HOLDING BABY JESUS

 

Do you like looking at and holding tiny babies? Everyone does. Mothers and fathers, grandparents and godparents, aunts, uncles and siblings – everyone – loves holding a baby. When each of our four grandchildren were born, I couldn’t wait for my turn to hold them. Holding a baby makes you feel awesome, and every Christian has wanted to hold the Baby Jesus because that would be the most awesome feeling!

Everyone does not have the same love and respect for babies as Christians. We read in the Gospel of Matthew (2:13-23) that Herod was angry that the Three Wise Men returned home without telling him where the Baby Jesus was born, and had his soldiers kill all the male babies who were two years old and younger.

Herod was evil, but he was not the first ruler to have babies killed and not the last either. Today, we have rulers in the world and our country who think it is okay to have newborn or preborn babies killed. It’s not a happy topic to discuss in the Christmas Season or anytime, but St. Matthew wanted Christians to know that such evil exists, but this evil act fulfilled a prophecy.

The Prophet Jeremiah had a vision that God would gather all of His people and protect them from evil (Jer 31). The Lord said among the people He would protect are women ready to give birth to a baby. Still, God heard Rachel weeping and crying for her children; she refused to be comforted, because they were no more. That means that someone killed them. But when God gathers us in his arms, men and women rejoice because He turns our sorrow to into gladness.

The Baby Jesus grew up to announce the Good News. Jesus died and rose from death to save us from evil people like Herod and to live joyfully as Christians. That is the Good News that we celebrate all year round. With that, we 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.

Seasons, Scene, Sense

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon is entitled Seasons, Scene and Sense, and my focus is our Gospel (Luke 2:22-40). 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.

Season. The Sundays after Christmas and Easter are like the second game of the season in baseball. Everyone wants to attend the home opener. The second game, not so much. Yet, like baseball, Christmas has a season. The Christmas Season started with the Christmas Eve Divine Service and runs for twelve days or through January 5^th. On the Catholic calendar, the season runs though the Baptism of the Lord, this year on January 8, 2024.[1] The Byzantine and the Syro-Malabar (India) Churches have different names for some of their seasons, and the Orthodox hold fast to celebrating Christmas on January 6^th. My Serbian high school classmates would skip school in January to celebrate Christmas, and others would lament not exchanging presents in December. In other words, not all Christians observe the Christmas Season consistently.

The Church Year, as you see from page 8 of Lutheran Worship, consists of Seasons and Major Festivals. Lutherans have also maintained some lesser festivals, which are listed on page 9. Periodically, festivals fall on a Sunday, which gives pastors a choice to observe them or not. We often forget that we have retained the Feast of Stephen (Dec 26), unless the words of “Good King Wenceslaus” remind us that the snow that day was deep and crisp and even. We remember the Apostle and Evangelist St. John on December 27, and The Holy Innocents the following Day.[2] The Naming and Circumcision of Jesus are observed on New Year’s Eve and Day.

Unfortunately, many Christians have gotten into the habit of celebrating Christmas as some secularists do. They start as early as November 1^st, skipping through Thanksgiving and cancelling Advent. Of course, the trees are at the curb if not at the local drop off site by December 26^th. Christmas music ends at 11:59 PM on December 25^th, and if it were not for one particular song, we might even forget that there are Twelve Days of Christmas. Lest I belabor the point, we move on to our Gospel scene.

Scene. Picking up with what I said on Christmas, I turn to a sermon by Martin Luther on today’s Gospel.[3] Luther had a keen use of language. Reading his sermon on this passage, you see that he is part Biblical professor and part preacher who does not hold back on his criticism not only of the Catholic Church, but also of his hearers.

As he speaks about the response of Joseph and Mary to Simeon’s words about the Baby Jesus, Luther used the word marvelous more often than Fernando Lamas. These marvelous things were the words Simeon had spoken when he took the child Jesus in his arms. What Simeon publicly said in a holy place about a poor, despised baby, whose mother was poor and insignificant, and whose father, Joseph, was also poor, was rightfully marvelous. Luther asked, “How could such a baby be considered the Savior of all People, the light of the Gentiles, and the glory and honor of all Israel?” Today, it does not seem such a big deal, but it was when Simeon prophesied this.

Some may wonder why his father and mother marveled at what was said about Jesus. After all, did not Mary recall what was said by the Archangel Gabriel – that this child “will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High”? Did she not recall what the shepherds reported? Didn’t Joseph remember what was revealed to him by an angel of the Lord? (Mt 1:20-21) We need to keep in mind that Simeon, whose name means “one who hears,” represented all the prophets who foretold the coming of the Savior, and that when Joseph and Mary saw their poor baby in Simeon’s arms, they clung to “what was said about” that baby.

Turning on a dime, Luther had this to say to those who wish they could have held the baby in their arms. “Some think that if they were to see the baby Christ with His mother, they also would joyously bless Him. But they lie for they would certainly have been averted by His infancy and poverty and His contemptible appearance. They prove it by disregarding, hating, and persecuting such poverty and humble appearance in the members of Christ. But Simeon was not offended at His appearance. Simeon was a preacher and a lover of the Cross and an enemy of the world.”

Luther taught that what Simeon said next can be set into four points. First, Christ “is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel.” Christ is not the cause of this fall; arrogance is. “Christ came to be the light and Savior of all the world, … and everyone is justified and saved through faith in Him. For that to happen, all other righteousness which is sought in ourselves with works apart from Christ must be rejected. … People who rely on works and seek their own righteousness, who must take offense at Christ and faith and must fall … persecute and kill whatever speaks or acts against them.”

Luther reminded his listeners – and us – that we need to be aware that we can be misled by pastors, parents, professors, partners or anyone else who “tell us what God’s Word means.”

Second, Simeon says that Christ is “a sign that is opposed.” Christ is the sign that is always opposed. I know that we often think that our enemies are taking aim at our faith and values, marriage and family life as we once understood it, the Church, our schools and kids, one nation under God and so on. All of this is based on Christ’s teaching. All of our enemies have set their sights on one target, Jesus Christ.

Luther reminds us that even enemies, such as Pontius Pilate and Herod, become friends once they take their aim at Jesus Christ. This, he said is the fulfillment of Psalm 83: “They say, ‘Come, let us wipe them out as a nation; let the name of Israel be remembered no more!’ For they conspire with one accord; against you they make a covenant—the tents of Edom and the Ishmaelites, Moab and the Hagrites, Gebal and Ammon and Amalek, Philistia with the inhabitants of Tyre; Asshur also has joined them; they are the strong arm of the children of Lot.” (vv. 4-8)

In Luther’s words, “From this we learn and become certain that we may take comfort and be happy … when many people take offense at our words and faith and oppose them, especially the great, the learned, and the spiritual.” Furthermore, we can take comfort knowing that Christ “is a sign that is opposed, but not overthrown or destroyed.” My father used to say, “What you learn, no one can ever take from you.” It’s why we teach from the Bible and Luther’s Small Catechism. Once we know what we believe, we take comfort knowing that the world’s best and brightest cannot destroy our faith.

Third, “a sword will pierce through your own soul.” This is not a physical sword, but the fact that Mary would endure great sorrow and grief in her heart. Indeed, every parent and grandparent knows heartache. My mother would always say when we were sick, “I wish it were me rather than you.” It’s easier for a parent to suffer than to see your children suffering. Heartache is bitter, and Mary, whose name means bitter, will come to understand that heartache throughout her own life. It is why many women can relate to her when they experience suffering in this life.

Finally, Simeon’s conclusion, “so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.” Luther points out that there are two kinds of scandal and temptation among men. The first temptation is to coarse sins – disobedience to parents, killing, unchastity, stealing, lying, blaspheming and so on. These are all sins against the Fourth through the Tenth Commandments.

The greater scandal, the greater temptation is performed by those who “build on their works and themselves” because these disobey the First Three Commandments. Those who commit such sins, says Luther, “endeavor to destroy and interfere with all that belongs to faith and God.” Of course, Luther saw this in the acts of popes, bishops and almost all of the clergy.

He goes on. “In order to protect us, God has set up His Christ as a target (at which they stumble and fall…) so that we … may not accept and follow their life as good. Before God no life is really good without faith; and where there is no faith, there is nothing but lies and deception.”

I summarized Luther’s sermon on this passage, focusing only on that scene involving Simeon, Joseph, Mary and Jesus because something that was said 500 years ago, still makes sense for us today. That brings me to my third point, Sense.

Sense. What do Simeon’s words have to do with life in our world today? As I was preparing this sermon, two articles caught my attention. The first was an interview of Dr. Anthony Fauci with a BBC reporter that was released in late November. The interview occured in Washington, and one scene involved a walk past the church where he and his wife were married. The reporter questioned him on his religious upbringing and its impact on him today. Here is what Fauci said.

"My own personal ethics on life are enough to keep me going on the right path, and I think there are enough negative aspects about the organizational Church that you are very well aware of. I'm not against it. I identify as a Catholic, I was raised, baptized and married in a Catholic Church, but as far as practicing, it seems almost like a proforma thing that I don't really need to do."[4]

Now, it would be easy to target Catholicism, and I am sure that is what some readers did, but that is missing the point. Fauci echoes what a lot of people think regardless of what denomination or upbringing. As it relates to this passage, let’s back up to what Luther said. To think that my own personal ethics on life are enough to keep me going on the right path is foolish arrogance no matter how intelligent I am, or think I am. This is the scandal and temptation to disobey which is performed by those who “build on their works and themselves” because such thinking rejects the First Three Commandments. You shall have no other gods. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.

If I think like Fauci, and there are times that I do, and many more times I am encouraged and tempted to do so by others, like sinful Adam, I make myself equal to God. Those who commit such sins, says Luther, “endeavor to destroy and interfere with all that belongs to faith and God.”

The other article I read that caught my interest was simply its title, “Holy Abortion.” This dealt with how mainline Protestant theologians have made choice the preeminent religious value. I will quote only the ending of the article, but strongly encourage you to read it on the website First Things. If you receive my sermons, you will find the site in my footnotes or on my blog.

“Choice has become a religious value, the bedrock of an emergent morality that bears no resemblance to the Abrahamic tradition. It is a stealthy adversary, donning the mantle of Christian love and charity to corrupt traditional faith from the inside. In this topsy-turvy faith, the immoral is called moral. The irresponsible is called responsible. The life-destroying is called life-protecting. Murder is called rescue. The pregnant mother is, in her omniscience and power, her own god. Her volition is sacred and absolute. And her holy abortion is saving the world.”[5]

Friends, God so loved the world, God so loves us that He sent His only Son to save us from making mistakes as grave as Anthony Fauci’s that elevate the human to God and every faulty human choice to an absolute good. We are not God, and we make sinful choices all the time. That is why we need God and one another (Church). That is why Simeon’s words are important to us. As we come to the end of the year, behold the Christ that Simeon did. See in Christ and in Christ’s teaching the wisdom that will lead you not only to a fuller life here and now, but eternal life. See in Christ the only One who can forgive you and me for our sins, love us mercifully and call us to love one another as brothers and sisters in our Father’s family. And when you do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] A good site for the Lutheran calendar is https://trinitylutheranchurch.360unite.com/the-lutheran-church-year-explained. For the Catholic calendar, see https://www.usccb.org/prayer-worship/liturgical-year/christmas.

[2] For an understanding of The Holy Innocents, see these pages: https://allthehousehold.com/the-holy-innocents/ and https://resources.lcms.org/history/the-holy-innocents/

[3] A Year in the Gospels with Martin Luther: Sermons from Luther’s Church Postil, Volume 1. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House (2018). For quoted sections, see Luke 2:33-40, pp. 178ff.

[4] Jacqueline Schneider “How Dr Anthony Fauci delivers 'inconvenient truths' to world leaders.” November 30, 2023. https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20231130-anthony-fauci-interview-influential-katty-kay

[5] Samira Kahwah, “Holy Abortion,” First Things, December 2023, pp. 37-41. https://www.firstthings.com/article/2023/12/holy-abortion

Do I Love?

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon is entitled Do I Love? My focus is our Gospel (Luke 2:1-20). 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.

I started reading “A Year in the Gospels with Martin Luther,” which prompted me to ask this question – Do I love? Do I love Christmas? Do I love Christ? Do I love my neighbor?

Do I love Christmas? I love Christmas. I have always loved Christmas. As a boy, I loved all the trappings we place around our celebration of Christmas. Growing up in the 60s and maturing in the 70s, Christmas was about gifts received and given. What child does not love to receive gifts?! What child does not learn to give gifts to parents and siblings? Whether it was candy in our stockings, a drum, a new railroad car for the train set, sports equipment or new clothes, I loved Christmas.

I loved visiting family. Since four of my mother’s sisters lived in Ambridge, we would visit them December 25 or 26, and on December 29, my mom’s birthday, they all would visit us in our 800 square foot home that had expandable walls whenever company appeared. The food – ham, kielbasa, chicken, stuffed cabbage, pierogies, and so on – was always delicious. And who doesn’t love Christmas cookies?!

I loved hanging all the Christmas cards with hand written letters on the hallway doors; listening to Christmas albums; decorating a live tree and placing the manger under it. I loved attending church because everyone was in a festive mood, and sang on Christmas even if they never sang on any other Sunday. I loved Christmas because it brought out the best in everyone.

Today, I still love Christmas, but for different reasons. I love the fact that the Son of God, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin Mary – is fully human, fully divine and lovely to behold. I love that our God who is Love in the flesh was born like each of us in order to save us from sin, Satan, death, and may I add, ourselves. I love having the opportunity to meditate on the mystery of the Incarnation. Each of us has the opportunity to reflect upon what it means for me to be saved by our God who became one of us. I love Christmas because of the reason we celebrate it – the Incarnation. And if you still love to receive Christmas presents, the Incarnation is God’s greatest gift to you, to all of us.

Loving Christmas leads me to my next question: Do I love Christ? To answer that, let me return to what I said at the beginning of this sermon – that I have been reading “A Year in the Gospels with Martin Luther.”[1] In his sermon on our Gospel, Luther wrote on the arduous trip that Joseph and Mary made from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Surmising that like most people, Joseph and Mary were poor, they most likely made this trip on foot. Scripture never mentions a donkey. So, Joseph and Mary, nine months pregnant, walked over 100 miles. When is the last time you walked 100 miles? Their journey offered no comfort or leisure. There was no guest room for God and the birth scene was pitiful.

Luther wrote that no one took pity on Mary. No one saw the strange place where she gave birth, and that she had nothing necessary for a delivery. It was midnight. There was no light. No fire. “Everyone was dead drunk in the inn, a crowd of guests from all places; no one thinks of this poor woman.”

We have few details about the birth, and being the teacher, Luther reminds us to turn to the Second Article of the Apostles’ Creed – that Jesus was born of the Virgin Mary. Luther wrote that Jesus was her natural son and she was his natural mother, continuing that “she gave birth without sin, without shame, without pain, and without injury, just as she also conceived without sin. … When we look at this birth and recognize the work of God in it, only modesty and purity flow from it.”

Luther turns from what was happening in Bethlehem to what was happening in heaven. This obscure birth, despised by princes and powers, is honored a thousand times more in heaven. “If an angel came from heaven and praised you and your work, would you not regard it of greater value than all the praise and honor the world could give you and for which you would be willing to bear the greatest humiliation and contempt?” The angels could not contain themselves and broke out rejoicing so that even the poor shepherds heard them.

Now, we cannot receive Christ’s birth in a bodily way, but we all receive it spiritually through God’s Word. And God’s Word demands that “you firmly believe that Christ is born for you, and that this birth is yours and occurred for your benefit.” This birth frees us from our sinful birth from Adam. Because of original sin, “Christ wanted to be born, so that we might be born a new and different way.” As Jesus himself said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God” (Jn 3:3). So, before we give any Christmas gifts to one another, we must first receive God’s gift to us, for the story of Christ’s birth is not history nor an example. Receive Christ’s birth as your own. Trade places with Him so that you can be freed from sin and death, but keep in mind that this happens only if and when you believe in Christ.

Luther’s understanding of this Gospel (Lk 2) is that it all points to Christ, and because He was born at midnight indicates that all the world was in darkness, which means that Christ cannot be known through reason alone. He must be revealed from heaven. The light that shone around the shepherds – the glory of God – is God’s love and goodness that saves us through Christ.

The angel is the preacher of the Gospel to the shepherds who are the hearers. The angel said, “I bring you good news.” Christ is given for you. You are saved through Him by Baptism, and are fed by Him through His Body and Blood.

Today, you are hearers of that Gospel. You are the shepherds. And what did the shepherds do after leaving the crib at Bethlehem and seeing all that the angel told them? They returned to their flock (family) and glorified and praised God for all they had heard and seen. And what will you do after this Divine Service? You will return home to your flock, your family, and hopefully, you will praise God for the Good News you heard and saw here.

Shepherds, I have no doubt that you love Christ. You fare hearers, learners not in the comfort of your own living room, but in the fields at night – in a dark world. Like the shepherds, you too are poor, for the poor have the Good News preached to them (Mt 11:5), and are blessed with the Kingdom of Heaven (Mt 5:3).

While your life may be obscure and insignificant on the world’s stage, you are the ones who carry the Gospel to others. In the words of Luther, “No one is to hear the Gospel for himself alone, but everyone is to tell it to others who do not know it.” Luther did not leave his hearers with that. He went on.

“Each one should compare himself to the Gospel and see how close or far he is from Christ, and what is the character of his faith and love.” Here, he challenges his listeners who cling to dreamy devotion to turn their gaze to their neighbor. That brings me to my third question: Do I love my neighbor?

Do I love my neighbor? Do I look next door to see how many of my neighbors need my help or do I ignore them and leave them as they are? Each of us has “poor, miserable, sick, erring or sinful people around him.” Luther asked, “Why does he not exercise his love to them? Why does he not do for them as Christ has done for him?”

Citing the parable of “The Rich Man and Lazarus,” he asked, “if your neighbor were now what he shall be in the future [that is, one comforted at the bosom of Abraham], you would surely wait on [the poor beggar]. But now, since it is not so, you pay no attention to him and do not recognize your Lord in your neighbor; you do not do for him as He has done for you. Therefore, God permits you to be blinded, deceived … so that you squander [your money rather than] help your neighbor.”

Such words stung the ears and pierced the hearts of Luther’s original hearers, but it’s where the rubber hits the road. Loving Christmas and loving Christ requires that I love my neighbor. So, I thought, “How do I love?”

I love my stepchildren, grandchildren and in-laws by loving my wife, Cindy. By putting Cindy before me, I love her family members, our family members. By completing my mundane household duties – daily cleaning the dishes, feeding the dogs and cat, removing the trash, maintaining our vehicles, helping her in her duties – I place her ahead of myself. By praying together daily in the morning, before meals and before we retire, and worshipping together in the same church, I place her spiritual needs on a higher plane. Now, I know that each of you loves your spouse and family members. I have seen it in your relationships here and in your homes.

How do I love my neighbor? I have needs that my neighbors fulfill, and we try to fulfill our neighbor’s needs. We offer hospitality and garden-fresh vegetables. We offer greetings on our walks, kind words and prayers for them. When our teenage neighbor helps with landscaping chores, I am overly generous with his pay.

I know that each of you loves your neighbor, but how do I love you? Maybe your initial thought is that I do not know you. That may be true if you are visiting here for the first time or you are making your annual pilgrimage to church, but I am here every Sunday, and if you are here on a regular basis, you know that I love you. In addition to getting to know your name, I take a personal interest in you.

If you had someone confirmed in the last few years, I took time to teach the faith to them. If you had a child baptized, I welcomed them into the Church. If you have a family member who is hospitalized, elderly or physically challenged, I come to them. Every month I visit those unable to worship with us. I sometimes take Maggie, our younger Golden Retriever, to offer comfort. More importantly, I bring to them what I bring to you today – the Good News of salvation, God’s Word. I offer them confession and absolution, and the ultimate gift – the Body and Blood of Christ. The elderly, especially the elderly, are deeply grateful for these gifts, and they tell me with their tears.

Many of you know that the highlight of my week is worshipping here with you. I know that you love not only Christmas, but Christ, and that’s why you worship weekly. I know that you love your neighbor, and if you do not, take to heart Luther’s words on that. Now, if you have any doubts if you should love Christmas, Christ or neighbor, let me answer that by posing three questions. Does God love Christmas? Undoubtedly. God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit love Christmas. Does God the Father love His Son? Definitely. Does God love you and your neighbor? Absolutely. Not to would go against the nature of God who is divine love.

My friends, today our Savior is born; let us rejoice. We ae all aware of the blood spilled in Israel, Ukraine, Nigeria and Armenia, but sadness should have no place on the birthday of life. The fear of death has been swallowed up; life brings us joy with the promise of eternal happiness. No one is shut out from joy; all share the same reason for rejoicing. Our Lord, victor over sin and death, finding no man free from sin, came to free us all. Let the saint rejoice as he sees the palm of victory at hand. Let the sinner be glad as he receives the offer of forgiveness. Let the pagan take courage as he is summoned to life.

Christian, remember your dignity. You now share in God’s own nature, and have been brought into His Kingdom. Through the Sacrament of Baptism, you have become a temple of the Holy Spirit. God has shown you what is good. And so, one last question: What does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God. (Mic 6:8). Love like that, and when you do, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

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[1] A Year in the Gospels with Martin Luther: Sermons from Luther’s Church Postil, Volume 1. St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House (2018). For quotes, see Luke 2:1-14, pp. 90-109.

ADVENT ANGELS

Do you think that there are angels? The word angel means messenger, and most people do think that there are angels. The Bible teaches that angels were made by God during the six days of creation, although it doesn’t say on which day.

They do not have a body, but angels are powerful, intelligent spirits. Good angels guard and protect God’s children (Ps.91:11ff), but evil angels hold unbelievers captive (Luke 11:21f; Eph.2:2). Believers, however, can resist the temptation of evil angels through the power of God (Eph.6:10-17).

There have lots of books and songs and movies and shows about angels. As Lutherans, we sing about angels. Our songs include: The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came; Angels from the Realms of Glory; and Hark! The Herald Angels Sing. Do you know any of those? Maybe your parents know them. … Some people say that they have seen angels and talked to them, but none of them has ever had a conversation with an angel like Mary did.

In our Gospel, the Angel Gabriel greeted Mary and told her that God chose her to give birth to a baby. Mary believed the angel and asked how this would happen. Gabriel told her that she should name her baby, Jesus. Jesus would be her son, and the Son of God.

 As important as angels are to God, do you know who is more important to God? You! God made you even higher than the angels. God loves you so much that He gave you His Son as your Savior. So, while it’s important to believe in angels, it is even more important to believe in Jesus and carry Him in your heart like Mary did because Jesus gives you life with God in Heaven.

And now, 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.

Culture and Conception

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon is based on our Gospel (Luke 1:26-38). 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.

Culture. Merriam-Webster said this about culture. It “allows us to identify and isolate an idea, issue or group with seriousness. … It's an efficient word: we talk about the 'culture' of a group rather than saying 'the typical habits, attitudes, and behaviors' of that group. … This newer sense of the word is catching people's attention and driving the volume of lookups.”

Merriam-Webster chose culture as its Word of the Year a couple of years back because it was used so much more frequently than other words. Meriam-Webster names its Word of the Year based on how often people research it. Through research, we learn the definition of words, family history or how to change headlights in a Buick LeSabre, my most read blogpost.

Researching today’s Gospel, we learn what Luke said about Jesus, what Mary and Gabriel said, and what it might mean to us.

First, what Luke said about Jesus had to do with culture. People in our culture are satisfied letting producers of shows on the History or Biography channels to present their research of Jesus. As a result, our secular culture accepts Jesus’ human nature, but questions his divine nature.

Conversely, people of Luke’s culture, Roman citizens who deified Caesars into gods, had an easier time accepting Jesus’ divinity than they did his humanity. This is why Luke narrated the human origins and birth of Jesus Christ.

During the first centuries, the church defended itself against heresies that denied Jesus’ true humanity (Gnostic Docetism, Nestorianism and Monophysitism). Martin Luther succinctly explained that Christ became man in order to redeem us from sin and death. The devil came close to us, but he did not come so close as to assume our nature. Luther confessed the Second Person of the Trinity was conceived by the Holy Spirit without means of a man, and was born of the pure, holy Virgin Mary as of a real, natural mother.

In addition to combating heresies, Luke illustrated how the Annunciation fulfilled Old Testament prophecies. Mary received God’s promise of a child, which was similar to, but greater than, previous promises to women of God. These included Hagar (Gen 16:11) and Manoah’s wife (Judg 13), but most pertinent was God’s announcement through Isaiah of the sign given to Israel consisting of a virgin who would conceive. This showed the promised birth was not a private matter for the parents, but one of national concern.

Through Jesus, God came to Israel, was favorable toward her, claimed her as his very own, and was wedded to his people. Jesus and the New Testament authors often employed marriage imagery to imply the church is Christ’s bride.

The parallels between God’s promises to His people and His promise to Mary suggest that we can see her as representing the new Israel, the virgin bride of Christ, the church. In other words, without putting Mary on the same level as Christ, Luke showed that Christians have her as an example to consider. The unmerited grace poured forth into Mary is available to all.

The new era of salvation comes through the baby conceived by the gracious action of God upon Mary, who finds favor with God, not due to any superiority over other women or any merit in God’s estimation, but simply because of God’s grace.

Mary’s response was unlike Zechariah’s skepticism. Her pondering led to a simple, honest question, which Gabriel met with an explanation, a promise and reassurance. As the Holy Spirit came upon her, she conceived Jesus as holy, the Son of God. This was the moment of the Incarnation of our Lord.

Luther compared the conception of Jesus through the Word spoken to Mary with the real presence of Christ’s body in the Lord’s Supper, effected through the Words of Institution. In other words, as the first member of the early church who heard the Word Incarnate, she believed as we believe. Luke used the Annunciation as an instruction on the virgin birth, on the Son of God, and on the work of the Holy Spirit in Jesus’ conception. We confess it in the Nicene Creed.

The passage also gives us a glimpse into how the early church incorporated new members. As its first member, Mary received her catechesis from Gabriel. The Holy Spirit came upon her, and she received the flesh of Christ. As the first to follow Jesus, she set the pattern for the apostles and all who followed her. We hear the Word, the Holy Spirit comes upon us, and we receive Christ’s Body and Blood. Like Mary, each of us is a servant of the Lord, humbly submitting to the will of God and his miraculous presence in and among us. That is what Luke said about Jesus, Mary and Gabriel. What might this passage mean to us?

First, we must be careful to notice that none of Mary’s qualities is offered as the reason God chose her; that reason is tucked away in the purposes of God. Luther taught that although we recognize Mary as Mother of God, we should not make too much of her, but ponder “in the heart what it means to be the Mother of God. … Her sole worthiness to become the Mother of God lay in her being fit and appointed for it, so that it might be pure grace and not a reward.”

It is hers to ponder in her heart, but ours to ponder as well. As church and individuals, what does it mean to hear the Word? To have the Holy Spirit comes upon us? To receive Christ’s Body and Blood? To be a servant of the Lord? To humbly submit to God’s will and his miraculous presence in and among us?

I asked several people what this passage means to them. My friend, Wendell, a lifelong Lutheran who teaches Old Testament Sunday School, responded with these words.

“I view Mary as an excellent example of a faithful servant. At her tender age, having undoubtedly endured horrible ridicule for a pregnancy out of wedlock, she was able to say the Magnificat. Truly a great example of humility, faith and servanthood. She is truly a great Christian.

Also, what a great story of how something that appears awful at the time (an unwed pregnancy), ended up being a great blessing and miracle. We should all look for the blessings in our “curses” like she did.

She also teaches me that God’s methods may very often be seen as ‘unorthodox’, but we must have the faith to believe that he knows what he is doing.”

Our culture is not prone to agree with Wendell, but we must have the faith to believe that God knows what He is doing. Even when we do not know what God’s plan is for us, we must have faith. And we must ponder things in our hearts.

I close with a story of my own mother, which I have told you before, but it bears repeating. My mother taught me how to be a Christian – a humble servant of the Lord – by showing me how to grow tomatoes. I realize how God’s grace worked through her after many moments of pondering these things in my heart.

Every spring our family planted more than 100 tomato plants, which sufficiently fed our family of five. When the weather broke, we tilled the garden for tomatoes and many other vegetables.

We dug holes, and planted, fertilized and watered our plants. Through the summer, we weeded and watered; checked for bugs and blight and discarded rotten tomatoes.

We harvested tomatoes for salad, sauce and juice. We buried the discarded skin and seeds, which produced a later crop. Since we were 4-H members, we entered our prize tomatoes in exhibits at local fairs.

Growing tomatoes taught me three practical necessities about Christianity: nourish, reserve and share. Parents, pastors, teachers, elders and all members need to nourish, reserve and share their faith.

First, nourish. By exercising our faith – by attending worship, reading God’s Word, taking Communion, seeking forgiveness and attending Sunday school – we nourish ourselves.

Second, reserve. 36 years of ministry has taught me there are times when we cannot nourish ourselves adequately. There will be times when troubles and temptations attack us. … We need a reserve. There will be times when caring for sick children or frail parents exhaust us. There will be times when completing projects, cramming for exams or meeting deadlines consume us. There will be times when we do not have the luxury to bathe ourselves in God’s Word or enjoy the feast of His banquet. We can only birdbath and eat on the run. During difficult times, we need that reserved Mason jar of tomatoes in the pantry. That is why my mother taught us how to can tomatoes. That is why she taught us to memorize Scripture passages and prayers because she knew we would someday need a reserve – of spiritual food that God provides to nourish our bodies and our souls.

Third, share. When God blessed us with plentiful tomatoes, we shared them with others. We shared tomatoes with friends, neighbors, pastors and the less fortunate. Mom taught me to practice charity by sharing God’s abundant blessing with others. How do we share God’s abundant blessings with others?

By teaching me how to grow tomatoes, mom taught me how to be a Christian, a servant of the Lord. She taught me to nourish, reserve and share. I am sure your mother taught you the same. As we close out another Season of Advent, ponder in your heart what it might mean for Mary to be the Mother of God, and honor your own mother by sharing the Gospel with others. Share with others how God blessed you today and ask them the same. When you listen to their blessed answer, may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

GAUDETE SUNDAY

 

Who remembers what color I talked about last week? Blue. This week, I am going to talk about the color Pink.

Pink comes to us from a flower with a great big word that I cannot even pronounce (Caryophyllales). It is also known as a carnation. Pink is usually pale red. We find in our world pink flowers and plants, pink flamingoes, elephants, salmon and pigs. Some people drive pink Cadillacs and others wear pink carnations on their white sport coats. My wife loves pink sunsets.

Since today is the Third Sunday of Advent, we lit the pink candle on our wreathe. Pink symbolizes joy and happiness because we are getting closer to celebrating the birth of Jesus. Christmas is only 8 days away! Can you feel the joy?!

In St. Paul’s Letter this morning, we heard him telling people, “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing.” King David wrote in Psalm 126, “When the LORD restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy.” He must have known something about gardening too because he finished the psalm with, “He who goes out weeping, bearing the seed for sowing, shall come home with shouts of joy.”

When we are joyful, our faces show it. We smile and laugh. Sometimes, we jump around and dance, or sing and clap our hands. As Christians, we do this because we rejoice that God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – love us and are with us here and now. We feel them in our hearts, and we feel so joyful.

St. Paul tells us that we must also rejoice when we are suffering because we know even though we face trouble, we prayerfully thank God for His gift of salvation. So, pink reminds us to rejoice and pray.

And now, 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.

Paul, Pink and Prayer

 

God’s grace, peace and mercy be with you. My sermon is entitled Paul, Pink and Prayer, and my focus is our Epistle (1^st Thessalonians 5:16-24). 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.

“Again!” exclaimed my niece, Simone, from the backseat of my brother’s white Volvo station wagon. Having heard, “again,” followed by a rewind of the cassette in order to play again, “The Wheels of the Bus,” my brother ingeniously created a special cassette with a continual loop of Simone’s favorite songs. My niece is now in her late 20’s, and cassettes are no longer to be found, but the validity of my point remains.

And so, at my niece’s expense, we again revisit what we heard only last month – Paul’s First Letter to the Thessalonians. And since the fruit falls not far from the tree, we again revisit three P’s: Paul’s passage, the Advent wreath’s Pink candle and Prayer.

Paul’s passage was an exhortation that appealed to the Thessalonians’ deep emotions. His last words dealt with their relationship with God, lifting them from this world’s mundane matters to focus on their conflict with supernatural powers. Paul knew if Thessalonian Christians were to persevere despite pressure and persecution, they had to pray to God.

Paul encouraged prayer and prophecy, which are interrelated. He saw prayer as God’s will and prophecy as God’s answer to prayer. Paul opposed pagan oracles and soothsayers, but knew that prophecy – or a word from God that comes through prayer – strengthened the Christian community.

In verse 18, Paul instructed the Thessalonians to give thanks in all circumstances, but not necessarily for all circumstances. Paul never instructed Christians to rejoice, pray and give thanks for the evil that confronts the church. That would have been akin to us giving thanks for the smallest sin or a nuclear holocaust. Sin, as earlier chapters in Thessalonians taught, is not God’s will. However, if Christians in 1^st century Thessalonica gave thanks to God for salvation through Christ, He would strengthen them to endure difficult circumstances.

A Simple first point: rejoice, pray, give thanks. Our second point, the Advent wreath’s pink candle. Gaudete! Rejoice! Gaudete is Latin for rejoice and refers to the importance of Christian joy in the midst of a penitential season, the message of Paul’s letter. Like Lent, Advent is a penitential season.

The tradition of Advent candles originated in Germany. A pink candle surrounded by 3 purplish ones symbolizes joy amidst penance. Today, we light the pink candle based on our epistle.

We use different colors to teach and symbolize various feasts and seasons, and to evoke emotions. For example, white symbolizes light and purity. We use white during the seasons of Christmas and Easter. Red expresses the fire of the Holy Spirit and the blood of the Passion and martyrdom. We use red on Pentecost, Palm Sunday and Reformation Sunday. Green is the symbolic color of hope and serenity. We use green on the Sundays after Epiphany and Pentecost. Again, violet recalls penance. Black is the somber color used for Good Friday and funerals, in some churches. Pink or rose, which has never enjoyed frequent use, serves as a reminder, by using an unusual color, that we are halfway through a penitential season.

Color effectively expresses the specific character of the mysteries of our faith and gives a sense of the Christian's passage through the course of the liturgical year. If that makes no sense, imagine a white funeral suit, a black wedding gown or the Steelers in orange and brown.

Lighting a pink candle during a penitential season symbolizes Christian joy even when we do penance or suffer persecution. We rejoice in the midst of penance or suffering because we know that in spite of trouble or persecution, we prayerfully thank God for His gift of salvation. So, pink reminds us to rejoice, pray and give thanks.

Our third point, prayer. There is a lot to say about prayer. Martin Luther himself said much about it. In his Large Catechism, Luther wrote, “That we may know what and how to pray, our Lord Christ himself taught us both the way and the words.”

Luther confessed praying was more difficult than preaching. He offered advice on where to pray, how to deal with distraction, how to overcome the temptation to skip prayer, and how to deal with feeling unworthy, which, he urged, we must overcome.

Luther reminded pastors to encourage people to pray as Christ and the apostles prayed. He wrote, “It is our duty to pray because of God’s command.” They are delusional who say, ‘Why should I pray? Who knows whether God pays attention to my prayer?’” To such people, Luther said, “We have God’s promise that He will hear us.”

To quote Luther, “People who are experienced in spiritual matters have said that no labor is comparable to the labor of praying. To pray is not to recite a number of psalms or to roar in churches…but to have serious thoughts by which the soul establishes a fellowship between him who prays and him who hears the prayer and determines with certainty that although we are miserable sinners, God will be gracious, mitigate the punishments, and answer our petitions.”

God answers our petitions. … Now, my friends, tell me the difference between what Martin Luther believed in his heart and what you believe in yours? Does God answer every petition? Do I have the confidence to tell my children and grandchildren that God answers petitions? What do I mean when I say God answers petitions?

To say, “God answers my petitions,” means I reflect deeply on my relationship with God. In Luther’s words, it is to have serious thoughts by which the soul establishes a fellowship between him who prays and him who hears the prayer. I must reflect deeply on my relationship with God. Is my relationship authentic?

Are my petitions as authentic as those in the Psalms? Read Psalm 5, 43 or 51. Is my spirit like Jesus’ when he taught us to ask for daily bread? Read Matthew 6 and Luke 11.

When I surrender absolutely to God and His will – as Jesus did – not only at the hour of my impending death but throughout my life, I know God will provide my daily bread and every other worldly need. When I surrender unconditionally to God and his incomprehensibility – which I can do only in faith, hope and love – all my petitions are answered. On the other hand, if my prayer is not imbued with the spirit of Jesus’ words – Let your will be done, not mine – then it is not prayer at all, but a projection of a vital need into a void, or an attempt to influence God to execute senseless magic.

An authentic relationship with God does not mean I am free of needs and anxieties. However, when I place myself before God in prayer, for what do I ask? Daily bread? Health? Love? Success? Strength? Trust? Gratitude? Protection from evil and abuse?

Whatever the outcome of my prayer, do I give thanks to God in the circumstances I find myself? If I am pressured and persecuted for my faith, do I still thank God for the gift of salvation through Christ? …

Given the rancor that touches family and community, do I pray in the spirit of the Psalmist who begged God, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.”?

I close with the back-story of a song that has affected people’s lives because it touches on rejoicing, prayer and thanksgiving.

In 1967, Bob Thiele and George Weiss wrote a political song to calm our fears from the violence of the race riots that spread across a hundred cities from Newark to Los Angeles. They wrote it with one man in mind, and hoped his grandfatherly image would convey the song's message. In 1968, the song made it to #116 on the US pop chart, selling 1,000 records, but reached #1 in the UK, making Louis Armstrong the oldest male to top the UK Singles Chart, at sixty-six years and ten months old. The song? What a Wonderful World.

Armstrong's appeal transcended race, but since the ‘50s, he was accused of subserviently providing entertainment for white America. Naturally, Armstrong disagreed.

As he introduced a live performance of the song, Satchmo stated, “Some of you young folks been saying to me: ‘Hey, Pops - what do you mean, What a Wonderful World? How about all them wars, …, you call them wonderful?’”

“But how about listening to old Pops for a minute? Seems to me it ain't the world that's so bad but what we're doing to it, and all I'm saying is: see what a wonderful world it would be if only we'd give it a chance.”

Of course, Armstrong was speaking of love. Love comes in every color and fills the heart of every person created by God.

As we await the coming of Christ, take time today to reflect upon the joy that pink and all the colors of the rainbow evoke. Think about Paul’s passage: “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances;” and finally, petition God to create in you a clean heart and a right spirit. When you do, again may the peace of God that surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.