The Day of Pentecost
Sunday, May 27, 2012
“Spirit, Breath, Wind: The Lord and Giver of Life”
(Ezekiel 37:1-14; John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15; Acts 2:1-21)
Today is the Day of Pentecost, a day when we call special attention to the person and work of the Holy Spirit. That is what I would like to do now, using as our theme a phrase we just spoke in the Nicene Creed, where we called the Holy Spirit “The Lord and Giver of Life.”
Seventh Sunday of Easter
May 20, 2012
“Sanctified in the Word of Truth” (John 17:11b-19; 1 John 5:9-15)
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus prays for his disciples–he prays for all believers, he prays for his church–he prays for us, here in this time between his ascension and his return. And one of the things Jesus prays for us is this, where he says to the Father: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” “Sanctified in the Word of Truth.” Let’s find out what that means for us now.
The Ascension of Our Lord
Thursday, May 17, 2012
“What to Preach and Where to Reach” (Luke 24:44-53; Acts 1:1-11)
Today is Ascension Day, that glorious day when our Lord Jesus Christ ascended into heaven, where he now sits at the right hand of the Father and from where he will come again on the last day. Ascension Day, which occurred forty days after Easter and thus on a Thursday, which is why we always have service on this day of the week at this time of the year. The Ascension of Our Lord is a major festival in the church year, because it marks such a momentous event.
Forty days after Easter. During those forty days, the risen Christ appeared to his disciples a number of times, speaking, as it says, about the kingdom of God. Christ was preparing his apostles for what he would be sending them out to do after he ascended. He had a mission for them to carry out. This is the church’s mission still to this day. And Jesus gives us everything we need to carry out this mission. What Jesus did to prepare and empower the apostles he does now for us. So what we hear Jesus saying in our readings today from Luke and Acts–this applies to our churches in our day. Our Lord’s marching orders, and the power to carry them out, are still the same.
St. Luke is the one who tells us much about this, both in the ending of his gospel and at the beginning of his second book, the Acts of the Apostles. In Luke 24 and in Acts chapter 1, we hear Jesus telling the church two things: “What to Preach and Where to Reach.”
Funeral Service
The Ascension of Our Lord
Thursday, May 17, 2012
“A Place for Jim” (John 14:1-6)
When someone we love leaves us, it can be very painful for us. Our heart aches. That person we know and love is no longer with us, and we miss him. That’s what we’re experiencing now with our brother Jim. We miss him now, and we will continue to miss him. Husband, father, friend, fellow church member–Jim Stewart was someone we got to know, and we liked him, and now he won’t be around anymore to share our company. That hurts, and understandably so. Even when we had months to get ready for this week–we knew Jim’s cancer was terminal–even so, it doesn’t take away the loss we feel at this time.
Death stinks. Death and disease, the dying process, the whole miserable lot we experience in this life–and lurking around in the back of our mind is that what happened to Jim will happen to us, too, in one form or another. Life here is only temporary. There will be other mourners in the future, except they’ll be attending our funeral. It’s on days like this that the reality of this whole sorry mess jumps out at us. And it is disturbing.
But maybe that’s why it is a comforting coincidence, in a way, that Jim’s funeral should occur on this particular day. “What, May 17,” you say, “what’s so special about that?” Well, nothing, really. But today happens to be forty days after Easter, which means that it’s Ascension Day. And the reality of Christ’s resurrection and his ascension into heaven and what will happen when he comes back to take us home–it is all this that gives us comfort in the face of death, Jim’s and our own. For on this Ascension Day, we’re reminded of why our Lord Jesus Christ died and rose and ascended and is coming again, and that is, as Jesus says, “I go to prepare a place for you.” This is the promise that will sustain us through all the difficulties and loss we experience in life. And so it is when we consider the sadness we feel right now. We take comfort in knowing that Jesus was going to prepare “A Place for Jim.”
Sixth Sunday of Easter
May 13, 2012
“All You Need Is Love” (1 John 5:1-8; John 15:9-17)
“All you need is love. Love is all you need.” No, I’m not quoting John the Beatle. I’m quoting John the Apostle, or at least I’m paraphrasing him. Yes, John–that John, St. John–talked about love a lot. And he’s doing it again today, both in the Epistle reading from 1 John and in the Gospel of John. Basically, John is saying today, “All You Need Is Love.”
Fifth Sunday of Easter
May 6, 2012
“Abiding in the Vine” (John 15:1-8)
In the Gospel reading for today from John 15, Jesus tells us, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Abide in me, and you will bear much fruit. Do not abide in me, and you will not bear fruit. Then you will be like a dead branch that is thrown into the fire and burned.” Obviously, then, it becomes vitally important that we give our attention to this matter of “Abiding in the Vine.” So let’s do that now.
Abiding in the vine. It’s the vital Jesus connection. And as we look at our text, we will see that it involves three things: becoming a branch; abiding in the vine; and bearing fruit.
Fourth Sunday of Easter
April 29, 2012
“In the Green Pastures of the Twenty-third Psalm” (Psalm 23)
Today is what is known in the church as “Good Shepherd Sunday.” Every year on this Sunday during the Easter season, the Gospel Reading comes from John 10, where several times Jesus calls himself the “good shepherd” of the sheep. And, every year, the psalm appointed for this day is Psalm 23, perhaps the most famous and well-loved of all the psalms, the one that begins, “The LORD is my shepherd.”
The danger with such a familiar and well-loved passage is that it can become for us just so much “white noise.” We hear the sound, and we turn off our minds. We don’t think about what we’re hearing. And that would be a shame. Because there is not only soothing sound here, there is real substance as well, strong assurance that gives true comfort and confidence to troubled souls. So just because Psalm 23 is familiar, don’t take it for granted. Instead, let’s consider more closely what we’ve heard all our life, as today we, the Shepherd’s sheep, graze “In the Green Pastures of the Twenty-third Psalm.”
Third Sunday of Easter
April 22, 2012
“Thus It Is Written, Fulfilled, and Proclaimed” (Luke 24:36-49)
Do you want to know what the Bible is all about? Do you want to know what Jesus came to do? Do you want to know what the church’s preaching should emphasize? If so, then I’ve got good news for you. The answers to all three of these questions are given in today’s Gospel reading from Luke 24, specifically, in these verses: “Then Jesus said to them, ‘These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.’ Then he opened their minds to understand the Scriptures, and said to them, ‘Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance and forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things.’”
The Bible’s meaning, Jesus’ mission, and the church’s message–all summarized right here in one text. Thus our theme for today: “Thus It Is Written, Fulfilled, and Proclaimed.”
Circuit Pastors’ Conference
Week of Second Sunday of Easter
Tuesday, April 17, 2012
“Fellowship through the Word of Life” (1 John 1:1 – 2:2)
As of this past Sunday, the Three-Year Lectionary is featuring six straight weeks of Epistle readings from First John. This is quite appropriate for Easter, since First John is all about a crucified-and-risen, real flesh-and-blood Savior for real flesh-and-blood sinners. John in his epistle is telling us that this is the only way we have fellowship with God and thus with one another: It is through Christ the eternal Son of God coming in the flesh, shedding his blood for us, and rising from the dead, bodily, to give us eternal life. And so right here in the beginning of John’s letter, he announces his theme, “Fellowship through the Word of Life”: We have fellowship with God and with one another only through the enfleshed and proclaimed Word of Life.
Second Sunday of Easter
April 15, 2012
“Acts of Witness, Mercy, Life Together” (Acts 4:32-35)
As many of you may know, for the last couple of years our Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod has been organizing its work under the banner of “Witness, Mercy, Life Together.” You can see the symbol that is being used for this emphasis on your bulletin insert, encircled by those three terms. But this is more than a slogan in a marketing campaign. No, “Witness, Mercy, Life Together” really describes what the church does, whether on the national and international levels, as our synod operates, or on the local level, as, for instance, here at our own congregation.
“Witness, Mercy, Life Together”: I guess first we should define what we mean by these terms and how they’re being used. “Witness” means the testimony that is given, specifically, telling the good news about Jesus–bearing witness to Christ and the salvation that is found in him. “Mercy” is the term used to cover works of Christian love and service that benefit persons in need in a very practical way. And “Life Together” refers to the church’s common life as brothers and sisters in Christ, our unity as God’s family in the life that we share.
Now turn again to your bulletin insert, to the other side, and you’ll see a symbol for each one of these three terms, along with a corresponding Greek term from the New Testament. For “Witness” you see the Greek word “Martyria,” because “Witness” or “Testimony” is how that word is always translated. Next you see the word “Diakonia,” which is generally translated not as “Mercy” but as “Service.” However, “Diakonia” still is a good word to associate with the church’s works of mercy, since “diaconal” ministry is practical service done for the neighbor in need. Finally, you see the word “Koinonia,” “Fellowship,” the “Common Life,” the “Life Together” that the church shares. “Witness, Mercy, Life Together”: “Martyria, Diakonia, Koinonia.” Whichever way you say it, these words describe what we do and how we live as Christ’s church.
But then this is nothing new. In the Book of Acts, we see a church that can be characterized by those very same words. You know, we refer to that particular book of the New Testament as “The Book of Acts” or “The Acts of the Apostles.” But what kind of “Acts” were they? As we look at our text today, I think we will see that these “Acts” are “Acts of Witness, Mercy, Life Together.”
