christian life is about. Scripture calls it “repentance.” And it is what this parable is intended to work in you; to turn goats to sheep. That does not mean that a sinner can make himself into a saint. The sinner must die, and the saint must rise. Only God can make sheep out of goats.

Repentance means to be turned around, to be changed in mind and heart, to have a new name and a new way of seeing things. Once you saw yourself as a goat, with Christ as your Judge. Now you see yourself as sheep with Christ as Your Savior and Shepherd. Remember, you are not judged by what you do, but by what you are. You do not do good works in order to inherit the kingdom; you do them because God’s kingdom is already yours through faith in Jesus Christ. What you do reflects who you are. And the Lord tells you that you are His blessed sheep! In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

I've been there, too!

2011-11-10T11:17:00.002-06:00

I don't remember what it was that first gave my wife cause for concern. Make no mistake: my wife has always been more perceptive about our children than I am, though I would guess that comes naturally after bearing them in the womb for nine...well, in this case, eight months. Anyway, I don't remember what it was that Faith noticed, but after visits with the doctor, a hearing specialist, and a neurologist or three, my son finally received an official diagnosis just before his third birthday: autism.

When the twins were about a year old, before we had noticed that something wasn't right, I remember saying a prayer in which I thanked God for giving us healthy children. I am not a brave man, I admit. Especially after having been forced to make a long-distance move so late in the pregnancy, I had been terrified that one or both of the twins would be born with a developmental disability or some rare disease, something that would require of me reserves of courage or strength or patience or strength of faith (or all of the above) that I'm not sure I have. So when we received the diagnosis of autism for Michael, it was a bit of a kick to the stomach.

So we began to run the gamut: speech therapy, occupational therapy, special education. Meanwhile, here we had a three year-old boy who has all the physical size and strength of a six year-old (Michael may someday play on the offensive line for the Bills or Saints), but he was unable to communicate to us his needs except through screaming fits and tears. Very seldom do Faith and I have opportunities to spend time together alone outside the home. We can't leave Michael with just anyone. It's not that we don't trust our friends or congregation members, but if one of us (or his maternal grandmother) isn't around, it's an invitation to a screaming fit that won't end until one of us is there to comfort him. And taking him out in public isn't always a very good option, either, because he still does have those crying and screaming fits. (Have you seen the dirty looks people give when they hear a screaming kid in a public place? And how long before they call Child Protective Services?)

Michael turns six next month. It's been three years this month since he received his diagnosis. Michael has come a long way. He willingly looks us in the eyes more often. At times he asks for things using complete sentences, though even when he asks for what he wants with one or two words ("grey" or "yellow" meaning jellybeans, "two breads" meaning two slices of bread, etc.), it's still a vast improvement over what used to be crying and screaming jags that could last a half-hour or more. He smiles more often. He kisses us more often. He has even made progress with potty training, though his current "Angry Birds" addiction has put a damper on that. (Long story.) We still don't get out much, though we're thankful that Michael has been able to go sometimes to worship and Sunday School (which Faith is teaching).

I don't write any of this to garner pity. One of the real blessings of all this is the understanding we've been shown by those around us, especially by the members of the congregation I've been called to serve. I've had to regretfully refuse a lot of offers from members to watch the kids--again, not because we don't trust the members of the church, but because of Michael's reactions to the unfamiliar. The members of St. Peter Lutheran in Campbell Hill, Illinois, have been wonderful in their understanding and acceptance of the unusual circumstances surrounding their pastor's family, and that has made our life here so much easier.

God is good. Even in the midst of affliction, tribulation, trouble, our Lord Jesus Christ remains our Rock, our Refuge and Strength. Nothing--and since death can't do it, autism certainly can't: not screaming fits, not crying jags, not changing diapers at an age where most children have been potty trained for over half their life, nothing--will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

For an excellent insider's view of autism and how it affects parents and families, listen to this November, 2008, Issues Etc. interview with Pastor David Petersen of Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Right-click on this link to save it to your computer and listen to it at your leisure, or hit play on the embedded player below. Perhaps the most comforting part of this interview for me was knowing that someone else out there can relate, someone who can say, "I've been there, too. Hang in there. You're doing okay."

Sermon for 11/6/11--Feast of All Saints (observed)

2011-11-06T18:44:00.000-06:00

Blessed

Matthew 5:1-12

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

You’ve all heard the hard sell before—the laundry list of benefits that will be yours if you will only do or buy or be a part of something. “Join this fitness club! We’ll make you into the best you that you can be.” “Apply for this job! We pay top dollar and let you make your own schedule.” “Come to our college! Not only will we give you a full scholarship for a top-rate education, but we’re the best party school in the nation.” But here’s the best one: “Follow me! Be a Christian, a disciple of Jesus! You'll be hated and persecuted!” Wait a minute. That doesn't sound very much like an enticing benefits package. Jesus had all this great stuff to say about being a Christian: be comforted, inherit the earth, see God. That all sounds great—except for the whole “they're going to hate you and kill you” part. Seriously? Does Jesus actually want disciples? If so, this doesn't seem like a very attractive sign-on bonus to advertise. It doesn't seem like a very good way to bring in new folks. And the older you get, as you face a world that really could care less that you're a Christian, or worse, hates you for being one, it's going to seem like the glorious things of the kingdom of God are farther and farther off and the hassles of being a child of God are less and less worth it. Now at this point, a cheerful and happy and worldly preacher like Joel Osteen would tell you: “Just hang in there. Stick it out with Jesus, and everything will turn out all right.” If he mentions Jesus at all, that is.

In many ways the Beatitudes are among the most misunderstood, misapplied words in Scripture. And if they are read wrongly, they can suddenly snap shut on our unbelief with the strong jaws of God's law. If they are romanticized into a pretty slogan appropriate for a wall poster, they suddenly leap from the page and engage us in a battle over who we are and who God is. With that way of looking at the Beatitudes, the Christian faith becomes a religion of payoffs. "God, this morning I was really humble and contrite and sorry. Just look at my face! Now will you give me what I'm asking for?" "God, I pray each day. I study hard. My modesty is a beacon in this dark night of vanity and arrogance! Now will you give me an 'A' on the exam of life?"

We may not be quite as crass as all of that, but the fact is, we live the Christian life grudgingly, with getting a payoff from God the only goal in mind. If I do these things, then I'll be blessed by God. And it's just at this point that the words of the Beatitudes suddenly snap closed on us, for Jesus told His disciples how they were to keep these commands and all other Laws of God. "Be perfect, therefore, as Your heavenly Father is perfect." Jesus didn't say just be good. He said be perfect. You can't mess up even once. Thus, the Beatitudes are no longer words of blessing, but words that curse. All of us are sinful from birth. The "If/Then" formula condemns us, for no one can live by that formula.

On the other hand, if the Beatitudes are just slogans placed on a wall with a pretty picture, read once in a while and forgotten or ignored, then a person is trying to live in two worlds. One is a spiritual world that only exists on Sunday, and not even all day on Sunday. And the other is the real world where the practice is "Blessed are the rich in things, for theirs is prosperity. Blessed are the ones who seek pleasure, for they will always be happy. Blessed are the proud, for they are the movers and shakers. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for more at any cost, for they shall succeed. Blessed are the powerful, for they will never need anything from anyone. Blessed are the impure in heart, for they will keep one step ahead of everyone else. Blessed are the cut throats, for they are the winners."

That is clearly the choice that the Beatitudes present. Either be blessed by the world's standards, or be blessed by the Lord. And so we see a war raging between the Preacher of the Beatitudes and the world. The Beatitudes, then, are fighting words. They have to do with attitudes, with our style of life, with the way we believe and think and live. It is a war against the proud, against those who worship themselves and make themselves gods, against the forces of evil that bless rebellion against God. In either case, when the Beatitudes are misread or misapplied, they lead us to a sense of helplessness. And the Beatitudes are meant for those who know they are helpless! The Beatitudes are meant for those who know they are helplessly lost in sin. And then, once we are helpless and know it, we know where our Help is! Then and only then do the Beatitudes become blessings. If they are read rightly and understood through the eyes of humble faith in Jesus Christ, then they describe the life of blessedness that God has already bestowed on us through the atonement of His Son.

All of Holy Scripture tells us that Jesus is the true Blessed One. He is the Poor in Spirit. He is the One who mourns for the earth. He is the meek and gentle Jesus of Nazareth, God in the flesh, who humbled Himself to be born of a Virgin and was laid in a manger in Bethlehem. He is the One who hungers and thirsts for righteousness, for it is only because He fulfills all righteousness as our Substitute that we can be blessed. He is the merciful One, for only by God's mercy can sin be conquered and forgiven. He is the pure in heart who is holy, the lamb without spot or blemish who takes away the sin of the world. He is the Peace-maker who brings us peace with God. He is the persecuted One who suffered and died for our sins. And that is where the battle ends, the battle between the world and Jesus with His beatitudes. It ends at the cross where Jesus was despised, mocked, and forsaken. At the entrance of the empty tomb, we realize that the Preacher on the mountain was not a mere teacher who spoke fine words. He is the Word made flesh. He is the Savior who spoke and acted for our blessing that we might receive the Beatitude, that we might receive Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior. Through Him we receive every blessing.

The Beatitudes are the promises of the Kingdom, and they are yours already now through Jesus Christ. Blessed are you who know, believe and trust in Jesus Christ. Blessed are you who have been baptized into Jesus Christ. Blessed are you who receive Holy Absolution from the mouth of the one who speaks in the stead of Christ. Blessed are you who receive the body and blood of Jesus Christ in His Holy Supper. Blessed indeed are you, for you live before God in the righteousness of Jesus Christ! In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

HYMN: O, Come and Let Us Sing (Venite: Psalm 95:1-7)

2011-11-02T13:27:00.001-05:00

I was sitting in the family minivan yesterday, waiting for Pastor Buetow to return from a meeting so we could do our Greek Study on the pericope for the observation of the Feast of All Saints this coming Sunday. While I was waiting, I thought about Setting Four of the Divine Service in Lutheran Service Book and how the canticles have been made into hymns. I thought about the Matins service and how the Te Deum has been hymnified more than once (my favorite is "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name", Hymn 940 in LSB). But I've not seen the Venite written as a hymn. It exists, I'm sure, since it's Psalm 95, and every Psalm has been hymnified by someone or other. But I don't remember ever singing one.

Since I'm supposed to be working on my novel for National Novel Writing Month, of course a hymn idea popped into my head. Take this for what it's worth, since it took about, oh, twenty minutes to write. But here it is, anyway.

Oh, and yes, I do know that "hymnified" isn't a real word. I made it up myself, and I like it. Sue me.

O, Come and Let Us Sing

1. O, come and let us sing
Unto the Lord Most High,
And praises to the Rock we bring
Who brings salvation nigh.

2. O, come before His throne
To thank Him for His grace.
O, shout to God, for He alone
Is worthy of our praise.

3. The Lord our God is great—
Above all gods the King.
The deepest depths He did create.
The hills His wonders sing.

4. His are the earth and sea—
He formed them by His Word.
O, let us bow and bend the knee
Before our holy Lord.

5. O sheep, with heav’nly host,
Let us our voices raise.
To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
Forevermore be praise.

© Rev. Alan Kornacki, Jr.
SM (66 86)
Tune: ST. THOMAS (LSB 651)

I don't live to write; I write to live.

2011-10-27T14:40:00.000-05:00

Starting on November 1, for the first time since 2008, I will be participating in National Novel Writing Month, also known as NaNoWriMo. NaNoWriMo participants spend the month of November trying to write at least 50,000 words toward a novel. This is my third attempt. Surprisingly, I have been successful in the first two attempts.

I will be working on the sequel to my 2007 NaNoWriMo project, which was called "Love Divine" and which I may or may not attempt to publish before too much longer. The new project will be called "A Great and Mighty Wonder". I have to say, I'm very excited about this. This new project comes hot on the heels of being published in Higher Things Magazine. It's been three years since my last NaNo attempt, and my life has changed a great deal since the last time I participated. Last time, I was running a community center in southeastern Louisiana. Now I am a pastor in southern Illinois. Last time, my children were young enough that they were taking naps and were generally pretty quiet. Now the twins are nearly six, and they are anything but quiet and sedate. The differences might make the process more difficult, especially since I have no intention of letting the writing process interfere with my various vocations.

If you're taking the ride with me, good luck and God bless you. If not, WHY NOT?!?!? But seriously, if you've ever thought about writing a novel but haven't done it, give NaNoWriMo some thought. Even if you don't make the 50,000 word goal for the month of November, anything you write puts you that much closer to a finished novel. And if you do it in November, you know you'll have hundreds of thousands of other people taking the journey with you.

Good luck, and good writing!

The Exile In Print

2011-10-24T13:31:00.000-05:00

Once again the editors of Higher Things Magazine have demonstrated poor judgment and questionable taste by publishing in their fine magazine an article I wrote. I received my print copy in the mail this weekend, and even knowing the article would be in there, it still gave me a jolt of pleasure to see something I wrote in print. It always does--always being twice so far.

It's funny--not really 'funny ha-ha' or 'funny strange', maybe more like 'funny amazing'--how life works sometimes. I've been writing for pleasure (in other words, for purposes other than schoolwork or as part of my employment) since I was probably fourteen years old. I'd show what I wrote to a few trusted people, but that was it. And after taking a lot of guff while I was in high school from people I trusted about a writing project I had undertaken--I started to write a young adult novel when I was barely a young adult myself--I stopped even showing it to trusted people for a while. I kept writing, but I never thought it was worth anything. I've still got most of those old writings in a file, though I threw out that YA novel start, sadly. But I never really did anything with them.

It wasn't until I was in my junior year of college that I actually submitted something for attempted publication, and that was for the fledgling college newspaper at Concordia College in Bronxville, New York. By the time it was in print, it had been edited so much that I barely recognized it as mine. I didn't submit anything again until I was in my late twenties, and that was the first time I was published in Higher Things Magazine: an article about online relationships.

There is a point in all this, and I swear that I'm getting there.

Once I started blogging, it got easier to attempt to increase the amount of people who read what I wrote. All I had to do was e-mail the web address of my blog to people I hoped would read what I wrote. And now that I've started writing hymns, I've been able to use this gift which God has given me to give glory to Him, not only in my vocation as pastor, but even through something I consider a hobby.

So what's the moral of this story? The point of me saying all this is that I hope that, if you're someone who has something to say, don't be afraid to share it. I lived in fear for much too much of my life. There are things that I could have or should have said, but I left them unsaid because I was afraid of what people might think. Don't be afraid to try. I will never receive as many notices that my work has been published as I have received rejection letters, but that's okay. What I wrote won't always be received as I would hope, but it's not going to stop me from writing. I'm about to begin writing my second novel now, even though I've not fully finished editing the first. God has given me a gift, and I intend to use it as much as possible to the best of my ability. Don't be afraid to do the same. Enjoy what you do, and don't let the critics get you down. Write, paint, compose, or do whatever it is you do for the glory of God and for the sake of your own joy. Even if no one else appreciates it, at least you've found joy in what God has given you.

By the way, if you're not a subscriber to Higher Things Magazine, WHY NOT?!?!? Click here and get started!

Sermon for 10/23/11: Eighteenth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

2011-10-23T07:30:00.000-05:00

What Matters Most

Matthew 22:34-46

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

If someone were to ask you what matters most concerning the Christian faith, what would your response be? Would it be the Golden Rule? Would it be the Ten Commandments? Would it be the virgin birth of Jesus? Would it be the miracles of Jesus? His teachings? His mercy? When someone asked Jesus what the greatest commandment was, Jesus told him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” And then He added, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The whole Law of God hangs on these two things: loving God above all things and loving your neighbor as yourself. But is that the central teaching of the Christian faith?

If it is, you’re in deep trouble. If that’s the center of the Christian faith, the foundation upon which everything else rests, then you must ask yourself the question: How am I doing with that? Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength? Is the Triune God the One you look to for every good thing and seek refuge from in all distress? Do you trust the Father, Son and Holy Spirit with your whole being? And if you think you can honestly answer those questions by saying “yes”, ask yourself when the last time was that you had an impure thought or an evil impulse or even said something that was cruel or hurtful. For sinners it is all too easy to spend time and energy on things that seem much more interesting than God’s Word. And what about your neighbor? Can you honestly say that you love your neighbor as much as you love yourself? Do you grow frustrated with yourself as quickly as you do with the moron in the car that cut you off? Do you lavish on your neighbor the same kind of luxury to which you treat yourself? Do you even offer him the loan of your lousy second-hand golf clubs? And even if you do, do you do it for your neighbor? Or do you do it so you can feel good or so you can receive their gratitude? Love God, and love your neighbor. It sounds so simple. Jesus says that all of Scripture hangs on these two things. That is the religion of works, the religion of the Law. If that is the most important aspect of the Christian faith, then you must ask yourself, “Have I done enough? Am I worthy? Have I earned my salvation?”

All the Law and the prophets hang on those two things. But thanks be to God, Jesus is not saying there that everything depends on the Law or on our obedience to it. Look at what he says. “All the Law and the prophets hang on these two commandments.” So what is the Law? Who are the prophets? And what does Jesus mean by that? The Law and the prophets are what constitute the Old Testament. And what is the Old Testament about? Look at the third chapter of Genesis. Man falls into sin. He cannot live in perfect obedience to the religion of the Law. So the Father promises to Adam and Eve a Savior, One who will crush the head of the satanic serpent. And the rest of the Old Testament points forward to that One, the One who will win the victory over the sin and death which are the price for our inability to perfectly obey the Law. In other words, when Jesus says, “All the Law and the prophets,” Jesus is talking about Himself.

Jesus is the sum of the Law and the prophets, the fulfillment of the Law and the prophets. “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” It’s oddly appropriate that Jesus should use that word “hang”, because that is precisely what Jesus, the sum of the Law and the prophets, does. He hangs on the cross. He hangs on that cross, bearing the punishment we deserve for our lack of obedience to the Law and the prophets. He hangs on the cross as the perfect obedience to those two commandments. In perfect love for His heavenly Father, Jesus hangs on the cross, obediently bearing our sins according to His Father’s will. In perfect love for you, His neighbor, He dies the death your sins deserve, keeping the commandments which you in your sin could not keep. He’s hanging on cross for you, hanging in perfect obedience, hanging in perfect love.

The Pharisees and teachers of the Law have it all wrong. They want to make the Commandments the main thing. They believe the Messiah should give them more Law. They believe He should be a new Moses. But more Law can only increase the burden; it cannot take away the burden of sin. So Jesus goes on to tell them about what truly matters: Himself. He is the Son of David. But He is more than that, He is the one promised to Adam and Eve. He is the one for whom Abraham and Isaac and Jacob waited. He is the one for whom Moses longed. He is the one for whom David prayed. Jesus is both David’s Son and David’s Lord. He is the son of Mary, a direct descendent of King David. But He is also the Son of God, begotten from the Father before all eternity. Only one who is both can save you. Only One who is true God can be perfectly obedient to the Law and the prophets. But only One who is true man like us can die, paying the wages of sin. And only One who is both true God and true man can die that death on behalf of all of mankind.

So what is the most important thing, what matters most in the Christian faith, is this: Jesus, true God and true Man, loves the Lord your God with all His heart, with all His soul, and with all His mind; and Jesus, true God and true Man, loves your neighbor as He loves Himself. This is what matters most, because your salvation hangs on His love. Your salvation does not depend on your diet. It does not depend on your clothing. It does not depend on your obedience to the Law. Your salvation is this: Jesus Christ has died bearing your sins, and He has risen to raise you up with Him. This is the center, the foundation, the cornerstone of your faith and life. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 10/16/11: Seventeenth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

2011-10-19T10:55:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay on this one. This weekend and week beginning has been insane.

Once again I found myself preaching on the Lord's Supper on a non-Communion Sunday. It's strange, pointing to an empty altar and inviting people to partake of what's not there.

___________________________

Table Manners

Luke 14:1-11

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Upon hearing today's Gospel reading, you might think that Jesus is simply giving us some advice about good table etiquette. It could seem as if he's just outlining proper protocol when you're at a special meal or banquet. However, Jesus is obviously doing more here than teaching etiquette. First of all, he's exposing our sinful tendency to exalt ourselves. In Jesus' day, there would be a very clear ordering to the seats at a special meal, from the greatest to the least. Jesus' spoke these words when he noticed how everyone was trying to get the most honored places for themselves.

I'm sure that every one of us here can identify with that desire. At a wedding reception or out with friends at a restaurant, we want to be seated in the right place and be associated with the most liked people, to exalt and build ourselves up before others. We even want to pick the perfect pew. Jesus exposes and condemns this urge in us to put ourselves first. He says, "Whoever exalts himself will be humbled."

In fact, so ingrained in us is this sinful urge, that we hear Jesus' words and turn them against their intended meaning. We say to ourselves, "Oh, so that's what I should do next time I'm at a special meal. I should choose the worst possible spot so that someone will be sure to invite me over to a better spot, and then I'll look good in front of everyone." Thus, even our humility is shown to be tainted and false. It's just another technique to get where we want to be. It is self-centeredness wearing the mask of modesty. If nothing else, our lack of humility is revealed in the fact that we pride ourselves on being fairly humble people. No one who thinks he's humble actually is.

In this Gospel, then, Jesus is calling you to true humility, the humility which St. Paul speaks of in Philippians 2: "Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each consider others better than himself." Jesus is calling you to the kind of humility that is not only outward but from the heart, that is modest not only before other people but also meek and lowly in the eyes of God. Ultimately then, Jesus is calling you to the humility of repentance, of confessing your self-exalting sin, of acknowledging that you have no power to achieve real humility and that you don't deserve any place at God's table, high or low.

The humility which God seeks is a lowly and contrite and penitent heart, a heart which says, "There is nothing in me that merits anything from God or that requires Him to do any good to me. Therefore, I trust not in my own works but in the works which He has performed for me in His Son Jesus. My help does not come from within but from outside of me, from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. My hope is in Him alone." It is this repentant faith which God seeks, to humble yourself before God that He may lift you up, that He may say to you, "Friend, come to a higher place," to receive your place at the table as a gift from the Master of the feast–not because you've finagled it for yourself, but because out of His great love and mercy, the Lord has freely exalted you and has earned for you the privilege of sitting at the heavenly banquet.

Jesus earned this privilege for you by fulfilling His own words. He put Himself in the lowest place in order to save you. He who is the Almighty Son of God, having taken on your humanity, was born in a lowly manger, lived as a poor and humble carpenter, had no home of his own during His ministry and no place to lay his head. He finally died the way the worst of criminals died, by being executed on a cross. Christ didn't claim glory and honor for Himself but laid aside His majesty as King of creation to be crowned with thorns and to be made the lowest of the low. All this He did for you. He received the punishment you deserved so that you might be released from your sin and set free. In Christ, the humble Redeemer, you now are forgiven. Jesus has fulfilled these words for you, "He who humbles Himself will be exalted."

Our Lord Jesus is indeed the most honorable one at this feast, the one who took the lowest place and who has now been called to the highest place at the table by His heavenly Father. For this is Christ's own wedding feast, the celebration of His holy union with the Church, His bride. And if He is honored, then she also is honored with Him. By faith in Christ you are joined to Him in such a way that you now share in His exaltation. Even as Jesus took your death into Himself and destroyed it on the cross, so now by the power of His resurrection He lifts you up in His new life. To you who humble yourself before God, who repent of your sin and trust in Christ, the Father says, "Friend, go up higher." And He seats you with Christ in the heavenly places and gives you to partake of His glory, a reality that will be revealed in all its fullness at the close of the age. This is what Jesus means when He says, "He who humbles himself will be exalted." You who in lowly faith follow Christ and share in His cross in this world will ascend with Him in the next and share in His everlasting life.

As you await that day, the Lord invites you to come to His table, to the foretaste of the wedding feast. You are bidden to take the lowest place, that is, to come in all humility before God as a repentant sinner. No one who comes to the Lord's Table is any better or higher than another. All are unworthy to take part in the feast. All are as nothing before the King. To claim otherwise is to dishonor the King and to be cast away from His presence. You are urged, then, to come to the Lord's Supper as beggars, as ones with nothing to give and everything to receive. Come as the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. For in the Supper the Lord Jesus bestows upon you the greatest honor that heaven has to offer, to receive His true and living body and blood. Here Christ comes to you personally and concretely to lift you up out of the pit and to raise you to heaven. Just as Jesus healed the man in the Gospel, so also in the Sacrament He heals all your ills of body and soul. Through His holy Meal, He cleanses you of your sin, He fills you with His life, and He prepares your body for the resurrection on the Last Day. God grant each of you, then, to have those heavenly table manners Jesus speaks of, that humbling yourself with Christ, you may also be exalted together with Him. In the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

GUEST POST: Sermon for 10/9/11--Sixteenth Sunday After Trinity

2011-10-10T09:06:00.000-05:00

We at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Campbell Hill, Illinois, were blessed to have as our Mission Speaker the Reverend Paul Philp. Pastor Philp is the Director of Academic Planning and Assessment at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, Missouri. He spoke to our Bible Class about the seminary, and then he delivered the Word to us in the Divine Service. (For me, especially, the message he preached was timely.)

Pastor Philp does not preach from a manuscript, as I do, but his outline has enough detail to it that even I was able to connect the dots. Thank you, Pastor Philp, for sharing with us the vital message of the Resurrection of Jesus and the resurrection of all flesh!

The Sixteenth Sunday After Trinity (LSB – 1)

“A Funeral Ruined”

St.Luke 7:11-17

October 9, 2011

St. Peter Lutheran Church – Campbell Hill, IL

Intro: Etiquette! Every event has a certain etiquette that goes with it. We all generally know what proper etiquette is, and can easily identify those who do not in a given situation. They tend to stand out from the crowd rather easily. Weddings have proper etiquette. There is proper etiquette for inviting someone to your home, or accepting an invitation to another’s home. There is proper etiquette for gathering together as a congregation for worship. And yes, there is a proper etiquette for funerals. Those in our text seem to know the proper etiquette for a funeral, that is, except for Jesus!

I. Funeral Etiquette

A. You probably are well familiar with proper funeral etiquette today.

1. It is generally accepted, even in a more casual society that you dress nicely for a funeral.

2. Generally there are certain things that you do not say about the deceased – usually only the good things are spoken of.

3. The family is comforted with the typically almost cliché comments.

4. You perhaps send a sympathy card, maybe a floral arrangement, or perhaps a donation to a charity of the family’s choosing.

5. In all circumstances you maintain a sense of dignity and you do not interrupt the proceedings – that would ruin the funeral!

B. There was funeral etiquette in Nain as well.

1. The people would gather to comfort the bereaved – in this case a widow who had not lost her only-begotten son. A widow who would soon be forgotten.

2. The body would be carried out of the city for burial.

3. Mourning would take place among the crowd.

4. The proceedings would be carried out without interruption.

5. And, no one, except those charged with carrying the body to its final resting place would dare come into contact with the body lest they become unclean.

6. All generally accepted, understood, and adhered to practices of the day.

7. For to do otherwise would ruin the funeral!

II. Jesus’ Funeral Etiquette is different.

A. Jesus witnesses the circumstances and is filled with compassion.

1. He is filled with a deep gut wrenching compassion for the widow who has lost her son.

2. He is filled with the type of compassion that leads to the pouring out of His rich mercy and grace.

3. Filled with compassion – Jesus acts – and He breaks all the rules of Etiquette.

B. Jesus stops the funeral.

1. He interrupts the flow of the funeral procession and stops it at the gate of Nain.

a. This funeral procession is not proceeding any further.

b. Jesus stops it dead in its tracks.

c. Jesus is starting to ruin this funeral.

d. But Jesus’ funeral etiquette is different.

2. Jesus demonstrates His compassion for the woman.

a. He addresses her weeping.

b. He tells her – “Do not go on weeping!”

(1) Do not go on weeping?

(2) Has Jesus totally missed the fact a funeral is in progress?

(3) Does He not realize that this woman is a widow who has no lost her only son?

(4) Does He not know that she will now likely be destitute and unable to support herself?

(5) Do not go on weeping? Jesus’ words are a tremendous breach of funeral etiquette – He is well on His way to ruining the funeral.

(6) But Jesus’ funeral etiquette is different.

3. Jesus touches the bier!

a. He walks right up to the dead body and touches it.

b. He enters into the unclean regions of death and touches it.

c. He makes Himself unclean in the face of death.

d. Jesus has created a tremendous breach of etiquette.

e. This funeral is pretty much ruined at this point – too many inappropriate interruptions have transpired.

f. But Jesus’ funeral etiquette is different.

C. Jesus performs a miracle.

1. Jesus speaks.

a. Not to the widow.

b. Not to His disciples.

c. Not to the crowd of mourners.

d. No, Jesus speaks to the only person at this funeral who no one would expect to hear what He has to say.

e. Jesus speaks to the dead man!

2. With a Word – Jesus ruins this funeral!

a. This funeral is over.

b. The mourners can go home.

c. There is no more death.

d. For with a Word – Jesus raises the dead to life.

e. “Young man, I say to you, be raised up!”

3. Jesus Commands Life.

a. The dead man sits up.

b. Life is commanded and death retreats.

c. The funeral is over.

d. The funeral is ruined with life and resurrection.

e. The funeral is undone.

f. Jesus’s funeral etiquette is different!

4. Jesus does not allow death to reign – He brings resurrection to every funeral He attends!

a. The funeral here in Nain.

b. The death of Jairus’ daughter.

c. The funeral of Lazarus of Bethany.

d. And most especially – His own funeral!

e. Jesus does not let death reign – He commands Life and death retreats!

5. Jesus does what He came to do.

a. Just a few verses after our text – John’s disciples come to Jesus to ask if He is the Christ – the Messiah.

b. Jesus response –

(1) The blind see.

(2) The lame walk.

(3) The lepers are cleansed.

(4) The poor receive the Good News.

(5) The dead are raised to life!

c. Jesus ruining of the funeral at Nain – His reversal of death – is proof that He is the very Messiah of God.

d. While at Nain the widow’s was raised to life – he no doubt died again – Jesus is not done with Life Reining here. The widow’s son will live again.

(1) Jesus will touch the uncleanliness of death again.

(2) When He does – He Himself will become unclean.

(3) He will take the filth of sin and death upon Himself.

(4) This time the funeral procession will proceed.

(5) His bloodied, broken, lifeless body would be carried from the Cross to a rock hewn tomb.

(6) He would be buried.

(7) It would appear, as it did at Nain, that another widow’s only son was dead and gone forever.

(8) But just as the widow at Nain saw her son live again – so also would the widow Mary.

(9) For Christ who died, has been raised to life.

(10) Jesus ruined His funeral three days after it took place!

(a) The burial could not be finished.

(b) He commanded life – and death retreated.

(d) And unlike the widow’s son at Nain, Jesus did not and will not die again.

(e) Jesus resurrection ruined not just His funeral, but the funeral of all the faithful.

III. Jesus changes the funeral etiquette for us.

A. Like the widow’s son – we will all die.

1. Like that son, each of us is filled with the unclean filth of sin.

2. Eventually, that sin will kill us – our life on earth will end.

3. Our bodies will be carried out of the city for burial.

4. There will be crowds gathered to mourn our death.

5. Those gathered there will not expect to see us living again in the midst of our funeral procession, any more than those at Nain expected life in the midst of death.

6. But life is as certain for us as it was for the widow’s son the day of our text – and even more so.

7. For you see – your funeral is already over!

B. You have already died.

1. You have died.

2. You have been buried.

3. In Christ’s tomb.

4. Drowned in the Word drenched waters of Holy Baptism.

5. Yes – it is true – there in the font – you died and were buried.

6. Your funeral procession was on full display for all those gathered around to see.

7. And just like at Nain – Jesus ruined your funeral!

a. It was not at a city gate.

b. Rather it was in the bottom of a watery grave – filled with the filth of your sin that Jesus descended into that sinful uncleanness and spoke a Word of Life.

c. Jesus commanded Life and death retreated.

d. Jesus words sounded like this on the lips of your pastor – “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.”

e. Jesus marked you with His cross on your forehead and your heart and commanded Life – His Life.

f. And death retreated!

8. For out of that watery grave – Christ has raised you to life in Him.

a. You will, unless He returns before then, still die a physical death.

b. But you will NEVER die again – for Christ has raised you in His resurrection.

c. All that remains in your watery grave is your sin – made clean in the Blood of Christ.

d. Your tomb is empty just like Jesus’ tomb.

C. Physical death and your funeral.

1. Yes – you will die.

2. It will seem as though death retreated only to strike again at a more opportune time.

3. It will – as your family stands next to a hole in the ground seem like this time death as won – just like the widow thought at Nain.

4. But not so – no Christ has already raised you from eternal death.

5. Your grave is far less of a challenge – Jesus can and will raise you with a Word – just like the widows Son.

6. For Christ has died – Christ has been raised – and Christ will come again!

7. When Christ comes again – your funeral – no matter how long in the past will be ruined forever!

8. For when Christ comes again:

a. He will stand at your grave.

b. He will open it with a Word.

c. He will speak and you will be raised.

d. He will call out your name and say to you – “I say to you, be raised up.”

e. And you will be raised up!

D. For Jesus’ funeral etiquette is different!

1. Death does not reign at funerals that Jesus attends.

2. He stops death dead its tracks.

3. Jesus commands life and death retreats.

4. On the day of the LORD when Jesus the Christ of God commands Life – death will retreat once and for all – for death stands defeated – Christ is victorious.

5. Jesus has ruined every funeral including yours – Life reigns.

IV. So now our funeral etiquette is different.

A. Gone is the hopeless mourning.

1. We may weep for a time.

2. But Christ comes and says to us – “Do not go on weeping”

3. He comes and commands Life.

B. Gone are the empty platitudes and cliché comments

1. We recognize death as the terrible thing that it is.

2. We recognize that it is not a natural part of life.

3. We recognize that sin and death have their way for a time.

4. But in Christ – we do not mourn without hope.

C. No in the face of death we rejoice.

1. We rejoice in the Life in Christ.

2. We rejoice that Christ has commanded life and death has retreated.

3. We rejoice that Christ is raised and so also will the dead in Christ be raised.

4. We rejoice because we have already been raised.

D. With the crowd at Nain we confess:

1. “A great prophet has been raised up among us.”

2. “God has visited His people.”

3. And to the whole world we send the resounding message – Christ is Risen! He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

Conc: Every event has proper etiquette. Funerals have proper etiquette! The proper etiquette for the Christian funeral – well it looks just like Jesus’ funeral etiquette, because Jesus is there! He is there having stopped death in its tracks. He is there having given His body and shed His blood. He is there having claimed the dead as His own. Indeed proper funeral etiquette is that Life is Commanded and death retreats and the faithful of God – they enter into eternal life and the Marriage Feast of the Lamb in His Reign which has no end. As those who have been raised to life, whose funerals have been ruined by Christ, gathered in the Divine Service there is a proper etiquette too – Come to the table of the LORD and receive His Body and His Blood poured out for you His resurrected people! Death has retreated! Christ has died! Christ has risen! Christ will come again! To Him be the Glory! Amen!

HYMN: Lord Jesus, Dwelling with Us

2011-10-03T07:00:00.001-05:00

The Gospel for the Fourteenth Sunday After Trinity is St. Luke 17:11-17. As I was working on my sermon, I thought about Jesus and how He is the Priest to whom the Samaritan leper shows himself after Jesus heals him. The Samaritan could not have showed himself to the priest in the Temple; as a Samaritan he was unclean by birth. Yet in faith he showed himself to Jesus, the true High Priest. That popped this hymn idea into my head. As research I also delved into Leviticus 14, which explains the ritual for cleansing healed lepers. Here we go . . .

Lord Jesus, Dwelling With Us

1. Lord Jesus, dwelling with us:
Immanuel, Most High,
The Father’s love you give us.
Redemption You bring nigh.
Have mercy, holy Jesus.
Your healing work begin.
From leprosy release us:
The leprosy of sin.

2. O holy Priest, now cleanse us
With sacrificial blood.
From Satan’s wiles defend us.
Defeat his viper brood.
Have mercy, holy Jesus.
In Your great love draw near.
No more can Satan please us.
Our Savior now is here.

3. O Lamb of God, anointed
As offering for sin,
You are the one appointed
Our peace with God to win.
Have mercy, holy Jesus.
Preserve our souls from hell.
“Be free of sin’s diseases;
Your faith has made you well.

4. O Temple for the nations,
In mercy hear our prayer.
Lord, grant Your full salvation
To all whom You draw near.
Have mercy, holy Jesus.
Our thankful hearts we raise.
Your boundless mercy frees us
To sing Your endless praise.

(c) Rev. Alan Kornacki, Jr.
76 76 D
Tune: ANTHES (LSB 527) or EWING (LSB 672)

Sermon for 10/2/11: Fifteenth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

2011-10-02T08:25:00.000-05:00

Do Not Worry

Matthew 6:24-34

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Life is certainly no bed of roses. We have plenty in our lives to cause us concern. And however long the list of worries for tomorrow may be, you don’t have to look past today for enough worry to overwhelm you if you let it. You know it very well. All it takes is one mistake to throw your life into a tailspin. You only have to get drunk and climb behind the wheel one time to wind up in jail for manslaughter. You only have to say one wrong thing at the wrong time or to the wrong person to lose your job or your best friend. One moment of wandering attention is enough to lose a child in a crowd.

But even more than the petty worries about daily life, eternal death hangs over you. Death reveals itself already in your thoughts, words, and deeds, in the things you think to do, and in the things you leave undone. Death is the curse hanging over your heads, and the sin which you know today is the lethal poison which infiltrates you and robs you of all joy, all good, all life. You already know this. You don't need me to remind you. You know your fate in life well enough. But eternal death—eternal damnation—hangs over you like a plague.

In his Large Catechism explanation of the First Commandment, Martin Luther wrote, “What is it to have a god? Or, what is one’s god? Answer: To whatever we look for any good thing and for refuge in every need, that is what is meant by ‘god’. To have a god is nothing else than to trust and believe in him from the heart. . . . To whatever you give your heart and entrust your being, that, I say, is really your God.” Through sin, we have acquired a perverse idea of God, the notion that His nature is to punish and condemn us into eternal death. Indeed, it is true that the very sin which troubles us all every day merits that very fate. But this is not the proper will of God. The proper will of God is to do as He has always done for you—to give you life, and every good thing you need! Do not mistake what I am saying. I am NOT saying that God will not consign to hell unrepentant sinners. This He most certainly does, for He is a righteous and holy God, who will by no means tolerate such corruption and evil. But having said this, the fact is that God does most fervently desire that you live now and forever in His holiness, peace, and joy.

But shouldn’t we worry? Doesn't Jesus point out the sufficiency of today's troubles which afflict your life? Indeed He does. But He also shows us that there is Another One who has not only worried about this trouble, but has actually gone to the heart of it and done something fundamental about it. Jesus points you to the love of God the Father, pointing to the birds and saying, "Your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?" God created you; His nature is to love and provide for you.

Even as the Lord your God has not only created but also sustained you in this life, so He also has in Jesus gotten to the root of today's trouble: your sin and death. So valued and treasured are you that the Father has given you His Son, who took off from Himself all His glory and humbled Himself to be born a man. Jesus has in His own body and soul gotten to the root of the very trouble which is sufficient for the day. He, the righteous One, in order to once and for all satisfy the requirement of God's holiness against sin, has taken your sin, become Sin personified for you, and suffered the full measure of wrath. Jesus Himself took upon Himself the trouble of your day into His own death on the cross; and in Christ's death you now live. In His dying the cost of your sin is fully paid, and the will of God against sinners is fully realized. You live, both now and forever.

I’m not saying that you shouldn’t be concerned about doing your job correctly or that your children are late coming home or that there’s nothing in the cupboard for dinner. God gives you responsibilities in your various vocations, and you are right to want to take care of these concerns. These are not selfish concerns; they are what Father Luther calls “concerns of love”. But even these things, they rest in the Lord’s hands. You commend them to the Lord, and He guides and sustains you.

You, in Jesus, are the Father's delight. In Holy Baptism you have been clothed in Christ’s own righteousness, which adorns you more beautifully than was King Solomon in all his splendor, even more beautifully than the flowers which adorn the field. Don't you know that, through Baptism, you are the most beautiful thing in the world to the Father? And He greatly desires you to adorn His Table, where He would feed you on the most precious Body and Blood of your Savior. This is the meal given for you, for such a feast may only be given by grace. Only your Savior Jesus could ever have earned for you such marvelous, life-giving fare.

Jesus Christ died bearing your sins to the cross, and then He rose from the dead. In Holy Baptism you died with Him and were raised with Him. That is sufficient to cover your worries for today; it is sufficient to cover your worries for tomorrow; it is sufficient to cover your worries for every day of the rest of your life; and, most importantly, it is sufficient for your eternal life. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 9/25/11: Fourteenth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

2011-09-25T08:19:00.000-05:00

Jesus the Priest

Luke 17:11-19

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Thanks to advances in medicine, leprosy is not a disease that we worry about today. That was not always the case. In the ancient world, leprosy was a dreadful disease. To be infected with this disease was to face a grim future that included infection and disfigurement, exclusion from the community, and ultimately death. These lepers lived a life of living death. Their disease cut them off from their families and their communities. They were, according to the Law, unclean and therefore without access to the presence of God. Now these men—one of whom was a Samaritan—were bound together by their affliction. Under ordinary circumstances they would have had nothing to do with each other. The Jews would have considered the Samaritan unclean. But now they are tied together by this common bond.

Luke tells us that as the Lord Jesus made His way through the midst of Samaria and Galilee on his way to Jerusalem, he approaches an unnamed village. And as He approaches that village, these ten lepers standing afar off cry out to Him: "Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!" They dare not get to close for the law kept them apart less they spread their disease. They were judged to be contagious. They could only cry out from a distance for mercy. They speak their prayer for us mercy for they know themselves to be in need of mercy. Mercy is God withholding from us the wrath and judgment that we deserve. If grace is God giving us the favor that we do not deserve, then mercy is God not giving us the punishment that our sins deserve. Mercy is that divine pity that will not let sin have its way with us and pay us off in death. So just as in the Divine Service, where the Lord Jesus approaches us in His Word, and we cry out in the Kyrie, "Lord, have mercy upon us"; these men implore the same Lord to have mercy. They beg Him not to turn away from them in their need.

Now Jesus answers that prayer in what appears to be a strange sort of way. In effect, He tells these lepers to act as though they were already healed. He says, "Go, show yourselves to the priests." In the Old Testament Book of Leviticus, those who thought that their leprosy was cured were instructed to present themselves to the priests. The priest was to examine the leper and if his leprosy was indeed gone, the priest would perform a rite of purification and cleansing and offer the appointed sacrifice. Leviticus says, "So the priest shall make atonement for him, and he shall be clean."

So these lepers take Jesus at His word and off they run to the priest. Luke writes, "And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed." Can you imagine their sheer joy as they look down at their hands and arms to discover that the hideous disease is gone? Gone are the things that had characterized their existence as lepers. Luke doesn't tell us how they responded to the healing. No doubt they went to the priests, were examined, declared clean, offered the sacrifices and returned to the their homes full of gratitude that their flesh was restored to health and that they were reunited to family and friends. Luke zeroes in the leper who could not have gone to the temple; he could not be seen by a priest because he was a Samaritan. He was doubly unclean. He was unclean because of his leprosy, but he was also unclean because he was a Samaritan. The temple was off-limits to him.

So what does this Samaritan do? Listen again to the words of our Gospel: "Now one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God, and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks." It is not merely that the Samaritan has enough good manners and common civility to return to say "thanks" while the other nine men were self-absorbed and didn't have the decency to express their gratitude to Jesus. Rather, the Samaritan comes to confess that Jesus is God in the flesh, for it is Jesus who has healed him from leprosy and restored him to life.

The Samaritan's worship at the feet of Jesus is a confession that Jesus is the Temple of God; He is the Priest who gives us access to God. The temple was the place where God caused His glory to dwell. Hallowed by His name, the temple was the place where God had located His presence for His people. But now that temple of mortar and stone is fulfilled and replaced by Immanuel, God in the flesh.

In the Old Testament, the temple was the place of sacrifice. The sacrifices were the means that God had appointed for the covering of sins and the cleansing of those who were defiled by their sin. And those sacrifices pointed to Jesus Christ who came in our flesh as the Lamb of God to bear our sin and be our Redeemer. He came without spot or blemish, perfect man and true God to die as the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the world. He is both the priest and victim of sacrifice. By His death, He has blotted out our sin.

The Samaritan ex-leper got it right! He knew where to worship. He fell down at the feet of Jesus glorifying Him and giving thanks for all His benefits. Jesus Christ, the crucified and risen Son of God is the place of our worship. Like that leper now cleansed of His leprosy we are where Jesus is. And Jesus is here just as He has promised. He is here in the Baptism that joins us to His death and resurrection. He is here in His words that give us the forgiveness of our sins. He is here with His body and blood to give us the pledge and testament of life and salvation. True worship takes place where God locates Himself, where He puts Himself for us. That's why Christians reject as paganism the old argument that says, "I don't have to come to church to worship God. I can worship God on the golf course." It is not that God is absent from the golf course, but that God has not promised to be there for you, to give you the sure words of salvation in Christ.

The Samaritan's life was restored. It was lived on the strength of all that He had received from Jesus Christ. God grant that blessing for us as well as He draws us week after week in this place to hear His Gospel and eat and drink at His Table; for He will say to you, "Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well." In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

PARODY: Feel Like Bacon Love

2011-09-21T10:44:00.000-05:00

A parody of "Feel Like Making Love" by Bad Company. For Pastor Cwirla.

Bacon, when I think about you,
I think about love.
Bacon, if I live without you,
I live without love.
If I had those hunger pangs
Just like yesterday,
I would fry you in a skillet,
Leave you browning all the way.
Feel like bacon!

Feel like bacon love!
Feel like bacon love!
Feel like bacon love!
Feel like bacon love; do you?

Bacon, when I think about you,
I think about love.
Bacon, can't live without you:
Bacon love!
If I had some scrambled eggs
I'd been fryin',
I would brown some bacon slices--
Sends me flyin'.
Feel like bacon!

(chorus) Feel like bacon love!
Feel like bacon love!
Feel like bacon love!
Feel like bacon love; do you?

If I had those hunger pangs
Just like yesterday,
I would fry you in a skillet,
Leave you browning all the way.
Feel like bacon!

(chorus) Feel like bacon love!
Feel like bacon love!
Feel like bacon love!
Feel like bacon love; do you?

Sermon for 9/18/11: Thirteenth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

2011-09-18T06:57:00.001-05:00

What Must I Do?

Luke 10:23-37

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

A young lawyer comes to Jesus and asks Him the question, What must I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus responds with another question: What is written in the law? What is your reading of it? Now this would be easy to overlook, but we have here a hallmark of the Old Testament faith. Jesus asked the question first of all about the Law. What is written in the Law? And the lawyer knew the answer! He responded, not by saying what he felt was right or wrong; no, he responded by God’s own words from Deuteronomy: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

This lawyer didn’t learn these words on his own. Someone had to teach them to him. His parents. It is the responsibility of the parents to teach and pass on the faith to their children. This lawyer knew the answer to Jesus’ question, and responded with a summary of the 10 Commandments. Now this gives us a little insight into how our Lord wants this done. Passing on God’s Word is something that is active. Children and adults don’t simply learn these things by observing. No, it’s work. It has to be taught, step-by-step, and even word-by-word. Certainly this is a labor of love, because passing on God’s Word is the most important gift that you can ever give someone. But it doesn’t just happen by occasionally talking about it or wishing it will happen.

So we then move to Jesus’ second question: What is your reading of it? In other words, what does the Law mean? Now this is the harder question. In order to answer this question, the lawyer first of all had to know the answer to the first. He had to know the words of the Law. He knew the words, but he didn’t get the meaning. Learning the words without knowing the meaning does no good in the end. The lawyer believed that the point of the Law was that you could keep it. He thought, he firmly believed in his heart, that he could do everything in the Law. He thought he could be perfect. But obviously this is not so. This lawyer was dead in trespasses and sins. He knew the Law, but he didn’t keep it. He worked with the false assumption that keeping the Law was easy. As long as he didn’t kill anyone or cause any real harm, then, so he thought, he had kept the Law.

Now this is how you and I think about the Law by nature. When we think about the Law at all, we think that it is good because it applies to other people. I will teach the Law to my children so that they will behave. Or, I will teach the Law so that it will look like I am a better person. This is the way the Law works in the world. The Law teaches us to behave. It teaches me how to be a better person, so that I can get to heaven, right? Wrong. The Law kills. It teaches us first of all what God’s will is, and then secondly that we cannot keep it. No one can. But we in our arrogance and pride blithely go through life believing that we can do God’s will. Jesus, though, is about to teach us the true nature of Law and Gospel.

How? He tells us a story. A certain man went from Jerusalem down to Jericho and fell among thieves. He is stripped, beaten and left for dead. A priest sees him and goes on the other side, and so does a Levite, another keeper of the Law. The impression you get from the text is that these so-called pious men had more important things to do. The priest had to do his duty in the Temple, the Levite had to keep up with his duties for God as well. They didn’t have time for this man who fell on hard times. But another man came along the road. He was a Samaritan, a outsider and not a part of the chosen people. But he saw this man left for dead and had compassion on him. The word for compassion there is a great one. It means that his guts were moved to help him. He ached to help the man. This Samaritan, this outcast then helps the man, binds up his wounds, pours oil and wine on them, sets him on his own animal, and took him to an inn to care for him. Then this Samaritan says to the innkeeper, Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.

What’s the point of the story? The point of the story is that the lawyer is the man lying half dead beside the road. And so are you. The Law reveals to us that even if we think we can go along life without a care in the road, sin seeks constantly to destroy. And so we really are half-dead, helpless and without hope, left to ourselves. Knowing this, how can I presume to go and do likewise?

But Jesus is the Good Samaritan. Where you and I fail to keep the Law because of sin, Jesus is the one who binds up your wounds, sets you on His animal, the Word of God, and carries you into the Inn of his Church. Jesus does it, because you can’t. No amount of willpower, no amount of work or planning or anything on our part will ever save anyone. You can’t force someone into heaven. But Jesus uses His Word, proclaimed from the pulpit, taught in Bible class and Sunday school and Catechism instruction, and taught by fathers and mothers around the dinner table, and in Christian schools. He uses this word to bring healing and forgiveness. What a treasure! What an opportunity and blessing God gives to us! We are His hands and feet and mouth to pass on his Word. And even though our efforts are incomplete, because of Christ and His work on the cross, God’s Word is taught and carried forth to the ends of the earth.

So no matter how great your sin, no matter how much you have failed to teach God’s Word or to hear it, your sin isn’t too great for the God who saves by His blood. As we heard in Hosea 6, Come, and let us return unto the LORD: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up. After two days will he revive us: in the third day he will raise us up, and we shall live in his sight. We may not always understand God’s ways, but one thing is certain: you can look at His cross and know that He loves you, and that He will never leave you nor forsake you. And that means there is nothing left for you to do. In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 9/11/11: Twelfth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

2011-09-11T08:34:00.000-05:00

O Lord, Open My Lips

Mark 7:31-37

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

It is not incorrect to see the working of the devil in our physical troubles. It was through Satan’s temptations that sin entered this world, bringing with it sickness, and pain, and death itself. Such is Satan’s goal, to disrupt and tear down the lives and capacities of those who have been made in the image of God, to cause people trouble in both soul and body. He does this, of course, to turn our hearts away from the Lord. Nevertheless, our Lord uses even Satan’s destructive schemes to accomplish His own righteous purposes. The apostle Paul spoke of how although God wouldn’t take away his physical troubles, He taught Paul through those troubles to trust completely in His grace and power in Christ. In this way, the devil’s attacks are turned upside down so that they move us to hold even more tightly to the Lord’s salvation. Though we may be weak ourselves, yet we are made to be strong in the Lord because our trust is directed even more fervently to His strength and mercy. When Satan attacks us, the Spirit draws us to pray in faith, “Make haste, O God, to deliver me! Make haste to help me, O Lord!”

However, we cannot pray in this way unless the Lord first opens our ears and turns loose our tongues. Like this man in the Gospel, we are by nature deaf and mute towards God. By our sinful nature our ears are closed off toward God. We do not naturally grasp His words or perceive what He says. We do not, by nature, speak God’s language. Jesus often said, “He who has ears, let him hear,” because many listening to Him still did not get what He was saying. And if there is an impediment in our hearing, there is also going to be an impediment in our speaking. Our words will not rightly reflect the Lord’s Words. Our mouths will not properly declare His praise.

The people who brought the man to Jesus did so that He might place His hands on him. Now, you and I need never feel deprived of that personal contact with our Lord. He is the One who consistently provides us with His healing touch, and it is a very literal and physical touch. For He Himself took on our flesh and blood, real eyes and ears and feet and hands, that He might deal with us concretely and on our level. Even now, our Lord comes into contact with us not only according to His divine nature but also according to His bodily human nature. We meet Him face to face in the Supper of His body and blood. He lays His hands on us in Baptism, and in the words of Absolution speaks to us His Word of forgiveness. Indeed, our Lord still attends to His people personally.

Jesus did two things to this man: first, He took his fingers and put them into the deaf man’s ears; second, He spit and touched the man’s tongue with it. He made direct physical contact with this man’s problems, in order to heal him. But, why did Jesus do it in this particular way? What can we learn from His actions? First, in the Scriptures, the “finger of God” is another term for the Holy Spirit. So, when Jesus puts His fingers into the man’s ears, He shows us that it is only by the working of the Holy Spirit that our ears are opened rightly to hear God’s Word. It is only by the Spirit’s power that we are made both able and willing to listen to and believe the Gospel. As Paul said: “The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, nor can he know them. But we have received the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God.” Jesus opens our ears by His Spirit, the finger of God, that we may hear and hold to His Words of life, as it is written, “Faith comes by hearing.”

Then, too, when Jesus spit and touched the man’s tongue, that is for us a picture of God’s Word being placed in our mouths, that our tongues might be turned loose to sing His praise. The Psalmist prays, “O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth shall declare Your praise.” In Baptism, the Lord puts His name on us, that we may call upon His name in prayer. And the Lord places into our mouths His very own words, that our once muted tongues may sound forth with words of faith – the confessing of the creed, the singing of the church’s hymns, the proclaiming of His marvelous deeds and His life-giving teaching. By first opening our ears to hear His Word rightly, the Lord also opens our mouths to confess our faith rightly. First the ears, then the mouth. Speaking flows from hearing. Christ puts His Words into our ears, and they flow off our tongues back to Him in prayer and praise.

Jesus looked up to heaven, no doubt in prayer. He sighed, and then said to the man, “Ephphatha,” which means, “be opened.” Immediately his ears were opened and his tongue was loosed, and he spoke freely and plainly. And when Jesus said, “Be opened,” He spoke not just to the man’s ears and mouth, but to the whole man, for those words also mean “to be released.” Jesus was releasing this man from Satan’s bondage. This miracle is more than just evidence of Jesus’ power over physical ailments; it is evidence of His triumph over the devil. Jesus’ words shatter the chains by which the evil one binds his victim. Our Lord’s words also shatter the chains that bind and enslave you. He says to you, “Be opened! Be released!” And by water and the Spirit you are set free from the powers of darkness.

But that freedom does not come without a price. As Jesus spoke He sighed; He groaned as One who bore a great burden. And, indeed, He did because He took on Himself all the things that cause us to groan—the pain, the loneliness, the troubles—whatever binds and imprisons us. That He might release us from Satan’s captivity, the Lord put Himself under that captivity. He let Himself be placed into the hands of the powers of darkness, who finally killed Him. There on the cross He made direct contact with our sin, groaning and breathing His last, in our place. However, through that death He was victorious, for He took away the sin that gives Satan his power. And by rising bodily from the grave, He restored the bodies of all the faithful to a life that is whole and immortal and imperishable. That resurrection life will be revealed to us and the whole creation when our Lord returns.

God grant, then, that you who have had your ears opened and your tongues set loose by Christ may confess before all the world, with these people in the Gospel reading: “He has done all things well. He makes both the deaf to hear and the mute to speak.” In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

GUEST POST: Tribute and Memorial

2011-09-11T07:36:00.001-05:00

A Tribute and Memorial

To The Victims And Valiant Responders
Of September 11, 2001

September 11, 2011

Thank you for the invitation to lead you in this Tribute and Memorial for the victims and valiant responders of the events that took place 10 years ago today.

I’d like to start by defining our gathering, first in the negative and then in the positive.

First we should know that even though a clergyman is standing before you, this is not a church service. I am all in favor of church services and highly recommend them and the blessings they confer, but they are best held among people of like faith, and I am certain that many different faiths are represented here today.

Secondly, I sincerely hope that we have not gathered for a national day of self pity, even though the scars will never go away, because that would give great joy to our enemies, and that we must not do.

Nor have we gathered because we necessarily approve of the way this attack against our nation has been handled. There are some who consider 10 years of indecisive war to be a blundering tragedy in its own right.

But then why are we here? For noble reasons, indeed!

First to remember the many who died and their survivors who suffered such great loss, to assure them that they are not forgotten. To let them know that the milk of human kindness swells within us. If you look around you will see, not virtual reality, but flesh and blood human beings willingly assembled in a show of support for their fellow Americans who were monstrously murdered 10 years ago, and for their spouses and children, their parents and friends who can never forget what was taken from them on that dark and doleful day.

We gather, too, to let the world know that we will always respond when our people are threatened, injured or killed. Those familiar with Cleveland’s Fire Dispatch procedures know that the first thing the officer says when he picks up the apparatus mic is, “wheels rolling.” He doesn’t first inquire after the religious or political views of the person in distress. He doesn’t ask: do you have insurance or, how will you be paying for this little visit? His first words are, “wheels rolling.” And though the jargon is different for EMS, CPD and all the other outstanding agencies represented here today, the result is the same, when duty calls, we go.

We also convene today in order to pay tribute to those who answered that call 10 years ago, who ran into the peril as everyone else was running out, and who sacrificed so much. I can testify to the mighty dedication that was elicited from all of you following the attack. We can all remember what we were doing that day, the moment we first comprehended that war had broken out on our soil. Our first thoughts went to our loved ones! But having the vocation we do meant that we had to leave them behind in order to protect and serve others. And they – in their own breathtaking act of heroism – said to us, go! and we did! Attending to the work with vigor we did not even know we possessed, standing guard over our city with our own bodies, for no one knew where war would break out next.

We remember the following days: the anthrax, the crazies who came out of the woodwork, the freeway snipers 12 months later. While others regained a modicum of stability with time we were on the highest possible alert, with no time to think about our own well-being because we did not take this job to be served, but to serve and to expend our lives for the well-being of others.

I can also personally attest to the dedication of the people who operated in Pennsylvania and New York City, our brothers and sisters in the military and safety services, who gave their all to the

recovery efforts. Who breathed in the dust of their fellow human beings 24 hours a day, seven days a week, until finally in July of 2002 the labor was complete – at least as complete as such a thing ever can be.

I witnessed members of agencies from all over this great nation converge on Pennsylvania, and then later on New York City to do their "duty to God and country." The FBI, ATF, ICE, the National Guard, D-Mort, the airline disaster response teams, myriads of private contractors with the knowledge and equipment to do what needed to be done. And in addition a mass of selfless, nameless volunteers waiting outside the scenes to offer relief, encouragement, food, drink, clean clothing and to meet every possible need in support of the endeavor. It felt for all the world like the Old America, “the home of the brave” when every American sang from the same score, and what a feeling it was.

And like they did in that by-gone era, many people returned to their faith for solace and for answers. The clerical collar was like a magnet then. Everyone wanted to talk, to hear a word of God from Scripture, to begin and end their shifts with prayer so that they might gain spiritual strength in the face of sadness and danger. It was an uplifting and liberating time when people understood as never before what King David says in the 46th Psalm that, “God is our Refuge and Strength, a very present help in trouble.”

I recall one incident, working third shift at Freshkills, the reconverted garbage dump on Staten Island that was used to sift through all the debris, to search for human remains, evidence, and personal belongings to return to grieving families. About two in the morning an eagle-eyed detective caught glimpse of a badge going over the edge of the sifter and get lost in the rubble below. All work ground to a halt and that badge became the focus of an intense search!

When it was found another intense search ensued, this time for the chaplain whose presence was urgently requested because everyone had gathered there, and wanted more than any other thing, to hold an immediate, impromptu funeral service for the fallen Port Authority officer, whose badge would soon be returned to his family. It’s not the kind of thing they prepare you for in the seminary, but God’s Word did its work that night and for many more, healing the wounded souls of those who jeopardized their lives, their health and their sanity for the love of their fellow man.

Based on such devotion we have also gathered today as Cleveland’s safety forces to re-dedicate ourselves to the same, each according to his God-given vocation. In this Jesus is the best pattern, who says, “greater love has no man that this that a man lay down his life for his friends, I have called you my friends.” Following the example of His perfect sacrifice, which brings the forgiveness of sins and redemption to the world, we devote ourselves to the daily task of saving life, relieving affliction and restoring those in danger to normalcy.

I hope, too, that we have come together for one other important purpose: to reclaim the blessings of liberty! We are not the perpetrators here but in the last ten years we have been treated as if we are, and not just at airports. We have lost large swaths of our privacy, our freedom of speech our freedom of movement and other important liberties in the name of security, and this is intolerable.

It was Benjamin Franklin who said that: those who sacrifice liberty for security deserve neither.

Lastly we have also assembled on this 10th anniversary in hopes of gaining, by God’s gracious blessing, a degree of closure if possible, the power to move forward if we can. There is something about the number ten that helps that happen. That does not mean that we will or should forget, we must not. But instead, may the events of the past make us ten times stronger, and ten times more resolved, to rise to any future challenge and to meet it with courage. God grant us the grace to do that; and also to put our wounds behind us; our sorrow behind us, and to know a brighter future.

Thank you for your kind attention.

by: Rev. Dean Kavoruas, Chaplain

Cleveland Emergency Services

FBI – Cleveland Division

Sermon for 7/28/11--Tenth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

2011-08-28T07:01:00.000-05:00

Know What Makes for Peace

Luke 19:41-48

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The atmosphere was tense with excitement. Steadily Jesus and His disciples had journeyed to Jerusalem, the holy city. As He made His way to Jerusalem, Jesus predicted His coming Passion. Just a few days earlier, He had said to His disciples: "Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written of the Son of Man by the prophets will be accomplished. For he will be delivered to the Gentiles, and will be mocked and shamefully treated and spit upon; they will scourge him and kill him and on the third day he will rise." Then Luke adds that the disciples understood none of these things.

Approaching Jerusalem, the Lord sends His disciples to a nearby village to bring Him a donkey. Israel's King will come into His royal city, righteous and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey in fulfillment of Zechariah's ancient prophecy. The crowds welcome Him chanting: "Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!" The very stones would have broken forth in high doxology if the people were silent, for Messiah is here!

But note the turn in the opening verse of today's Gospel: "Now as He drew near, He saw the city and wept over it." Jesus did not weep for Himself, although who would have blamed Him for doing so, as He looked on at the torment that faced Him that week. No, Jesus weeps for Jerusalem, the holy city, the apple of God's eye, the dwelling place of God's glory, the location of His presence. He weeps for His own people. In the opening chapter of John's Gospel, the evangelist tells us that the Son of God came to His own people and His own received Him not. In rejecting Him they reject the Seed of the woman who came to crush Satan's head. They reject the One who is the "I AM" who was before Abraham. They reject great David's greater Son who is also David's Lord.

Jesus weeps for His own people. As Paul recounts in Romans 9, they had received the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises. They had the patriarchs and the prophets. From their flesh came the Christ, who is the eternally blessed God. They will not hear Him. In stubborn unbelief they close their ears to His words of repentance and salvation. And in doing so they blaspheme the God whose name they claim to bless. Rejecting the One who came as the Lamb of sacrifice, they are left only with their sin and God's wrath against their sin.

So our Savior weeps for them. "If you had only known, even you, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes." God hides Himself in order to reveal His mercy and love. He covers Himself in the lowliness of the baby of Bethlehem and the Man of Calvary. Wrapped in our flesh and blood, He comes in the likeness of sinful man to redeem the world. He exchanges the throne of His heavenly glory for the cross. He wears no other crown than the crown of thorns set upon His brow in ridicule and derision. Jerusalem cannot see in this Man the things that make for peace. The blind beggar knew who Jesus was and called out, saying, "Son of David, have mercy on me," but Jerusalem is blinded to this truth; she remains in the darkness of unbelief.

Jerusalem had a long history of rejecting God's call to repentance and faith. She had a reputation for slaughtering the prophets God sent to her. Now she would do the same with her Messiah. And without Him, Jerusalem would have no peace with God. The apple of God's eye would become the object of His wrath. His lament over Jerusalem would find its fulfillment in the devastation that would come in 70 AD. The destruction of Jerusalem stands as a sign for the fate of all who reject God's Christ. Jesus says that this fate befalls Jerusalem because she did not know the time of her visitation. Zacharias, the father of John the Baptist, sang in his Benedictus, that "the Dayspring from on high has visited us." When God visits His people, He comes with the purpose of bringing them salvation. The intention of this divine visit is blessing. But Israel did not know the time of God's visitation. She did not know the day of salvation; and she rejected the Son who came to be her Savior.

The words of today's Holy Gospel are not only descriptive of what happened to Jerusalem long ago. The Spirit inspired the evangelist to record these happenings for our instruction in repentance and faith. As we heard last week in I Corinthians 10, after Paul describes how the Israelites who had been baptized in the Red Sea and partook of spiritual food and drink only to come under God's judgment on account of their idolatry, he goes on to write, "Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition on whom the end of the ages have come." In other words, God is calling us to repentance and faith in the same Christ who came to Jerusalem.

Now is the time of our visitation. The Gospel which Israel rejected is now being proclaimed to us. God has preserved unto us His saving Word and His holy sacraments. These are the means by which He visits us today to bestow on us the salvation that He won on Calvary's cross. In Christ God was making peace through the blood of the cross. Peace with God is the forgiveness of sins. Peace with God means that God does not hold our sins against us but instead has laid those sins on His Son. To have the Son is to have peace with God. To have the Son is to be reconciled with God. To have the Son is to have life in that heavenly Jerusalem that will never be destroyed or pass away. To be without the Son is always to be at war with God. And if you fight God, you always lose.

But God has brought that warfare to an end in the cross of His Son. His body carried the punishment of our sins and His blood blots out all of our guilt. The body and blood of Jesus Christ are the things that make for peace. And as surely as Jesus came to Jerusalem to suffer and to die, so surely He comes to give you the fruits of His redeeming sacrifice. God grant you faith to live in the peace that He bestows. In the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

REVIEW: "Wrapped in Rain" by Charles Martin

2011-08-22T12:18:00.001-05:00

I chose Wrapped in Rain by Charles Martin because I wanted a change of pace. The first two books I reviewed as part of the booksneeze.com review program were books I chose to read because I was looking for something. This time, I just wanted to be entertained. I'm not always a fan of religious fiction. That probably sounds like an odd thing for a pastor to say, but I have the same problem with contemporary Christian music, too--too preachy, too touchy-feely, too over-the-top.

I downloaded the book with the intention of maybe reading a few chapters before I would put it down to take care of other things. The other things went by the wayside quickly. I couldn't stop reading--well, other than to feed the bottomless pits known as my children, of course. I finished the book in a single sitting. That's not unusual for me, but I certainly wasn't expecting it in this case.

What can I tell you without giving away the story? Two young boys have an abusive father, a man who gains enormous wealth with liquor distribution rights but then ends up falling prey to the temptation of the very thing he distributes. Wanting little to do with his sons, he hires help to clean the house and keep the boys. Miss Ella is a woman of faith, and she protects the boys as much as she can. The story develops as the boys become adults and have to deal with the aftermath of their tumultuous childhood. One escapes by traveling the world as a photographer; the other is lost inside his own mind. A reunion with a childhood friend brings all their issues to a head. All the while, Miss Ella's faithful influence guides the brothers in a godly way.

Vague enough? My summary doesn't do the book justice. Let me put it this way: this is the best piece of fiction, religious or otherwise, I've read this year. Give it a read. You won't be disappointed.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through the BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Sermon for 8/21/11: Ninth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

2011-08-20T13:29:00.000-05:00

Commending the Unjust

Luke 16:1-9 (10-13)

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

At first glance, this is one of the hardest of Jesus’ parables to understand. What is the point of this parable? Are we to model ourselves after the unjust steward, and go cheating our employers so that we can gain benefit from others? Obviously not. The seventh commandment commands us not to steal or defraud. Are we to be wise in the ways of the world, and try and make the church more like a business that operates in the dog-eat-dog categories that we see all around us? Again, obviously not. As Saint Paul wrote in Romans, “Do not be conformed to the world.” So what is Jesus getting at? Let’s recap the story briefly. The steward of the house is accused of wasting the master’s goods. So the master tells him that he is going to fire the steward, and that he has to clear out his accounts. The steward is at a loss. He hadn’t prepared for this. He won’t dig ditches. He’s ashamed to beg. So this unjust steward does the one option left for him: he cheats his master out of money owed him, in order to curry the favor of these other people. One owes 100 measures of oil, so he cuts the bill to eighty. Another owes 100 measures of wheat, and he cuts the bill to fifty. When the master of the house finds out, he can’t help but compliment the steward on his shrewdness. Why? Because he had done the one thing that He could to insure the well being of his future. No matter the risk, this steward was so confident in the mercy of his master that he cheated him.

So why would the master commend that steward? The master commended the unjust steward, because he understood that the most important thing was to insure that he had a future, that he would be taken care of in the long run. What Jesus is saying is that the children of this world understand that you do whatever it takes to insure your future, for that is what finally matters. But the children of light, the Christians, don’t get this basic fact of life. They are deceived and distracted at every turn. Where is your future? Your future is in Jesus Christ as your receive Him in the proclamation of the Word of God and in His Holy Sacraments. That is your future, and the future of your family. This should be your greatest priority, to insure that the Gospel is proclaimed to you and to your family. That is more important than any money, wealth, house or anything else you wish to give your children.

Why is it that we Christians don’t understand this? Think of your own life and your priorities. We spend a fair amount to put a roof over our head and food on the table and clothes on our bodies—necessary things, to be sure. But then, most Americans spend exorbitant amounts of their income on entertainment of some sort. Then if anything is left over, that goes to the church. A dollar here, two dollars there, and somehow this is doing the Lord a great favor. Where is your treasure? The same may be said for time. How much time do you spend teaching your children the Christian faith? I’m not asking about time you spend at church or doing things at church, although I suppose we could ask that. I mean simply teaching your family the faith. Do you pray together? Do you read God’s Word together? Do you teach your family the great hymns of the faith? For most of us, we spend a lot more time watching television that we do teaching and hearing the Word of God. I know that this is a hard message to hear—it’s no easier for me to hear than it is for you to hear. If it’s any consolation, it’s also a hard message to preach. But the question remains: where is the one thing that is needful in your life? Think of our Epistle lesson. The people of Corinth had become complacent. They forgot that they were so dependent on God that they couldn’t make it themselves. They fell prey to temptation. They forgot that the only way of escape is through the blood of Christ.

This draws us back into the Gospel for today. Jesus says, “And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by unrighteous mammon, that when you fail, they may receive you into an everlasting home.” Notice that Jesus doesn’t say if you fail; no, He says when you fail. All things in this life come to an end. As weak, sinful human beings, your lives are frail and seem to fall apart at every turn. Jesus calls you to put your trust in Him, and not in the things of this world. Don’t be so possessive and greedy with the possessions of this world, because they won’t gain you eternity in the end. What was it that made the unjust steward go and cheat his master? The unjust steward believed in and relied on the mercy of his master, because he knew that the master was merciful.

You are that unjust steward. You squander the gifts our heavenly Father gives you left and right. Whether they are the little things, like the possessions of this life, or the big things of forgiveness and salvation, you have tossed these gifts of God aside like they were nothing. But more important than that, you also know that your heavenly Father is the merciful master. His righteous Steward, Jesus, cancels your debt. Even though you don’t deserve it, He brings you into His house and gives you eternal life. Even though you don’t deserve all of the great things He gives you, the Lord still gives them for the sake of Jesus Christ. The Father looks at the cross of His Son, and He honors the canceling of your debt which Jesus accomplished there. You are free!

Just as the unjust steward used the things of this world, oil and wheat, to further His own good, so also your heavenly Father uses the things of this world, water and bread and wine, to bring about the forgiveness of your sins. He gives you a portion of His treasure, an eternal inheritance, an everlasting home. In the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

REVIEW: "Peace Be With You" by David Carlson

2011-08-19T16:40:00.002-05:00

These days, I don't make a habit of reading books that I think I will end up arguing with as I read. Keeping your eyes and ears open is a good idea, and it's never to your advantage to close your mind. That being said, sometimes you've had the same argument enough times that you don't need to have it yet again. I suspected such would be the case with Peace Be With You by Dr. David Carlson (PhD); that being said, I chose the book against my better judgment. I struggle with the role our military has played in world affairs since 9/11, and I thought that there might be some wisdom to be found on the subject in this book.

Dr. Carlson interviewed monks, nuns, and others who sought refuge either temporarily or permanently in monasteries and retreat centers, trying to find what he calls a "word of life" in response to the terrorist attacks of 9/11 and the response of the leaders and citizens of the United States. Carlson is a disciple of Thomas Merton, a Trappist monk who died in 1968. Merton espoused what Carlson calls a "radical unity" in humanity, one in which we see Christ in all our neighbors in light of the teachings of Jesus in Matthew 25. With that as the foundation of his research, Carlson asked his subjects what he thought were the lessons of 9/11 and what America did or didn't learn from what happened.

My major beef with the book is that Carlson repeatedly asserts the superiority of the monastic vocation. Citing the lives steeped in prayer and contemplation, the innate spirituality of monastic life, the ability to view the world without materialistic eyes, throughout the book he asserts that those who live the contemplative monastic life are able to escape the worldliness that fuels the fires of war and vengeance. Because they spend their days praying the daily office (the monastic prayer cycle), they do for the world what the world cannot do for itself: they hold the world together (p.118).

Maybe I'm too Lutheran to appreciate Carlson's approach. The Lutheran Church in its major permutations is one of the few bodies that does not have what Carlson calls a "contemplative" branch. At the same time, many within Lutheranism (and other bodies) seek to live lives of contemplation within their chosen vocations, pastors and laypeople who, though not withdrawn from the world, pray part or all of the daily office, people who pray the psalter each week or month.

I do appreciate Carlson's disdain for American civil religion. The invocation of Jesus by leaders and citizens in support of the war on terror is an abomination. I'm not saying that the war is just or unjust. But naming Jesus as an ally in attempt to prove the rightness of the cause makes Jesus into a man who loves one brother better than another. Whether or not someone believes in Him (and make no mistake, Muslims do not believe in Jesus as God), he is God's creation, and the Father does not rejoice to see His children fighting each other.

Perhaps I've allowed my patriotism and my own theological background to darken my view of this book. I was disappointed with the methodology, but there's certainly something to be said for taking a more contemplative look at how we respond to Islam, to foreign policy, to our individual relationships with each other. If for no other reason than that reminder, I cannot regret reading this book . . . no matter how much I argue with it!

GUEST POST: Sermon for 8/14/11--Eighth Sunday After Trinity

2011-08-19T15:39:00.001-05:00

This is the sermon preached by Pastor Robin Fish, Jr., this past Sunday at St. Peter Lutheran Church in Campbell Hill, Illinois. This is copied from his blog, where he posts sermons, hymns, theological reflections, book reviews, and any number of other things. Thank you, Pastor Fish, for filling in ably and willingly while I enjoyed my first vacation as a parish pastor in six years!

How to Listen to a Sermon

Matthew 7:15-23

This is awkward. I stand before you for the first time as a guest preacher. You don’t know me, I don’t know you. Your pastor and I barely know each other. He isn’t here to criticize me or to defend himself. And yet the lessons drawn for this week of the church year, oblige me to talk about your pastor, and any preacher or teacher you hear—whether in this church or another, on TV or radio, through the internet or in a book. The question is how to listen to them, how to judge them, how to tell whether they are feeding you or misleading you, how to spot a wolf in sheep’s clothing. You have no personal knowledge of whether I can preach my way out of a wet paper bag, and yet I am here to tell you HOW TO LISTEN TO A SERMON. I can only suggest that you pay careful attention; then, after comparing what you hear to the doctrine you have learned from faithful, reliable, and legitimately called teachers, you can make up your own mind.

Let’s start with half of a verse from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. In Matthew 7:18a, Jesus says, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit.” Suppose that a minister told you that these words mean that infants need not be baptized. He reasons: God creates each of us and gives us our spirits, so we must be born sinless. God would never create anything evil. And if we’re good by nature, we cannot sin. Just like Jesus says in Matthew 7:18a, “A good tree cannot bear bad fruit.” As ridiculous as it sounds, many people are taken in by that very argument. But you should not be. Either because you were taught to know Scripture better, or because you are wise enough to look up passages quoted at you to see whether they are used correctly, you will quickly find the minister was twisting Matthew 7:18. You only need to read the second half of the verse, which says, “Nor can a bad tree bear good fruit.” This doesn’t support the spin that we are born in sinless innocence.

Or step back even further. In Matthew 7:17, 19, Jesus says: “Every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit... Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” Now suppose a minister tells you that Jesus is talking about sins versus good works. Jesus would be saying, “Only sinful people commit sins. Godly people do only godly works.” What do you do? You recall where Paul writes in Romans (3:23) that no one is without sin, even the best among us stumble in our weakness (Romans 7:7ff.). And we also know God is the One who justifies the ungodly (Romans 4:5). He overlooks our sins and declares us righteous for the sake of His Son. If we could not please Him except by doing only good works all the time, none of us could be saved.

But again, when you hear a preacher putting that spin on Jesus’ words in Matthew 7, you are equipped to judge whether he is feeding you or misleading you. Remember the Word of God that you have been taught; or, if you cannot remember, look it up. And observe what else is missing from the context. In verse 15 Jesus says, “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves.” Then He says, “You will know them by their fruits,” and so on, until in verse 20 He concludes, “Therefore by their fruits you will know them.” “Beware of false prophets” is Jesus’ topic sentence for that whole paragraph. It tells us what He’s talking about in all those other statements. Taken by themselves, those statements could seem to be about sins versus good works, saints versus sinners. Taken with their topic sentence in verse 15, their meaning totally changes. Jesus is talking about prophets. Which is to say preachers and teachers of God’s Word. And so Jesus’ sermon, like mine, will eventually explain HOW TO LISTEN TO A SERMON.

From the top: Beware. You have been warned. Remember this warning, and be on the lookout. False teachers will come. They won’t be wearing black cowboy hats, or horns, or a sign around their neck that says “Your Enemy.” They will come to you like wolves in sheep’s clothing. There won’t be any visible mark to distinguish them from true preachers. They may seem just as charming and learned and well-spoken and reasonable as faithful preachers and teachers, if not more so. Their manner of life may be exemplary. There may be a certain something about them that you instinctively want to trust or imitate. But Jesus warns us not to be deceived by a handsome face, attractive clothing, a noble character, or a warm personality. You will know them by their fruits.

Now let’s all have our laugh out at Jesus’ mixed metaphor. What could He possibly mean by the fruits of a sheep, or the fruits of a wolf? More pertinent is the question, what “fruits” come from a prophet, false or otherwise? What fruit does a preacher or teacher yield? His fruit is the direction His teachings lead you in your faith and life. If his teachings lead you away from Christ and His doctrine, if they lead you into sins forbidden by God—or even into “good works” not commanded by God—then the fruit is bad and the tree is bad; the man is a false prophet, and you must not listen to him. On the other hand, if his teaching confirms you in the doctrine and way of life you have been taught on the basis of God’s Word, then you must listen to him, support him, cherish him, encourage him, pray for him, and give thanks for him, as though God Himself was speaking to you and opening the doors of Paradise before you.

And now we come to an even tougher question: How are you supposed to tell whether his fruit is good or bad? You really only have two choices: Either to be firmly rooted in the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3)—so firmly rooted that you can readily tell the difference between truth and false teaching, and can fight firmly for the true faith—or to be like the Jews in Berea, who “received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). If your faith has not yet been planted very deeply and firmly, that leaves you only one option: to be daily and constantly in the Word. Besides the Bible, read as much as you can understand in the Lutheran Confessions, the writings of Luther, and other authors who bear witness to the same doctrine.

Don’t stop learning Christ’s doctrine until you know the biblical answer to every question. If that time ever comes—though it is most unlikely—then keep studying the Word so that you may not forget. And if you love your children, teach them well, so they may be fully armored against false prophets, whether they come to them clothed in the sport coat of a high school science teacher, or in the comely form of a future husband or wife, or in all their busy lives’ tempting alternatives to going to church. If you want to protect them from false prophets, know your doctrine, teach them to know it, and teach them why it matters.

Why? Because you are on a spiritual battlefield. You can’t afford to go without the weapons and armor of a spiritual warrior. The devil is not only a fierce and active foe, but also a wily one. Sometimes he tries to crush us by brute and sudden force, while at other times he works at slowly and quietly undermining us. His aim is to destroy our faith, to take us away from Christ, to rob us of salvation. And when he isn’t beating us into despair through suffering, conflict, pressure and temptations from the world around us, he may be trying to tempt us into complacency and to sneak into our midst without our noticing. Persecution is one of Satan’s bold plays, right out where Christians can see where the evil lies; the only question then is whether we can bear it. But with false teachers, Satan infiltrates the holy of holies, disguised as people we respect and trust. And the seeds of false doctrine that they sow grow into trees whose fruits make us sick, and whose roots and branches tear us apart. They, mind you—the false teachers, not the faithful—cause the divisions that rend the body of Christ, the scandals and controversies that embarrass us, and the doubts that make us even readier prey for the wolves.

The only armor that can protect us is God’s Word. And that’s not just a piece of pious, figurative language. It doesn’t mean idly accepting the status quo. It means constantly grappling with the holy Word, and wrestling strength out of the holy Sacrament. And this grappling with the Word is not like wrestling with a padded dummy that you can easily throw down. It’s more like clinging to a huge rock with nothing but your fingers and toes. If you want to stay there, you need to get as strong and deep a hold on it as you can.

How can you tell whether someone is leading you astray? How can you measure his teachings against the Word of God? In a commentary on this text, Martin Luther answers: “Everyone should see to it, above all, that he is sure of his cause and of the doctrine. In his heart he should be so well grounded in it that he can stick to the doctrine even though he sees everyone on earth teaching and living contrary to it. Anyone who wants to move along in safety simply dare not pay attention to any of the outward masks in Christendom and guide himself by them. He must pay attention only to the Word, which shows us the right way of life that avails before God. For example, you must hold on to the chief part, the summary, of Christian teaching and accept nothing else: That God has sent and given Christ, His Son, and that only through Him does He forgive us all our sins, justify and save us” (LW 21:254).

Again, Jesus tells us: “Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’” Even some who call upon Him by name, and preach in His name, will hear that awful sentence. The question for you is whether they spoke according to His Word, whether they led you toward or away from Christ, whether they held up as God-pleasing the works God commanded or ones invented by themselves. Say to yourself as Luther says: “I shall test them where they ought to be tested, as to whether they serve to strengthen my faith in the Word: that Christ died for me; that through Him I may obtain piety and salvation in the sight of God; and that I should carry out my station [in life] and pay faithful attention to it” (LW 21:273–274).

Meanwhile, real prophecy is taking place here. Called by God to serve in an office commanded by God, a man of God stands here every week to proclaim to you the Word of God. And if he doesn’t exactly predict the future, your pastor is called to tell you things that you cannot learn by experience or with the senses. Nevertheless, these things are as true as though God Himself spoke them. Things such as, “Your sins are forgiven.” And as for miracles—how about Baptism? All your pastor does is say the words by which Christ commanded us to baptize, and add water; but miraculously, the water becomes a bath in the Holy Spirit, and you or your baby becomes God’s newborn child. Or how about the Lord’s Supper? We put in bread, wine, and the words of Christ. What comes out is Jesus’ true body and blood, which we can physically eat and drink, and which actually gives us the forgiveness of sins.

A false prophet can indeed give you these things, because these miracles are tied to the office instituted by Christ and the words spoken by Christ. Even an unbeliever could preach the Gospel to you without any additions or subtractions, and so comfort you and build up your faith, though he would not share in the salvation that he brings to you. Jesus does not tell you to look into your pastor’s heart. He tells you to observe his fruits, which is to say, his teachings. What does he tell you to believe? How does he tell you to live? And do these teachings match the right interpretation of Scripture, in which you have been so carefully instructed?

Jeremiah (23:16–19) tells us that God does not want you to listen to false prophets. He means that you should not obey what they teach. Jesus, on the other hand, tells you to listen and to beware. But He tells you this so that you may safely eat of spiritual food, drink the spiritual drink, and take the spiritual medicine that He so richly serves you in sermon and liturgy, in Word and Sacrament. He wants you to feel free to follow the faithful shepherd He has given you, so that through your pastor, Jesus may protect you from wolves and fill you with His precious gifts. Jesus wants you to hear God’s Law in its fullness and purity, so that you know how to live in a God-pleasing manner, and so that you recognize when you are not doing so; and He wants you to hear His Gospel in all its sweetness and power, so that when you falter and stumble along the way, you may not despair but believe that your sins are forgiven through Jesus’ willingly shed blood and through His slain and risen body. And finally, He wants you to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and with the confidence that, as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

HYMN: O Jesus Christ, O Groom Divine

2011-08-12T21:12:00.000-05:00

In honor of Evan and Bethany, whom God joins together tomorrow.

O Jesus Christ, O Groom Divine

1. O Jesus Christ, O Groom divine,
You cleansed Your Bride with blood outpoured.
In turning Cana's casks to wine
Your joy in marriage You afford.
Stretch forth Your mighty hand to bless
These two whom You unite as one
That in both peace and in distress
Their prayer may be, "Thy will be done."

2. As You have loved Your spotless Bride,
Let this man his dear bride adore
That, faithful, loving he abide
And seek no other evermore.
Teach him to honor and protect
This helper whom You freely give
That he may prize and not neglect
The treasure he does now receive.

3. As Your Bride clings to You alone
Let this, Your daughter, look to him,
The husband You in love made known.
Let her devotion never dim,
That she be steadfast, blameless, true--
A faithful helpmeet to the end.
Grant her forgiveness ever new
That he may be her greatest friend.

4. O God the Father who bestows
On Your dear children lavish love--
O God the Son who, herebelow,
Has raised Your Bride to dwell above--
O Holy Ghost, O God of grace,
Inspire the hearts of brides and men.
O Triune God, shine forth Your face
To bless this bride and groom. Amen.

© Alan Kornacki, Jr.
LMD
Tune: O GROSSER GOTT (LSB 810)

HYMN: O Lord, I Am Not Worthy

2011-08-11T13:48:00.002-05:00

After a lengthy absence, here is my latest offering. Constructive criticism desired--especially in v.2.

O Lord, I Am Not Worthy

1. O Lord, I am not worthy
That You should come within,
For trespasses pervert me
And I am lost in sin.
You lead me to Your altar,
A beggar at Your feet,
But mired in shame I falter
And flee Your mercy seat.

2. Yet speak Your Word of favor,
And, lo, my soul is healed.
O Christ, You are my Savior.
In You is grace revealed.
You set the Feast before me--
Your body and Your blood.
You veil Your heav'nly glory
Within this earthly food.

3. This Supper gives forgiveness,
A truly bounteous meal.
Its benefits are endless--
The power hearts to heal,
Delivering salvation
To all God's children dear
From ev'ry tribe and nation
Who seek their pardon here.

4. O Lord, I am not worthy
That You should come within,
But speak Your Word unto me
And I am freed from sin.
I trust Your mercy solely
My soul and flesh to feed,
For You can make me holy,
My Lord and God indeed.

© Rev. Alan Kornacki, Jr.
76 76 D
Tune: LLANGLOFFAN (LSB 513)

Sermon for 8/7/11: Seventh Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

2011-08-07T08:24:00.000-05:00

Daily Bread

Mark 8:1-9

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It’s Sunday morning. Apparently you don’t have to work this morning. The kids don’t have school right now. As residents of the United States of America you have the freedom to be doing pretty much whatever you want right now. You could be sleeping in, golfing, cleaning your garage, swimming, surfing the web, working on the Sunday crossword puzzle—any of a billion things in which we find contentment, enjoyment, order, or some other kind of satisfaction. For some reason you have chosen to spend part of your Sunday morning here. But weren’t you just here last week? Didn’t you hear the Word of Holy Absolution, spoken from the pastor as from Christ Himself? Didn’t you force yourself to stay awake for a sermon then? And what about the Lord’s Supper? Most of you just did all this seven days ago. What brings you back here so soon?

Put simply, we have come here because we are in need. Now, don’t get me wrong: it’s entirely possible that you like coming here. But it’s not your pastor that brings you to this place on this or any Sunday morning. You are here because God in His goodness has gracious gifts to give you, and you recognize that you need what only He can give you. I can’t speak for the state of your soul, but I know that I need what God has for me more often than once a month. Sometimes even once a week doesn’t seem to cut it.

Our Gospel for this morning tells us that Jesus had been preaching to a gathering counted as four thousand men, and they had been attentive to the Word for three days. Jesus seemed to be done with His lesson, though in truth He had one more lesson for the disciples. Jesus stated the dilemma Himself: “I have compassion on the multitude, because they have now continued with Me three days and have nothing to eat. And if I send them away hungry to their own houses, they will faint on the way; for some of them have come from afar.” Jesus Himself had experienced the pain of hunger during His time of temptation in the wilderness, so He spoke with authority on the matter. And in this case, these people faced the danger of physical hunger because they had so eagerly fed on the Word of God which Jesus delivered to them. He felt responsible for them, and He had compassion on them

The disciples, as always, seem to forget what Jesus has already taught them. “How can one satisfy these people with bread here in the wilderness?” they ask Him.The odd thing is, this is not the first time the disciples have been in these circumstances. Jesus has at this point already fed a gathering of five thousand men in a miraculous way. And these men would surely be aware of how God had fed the entire of nation of Israel in the wilderness for forty years! Surely one meal for four thousand people wouldn’t be beyond the means of the promised Messiah. They still didn’t understand the nature of the Man they followed; but this time they didn’t tell Jesus what to do. They waited for a word from Him, at least trusting that He could do what they could not.

In a certain sense, as much as you appreciate what God delivers to you in Christ when you gather here, you feel a certain obligation to show up here on Sunday morning. And that is not necessarily wrong. Father Luther tells us in his explanation of the Third Commandment, “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.” You give honor to God and His Word when you come here to receive the Word, whether it’s the spoken Word of forgiveness, the Word preached to you, or the Word fed to you in the Holy Supper. But if it is only obligation which brings you to this place on a given day, if you’re not here because you hunger and thirst for God’s gifts of forgiveness and life, then you too are living in ignorance concerning Jesus. Jesus forces no one to believe, and you’re free to walk out that door and never to look back.

But for those willing to live according to the good and gracious will of God, Jesus does not—and, indeed, cannot—disappoint. He told the people to sit down, and He took the loaves and the fish which the disciples brought to Him and gave thanks to the Father for providing for His people. When He gave the food to the disciples to be distributed, the people ate their fill, and seven baskets worth of food remained when the meal was finished. You’ve heard your pastor say this before, but he will say it again: Jesus is the living fulfillment of the Magnificat which His mother Mary sang:

He has filled the hungry with good things,
And the rich He has sent away empty.
He has helped His servant Israel,
In remembrance of His mercy,
As He spoke to our fathers,
To Abraham and to his seed forever.

When Jesus sent them away, none of them were hungry. He had fed both their bodies and their souls, giving them everything they needed for this life and for the next.

He does the same for you today. When you pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” Jesus is gracious to give you “all that we need to support this body and life”—and even as He delivers to you the physical necessities you need day by day, Jesus gives you all that you need to refresh and sustain your spirit, as well. There is nothing lacking in the daily bread you receive today. The forgiveness of sins which you receive in the Word of Holy Absolution is complete forgiveness for all your sins of thought, word, and deed, whether it’s something you have done that you ought not do, or something you have not done that you ought to do. Jesus died to take your sins upon Himself and rose again to give you new life in His name. The salvation you receive in the Lord’s Supper is complete salvation for all eternity. And while you receive these gifts with thanksgiving often, they are not made complete by receiving them more often; these gifts are complete every time you receive them.

The people came out and listened to Jesus, and He fed them in both body and soul. He does the same for you when you gather here to hear His Word and receive His body and blood. Whether it’s a baptismal blessing or His own body and blood, Jesus will never send a beggar away empty. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Update: HYMN--Fear Not, O Virgin Mild

2011-08-02T11:15:00.001-05:00

I have updated my hymn Fear Not, O Virgin Mild, which I wrote before Christmas last year. The first verse originally read as follows:

Fear not, O virgin mild—
Dear Mary, favored maid—
For you will bear the holy Child
As I have bade.
Your Child shall conquer death:
The Son of righteousness.
Rejoice, O Mary, child of faith
Forever blessed.

The re-write reads:

Fear not, O virgin mild—
Dear Mary, favored maid—
For you will bear the holy Child
For whom Eve prayed.
Your Child shall conquer death:
The Life, by all confessed.
Rejoice, O Mary, child of faith
Forever blessed.

Let me know what you think. Should I change the fourth line to "Be not afraid!" to play off the first line?