Sermon for 7/31/11: Sixth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

Higher Standards
Matthew 5:17-26

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

The really annoying thing about hard work is that, when you do it well, it always seems like additional hard work gets added to what you’ve already done. That’s a good thing in the workplace. If your boss gives you extra responsibility, it means you’re a reliable employee who may very well be on the way up the company ladder. That’s all very well and good; but a teenager who finally gets done mowing the lawn and then finds out that he also has to paint the picket fence might not find it so easy to see the benefits of hard work. What, then, do we say when Jesus puts His holy thoughts to the Ten Commandments?

Jesus shows the scribes and Pharisees the difference between true righteousness and their obedience to their own interpretation of the Ten Commandments, and how empty that interpretation is. Look at the example that Jesus gives us: You shall not murder. The scribes and Pharisees would say that, so long as you do not perform the act of murdering someone or use your influence to have someone murdered—as King David did with Uriah—you have not committed murder. It is enough for the Pharisees that you do not commit the deed. And if you don’t commit the deed, you can avoid prosecution. At no time do the Pharisees ever concern themselves with the spiritual consequences of murder; their only concern in obeying the law is about avoiding civil judgment.

But Jesus looks deeper. As only Jesus can truly do, he looks at the heart and mind to see what is behind the act of murder. Now, Jesus is not contradicting or adding to the Law of Moses here. He has come to fulfill the Law, not to abolish it. Instead of doing away with the Law, Jesus shows us what the Law truly means, showing us that it goes beyond the physical act into the emotions and thoughts that form the act. So even though a man doesn’t take up a knife or a gun or a club and cause the physical death of his neighbor, in the eyes of God, a man who becomes inflamed with anger toward his neighbor or even takes the first step of anger in calling his neighbor a name is guilty of murder, and thus faces the wrath of judgment.

We’re no better than the scribes and Pharisees, though. And it’s not just with the Fifth Commandment, either. What about our interactions with our parents, the police, employers, and other authority figures? How many of us have ignored our parents, seeing their opinions as obsolete? How comforting it is look at a police car pulling someone over for speeding and think that they should find a real job instead of harassing decent people. But as long as we give Mom a card for Mother’s Day, as long as we don’t try to get our boss fired, as long as we don’t try to run the police officer over as we drive past, it’s easy to think that we have honored those whom God has placed in positions of authority over us.

It doesn’t matter which Commandment we consider. We act as though we’re lawyers before the city judge, looking for loopholes so that we can be exonerated despite our guilt. We do our best to ignore the fact that we will find ourselves before the righteous Judge of all people, the only Judge who can truly read our minds and our hearts as well as our actions. This Judge knows all the laws and has plugged all the loopholes. God’s Law requires not only outward obedience to the letter of the law, obedience in deed; it also requires inner obedience, perfect obedience, obedience in thought and word. There is no bloody glove that our hand will not fit, no paid-off witness to give a false alibi, and no prison guard who will look the other way while we make our escape. When the Judge declares us guilty—and make no mistake: you are guilty—the sentence is just, and there’s no chance for parole.

Sinners must face the consequences of their sins. When you sin against your neighbor, you are acting against your own conscience. Thus you harm both yourself and your neighbor. But more than that, you are also sinning against God. Jesus recognizes this, and He says to you, “If you bring your gift to the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” This is the language of the Church. This is confession and absolution. Brothers and sisters in Christ would not come to the altar for the Holy Supper of Christ’s body and blood until they were first reconciled with each other. The Church from its earliest days has practiced this, and it is a practice which we must still practice today. To approach the altar with unrepentant anger in your heart is to approach the altar unworthily, and what you receive there will be received to your own judgment.

If you plan on receiving the Lord’s Supper but you remember that you have sinned against your neighbor, go to your neighbor. God’s good gifts aren’t going anywhere. Apologize. Make peace with him. If your neighbor has sinned against you and comes to you to apologize, grant him forgiveness rather than holding a grudge. Then come to the altar. Confess your sin before God. Your neighbor may or may not forgive you; but God will surely forgive you. I John tells us, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” God is faithful and just, and He is gracious to forgive our sins in the name of Jesus. And with that forgiveness, we can then approach the altar with joy to receive the body and blood of Jesus, which strengthens our faith for this life and the life of the world to come. You cannot trust your own reason or strength. You cannot trust your own works. But even though you cannot trust your own works, you can certainly trust in the Lord. You can trust that Jesus lived to fulfill the Law. You can trust that Jesus died under the sentence of our sin and guilt. And you can trust that Jesus rose again for your sake, so that the perfect obedience and righteousness of Christ is all the righteous Judge sees when He looks at you. When you look to Christ instead of to your own works and strength, God is merciful. He gives you forgiveness, striking away that sentence of eternal damnation, giving you pardon and peace for now and for all eternity.

The Lord has higher standards for us in His Word, standards that we cannot hope to meet. But thanks be to God, for we don’t have to rely on our works. Christ lived in perfect obedience, and through His death and resurrection, in Holy Baptism He has made that obedience yours. 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 7/24/11--Fifth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

At Christ’s Word

Luke 5:1-11

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

Nothing happens apart from the Word of God.

On the shore are two boats. Because of the crowds, Jesus gets into one boat and asks Simon to put out a little from shore. The reflection of the sound off the water enables a larger number of people to hear. Peter's boat becomes a pulpit. From the boat our Lord preaches His Word of salvation. Christ is in the boat for the people, drawing them to Himself. Like a fisherman, He casts the net of the Gospel to draw the fish into the boat.

The boat and the water remind us of Noah. At God's Word Noah built an ark. In that boat eight people were saved from the Flood which drowned all of wicked mankind. Salvation was only in the boat. And Peter tells us in his second epistle that Noah and the flood is a foreshadowing of our baptism. Just as the Lord washed the earth clean of the wicked in the flood, so He washes us clean of our wicked sinfulness in holy baptism and gives us new life. This happens because our Lord combines His Word with the water. Nothing happens apart from the Word of God.

Our Lord now speaks His Word to Simon Peter, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." Simon knows that no fisherman goes to the deep for a catch. For a living catch fishermen stay in the shallows where the nets can reach the fish. Furthermore, Simon knows that no fisherman fishes in the heat of the day. What our Lord commands Simon to do here makes no sense. That’s not how it's done. But that’s the way it’s done with the Lord.

There are those today who question the Lord's methods of baptizing and teaching to draw fish into the church. They say we need something more than the Gospel—groups and programs and gimmicks; changing the liturgy to be more user-friendly to the culture. They say we need to go to where we're most likely to catch fish, relying more on statistics than the Word of Christ to lead their outreach efforts. It's no wonder that, even in our own church body, so many of the new churches are started in the safe, white, middle class suburbs or small towns. Often these churches are growing for reasons other than faith in Christ alone.

But our Lord's thinking is unconventional. "Launch out into the deep," he says. Not only in the suburbs but in the cities and rural areas; not only to people who seem open to Christian spirituality but also to the "unspiritual." Not only to young families with children, but to people of every age and color and nationality and marital status. The church is to proclaim the Gospel wherever Christ gives us opportunity—pastors by visits and by preaching from the pulpit; and you by confessing your faith in your daily callings as family members and workers and citizens and neighbors, so that others might be drawn in to get caught in the net of Christ's preaching and teaching and baptism and by these things enter His boat. Sometimes the catch will come in surprising places.

Peter responded at first by saying, "Master, we toiled all night and caught nothing." By nature we labor in the darkness apart from the Lord. From our own efforts comes nothing. However, in the Light Peter goes on to say, "At Your Word I will let down the nets." Purely by faith Simon surrenders all that he knows and all that he has experienced and lets down the nets. So it is to be in the Church. Not our word but the Word of Christ is our life and salvation. What counts is not what seems reasonable to us, but what is good and right in the sight of the Lord. The Gospel, the message of Christ crucified, is foolishness to the world; but to faith this message is the power of God. His truth orders our lives. Again it is written, "But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."

Simon does what our Lord commands, and the nets fill up. Simon calls to his partners on shore to come out with their boat. With his partners both boats are filled so that it seems that they will not make it back to shore. So great is the catch of fish that one boat cannot hold them all.

Peter's reaction to this miracle seems a bit surprising. "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man!" This mighty work of Jesus causes Peter to see that he was in the presence of the holy God. And so the unbelief that remains in Peter rises up and begins to overwhelm him. "This is God. God is holy. God hates sin. I am a sinner. I am lost." That is the work of the devil. God does indeed hate sin, and the devil wants you to believe that God’s judgment against sin is the final word.

However, the One who stands before Simon Peter and before you today, Jesus the Son of God, did not come into this world to condemn the world but to save the world. He came to rescue Peter; He came to rescue you. Just as Simon trusted in the Lord when he went out to catch fish in the deep, so now you are to trust in the Lord as He speaks His mercy to you. Notice our Lord doesn't say, "Oh, that's okay, it's not really that bad." Instead He says, "Do not be afraid. I forgive you all your sins. You are reconciled to the Father through Me."

And finally, our Lord does one more amazing thing. He says to Peter, "From now on you will catch men." In other words, He makes this sinner into an apostle, a preacher of the Gospel, so that more fish might be drawn into the boat. So it is with all the preachers Christ calls and ordains: they are sinners. What counts is not what they are, but what they preach. Don't pay attention to your pastor or his personality or quirks; pay attention to Christ who uses pastors as His voice and hands to speak His Word and administer His Sacraments, that you fish might continually be drawn into the church.

Today, our Lord feeds you with the riches of the Sacrament of the Altar. He puts His body and blood into your mouths to hook you and reel you in. The Word alone brings you to repentance and keeps you in the faith. After all, nothing happens apart from the Word of God. 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.

Higher Things 2011: Coram Deo

Something tells me that this blog post won't win Todd Wilken's approval for brevity. My apologies.

I've worked with young people for a long time now.  It's been twenty years, in fact, which is well over half of my life. In that time I've seen trends and fads, facts and figures, gadgets and gimmicks, both in the secular and ecclesiastical realms. 

I don't think I ever posted my critique on this blog, but I am a survivor of the Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod's 2004 National Youth Gathering (and I do mean "survivor", as it was a nightmare of the worst trends in post-modern evangelical Christianity). There was not much about that event that I would consider Lutheran. There was not much I would even consider inherently Christian. The oozing emotionalism, the specially-produced liturgies, the contemporary Christian music, the Bible study that began with the pastor fanning his softcover gathering Bible while holding it up to his ear and asking if we could "hear the Spirit moving", the sermon preached by the wife of the former Synodical president—these things did not lend themselves to the edification of the soul.

This past week I took kids from my youth group to the Higher Things conference in Bloomington, Illinois. To my great delight, the conference was refreshingly lacking in fads, gimmicks, and the command to "Shout if you love Jeeeeeeeezus!" I was impressed all around with the commitment of Higher Things to traditional Lutheran theology and worship, a commitment demonstrated amply in the 10 different organized services and the numerous plenary and breakaway presentations. I'm going to list, point by point, the things I liked and disliked about the conference, and there's very little you can do to stop me.

WHAT I LIKED

Let's start with all things liturgical. Coram Deo began and ended with the Divine Service. Not only did the conference begin with the Divine Service, but it was a setting taken straight from the hymnal (LSB Setting 1, if you must know), rather than the scattered moonings of some "master liturgist". The confession of sins was an actual confession, where we confess that we are sinners in thought, word and deed, and we received the full forgiveness of our sins; we did not make a confession of sins that doesn't really confess sins, nor did we hear an absolution that doesn't really absolve the sinner of anything. The creed was the Creed taken straight from the hymnal, not some bastardized version of the creed that confesses that Jesus loves us the way the sun loves a flower. No one's wife got up in the middle of the service to preach a sermon in the middle of another sermon. No one's daughter got up to entice the young men in attendance to love Jesus just a little more through the gyrations of her scantily-clad body. The sermons were Lutheran sermons—no "moral of the story", no patronizing the youth. We prayed four times each day: Matins, Vespers, Evening Prayer, and Prayer at the Close of the Day (a shortened version of Compline). This was counter-cultural worship, the kind of things that today's youth aren't supposed to enjoy; and yet many of the kids I talked to described the worship as their favorite part of the conference. And the hymnody?  Well, let's give the hymnody its own section.

And why don't we do that now. Ah, the hymns. The conference hymn was "God's Own Child, I Gladly Say It", which went nicely with the conference theme, which was Coram Deo. I'll talk more about the conference theme in a moment. The hymns were actual hymns, and, with one exception, I was pleased with their selections. We sang the conference hymn at almost every service. We sang the greats like "Thy Strong Word", "At the Lamb's High Feast We Sing", "For all the Saints", and numerous others. We sang all the verses of each hymn. Nowhere were we called upon to wave our hands to heaven as we repeated nonsense phrases. Nowhere were we called upon to emote about what we've done for Jesus.

The conference theme was Coram Deo, a Latin phrase which means "before God" or "in the face of God". Where do you stand before God? As a sinner, that is a horrible question to have to answer. In the way of the Law, you stand before God as a sinner, worthy only of condemnation. But through Baptism, this is no longer a horrifying question to answer, because you stand before God as His redeemed child. You stand before God wearing the white robe of Christ's righteousness, and He sees Christ's righteousness and pronounces you "not guilty". Again, the substance was counter-cultural, raising the bar, asking the kids to think rather than to feel. The plenary speakers, Pastor William Cwirla and Pastor Brent Kuhlman, took the kids into the topic intensively. Pastor Cwirla took the kids through Romans, while Pastor Kuhlman took the kids through the Catechism, both of them showing the kids where they stood Coram Deo—and Pastor Cwirla adding the extra emphasis of Coram Hominibus: how we stand before our fellow humans. The breakaway sessions continued with the theme. None of the speakers I saw needed gimmicks, and at no time did the speakers insult the intelligence of their audience.

As always, I am impressed with the overall philosophy of Higher Things. "The mission of Higher Things, Inc. is to assist parents, congregations, and pastors in cultivating and promoting a Lutheran identity among youth . . ." (which is taken directly from their website). I have attended a Synodical National Youth Gathering, and I have attended District Youth Gatherings. I know that Higher Things does not intend to deliberately compete with these things in their conferences, but as one who has attended such things, it's difficult not to make the comparison. You can't help but notice the difference in the philosophies behind those who are responsible for Higher Things and those who are responsible for the Synodical gatherings. The monthly mailings from the LCMS Youth Ministry Office are strewn with the results of surveys and "longitudinal studies" about "what youth want today" and "what youth are up to today" from George Barna and others. Their conference speakers are not always Lutherans, much less LCMS Lutherans. On the other hand, Higher Things urges you to "dare to be Lutheran". Everything about their conferences, their magazine, their organization, is unashamedly Lutheran.

The Higher Things staff and volunteers (CCVs) impressed me as well, from the top of the organization to the lowliest college student who volunteered their time. I admit that I've met a large number of the Higher Things staff before, and the Media Executive is a good friend. Even without those connections, one cannot help but be impressed by the commitment of the staff in putting together three consecutive conferences in three weeks. And for each of these conferences, a group of college students pays (if sufficient donations are not made) to volunteer their time to making sure the speakers have no technological issues and the youth don't spend too much time lost on a college campus. Of course, two of my adopted sisters were CCVs at the Bloomington conference, so I'm a little biased, but even the ones that I didn't spend a year with on vicarage were excellent.

I was also given the opportunity to appear on Higher Things Radio! Since my group of kids traveled with the group from Pastor Buetow's congregation, Bethel Luthern in DuQuoin, our groups did our nighttime prayers together. When the prayers were over, he said he was going down to record an episode of HT radio where they'd be doing an "Ask the Pastor" section, and he asked me to participate. Of course, now I know why God called me to the Office of the Ministry: to save me from my delusions that I'd have made a dynamic radio personality! Nevertheless, I had a great time doing it, even if I sounded like I've never spoken in public before. You can listen to that particular episode here.

All around, I was impressed with the kids who attended the conference—with a special mention of my own group from St. Peter Lutheran in Campbell Hill, IL. As I said, we traveled with a group from Bethel Lutheran Church in DuQuoin, IL. We also had a group with us from my vicarage congregation, Trinity Lutheran in Norborne, MO. So we already knew some of the kids who were attending. Of course, 20 kids in the sea of 1,200 kids isn't much. But watching how these kids from 25 states and 4 Canadian provinces came together, daring to be explicitly Lutheran . . . well, it was quite a sight to see. With few exceptions, the kids were well-behaved, respectful of the speakers and staff, and willing to jump right in and be a part of something bigger than themselves.

A couple personal highlights: (1) I met Dr. Lamb of Lutherans for Life, an organization determined to preserve human life at all stages. I shared with Dr. Lamb the text of my hymn "Before I Formed You in the Womb I Knew You", and he said to look for it in one of their future periodicals! (2) I was also reunited with three fellow alumni from my alma mater, Concordia Lutheran Theological Seminary in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada. I hadn't seen any of these gentlemen since I completed my course of studies eleven years ago, and it was nice to be reunited with them (and to meet their wives, two of whom I hadn't met before). (3) It was also a blessing to meet in person for the first time (and to be reunited with) friends from Facebook and other circles of friends.

WHAT I DISLIKED/DISAPPOINTMENTS

My biggest dislike in the whole of the Coram Deo experience—and the only one over which the Higher Things staff had any control—was the selection of the Stephen Starke hymn "We Praise You and Acknowledge You, O God" (LSB 941). It's a wonderful text—it's hard to screw up the Te Deum Laudamus, after all, and I'd love to see the text set to another tune, even if "Holy God, We Praise Thy Name" (LSB 940) is one of my favorite hymns—but the tune is Thaxted, which is the melody of the central section of the Jupiter movement of Gustav Holst's "The Planets". I believe that using that tune sends a bad message. We tell our young couples not to use Mendelssohn's Wedding March from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" or Wagner's Bridal Chorus from "Lohengrin" because of the context in which those pieces appear. By the same token, "The Planets" by Holst deals with the astrological and mythical significance of the planets. Whether or not the kids know the context of the music, it's inappropriate for a Christian hymn. It is, however, firmly embedded in Lutheran Service Book and is quite popular with the Higher Things crowd, especially since (If I remember correctly) it was the conference hymn for one of the past conferences, so I have no illusions that it will disappear from Higher Things any time soon.

Of course the Higher Things people have no control over this, but it was hellishly hot in Bloomington last week. It was in the high 90s all week, and I don't think it slipped below 80 until at least midnight. This polar bear nearly went extinct!

The whistles. Exhibitors always attend things like this, and for the most part I was pleased. One exhibitor, however, handed out whistles. Give a kid a whistle, and you know what he's going to do with it. Those whistles were a plague! 

I was ever-so-slightly disappointed in the organ playing. Of course, when you go in expecting to hear the great Chris Loemker, anyone else is going to be a letdown. But circumstances kept Chris away for most of the conference, so he was only available for one service. Dr. Eifert of Mt. Calvary Lutheran in San Antonio, TX, was an admirable substitute, though.

OVERALL

All in all, as I'm sure you can tell, I was very much impressed by the whole experience. Even with high expectations going in, I found those expectations surpassed. I arrived tired and spiritually run down. I departed exhausted and spiritually refreshed. (Yeah, you don't sleep a lot at these things.) If you are a kid, ask your parents and youth leaders and pastors if you can go. If you are a youth leader or pastor or parent, encourage your kids to go. Finally, here is a place where you don't have to be embarrassed to be a Lutheran. In fact, a Higher Things conference will encourage you to "Dare to be Lutheran"!

Sermon for 7/17/11--Fourth Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

Be Merciful

Luke 6:36-42

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

“Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.” Mercy is not giving someone what they deserve. It means that you know exactly what this person has done. You know what they deserve—if all things were right and fair. You know. Yet you choose instead to show mercy to them. You forgive them. You pay the debt yourself. You don’t give them what they deserve. So when Jesus says, “Be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful,” He is first of all giving us the Law. Do this. Be merciful. This is the Law. Jesus knows perfectly well that you are not merciful. You are full of judgment and hatred toward your fellow human beings. How many times have you sat in the pew right where you sit now and sat in so-called righteous judgment over your fellow Christians next to you? “Well, at least I’m not like them.” How many times have you looked at other people secretly with contempt, knowing that you are really a better Christian than those ones who don’t do as much, or don’t come to church as much, or whose life is a mess, or who have created some kind of scandal, or whatever it may be.

What Jesus is really getting at in our text is the Eight Commandment. “You shall not bear false testimony against your neighbor.” Luther reminds us what this means: “We should fear and love God so that we do not tell lies about our neighbor, betray him, slander him, or hurt his reputation, but defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way.” That’s easy to say, but it’s terribly hard to put into practice. Be merciful. Don’t give into your evil desires! Don’t sit in judgment over others. Many people believe that they are not really poor miserable sinners. Looking at this commandment and what it means reminds us all that we are all unkind and even cruel toward the people we claim to love the most. When it comes to mercy, we are most often unmerciful and just plain evil at times toward our own family. How often have you lashed out at your spouse or one of your children? How often have you kept score with your siblings or held a grudge toward a relative or friend, knowing that sooner or later you would get them back? Every time you take it out on your spouse because you know they’ll take it, you forget mercy.

This is what Joseph’s brothers feared when their father, Jacob, died. In Genesis we hear of how Joseph’s brothers believed that once Jacob was dead, they would get their just desserts. They had sold Joseph into slavery, lied about him and had treated him worse than their worst enemy. Yet Joseph showed them mercy. Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.” This is what Jesus is talking about when He says, “Judge not lest you be judged.” What he is saying is that none of us stand in the place of God. It is not your job to stand as judge, jury and executioner over your fellow Christians. That is God’s place. Your job is to defend him, speak well of him, and explain everything in the kindest way. Your place in life is to cover up the sins of your family and friends, and even your enemies. Your place as a Christian is to remember that all are poor miserable sinners, and you are simply being a liar by claiming to be better than anyone else.

Now this is often misunderstood. Do not judge unless you wish to be judged. Many take that to mean that we may never condemn sin or say anything is right or wrong. “Well, they’re living together before marriage. It’s not what I think is right, but who am I to judge?” “Gossip is wrong, but I’ve certainly gossiped before. How can I condemn someone for that?” The problem is that this confuses what Jesus is saying. What Jesus is condemning is a double standard. You can’t hold others to a higher standard than you yourself hold. And what is the standard by which all are judged? The standard is God’s holy law, not our own petty rules. And God’s holy Law does not bend. All stand condemned before God’s Law, which we all break time and time again.

So what is Jesus talking about when He says, “Be merciful as your Father in heaven is merciful”? The point of this text is that the Father in heaven is merciful. We judge each other on the basis of our limited vision. We look and see what we don’t like in someone else, and we condemn him for it. But your Father in heaven knows all and sees all. There is nothing hidden from his sight. There is no sin that goes unnoticed, no misdeed that is lost. He knows all your faults and shortcomings, down to the very end.

Still, He is merciful. He doesn’t give you what you deserve. He doesn’t give you death. Instead, He gives you the very opposite. He gives you life. Now this life that the Father gives by mercy isn’t just any life. It is eternal life. It is His life, rich and full of blessing. It is a life washed clean of every stain of sin in Holy Baptism, which allows you to stand before God as His redeemed child.

Now what does this mean for you in the real world? It means everything. It means that this is a place where you receive the one thing you need more than anything else: mercy. Here your troubles are not glossed over or held up as a spectacle. No, here in this place our heavenly Father gives you this great gift of mercy, so that your sins are washed away forever. Perhaps this seems like old news to you. “We’ve heard this before, pastor. Why don’t you get to something more useful?” My brothers and sisters in Christ, mercy never goes out of date. Just like the love of God, His mercy knows no boundaries, and it delivers you the peace of God that all desire. This is why we may sing with the Psalmist: “The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” 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 7/10/11--Third Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

Family

Luke 15:11-32

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

The family depicted in the Gospel is not a perfect family. The younger son runs away, but not before demanding from his father all the property that would be his when the father dies. And the older son stays on the ranch, but he is not at all pleased with the situation. He feels like a slave. He’s mad at his brother for running off, and he might even be a little angry with himself for not thinking of it first. Those are only the symptoms. The real problem is that the sons are having problems with forgiveness.

The younger son has sinned against God and against his father. He feels shame. He can’t forgive himself. He has wasted the money his father gave him on extravagant living. He’s going hungry. He has to find a job. He’s gone from raising livestock on his father’s ranch to feeding pigs. There is really no other job in a land ravaged by famine. Don’t forget that this is a nice orthodox Jewish boy. He’s barely supposed to know what a pig looks like, much less spend any significant time with them. He’s shamed himself. He’s shamed his family. How can he go back home? He finally comes to the conclusion that he can go back home, that maybe his father will hire him on as a servant. He remembers that the servants are well-treated and have plenty to eat. He won’t dare ask for forgiveness; what he’s done goes far beyond the bounds of what can be forgiven. But maybe his father will have mercy on him and let him work for his living.

But when he returns home, he finds his father running to him, and his father gives him the forgiveness he could not bring himself to ask for. His father not only welcomes him home, but gives him the best robe, a pair of sandals, and a ring. And on top of all that, he has the servants kill the fatted calf, gives everyone the rest of the day off, and has a big party to welcome home the son that was lost, but now is found. The end. Roll the credits. What a spectacular ending!

But what about the older son? He’s still out in the fields, slaving away for his father. He hears the sound of a party at home, and he wants to know what’s going on. When he finds out that his brother has come home and that the party is for that delinquent, he refuses to join the party. He refuses to speak of the younger son as his brother. He certainly won’t forgive that boy for what he’s done.

Neither son really understands forgiveness. The younger son feels that nobody can forgive him for what he’s done. The older son doesn’t think he should have to forgive, and he doesn’t understand how his father can forgive. Why should he forgive his brother? The older son has never done anything wrong! He’s been loyal to his father, even though he feels like he’s been a slave all these years. He is the one who deserves a party, not his brother. Why should he be the one to make things right again?

The only one in the family who understands forgiveness is the father. When his younger son comes home, he runs out to meet him. He has compassion on him. He throws his arms around him, never mind that he smells like pigs. This is his son, not some stranger. The father completely forgives his younger son, and the son begins to understand. In the face of his father’s grace, he can repent; he has already been completely forgiven. And then the father pleads with the older son to forgive his brother, to show the same complete acceptance the father has shown. The father has not closed the door on either son.

We are members families, and we all face the difficulties of forgiveness. By refusing to forgive, we close many doors on our relationships. Most broken homes exist because someone cannot bring forgiveness to bear. Sometimes one cannot forgive himself. In the same way, if we don’t forgive others, we not only lock them out; we lock ourselves out, too. We see this, both in our homes and in our churches. The divorce rate is higher than ever. Too often we hear and live stories of brothers and sisters who don’t speak for years. And in our churches, we see more and more feuds every year. Pastors are forced out of churches by angry congregations. Angry or ignored church members trickle out of membership rolls a handful at a time, to reappear on other churches, or worse yet, to disappear from church altogether. Church meetings become shouting matches between factions that can’t agree; and these shouting matches aren’t resolved by agreement, but are merely postponed by the forceful expulsion of one of the parties. Thus the argument is never resolved. Sunday morning becomes a war—a war within ourselves and a war with those around us. The worse part of this is that we don’t understand that we sin not only against each other. First and foremost, we sin against God. We don’t forgive those who trespass against us; why should God forgive us? The psalmist writes, “While I held my tongue, my bones withered away, because of my groaning all day long.” Rather than seek absolution and reconciliation, we hide away, pretending the problem will disappear on its own. If we don’t confess our sins, there is no chance to be forgiven; and without forgiveness, only death remains.

But before anyone can condemn you, God forgives you. Our God is a forgiving God. Our Lord hung upon the cross to bear all your sins, so that when the Father looks upon you, He sees only the blameless Son. The Son instituted Sacraments in which you receive forgiveness. In Baptism you have been washed clean from the sin that you were born into, and the Lord received you into His family. In the Lord’s Supper you eat the body and blood of Jesus, which is given and shed for the forgiveness of your sins. This is the great family banquet which is shared by the whole family of Christians of every time and place. And Jesus also shows you how to forgive each other. Forgiveness is a complete change. He told Peter that forgiveness isn’t something you limit to 7 times, but something to give freely, 70 times 7, as many times as a person truly repents and asks to be forgiven. That’s a radical concept, as radical as dying on a cross to forgive sins.

In the face of your Father’s complete forgiveness, you can truly repent and you are truly forgiven. And through His forgiveness, you can forgive each other, as well. That’s a normal family—the family of brothers and sisters in Christ. In the name of the Father and of the Son (†) and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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

Sermon for 7/3/11--Second Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

Still having trouble with the podcast. Looking for a new host.

The Feast of Love

Luke 14:15-24

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

There are few words found more frequently in the Scriptures than the word “love.” Just about everyone, even those who don’t really believe it, know the Biblical phrase, “God is love.” And it is true that love is the very essence of God. The problem, however, with the word “love” is that it is easily and often misunderstood and misused. For example, it is often assumed that “love” is always a “Gospel” word, a word that speaks of promises and gifts from God. It is, indeed, often used in this way: “God so loved the world, that He gave His only-begotten Son.” But if you would check out “love” in all of its various Biblical contexts you will find that in most cases it is actually a “Law” word, a word of command or admonition to love God or to love our neighbor. And so we must bear in mind always that the word “love” is a two-edged sword: it can bear both a Gospel meaning and a Law meaning; and at times, both may be found together. This text is just such an example.

Now, you may be thinking, “What does any of this have to do with this text? After all, the word ‘love’ is not even found in the text.” That’s true. But still, the love of God for us and the love we are to return to Him is all over this text, whether or not the word itself is there. It is found in the context of a great heavenly banquet, which always speaks to us of the Lord’s Supper; and it also speaks to us of the great feast of everlasting life around the throne of heaven.

The great supper described in this text is a wonderful picture of the love of God. The love of God is a love that is wide, for the invitation to the supper is one that goes out to many. It is a banquet that is full and rich, for it meets all the needs of men. It is a great feast that has been prepared and is ready to be enjoyed. What’s more, this is an unending feast. It is a feast of joy for the present, even as it is one of hope for the future.

There is no worldly feast offered this side of heaven that can give any more than present satisfaction. And even in the best of them there are things that we find less than pleasing, or which do not especially appeal to our taste. But this great supper offers present happiness and future glory. As we gather at His invitation at the table of the Lord, we are given His very body and blood, given and shed for the remission of our sins. This is a “foretaste of the feast to come”, a sign of all the wonders that the Lord of the Church has prepared for those who love Him and who long for His return.

This feast of love is so rich, and the entrance to it so easy, that we cannot help but be amazed at how many refuse the invitation to come. It is like faith itself. Saving faith is a great mystery. But perhaps an even greater mystery is that, when offered the boundless blessings of the Gospel, the fullness of the forgiveness of sins and the promise of eternal life, so many will quickly refuse it!

There are many excuses by which the invitation is refused. Some excuse themselves because they have earthly wealth; they simply think they do not need this great feast of love. Others refuse the invitation because they’ve got what they think of as better things to do. Still others refuse because of their families. Can you relate to any of these? You may not be wealthy, but surely there have been times when you have been well satisfied with yourself, and the need for God was far from your mind. And surely the rigors of daily life have kept you busy. At times you have permitted such things to turn you away from the gifts of this great feast of love.

But these excuses are only symptoms. The real reason for refusing the feast of love is because unbelief always yearns for a different feast. Unbelief is too satisfied with earthly riches. It is too busy with daily living. It is too pleased with the delights of family. There is room at the heavenly banquet, but there is no room for the banquet in the hearts of sinners. All excuses are needless. Enjoying God’s great feast will not take away from all these others things; it will enhance them and make them even greater. The enjoyment of God’s great feast will add even more pleasure to those with wealth; it will help those who bear many daily burdens to bear them with joy and without anxiety; it will make even the happiest home happier still.

This parable of Jesus is one that cuts across all the ages of time. The temptation comes to all, including the faithful of the Lord, to think themselves too satisfied, too busy, or too tied down to need the feast of love. And here is the truth that lies at the root of it all, the one thing we need always to remember: we will not taste the feast unless we have the taste for it. That means repentance and faith. The love of God is something that must not be refused by us. His love for us cost Him the life of His Son on the cross, and He will not leave unanswered the rejection of His Son. It is for us to repent for those times when we have thought ourselves beyond the need of the love of God given to us through the saving life, death, and resurrection of His Son, Jesus Christ. But even when God’s anger is roused by our sin of refusal, still His love persists. He doesn’t stop sending the invitation; He repeats it again and again, each time full of His desire that we would accept His invitation.

This is an open invitation to the Savior’s body and blood in His Holy Supper, which is a foretaste of the feast to come. The feast is great, its blessings boundless even now; but, as yet, we have tasted only the crumbs, the appetizer. Here the words of the Psalmist come to mind: “Oh taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who trusts in You.” Hear His invitation, and answer to your everlasting joy and blessing! 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 6/26/11--First Sunday After Trinity (LSB 1-year)

Exalting the Lowly

Luke 16:19-31

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

As the old saying goes, “Looks can be deceiving.” They were certainly deceiving in case of the rich man and Lazarus. The world looks at the rich man and Lazarus in one way, but God has an altogether different perspective. From the world's point of view it is this nameless rich man who is the blessed man, the man with the good life. After all, he has wealth and power. He lives by the “golden rule”—that is, “He who has the gold, rules.” And he does rule his own little world. Jesus describes his life like this: “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.” He has the image. He is well-dressed and well-fed. This rich man lives in the security of his wealth. It appears that he doesn't need anything. In the eyes of the world he is the model of success.

Then there is Lazarus. Jesus identifies him as a “beggar” who was “full of sores.” Now, Lazarus stands in stark contrast to the rich man. The rich man has his house while Lazarus is laid at his gate. The rich man dines from a full table, while Lazarus is lucky to get the crumbs that fall from his table—the table scraps of half-eaten dishes. The rich man is clothed with expensive attire—“purple and fine linen”—while Lazarus is clothed with sores. No doubt the rich man had friends to grace his parties with their presence. But Lazarus had only the dogs to lick his sores. In the eyes of the world, Lazarus is pitiful and sad. He is seen as a failure.

But the world does not see as God sees. And when God looks on the rich man and Lazarus, He sees something very different. He sees things as they are. What man exalts, God sees as an abomination. What man despises, God sees as blessed. This is the great reversal which Mary sang of in her Magnificat, when she said of our God and Savior:

He has shown strength with his arm,
he has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts,
he has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree;
he has filled the hungry with good things,
and the rich he has sent empty away.

This is what Jesus speaks of in the beatitudes when He says: “Blessed are you that hunger now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh....But woe to you that are rich, for you have received your consolation. Woe to you that are full now, for you shall hunger.”

God's judgment on both the rich man and Lazarus reverses things. Both die. Death made clear what was hidden from human sight in this life. Death made clear how each of these men stood before God. Lazarus' death was a blessed death. He died and was escorted by the holy angels into paradise. Lazarus no longer laid outside the gate. The holy angels carried him through the gates of heaven and into presence of God. He was given rest at “Abraham's bosom.” This hungry man is now satisfied at the heavenly banquet. There are no more tormenting sores for him. Lazarus is revealed to be the blessed man. Indeed, in death the very truth of the name of Lazarus—“the one whom God helps”—is made manifest. In his life human eyes could not see this divine help. It was hidden. But now it is revealed.

Death was also a revelation of how it was with the rich man. The end of His unbelief is hell. He was not condemned because he is rich, but because his riches were his god. He did not draw his life from the Word of God, but from his own wealth. The very “god” that he had “feared, loved, and trusted above all things” in this life was not able to save him from death and God's judgment. Now he is in torment while Lazarus enjoys the riches of heaven. Indeed, the hungry are filled with good things and the rich are sent away empty. The judgment of God is final. The boundaries between heaven and hell are completely closed. Once the day of grace has ended there are no second chances. In vain did the rich man plead for a visit from Lazarus to bring him so much as a cooling drop of water. It is too late.

But Jesus made it clear that this teaching is not so much about riches and poverty as it is about faith in the crucified and risen Lord Himself. The rich man then thought of his five brothers who were still alive and so he made the request that Lazarus be sent back to earth to testify to them, “lest they too also come into this place of torment.” Remember Abraham's answer: “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.” God does not use ghosts to bring people to repentance and faith; He uses His Word. If people will not hear the Scriptures, they will not be convinced, “though one should rise from the dead.” Here the Lord spoke prophetically of His own death and resurrection. No sign, not even the sign of Jesus' own resurrection from the grave, will convince those who do not believe the Scriptures.

Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hear the Word of God and keep it.” Your blessedness does not lie in your wealth, your learning, your career, or in your prestige. Your blessedness lies in the faith you received in Holy Baptism, faith which lays hold of Jesus Christ, who suffered and died as the atoning sacrifice for your sins and was raised again to give life to all who look to Him. Apart from Him, all appearances to the contrary, there is only death. But in Him there is life. Lazarus came to know that life. God grant unto us the same blessing. 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 6/19/11--Feast of the Holy Trinity (LSB 1-year)

My ISP is acting up, so I'm having trouble uploading the audio of the sermon. Look for another post if I finally get the podcast up.

What’s In A Name?

John 3:1-17

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

Nicodemus was one of those people who stood on the edge of the New Testament. Obviously, he was not a "leading character" like John or Paul. He was less than a minor figure like Timothy or Titus. We're not told much about Nicodemus. In our text, John identifies Nicodemus as a Pharisee, one of the rulers of the Jews. That means he was a layman who served on the Sanhedrin, that highest of Jewish councils that was dominated by the Sadducees. John also tells us that Nicodemus came to Jesus by night. Perhaps John was making the point that Nicodemus not only came to Jesus "after hours," so to speak, but that he came under the cover of darkness. That is, the fact that Nicodemus came to the Lord by night also pointed to the Nicodemus' spiritual condition. He was still "in the dark," as he had not yet come to see Jesus as the Light of the world. Nicodemus, that man who comes to Jesus by night, will come to walk in the light. At the end of John's Gospel, we read that Nicodemus stepped out of the shadows and joined Joseph of Arimathea, also a secret disciple of Jesus, to prepare the corpse of Jesus for a proper burial. Nicodemus supplied the myrrh and aloes to anoint the Lord's body. Nicodemus might have on the edge of the New Testament, but he is nevertheless significant.

The real significance of Nicodemus is that Jesus revealed Himself to this man; and in doing so, Jesus revealed the Holy Trinity: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Nicodemus was a Pharisee, and this revelation from Jesus did not fit into the theology of the Pharisees. These were pious men, dedicated to doing good works. They had vowed to tithe, fast, and keep the Sabbath. But their focus was on their good works, their sincerity. They chose to focus on obedience to the law rather than trust in the mercies of God. It sounds a great deal like today’s popular theology, really.

The first thing that Nicodemus said to Jesus in our Gospel reading points to works. He said, "Rabbi, we know that you are teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do unless God is with Him." To his way of thinking, the miraculous works that Jesus does are indicators that "God is with Him," that is, He is operating under the blessing of the Lord God. Immediately Jesus changed the course of the conversation. He said to His visitor: "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." Nicodemus was talking about signs and works. But Jesus spoke about rebirth. Nicodemus was confused. He knew that it was impossible to literally be born again. How could a man start his life over? How could a man return to his mother's womb and be "born again"? The answer Jesus gave is important. "Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of the water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God." This new birth is nothing other than Holy Baptism. Baptism is the Lord's doing, for it is done "in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit." With the water and the Word, the Triune God Himself puts His name on us and thereby gives us the new birth into His family. Thus Jesus says, "That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

The name of God is essential here. When Jesus gives His apostles the mandate to make disciples, He indicates that disciples are to be made by "baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" and teaching them to keep all things that Jesus has given. Now, to understand the full significance of Jesus' words about "baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" one must go back to the Old Testament. The greatest gift which God gave to the people of Israel was his holy name. In this one gift He included all the other gifts which He ever offered to His people. When God gave His name to the Israelites, He gave them Himself, for by His name they had access to Him personally. He made Himself present for His people. In Numbers 6 God instructs the priests to put His name on the people in the words of the Benediction, the same one which you hear in every Divine Service. Then, after God gives them the words of that Benediction He says, "So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them." Where God puts His name, He puts His presence and His blessing. In other words, unless God puts His name on you, you cannot enter His kingdom. With His name put on you in the waters of Holy Baptism, you are born again. That is why St. Peter says, "Baptism now saves you."

Even though he is a "teacher of Israel," Nicodemus still needed of some teaching. He asked, "How can these things be?" And Jesus does teach Nicodemus. Jesus in His words He reveals the Holy Trinity to Nicodemus as He testifies of the Father who sent the Son from heaven to be lifted on the cross, just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so that all who look to Him in faith that is created by the Holy Spirit will not perish by the venom of sin but will receive eternal life, the very life of the Trinity. Jesus directs Nicodemus to the cross, for on the cross the forgiveness of sins was won for the world and that same forgiveness of sins, along with the life and the salvation which forgiveness brings, is given to us in the new birth of Baptism.

It is all in God's name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. That is the Lord's name revealed to you by the Lord Himself. No substitutes will do, for to lose the name of the Lord is to lose the Lord Himself. But to have His name, to cling to His name in faith, is to have everything that God has put in that name for you. We live in a changing world. Only one thing remains sure and certain, and that is the Lord: Father, Son (+), and Holy Spirit. Amen.

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

Fatherhood revisited

Though happy chance, my father is here in Campbell Hill along with my mother this Father's Day. It's been over a year since we've been able to see him, as his new knees kept him from traveling and we had concerns that the Terrors--er, Twins--would be rough on him during his recovery. My dad turned 65 this past year, and it's so strange seeing him age. At 36, I am now the same age he was at when I really started paying attention and remembering things in detail. I remember how, even then, he seemed to be easygoing and had a simple confidence and competence. (How I wish I had received that as a genetic inheritance!) My father has always been a cornerstone in my life, and I pray he is able to continue in that role for some time to come.

The same day I became a husband, I also became a father. Or maybe I became a father seven years ago yesterday, the day I asked Faith to marry me. Alexis was 6 when I met her, and though I had been working with kids since I was pretty much still a kid myself, being a father is something different. Every day since I began to think about asking Faith to marry me, I've tried to figure out the job description of a father. Every day I try to figure out how to be the best father I can be. Every day I look at the kids and try to figure out how God could entrust them to a man with so little patience and skill. As always, God knows what He's doing, but He hasn't explained everything to my satisfaction! Nevertheless, my children have been a great gift from God to me, surpassed in earthly matters only by the gift of my wife.

Watching my own bumbling attempts at fatherhood has helped me to appreciate all the more the heavenly Father. He has marked me as His own child (I gladly say it!) in the waters of Holy Baptism. He has given me all that I need to support this body and life. When in my human weakness I give half-hearted thought to sacrificing my kids to the gods of peace and quiet, it is comfort and joy that the Father spared Abraham's Isaac and my own children and even me, sacrificing instead His own Son, Jesus, for the sake of all the rest of His children. We see in our own fathers--as through a mirror, dimly--the great goodness of the Father.

A blessed and happy Father's Day to all you dads out there--especially to my own Dad and to my grandfathers, one of whom I will meet for the first time in heaven. And Happy Father's Day to the heavenly Father. May I learn to be a father more like You in the years ahead.

Sermon for 6/12/11--Whitsunday: The Feast of Pentecost (LSB 1-year)

Reposted, as I now have an audio link! 

Keep My Word

John 14:23-31

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

You would expect the Church to be loving, right? Well, the Church on earth, especially in our day, has done a lot of strange things in the name of “love”. To prove to the world that the Church acts out of love, many within the Church have abandoned the idea that there is a hell, a place where the unrepentant and unfaithful will dwell in torment for all of eternity. To demonstrate the love the Church is capable of, many within the Church say that Jesus acted and taught the way He did because He lived in primitive times. If Jesus was active today, they say, He would have had female disciples and pastors; after all, it was only because he lived in a woman-hating society that Jesus only had male disciples. If Jesus was preaching today, they say, He would have known that homosexuality is a genetic happenstance, not a product of sin; after all, Jesus lived in the midst of a patriarchal society that valued rugged manhood, and the world is different today. If Jesus was teaching today, they say, He would not condemn abortion; after all, Jesus was all about love and happiness, and He wouldn’t want any woman to suffer the emotional distress of an unwanted pregnancy. Some even go so far as to say that the Jesus portrayed in Scripture is really the product of those patriarchal, woman-hating apostles and evangelists and their disgraceful agenda. In the name of love, surely Jesus would be permissive; and the Church must be the same way, striving to include everyone, if we want to prove how loving we are. In reality, this so-called love which many in the Church teach today will actually love people to their death and eternal damnation.

In truth, Jesus is all about love. But Jesus had something else in mind when He taught about love. He said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word.” And then He said, “He who does not love Me does not keep My words.” Instead of concentrating on the love of the world, Jesus pointed the church to the love, the holy desire for His Word: His teachings and practice, everything He had given them from His Father. Jesus made the connection for the Church between love and doctrine. But this isn’t the only place where He stressed that connection. On the mountain with the apostles, about to ascend, Jesus told them to make disciples by baptizing in the name of the Triune God and “teaching them to observe all things I have commanded you.”

The Church does not love the world with Christ’s love by coddling it, by confirming it in sinfulness and error. Instead, the Church demonstrates the love of Christ by speaking the truth of the Word of God lovingly to a world that does not know Christ or His love. The Church loves the world by not turning a blind eye toward premarital relations or abortion or homosexuality or any other sin, but by speaking the truth that these things are sin, and sin has eternal consequences for those who do not repent before God. It is not an easy message to deliver, and it’s certainly not going to be a popular message. But in I Corinthians 13, his famous “love chapter”, the Apostle Paul wrote that love “does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth.”

How could the disciples presume to deliver such a message? How could they even begin the task of delivering the counsel of God to the world? What if they were to forget something? This is where the Holy Spirit enters the picture. The Father sends the Holy Spirit in the name of Jesus, and the Spirit gives understanding of what Jesus has taught. And more than that, as you heard from the Acts of the Apostles today, the Spirit gave the disciples the ability to speak—giving boldness even to Peter, who had denied Jesus less than two months earlier. On that first Pentecost, Peter confessed Christ boldly, saying, “God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.” And when his hearers asked him what they should do, Peter replied, “Repent, and let every one of you be baptized.” Peter received the teachings and gifts of Jesus; and by the Holy Spirit, Peter and the Apostles were made bold to confess what they had received. The Spirit inspired these men and others to record the teachings they had received from Jesus faithfully and without error. And the Spirit sustained Peter and the Apostles in those teachings and the gifts of Christ, even to martyr’s deaths.

So it is today. In Holy Baptism, where you received the Holy Spirit, you too have given the gift of faith so that you may have understanding concerning the teachings of Jesus, teachings which have been handed down to you by the Apostles through the work of that same Spirit. By the Holy Spirit, you are given the faith which clings to the promises of Jesus that whoever believes in Him will not perish but have everlasting life. By the Spirit you are made bold to confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, the One who was crucified carrying the burden of your sins, the One who rose again, bringing you to life again with Him. By the faith that is yours from the Holy Spirit, you receive this day in your mouth the very body and blood of Jesus Christ—a gift in which you receive the forgiveness of your sins and the strengthening of your faith.

There is a beautiful prayer in your hymnal—page 308 if you want to read it yourself later—which our old hymnal called the Collect for the Word. “Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them that, by patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life; through Jesus Christ, our Lord.” It is a prayer which pleases God, for in it you ask Him for what He would already so graciously give you. By the Holy Spirit, God has caused all of Holy Scripture to be written. And because He loves you, He wants you to hear that Word, to learn it, and to take it to heart, so that you can embrace and hold fast to the sure and certain hope of everlasting life. He grants you His Holy Spirit, by which you cling to everything you have received from Jesus. By that Holy Spirit, you receive boldness to confess to the world around you concerning all Jesus has said and done for you. And by that Holy Spirit, you receive the gift of the peace of Christ, a peace the world does not have and cannot give, a peace that will sustain you, even should you be called upon to die the death of a martyr for the sake of Christ. “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful, and kindle them in the fire of your love. Alleluia!” 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.

My year with LSB

In 2006, the Lutheran Church--Missouri Synod and Concordia Publishing House released a new hymnal: Lutheran Service Book ("LSB" from here on). I'm sure Paul McCain will correct me if my numbers are outdated, but last I'd heard, 70% of the congregations of the LCMS have purchased LSB, and over 1,000,000 (one-million, yes, that's the right number of 0s) copies of the hymnal have been purchased. Those are incredible numbers, numbers which reflect the possibility of an increase in liturgical uniformity across the Synod.

This is the fourth major hymnal the LCMS (officially or unofficially) has utilized in my lifetime. I've used all four for significant periods of time. The Lutheran Hymnal ("TLH") from 1941 is the hymnal I've used most. My home church used TLH until I was 8, and all of my congregations previous to this one used TLH nearly exclusively. My home congregation adoped Lutheran Worship ("LW") right away in 1982, and it was the main hymnal I used until I reached seminary. The sem had LW, and my field work congregation for the first two years of sem had and used both TLH and Lutheran Book of Worship ("LBW"), the hymnal released in 1978, which the LCMS worked on with what is now the ELCA but then did not adopt. (Many congregations in the LCMS, however, anticipating that adoption, pre-ordered LBW and used it.) Using four different hymnals has certainly broadened my horizons, and it has given me a strange perspective on each.

For much of these first five years since the release of LSB, I was not a parish pastor. Though most of the congregations for which I was a guest preacher made the move to LSB during my time in Louisiana, it takes a period of constant use to get a real feel for a hymnal. Last year, Pastor Will Weedon made a post on his excellent blog (a blog I highly recommend, by the way) in praise of one of the hymns they had used in the divine service that day. We'd used the same hymn that day, and I'd made a comment about how angry I was that the text of the hymn had changed from the hymnals I was used to. As you can read in the comments on that post, Pastor Weedon, the liturgist at my Installation here at St. Peter, Campbell Hill, allowed me "ONE YEAR of grousing". He then told me that I must cease and desist at the one-year anniversary of my Installation.

I've been pretty busy the past month since right before that anniversary, so I hadn't had the time yet to formulate my one last grouse. But since that discussion on Pastor Weedon's blog took place in July of last year, I'm between the anniversary of my Installation and the anniversary of that blog post. And I promise not to grouse--at least on my blog, anyway--about LSB after this post is . . . well, posted.

That's the background of this post. All that being said, here's the beef.

General Comments, good and bad

• Unlike its immediate predecessors, TLH and LW, LSB does not include the Collects for each Sunday. I'm sure that space was a consideration in that decision, but it makes LSB into a 3-resource book (hymnal, Bible, agenda/lectionary/Propers book) for devotional use instead of a two-resource book (hymnal, Bible).
• The Psalter, while more complete than those contained in either TLH or LW, is still incomplete. This was not the decision of the committee.
• The Psalter comes before the orders of worship. Having grown up with both TLH and LW (and also LBW for a time), I've seen it both ways. My personal preference is for the orders of worship to come first, but it's not a deal breaker. Having the Psalter first makes it easier to find the psalm you're looking for . . . as long as that particular psalm is in the hymnal, of course.
• Again, this is a nit-picky point, but Divine Service Setting 3 in LSB should probably be Divine Service (DS) Setting 1. This is the service that was p.15 in TLH and was DS1 in LW, so it would have made sense to keep it as DS1 in LSB. It's an easy enough adjustment to make, but for the first month or so, it was a distraction.
• The music of the Litany should be in the Pew Edition of LSB. It was in the hymn section of TLH and it was its own order in LW. Not having it in the pew edition of LSB weakens the hymnal, even if it's included in the Lutheran Service Builder software. On a happier note, the musical setting of the Litany was made available online for free, so it's available even to those who don't have the software, but it would have been better to have it in the hymnal itself.
• Instead of burying the Small Catechism in the middle of the hymnal (p.321), it could have been placed in the very back or very near the front, making the hymnal more friendly for catechesis.
• Though space was already at a premium, it would have been nice to have the Augsburg Confession in the hymnal. But that's just a personal dream. I liked seeing it in Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary used by the Evanelical Lutheran Synod. (Of course, that hymnal has its own problems, but that's another matter entirely.)
• I appreciate the inclusion of the wedding and funeral liturgies in LSB, as they were in LW. That was a strike against TLH. Also a great addition over TLH is the inclusion of the Rite of Individual Confession and Forgiveness!
• I know this was not the fault of the hymnal committee, but the response in the Salutation should never be "And also with you"; instead it should always be, "And with your/thy spirit".
• Though I will list some specific instances (though not all), let me say here that some of the textual changes from TLH and LW to LSB were quite unnecessary.  I've been reading, singing, and worshiping with the old versions for over 30 years and teaching the old versions for over 10. Many of my members had used TLH most or all of their lives before switching to LSB. The changes in hymns and liturgies that have been memorized for 50 or more years can be a huge distraction, and I have members who will just stop singing altogether when the hymn isn't how they remember it. What Luther said in the Preface to the Small Catechism about Bible translations should also stand for translations of the Catechism and the hymnal: pick one and stick with it! (I won't list all the unnecessary changes made in LSB, as I don't want to be here until my second anniversary here.)

Hymnody Issues

• LSB 333--Once He Came in Blessing: vv.2-3 are original to LSB. v.4 is an alteration of Winkworth's translation. The old version (TLH/LW) deals more with justification, conversion, repentance; LSB is more Sacrament of the Altar. The LSB version is good, but this was an unnecessary change.
• LSB 343--Prepare the Royal Highway: "O blest is He that came/ in God the Father's name" flows better than "Hosanna to the Lord/ For He fulfills God's Word". (Yes, I talk about flow. No, I'm not a "New Age hippie".)
• LSB 362--O Sing of Christ: The text and tune are not well-matched. It fits the meter, but it's forced. I have the same problem with a number of the many Starke-penned hymns. As a text-writer myself, I know this is a struggle.
• LSB 372--O Jesus Christ, Thy Manger Is: This new tune to a hymn found in TLH does not have the accompaniment with it in the pew edition. Though the tune was introduced in Hymnal Supplement 98, a new tune to an old hymn should have the accompaniment, especially when it doesn't take up that much more space.
• LSB 383--A Great and Mighty Wonder: This is one of my favorite hymns, and it is a classic. The unnecessary changes are exacerbated by the fact that it had already been changed between TLH and LW. If you can't teach what "for aye" means, at least settle on a substitute! And the refrain is just horrible. Since the text is in the public domain, this will always be sung from a bulletin insert.
• LSB 394--Songs of Thankfulness and Praise: I appreciate the re-introduction of TLH's v.4, which were not included in LW. (And you thought this was going to be all bad, eh?)
• LSB 455--The Royal Banners Forward Go: TLH offers the tune Vexilla Regis. LW offers both Vexilla Regis and Herr Jesu Christ, Wahr Mensch Und Gott. (I REALLY liked using those two tunes antiphonally!) LSB gives Vexilla Regis Nova, a debasing of Vexilla Regis. 
• LSB 615--When in the Hour of Deepest Need: A classic that should not have been changed. Oh, and in v.5 of LSB/v.6 of TLH, should the Lord hide His face or not?
• LSB 672--Jerusalem the Golden: Nit-picky changes that should never have been made to a classic.
• LSB 685--Let Us Ever Walk with Jesus: same as above.
• LSB 700--Love Divine, All Love(s) Excelling: Title change from TLH and LW, but I do like that the tune Hyfrydol is given instead of TLH's O du Liebe.
• LSB 708--Lord, Thee I Love with All My Heart: The changes in Herzlich Lieb actually make it easier to sing this hymn than it was in TLH. Kudos!
• LSB 766--Our Father, Who from Heaven Above: Why is this further altered? As a catechetical hymn, it's so hard to use it for catechesis when it changes from one generation to the next.
• LSB 837--Lift High the Cross: I'm probably the only person in the world who thought this hymn was too long at 5 verses, and LSB adds a sixth. But that's just me.
• LSB 851--Lord of Glory, You Have Bought Us: The removal of TLH's v.4 is a shame.
• LSB 878--Abide with Me: I will miss the 4 extra verses from TLH, but they chose the best 6.
• LSB 940--Holy God, We Praise Thy Name: Though all seven verses appear neither in TLH or LW, I would have loved to have seen all seven appear in LSB to make the Te Deum Laudamus complete.
• LSB 954--We All Believe in One True God: Like LSB 766, the modernization of a classic Luther catechetical hymn is frustrating.

Hymns Missing from LSB

Pastor Rick Stuckwisch on his excellent blog (another one I highly recommend) made a list of hymns that should be included. I don't agree with every decision, but markedly missing from LSB is a great deal of Paul Gerhardt. In addition to the Gerhardt, my not-fully-fleshed list includes:

• Day of Wrath, O Day of Mourning (TLH 607)
• O Jesus, King of Glory (TLH 130)
• O Perfect Love (TLH 623)

Notice that none of my hymns are on that list.

Hymns that SHOULD BE Missing from LSB

Pastor Rick Stuckwisch also made a list of hymns that should never have appeared in LSB. I agree with about 90% of his lists. My list (mostly matters of trite texts or contemporary Christian crap included for contemporary worship proponents who wouldn't be using the hymnal anyway) includes (but is not limited to):

• About 95% of Stephen Starke's hymns: Nothing personal, but the numerous bad marriages of text and tune are VERY distracting.
• Anything Taize: To quote Mark Schlamann, "Don't taize me, bro!"
• LSB 411--I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light: Me, me, me, I, I, I.
• LSB 456--Were You There: Trite, doesn't really say anything.
• LSB 474--Alleluia! Jesus Is Risen: Horrible marriage of text and tune.
• LSB 477--Alleluia, Alleluia! Hearts to Heaven: Enough with the Ode to Joy remakes!
• LSB 479--Christ is Risen, Christ Is Living: A good Spanish hymn that isn't quite as good in English.
• LSB 502--Holy Spirit, the Dove Sent from Heaven: Same thing.
• LSB 550--Lamb of God: Twila Paris? Really?
• LSB 595--O Blessed Spring: The mental associations with "The Water Is Wide" are too much for me.
• LSB 605--Father Welcomes: Trite.
• LSB 669--Come, We That Love the Lord: Watts has other, better stuff.
• LSB 721--Lead Me, Guide Me: Blah. (And yes, I say the same thing about stuff I write.)
• LSB 749--There Is a Balm in Gilead: I have no problem with African American Spirituals of themselves, but this one is . . . folksy.
• LSB 763--When Peace, Like a River: In the interest of full disclosure, I should say right now that I've re-written this with a text of my own. There's just not enough substance to the original.
• LSB 789--Praise and Thanksgiving: Cat Stevens associations are hard to overcome.
• LSB 799--Alabare: The English text (beautiful, by the way) just doesn't work with the tune.
• LSB 806--Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart: Trite.
• LSB 808--O Sing to the Lord: Another instance where an English translation doesn't work with the tune. 
• LSB 817--Earth and All Stars: At the risk of angering my own dear father, it seems like an attempt at combining Psalm 150 with a hymn concerning vocation, and it doesn't quite work.
• LSB 827--Hark the Voice of Jesus Calling (take 2): Unnecessary.
• LSB 879--Stay with Us: The pietist in me likes this hymn very much.
• LSB 910--Now the Silence: Trainwreck-of-thought.
• LSB 911--Lord, This Day We've Come to Worship: Sounds like a bad re-write of "Angels We Have Heard on High; and a little too much about what we do and not quite enough about what He does.
• LSB 939--You Are God; We Praise You: If a liturgical Te Deum Laudamus was to be included in LSB, it should have been the Te Deum from LW's Matins (p.214), not the one from LBW.
• LSB 964--Lift Every Voice and Sing: Can we get any more musical cliches in one hymn? This is like singing the Edelweiss Benediction. In fact, it sounds a bit like someone trying to plagiarize Rodgers and Hammerstein. 

Overall

All that being said, LSB is a treasure. Are there things I'd change? Obviously. Is it perfect? No. Is it a solid resource for corporate worship and personal/family devotions? Definitely. I do believe it's a step (or even two) forward from LW, though LW does have its advantages. I also believe it's a step forward from TLH, though that excellent hymnal has far outlived its intended lifespan. LSB is an excellent hymnal, and I thank God that we have it. I'll ignore or work around the warts, and I will thank God for this fine resource that will (I hope) last the rest of my life. I have no desire to learn a fifth hymnal!

Sermon for 6/5/11--Exaudi: The Seventh Sunday of Easter (LSB 1-year)

I was in the practice of posting my sermon as soon as it was written and edited. Now that I'm recording the service, I can also post a link to the audio file. So that I do not post the same sermon twice, I'll be waiting until the sermon is recorded before I post. CLICK HERE for the audio of this sermon.  (Someone let me know if it turned out okay.)

(The audio will likely be deleted once I run out of online storage space to make room for what will be more recent sermons.)

The Time Is Coming

John 15:26-16:4

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

Today is the Seventh Sunday of Easter, the Sunday After the Ascension of Our Lord. This is a day of transition for the Church. This past week we commemorated the ascension of Jesus. Next Sunday we celebrate the sending of the Holy Spirit. But this Sunday is a transition in the Church calendar. Today the Church finds itself in that time between—that time when Jesus was no longer with the disciples in the way He had been with them to that point, but before the promised sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost.

The disciples would not be in that transition period very long. Ten days after the Ascension, the disciples would be gathered in one place, and the Holy Spirit came upon them, even as Jesus had promised them. But even then, things would not be the same for the disciples. The disciples would now be living by faith in Jesus rather than with Jesus before their eyes, and this would require a different way of living. After all, when He was with them and teaching them, He was the one who took all the heat. Nobody really paid all that much attention to the disciples. Jesus was the one with the big target painted on Him. The Pharisees, the Sadducees, and the High Priest all wanted Jesus on a spit in the temple court, dying for the blasphemy of claiming that He was the very Son of God. But the disciples were just the little fish; they wanted the whale.

But in their eyes, they had hit the target; they had slain the whale. In truth, Jesus had risen from the dead and had ascended into heaven. Either way, Jesus was out of their reach. But with the disciples set to take up His cause, they would be next on the list. And that’s what Jesus was preparing them for in our Gospel reading. They’d be kicked out of the synagogue. They’d become targets, and the people aiming for those targets would do so in the name of God. The perversion could go no farther than to murder God’s children in the name of God as an act of worship. Their idea of God and what He would desire of them was so distorted because they didn’t recognize God.

“These things I am telling you, that you won’t be caught unawares,” He told them. They were to share with the world everything Jesus shared with them; and He promised to send the Spirit upon them from the Father so that, even knowing what was to come, they would know the truth of that message and continue to share that message, even to the point of death. “The time is coming,” He said. And as the Acts of the Apostles tells us, the time came. It all happened exactly as Jesus said it would. Each of the apostles would face ridicule and persecution; and with the exception of the Apostle John, eventually each of them would be put to death.

Unlike the disciples, we do not face the same kind of transition period between the departure of Jesus and the sending of the Holy Spirit. Instead, we live in the time which Jesus foretold. The world doesn’t know God. It doesn’t understand the Christians who do know God. What the world does not understand, it fears; and what the it fears, it kills. The time has come. The time has come when you will be made to suffer for the sake of the Gospel. The time has come when clinging to God’s Word will cause some who call themselves Christians to try to remove you from the Church. The time has come when people will seek to persecute you for living according to God’s Word. The time is coming. Faithful pastors are driven from the pulpits they have been called to serve precisely for preaching faithfully. The time is coming and has come when some will even seek to kill you for your faith. Some people consider Christians to be extremists and terrorist threats. Take that to the next step: how long will it be before Christians are locked away or even put to death for belonging to a congregation that preaches Christ? The time is coming. How can we persevere?

That, my brothers and sisters in Christ, is the crux of the matter. Too often, we do not persevere. Too often we find ourselves wilting under the pressure. We look to the heavens, throw up our hands and cry out, “Why, Lord?” Too often we look at the Word of Truth and seek to hedge our bet. “Sure, I believe in Jesus, yeah . . . but I don’t think I need to be part of the Church to worship Him.” “Yes, the Bible is the Word of God . . . but that doesn’t mean God can control what I do with my body.” Too often we look at our various roles in life—parent or child, citizen, worker, or whatever it may be—and we see these as hardships rather than vocations from God. We stumble in our selfishness, unprepared for the trials that come.

This is why it’s so important that Jesus sent the Holy Spirit. The spirit helps you and gives you comfort that goes from today throughout all eternity. After all, the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth. This Spirit descended upon you in the waters of Holy Baptism, and He continues to come to you in the Word and in the Holy Supper, giving you that comfort, that aid, and hope for eternity. How can this be? Simply put, the Holy Spirit points you to and gives you Jesus. In the midst of sufferings and trials, sorrows and persecutions, you receive Jesus. Your problems are more than can be solved by reading self-help books or by living a morally upright life. You need a Savior. You need Jesus, and that’s exactly what the Spirit gives you.

The comfort, peace and life which Jesus gives you, things you receive by the work of the Holy Spirit, mean that the struggles you endure, the frustrations you feel, and the persecutions you face as Christians will pass away. The Apostle Paul wrote to the Romans, “I consider that the sufferings of this present age are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.” Christ is in you and you are in Christ, and this means that these tribulations you face on earth will not endure for you. Even if you suffer persecution unto death for the sake of your faith, this will not be the end for you. Heaven awaits you. Jesus has ascended, going before you to prepare a place for you; and He sent the Spirit so that you will be comforted and have the faith to endure.

My brothers and sisters in Christ, today we rejoice in two things. First, we rejoice that Jesus ascended into heaven. And second, we rejoice that He did not leave us to fend for ourselves, but instead sent His Holy Spirit to comfort us and give us peace. We are not alone. Christ is still present with you; and the Holy Spirit has come to you so that you believe, even though you cannot see. Thanks be to God! For even though the time is coming and, indeed, has come, by God’s grace you will endure. 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.