Christmas Day

This past Tuesday our St Paul Pre School had their Children’s Christmas program.  Those of you who do Facebook might have noticed the picture I posted of the line-up of half sized shepherds, an inn keeper, Mary, Joseph, a few wise men, and of course a handful of angels (one of whom happened to be my daughter).  Tori had been practicing her “Glory to God in the highest” line and had it down pat.  She was ready with it right on cue.  All the kids did a great job.  As the children finished their program everyone was smiling and appreciative of their effort.

Our experience of angels usually has mostly to do with that sort of a thing, children dressed up and wearing a white robe, a gold garland around their heads. 

The Shepherds on the hillside outside Jerusalem had an experience that was much different. Instead of cute kids in costume, they saw the glory of heaven revealed before them.   They witnessed the true power and majesty of the Angels.  They saw them in all their Heavenly splendor and they were terrified.  The shepherds fell on their faces at the sight of only one of these angels so that the angel said to them “Do not be afraid.”

Now… we have considered the majesty of these angels before; that they were powerful and mighty and that they induced fear in the hearts of those who encountered them.  Yet what needs to be remembered and what is of greatest importance is that these heavenly beings in spite of all their power and glory they were only reflections of the glory of that child who way lying in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.  The true glory, the true power, the true majesty was hidden behind the face of a child who lie in the arms of his virgin mother.

Last week we talked about the two natures of Jesus – his divinity and humanity, true God begotten of the Father before Eternity and true man born of the virgin Mary.  Today, Christmas Day is a celebration that gift, that miracle of Jesus who is God in our flesh born to be our brother so that we could be God’s children.

John, who wrote our Gospel also wrote Revelation, the last book in the New Testament.  This same Jesus born on Christmas Day appeared to John to give to him this Revelation while he was in prisoned on Patmos.  And there Jesus came to him without the mask.  The resurrected Christ appeared to John and spoke to him with a voice like a trumpet.  Searching to find the right words to describe what he saw John writes,

Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength.   (Revelation 1:10-16 ESV)

John saw Jesus and fell down prostrate before him.  He beheld the glory of Christ and it was too much for him.  This was he of whom John had written “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.”  This was the Word who had become flesh.  And John saw him revealed in his glory.

Sometimes when we see the children dressed in their robes, wearing their golden halos, saying their lines we are tempted to see the Christ also in these terms; like a children’s story that warms the heart or brings a smile to our faces.  Sometimes we are tempted to forget that this child in this quiet Judean village of Bethlehem was Christ; that the Angels celebrated not just a baby, but their Lord and God whom they served in heaven before his throne; that he was a king not in just terms of who he would be and what he would do someday, but that he was heaven’s King come to bring heaven’s reign to earth, to men.  To you.

The mission of this Child was to be King.  We see it in his birth, in the way he came into the world, in his conception, in the message Gabriel gave to Mary that “He would be great that He would sit on the throne of his father David and reign over the house of Jacob.”   We see it in the angle choirs who heralded his coming, in the wise men who came to bring him kingly gifts, in the message proclaimed by John the Baptizer and then proclaimed by Jesus himself.  “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”  Jesus was king and he came to bring heaven’s kingdom to earth.

It is important that we remember the divinity of this child.  It is important that we not forget who he is.  If he is only a child or a baby and not a King and not Heaven’s king we will forget to bow before him, we will forget to fall prostrate before him.  He is coming again on the last day and we will see him as John saw him.  He will look on us with those eyes that pierce like a flame of fire and that mouth that speaks judgment like a sword.  If the angels were terrifying to the Shepherds, imagine the terror of Christ come in judgment on the last day.

But so that we might be ready and well prepared for that day Jesus came first as a child. He came heralded by angels and attended by Shepherds.  He came teaching and preaching about the reign of his Heavenly Kingdom.  He came healing and raising the dead.  He came calling disciples.  He came giving gifts of forgiveness.  But he was rejected, scorned by men and then rejected by God.  He was accused for our sake and suffered for our sin.  He was stricken, smitten by God and afflicted.  He was nailed to a cross to suffer in your place.

This King would have you know that his birth was for you because his death is for you.  Knowing this and believing this means you have a place in his kingdom.  There is no other way.  We can be too engrossed in our earthly kingdoms, We can consider this King as secondary to our other kings.  This cannot be.  There is one King.  And he can be second to none.  He calls you to believe Him and to worship him.

But know this, his yoke is easy and his burden is light.  He is a good king.  He is a merciful King.  And he is a loving king.

In Hebrews 4 we read that if Heaven’s King is like me then he is able to sympathize with my weaknesses.

Luther writes “If it is true that God became a man like unto us in all things yet was without sin, it then follows that as far apart as God and man formerly were from each other, namely farther than heaven and earth are from each other, they now belong closely together; therefore no kinsman, however closely related, be they  brother and sister, is as closely related to me as is Christ, the Son of the everlasting Father.  For it is absolutely true if apart from Christ we consider how far God and man are from each other, it will be seen that they are farther apart from each other than heaven and earth.  However, if we reckon in connection with Christ, true God and man we discover that we are more closely related than a brother to his brother; in as much as God the Creator of heaven and earth has become true, natural man; the Son of the everlasting Father has become the earthly son of the Virgin.”

Christ has become like you. This King who sits on heaven’s throne and will come on the last day to judge the living and the dead is closer to you than your closest friend.  He is your advocate before the Father.  He pleads for your forgiveness and for your salvation before the Throne of heaven.  He mentions you by name and he will not let you out of his sight.

Heaven’s King and God’s Only Begotten Son has carried your burdens.  He has carried you sin.  He has carried your suffering.  He carried it through his life from his birth to his death and the journey began on Christmas, when the Christ Child was born, when the King of Heaven came King of the Jews to sit on the throne of his father David, to reign over the house of Jacob, to be Lord of Heaven and Earth.  He is your king and your lord.

On this day we remember that baby born in Bethlehem with all the peacefulness and purity and the stillness of the night of his nativity, but this image is only complete when we remember that this king is heaven’s king great and glorious who came to be our brother, closer than a brother, to die for our sin.

In the name of Jesus.  

Amen.

The Annunciation Luke 1:26-38

It is an important article of the Christian Faith that Jesus is at the same time God and man,  Divine and Human.  Our three ecumenical creeds confess this exact thing and we say we believe it to be true every time we confess any one of them  

“I believe in Jesus Christ, his only son our Lord who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary.”  (The Second Article to the Apostle’s Creed)

“For us men and for our salvation [he] came down from heaven and was incarnate by the virgin Mary and was made man…” (The Nicene Creed)

“He is God, begotten from the substance of that Father from before all ages, and he is man, born from the substance of his mother in this age, perfect God and perfect man, composed of a rational soul and human flesh.” (The Athanasian Creed)

The foundation for this article of Faith is revealed here in our text, in the birth narrative of Luke.  Gabriel the Angel was sent from the presence of God to bring a message to a young girl named Mary.  “Greetings O favored one, the Lord is with you…  You will conceive in your womb and bear a Son and you shall call his name Jesus.  He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.  And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David.  He will reign over the house of Jacob and of his kingdom there will be no end.”

It’s hard to imagine, isn’t it?  Something as wonderful as this!  We are Christian people who believe in the Almighty God who fills all things and who has made all things, who has the power to create things too wonderful for us to understand with only a word, who stands above all power and might and every earthly authority, and yet…  somehow… he condescended… he lowered himself to be like one of us.  This is one of the most important articles of our faith.  God in the flesh come to save sinners.  To understand this is to understand salvation, atonement, it explains how one man’s sacrifice can be sufficient to save an entire race of people from sin, but it also helps us to comprehend God’s profound love and mercy and faithfulness to us and to his promise.  It is this article of faith that makes a Christian into a Christian.  It is why the Christian faith is all about the Christ.  To take this away, Christianity is all about you and it becomes no different from any other religion.

All this being the case, should we be surprised that Satan works so hard to undermine this doctrine.  Is it any wonder that this doctrine is the one that Satan attacks so vehemently, so that it makes Christianity an object of scorn and ridicule and even anger.   

·         Our Nicene Creed was written against a sect that spintered off from Christianity – a group called the Arians, founded by Arius – who were teaching that Christ was not one with the Father but that he was less than God. (It was Arius who was attacked by St Nicholas in the marketplace by the way, for those of you who read the Slappy Holiday article in your email.)

·         It is this doctrine that makes Christianity so offensive to Islam.  We believe that God came down to be like us, to assume our nature into his own.  In their mind God would never humiliate himself like this – it offends them.  And so to convert to Christianity from Islam is punishable by death.  It is why the Iranian pastor was on trial as was reported in the news a month or two ago.

·         Likewise with Judaism.  In spite of the fact that we share half our bible with the Jews, they cannot accept that Jesus, a man, is the one they call Yahweh. They reject Jesus as Lord and so they reject Christianity.

·         These days most people will classify Mormonism as a Christian, but it is not.  It is a heretical sect.  The reason?  They cannot accept this doctrine.  They cannot accept Jesus as the one true God, one with the Father and the Spirit.  

·         Of course Atheists and agnostics deny Christ all together.  Some will go so far as to question whether or not he ever existed at all; most will claim this doctrine is a Christ myth, popular among lots of ancient religions, that the founders of Christianity simply just borrowed an old and worn out myth from someplace else to make their new religion more familiar, more palatable to the pagans they were trying to attract.

The fact of the matter is that this doctrine is and has been under attack from the devil from the early days of the church.  Was Jesus who he said he was?  Was he God in the flesh born of the virgin Mary?  Satan has the minds and hearts of unbelievers firmly in his grip and he has turned their hearts to offense when Christians begin to speak of Jesus the God who became a man.

It is easy for us to talk about how other people reject Jesus, how other religions and sects deny Christ.  We would like to think that we get it right.  That we understand.  That we believe what is true.  After all, we confess those three creeds.  We say we believe them.  And that is true.  They are our faith, the sum and substance of it.  But, if we were completely honest with ourselves, we would admit that there is something about this doctrine that we don’t quite like either.  Something about it that offends us as well.  Some part of it that we just would rather do without. 

You see, the thing that this doctrine really drives home is just how lost and incapable we truly are.  It reveals to us just how powerless we are.  We don’t want to believe that.  We don’t want to believe that there is nothing we have to offer, no part of our faith that we participate in, no aspect of our salvation where we don’t have a say.  This doctrine teaches us that all of those things are true. 

We were so lost and so unable to find God he had to come find us.  I used to watch the Star Trek series, and if you have ever seen any of those programs, it would happen that the Enterprise would send an away team to some remote planet.  The team would get lost or captured or injured and a rescue party would need to beam down to save them.  That’s how we are, lost and captured and injured.  We don’t want to think of it that way.

We are so weak that he had to come to us, make himself like us so that he could do for us and in our place all those things that we were supposed to do but have just miserably failed to do. 

We are so completely self-absorbed that it is necessary for him to do all the work in our salvation and our spiritual lives, even after conversion, even after we have become Christians and are believers. 

That’s what this doctrine teaches us.  We don’t like it so we try to deny it.  There is a part of us that fights against it.  Here are some ways that it happens:

It has become popular these days in many Christian circles to emphasize relationships and emotions and feelings.  There are worship services that are designed to be very emotionally stirring – with music that pumps you up and then slows you down and pumps you up and slows you down.  The goal is to simply stir up your emotions because these emotions have been confused with the stirring of the Spirit.  These Christians, sadly hope that this method will bring them up, and get them close to God.  You see how this works: instead of seeing God who comes down to us we have to go up to God and if we use the right music and methods we can do it.

Or sometimes Christians feel that God is far away from them, that he has left or that they have left him and so they panic.  They wonder, what do I need to do to get back to God?  Christian bookstore are filled with titles that are supposed to help you do just that.  Here’s are a few best sellers with excerpts from their descriptions: 

Not a Fan: Becoming a Completely Committed Follower of Jesus

If Jesus were to sit down with you right now and have a DTR (Define the Relationship) conversation, how would you respond? Are you truly his follower or just a fan-or perhaps someone who doesn't even care about the difference? Not a Fan invites you to make Jesus not merely the object of your admiration, but the very center of your life. Through biblical teaching, anecdotes, and humor, Kyle Idleman explores what it means to truly be a follower of Christ.

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are
Ann Voskamp

Discover a way of seeing that opens your eyes to everyday amazing grace, a way of living that is fully alive, and a way of experiencing the constant presence of God that will bring you deep and lasting joy.

Now I haven’t read the books and I don’t know the perspective of the author, but the descriptioin puts all the work on you – are you just “a fan” of Jesus or are you fully committed?  Do you have that correct way of seeing?  Are you fully alive? Do you fully experience the constant presence of God?  If you buy these books and follow these steps then you will be.

You see, here is the issue.  Let’s be honest about ourselves: are you fully committed?  Am I? No.  Do you fully and completely follow Jesus? Do you do spend every moment of every day considering his will for you?  Is he the center of your life?  No.  He isn’t. we haven’t.  We don’t.  

Or what about the presence of God?  Do you fully experience God?  Do you live in his presence?  Have you found his complete joy?  Do you wish you did? Have you tried?  Have you felt like you have gotten close at times but then failed?  That is the human story!  That is why we need this doctrine.  That is why it is so important and so wonderful that Jesus has come to us. 

You see, God didn’t wait for us to become fully committed to him before he was fully committed to us.  Instead he jumped in to our skin with both feet, knowing that he would be confronted with a lack of commitment and even rejection, and that this rejection would lead to his own suffering and death. 

Likewise, He didn’t wait for us to seek his presence before so that you and I could be with him where he is before his throne, instead he brought his presence, his gracious and merciful and loving presence to us, hiding it under the flesh and blood of Jesus.  Hiding it in the womb of a virgin. 

He does the same for us today.  He knows our lackluster commitment so He send his spirit in his word to come to us.  He hides that word in our hearts so that we believe it and know it to be true and are saved by it.  He knows that we will not seek his presence and if we did we wouldn’t find it and if we found it we couldn’t tolerate it so he hides it in simple bread and wine, in preaching, in proclaiming his forgiveness.  It’s God’s work.  It’s God action.  God makes it happen.  God keeps it happening.  God sent his messenger to Mary. God send his messengers to you.

The angel came to Mary and shared a remarkable message, but before he even got there he called her by her name and told her she had found favor with God.  God has done that same thing to you.  He has called you by your name.  You have found favor with him.

Amen.

Advent Midweek 3 - the Road to Life

“It’s too good to be true.”  A phrase that is often followed by, “I’ll believe it when I see it.”  Perhaps those phrases might have been spoken by Zechariah had he known them.  For there he was, alone in the temple, when an angel, Gabriel, the Archangel, stood before him with news that we indeed too good to be true. I would suspect Zecharaih and Elizabeth had given up any hope of having a child of their own.  They were old, advanced in years, beyond the days of child bearing.  They had resigned themselves to barrenness.  But then an angel came and spoke a message of hope.  You will have a son.  He will be great.  A prophet like Elijah, and He will prepare the way for the Lord.   Could it be?  The thing all Israel had been praying for these last three thousand yeas was finally coming to pass.  The Lord would come!  He would send his Messiah!  Salvation would come for the people!  Could there be any better news? And for Zechariah this news contained a personal element – the Salvation of Israel would touch his own house!  His barren wife would have a child in her old age.  Can you blame him for his question?  How will this be? So the Lord gave a sign.  These days when we think we might be dreaming, when things are too good to be true, we pinch ourselves.  We figure if it hurts we must be awake.  God gave a sign to Zechariah – try to speak, open your mouth and try to talk and you will be reminded, God has heard your prayer.  He is sending salvation.  It will touch your house.  You will have a son who will be a prophet. Our Gospel text tonight come from the loosed tongue of Zechariah.  After the child was born, after there was no doubting it anymore, the Lord gave him his speech.  The first words he spoke? “His name is John.”  The name provided by the Angel, a name that means, “the Lord has shown favor”.  Indeed he had.  Favor for Israel.  Favor for Zechariah.  Favor for you. Our Old Testament text says this:  The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone.  (Isaiah 9:2 ESV) Robert Frost penned the famous poem, The Road not Taken.  A poem narrated by a traveler met with two paths that lay before him.  One that was well worn and one that was less travelled.   TWO roads diverged in a yellow wood,​ And sorry I could not travel both​ And be one traveler, long I stood​ And looked down one as far as I could…​   He concludes his poem:   I shall be telling this with a sigh​ Somewhere ages and ages hence:​ Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—​ I took the one less traveled by,​ And that has made all the difference.   Frost narrates  two choices, two pathways, both attractive, both inviting, one less travelled and with greater experience and wisdom. Our Lord was presented also with two pathways. Two choices.  Two directions.  Yet for him the contrast from one to the other could not be further apart.  To say one was less travelled would be to grossly under-estimate.  More like never travelled.  No foot had ever taken this path.  This path was the way of righteousness.  This  path was the way that leads to life.  This path was the way that leads to heaven. Every other footfall of every other person had taken the other path.  The way of sin.  The way of darkness.  The way of suffering and the way of death.  We might ask ourselves the appeal of such a path.  Given its destination we might assume that the other path would be chosen.  But this is the way of sin with us.  It so enslaves us that we can do no other.  We are so bent on ourselves that we walk this path no matter the destination.  Trudging and tromping along.  One foot before the other.  All marching in step with the same evil drum.   So God sent John to preach repentance and open the eyes of the blind.  To shine a great light on those people walking in darkness.  “Repent.” Said John. “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand.”  “John came to bear witness about the light.” Said the Apostle.  “And you, child,” said Zecharaih, the father of the prophet, “Will be called the prophet of the Most High; for you will go before the Lord to prepare his ways, to give knowledge of salvation to his people in the forgiveness of their sins, because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”  (Luke 1:76-79 ESV) The Lord came to teach our feet to walk a new path.  No longer the path of self interest.  No longer the path of death.  No longer the path of sin.  Instead he sent his light to shine upon the way to the path of life.  He came to set our feet on the way of salvation.  The way to peace and the way to joy. Two divergent path ways cannot converge unless so how a bridge is cut between them.  There must be a connection.  A passage to lead from the way of death to the way of life.  There must be some means to approach the new road, the high road, the good road.  John came to direct traffic, to point the way.  Jesus came to be the bridge.  The connection from death to life.  The road that carries us to God’s salvation. O Come thou Key of David come And open wide our heavenly home Make safe the way that leads on high, And close the path to misery. Rejoice Rejoice Emanuel.  Shall come to thee O Israel. Amen. And now may the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.   Amen

Advent 3 - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24

(1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 ESV)

The Community Created by the Gospel

I have an old friend, a couple Julie and I used to socialize with.  We would go to parties and gatherings together – I am sure you have heard the expression that someone could just light up a room.  That was him. He would show up at a party and the whole room would change.  There were smiles, laughs, hearty hand shakes, every head was turned to see what he was going to say or what he was going to do and all of a sudden there was new life at the party.  The whole event became just that much more fun because he had arrived and because  he warmed up the room.  Perhaps you have known someone like that.

It’s kind of a  funny thing, the way one person can make so much of a difference in a room.  The way one person can change the whole tone or direction or energy of a group.  Whether it is a positive outlook and friendly disposition or a positive and confident energy, one person can have a huge impact.  Leaders can do that for an organization or business, players or coaches can do that for a sports team, my friend could do that at a party.  

Dear friends, in a way, Jesus does that with His Church. 

You get that sense about him, at times, as you read the Gospels.  He was the kind of person who other people were drawn to.  People heard about him and came looking for him.  And he took care of them.  After all, Jesus was some who cared about people.  He loved people.  He loved each person, each individual, their life, who they were and the things that they had gone through. He cared about them.  He understood them.  He took time for them.  He genuinely wanted to help them.  Not just people, mind you, but each person.  One at a time.  Not one size fits all.  But with Matthew by the tax booth, Bartholomew under the fig tree, the woman at the well and her five  husbands, Mary Magdalene and her seven demons.  He found them one at a time and he called them one at a time.  The world needs more of that, wouldn’t you say?  The world is full of people who are alone, and sad, and don’t belong to any one or anything, who don’t belong anywhere,  Jesus found those people and he gave them a home.  He was a friend  to them.  He showed them what it means to be a friend.  And Jesus changed them, one at a time, and each of those individuals added up to a crowd, and before you knew it, Jesus changed had changed the tone, the outlook, the intention of a crowd of people. 

Now, my friend could change people, he could warm up a crowd so that everyone had a good time.  His personality was just suited to that.  With Jesus, it’s not the same thing.  Jesus isn’t just positive energy or inspiration.  Jesus turns people into new people.  He makes them different people.  He loves them.  He cures them of whatever has injured them.  He changes direction and outlook and intent and will.  People become brand new.  Having been loved, they love.  Having been honored, they honor.  Having been served, they serve.  No longer defensive, no longer out for themselves.  But open and loving and caring and generous and merciful.  Jesus makes people that way.

In light of this understanding of Jesus, consider again what Paul writes to the Christians in Thessalonica.  Keep in mind that he is writing to people, each one of them had been personally drawn in and affected and changed by Jesus and the Good News, the Gospel that he brings. 

Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.

We have a real tendency to read these passages like they are rules, like they are requirements or some kind of an organizational charter or constitution.  Or commitment that people make.  I suppose they are, but that’s not why we do them.  They are important things.  They do have a profound effect on the way that we treat others and the way that we interact with others.  They have an effect on how we set our priorities and the things that we do with our time.  But these are not rules that we obey because we have to, or because we have made some sort of a commitment to do them.  These are reminders for Christians, Jesus loves you.  Jesus died for you.  Jesus has cured you of your hurt and your pain and your grief and your sadness. Jesus has given to you a new hope for a new life.  You are loved.  Don’t forget that.  Having been loved, having received love respond in love.  Having been filled, go fill others.  These are things that you can do. 

Be at peace and don’t fight and argue with one another.

Look out for each other so that where someone stumbles and fall you can help him up again - if people get idle in their exercise of faith, give them a push, if someone is wavering or weak, give encouragement – always with patience. 

The last thing we would ever do is look for revenge, to get back at someone who did you wrong, instead look for an opportunity to love them and to do something good and kind for them

Always be rejoicing,

Pray a lot.

Give thanks to God for everything (and that includes even the things you might not be happy about)

And don’t break the commandments – it grieves the Holy Spirit and stifles your faith.

Listen to your preachers and test what they have to say. 

And where there is evil and wickedness, stay away from it.

The thing that governs all of this is love.  God’s love for us, our love for Him and then our love for each other.  The goal is different, the end result is different.  The whole thing runs on love.

Consider the environment in an office building, the people you might encounter or work together with.  Consider how things might be different in a business environment – how might things be different?  Why do people go to a business?  Why do they go to work?  To make money.  To get something.  To achieve something.  Have they come there to help you, to help somebody else?  Or have they come because they want something or need something for themselves? 

The business world is often characterized as cut throat – step on whomever you have to step on to get ahead.  Ethics and morality can take a back seat.  Give the appearance of social concern because it’s good for marketing and public relations.  Corporations behave that way.  Often the employees do as well.  Then again, so do the customers.  Reports of Black Friday mayhem bear that out. 

Out in the world, it’s “every man for himself”.  In the Church things are different.

And the thing that makes all the difference is Jesus.

Let’s review that list from the Apostle Paul one more time.

Be at peace with one another,

Admonish, encourage, help,

Don’t look for revenge, instead do good to everyone

Rejoice always,

Pray a lot,

Give thanks for everything,

Don’t quench the spirit,

Don’t despise preaching,

Stay away from every evil thing

This list is a list that is only possible, that can only happen with love; love that comes to each of us, speaks directly to each of us, changes each of us and makes each of us new.

God saw and understood everything that undoes our peace, our love, and our joy.  It is sin that does this, that comes between us and him, between you and your neighbor. The problem is sin.

But God in his love for us does not and did not leave us to suffer in that sin.  He instead, at great cost and pain and grief to himself sent his only son as the payment and the punishment and the satisfaction for all of that sin and guilt.  He made it his own to make sure that he could give to us everything he wants us to have.   

So that His good kingdom could be everywhere and we could be a part of it.

It’s kind of like that party goer who lights up a room.  Everyone is standing off in a corner, doing their own thing, plotting, brooding, planning and scheming and then comes Jesus.  He comes with His Word and he sees your plots and your schemes and your dark thoughts.  He hardly needs to even say the word and you know.  It’s all wrong.  But he knows.  He understands. He feels the things that have hurt you.  He can help with the things that scare you.  He can undo the things that are threatening to harm you.  And so you look at him.  You see him.  You love him.  He loves you.  And so nothing else matters.  And Jesus does that same thing, not just with you, not just for you, but for everyone.  He extends his love to every person and suddenly, instead of a crowd of wallflowers, instead of a brood of brooders, we are a brood of brothers… and sisters.  We have been drawn to Jesus and HE has drawn us to each other.  Our hurts, they don’t matter so much anymore, our grief – it has been replaced with hope.  Our sadness, it has been replaced with Joy.  Why?  Because of Jesus. 

And before you know it, we have become a community and a family where we show love and honor to our leaders and are at peace with each other.  We look out for those who have stumbled, we pick up those who are about to stumble, we are patient and caring and generous and open with each other.  And most of all (and this is what ties it all together) we are all focused on Christ.  We have gathered together around his word.  WE have been joined together with the body and blood he has placed in our mouth.  We are overjoyed to work together as we serve him and he serves us and as we serve each other.

We are a community of faith.  There are so many things that draw people in and keep people together, what draws and gathers and unites us is Jesus.  Jesus in His Word, Jesus in his sacraments.  Jesus. 

Advent 2 - Mark 1:1-8

Text: Mark 1:1-8 John the Baptist Prepares the Way 1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. 2 As it is written in Isaiah the prophet, “Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way,  3 the voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord,make his paths straight,’” 4 John appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. 5 And all the country of Judea and all Jerusalem were going out to him and were being baptized by him in the river Jordan, confessing their sins. 6 Now John was clothed with camel's hair and wore a leather belt around his waist and ate locusts and wild honey. 7 And he preached, saying, “After me comes he who is mightier than I, the strap of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie. 8 I have baptized you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” Starting Over Happy New Year. This past Wednesday, we took a moment during our school Chapel service to talk about the fact that the end of November and the beginning of December marks the beginning of a new year in the Church. The Church marks time, the way the rest of the world does but we count a little bit differently. We start with the first Sunday in Advent, which was a week ago. Today is the second Sunday. Our year has started again, started over, we have begun our count from the beginning. Our Gospel Reading for the start of this new year is Mark 1; John the Baptist preaching repentance in the wilderness. The New Year has begun again, and in our text we see that John is preaching to the people that they need to start over. That is to say, John is preaching to the Jews that they need to repent. They need to turn around, start over, and begin all over again from the beginning. Why? Because the Messiah is coming, the Christ who is mighty, who is the Lord, who baptizes sinners with the Holy Spirit. John is preaching a reboot. Israel (the chosen people of God) 2.0; and Israel needed to be ready. Repentance: Starting Over We don’t like that message of repentance. We don’t like being told to start over. It’s like a child dutifully working on his homework and you suddenly take the paper away, crumple it up and throw it away, and tell him to start over again from scratch. It’s kind of insulting and frustrating. “Hey, I was working on that. I was almost done! What are you doing taking it away?” The preaching of repentance does the same thing. It tells you that you, what you have done, all your hard work and good effort, well, it just isn’t good enough. In fact it is so bad that you need to throw it all away and start again from the beginning. We don’t like that message. And we don’t want to hear it. But that is what John came to preach – the Israelites needed to hear that message and so do we. “Prepare the way of the Lord, make a straight and even road for him to travel when he gets here.” Get the bumpiness and the potholes of your sin out of the way. Repent! Rip the whole thing up and start again from the beginning! When reading this text, it is easy to lose the importance of John’s location, where he was at while he was doing his preaching. John was at the Jordan River. Now that was a good 8 hour walk from Jerusalem, so if all Jerusalem was going out to see him they had to really want to hear what he had to say. But that is hardly the important part. John was in the wilderness, at the Jordan River. That is important! The Location itself preached this message of repentance. You see, God’s Chosen People had not always lived there in the Promised Land. There was a time, in fact when they lived out in that very wilderness, wandering around for 40 years. After they had been set free from slavery in Egypt, and before they could enter and take possession of the Promised Land, they wandered 40 years in the wilderness as punishment from God for their rejection of him. And then, when it was finally time to enter, to go home, to get there they had to go through the Jordan River. Consider the importance of the Jews. They identified God’s promise and God’s blessing with the Land. They had possessed this land for thousands of years. It was tantamount to being God’s people. John is telling them that they have to go back! They have to start over. They have to go back to the beginning, they have to go back to the wilderness, back to the Jordan River, back to repent. You think you are Abraham’s Children? You think you are the chosen people of God. You’re not! You’re sinners. You need to repent, start over! You must start again! The Message we are Used to Hearing That’s not the message we wanted to hear today, is it? Start over. You thought you were a believer. You thought you were living the life of a Christian, you are not. Time to start again. This time of year people are all about making lists. I am. Are you? To do lists. Shopping lists. Gift lists. Do you make a list of the gifts you are hoping to get for Christmas? We all have our lists. But what happens when that list goes awry? You don’t get all the things on your list checked off, you don’t get them done, you don’t get them bought, you don’t get them under the tree. Frustrates us doesn’t it? We might be ashamed to admit it, but when things don’t go our way, when we don’t get what we want, we get frustrated! Instead of being told we need to start again, instead we are told that the world should restart itself around us and our lists, us and our priorities, our whims and desires. And so we are used to getting what we want. We live in a world that molds and shapes itself like memory foam to our every whim and desire. Take for example, Pandora, internet radio can be programmed with your personal radio stations so that it will play only the songs you want it to play. You can buy a sleep number bed and dial it to your own personal sleep number. You can go on line and custom order the accessories and trim package on your BMW or even on your Nike tennis shoes! Far from a world that teaches us to Repent, we have a world that teaches us we are the center of it all and that is exactly what we deserve! The Message we hear from John And so John's message of repentance, of starting over, his message that suggests that we have gotten it all wrong, that is offensive to us. But it is exactly the message we need to hear. Because it is exactly the message that God’s Word proclaims to us. Repent, start over, start again. John came to preach Jesus. Jesus is coming, be ready, make the way straight before him. To do that, to make sure that you are ready when he comes repent, be baptized and be forgiven. That same message needs to be preached today, in our ears and in our time. We need to right ourselves before God. Going against every message of self acceptance and self security and self righteousness, we need to acknowledge that we are sinners. And then we need to be forgiven. There is no hope for sinners other than forgiveness. Take that kid working on her homework paper. She thinks she is doing it right, following the directions, getting the right answers, all the while not realizing that she is way off base. That’s not even close to the scenario. Truth be told we are more like that troubled kid who only doodles on his paper, writes random thoughts and doesn’t care what the instructions are – thinks he can make up his own rules and his own directions. He spends most of his time in detention. That’s where we are. John’s message comes to us: repent and be baptized. You see, baptism, better than a do over, is God’s work of substitution. The great exchange, baptism is where God says, where Jesus says, I’ll take you bad work and give you my perfect work. I’ll take the résumé of wickedness and sin that you have put together and I will trade you my perfect résumé of righteousness. More than a fresh start and a new beginning we get and entire new person. The New Man, that Paul talks about in Romans, the rebirth that Jesus tells Nicodemus about in John 3, we are born again, born from above, as a new person and a new creation. That’s what baptism does. It makes you new. The Old Man is drowned in sanctified water and the New Man is born out of that water. We are given a new start. Jesus: A Fresh Start for Sinners Luther tells us that we should start every day remembering our baptism. That the Old Man is drowned every day by repentance and contrition and that a New Man arises in faith and purity. Certainly not worked in us by our own power or strength or will. It wasn’t on some to do list that we had put together. Instead it was and is completely God’s work in us, ours, accomplished and done by Jesus. Taking from us our sin and giving us his righteousness. John came preaching a baptism for repentance and the forgiveness of sins. That same message of repentance and forgiveness needs to be heard in our ears again today. The same Jesus who came is coming again. He will return, only this time not to baptize with Spirit, this time it will be to judge and condemn the sinner but to save the righteous. Those who are found with the Spirit will be saved for eternity. That salvation is found only in Jesus. So repent. Receive Christ’s forgiveness, that the way of the Lord may be found straight. In the name of Jesus. Amen. And now may the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen

Advent 1 - Isaiah 64:1-9

Text: Isaiah 64:1-9 This past March the cities and towns on the eastern coastline of Japan were wiped out as a 30 foot wall of war tore across the coast and dismantled entire towns, reducing them instantly from thriving communities to piles of rubble. Peoples’ entire lives were undone in an instant. A relentless wall of water broke apart homes and businesses, carried away livelihoods and reduced a lifetime of effort and planning and work to nothing. One woman was in the stairwell of her apartment building when suddenly it started to fill with water. She rushed up the stairs to the roof and as the water completely engulfed the building and she was able to climb up onto a raised platform and hold on for dear life so that she was spared from being washed out to sea. Likewise a man was driving along in his car that was suddenly picked up and carried away by the surge. He was able to climb out his window and onto the roof of his car as it floated along. His car was on its way out to sea but passed beneath an overpass where he then was able to jump to safety before his car floated out to the ocean. Out of hundreds of thousands who died, these two survived. A man driving along in his car… Where do you suppose he was going on that day in his car? To work? To the Doctor? To the bank to take out a loan? Perhaps he was on his way to do something he thought was going to change his life. How do you suppose that day undid those plans and changed the direction of his entire world. Or that woman. What do you suppose she had on her agenda for that day? How do you suppose her agenda has changed since that day? The projects she was hoping to complete have all washed away and her current project involves simply starting over. And they were the lucky ones. Isn’t it strange how important we think our lives and our plans to be? Isn’t it ironic how we consider ourselves to have the power and the ability to manipulate and control the direction of our lives? Yet something as small as the shifting of some dirt in the ocean can have a dramatic impact on our small little lives in our small little corner of a small little world hung in space in a vast universe. Our Old Testament lesson from Isaiah: Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down, that the mountains might quake at your presence – as when fire kindles brushwood and the fire causes water to boil – to make your name known to the adversaries and that the nations might tremble at your presence! The presence of the Lord is to the mountains and the oceans as a fire is to a pot of water. He causes the world to shake and to tremble like tectonic plates that cause (what appear to us) as massive shifts in the earth and create waves and phenomenon that we cannot control, that we cannot stop, that we can only hope to withstand. We can barely comprehend the power of the ocean yet we think we can comprehend the power of God. There is none like him. There is no power that can define him, let alone tame him and control him. But we think we do. We think we have. “The Lord has blessed me because I have deserved it. Because he couldn’t do anything else. He had to acknowledge my goodness and skill and cleverness with the blessings I have received. What a good job I have done.” In our pride we minimize and reduce God, we shrink him down to a size we can fit in our pocket and take along with us like a rabbit’s foot or good luck charm. How proud we can be of our plans and our schemes. Yet in a moment God can undo even the best laid plans of men. Tremble Oh nations. Tremble before the Lord, see how things more powerful and longer-established than you tremble at his presence and bow before him. Empty yourself, humble yourself, prostrate yourself before the Lord. Acknowledge your lowliness in his presence and pray that he does not deal with you as you deserve. Pray not that he spare your plans and your schemes, not even that he spare your life. Pray that he spare your soul. Behold you were angry and we sinned, in our sins we have been a long time and shall we be saved? We have become as one who is unclean and all our righteous deeds are like an polluted garment. We all fade like a leaf and our iniquities, like the wind (or perhaps like a 30 foot wave) take us away. When we are puffed up and prideful, when we are “entitled” and “too good for words” the Lord has no use for us. We are our own gods; self-righteous and self-made. It is when we are wholly undone that the Lord can use us. It is when we are fully aware of our guilt and our sin and when we are fully aware of God’s power and might, it is when we are completely poured out and empty that He can fill us full and make use of us. It is when we have been softened and malleable that the Lord can make something out of us. But now O Lord you are our Father; we are the clay, you are our potter; we are the work of your hand. Be not so terribly anger O Lord and remember not our iniquity forever. Behold, please look, we are all your people. What goes beyond hope or expectation is that God our God, the true God, the great and exalted God who is above all gods and above all names, who is the Lord Enthroned in Heavenly splendor, who tears open the heavens and makes the earth tremble, who is the Lord of armies and who turns the hearts of kings and dignitaries like a child playing with a toy, that this God hears and acknowledges our prayers. Paganism, false worship of false gods, offers only a false hope, but these gods who are less than and lowly, gods only of the sun or the rain or the sea or the seasons, these gods are capricious and cold. They are far below in the scope of their power and their authority. And in terms of their character, they are more like people than gods. They are callous and aloof. They don’t care for men, they don’t care for your life, they don’t care for your happiness or your well-being. Likewise with your gods – your materialistic gods, your money, your power, your wealth, your youth, your independence, your intelligence and ingenuity. These are gods that cannot save you. On the day of calamity, let alone on the day of wrath. They can’t save you when the tsunami hits so how are they going to save when the Lord comes to judge the living and the dead! But the true God, the real god, the God who speaks his word over the wind and the waves so that they obey. The god who speaks and light and land and life all spring into being, this God hears. This God listens. And this God cares. From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him. Can it be any better? Can there be any more important truth. There is a god. And this God is not just a small god, not just a helper on the occasion of small life events. He isn’t just around to help you find a job or a spouse or a home or a rainstorm in the middle of a drought. He guides cosmic forces of time and space. He holds all the world and the cosmos on a string. And this God knows you. He knows your name. He has solved the mysteries of the universe, the things that are unsearchable to human wisdom and he knows every detail of your life. Every fear you have hidden in your heart. Every cry that you muffle before it reaches your lips. Every worry. He knows them all. And before a prayer has formed in your heart and a word has passed to your lips he has already determined what to do about it. Before you even know you have an issue to be concerned about he has it solved and has moved on to the next thing. But what is better and the truth that is even greater and more wonderful is realized when we remember that we have offended this God. This almighty and all powerful God has been offended by us. The things we have done, the attitudes that we have held in our hearts, we have set ourselves against him and worked our plans contrary to his. He has had every right and every opportunity to destroy us, yet he has not! He has been merciful. He has seen us inside and out and he has seen our sin. It has caused him injury and grief and even anger, but he hasn’t responded according to His anger; instead he has restrained his judgment he has permitted us to go on in our sin. And what is even more remarkable… our sin results in suffering. When we disobey God’s law there are consequences. Immediate results of bad decisions. Yet God sees us suffering in the misery of our own making, afflicted by our own error and he has compassion for us. We have gotten only what we have deserved, yet he is distressed for us. He is in anguish because of our injury. He is in agony because of our pain. And so he has come to help. That is simply unbelievable, inexpressible and beyond words. The Lord God, the God of gods and the Light of light, has been justifiably angered and injured by our sin; yet he has not punished us for that sin, instead he has be felt sorrow for our plight. And in his sorrow he has set about constructing our salvation. And if our sin has caused him pain and injury, our salvation has caused him double. Our salvation has meant satisfaction – justice and righteous anger and judgment had to be satisfied. Payment had to be made for sin. No one is righteous, not even one. Even our righteous deeds are as a polluted garment. And he paid for every one. Every last sin. Every last offense. Every last wicked word and self-interested thought. Ever last bit of pride and arrogance and every last instance of that I-don’t-need-you attitude that we have passed off against the God who made us and gives us all that we have and all that we are. He has forgiven us completely, washed us clean from the inside out. Dipped us in his blood so that we are completely restored and new. The way of the world can seem so reckless and untamed and random; but God gives it purpose. God gives you purpose. He has bent his will toward your specific situation; to help you, to restore you, to win forgiveness for you and to earn salvation for you, and now he has made you his own. He watches you, every step of the way and guards and protects your every move. Random people in random corners of the world meet with random situations and random circumstances, yet the Lord controls each one. None is as important as it seems to us at the time, yet likewise not one is as inconsequential as we might assume. The Lord gives us purpose and the Lord gives us meaning and the Lord gives us importance. We are His people, involved in His mission, doing His Work because he has called us and made us His own. In the Name of Jesus. Amen.

Thanksgiving Sermon

Harvest Classic Liturgical Date: Thanksgiving Date: November 23, 2011 Rev. Paul Schlueter Grace mercy and peace be to your from our Lord and Savior Jesus. An almost universal favorite out of all the thanksgiving hymns is the hymn Come You Thankful People Come. It is a thanksgiving classic. From its harvest theme to its familiar tune, it is well loved and enjoyed especially this time of year. While this hymn is thoughtful and meaningful in it presentation of the harvest of earthly goods that we celebrate on Thanksgiving, there is a more profound message in this hymn. We will explore those themes this evening as our meditation is guided by the text of the hymn. We will sing the first stanza now: Come you thankful people come, raise the song of harvest home All be safely gathered in ere the winter storms begin God our maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied Come to Gods own temple come raise the song of harvest home Come You Thankful People Come is a harvest hymn. And harvest is a time of celebration. You who are farmers know just how much planning and preparation went in to those fields. There is the plowing and planting, pre-planting prep work that is done in the fields before the seeds can be sewn. The seed is purchased and then planted in the soil for what you hope will be an abundant year. But you never know. You do the best you can to buy the best seed, make the fields the most hospitable for that seed, you put it in the ground, pray that the weather doesn’t too anything too extreme and then hope for the best. Some might say farming is a gamble. Others might say it’s an exercise of faith. But then, when the work is done, the crops have grown and ripened, all the work of harvest is complete and the grain is in the barn, there is joy and relief. There is money in the bank and bread on the table for another year. It’s a time to thanks God for his goodness and to be glad for the blessings of the year. All of this is evident in the first stanza of our hymn. Come you thankful people. Raise the song of harvest! It’s done. And It’s time to celebrate. God has provided for our needs, he has supplied our wants. He has given us reason to sing. All the world is God’s own field, fruit onto his praise to yield wheat and tares together sown unto joy or sorrow grown first the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear Lord of harvest grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be There is a solidarity that the farmer shares with the Lord; both after all are farmers. Both have gone out into the world to sew seeds hoping for a fruitful harvest but all the while fully acknowledging that where the seeds have been sewn there are also weeds that will grow. While you sew your seed into the ground, our Lord sews the seeds of his Word of life into the hearts of men, so that the seeds will produce a yield of faith – so that Christians will grow up from these seeds who will mature and ripen and produce fruit. Some seeds will produce a yield. But some will not. Jesus tells us that Satan sews weeds in the Lord’s field. Fruitless stalks that mimic the wheat, but that have no faith and produce no fruit. Lord may we be those stalks that carry the grain! May we be counted among the faithful and the fruitful. May we hear your Word, take it to heart, believe it and live it so that on the last day we might be considered wholesome and pure. For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take his harvest home, From his field shall in that day all offenses purge away, Give his angels charge at last, in the fire the tares to cast But the fruitful ears to store, in his garner evermore These past weeks you have been out in the fields. And to your joy, from what I have been told ,the Lord has blessed you with an abundant harvest. In spite of the wet spring and the late planting, God provided the conditions that were just right for your crops to grow and be fruitful. God knows what he is doing. The days are coming when our Lord will go out into his harvest field. Jesus even said to his disciples that the harvest is plentiful. The workers are few. Who will go out into the fields? Just like the Lord has provided heat and light and moisture for the corn and soybeans to grow, the Lord has provided just the right amounts of the necessary things for faith to mature and grow. Luther taught that faith matures from meditation, prayer and testing (or temptation). Just like the plants require moisture and sunshine for their growth, Christians require the Word of God and prayer for their refreshing and growth. Christians receive the Word as it is given by God just like the soil soaks up the rain. But then, after the crops have received that refreshing, they require heat, some nice warm days to really get those seed to germinate and to push those seedlings into mature corn or wheat or beans. And so do we. We need just the right amount of heat, we need our faith to be tested through temptations and trials. To accomplish this our Lord turns up the heat, he sends trials and temptations to us that make us grow, that help us to mature in faith by teaching us just how desperate we are for Jesus, so that we receive his gifts and are thirsty for more. And then, when the Lord sends out his angels on the last day to bring in his harvest he will find you mature and ready and fruitful. Even so Lord quickly come to your final harvest home. Gather now your people in, free from sorrow free from sin There forever purified, in your garner to abide Come with all your angels comes raise the glorious harvest home. Driving around earlier today I could see a good number of fields that have been harvested. The crops have been brought in, the grain has been stored away or sold and the field is lying there waiting for the winter to come. But not all. There are a few still to be harvested before the winter comes. Until that time there is work to be done. Likewise with our Lord’s fields. He has brought in his harvest from the seeds that have been planted, but not all. There are still fields with crops standing waiting to be brought in out of the cold of the world and in protection from the winter to come. The cold winter of the Lord’s judgment is coming. It will be here soon. May we work while there is still time so that no one is lost and no grain is wasted. Thanksgiving is a harvest celebration. Tomorrow as we are gathered around our tables we will be giving thanks to God for all that he has provided throughout the year, he has blessed us greatly and abundantly. Our thanksgiving feast, as good and rich as it will be, is only a poor comparison to the feast that we will enjoy on the last day, when the Lord of the harvest has brought in his harvest from his fields, where we will celebrate with him forever. Amen. And now may the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen