Sermon for 5/21/23: Ascension of Our Lord (observed)

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Ascended for Us

Acts 1:1-11

 

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

For forty days, Jesus suffered in the wilderness. He endured hardships greater than any other man has ever known or survived. He resisted the temptations that we did not and could not. For forty days, He fought the devil in that barren place. He overcame Satan, “the old evil foe,” simply by not giving in, suffering the abuse and the attacks. And that passive resistance led to His torturous death. Of course, He could have stopped it at any time, but it was necessary for our sake that He endure it all. That was the price of our rebellion. So the devil did his worst. He had his way with Jesus. He raised up the cross of hatred and drove in the nails. He mocked the Lord and heaped abuse on Him. All of that Satan did through men: the apostate vessel Judas; the devil’s willing vassals in the Sanhedrin; his servants in the Roman army; his minions throughout the city.

The Lord of life died. But then He rose! The grave could not hold Him. Satan lost, though he thought he had won. Death is now dead, and life lives! Sinners great and small go free. And then, for forty more days, our Lord walked the earth in His body and soul. He ate with His disciples. He invited Thomas to touch the wounds in His hands and side. But during those forty days, He no longer denied Himself the divine attributes that were rightly His. In that same body born of Mary, He passed through the stone that closed the tomb; He passed through the locked door to the room that held His fearful disciples…for this Man is also God. God comes to us as a Man. This God-Man breathed the Holy Spirit upon His disciples. He gave them the authority to preach, to baptize, to forgive sins. And then, finally, all things being complete, He ascended to the Father as God and Man, forever elevating human nature and opening heaven for us and all believers. He ascended so that we would ascend with Him! In fact, this is why we celebrate the Ascension so fervently: our Lord has gone before us to prepare a place for us, and He goes before us to prepare our way there!

After the Ascension, it was still ten days before the Holy Spirit would rest upon the apostles in tongues of fire. Even when the Spirit had anointed them for this work, it was still not given to them to know the day and the time of the Lord’s choosing. It was given to them to be martyrs, to be witnesses to Christ even unto death. They could not know that the Epistles they would write would be heard and read by billions. They could not know that huge cathedrals would be built in their honor. They could not know that godly parents would call their own sons by their names. They could not know all the good their preaching and their suffering would accomplish. They simply followed in the way of the cross. They lived their lives in frequent hardship. They were rejected by their contemporaries. Most of them, tradition says, were killed for their faith—only John died a natural death, and it wasn’t because the enemies of the Gospel didn’t try to kill him. It was not their place to question why. It was their place to preach. It was their place to make disciples, teaching their hearers everything Jesus taught them. That was their charge. Again, they were to be martyrs, witnesses to Christ even to death.

The kingdom would not be restored to Israel. The Kingdom of God is no longer aligned with any of the nations of this world. His Kingdom is not of this world; that was what Jesus said. Instead, the Gospel calls forth a new Israel. He makes men who hate Him into citizens in His Kingdom of grace. The sons and daughters of generations of unbelievers and despisers are welcomed. He even raises up praise from stones if need be! The holy apostles and their pastor successors were sent to the ends of the earth—to the highways and byways, to the greatest and to the least, to the beloved and the despised, to Jews and to Gentiles alike. The invitation of the Lord is not picky. The apostles were not concerned with strategic planning sessions. There was no vision casting for the future, no programs, no objectives, no websites, no brochures. They just preached and taught. “I planted,” Paul said, “Apollos watered, but God gave the increase.” It didn’t matter if they were simple fishermen like Peter and James and John, or educated Pharisees or tax collectors like Paul and Matthew. They preached and taught and baptized. God did the work.

That Word of God continues to go forth. The Word does what God says it will do, to the amazement of those who preach it. The apostolic Word is breathed out again and again, and the Holy Spirit changes the hearts of those who hear. The Word proclaims the death our Lord died and the life He now lives. And this preaching is the power of God unto salvation. It raises up new people, forgiven by the love of God in Jesus Christ. The Church, a newer and greater Israel, is born.

And you are set free, even while you yet endure the bonds of this fallen creation and suffer under its temptations. You live even though you die—and the great wonder is that you actually live the most and the fullest when you have died. You do not belong here. Your kingdom is not of this world. You, too, will rise and ascend. Our Lord bids you, “Follow Me!” And where He bids, even to heaven, you will go! Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

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

Sermon for 5/14/23: Sixth Sunday of Easter

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Law and Liberty

James 1:22-27

 

ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

 

James writes, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.” This is a call to deliberate Christianity. It suggests that there are at least two kinds of people who fill the pews in our churches. There are those who come as spectators, and there are those who come as participants in the faith.

Spectators merely hear the Word. They may even believe it, in the sense that they consider it to be accurate or true. But because they do not take it into themselves and live by the light of it, they merely “hear” the Word of God. They hear it as one hears a song. It is pleasant to the ear, even familiar, but life is unchanged by the Word they have heard week after week. They hear about sin but do not repent. They hear about temptation but not resist it. Many hear the Word about the forgiveness of sins, but they do not take it to heart. They hear about the great of love of God, but they still approach life with fear and worry and despair.

Participants in the faith take to heart what they hear. They find comfort in their troubles, and they find peace and joy in the love of God for them. They are the ones who “look into the perfect law law of liberty.” Of course, we hear the word “law”, and we assume it means some sort of rules. Happily, it doesn’t mean that here. Here, it means something more like a guide or a principle. The law of liberty is not code of behavior to which one must conform. The law of liberty describes our freedom in Christ.

The problem with being a mere spectator in the Church is that you end up deluding yourself into thinking that you don’t need what God offers, that it doesn’t apply to you—that you are forgiven, so nothing else from the Word of God matters for you. You end up thinking that all that talk about forgiveness and salvation doesn’t affect how you live your life. But if the Gospel doesn’t change anything for you or in you or about you… Think about what that means. If the Gospel hasn’t changed anything, it means that you are still stuck where you were before you heard the Gospel. If it hasn’t changed anything, then you are still lost and condemned.

The truth is that the law of liberty changes everything. The Gospel is not merely about forgiveness, although that is the heart of it. The Gospel is about how much God loves us and how far He is willing to go on our behalf and for our blessing. Most of us understand how the love of our parents—or the lack of that love—has affected us. That honest and warm love of our parents for us as little children is a mere shadow, a tiny taste of God’s love for us. We have a loving heavenly Father who looks out for us, who watches over us, who protects us and blesses us. He proved that love by sending His Son to become one of us, to endure all that Jesus Christ endured on our behalf in order to redeem us and rescue us from sin and death and hell.

We can live in the light of our Father’s love toward us, in the light of forgiveness and eternal life. If we hear and believe the Word of God, if we place our trust in the One whom our Father has sent to win our salvation, we will live in the light of that Word. That’s what James means when he says to be a “doer.” One who lives in the light of the Gospel “will be blessed in what he does.” True faith is marked by love, compassion, and holiness. We have abundant opportunities to do works of compassion, and we often have abundant resources to do them. True faith will drive the Christian to doing the compassionate thing, to follow in the example of our Lord.

Let me emphasize this one thing for you: one thing the Gospel should work in you is trust toward God. Even though you do not live up to the standards you know are right, even though you do not perfectly love God, even though you do not perfectly love and serve your neighbor, our Lord Jesus Christ has died for you; your sins are forgiven. The Law works fear, because the Law condemns you of your imperfect love. But the Gospel answers and says to you, “Do not be afraid. Your sins are forgiven in Christ. Your Father loves you. In Holy Baptism, He now counts you as His own.”

As you believe and take hold of the Gospel, the love of God in Christ becomes the reason you live your life under His grace. It becomes the reason for confessing Christ boldly, the reason for your stewardship of all that God has given you to use for this life. In short, as one “who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work,” then you are a participant in the faith and not merely a spectator. As James tells us, being a participant also carries a great promise with it: you shall be blessed in what you do. What a gift that is, both to you and to your neighbor. Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

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

The Easter VIgil Hymn Project

 For a year and a half now, I've been working on writing a hymn text for every reading in the Easter Vigil. It started as I wrote a hymn based on an ancient homily for Holy Saturday. After speaking to the Reverend Doctor John Fleischmann about his hymn text for the Exsultet chant for the Easter Vigil, we decided we would work on a text for every reading in the Vigil service. As I usually do, I leapt in head-first to take on the project, and late last month I wrote the final text.

I also decided upon completion of the final text that I wanted to have truncated versions of those texts, knowing that not everyone wants to sing numerous hymns with ten stanzas. This blog post is the result of that desire for shortened texts. I will list each reading, and then I will post the stanzas for each text that I feel would give a good summary without singing the whole of each text. I hope this is helpful for those of you who lead the Vigil or desire to take up this ancient and salutary service.

Each text is written in the 77 77D meter. While I'm debating whether to seek our new tunes, one particular new tune, or one or several familiar tunes to fit the texts, there are numerous familiar tunes associated with that meter.

The Easter Vigil

Exultet text by Rev. Dr. John Fleischmann

Exultet: Rejoice, You Choirs of Angels (with an original tune)

Homily text

The Earth Is Still and Silent

The Creation: Genesis 1:1-2:3

O Father of Creation

1. O Father of creation;
O Word, begotten Son;
O Holy Spirit, brooding:
By You is all begun.
By water You have washed us,
Creating us anew.
Now bless Your new creation.
Conform our lives to you.

9. The seventh day, God rested,
Creation’s work now stilled,
His mighty work completed,
Accomplished as He willed.
As we await the new Day,
The “very good” restored,
We praise You for creation,
Our great Creator Lord.


The Flood: Genesis 7:1-5, 11-18; 8:6-18; 9:8-13

O Lord, You Made the Waters

1. O Lord, You made the waters

And sent them to the earth.

Though water brings destruction,

It also gives new birth.

Oh, pour on us a wellspring,

A great baptismal flood,

To drown old wretched Adam

In Christ’s own watered blood.

 

9. Oh, grant us faith, dear Father,

Through this baptismal tide,

To trust Your Word of promise

And in Your grace abide.

Protect Your chosen children

Who shelter in Your nave,

Who bear Your name forever,

Who trust Your might to save.

 

The Testing of Abraham: Genesis 22:1-18

The Sacrifice Appointed 

1. The Sacrifice appointed
Is Christ, the Paschal Lamb:
The Substitute most pleasing,
The self-appointed Ram.
He let Himself be captured
In thickets of our sin,
And in His cross and Passion
Our ransom He would win.

Israel's Deliverance at the Red Sea: Exodus 14:10-15:1

Lift Up Your Eyes, O People

1. Lift up your eyes, O people.
Your enemies draw near.
Cry out to God for mercy.
Fear not! The Lord is here!
He never will forsake you
To perish in the dust.
He hears your plea and answers,
In Him alone you trust.

Salvation Offered Freely to All: Isaiah 55:1-11

O Christ, the Living Water

1. O Christ, the living Water

Who satisfies our thirst,

Who cleanses hopeless sinners

By sin and death accursed,

Oh, bathe Your whole creation—

A great baptismal tide—

Where holy blood is mingled

With water from Your side.

 

4. “My thoughts and ways are higher

Than your ways,” says the Lord,

“For powerful in purpose

Shall be My holy Word.

Like rain to feed creation

From heav’n above shall spill,

My Word returns not empty,

But works My holy will.”

A New Heart and a New Spirit: Ezekiel 36:24-28

 

Oh, Draw Us from the Nations

 

1. Oh, draw us from the nations

And gather us to You.

Pour out baptismal waters

To cleanse like morning dew.

Create in us a new heart;

Cut out our heart of stone.

Remove our love of idols;

Lead us to You alone.

2. Within us put Your Spirit

To be Your dwelling place,

And make Your Law our pleasure,

Obeying by Your grace.

Grant us to be Your people;

Our God forever be!

Yes, gather us together

Unto eternity.

 

God's Faithfulness to Israel: Deuteronomy 31:19-29 (and 32:1-43)
 

The Lord Our God Is Faithful

 

1. The Lord our God is faithful.

His Word is sure and true;

It always will accomplish

What He sets out to do.

His people, as He promised,

At last to Canaan came,

The land of milk and honey.

All glory to His name!

 

8. O faithful God, we praise You.

Your sacred song we sing.

You blot out our transgression.

From You all graces spring.

Oh, lead us to that country

With milk and honey blest.

Christ’s holy blood and body:

Our endless Paschal Feast.

 

 

The Valley of Dry Bones: Ezekiel 37:1-14

The Word Gives Life and Spirit

 

1. The Word gives life and Spirit

To people dead in sin.

It draws us to the Church doors 

And welcomes us within.

Lord, breathe on Adam’s children,

That we may rise and live.

Send forth Your faithful prophets,

Your holy Word to give.

6. “These bones, O man, are Israel.

Oh, hear My children cry:

‘In exile we are hopeless;

Our bones are very dry.’

But I, their God, shall call them

To raise them from their graves

And bring my people homeward.

I am the Lord who saves.”

Job Confesses the Redeemer: Job 19:19-27

The World Is Full of Torments

1. The world is full of torments.
My allies seek my shame.
The hand of God has touched me;
My flesh sticks to my frame.
Have mercy! Oh, have mercy!
From sorrow do I flee.
Like God, their words pursue me;
Why do they follow me?

2. Pay heed to my confession.
With confidence I cry:
He lives, my great Redeemer!
And even when I die,
I know that I shall see Him.
Yes, I myself shall see!
On earth He will be standing.
How yearns my heart in me!

 

 

Jonah Preaches to Ninevah: Jonah 3:1-10

 

Send Forth Your Faithful Preachers

 

1. Send forth Your faithful preachers,

And call us to repent.

Grant faith that we may listen

And heed the one You sent.

With sackcloth and in ashes 

We call, O God, to You.

Oh, turn us from our evil;

Our steadfastness renew.

 

 

The Gathering of God's People: Zephaniah 3:12-20

 

Fear Not, Fear Not, O Zion

 

1. Fear not, fear not, O Zion! 

Rejoice! Oh, shout and sing!

The mighty One will save you:

The Lord, your God and King.

Behold, the King is with you

To guard you in the fray.

No judgment stands against you.

Your foes He drove away.

2. Fear not, fear not, O Zion!

Let not your hands grow weak, 

For He shall be the refuge

Of all the humble, meek.

Their lips speak no deception.

Their deeds shall bring no shame.

No evil shall befall them

Who call upon His name.

3. Fear not, fear not, O Zion.

Oppressors meet their end.

The outcast He will gather.

On Him you may depend:

To praise you to the nations,

To calm your every fear,

To gather you together.

The Lord is with you here.

 

 

The Fiery Furnace: Daniel 3:1-30

 

The Evil Seek the Downfall

 

1. The evil seek the downfall 

Of all who will not kneel 

Before the golden idols

Of silicon and steel.

Man’s sin-perverted reason 

Confuses wrong from right. 

God’s children must be faithful 

To walk within the light. 

10. The day is surely coming 

When truth will be a crime. 

The Gospel, still a scandal, 

Remains our light sublime.

God grant that we be faithful 

To face the fiery test,

To stand in bold confession 

When faith is sore oppressed.

Sermon for 5/7/23: Fifth Sunday of Easter

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“Sing to the Lord a New Song!”

Isaiah 12:1-6

 

ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The traditional name for this Sunday in the Church year is “Cantate,” meaning “to sing.” That’s how our Introit began: “Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations.” This reading from Isaiah also speaks of singing: “Sing praises to the Lord… Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust and will not be afraid; for the Lord God is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation.”

This is almost identical to the words sung by the children of Israel on the far shore of the Red Sea as they watched the waters of the sea wash over the army of Pharaoh. They certainly had good reason to sing. Four hundred years of slavery had come to an end. God’s miraculous hand had reached out and saved them just when death and destruction seemed about to catch up to them!

Although they griped a lot, the Israelites did not stop in the middle of their song to complain, “I wish Moses had chosen one of those more singable tunes.” And given what they had experienced, most of them probably did not become distracted while they were singing. How could they be distracted? After all, they had just been delivered from slavery and even death. God had revealed Himself in power and majesty to show His mercy to His people! Even the tone deaf among them were singing loudly! Surely no one cared what the melody was! They were happy to be alive, protected by God’s mighty hand. Surely nothing else mattered at that moment.

Isaiah wrote to a similar situation. “In that day...” he wrote. What day? In the previous chapter, he had just written about a Shoot that would grow up from the stem of Jesse, a Branch that would grow out of His roots. Upon that Branch the Spirit of the Lord would rest. In righteousness He would judge the poor and the meek. With the rod of His mouth He would slay the wicked. Jesus Christ, the Son of David, is this root of Jesse. He is Immanuel, God with us, the Virgin’s Son, as Isaiah had announced earlier.

This root of Jesse has already come. He has crushed our enemies: sin, death, hell, and Satan. He has established peace between God and man through His atoning sacrifice on the cross. He has lifted up His cross as a banner to which all who trust in Him may rally. Today is that day of which Isaiah wrote: the day of the Church, built on Jesus Christ. So who should be singing out enthusiastically on this day? You should. You should be belting out the praises of the Lord, your God!

God did not send the plagues of Egypt for you. He sent something far greater: He caused the plagues of sin and death to fall upon Christ on the cross. He did not merely destroy the first-born of Egypt for you. He caused His own dear Son, the Son of God, to die for you. You have not seen the parting of the Red Sea and then the drowning of Pharaoh’s armies beneath it. But you have seen the waters of Holy Baptism washing away sin and death. You do not eat an earthly Passover Lamb; instead you partake of the the body and blood of the risen Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. In every way you have something far greater than what Isaiah and his people had. In every way you should be filled with a far greater joy and should sing much louder and with a more joyful spirit. Yes, the Lord was angry with you, but He has turned His anger away. You deserved unending wrath, but God has given you freedom in His Son!

And yet, for all of that, the saints of God sing half-heartedly. Some don’t like the song or complain that it’s too difficult. Some refuse to sing at all. And, meanwhile, thoughts drift away to other things. Even now your sinful flesh wants to sing from its own strength. But the Lord is your strength and your song. Sing of Him and the great things He has done. Forget about yourself. Forget about what you feel you need. He is the fulfillment of all you need. Let Him be your song. Think on all that Christ has done. Think about what He continues to do even now for you in this Divine Service. He has reversed death. He has erased the punishment for sin in His blood. He has crushed the serpent’s head. He did all of this to redeem you, a lost and condemned creature. He suffered death and hell to save miserable wretches like you and me.

When you still struggle with your sinful flesh, with lips that do not want to sing praise to God, lay that sin on Jesus. He died for your lack of joy; He died for your easily distracted flesh. Rest assured that He hears your voice as sheer beauty, no matter how tone-deaf you may happen to be. Even if you hit a wrong note—or many wrong notes—in God’s ears it is perfect praise. If your heart is distracted, He does not notice because your heart is covered by the perfect righteousness of Christ.

One day yet to come, He will reveal all that is hidden now, and you will burst out in glorious song with all of God’s children. Your voices will sing out, perfect and more beautiful than any choir on earth. Your hearts will be perfect, lifted up with untarnished joy before the throne of your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, to whom you will sing forever and ever. ALLELUIA! CHRIST IS RISEN! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

 

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