HYMN: From Ramah We Have Heard Them

I wrote this text as a sort of lyrical exercise, to see if I could set a particular Biblical text into a metered form and make it come out. The text was Jeremiah 31, and I took excerpts--vv.15-22 and vv.31-34--and fit them together into the following text.

This hymn will most likely never make it into the rotation of hymns I'd select for my congregation, but I'll admit that I'm pleased with the growth it exhibits in my writing.

Any feedback would be appreciated.


From Ramah We Have Heard Them

1. From Ramah we have heard them:
Laments and bitter grief.
Dear Rachel for her children
Weeps tears without relief.
Fair Rachel, grieving spurn.
Behold, the Lord has spoken.
Your mourning now is broken.
Your children shall return.

2. Refrain your voice from weeping.
Your comfort now is near.
The Lord your hope is keeping--
A future without fear.
The children shall come home,
Returning from oppression.
With Ephraim make confession:
"My sins You have made known."

3. Lord, I have been unruly,
And You have reined me in.
You have restored me truly--
Absolved me of my sin.
O Israel, return;
O, how long will you wander?
Set up your signs and ponder
The road that you must learn.

4. Her signs the road has taught her:
Turn back, O virgin mild.
Return, O wayward daughter,
For you shall bear the Child.
Lord, call Your children home.
Bring us to true repentance.
Commute our dread death sentence
Until that day You come.

5. "Behold, the days are nearing--"
Thus says the mighty Lord--
"When with all those now fearing
And trusting in My Word
I will a cov'nant make
With all my chosen children,
To take their hand and lead them.
Their sins I will forsake."


(c) Alan Kornacki, Jr.
76 76 67 76
Tune: AUS MEINES HERZENS GRUNDE (LSB 354)

Sermon for 10/31/10--The Festival of the Reformation

Seizing the Kingdom

Matthew 11:12-15

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

The promise was for Abraham and his descendants. It was to be an everlasting covenant made by God with His people. He would be their God, and they would be His people. He would send for them a mighty Savior, one who would fulfill the promise made to Eve that one of her descendants would crush the head of that wily and deceptive serpent, Satan. The children of Israel were heirs of that promise, heirs of the richest inheritance God could provide. As cautionary tales like that of Paris Hilton and other celebrity heirs would show us, the danger of being an heir of a rich inheritance is that it tends to make the heir complacent and even lazy. Since they don’t have to work to make a living, they don’t work. They don’t do anything useful, in fact—unless, of course, you consider providing fodder for gossip columns to be a useful task. You remember the parable of the prodigal son, where the younger son of the rich father demands his inheritance while his father is still alive. He wastes his inheritance on extravagant living, and it’s not until the sum of his inheritance is spent that he finds himself looking for something useful to do. The children of Israel reacted to their inheritance in the same way. They saw their role as sons of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as an eternal inheritance, one that could not be taken away from them. By the very accident of their genealogy they saw themselves as irrevocable heirs of the kingdom of heaven. But Jesus Himself told them in another time and place, “And do not think to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.”

And that is exactly what our heavenly Father did. He made for Himself heirs who were hungry for their inheritance. When God’s own chosen people rejected the covenant, Jesus sent His apostles to the ends of the earth to share with them the message of the Messiah who came to deliver forgiveness and life to them. The inheritance which was originally intended for the indolent children of Israel was taken away from them by force, taken away by the Gentiles, the people whom the children of Israel looked down upon as lesser people, as unclean, as unworthy of the favor of God. The Gentiles seized the Kingdom, clinging to it with a violent passion—a passion so violent that it led many of them to their deaths at the hands of the Jews who saw their inheritance being violently ripped away from them.

In Luther’s day, great violence was again being done to the Kingdom. The blessed Gospel, the message of salvation and life in Jesus Christ, was being muffled and even perverted. The Church had become careless and even negligent in its confession of the truth of God. The times called for men of spiritual courage, men who did not fear the cost of confessing the truth. The times required a boldness like that of the apostles, who ventured out into a world that did not know the Gospel. There was a violence that was necessary–not a physical violence, not coercion, not intimidation, not manipulation, but a confession of the truth that was unwavering, a confession that, under the blessing of the Holy Spirit, could topple the fortresses of unbelief and rejection. What was needed was a stubborn love, a love for Christ, a love for the Gospel, a love for the Church, and a love for the people of God that could endure all things. Luther put it well, didn’t he, when he said: “And take they our life, goods, fame, child, and wife; let these all be gone, they yet have nothing won! The Kingdom ours remaineth!”

We are the heirs now: heirs of the Word and inheritors of the Gospel. And have we not also become complacent? Look at the state of those calling themselves Lutheran today. Look at the divisions among us. Look at how we fight amongst ourselves. Look at how Lutherans have, in the misguided name of love, abandoned the Word for the love of the world. Look at how Lutherans have begun to ordain women and homosexuals in opposition to the clear Word of God. Look at how we have abandoned the rich blessings of the traditional liturgy for the cotton candy of contemporary liturgies that are here today and gone tomorrow. “People are dying eternal death while we talk about the purity of the Gospel,” some would say. That means we should stop worrying about the purity of the Gospel and just get any old message out, right?

No. Still today we must carry on with Luther. Still today we need that stubborn love that seizes the kingdom of God and shares it with the world. It is time, once again, to storm the gates of heaven with our prayers that God would bless and sustain His Church. It is time, once again, to wrestle with God, even as Jacob did, and insist that we will not end our striving until He blesses us. It is time once again, to cling to the Word with passion, clinging to it violently, even in the face of persecution and death.

We are the heirs now. We have heard the voice of John crying in the wilderness, the voice of the prophets, and we have received it. We are the heirs now, and we have been given that faith which clings to these promises and gifts of God; we have been given that faith in the Word and the water of Holy Baptism. We are marked there as heirs of the kingdom of God, heirs of the everlasting inheritance of forgiveness and salvation. The promise that God made to Adam and Eve, the promise made to Abraham, the covenant God made with His chosen people—that promise has been fulfilled in the person of Jesus, who died on the cross bearing our sin, who rose again to bring us to life again with Him, and who now sits at the right hand of the Father to intercede on our behalf. God has made us His children, and He has promised us, “I will be your God, and you will be My people.” We are His children, and as His children, we are also His heirs. That inheritance includes the forgiveness of sins, spoken in the word of Holy Absolution. That inheritance includes the body and blood of the promised Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, in which we receive the forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and the strengthening of our faith for our violent struggle for the Word.

Luther wrote, “The Gospel is not preached in vain; there are people who hear it and love it violently, so that they hazard body and life for the sake of God’s Word.  When they hear the Gospel, their conscience drives them on, so that none can keep them away.”  By the grace of God through the waters of Holy Baptism, we are those people, for we know that the Gospel is not preached in vain.  The kingdom ours remaineth.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear.  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.

#40 . . . With a Bullet

A number of my friends and fellow bloggers (like Rick Stuckwisch and Chris Esget) have put together lists of their most influential music albums.  Thinking about the role which music has played in my life, I decided to put together my own list.  Obviously it won't be a comprehensive list--after all, I own over a thousand CDs, and all of them have influenced me in some way.  These are the ones that left the greatest impression, that reached me at a certain point in time and made an impact.

I doubt I could rank them from highest to lowest, looking back over the past 35 years.  Time magnifies some things and desensitizes others.  So what I've done is list them chronologically according to when the album as a whole made its initial impact on me.  That means some of the albums might be dated differently than the year they were originally released.  (Since some of these albums are from before I was born, that should be obvious.)  The chronology might be different if I went by when a certain song from the album influenced me, but that's not what I'm going for right now. 

By the way, you'll notice a few "Greatest Hits" collections on here.  That's because those albums are how I first encountered the artist's work as a collection.  (For example, I encountered "Rock N Soul Pt. 1" by Hall & Oates long before I ever bought a studio album of theirs.)

All that being said, here we go with . . .

My Top 40 Most Influential Albums

1. 1979 - Kiss: Destroyer
2. 1980 - Styx: Paradise Theater
3. 1982 - Toto IV
4. 1982 - John Mellencamp: American Fool (released as John Cougar)
5. 1982 - Asia: Asia
6. 1982 - Michael Jackson: Thriller
7. 1983-1984 - Billy Joel: An Innocent Man
8. 1984 - Hall & Oates: Rock N Soul Pt. 1
9. 1986 - OST: St. Elmo's Fire
10. 1986 - "Weird Al" Yankovic: Dare to Be Stupid
11. 1986-1987 - Boston: Third Stage
12. 1986-1987 - Bon Jovi: Slippery When Wet
13. 1987 - Bryan Adams: Reckless
14. 1988 - Dan Fogelberg: The Innocent Age (especially disc 1)
15. 1988 - Mannheim Steamroller: A Fresh Aire Christmas
16. 1989 - America: Greatest Hits
17. 1990 - Fleetwood Mac: Rumours
18. 1990 - The Eagles: Greatest Hits 1971-75
19. 1990 - Metallica: . . . And Justice For All
20. 1991 - Journey: Infinity
21. 1991 - Pink Floyd: The Wall
22. 1992 - Peter Gabriel: So
23. 1992 - Neil Diamond: 12 Hits Vol. 2
24. 1992 - Meatloaf: Bat out of Hell
25. 1992 - Joe Jackson: Night and Day
26. 1993 - Jackson Browne: Running on Empty
27. 1993 - Queen: A Kind of Magic (and Innuendo)
28. 1994 - Barenaked Ladies: Gordon
29. 1995 - Harry Chapin: Greatest Stories Live
30. 1995 - Crosby Stills & Nash: So Far
31. 1995 - Sarah McLachlan: Fumbling Towards Ecstasy
32. 1996 - Cake: Fashion Nugget
33. 1996 - Alison Krauss: Now That I've Found You
34. 1998 - Praetorius: Mass for Christmas Morning (Paul McCreesh conducting the Gabrieli Consort and Players)
35: 1999 - Holly Cole: Temptation
36: 2000 - Gary Allan: Smoke Rings in the Dark
37. 2001 - Liz Phair: Whipsmart
38. 2002 - Damien Rice: O
39. 2003 - Evanescence: Fallen
40. 2009 - Breaking Benjamin: Dear Agony

Honorable Mention
1986 - Elton John: Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
1990 - REO Speedwagon: Hi Infidelity
1990 - Led Zeppelin: IV (ZOSO)
1991 - Pink Floyd: Dark Side of the Moon / Wish You Were Here
1993 - Barry Manilow: Greatest Hits Vol. 1 (and 2 and 3)
1998 - Ani Difranco: Living in Clip
1998 - Ecole Notre Dame: Messe du Jour de Noel (Marcel Pérès conducting Ensemble Organum)
2000 - David Bowie: Changesbowie

Sermon for 10/24/10--Twenty-First Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

The Word Speaks

John 4:46-54

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

It took faith for the man in our text to make the journey from Capernaum to Cana to seek healing for his son from Jesus. Though it was not a terribly long journey, he left behind a son that was deathly ill. But as much faith as it took for him to make that journey, it took even more faith for the man to walk away from Jesus. After all, the man didn’t get exactly what he asked for from the Lord. He asked Jesus to come with him and heal his son who was at the point of death. Jesus spoke truth to the man, saying, “Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will by no means believe.” And when the man again implored Him, saying, “Sir, come down before my child dies,” Jesus said to him, “Go your way; your son lives.” The man asked Jesus twice to “come down” with him so that Jesus could heal his son. Jesus did not send him away empty-handed, yet it seems that all Jesus gave this man was words. How much faith did it take to walk away from Jesus at that point and believe that he would find his son alive and healed? This is faith in the crucible, faith under pressure. His faith was rewarded the next day, when he was met on his way back by his slaves who told him, “Your child lives!” They even told him that the boy was healed at the moment when Jesus said that his son was alive.

On the Sunday after the resurrection, Jesus told Thomas the disciple, “Because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” The man in our text exhibited the faith of those whom Jesus calls “blessed”. How does a man get that kind of faith, anyway? It’s an important question for us, because we are living in an age where we do not see Christ in the flesh performing signs and wonders—not the way the disciples were privileged to witness Him. For now, we are meant to live by faith, not by sight. As St. Paul tells us in his First Letter to the Corinthains, “Now we see in a mirror, dimly.”

But it’s so hard to live that way, isn’t it? Even Adam and Eve, who were created in the image of God, who would have seen the Almighty face to face, who would have spoken with Him as we speak to each other, did not have that kind of faith; rather, at the first opportunity, they questioned the command of God. They turned away from Him—not in faith, but in sin, choosing to believe Satan and flee from God. As for us, we know that Jesus is ascended on high, and we know He does not show Himself to us the way He showed Himself to the world during His earthly life and ministry. Still, we expect Him to show Himself to us, especially in our hour of need. “Jesus, my child is sick. Why aren’t you here?” “Jesus, he wants a divorce. Why did you let this happen?” “Jesus, the ground is dry, and the crops are dying. You’re the one in control of the winds and the waves; do something!” We’re under the impression that we know better than God what is good for us and how He should take care of things. Like the man in our text, we want Jesus to come down to where we are, to where the trouble is, and to take care of it. We want it done our way.

And the odd thing is, He does take care of these things; yet we’re not satisfied with the way He handles them. Twice the man in our text asked Jesus to “come down” with him. Don’t doubt for a moment that it took faith for the man to keep asking Jesus to heal his son after the first time. After all, Jesus told a parable of a widow who kept badgering a judge so much that he finally gave into her, with the point that we should be persistent in our prayers to the Lord. But at the same time, with the man in our text, we want to see the proof, the evidence, the goods. If God can fulfill our request in our way, in a way that we can see and touch and experience, then we can know that He is God. But that’s not the way God works. Jesus speaks, and His powerful Word accomplishes what He wills—not necessarily in a flashy way, but it is effective.

Just how powerful is the Word of God? How trustworthy is it? It does exactly what He says it will do. The Word gives life. The Word gave life in creation, where God spoke, and what He willed came to be. The Word gave life to the son of this man in our text, bringing healing from the moment the Word was spoken. And the Word gives life to the people of God still today. It begins in Holy Baptism, where the Word works in the water to drown the old sinful man within you, bringing to life a new and cleansed man, a new creation. A new life begins, a new life which has been given the gift of faith, faith which clings to the forgiveness and life you receive. It continues in the Holy Absolution, where the Word brings you back to that baptismal cleansing. When your pastor speaks this Word in the stead of Christ, your sins are forgiven, removed from you, never to be looked upon again by our Lord. In Holy Absolution, the new life you have received in Baptism is restored. And then that new life is fed in the Holy Supper, where, like the son of the man from Capernaum, Jesus heals you and restores life to you, even though you don’t see Him. Jesus takes ordinary means, bread and wine, and He says to you, “This is my body. This is my blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins.” The Word of God does exactly what He says it will do. The bread of the Holy Supper is His body. The wine of the Holy Supper is His blood. And these gifts give you the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, exactly as He said they would. You can’t see the evidence, and there are no signs or wonders to prove these things empirically; but the faith which you have received in Holy Baptism clings to these words and trusts them. As the Lord says to you through the prophet Isaiah: “For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and do not return there, but water the earth, and make it bring forth and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”

Jesus is the Word of God, and the Word of God is powerful and trustworthy to do exactly what He says it will do. What the Word promises, the Word delivers—whether it be light and the other blessings of creation and daily living, or healing of the body, or the healing of the soul which you will receive today in Christ’s body and blood. Do not seek signs and wonders; but cling to the Word of God. Go your way; for you will live, now and forever. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed; for the Word speaks, and He does exactly what He says He will 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 10/17/10--Twentieth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

The Wedding Garment

Matthew 22:1-14

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

The invitation had been extended by the king, and there were no strings attached to it. “All things are ready. Come to the wedding.” When those who were first invited, the cream of society, refused the invitation with indifference and even with violence, the king responded to their rejection by destroying their city. Then he sent his messengers out to the street corners and the marketplaces, anywhere they could catch a lot of people in a hurry; and the messengers were to invite everyone they could find. Finally the wedding hall was full. The wedding banquet should have begun then to the joy of everyone gathered. But the king came in and saw a guest who was in his street clothes instead of the wedding garment the king had provided. And the king asked the man, “Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?”

It is sometimes a fearful thing for Jesus to call someone a friend. In the Gospel of Matthew, between the use of parables and His address of people He encounters, He only calls someone “friend” three times. The first occurs in a parable in chapter 20, when the man who has hired laborers at different times addresses the men he hired first, men who are now complaining about their wages; and he addresses one of them as “friend”. The third occurs in chapter 26, when Jesus addresses Judas in Gethsemane as “friend” when Judas came to betray Him. And the second occurs in our text, where the king addresses as “friend” the man who has come in to the wedding feast without a wedding garment. None of these occurrences are what we would consider particularly friendly, and it does not end well for any of those Jesus addresses as friends. It is as if, as Paul suggests to the Romans, Jesus is heaping coals upon those who reject His love by speaking kind words to them. In truth, though the words seem kind, He deals harshly with those who claim to be friends in faithfulness to His Word, but who in reality are enemies, those who have proven themselves to be unfaithful.

We see in this text a metaphor for the whole history of salvation. Our heavenly Father invited Israel, His chosen people, to the union of His Son, Jesus, with His holy Bride, the Church. From Adam on, the Old Testament people of God were waiting for the promised Messiah. They had been told the wedding was coming, and they waited for the day when that promise would be fulfilled. When the Christ finally came and the wedding feast of His body and blood was prepared, those who had been invited first rejected the invitation, crucifying Christ and then persecuting and murdering those who had been seen to tell them that the wedding feast is ready, that Jesus had been raised from the dead, bringing life and salvation with Him. So the Apostles went to the ends of the earth, inviting everyone they could, Jew and Gentile, to the Feast of Christ’s body and blood. And many have come: the good and the bad, the just and the unjust, the faithful and the hypocrite.

One of the most common excuses people give for not coming to church goes something like this: “I don’t go to church because there are so many hypocrites there.” What a shameful reason to refuse the invitation. Everyone who is in church has been invited by the Savior—those whom the world sees as good and bad, those whom the world sees as faithful and hypocrite. What a shameful excuse to refuse the grace and gifts of God—shameful and ironic. A true Christian concerns himself with his own salvation in fear and trembling, not with checking the eyes of his neighbors for specks. By commenting on the spiritual condition of those who would share the pews with them, these people who are against hypocrisy have shown themselves to be the very thing they hate. They have shown themselves to be hypocrites, enemies of Christ and His Church. They have condemned themselves to the outer darkness.

But they are right about one thing: there is certainly truth to the claim that there are hypocrites in the midst of the Church Militant. Jesus Himself points them out to us in this parable. There are people who come to the divine service for the wrong reasons. There are people who come to see who else is there, and to make sure they’re seen to be there. The truth is, we look a lot like that hypocrite who has refused the wedding garment. We try to come to this place on our own terms, clothed in self-righteousness. There are people who expect to be recognized for the good they do in the community and for the amount of money they give to the congregation. There are people who come to church and expect the pastor, speaking in the stead of Christ, to say to them, “Well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your lord.” The congregation may never know what is in the hearts of these people, but the Lord certainly does. As the king speaks in the parable, so Jesus will say to them: “Take him away, and cast him into outer darkness.” They have already excluded themselves from the joy of the wedding feast; the Lord is just acknowledging their rejection of His grace.

But we have already been clothed in the proper wedding garment, the robe which has been made white in the blood of the Lamb and which has been placed on us in the waters of Holy Baptism. The King of kings Himself has provided your spotless royal robe of righteousness, and seeing that robe, no one will come to cast you into the outer darkness. Your teeth will remain ungnashed. Your eyes will remain dry of the tears of the anguish of those who have been cast away from the feast. Yes, you can choose to take it off, to reject this beautiful gift, but no one else can take it away from you. The invitation has been addressed to you, and our Lord has brought you to this place, where you may feed freely on the wedding feast of the body and blood of Jesus. You may feast on the Word of forgiveness, spoken to you by your pastor as by Christ Himself. You may drink to contentment the living water of Holy Baptism. Wouldn’t you love to be able to walk into your favorite store and freely walk out with everything you desire without having to pay for it? That is exactly what our Lord gives us in His church: forgiveness of sins, life and salvation for free! You don't have to earn it. You don't have to pay for it. There aren't any strings attached. There aren't any conditions. He's accomplished your salvation on the cross. He brings you into His church to receive and enjoy His salvation. You are an invited and welcome guest. All things are ready. Come to the feast. 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.

Five Years Later

"You meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day . . ." -- Genesis 50:20b


You've heard this story before. Five years ago today, I was attending the Ohio District Pastors' Conference. I like to be a good citizen when I can, and that means going to these things when you don't have a good excuse not to go. Anyway, the conference wasn't too bad--though if I'd have had to listen to then-President Kieschnick say "incessant internal purification" one more time, I might have bludgeoned myself with my own computer. But then, at the very end of the conference, then-President Bergen of the Ohio District took me aside and said to me, "I'm putting you on restricted status, pending your possible removal from the Synodical roster." On the drive home from the conference, I spoke with my Circuit Counselor, and he told me the board of elders of the congregation I was serving at the time was going to ask for my resignation, and should I refuse, they'd force me out. Sure enough, that evening, the president of the congregation asked for my resignation upon the request of the elders. It was the worst day of my life--and I hope it always remains so.  It was the start of four-and-a-half years on CRM status, which is as close to purgatory as I imagine anyone can get.

I know I don't really talk about congregational matters very much on here, and that's a deliberate thing. But this morning I will make an exception. One of my elders and his wife stopped by to pick up something for an event we're having later this month. They were only here for about ten minutes, but while they were gathering what they needed, we had a lovely conversation, and we all went on our way with smiles on our faces.

What a difference five years makes! How blessed I am, and how blessed my family is, that we are in this place with these fine people. God is, indeed, good--just as He was five years ago, though I found it harder to see at times back then.  What a good and gracious God we have, who uses everything for good.

Sermon for 10/10/10--Ninteenth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

"Your sins are forgiven you."

Matthew 9:1-8

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

It is all too easy for us to doubt the power of God in the lives of men. When you look around you and see all the suffering of humanity—when you see a young woman struggling over her last breath as cancer wins its battle with her body, when you see your life flash before your eyes as the car pulls out in front of you, when you see your parent slowly losing his grasp on sanity as dementia overtakes his mind—it is all too easy to question the goodness and power of God in our lives. Sinners that we are, even as we consider our baptism or kneel in confession or stand before the altar rail, it’s easy to look at the water of baptism or the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, to hear the words of Holy Absolution, and to question their power. Is this Word of God really effective? After all, we can’t read the hearts and souls of men—not even our own hearts and souls—to find out if the forgiveness of sins is doing its work in our hearts. There is no warm and tingly physical sensation to tell us that the Word of God is proving itself powerful in our lives. And without some sort of proof, we don’t trust the Word of God. After all, as the saying goes, talk is cheap. Like the Pharisees and Scribes, our flesh and our reason want nothing to do with the Word of God. These things hear only what they want to hear; they believe only what they want to believe.

When the friends of the paralyzed man brought him to Jesus, our Lord said to him, “Son, be of good cheer; your sins are forgiven you.” It might seem that Jesus missed the point. After all, this man was paralyzed. Wouldn’t it seem to you that the man’s problem was a physical issue, not a spiritual one? It might seem that way to us, but we don’t think or understand the way the Lord does. To Him, the connection between sin and suffering is apparent. Adam and Eve were not created to die. It is only after they partook of the forbidden fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that they were exiled from the fruit of the tree of life. It is only after they disobeyed the command of God that they became subject to illness, disease, and death. In other words, if this man did not inherit original sin from our first parents, Adam and Eve, he would not have experienced paralysis; he would not have needed healing. He is experiencing what the Apostle Paul calls “the wages of sin”. When Jesus speaks forgiveness to the paralyzed man, he is actually dealing with the man’s greater need, the greater dilemma: the sin which is the cause of the man’s suffering.

So which is easier: to say, “Your sins are forgiven you,” or to say, “Arise and walk”? You can answer either way, but the reasoning behind the answer is the same. If you assert that it’s easier to say, “Your sins are forgiven you,” it seems easier to say because it’s harder to prove the forgiveness of sins. If you assert that it’s easier to say, “Arise and walk,” it’s because it’s easier to prove that someone has been healed of that which has prevented them from walking. It comes down to proof. We want it, and we want God to provide it. But whichever is easier to say, the person who makes either statement has encroached on God’s territory: for it is because of sin that sickness, suffering and death entered God’s perfect and holy creation; and only God has the power to forgive sin.

But for Jesus, there is no encroachment. Jesus can and does speak both of these with equal ease. He is not stepping on God’s toes, for He is God. Here our Lord reveals Himself as the Savior and Healer of body and soul. The One who has power over the spiritual disease of sin must also have the power to heal the physical diseases which assail us. So which would make us believe that Jesus is the Christ, true God and true Man? For the crowds that day, it was both together that made them fear and believe. And the same holds true for us. The One who can heal our bodies is the same One who can forgive our sins: Jesus Christ. The One who has the power to forgive our sins is the same One who will raise up our bodies on the last day, and we will no longer be subject to the corruption of the flesh through sin. The work of redemption will be completely fulfilled. We will sin no more, and our bodies will never again break or bruise or fail us. Jesus is the resurrection and the life. He is the Lord, and the curse of sin that, for now, allows us to die, He will undo forever.

Do you question the power of Holy Absolution when your pastor speaks it to the whole congregation? Are you concerned that the Lord might not be able to hear your confession and address your specific sins? I assure you, the Lord knows your heart, no matter how many people are confessing around you. Is your conscience burdened by something that you believe the Lord could never forgive? I assure you, there is no sin you could confess that Jesus Christ did not die to forgive. Nevertheless, the Lord has graciously provided for you individually, too. The invitation is for you, and it stands open: come to your pastor by yourself. Speak to him in a private setting the sin that troubles you. Confess your sin before the Lord individually. The words of Holy Absolution which your pastor will speak are the words of Christ’s forgiveness, which Jesus applies to you personally, whether you make confession in the midst of the Divine Service or in the solitude of Individual Confession and Absolution. It is for you, given to you individually. As our Introit says, “The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears. He delivers them out of all their troubles. For this is God, our God forever and ever.” Your sin is removed from you as far as east is from west. It is removed from you, and the Lord never looks at it again. You are cleansed of that sin, and He will never again hold that sin against you.

Every gift of forgiveness is for you. Every healing of body and soul which you receive is a precious gift from God. We receive that healing again today. We received it in the Word of Holy Absolution, spoken by your pastor as by Christ Himself. And we will receive it again as we taste that forgiveness on our tongues in the body and blood of Jesus, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. Christ has all authority in heaven and on earth—power over flesh and blood, and power over those things that afflict the soul. Cling to that Word. Cling to the forgiveness of sins. Cling to the promise of the resurrection of the body on the last day, the full healing of body and soul. Do not doubt the power of the Word. Be of good cheer, son of God, for your sins are forgiven 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.

PARODY: Hosanna (A Praise Song)

Lest y'all think I've gotten all stodgy and big-in-the-head since I started writing hymns, I'll post this to remind you of my humble roots as a parodist. Hat tip to Mark Buetow for the idea.


Hosanna (A Praise Song to the tune of "Rosanna" by Toto)

1. All I wanna do when confronted with Your glory is close my eyes. Hosanna! Hosanna!
Never thought that a Lord like You could ever care for me. Hosanna!
I love Your Bible but in the name of "love" I will compromise, Hosanna! Hosanna!
Never thought that hearing Law could make me feel so bad.

(bridge) Not quiet three years, then You went away. Hosanna, yeah.
Now You rose, and I have to say . . .

(chorus) Need you every day. Hosanna, yeah! (repeat)

2. Let me see Your face, now, shining like Transfiguration's mountainside. Hosanna! Hosanna!
Never knew disappointing You could ever hurt so bad.

HYMN: Hosanna! Mighty Savior, Come

I was in a little bit of a funk this week about my hymn writing skills.  Then this morning I woke up, and this idea that had been percolating for about four months decided it needed to get itself out of my head and into my notebook.  No more funk.  No more comparing myself to those who have gone before.  No more worrying about how it will be received.  Just how writing is supposed to be.

The Last Sunday of the Church Year and the First Sunday in Advent are coming up, and in one lectionary or another, the reading for either is the triumphant entry into Jerusalem.  This hymn deals with that subject matter, utilizing the harmony of the Gospel accounts of the entry as well as the Introit for the Last Sunday of the Church Year.

Hosanna!  Mighty Savior, Come

1. Hosanna!  Mighty Savior, come--
Great King David's greater Son.
With fronds of palm prepare His way,
For Christ is present here today.
Hail!  Hosanna!

2. How bless-ed is the One who came
In the Lord's most holy name.
The prophet's words have all come true:
Behold your King now comes to you.
Hail!  Hosanna!

3. In glory You shall come again.
Yours shall be an endless reign.
Forsake us not, O gracious Lord.
Proclaim salvation through Your Word.
Hail!  Hosanna!

4. Until that great and glorious day,
Keep us in the narrow way.
Stir up your power, Lord, and come,
And bear us to our heav'nly home.
Hail!  Hosanna!

5. All saints and angels, martyr throng:
Raise th'eternal triumph song.
Praise God the Father and the Son
And Holy Spirit, three in one.
Hail!  Hosanna!


(c) Alan Kornacki, Jr.
87 88 4
Tune: GELOBET SEIST SU  (LSB 382)

Sermon for 10/3/10--Eighteenth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

"What do you think about the Christ?"

Matthew 22:34-46

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

It’s easy sometimes to think of Jesus as a softie. By observing Jesus we notice that He has a special place in His heart for children, taking them in His arms and blessing them. Apparently He doesn’t like sickness and suffering, for He spends a lot of His time healing the blind, the cripple, the leper, and everyone else who comes to Him for healing. He also has a soft spot for widows, fishermen, tax collectors, and those who society tends to overlook. These things and numerous others that we observe in Scripture might lead us to believe that Jesus is one of those “bleeding heart” types, someone who is merely interested in social justice. But then we encounter Him when He is dealing with the Pharisees and Sadducees. In His conversations with them, we observe Jesus as a man of doctrine. He knows His Scripture, and He’s not afraid to use it. He’s compassionate—He desperately wants these men to understand and cling to the truth which He teaches them, even though He knows they’re out to test and trick Him—but at the same time, He’s steadfast. He won’t give in to them for the sake of unity or peace or even safety.

After Jesus passed the test of the Pharisees, He asked a question in response. “What do you think about the Christ? Whose Son is He?” The question is an important one, and the Pharisees gave the correct answer: “The Son of David.” But Jesus took it one step further. First He quoted Psalm 110: “The LORD said to my Lord, ‘Sit at My right hand, till I make Your enemies Your footstool.'" When he asked them, “If David then calls Him ‘Lord,’ how is He his Son?” That was the question the Pharisees could not answer. But of the questions Jesus asked them, this was the more important one. The correct answer to first question revealed Jesus to be the Son of David, for Jesus was David’s direct genealogical descendant through His mother, Mary. But the correct answer to the second question reveals Jesus to be the promised Messiah, the Son of God. As true God, begotten of the Father, He is David’s Lord. He is both David’s Son and David’s Lord because He is both true God and true man. This is an answer the Pharisees would never give. What’s more, Jesus was asked at His trial if He was the Son of God; and when He answered in the affirmative, the High Priest called it “blasphemy”, and He was sentenced to death.

That answer receives no better welcome today. The truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, is offensive to the world. You can talk about God all you want, as long as you speak in generic language. But try praying in the name of Jesus. Walk into the halls of Congress and pray in the name of Jesus. Go to a public high school graduation service and invoke the name of Jesus. Speak to a Jew or a Muslim or even many who call themselves Christians and say that Jesus is the Son of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity. They will be offended. The world can accept Jesus as a rabbi, a prophet, a bodhisattva, a holy man; but to say that Jesus is God would mean that the Jew is waiting for a Messiah that has already come. It would mean that Allah is not the true God, and Mohammed would not be a prophet of the true God. It would mean that not all gods are equal. And none of those things are acceptable to the world.

So . . . what do you think of the Christ? Before you answer, remember, the eyes of the world are on you. Remember how unpopular the truth is. Remember the consequences of speaking the truth. Remember that people have been exiled, stabbed, shot, maimed, tortured, burned, crucified and killed for saying that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Remember all of that as you confess the Apostles’ Creed next week. But we are called to faithful confession. In our text, Jesus says that, along with loving God with all your heart and soul and mind, loving your neighbor as yourself is the greatest of the commandments. That means you’re supposed to love your neighbor so much that you’ll speak the truth about Jesus to him, even if he’s going to have a violent response. In the rite of Confirmation you vowed to continue steadfast and suffer all, even death, rather than fall away from such a confession. Even if the only consequence is that you are mocked or ignored, it’s so much easier, so much safer, to just mumble something generic about God and faith. And we like safe. We like easy. And if the truth were told, we like the idea of the easygoing Jesus, the one with a soft spot for troublemakers and the outcasts. Faithful confession is neither easy nor safe, and it’s certainly not popular.

It is in that difficult and dangerous and unpopular struggle that our Lord steps on our behalf. The love we are to show to God and to our neighbor, this is the love which Jesus first showed us—for He is our Lord as true God, and He is our neighbor as true man. Jesus knew full well that saying that He was the Son of God would lead to His crucifixion and death. He confessed freely, loving God with all His heart and all His soul and all His mind; and He went to His cross and death willingly, loving His neighbor as Himself, so that His confession and death would be our confession and death, so that, when He rose from the dead, we too would rise with Him in the waters of Holy Baptism. Like a mother who writes her child’s name on his shirt so that no one else can claim that shirt, in Holy Baptism, the name of “the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” is indelibly written upon us by our good and gracious Lord. Because of that mark, He alone can claim us. That mark allows us to confess before the world, “Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God and the Son of David, true God and true man.” Not only does He mark us as His own, but He strengthens us for faithful confession, the kind of confession that demonstrates the love of Jesus for us and the love we are to show to our neighbor, no matter the consequences. Jesus feeds us His own body and blood, strengthening us through that holy sacrament in our faith in Him and our love for each other. And when, like Peter, we deny that we know Him, He is gracious to speak the word of Holy Absolution, restoring us just as He restored Peter.

The world is going to ask you the same question Jesus asked: “What do you say about the Christ?” It’s an important question—probably the most important question anyone will ever ask you. But don’t worry that you don’t know the answer, for the answer is written upon your heart and soul and mind. Do not be silent like the Pharisees, and do not be afraid to answer; but through the Holy Spirit, speak boldly: “Jesus Christ is the Son of David and the Son of God, true God and true Man.” Whatever the earthly consequences may be, the Lord will strengthen you and grant you grace to bear them faithfully. 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.

Love bade me welcome . . .

When I was in the Concordia Festival Chorus at what was then called Concordia College in Bronxville, New York, we performed a piece called "Five Mystical Songs", a Ralph Vaughan Williams arrangement of four poems written by George Herbert, a poet and Anglican priest.  This was my Freshman year—has it really been seventeen years?—so I wasn't even a pre-seminary student at the time.  Yet the piece spoke to me about the nature of Easter and about the nature of baptismal faith.  (I've read that Vaughan Williams was an agnostic, and I hope the glory and goodness of God which his music so often proclaimed was able to reach his soul.)  It's seventeen years later, and I've been a pastor for ten years.  I've listened to that piece numerous times over the years, and it still speaks to me about Easter and the nature of faith. 

I recently came across a copy of George Herbert: the Complete English Works, and I couldn't resist.  I've started reading it, and the spiritual depth of his work is fascinating.  He articulates the tenets of the Christian faith in accessible terms, often in picture language.  I attempt as a writer to articulate the faith in both sermons and in verse, and it has always been a challenge and struggle.  Herbert's seeming ease in using the medium of verse to proclaim the faith is astonishing, revealing a spiritual maturity and a mastery of the language.

Let me share with you the poem "Love (III)", a work about the Sacrament of the Altar and the worthy reception thereof (and one of the Mystical Songs of the aforementioned piece).  Note how the unworthy guest is revealed to have been made worthy by Love to partake of the "meat", the body of Christ.

Love (III)

Love bade me welcome, yet my soul drew back,

        Guilty of dust and sin.

But quick-ey'd Love, observing me grow slack

        From my first entrance in,

Drew nearer to me, sweetly questioning

        If I lack'd anything.

"A guest," I answer'd, "worthy to be here";

        Love said, "You shall be he."

"I, the unkind, the ungrateful? ah my dear,

        I cannot look on thee."

Love took my hand and smiling did reply,

        "Who made the eyes but I?"

"Truth, Lord, but I have marr'd them; let my shame

        Go where it doth deserve."

"And know you not," says Love, "who bore the blame?"

        "My dear, then I will serve."

"You must sit down," says Love, "and taste my meat."

        So I did sit and eat.

And now, listen as the piece is performed.

What a great and glorious God we have, to reveal Himself to us in such wondrous ways!

Sermon for 9/26/10: Seventeenth Sunday After Trinity (1-Year LSB)

A Sabbath Remains for the Weary

Luke 14:1-11

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

Before we deal with the meat of this text, we must first ask an important question: What is the Sabbath? Forgive the shameless plug, but if you join us for our study of the book of Genesis on Sunday mornings, in a few weeks you’ll learn that the word “sabbath” means rest, and the observance of the Sabbath comes from the recorded account of creation. In Deuteronomy chapter five Moses repeats to the children of Israel the Law which God had delivered to Him: “Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.” The teachers of the Law in Jesus’ day took this very seriously. So that the Sabbath day would not be dishonored, they set forth all sorts of restrictions regarding what could be done on the Sabbath. You could only do so much cooking on the Sabbath, for instance. You couldn’t transport goods. You could not harvest on the Sabbath. In fact, they even put a number on the steps a person could take on the Sabbath, to prevent a person from putting forth the amount of effort that would dishonor the Sabbath.

It should come as no surprise to us that Jesus would find Himself challenged regarding these restrictions. We don’t know if this was set up as a test, but while Jesus was with a group of the Pharisees, a man with dropsy came to Him. Today we call this “edema”, which is an abnormal accumulation of fluid in the body. Jesus knew that the Pharisees were watching Him closely. He asked them a simple question: “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” These men who made their livings with their mouths found themselves speechless. In fact, the Greek tells us that these men were not strong enough, not healthy enough, to answer. In focusing all of their attention to the details, the teachers of the Law missed the bigger picture. They were very good at teaching the letter of the law, but very poor at living the true spirit of the law. Any answer they gave would convict them. Since they would not respond, Jesus answered His own question—not with words, but with actions. He healed the man and sent him on his way.

So what is the Sabbath today? God Himself established the pattern for us to follow when He rested at the end of His week of work on the creation of the heavens and the earth. God blessed that day and declared it to be holy for us. Just like our Father, we children are to rest for a day from the labors of our hands and mouths and minds. So that means it’s the day to sleep in, or to get up early and go fishing, right? There is certainly nothing wrong with fishing or sleeping in or helping your neighbor paint his house, not even on a Sunday. Without a doubt, it’s eternally beneficial for your body and soul for you to receive the gifts of God when they are offered. That being said—and I hope I don’t regret saying this—you aren’t going to go to hell for missing one week of worship, even if it’s to go fishing. Luther tells us, “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.” So the Sabbath is about rest—godly rest. The Sabbath is a day of mercy, not a day of rules by which you may earn eternal life. But how often do we take our rest in things apart from Jesus? Why do we constantly seek our peace in worldly things to the exclusion of Jesus? When our Sabbath is constantly all about the Rams or Cardinals, when it is only about the comfort of our bodies, when our Sabbath is constantly opposed to the Word of God, it is then that we despise preaching and the Word of God. It is then that we stand silent with the Pharisees, when any word which we could utter would convict us.

With all that in mind, let us answer the question: Yes, it is, indeed, lawful to heal on the Sabbath. It is not against the law that God gave to His people concerning the Sabbath Day to bring healing to a sick person. It is not against God’s Law to do a good work for someone on the Sabbath. In fact, it is the very spirit of the law regarding the Sabbath. The Sabbath is a day for healing. And more than that, the Sabbath is a day to remember deliverance. As we heard earlier from Deuteronomy, “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm.” Jesus delivered the afflicted man from his disease, just as the Lord delivered the people of Israel from their slavery in Egypt, the Lord has delivered you from your bondage to sin and death. Those chains which held you in captivity to the power of the devil have been dissolved in the waters of Holy Baptism—the water combined with the Word of God which washes away the dreaded disease of sin. Instead of drowning in those waters, the Lord Himself pulls you out into new life in His name.

All of this is yours through the death and resurrection of Jesus on your behalf. He suffered the sickness of sin so that you would be healed. Because of His death, you receive new life, eternal life. We remember the Sabbath day as the day when Jesus rose from the dead, celebrating the healing He gives us in His body and blood. Every celebration of the Lord’s Supper is a celebration of the Sabbath, for we receive our promised rest. As He did with the man with dropsy, He reaches out and touches you, blessing you and healing you with the forgiveness of your sins. And as forgiven children of God who have found rest in Him, we are ready for another week of labor in the midst of our various vocations—whether it’s labor for our daily wages, labor with husband or wife, parents or children, labor among our neighbors, whatever the labor may be. And we are blessed that we may receive a measure of that Sabbath rest every day, for we may return to our baptism daily to receive rest for our souls in His holy Word.

Just as it is lawful for Jesus to heal on the Sabbath, it is lawful for us to seek healing from Him on the Sabbath; for we know that He will graciously hear our prayer and deliver us. God grant that we always seek our rest in 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.

HYMN: Witness, Mercy, Life Together

With his staff, the Reverend Matthew Harrison, President of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, has adopted a new emphasis (or perhaps a renewed emphasis) for the future of the LCMS: Witness, Mercy, Life Together. The information page for this focus states, "These phrases illustrate how the church lives and works together to proclaim the Gospel and to provide for our brothers and sisters in Christ in our congregations, communities and throughout the world. And in all we do, Christ is at the center, leading us, sustaining us, keeping us focused on our mission. This will never change."

One of Pastor Harrison's assistants, the Reverend Albert Collver, shared on his blog an excellent introduction and overview of this renewed emphasis. I would encourage you to read and share this information with your brothers and sisters in Christ.

As for me, I'm encouraged by this renewed emphasis for the LCMS. After the past near-decade of the Ablaze!(tm) movement, I see this as a move back toward our historical desire as a body to get the message straight and then to get the message out into the world. It is encouraging to see the leadership acknowledge that we are not united in doctrine and practice (and having division in one means we have division in both). It is encouraging to see that our leadership is striving to have us unite around the truth of the Word.

With all this in mind, I've put together this hymn text in honor of our new (or renewed) emphasis in the LCMS.

Witness, Mercy, Life Together

1. Witness, mercy, life together--
This, the baptized life in Christ.
Praise His holy name forever.
Praise the Lamb, the Sacrificed,
Bearing witness with Saint Peter:
"You are Christ, the Father's Son,"
Him whose death salvation won.
Saints and angels, every creature:
With the nations share the Word
Until every soul has heard.

2. As the Father first has given,
Let us give to all in need--
Not to earn a place in heaven
But to plant a Gospel seed.
Serve each neighbor with thanksgiving
For the grace that Christ has shown.
Share the love His death made known:
Serving, loving and forgiving.
Let us seek not glory's fame
But to serve in Jesus' name.

3. Let us dwell as holy brothers
As with us Christ dwells to bless.
Teach us, Lord, to love each other
Both in peace and in distress,
Seeking after true communion
In baptism's holy flood,
In Your body and Your blood,
So that we, in holy union
Dwell in peace and harmony
Here and in eternity.


(c) Alan Kornacki, Jr.
PM (87 87 877 877)
Tune: LASSET UNS MIT JESU ZIEHEN (LSB 685)

(If you should desire to use this hymn, you may do so as long as you notify me that you plan to use it.  DISCLAIMER: This hymn was neither commissioned nor endorsed by the Office of the President of the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod, nor does the author have any official connection said Office.)

Sermon for 9/19/10--Sixteenth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

Do Not Weep
Luke 7:11-17

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


If you’ve ever been to a funeral, you’ve probably heard someone try to offer comfort with the words, “Death is a natural part of life.” It’s a noble effort, but it’s not the truth. The truth is, we were not created to die. In fact, it is distressing and un-natural when body and soul, which God has joined together, are separated; when the breath of life which God breathed into us departs; and the body which God created from dust once again returns to dust.

It is into that unnatural separation that Jesus places Himself in our text. Jesus met the widow as she came out of the city. She had already lost her husband, and now she has lost her only son. In other words, this is a woman who is alone. A great crowd of people who wanted look at her grief and pain followed her. But she was alone. In that day and age there was no Social Security or 401k plans. Her security was in her family. But her husband had died, and now her only son, the only one who could take care of her, was also gone.

Jesus met the funeral procession coming out of the city. Life meets death. He spoke to the widow and dried her tears; and then He raised her son from the dead. The Jews of the day were astonished: some feared, and others could hardly believe it. But why should we wonder at this great miracle? Our Lord Himself said, “The hour will come when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live”; and the Apostle Paul adds the words, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet; for the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall rise again incorruptible.”

What is this trumpet that declares war against hell, rolls back the stone from the tomb, and gives to all as they rise from their graves victory amidst light everlasting? What is it? It is the voice that Jesus mentioned above: “The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God.” This is not the voice of a trumpet made of brass or something else, with a mournful call to War; rather, it is the Voice that comes from the heart of the Father, from the mouth of the Son, the call to life to those who are in heaven and in hell on earth.

There are times in this life when we feel alone. Things like television and internet social networking sites have made it possibly for us to be doing the same thing at the same time—and even to be communicating with other people—yet still be alone. That is what this life does to us at times. We put on masks and pretend that everything is good, everything is perfect. And yet right underneath the surface is the deep sadness of knowing that you are trapped in your own sins and boxed in by the world around you. Like this widow, a tragedy may hit us, and the sorrow just seems to keep coming. Her son was dead; her husband was already dead; she was destitute. Like the widow from our Old Testament lesson, she was ready to go home and die.

So what did Jesus do for this poor woman? He had compassion on her. Remember that word? It was the word that the Good Samaritan used for the one left for dead on the road. Jesus had compassion on her; He was moved from the very depths of His being to help her. So He said to her, “Do not weep.” Now when we are faced with death, it is very easy to want to try and put on a mask and act as if nothing bad had happened. That’s what we want to do. We want to deny death; we want to make it into something else. We want to say that death is just another path to another life, or reincarnation or something else. But death is not that. Death is the result of sin; for as St. Paul said: “The wages of sin is death.”

Now Jesus knew this, and He loved both her and her dead son, so He said to her “Don’t weep.” Jesus doesn’t say this because he wants her to forget her son. If He had left it at that, it would have been cruel. Everyone else could only stand by and watch, but Jesus could help. And He did. He went to the coffin and touched it. He touched the open coffin. Now in the Jewish world, that was bordering on blasphemy. A dead body is unclean, and is not to be handled. But Jesus, the giver of Life, is not afraid of death. He knows that He has the power over life and death; and so He touched the open coffin to show the widow and all those around who was really in charge.

So Jesus touched the coffin and spoke to the young man as though he were still alive. After all, what is dead in our eyes may be very different for God. Jesus then said, “Young man, I say to you, arise.” Arise! And the one who was dead sat up and began to speak. And Jesus gave him back to his mother.

You see, that’s how God works. God is always raising us up from the dead. Jesus is always doing the unexpected, and His timing is always perfect. Not only did He raise her son up from the dead, but He did it when it seemed as though there was no hope, no possibility of a future or anywhere else to turn.

But that’s God’s work, isn’t it? God is always raising us up from the dead and bringing us back to life. God’s Word of life and forgiveness does that. When Jesus forgives your sin, it is as if you are raised up from the dead once again! That’s what Baptism is. Your baptism was your death and resurrection. And it is because of that death and resurrection in water and Word that you can now stand up and speak God’s praises for life and salvation.

We have heard the voice of the Son of God when He called out to us in Baptism. And there will come a day when we will hear His voice again, and He will call us forth from death into life. That voice, that trumpet of God, is the great voice of our loving Savior who never leaves you, who knows just what you need and when you need it. That voice, those words will turn your tears into joy. That voice calls you to a new life, a life lived in Him and for Him, for He knows what you need and He will give it to you. So we can pray with the Psalmist, “For great is your mercy toward me, for You have delivered my soul from the depths of Hell.”

That voice of God calls out to you with words of mercy and forgiveness. The voice of Jesus calms your fears, sets your heart at rest, and raises you up from whatever onslaughts Satan has thrown upon you. God is the only one who can deliver you; and He does, again and again and again. He can even raise you up from the dead. Like the young man in our story, you are His child. And He will raise you up also. 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 9/12/10--Fifteenth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

Christ will be making Brynnley Grider a child of the heavenly Father this morning through Holy Baptism. Thanks be to God for this wonderful blessing!

One True Master
Matthew 6:24-34

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


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.” In this way, Father Luther beautifully explained the heart of our text. In saying so, he brought to the forefront the question which we must ask ourselves when we hear this text: “Who—or what—is your god?” This question is so vital because, as Jesus says, you can truly honor only one.

God help us, for we know what the answer to that question should be. Again, Luther answers the question beautifully for us: “We should fear, love and trust in God above all things.” The answer is profound in its simplicity. But we know very well that we do not fear, love and trust in God as we should. The questions Jesus asks are foremost in our minds: What shall we eat? What shall we drink? What shall we wear? We can’t deny that we worry about these things. Ask almost any high school student the kind of pressure they’re under to wear the right clothes. Ask almost any farmer what it’s like to worry if the rain is going to come at the right time. Are you making enough money to support your family? Is your house in good enough shape to survive a brutal winter? How much longer will the tractor hold out, and can you afford a new one when this one gives up the ghost? How can you afford to feed and clothe these kids who are growing so fast? We know what the answer is; but God help us, because if we truly feared, loved and trusted in God above all things, we wouldn’t worry about where we’d get our food or drink or clothes or house or home or wife or children or land or animals or anything we need to support this body and life.

Why do you set your hearts on the things of the world? Jesus makes it very plain in his examples just how little worry accomplishes. Lilies are beautiful without any work or worry on their part. Grass gets mowed frequently, and yet it is beautiful. Birds don’t plant or harvest, gather or hoard, yet they eat. God provides the beauty of the lilies and grass; the heavenly Father provides the food which sustains the birds. You are the crown of the Father’s creation. If God sustains the lowliest of His creation, why would you ever doubt that He will provide all the more for you?

It is not inherently sinful to seek after and tend to these things which we need to live. After all, it is God who has given you your job, your land, your school, your wife, your children or parents, and whatever else it is that we truly need. But worrying about these is sinful, for this worry reveals a lack of trust in the One who has promised to deliver these things to us. And to be honest, it’s ridiculous to worry about the necessities of life when God could strip away most of our earthly possessions and we could still thank God for His generosity in providing for all our needs. If only we could say with Job, “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return there. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” Worry will not increase your life by one minute. Nothing we can do can add one more minute to our life than has already been set apart for us. This is why the psalmist prays, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom.” When we are content with what we have, when we trust that our heavenly Father has provided and will provide all that we need, when we place these needs into His gracious hands, when we acknowledge that God is good no matter how much or how little we have, it is then that we live by faith. It is then that we truly seek after the kingdom and the righteousness of God.

No one can serve two masters. No one can faithfully seek after righteousness while clinging to the things of this world. Life is more than the sum of your junk. It is more, even, than the sum of your earthly, bodily needs. And so our heavenly Father provides for your greatest need. He has made you His servant, His slave. He has chosen between the two for you. He has made you His own in the waters of Holy Baptism, marking you as His. He has brought you to this place, where you lay your needs and concerns at His feet. He has given you faith to trust in Him, faith to cling to His promises, faith to receive what He gives you freely and fully.

So what does it mean to seek after the kingdom and His righteousness? It means to cling to those rich gifts which God has already given you. If your clothing concerns you, then by all means, cling to the white robe of righteousness which Christ has placed upon you in Holy Baptism, that robe which fully covers your sinfulness, that beautiful garment of righteousness which God has placed upon His beloved child Brynnley this morning. Are you concerned about what you will eat or what you will drink? Then by all means, cling to the rich feast with which the Father will feed you this morning: the very body and blood of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, which is given and shed for you for the forgiveness of your sins. The heavenly Father will not abandon His children.

When Jesus calls us “you of little faith”, it is not an accusation. Rather, it is an acknowledgement that even those who have the smallest amount of faith should have no anxieties about worldly needs. There is no doubt that we will face need, for God does not promise prosperity or a lack of hardship. Yet in our sermon hymn this morning we sang:

What God ordains is always good;
This truth remains unshaken.
Though sorrow, need or death be mine,
I will not be forsaken.
I fear no harm, for with His arm
He shall embrace and shield me;
So to my God I yield me.

Whatever our needs, our Father in heaven is with us, and He will provide. He has even given us faith in Holy Baptism to cling to that promise. Whatever happens to us, whatever needs we have, whatever trials we face, whatever it is that grieves us, we have a gracious heavenly Father who provides all that we need—for today, for tomorrow, for all of 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 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus always. Amen.

Sermon for 9/5/10: Fourteenth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

Cleansed
Luke 17:11-19

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

Leprosy was a prevalent disease in the days of our Lord; and a terrible disease it was, literally eating away human flesh until death finally came. Jesus came across a colony of them in our text. There were ten of them, and all ten were healed. But, nine of them failed to say “thank you.” As we hear the account of this miracle of healing, the ingratitude of the nine is striking. And yet, if we really think about it, there are no surprises here. Through our own personal experiences we know how often gratitude has been due us, but seldom delivered. More difficult to remember may be the moments of our own thanklessness; taking our parents for granted, taking our spouses for granted, taking our teachers for granted, even taking our friends for granted. Are good manners the only lessons to be learned from the lepers? Are we too narrow if we look only for role models of ingratitude or thankfulness?

When Jesus responded to the praise of the one leper, He did not point to his gratitude, but to his faith. Faith in Jesus Christ allows true gratitude and thankfulness in the heart of the Christian for two reasons. For one thing, faith knows that no good thing we receive is deserved by sinners, such as ourselves. And then, too, faith believes that what we receive is solely by God’s grace, and for our spiritual good.

Why was there no expression of gratitude from the nine? They had called out to Jesus, just as the one had done. All ten of them received the same gift of healing as they made their way to the priests, as Jesus had instructed them. What reasons could account for their ingratitude? Perhaps their ingratitude was rooted not in what they believed about Jesus, but in what they believed about themselves. Gratitude is not necessary when you are only receiving what you have deserved all along. The winner of a lawsuit who is to receive a huge amount of money from an insurance company does not usually thank the insurance company; that sum of money is simply owed. He has it coming to him; it is what he deserves for what he has borne. Such an attitude is common.

Perhaps these nine lepers thought of their healing as justice, something they were entitled to have. No doubt they appreciated this sudden change of condition; any of us would. But to be grateful for it is another matter. If it is merely justice, why be grateful? We are only getting what we have coming to us any way. Indeed, rather than gratitude, these lepers might well have thought, “If healing was this easy, why didn’t God do it sooner? Why didn’t God give me what was mine all along?” With a mind set like this, anger over lost years rather than joy over future years, is what follows. And, of course, anger will never give birth to gratitude.

Then, again, this picture may be too complex. Maybe these nine lepers were ungrateful from the beginning. Maybe there is no need to account for their behavior at all. There are some who are never satisfied. It matters not what is done for them, it is never enough, it is never at the right time, and it is never good enough. Do any of these scenarios fit any of us? Has ingratitude been a problem for any of us because we have felt like God’s gifts were blessings we rightly had coming to us to begin with? Could our ingratitude toward God be rooted not in what we believe about the goodness of God in the gift of His Son, Jesus Christ, but in what we have wrongly believed about ourselves?

Now, by way of a complete contrast, why was there such a sincere expression of gratitude on the part of the one leper? And to complicate the matter even further, he was a Samaritan, an outcast, a heretic without the assurance of a gracious God. If ingratitude comes from our perceptions of what we think we ought to have, it is a wonder that any one says, “Thank you.” What does the gratitude of this one leper have to teach us?

As Jesus pointed out, it was “faith” that made him well. What did Jesus mean by this? It was not that the Samaritan leper’s faith created the miracle that healed him. Faith never creates anything; faith receives what God gives. This one leper understood by faith that the healing he had been given was not something he had coming to him. It was not merely a matter of justice being done. It was not even that he deserved his healing. To the contrary, he knew that he, along with all other sinners, deserved nothing but God’s wrath and punishment against sin. If we were given what we really had coming to us, if justice were truly done in our case, we would have been nailed to the cross instead of Jesus. And somehow, this one leper knew this. He knew that his healing was an act of grace, and not justice. With great clarity he understood the true relationship between fallen creatures and a perfect and holy God.

This faith believes that Jesus is its only hope. That was surely the case then, when there was no earthly hope for a cure for leprosy. But that is the case also now, even when healing has become commonplace for diseases that were once dreaded. There is still disaster and tragedy and death that we must deal with in turn. And for such things we find no earthly answers. There is no hope found in men for these things. Jesus, and His love and mercy, is our only hope, as it was for those lepers. Anything we receive from Him is by grace alone, and in no other way. And out of that flows gratitude.

Apart from God’s action in our lives, we are dead in our sins, and without hope in this world, and in the world to come. We have earned nothing of the good that has been given us. As Luther put it in the meaning of the Fifth Petition of the Lord’s Prayer, “For we are worthy of none of the things for which we pray, neither have we deserved them, but that God would grant them all to us by grace . . .”

This faith knows that every gift of God comes by grace. Whether it is health or wealth, whether it is the forgiveness of sins and eternal life, or anything else, it is all by grace. True faith knows this and rejoices in it. The gratitude that comes through faith is one that sees and knows the love of God. And it knows that the love it receives is unearned and undeserved. Through the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and through His resurrection, we have received the forgiveness of sins and salvation, life now and life eternally. And with this faith we have been given, we are able to respond to our Lord with a heartfelt and grateful “thank you”. Even as the leper was cleansed and made whole and returned to glorify God, we, too, have been cleansed from the stain of sin and the death it deserves; we have been made whole, before God, both in body, and soul. And so it is ours to return to Him daily, to praise and glorify Him for all that He has done. 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.