ADVENT 1

 

Do you like to wait? If you don’t, you’re in good company. Most people do not like to wait, but we all wait for the bus, the end of class, for the doctor, in line, in traffic and for events to begin. Most of the time, waiting is boring, but sometimes it’s exciting.

It’s exciting to wait for a party or big game to begin. It’s exciting to wait for a new puppy or kitten to arrive or for a baby brother or sister to come home from the hospital.

Advent is an exciting time to wait. We wait for Christmas when we celebrate the birth of Jesus. But we all know that Jesus was born, lived, died on the Cross and rose from the grave. We all know that Jesus will come again – and that’s what we’re waiting for – His return!

So, how will you wait for Jesus? Well, maybe your family has an Advent wreathe at home. Each day before dinner, you can light a candle and listen to mom or dad read the Bible and pray before you eat. Maybe your family has an Advent calendar with a different Bible passage and small gift each day.

Those are some ideas on how to wait for Christmas. How do we wait for Jesus to return in glory?

Martin Luther taught people that every day they should remember their baptism as they begin to pray. We make the Sign of the Cross and say, “In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.” We then say the Apostles Creed and the Lord’s Prayer. He also included this prayer that we can say each morning.

I thank you, my heavenly Father, through Jesus Christ, Your dear Son, that You have kept me this night from all harm and danger; and I pray that You would keep me this day also from sin and every evil, that all my doings and life may please You. For into Your hands I commend myself, my body and soul, and all things. Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me. Amen.

Say that every morning as you wait for Jesus to come at Christmas and in His glory.

Day and Place

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon today is entitled Day and Place, and my focus is our reading from Isaiah (2:1-5). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that we are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

Day. I can use the word day in many different ways. As a greeting, I can say, “Good day.” As a question, I ask, “What day is it?” I can sing, “Day by Day.” I can refer to a specific day – September 11, 2001; July 4, 1776; or our anniversary – August 7, 2010. Day can also refer to a span of time, such as the good old days, or an indefinite period of time, like endless days of work or school. The word’s origin is Germanic, and is pronounced tag. When we were in Germany this past summer, I certainly felt confident when I greeted someone with the phrase Guten tag.

All of this talk about day stems from both our Gospel (Matthew 24:36-44) and our first reading (Isaiah 2:1-5). In the Gospel, Jesus speaks apocalyptically to his disciples following his departure from the Temple about the end of the age and the coming of the Son of Man. He concludes his lesson with the words, “Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.”

In Isaiah, the backdrop is the relationship between the Assyrian Empire and Judah, the southern kingdom. That looming threat is important to keep in mind when reading Isaiah. It is similar to reading literature out of Eastern Europe during the days of the Soviet occupation. The threat of annihilation colored everything said or done. Yet, even with that threat, Isaiah was not deterred about prophesying many things including the vision of “the latter or last days,” or “the day of the Lord.”

The Day of the Lord is the undated future, neither necessarily near nor far. The Day of the Lord, according to the prophets, is when God would bring judgment and a victory that would lead to peace. Hosea saw this day as the consummation and enjoyment of God’s rule (Hosea 3:5), and all the other prophets insisted on the certainty of what God would do and present the necessity of being ready.

Later, Isaiah would describe this day as terror, the pit and the snare (24:17-23). Joel described it as a day of warnings with the sun darked and the moon turned into blood (2:30-32). Malachi, as we heard two weeks ago, predicted that Elijah would come before this day (4:5-6). Such predictions of this day shaped the image of what Jesus said in chapter 24.

There have been many predictions when this day would occur, and all of them have one thing in common. They have all been wrong. That leads me to wonder why Jesus in his divinity withheld this date from his disciples. An ancient theologian answered this by comparing it to not knowing the date of your death writing that God withholds this so that I might always do good since I can expect to die at any moment. “The date of Christ’s second advent is withheld from the world for the same reason, namely, so that every generation might live in the expectation of Christ’s return.”[1] I will return to day later, but for now place.

Place. The word is used as a verb and a noun. Used as a verb, I can place items in different spots, such as my furniture or books. As a noun, I can refer to place as an indefinite or a particular spot. Pittsburgh can be an indefinite place for southwestern Pennsylvania. I don’t live in Pittsburgh, but when travelling, I use it to refer to where I live. The Danube River was the indefinite place where we vacationed this summer. I did not stay only in one spot on the Danube, but use it to refer to the many sites I visited this past year.

When I use the word place to refer to a particular spot, I can say that I stand in a particular place – the pulpit – when I preach. The pulpit is a very small place compared to Pittsburgh geographically, but spiritually greater. Place comes to us from the Latin words, placea meaning place or spot, and platea meaning courtyard broad way or avenue. The When you travel to Europe it’s good to know that Italians use the word piazza; the Spaniards, plaza; and the Germans platz.

Buildings are places used for different purposes and after time repurposed. St. John the Baptist Catholic Church in Lawrenceville (Pittsburgh) once served as a place of worship, but now is a place to eat and drink. A nearby synagogue now serves as a dialysis clinic. A gas station in Ambridge has been transformed into a coffee shop and café. Many schools have been converted into apartment buildings. The place Isaiah speaks of in chapter two is a fascinating place.

In what places were Isaiah and Jesus? We understand from the opening verses of Isaiah 1, that the prophet is in Jerusalem, specifically on Mount Zion. When Mount Zion is referenced, think of a neighborhood, like Capitol Hill in Washington, or College Hill in Beaver Falls. His prophecy is about the mountain of the house of the Lord. Mountains were homes of the gods, and while Zion was not the highest, it is still the mountain where the one true God was to be found. This is the place where God revealed his ways to humans. Here, people came to learn how to live. The outcome of coming to learn this is that nations will live in harmony.

As I said a moment ago, you need to keep in mind the backdrop of the Assyrian Empire and Judah. In this place, Mount Zion, Isaiah proclaimed this poem. The interesting fact about this poem (vv 2-5) is that it is the same poem found in the Prophet Micah (4:1-4), meaning that it was a popular poem known throughout Judah and Israel. It was written as a challenge to the people to face up to what they were singing: If others are to say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord,” Judah must heed the call to “walk in the light of the Lord.”

It reminds me of all the beautiful hymns we treasure, and the confidence we must have when we sing “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” particularly the words at the ends of the stanzas. We sing, God’s only Son, adored. He holds the field victorious. God’s judgment must prevail! One little word subdues him. They cannot win the day. The Kingdom’s ours forever! When I sing those words, I feel there is no opponent of God that I will ever fear. Kudos to Martin Luther for writing words that inspire us 500 years later.

Isaiah’s poem is also reminiscent of Psalm 122, which I reference whenever I open my sermon. That a stream of people would flow to the highest point is against the laws of nature, but the point is that the highest point has a supernatural magnetism. The peoples, that is, people from all races, nations, cultures and ways of life, will come voluntarily to acknowledge the God of Jacob as the God of all nations. People will adopt the Law of Israel’s God.

Verse 4 tells us that the reduction of arms is a hopeful cause of peace. For Isaiah this is a divine reordering of the world which will happen as a consequence of all people recognizing the one true God and forsaking nationalism. The choice of turning weapons of violence and war into agricultural instruments is reflective of Eden. Our return to Eden means that people will be right with God again. The curse removed, and the serpent defeated means that we will have the ideal environment, the ideal place.

In a word, Israel’s mission from God was to walk in the light of His ways so that even the Gentiles seek out the one true God. With the coming of Jesus Christ and the preaching of the Apostles, Gentiles sought the one true God and His ways, His Law and His Gospel. So, having accepted the Gospel, what must we do? As we begin this Season of Advent, how are we prepared to meet Christ in His second coming?

Today, we lit the first candle on the Advent wreath. Over the next three Sundays, the light coming from that wreath will grow stronger as one more candle is lit. It will be more attractive, and will draw us more deeply to it, but the wreath is a symbol unlike the Primary Symbol that is Christ the Lord God, to whom we ae attracted even more strongly.

The whole point of Isaiah’s prophesying is to draw people closer to God. The whole point of Jesus’ ministry is to draw people closer to the Father. The whole point of our existence is to know, love and serve God our Father through His Son as His Church, His people. For that to happen, our hearts must be touched. With that, let me tell you a story.

 On Thursday, November 10, 2022, Scott Rodenbeck and I attended the 35^th Annual Night for Life Benefit Banquet benefitting Choices Pregnancy Services.[2] The Guest Speaker was Dr. Anthony Levatino. There is a link to Dr. Levatino’s story in the footnotes, and I encourage you to read it and others.[3]

Dr. Levatino spoke of his story from providing 1,200 abortions to why doctors perform them to how the medical establishment views the prolife community, and how he was viewed by his colleagues once he embraced the community. I won’t go into all the details of how doctors perform abortions. That too is in the link. What struck me was his story of how the prayers of one of his patients, Susan, impacted his life. His comment that when a person says to you that has a message from God that Jesus loves you very much and he wants you to stop performing abortions, and that she has been praying for you every day, you tend to think that person is looney.

Friends, today in this place I ask you to consider yourself looney. Respectable people have worse opinions about me, so being looney doesn’t hurt. Today, Dr. Levatino tells Christians to find out who is providing abortions – the names of the doctors, administrators, nurses and others who perform abortions, and pray for them and their family members every day as Susan did for Dr. Levatino. Why? Because Jesus loves them and wants them to stop taking the lives of the little children Jesus welcomed.

Dr. Levatino told us that doctors who provide abortions do it for two reasons; they have been convinced by everyone that they are serving the woman, the patient before them, which every doctor does. The other is because performing abortions is lucrative. Abortion allows doctors to buy a lot of nice things when they accept the money of a patient who tells them to take the life of their son or daughter. These people need prayers on their hearts. They need your prayers so that the loving and merciful power of God can transform their hearts.

Today in this place, and every day in whatever place you find yourself, the power of prayer transforms hearts. Some hearts are conflicted while others are hardened. So, it may take you longer than seven years to see someone’s heart and life transformed, but remember: It’s not what you do, it is the power of God at work through you. Friends, God needs you and me to be his agents, his angels, his messengers, his witnesses. When we open ourselves to what God wants, we experience the peace of God which is beyond all understanding keeping our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] “Incomplete Work on Matthew,” Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture: New Testament Ib, Matthew 14-28. Edited by Manlio Simonetti; General Editor, Thomas C. Oden. Downers Grove IL: InterVarsity Press (2002), p. 210.

[2] See the website: https://pregnancychoice.org/

[3] See: https://thelifeinstitute.net/news/2017/former-abortion-doctor-tells-citizens-assembly-about-reality-of-procedure

History, Healing and a Happier Thanksgiving

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon is entitled History, Healing and a Happier Thanksgiving, and my focus is our Gospel (Luke 17:11-19). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that our feet are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

Having worked four years as Director of Development at Berkeley Food and Housing Project in California, one of the state’s largest homeless service providers, I can tell you that not everybody spends the fourth Thursday in November with family. Thousands of Americans eat Thanksgiving dinner at soup kitchens, homeless shelters, church basements and other fine establishments. Pilgrims from every side of the political pendulum serve these down-and-out diners. That said, today, we put aside politics to look at Thanksgiving’s history, a leper’s healing and how we can enjoy a happier Thanksgiving.

First, Thanksgiving’s history. For some, Thanksgiving commemorates a heritage of false memory. Internet myths of Thanksgiving range from fundamentalists’ invention of a fake 1623 Thanksgiving Proclamation – to prove that God was being thanked and not the Indians – to Libertarians, who used the same fake proclamation to claim that “the real reason for Thanksgiving is that Socialism does not work.”^[1]

Puritan Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving after their first harvest in the New World in 1621. The feast lasted 3 days. 90 Native Americans and 53 Pilgrims attended. The Pilgrims were accustomed to regularly celebrating thanksgivings – days of prayer thanking God for blessings such as military victory or the end of a drought.

Thanksgiving became an official Federal holiday in 1863, when, during the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed the last Thursday in November a national day of “Thanksgiving and Praise to our Father … in the Heavens.”

As a faith community, we celebrate thanksgiving when we gather for the Lord’s Supper. Eucharist means we give thanks because the gift is nothing less than forgiveness of sins for which we can never atone. We give thanks because we have nothing else to give but gratitude.^[2]

Where faith has genuinely received such gracious gifts, it cannot help but be eucharistic or thankful to God. Such thanksgiving will show up in worship, but also in daily life – an attitude of gratitude revealed in how we live with those around us.

Now, let’s take that attitude of gratitude and turn to the Gospel where health and salvation go together like turkey and stuffing.

To the 10 lepers requesting that he have mercy on them, Jesus replied, “Go and show yourselves to the priests.” Jesus was following the Law, specifically Leviticus, chapter 14. Was the Samaritan, who lived outside the requirement of Judaism, included in the command to go to a priest? Moreover, why did Jesus reproach the other nine for following the Law and his command? Furthermore, why did Jesus say, “Your faith has made you well,” when all were cleansed?^[3]

Questions demand further exploration because the Gospel of Luke is richer than pumpkin pie and Whipped Cream. Note that Luke opens this story by telling us that on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus was passing between Samaria and Galilee. Mentioning Samaria is significant, since only the Samaritan responded with grateful faith and praise. At first, the Samaritans rejected Jesus’ disciples because he was going to Jerusalem. When the disciples wanted to call fire down from heaven to destroy them, Jesus would not allow it. In fact, a Samaritan showed the Jews how to be a good neighbor according to the law.^[4] And now, by contrast with nine others, a Samaritan embodies the conditions of salvation.

For salvation actually to be realized, the healed person must respond in faith, a gift that is open to all. The grateful Samaritan reminds us that salvation is not limited to the Jews, but is universally offered to all people.

Like the nine lepers who did not return to praise God and Jesus, the Pharisees failed to recognize that the kingdom of God was already in their midst. It was manifested in Jesus’ healing, but they looked elsewhere for it. Without faith, miracles are opaque. If the other nine and the Pharisees were not blind, they certainly suffered from glaucoma.

Finally, how to enjoy a happier Thanksgiving. … How do I recognize the kingdom of God is in our midst? Through a recent healing? When I see down-and-out diners served by well-heeled waiters? By confessing my sins and a pastor’s absolution? Perhaps when I showed mercy to another sinner, as Jesus showed mercy to the lepers? Folks, when we recognize God is truly in our midst, and praise Him for that, our thanksgiving feast around the table of our homes and around the table of the Lord will be truly happy.

Notice, Jesus instructs the grateful leper, “Rise and go on your way.” After our final hymn, as you rise and go on your way, journey not only to your homes and dinner destinations, but also with Jesus. Let the Holy Spirit take you where God wants you – California, Oklahoma, Illinois or overseas. For when you go with God, the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, will keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] http://historynewsnetwork.org/article/15002

[2] Larry Vogel, Toward a Theology of Worship That Is Pastoral and Sacramental. Model Theological Conference on Worship January 11, 2010, 20

[3] Craddock, 202f.

[4] LaVerdiere, 215

TORA TORA TORA

 

Have you ever heard somebody repeat the same phrase 3 times in a row? If you repeat the same word 3 times in a row, it is very, very important. If you say, “Help me! Help me! Help me!”, we all know that you need help right now. Pilots use the phrase, “Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!” to tell others that they are in trouble.

In our Gospel today, Luke repeats something that happened to Jesus as he was hanging on the Cross. After He said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do,” people mocked Jesus three times. First, the rulers mocked Jesus; then the soldiers mocked Him; and finally, one of the criminals hanging next to Jesus, mocked Him.

What this tells us is that these people delighted in mocking Jesus. You know who else mocked Jesus with great delight? Saul of Tarsus. Saul persecuted Christians and was present when Stephen was stoned to death. He heard the same words Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

Here's another phrase that was repeated three times by a pilot 81 years ago. Mitsuo Fuchida was the pilot who led the Japanese attack on the US Navy Base Pearl Harbor. After the surprise success attack was successful, he said “tora tora tora.” It was a code phrase claiming victory over the enemy.

Years later, Fuchida became a Christian, and even though he killed many innocent people on December 7, 1941, he felt deep shame and guilt for what he did, and accepted Christ’s forgiveness, like the prisoner who asked Jesus to remember him in his kingdom, and like Saul of Tarsus, who then became Paul. St. Paul and Mitsuo Fuchida both became Christ’s apostles and spread the Gospel of Jesus, the Good News that on the Cross our sins are forgiven. Your sins are forgiven. With that we pray.

Let us pray. Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless all children, and give their fathers and mothers the spirit of wisdom and love, so that the homes in which they grow up may be to them an image of Your Kingdom, and the care of their parents a likeness of Your love. We pray in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Malachi's Message

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon today is entitled Messenger, Message and Meaning and my focus is Malachi (3:13-18). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that we are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

Periodically when our granddaughter would stay with us, we would take her to the playground at Brady’s Run Park where she would meet other children. After an hour of playing, we would gather Emma, leave and ask her if she had a good time.  She would tell us that she did and that she met a new friend. We would ask, “What was her name?” She would reply, “I don’t know, but she …” This was followed by all the remembered information – what school she attends, how old she is, her father’s occupation and so on. I mention that because we’re not 100% sure of the real name of God’s messenger in today’s Old Testament reading.

Malachi, the last book in the collection of the twelve Minor Prophets and the Old Testament, is one of those people in the Bible about which we know little. Malachi may not even be the prophet’s name, because it is also the word for angel or messenger. In the opening verse, we read, “The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.” Then in 3:1, we read, “Behold, I will send my messenger,” which is the same word as Malachi. We have many proper names that are nouns, such as Liberty, Hope, Prudence, Bob, Cooper, Mason, Deacon and so on. For this and several other reasons, we accept that the messenger’s name is Malachi.

We know nothing of his life, but learn something of the kind of person Malachi was. Despite his attacks on priests, he was favorable to Levitical priesthood, and insisted on the people’s obligation to contribute to the expenses of the Temple and support of the personnel.[1]

He was also a person concerned about the welfare of others: the wife who suffered rejection and the people of Judah who wondered about God’s love for them.[2] He also supported the defenseless and was sure that their oppressors would receive from God what they deserved. He understood God’s honor and the transcendence which enables God to enforce his will wherever he wishes. In Malachi, we find new hope, for his use of language is close to that of Haggai and Zechariah, and like them, shared an enthusiastic expectation about the rebuilding of the Temple.

That is about all we know about the messenger. On to my second point: What was Malachi’s message for his people? His message has six distinct sections, each in the form of a question-and-answer discussion. This unusual discussion technique allowed Malachi to defend the justice of God to a community that began to doubt that justice because its eschatological (end of the world) expectations were still unfulfilled. Malachi called for faithfulness to God’s covenant, and emphasized the necessity of proper worship, condemned divorce, and announced that the day of judgment is near. Faithfulness to ritual and moral responsibilities would be rewarded, and unfaithfulness would bring a curse.

In our passage today, we read of the need to serve God, but the problem is the people’s cynicism in the face of the prosperity of evildoers. They grumble and complain that those who are prospering are not the ones who adhere to God’s wishes. Of course, this is not the first time such grumbling occurred. In Job 21, we read, “What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? And what profit do we get if we pray to him?” (v. 21). Isaiah prophesied, “‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers” (58:3).

In v. 16, we read of a book of remembrance. Given that we are at the end of the church year, it’s a fitting image to ponder. The image of a written record of the names of the just or of those who are destined for life is found in Exodus, Psalm 69, Isaiah, Daniel and Revelation.[3] Perhaps like Moses decrying the sin of his people or David pleading to God not only to save him but also to punish God’s enemies, we too who fear God should think of Him in our daily endeavors that we are remembered in His book.

As God’s special or treasured possession, do you pray that you and yours are spared from punishment? I ask that because in v. 17, the phrase is applied to Israel as God’s elect. Before Moses received the Ten Commandments, God spoke, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel” (Exodus 19:5-6).[4] The idea is that God’s most prized possession is that group of people who fear him and follow him. Notice that Malachi’s message does not extend to all of Israel, but to that small group which distinguished itself from all the wicked within Israel. And so, I ask you that when you do pray that you are spared from divine wrath, how will God recognize you from all the wicked, sinful people who surround you? And so, Malachi’s message can be summarized in one question: Do I serve God or not?

Let’s move to my third point, meaning. What does this message from 2500 years ago from an obscure messenger have to do with us? What is the meaning for our lives as Church? Do we ever doubt God’s promises? Questioning God’s promise is how the devil tempted Cain and many others. And while Job did not sin, he must have wondered why the arrogant were blessed while the faithful walked around like mourners all the time. Why do evildoers get away with it? Why do the wicked test God without getting struck by lightning?

Malachi’s people could ask that question because they were looking at their relationship with God as if it were a business contract. They thought they could trade their obedience for his blessing. But God does not see his grace as something to be earned by his people’s compliance. God wants a relationship of love and mutual self-giving. So, he reminds them just how much they mean to him and how much he wants to do for them.

When we reflect on the phrase “my treasured possession,” keep in mind that you are not some random person whom God has chosen on a whim to love. God created you out of love, and formed you in his own image. Just as a pearl cannot cease to be a pearl, that is, change what it is, neither can you cease to be precious in God’s eyes.

When Malachi prophesied, “I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him,” he meant that God loves you as his own and has made you his son or daughter. Like any good earthly father, your heavenly Father’s love for you is not based on your performance. He loves you even when you fail. He loves you even when you sin! And he is always ready to welcome you back when you return to him.

Later, we read, “the sun of righteousness shall rise with healing in its wings,” we take it to mean that God promised the Israelites that they would eventually see justice done. That promise is for you too. Someday, if not in this life, then in the life to come, you will be healed of every injustice. There will be no more pain or sorrow, no more tragedy. All will be made right.

So, what can we count on in this life? We cannot count on immediate solutions to our problems and questions. But we can count on God’s love and his constant desire to draw us closer to him. As we hold fast to him, we will receive his love – the greatest “profit” of all.

Friends, hold fast to God’s promises, and as you do, may the peace of God which is beyond all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] Aelred Cody, OSB, “Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi,” in The New Jerome Biblical Commentary …. P. 359. See 1:6-2:4; 2:4-7.

[2] 2:14-16; 1:2-5.

[3] Exodus 32:32-33, Psalm 69:28; Isaiah 4:3; Daniel 12:1; and Revelation 20:12, 15; 21:27

[4] See also Deuteronomy 7:6; 14:2; 26:18; Psalm 135:4;

That's All!

When we were kids, we watched cartoons every Saturday morning. One of our favorite shows was Looney Tunes. That show included Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Elmer Fudd, Road Runner, Wile E. Coyote and, of course, Porky Pig. We knew the cartoon was over when Porky Pig spoke his famous line. (Let’s see if adults know the line w/o stuttering.) “That’s all folks!”

“That’s all folks!” meant the cartoon was over. You might know how other activities end. Lots of sporting events end when a whistle blows or a horn sounds. Class ends when the bell rings. Divine Service ends when the pastor dismisses you.

Sometimes we are prepared for the end and sometimes we are not. Students prepare for the end of high school or college by taking final exams. Adults prepare for the end of their jobs by retiring, and some are surprised by an unexpected firing.

Maybe you were prepared to turn in your homework. Maybe you were not prepared to hear from your parents that you are moving or that your best friend moved. Prepared or unprepared?

In our Gospel, Jesus talks about the end and how we must not believe everything that everyone tells us about the end, but that we must trust in our Heavenly Father. He also tells us that we must be prepared. Being prepared means trusting in God and His Son, Jesus.

It’s a good lesson whether we are preparing for a test or a game. It’s a good lesson for Christians preparing for Jesus’ return. We prepare ourselves daily by remembering our baptism, reciting our prayers, reading the Bible and eating and drinking Christ’s Body and Blood. So, until Jesus returns, that’s all folks. With that, let us pray.

Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless all children, and give their fathers and mothers the spirit of wisdom and love, so that the homes in which they grow up may be to them an image of Your Kingdom, and the care of their parents a likeness of Your love. We pray in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Ease in Christian Living?

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon today is entitled Eschatology, Excerpt and Expectation and my focus is our Gospel (Luke 21:5-28). Let us pray. Heavenly Father, the psalmist wrote, “I rejoiced when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” Now that we are within your gates, we rejoice to hear your Word. As we listen, may your Spirit enlighten our minds and move our hearts to love deeply as Jesus loved. This we pray to you, Most Holy Trinity. Amen.

Some days, I like to introduce my sermons with a movie, song or book that has something in common with my theme, but since there are so many that deal with the last things, and since we are near the last Sunday of the year, I’ll cut to the chase.[*]

First point, eschatology. Eschatology is the study of the last things, that is, death, judgment, heaven and hell. It is from the Greek word eskhatos, meaning last, furthest or most remote in time, space or degree.

We speak of eschatology today because as the church year closes, we hear Malachi, the last prophet in the Old Testament, speak of the Day of the Lord. Paul offers encouragement as his readers await the return of Christ. Luke recounts Jesus’ last days. Hence, eschatology is suited for the end of our liturgical year. Yet, we cannot merely mention eschatology. We need to understand it.

Although we speak of the aforementioned last things, eschatology refers to a theology of history, with a specific reference to for the ultimate fulfillment of God’s covenant promise. In other words, eschatology is about hope based upon God’s promise, God’s word, and what our Trinitarian God has done for us as Father, Son and Spirit.

Eschatology involves the future based upon past promises, but it is also about the present. Eschatology is both individual and universal. It is about my personal choices and our universal fulfillment. In a strange sense, eschatology is bi-polar and all-encompassing.

Envision Abraham, an individual who trusted God’s promises, and envision his posterity, a great nation. We know God fulfilled that promise under David’s rule, and although the monarchy collapsed, this gave rise to hope for a restored monarchy by a Savior figure from the royal line of David. Based upon God’s promise, the prophets envisioned life in a world under God’s reign marked by peace, justice and reconciliation, as well as the possibility of resurrection of the dead.

This, of course, set the stage for Jesus and the early Christian community. He took up the hopes of his people, and through their experience of his resurrection, his disciples understood his preaching in a new light, rooted in God’s promise and the prophets. In short, the destiny of Jesus with God anticipates the destiny of humanity and creation.

Paul’s letters describe his eschatology in detail, and yet, his is not a fixed thought. Paul expected an imminent end. In Thessalonians, we read, “For you are fully aware that the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night” (1 Thes. 5:2). His second letter reveals an indeterminate expectation. Ephesians and Colossians present a cosmic vision of all powers, including demonic ones, subject to Christ.

Eschatology – death, judgment, heaven and hell – may unnerve us; but through the prism of the cross, God’s promises calm our nerves. That leads me from eschatology to excerpt.

Most people today read excerpts of the Bible. The way to read the Bible is one book per sitting. Read Exodus or Jeremiah in one afternoon and you appreciate and understand it better than if you read a chapter a day. Pore over Luke, Acts or Revelation, and its message takes on new meaning. While I encourage you to read each book in one sitting, most read excerpts of the Bible.

The word excerpt means to select a passage from a book. We derive excerpt from the Latin word excerpere, which means to pluck out, pick out or extract. The Romans merged it from two smaller words, ex, meaning out and carpere, meaning pluck or gather. Our liturgical tradition is to read excerpts from the Gospels and New Testament along with Old Testament passages related to the Gospel. Reading the Bible this way allows us to observe certain seasons and feasts, such as Advent, Lent, Christmas and Easter. On Ash Wednesday, we hear readings about prayer, fasting and almsgiving. On Pentecost, we proclaim the work of the Holy Spirit. On Thanksgiving, Luke’s story of Jesus healing the ten lepers. Excerpts allow pastors to preach an expository sermon and explain why we observe Lent with solemnity or celebrate Easter with joy.

In our eschatological excerpt today, Jesus is teaching in the temple as he warns his disciples that the kingdom of God is near by teaching about the destruction of the temple, Jerusalem and the world. Jesus’ teaching begins and ends with the temple. This is no accident, as Jesus’ entire teaching, the infancy narrative and the entire gospel begin and end in the temple.

When we hear temple and Jerusalem, we need to keep in mind not only a physical building of stones and a geographical locale of redemption, but more importantly, the location of the presence of the Lord. That requires us to think eschatologically for these beautiful stones will be pulled down.

Jesus spoke of stones in other sayings about Jerusalem. Stones would shout acclamations if people were kept silent during his entry into the city. Jerusalem’s enemies would not leave one stone upon another because it did not know its time of visitation. The rejected stone became the cornerstone. The stones that matter in the temple are not the ones that form the building, but the Stone whose presence has resided among the physical stones and who now prophesies the end of those stones. And if the temple, the place where God dwelt, is destroyed, where would people look for God? In Jesus, who came to dwell not in a stone building, but in the Church through Word and Sacrament.

Continuing on our excerpt, Jesus teaches his disciples not how to predict the future, but how to see that “end times” begin with his death and resurrection. Preparing his disciples for the end so that they are not misled, Jesus points not to a stone temple and signs, but how to recognize false prophets coming in his name with a different catechesis, a different teaching. This false teaching comes from panic that people feel when calamity strikes. Wars will come. Disaster will strike. When they occur, some will present false teaching. Jesus advises his disciples: Do not panic.

Along with the destruction of the temple, Jerusalem and the world, Jesus spoke of persecution, and for the first time, he explicitly suggested that his trials are bound to their trials.

When Jesus said, “They will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake,” he referred to his disciples and the entire Church. Jesus meant this statement for men and women in his company and those who would follow later. This persecution continued in Acts. When Saul fell to the ground, “he heard a voice say to him, ‘Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?’ And he said, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ And he said, ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting.’”

One author described the persecution this way. “Christians will experience persecution for no other reason than their connection with Jesus. The name of Jesus defines their identity, for Christians bear in their bodies Jesus, the new temple. For that reason, Christians are living stones and their bodies are temples. The opponents will hate them because the presence of God has shifted from the temple of Jerusalem to where Christ promised to be present: in those baptized in his name, in the Gospel, in his Supper. How ironic that the temple of Jerusalem is destroyed by God because the people refused to believe that a shift in divine presence had taken place and that Christians will be killed because they proclaim that this presence now dwells among them.” Folks, that persecution persists today.

That persecution continues today, and Christians willingly bear it because they believe his promise. They believe Jesus’ words at the end of this excerpt. “When these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near. … When you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near.”

Destruction and persecution fill our excerpt, but for all Christians who believe, hope overshadows them. That is why we gather here today. We believe that Jesus is among us in Sacrament, Word and prayer. We gather here knowing that persecution awaits us as it did Jesus, but we trust in his word. Yes, we trust in his word, but … now what? Now, I turn to my third point, expectation.

What do we mean by expectation? Expectation means belief that something will happen or is likely to happen. When our daughter and daughter-in-law became pregnant, we expected babies. When our team goes to training camp, we expect a championship. When high school graduates leave for college, we expect they will earn a bachelor’s degree … in four years. When the doctor diagnoses a loved one with a terminal disease, we expect we should get our affairs in order. When the pastor appears at the hospital or funeral home, we expect comfort. When we pray, we expect God to answer.

So, what should we expect as we await the end of days? What should we expect on the Day of the Lord? What are we expected to do as we endure destruction and persecution?

We are expected to hope and pray as individuals and community, but what else? To help answer that question, we turn to Paul. He not only prayed for believers, but also exhorted them to imitate him. You “know how you ought to imitate us, because we were not idle when we were with you.”

When it comes to imitation, fathers and mothers set the standard for their children. Each section in Luther’s Small Catechism begins with “The head of the family …” Section Two on Daily Prayers states, “How the head of the family should teach his household to pray morning and evening. … In the morning when you get up, make the sign of the holy cross and say: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” The Catechism then instructs us to kneel or stand and repeat the Creed and Lord’s Prayer before saying his little prayer.

My point is this. We imitate Paul by following Luther’s instruction on prayer because it recalls our baptism as sinners redeemed in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. If you pray two or three times daily as a couple or a family, you increase your odds of holding on to hope while being persecuted. Remember, Satan is defeated, but not dead. He can tempt others to hate and harm you as he led men to hate and harm Jesus and his followers. So, pray daily.

Pray daily for the end is near. I do not know when it will come for you or me, but soon. Moreover, the end of this sermon is near too, however, one last thing. I named this sermon Three Es of Christianity, and when I began researching it, I came across an article written by an Orthodox priest entitled “Ease of Life and Christianity Do Not Go Together.” There are three Es of Christianity, but there is no ease of Christianity.

Friends, following Jesus to the Cross and Tomb on Good Friday or any day of the week is difficult. Standing under the shadow of the Cross can be dark and daunting. Witnessing destruction and enduring persecution may seem pointless. But having experienced the Risen Christ and the Joy of the Holy Spirit in my heart makes all the difference in my life. I pray it does in yours. As we wait for the Son of Man to come in a cloud with great power and glory, remain faithful in prayer, and as you do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[*] For notes, see https://cwynar.blogspot.com/2016/11/eschatology-excerpt-expectation-luke.html

ALL SAINTS SUNDAY 2022

 

ALL SAINTS SUNDAY

Everyone knows Louis Armstrong, the famous jazz trumpeter and singer. He was known for such hits as Hello, Dolly! and What a Wonderful World. Did you know that he also made a spiritual song a jazz standard?

I am sure everyone here knows the words to Armstrong’s famous, “Oh, When the Saints Come Marching In.” So, in case you don’t know it, all the adults are going to join me in singing the first verse.

 

Oh when the saints go marching in

When the saints go marching in

Oh lord I want to be in that number

When the saints go marching in

 

Who are the saints that go marching in before us? Well, in my sermon, I will mention some of the ones we recognize. These were people Jesus sent to proclaim the Gospel – Peter, Paul and John. These men were Apostles. There are others including my mom.

Today, let’s give thanks for these apostles, as well as for the “apostles” in our own lives. Maybe your “apostles” are your parents who bring you to church. Maybe they include a friend who encourages you to learn more about the faith. They could be your pastor or the author of a book that helped you grow closer to Jesus.

Some saints may be remembered by history, but most won’t. And that’s okay. They – and you – are all important in God’s plan for building his kingdom. With that, let us pray.

Heavenly Father, from whom all fatherhood in heaven and earth is named: Bless all children, and give their fathers and mothers the spirit of wisdom and love, so that the homes in which they grow up may be to them an image of Your Kingdom, and the care of their parents a likeness of Your love. We pray in the Name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.