I've had an Epiphany!

Lutheran Satire: Your Friends and Neighbors

2012-02-14T10:20:00.000-06:00

Restored, cleansed and alive!

2012-02-13T07:50:00.000-06:00

2 Kings 5:1 Now Naaman was commander of the army of the king of Aram. He was a great man in the sight of his master and highly regarded, because through him the LORD had given victory to Aram. He was a valiant soldier, but he had leprosy.² Now bands from Aram had gone out and had taken captive a young girl from Israel, and she served Naaman's wife.³ She said to her mistress, "If only my master would see the prophet who is in Samaria! He would cure him of his leprosy."⁴ Naaman went to his master and told him what the girl from Israel had said.⁵ "By all means, go," the king of Aram replied. "I will send a letter to the king of Israel." So Naaman left, taking with him ten talents of silver, six thousand shekels of gold and ten sets of clothing.⁶ The letter that he took to the king of Israel read: "With this letter I am sending my servant Naaman to you so that you may cure him of his leprosy."⁷ As soon as the king of Israel read the letter, he tore his robes and said, "Am I God? Can I kill and bring back to life? Why does this fellow send someone to me to be cured of his leprosy? See how he is trying to pick a quarrel with me!"⁸ When Elisha the man of God heard that the king of Israel had torn his robes, he sent him this message: "Why have you torn your robes? Have the man come to me and he will know that there is a prophet in Israel."⁹ So Naaman went with his horses and chariots and stopped at the door of Elisha's house.¹⁰ Elisha sent a messenger to say to him, "Go, wash yourself seven times in the Jordan, and your flesh will be restored and you will be cleansed."¹¹ But Naaman went away angry and said, "I thought that he would surely come out to me and stand and call on the name of the LORD his God, wave his hand over the spot and cure me of my leprosy.¹² Are not Abana and Pharpar, the rivers of Damascus, better than any of the waters of Israel? Couldn't I wash in them and be cleansed?" So he turned and went off in a rage.¹³ Naaman's servants went to him and said, "My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed'!"¹⁴ So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.

Today we have the tale of two lepers. One was a rich and powerful man, the four-star general of the Syrian army. The other, a poor nameless beggar on the road. One was a Syrian, a Gentile, an enemy of Israel; the other an Israelite, a son of Abraham. One was the unbeliever, the other a believer. One is stubborn and standing. The other on his knees and begging. Two men with leprosy. Both healed by Christ. One with water, one with the Word.

Let’s start with Naaman. He was the commander of men. A warrior, brave and fearless. Someone who was used to holding life and death in his hands. He gave the orders, and they were carried out. He was the star of the victory parades and enjoyed the spoils of war. Naaman, we might say, had it all.

Until one day, Naaman noticed that he had some specks on his eyelids and hands. That’s how leprosy starts – with white scales on the eyelids and hands and then moves to the rest of the body. Those scales give the disease its name. Lepos, that’s Greek for “scale.” Under the skin, the illness rips through nerves and, eventually, the infected individual has no feeling. If you have no feeling, you have no sensitivity to pain. Brush your teeth, comb your hair, scratch an itch – any of those actions could cause bleeding and bruising if you brushed, combed or scratched too hard. If you fell down, a leper didn’t know if something was broken or if there was internal bleeding. Eventually, fingers, toes, nose and ears were gone.

In an Indian leper colony, many of the sick seemed to be mysteriously losing fingers and toes at night while they were sleeping. Only when someone stayed up did they find out why. Rats were gnawing on the sleepers, who, feeling no pain, never woke up. Leprosy is a slow, agonizing, debilitating disease that was a death sentence.

Naaman was now fighting an enemy he could do nothing about. An enemy he could not defeat. And yet he is filled with pride and arrogance. It was bad enough that he had to take the advice of a servant girl from the defeated Israelites. Then he had to go back to Israel to visit a socially inferior prophet who offends Naaman even more by not coming out of the house to meet him. But the worst part was that Naaman was told to do something simple, when he wanted to do something mighty and heroic. He wanted, in some way, to be involved in his own healing, his own cleansing, his own salvation.

He had to take off his ornate clothing, his uniform, the symbols of his high status and position, and wash like all the commoners in the Jordan River. And not just once, but seven times! Well, it was too much for Naaman. His pride fought back. He was angry and insulted. He was ready to pack up and go home in a huff … until another servant suggests, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, 'Wash and be cleansed'!” Naaman swallowed his pride and entered the water seven times. And he was cleansed. He was healed. He is restored. “His flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy.” The death sentence had been reversed!

The other leper on the road understood his problem. He knew he couldn’t fix it on his own. He needed help. So he broke all the rules in order to find Jesus. You see, the leper should have been with all the other lepers in their colony. And if he did stray out into public, he was supposed to yell, “Unclean! Unclean!” so everyone stayed away. The leper eventually found Jesus, but knew enough not to touch Him. He simply begs for healing. Jesus then does the unthinkable! He does the remarkable thing, the dangerous thing, the contagious thing, the thing Leviticus and your mother said you weren’t supposed to do. He reaches out His hand and touches the leper. An action that was forbidden. Yet, Jesus has compassion. His heart goes out to the poor man and he heals him. Restored, cleansed, and alive with a new life.

In both of these men we find pictures of ourselves. The proud and the arrogant. The humble and contrite. You see, there is a little Naaman and a little beggar in all of us. For there is a lot of leprosy inside of us. In the Bible, leprosy was a picture of sin. The sin starts in our human nature. Many of us may think that we aren’t all that bad, aren’t all that sinful, aren’t all that sick. Sure, we may gossip, envy, pout, complain, criticize, and argue. But we’re not BIG sinners like murderers, rapists and thieves. Sure, our health is failing. Cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, arthritis. But we’re still alive and getting through life.

These are all symptoms of a much deeper illness – our sin. The leper could see the white scales, the pasty skin and the rotting flesh. But those were only symptoms of the leprous disease inside of him. We can take classes to deal with our anger issues. We can seek counseling for our marriage problems. We can go to the doctor for treatments for our many physical ailments. But those are only dealing with the symptoms. The disease of sin remains within us. It infects us and affects us through and through.

Sin pervades everything like a virus or a bacterial disease. And it’s not enough to simply treat the symptoms – a sin here or there. We’re prone to do that – treat the symptoms, but leave the disease in place. We think of sin as the bad things we do – our divisions, our disrespect, our temper, our pride, our lusts. But those are symptoms, just as a headache, fever and a runny nose are symptoms of a cold or the flu. But treating the symptoms doesn’t get rid of the disease, does it? We can treat the symptoms of our sin and make us feel better for a while, but the disease of sin remains a part of us – a big part.

In one of the hospitals in Milwaukee, the top floor is where fetal alcohol babies are treated. The problem with those babies is they inherited something that was not originally their personal choice. They inherited an alcohol dependency from their mothers who drank, and their lives will never be normal as a result. Well, I’ve got news for you. You and I are “fetal sin” babies. We can whine about it, tap dance around it, make excuses for it, or think about something else as a distraction, but we cannot get rid of our congenital evil virus. We all come from the same set of first parents, who in the Garden of Eden thought that being connected to God was demeaning slavery. Now we all live under God’s triple curse of pain, death, and judgment.

Sin cuts us off. Like leprosy, it shuts us off by ourselves, isolated from each other, cut off from God. You can always tell when someone is in trouble. They cut themselves us from family, from friends and from the church. They withdraw and isolate themselves. Sin does that. It puts us in a sealed isolated ward, out of touch.

We can be like Naaman, thinking too highly of ourselves. We are insulted when someone points out our sin. No servant should tell me when I’m doing something wrong, even if it is the Lord’s servant – your pastor. And then, if we do think we need to be healed, we want some religious hocus-pocus like you see on TBN where the prophet waves his hand over the diseased spot and calls on God’s name. We want to see something great, feel something great, even do something great in order to contribute in some way to our healing.

But that’s not how God works. He wants us to come like the other leper. Kneel before the Lord’s altar. Beg before God’s throne of grace. Bow your head in humility. Approach Christ’s cross in repentance. Admit your sin. Confess that you are a sinner in your nature, that the disease of your sin has infected your body, that the leprosy of your sin has affected your soul. Repent that your sinful nature does not remain hidden inside your body, but displays itself in your rotten thoughts, words and actions. Admit that if left untreated, your leprosy of sin will kill you, both physically and spiritually.

And then accept Jesus’ forgiveness, so that you may be restored, cleansed and made alive. Jesus does the unthinkable! He does the remarkable thing, the dangerous thing, the contagious thing. He reaches out His hand and touches you. He did the remarkable thing – He entered our world. He did the dangerous thing – He made Himself human. And then He did the contagious thing – He took our disease of sin upon Himself. We love human contact. We need touch and hugs and to feel physically close to someone. Jesus provides that. But not just human touch – but the touch of God.

Jesus bore our sicknesses in His own body on the cross. Every last symptom – every anger, jealousy and lust, every virus, bacteria and cancer cell – every last bit of our death, He buried in the black hole of His death. His death and resurrection are His healing miracles for us.

Jesus reaches out to us. He touches and speaks to us. You hear His compassionate voice in His spoken Word. You feel His cleansing water wash over you in your Baptism. You taste His love and forgiveness in His Body and Blood. This is His sacramental touch. Naaman the mighty Syrian general was cleansed with humble waters. You were cleansed in your baptismal waters. The humble leper was healed with a divine touch. You feel this touch, not in the mighty and miraculous, or the religious hocus-pocus, but in simple, the ordinary, in the absolution, the Sacrament and the benediction.

Jesus did not come to put a bandage on your sin, to treat this trouble spot or that difficulty, to heal this pain or fix that problem. He did not come to give us an easy way out of our suffering, but as St. Paul teaches us today, He comforts us in our troubles, so we can then comfort others (2 Corinthians 1:3-7). Jesus came to be our sin, to become the leper in our place, the outcast, the cursed for each one of you. He bore your troubles in His body. He became infected with your inborn disease. He absorbed your leprosy into His own body cursed on the tree, broken, despised, forsaken crushed to death. He came to be your healing, your life and your salvation. So that you might be cleansed, restored and made alive!

Sadly, when most people sin, they don't like to take the blame for the wrong they've done. They find it easier and more convenient to blame the devil, or their upbringing, or their loss of temper, or just about anything rather than themselves. In shifting the blame, human creativity is almost boundless. As proof, I share the story of Ryu Matsumoto, the man who for an entire week was Japan's Minister of Reconstruction. On a tour to the earthquake-ravaged cities of Japan, Matsumoto made some remarks which got the people of Japan so upset Matsumoto had to resign. Rather than taking responsibility for what he had said, Matsumoto blamed his blood type. Yes, you heard correctly. He said, “My blood's type B, which means I can be irritable and impetuous, and my intentions don't always come across.”

Scripture is clear: God does not want us to ignore, minimize, put band-aids on, treat the symptoms or shift the blame for the things we have done wrong. When people do that, they end up minimizing the work of forgiveness that brought Jesus into the world. Just as bad, in essence they are also saying, “I really don't need the Savior because I really haven't done anything that needs forgiving.”

Today we learn a lesson from the two lepers. We are diseased. We need cleansing. We are leprous. We need restoring. Our sin kills us physically and spiritually. We need to be made alive. Because of Jesus’ baptismal water, His powerful Word and His healing touch, we are cleansed, restored and made alive. That makes a lot more sense to me than saying, “Because of my blood type I didn’t do anything wrong.” Amen.

6^th Sunday after Epiphany on February 12, 2012

Salvation unto Us Has Come

2012-02-08T07:44:00.000-06:00

Since the beginning of the school year, I have been teaching our Wisconsin Lutheran School teachers about hymns from our Christian Worship Supplement. We have finished that study. Now I am writing my own Bible studies based on familiar hymns from Christian Worship: A Lutheran Hymnal.

CW: #390 – “Salvation unto Us Has Come”

Listen to “Salvation unto Us Has Come” sung in The Chapel of the Christ from MLC.

History of this hymn:

The hymn “Salvation Unto Us Has Come” was written by Paul Speratus, who lived from 1484 to 1551. This hymn has endured to this day because it is possibly the best Lutheran hymn ever written. It preaches Law and Gospel so clearly that it gives us the fullness of the Gospel story and gives us a framework from which we can understand all of Scripture.

Paul Speratus was born in what is now Germany in 1484 and became a preacher in 1518. He believed Luther’s teachings to be in accordance with what Scriptures teach and he was persecuted for his faithfulness to the pure Gospel. He was fired from his early preaching posts for expressing his views too openly. He was also one of the first priests to get married during the reformation period. He received his Doctor of Divinity degree from the University of Vienna, but was later condemned by the Vienna faculty for defending marriage and the doctrine of justification by grace through faith. His preaching, however, became very popular with the people and he was thrown in prison for it in 1523, where he stayed for three months. It was while he was in prison that he wrote this hymn, based on Romans 3:28: “For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law.” (musicalcatecheis.wordpress.com, October 27, 2010)

Originally published in 14 stanzas. We sing 6 of those stanzas in Christian Worship. It is one of the oldest and best known of Lutheran hymns and has been referred to as the true confessional hymn of the Reformation. Martin Luther shed tears when he heard it sung by a street-singer outside his window in Wittenberg. (Christian Worship Handbook, p. 408)

1. As was mentioned in the history and introduction, what in verse one makes this hymn so distinctly Lutheran?

Salvation comes to us through God’s grace. Nothing we earn. Nothing we deserve. Good works, penance, relics, indulgences cannot avert our doom. Those things only give us a false confidence. It is only faith in Jesus Christ alone that saves. “Into your hands I commit my spirit; redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth” (Psalm 31:5)

2. What in verse two makes this hymn so distinctly Lutheran?

We cannot save ourselves. We cannot meet God’s demands in His holy Law. Whatever we do, whatever we try, will only bring wrath and woe. Many people like to think that we may not be perfect, but we’re not all that bad, either. We are vile offenders against a holy God. We have no pure desires within us. “Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit” (John 3:6).

3. What in verse three makes this hymn so distinctly Lutheran?

Many Christian preachers use the Law as only a Guide. But Lutherans understand that God’s Law serves first as a Mirror to “bring the inbred sin to light.” It is the Law that shows people their sin and their need for a Savior. “Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.²⁰ Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.” (Romans 3:19-20)

4. What in verse four makes this hymn so distinctly Lutheran?

We cannot fulfill God’s Law. The debt is too high. The chasm is too wide. The price is too much. Because we could not pay the ransom price; because we could not obey the Law; because we could not still God’s anger and remove our punishment, Jesus did it all for us. “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5).

5. What in verse five makes this hymn so distinctly Lutheran?

Because Jesus paid the ransom price for us, He bought us back from the devil. He is the mediator between a holy God and sinful humanity. He is the atoning sacrifice that allows us to come into God’s presence. We build our faith upon this solid foundation of salvation through grace, faith and Christ alone. “For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 6 who gave himself as a ransom for all men-- the testimony given in its proper time” (1 Timothy 2:5).

6. What in verse six makes this hymn so distinctly Lutheran?

We sing God’s praises as we close with a doxology. However, unlike contemporary Christian praise songs that simply tell God that we are praising Him, this hymn closes with the reason for giving our Triune God blessing, honor, thanks and praise – He has saved us by His grace.

Lent: You can forget the fish

2012-02-07T09:23:00.000-06:00

What's the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear "Lent?" For some, it may be an extra measure of sorrow and sadness. For others, the color purple or Wednesday night services. For others, fish.

All of these are fine ways to observe Lent, but I think you'd agree with me that Lutherans are most familiar with the sorrow and sadness and least familiar with the fish.

In Lent, we focus on our sorrow and repentance after we have sinned. But another side of Lent – possibly the side that we lose sight of – is the dedication and devotion to avoid sin in the first place. It is a sanctified determination to live righteously as God’s chosen people.

Jesus, by His own determination, dedication and devotion, not only paid the price for our sins, but provides the power for our own determined, dedicated and devoted path of service to God and others – the least of which is fish during Lent.

When tempted to sin, to make things enjoyable for Himself, Jesus said, "I can't, I won't." When tempted to come down from the cross, to make things easier for Himself, Jesus said, "I can't, I won't." He chose to lose sleep, He chose to be ridiculed, He chose to live like a poor man, and He chose to die so that we wouldn't be condemned.

It's not so much that Jesus "couldn't" come down from the cross, it's that He "wouldn't" come down from the cross. He wouldn’t come down so we would be saved. As the hymn writer so eloquently puts it: “God was there on Calvary, God the Father’s only Son, Dying that the world might live, There on Calvary.” (CW: 140)

Filled with Jesus' love, we also say "I won't" when tempted to make things enjoyable or easy for ourselves at the expense of others. Filled with Jesus' love, we choose to make God's Word and worship our gift to him, as much as it's a gift to us. Filled with Jesus' love, we choose to spend less and less on our wants and more and more on less-fortunate lambs and lost sheep. Filled with Jesus' love, we choose to give up things that make us give in to temptation, we choose to do what our spouse likes, we choose to be nice to those who aren't nice to us, and we choose to suffer instead of sin. With a Spirit-given faith we accept our cross to follow Jesus throughout Lent and beyond.

It's not that we can't do anything else, it's that, with Jesus and His love in us, we don’t want to do anything else.

Fish during Lent is a choice some people make. But Lent is more than giving up steak or chocolate or something else during these 40 days. Lent isn’t about avoiding things that give us pleasure. It is about avoiding sin. It is about approaching our Savior for strength to avoid the sin and for forgiveness once we’ve committed the sin.

Forget the fish. Focus on the sin. Then focus on your Savior.

In the name of our God who was there on Calvary,

Pastor Michael Zarling

With authority

2012-02-06T06:43:00.000-06:00

Mark 1:21 They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach.²² The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law.²³ Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out,²⁴ "What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are-- the Holy One of God!"²⁵ "Be quiet!" said Jesus sternly. "Come out of him!"²⁶ The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek.²⁷ The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, "What is this? A new teaching-- and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him."²⁸ News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee.

This week in my 7^th grade confirmation class, a few of the students were not finished with their homework. As pastor, I assigned them to writing a 100 word letter explaining why their homework wasn’t completed. Then I mailed that letter to their parents. As a coach, when my soccer players are chatting and goofing around, I will stop talking and stare at them. When they finally get the hint and quiet down, they know they have to run sprints. As a parent, I can clear my throat and my daughters’ heads will snap up or I can snap my fingers and they’ll stop what they are doing. Authority.

We see today that Jesus didn’t need to threaten or stare or clear His throat or snap His fingers to get a demon’s attention. He says a single word, “phimotheti” – “Be quiet.” As Jesus healed, so He also taught – with authority.

It is the Sabbath day in Capernaum. So where would you expect to find Jesus on this Saturday of rest and worship? Of course – in the synagogue. The synagogue literally means the “with gathering” place. We say “congregation.”

Jesus is a 30-year-old rabbi, a teacher. He is the honored guest, the invited preacher in the Capernaum synagogue that Sabbath. Understand that this happens at the very beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry. He has been baptized, defeated the devil, called a few disciples and changed water into wine. He has not done or said many of the things for which He will later be known. He has not yet preached His Sermon on the Mount or put the Pharisees in their place; He has not yet stilled a storm or healed any lepers or raised anyone from the dead. As a result, Jesus was still an unknown commodity. Capernaum’s citizenry has not formed an opinion of Him. They have not yet made up their minds about their Savior.

But then Jesus begins teaching. It didn’t take long before the people were amazed. They were baffled that Jesus taught with such authority. He didn’t quote former rabbis and teachers like was the common practice. He had no need to. He taught the Scriptures as if He was the original writer of the Scriptures … which He was!

He is the Authority!

Mark doesn’t record what Jesus said that day, but He came to teach, in the Greek – “to indoctrinate.” Many people today in our post-modern world think that “doctrine” is a bad word; that we can’t possibly know the truth; there can’t possibly be anything as complete truth or a church body – like ours – that can claim to have the truth. But that’s not what the Bible teaches. That’s not what Jesus taught. He is speaking the truth that never changes. That’s doctrine. He came to preach the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

Though we don’t have the text of the Messiah’s message, we do have the reaction of those who listened to Him. They were filled with awe, adoration and admiration at the words of repentance, forgiveness and salvation. Words they had never heard proclaimed with such clarity. With such authority.

Well, not everyone was in awe that day in the synagogue. Not everyone was comforted by the message of the Christ. Not everyone felt blessed by His presence. Not everyone enjoyed the forgiveness offered by the Son of God. There was one person in the crowd who hated what he was hearing. One person who was both frightened and furious. A man possessed by a demon cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are-- the Holy One of God!”

Remember, Jesus has just recently come from the desert after His victorious battle against the devil. Jesus went mano e mano with Satan – or really God vs. creature. And now Jesus enters this ancient church to do battle against a demonic soldier. It seems as if the devil and his demonic forces were putting in overtime during Jesus’ ministry. You can be sure that wherever the doctrine of Christ is being taught, the devil and his demons will be hard at work. There’s nothing the devil despises more than the preaching of Christ crucified for sinners. The devil and his demons are not afraid of lies and false doctrine. They love vague spiritualities, nebulous praise and cross-less, bloodless gospels that are really no Gospel at all. You can preach social justice and immorality until you’re blue in the face and the devil couldn’t care less. But preach Christ and all sorts of trouble will start.

God is a God of order. He creates and keeps everything in order. His world is like Lutheran liturgy – a theme, a plan, an order to follow. The devil prefers disorder, disruption and chaos. Lots of hollering and jumping around. But with a single word, Jesus silences the disruptive demon and restores order to the liturgy of the synagogue. “Be silent. Come out of him,” Jesus commands. Jesus speaks with authority. And the demon obeys. He must. He has no choice. He must obey the Word in the flesh.

By the way, Jesus uses the same word to silence the chaotic demon that he would later use to silence the chaotic storm. “Be silent.” Literally, “Shut up.” (In our house, “Shut up,” is a bad word. Right, Belle? But when commanding a demon, it’s OK to say “Shut up.”) This is the creative Word speaking – with authority – and the creature must obey.

Jesus certainly demonstrated His authority in the Capernaum synagogue 2,000 years ago in His teaching and healing, but is Jesus the authority in your life today? Is it possible Jesus is an authority, but not the authority? Perhaps, like Eve, the eye-pleasing pleasures of this world are your authority. Perhaps, like King David, lust has lured you away from your Lord and become your authority. Has fear paralyzed you, like King Saul and the Israelites hearing the taunts of Goliath? Is it possible that you, like Ananias and Sapphira, are looking to advance your life by making shady business deals; or like Achan, you find yourself caught up in a sin separating you from God’s grace or like Lot’s wife, you are looking longingly at the things of this world? Then fear, cheating and materialism are your authority.

Or does the devil make a claim on your life? No, you may not be demon-possessed (although there may be times when you want to walk up to your child, put your hand on her head and say, “Demon, be gone!”) But when you won’t allow Jesus to be the authority, then you are giving permission to the devil to fill the void. The demon-possessed man was afraid that Jesus was going to wreck all of his fun. Do you ever get that way? You think that Jesus has no right to interfere with your lustful longings, with your unrestrained greed, your wicked wants and your desire to seek all that is sinful, sensual and immoral. You think that Jesus has no right to expect you to worship Him every Sabbath, no right to tell you how to better your marriage or raise your children or spend your money or correct your sinful sex-life. Satan still suggests that Jesus has no authority to interfere with our depravity, our dishonesty or our decadence.

If your authority is not Jesus Christ, it is a false authority, a demonic authority. It is an influence that is controlling you; that will rob you of joy in this world and remove your assurance of a home in the world to come. It leaves you uncomfortable, screaming because you know that the Messiah is coming to crush these things and end their party. These things have a stranglehold on your spirit – as this demon did with this poor man.

But when Jesus, by the Holy Spirit’s power, rules your head and heart; when Christ is the Authority above anything and everything else; when the Savior is allowed to save you from yourself, then your life is changed immensely for the better.

Satan does battle with you every day. He is a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. He hates that you follow the truth. He wants to create disorder and dysfunction in your life. Satan wants to hold on to you. He wants to keep you in the chains of your sinful desires. He needs for you to stay dead in your sin, plagued by false pride and inflating your ego with independence. But Jesus comes to release you. He sets the captives free. He breaks the chains of your sin. He busts open the prison of your guilt. He wants to take over the authority in your life. Allow His voice to be heard through yours as you command all the authoritative voices clamoring for your attention to “shut up.” Let Jesus drive out the demons that plague you.

Jesus does all this. Not with amazing, fantastic or stupendous displays of power. But with words. “I forgive you.” “I baptize you.” “This is my body. This is my blood.” “Go in peace.” “The Lord bless you and keep you.”

Those simple words from the Word made flesh. They contain the power of the Almighty God. The power to forgive sins, calm fears, dispel doubts and drive away your demons. The same force to cleans lepers, part waters, shut lions’ mouths, slay giants or wake the dead. The same authority to rip a convulsing and crying demon from the chest of that man and send that demon screaming back into the pit of hell. The same power and authority you have in your Bible, in your hymnal, in your church.

Simple words. Words we hear every Sabbath in our synagogue. But there is power in these words. Authority in these words. Forgiveness in these words. Life, death and resurrection in these words.

The Bible prophecies about Jesus, the Son of Man, “He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshiped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed” (Daniel 7:14). Authority over all? Find an exception. Peter’s mother-in-law has a fever; Jesus rebukes it. A tax needs to be paid; Jesus pays it by sending first a coin and then a fisherman’s hook into the mouth of a fish. When five thousand stomachs growl, Jesus renders a boy’s basket a bottomless buffet. Jesus exudes authority. He bats an eyelash, and nature jumps. He spits, and sight is restored. His cloak is touched, and blood stops pouring. He draws in the dirt, and accusers drop their stones. And so no one argues when, at the end of His earthly life, the God-man declares, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me” (Matthew 28:18).

Jesus may not have looked like much when He walked into the Capernaum synagogue. He may not have looked like much as He hung from the Roman cross. He may not have looked like much as He was laid in Joseph’s tomb. But those are the places where Jesus demonstrated His victory over death, the devil and his demons. It was with authority that He healed, taught and commanded demons. It was with authority that He preached sermons, calmed storms and raised the dead. It also was with authority that He allowed Himself to die, with all hell breaking loose in jubilation, thinking they had silenced the Son of God. Yet it was with authority that Jesus powerfully took His life back up again and then descended into hell to ruin Satan’s victory parade. Jesus’ death and resurrection meant their destruction. And our salvation.

This is Jesus’ authority. Not with a stare, the clearing of the throat or snapping of the fingers, but with words, death and resurrection.

That’s the truth. That’s doctrine.

Epiphany Lutheran Church – this is your Capernaum. Your congregation. A synagogue of the baptized, gathered to hear the Word spoken every Sunday Sabbath. The words of the Christ speak into the darkness of your sins, reclaiming your life, silencing your demons, bringing salvation, healing and life to your soul. Come to the synagogue. Listen to Jesus’ teaching. Believe His doctrine. Receive His healing. Accept His authority. Amen.

Things Your Pastor Totally Loves: Being Told Creeds are Bad

2012-02-03T09:08:00.000-06:00

I Haven't Got Time

2012-02-02T11:35:00.000-06:00

Time is very precious. It’s a commodity that can’t be replaced. Even though our time is important, we spend it in some very unproductive ways. It has been estimated that the average American over the course of a lifetime will spend . . .

6 months sitting at stoplights
7 months opening junk mail
1 year searching for misplaced objects
1.5 years trying to return phone calls and
4 years standing in line!

As Christians, we need God’s wisdom to differentiate between the activities that are wasting our time from those activities that are doing God’s will. The Apostle Paul wrote in Ephesians 5:15-16, “Be very careful then, how you live—not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.”

A phrase probably used even during the time of Paul, but certainly used today, is “I haven’t got time.” Because our lives are so full of places to be and things to do, it seems that we can’t do anything more. Certainly there are some activities to which we should say, “I haven’t got time.” However, if we tell God that we don’t have time to spend reading his Word, to pray, to worship, or to help others, then we are acting as unwise and foolish people.

As we examine how we spend our time, we should ask ourselves these two questions:

How much time am I spending with God in Bible reading and prayer?
How much time am I spending in service to others?

With God’s strength, we won’t say “I haven’t got time” when it involves spending time with God and serving others. In spending time with God and in serving, we accomplish what Paul encourages us to do, and that is to make the most of every opportunity.

Getting to Know Your Vocation

2012-02-01T08:03:00.000-06:00

Your name: Nick Groth

How long have you been a member at Epiphany? 5 or 6 years

Occupation: Investigator for the City of Racine Police Department, Assigned to the White Collar Crimes section of the Detective Bureau

What does your day consist of? I am assigned cases to investigate. To investigate them, I talk to victims, suspects, and witnesses. I also prepare subpoenas and search warrants that I send to various businesses to receive information needed for the cases that I am working on.

What is the toughest part of your job? I would say that trying to keep a positive attitude about people in general. So much of my job deals with dealing with people who frankly are not very nice. I see the worst of society day in and day out. Seeing that repeatedly beginnings to change how you look at the world in general. I find myself becoming extremely cynical in life. My knee jerk reaction in life is to not trust anyone and always think the worse of them. Part of that is an officer safety thing, because I really do have to have the mentality of “how is this person going to try to hurt me and if something does happen, how am I going to get out of the situation alive?” It may sound really drastic, but that is how I have to think to stay on my toes to make sure I make it home safe every night as well as all of my co-workers as well as the public that I am paid to protect.

What do you find most enjoyable about your job? The reason that I got into my field was because I wanted to help people. There is nothing quite like being able to make a call to a victim and telling them, “Hey, I just found the guy who broke into your house, or stole your identity, or whatever the crime might have been.” It is in those cases that you feel like you really have made a difference and helped someone. Those are my favorite moments of the job.

How are you able to hold onto your faith while in the workplace? I like to believe that God has put me in the position that I am in, to work for him. I like to think that I am there to help those who can’t help themselves. I believe that God has put me where I am so that I can bring his justice to the world and that he can act through me in that way.

My faith also motivates me in my work ethic. In my job it is very easy for people to become lazy. I try to show my faith by what I do at work and how I do it. I always try to put forth 100% of my effort into everything that I am doing. I also to try to be helpful and considerate of others while at work. Not just with the citizens that I deal with, but also with my co-workers. I try to always make myself available to anyone I work with who needs help with a case, or a computer question, or even just by being there as someone to bounce ideas off of. In that way I may not be able to express exactly what I believe, but at least I can still display my faith through my actions.

How does your faith help you get through your type of work? I count on my faith to keep me level headed and grounded. I use it to help me figure out what is right and wrong every day. There may be giant books of laws that I have to base some decisions on, but the first thing I always search is my heart to know what to do. I try to keep my heart centered on Christ, or I would not be able to continue to do what I do. Again, I believe that I have been put in my position on purpose, so that I can serve God through what I do.

WELS Connection: Haiti

2012-01-31T11:38:00.000-06:00

WELS Connection Close-up

Life hasn't been easy for Judeline Mady, an orphan in Haiti. At age 10, she lost both of her parents, and surviving family members were unable to care for her and her four-year-old twin sisters, Kesley and Keslande. But God had plans for her. He provided another family—one that would take care of her physical and spiritual needs.

In 2009, Judeline and her sisters arrived at an orphanage in the Leogane area run by Gesner Cledo NOZIL and his wife, Marie (whom the children affectionately call Mommy Dudu). “I think of Gesner and Mommy Dudu as parents for us,” she says.

WELS became involved with this orphanage and 18 others in the area in 2010 after a devastating earthquake struck Haiti in January of that year. WELS Christian Aid and Relief is providing humanitarian aid for the physical needs of the children. WELS Missionary Terry Schultz is serving their spiritual needs by teaching Gesner and workers from seven other orphanages about the Bible, so they, in turn, can teach the children. In 2011, Judeline and many other children were baptized. She continues to learn Bible lessons from Gesner.

Life still isn’t easy for Judeline, now 14 years old. She spends most of her days at the orphanage as caregiver and cook— helping prepare rice and noodles for the meal of the day, washing clothes by hand in a washtub, and cleaning—for 42 other children. “She is a big sister to the little ones, caring for them, feeding the babies, and praying with them,” says Gesner.

Judeline does attend school—a 30-minute walk away that she makes either barefoot or in ill-fitting shoes. She is behind in her school work, with only a fourth-grade level education.
But there is hope for the future. Gesner says he wants all the children to complete primary and possibly secondary education to train them for jobs in the future. He is working to improve orphanage conditions and to prepare the children for what lies ahead. “My goals are to develop the children’s spiritual life, help prepare them to become responsible citizens, and help them develop their skills according to their talents,” he says.

Most important, Judeline and the other children have eternal hope through the promise found only in Jesus, a hope they will continue to learn about at the orphanage.

Click on the link to watch the video. WELS Connection Video on Haiti

We preach Christ crucified

2012-01-30T06:52:00.000-06:00

1 Corinthians 2:1-5 When I came to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God.² For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.³ I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.⁴ My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,⁵ so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.

This past week, my 8-year-old daughter, Lydia, was helping me put up a Training Camp poster on the bulletin board in the school stairway. A pushpin fell on the floor. Lydia said, “Let me get that for you, Dad.” Now, before you think she is as sweet and innocent as she looks, she really said, “Let me get that for you, Dad … because you’re old.”

Well, if I’m too old at 41 to bend over to pick up a pushpin off the floor, then, certainly, Epiphany must be too old to do anything of any importance at age 85. Except, look at what God has accomplished through His saints here at Epiphany.

We’ve come a long way from a mission congregation in a storefront on Taylor Avenue. Lutherans typically do not like change very much, but over the years, Epiphany has changed and grown tremendously. The main entrance to the church was changed and a car port created. Stained glass windows representing the Means of grace were added on the west wall. The choir loft and the picture of Jesus praying in Gethsemane were removed and replaced with arches and symbols of the Holy Trinity. A school was started with the Kindergarten classroom where the Friendship Room is now. Then a school addition was built with huge classrooms, a cafeteria and a kitchen. Epiphany joined with First Evan to run the joint school called Wisconsin Lutheran School. These are just some of the wonderful changes that have been seen at Epiphany as she grew older.

Then in her late 70s and early 80s, when many people might be nearing retirement and considering slowing down, Epiphany picked up momentum again. A new, lighted sign pointed people to the epiphany that was happening inside the church. The coatroom was removed and new bathrooms installed, while the downstairs bathrooms also received a huge makeover. Then we wanted to make the interior of the church look as nice as our bathrooms. So the walls were repainted, the gold leaf was touched up and the woodwork was washed and stained. New white sound fabric and beautiful oak arches were added in preparation for our tryptic. But perhaps the biggest change was noted by some of our littlest ones who commented last year, “All the cracks are gone!”

In the meantime, we paid off a $50,000 mortgage within two months of fundraising. Now at our last voters meeting, we voted to call a new first grade teacher, expand the size of our school to a possibility of 190 students and a budget of a staggering $1.2 million dollars.

Then to celebrate Epiphany’s 85^th anniversary and honor the 12 beautiful stained glass windows that grace our church, additional oak woodwork and grand artwork were created and installed. New lighting was added throughout the church to brighten the mood and imitate the light and joy within God’s sanctuary. Epiphany isn’t slowing down with age … she’s only getting her second wind!

And yet, with all that God is accomplishing here at Epiphany, I wonder if we are taking for granted the work that God has put into this building, our ministries and His people. There are a number of reasons why I question whether all of us truly appreciate what is happening here.

Offerings are down $10,000 in just the past few months. God’s people aren’t giving because God’s people aren't worshiping in God’s house. I've said the same thing for 8 years -- we don't have a money problem at Epiphany; we have a spiritual problem at Epiphany. Attendance this past year for worship and Bible Class and important meetings has been abysmal. Pitiful. Frankly, embarrassing. We average less than 200 on a Sunday morning. That means about 60% of the adults and children who consider themselves members in our care do not think that it is important enough to be here on a Sunday morning. Sports, sleep, work, vacation, all take precedence over the priority of giving God the glory for the great things He has done.

It was a sad statement that someone made to me that we now have more members at Ridgewood nursing home than have shown up for some Sundays for church. Someone else asked the other night before our Wednesday evening worship, “Where are all the people?” I said, “It’s too nice outside, so people have other things to do.” He commented, “And when it’s too cold outside, the people stay away then, too.” Or if the children aren’t singing on Sunday, then the families are doing something else.

We have huge, ministry altering decisions to be made at our voters meetings, yet we had only 13 voters at Tuesday night’s meeting. 13 voters out of 200! And only 3 of them have children in our school.

We want fantastic Lutheran worship, but we don’t want to make the commitment to regularly take part in it. We’d rather just complain that its boring. We want growth in our school, but we don’t want the hassle of attending meetings and making decisions. We’d rather grumble and gossip in the basketball stands or in the school parking lot. We want our marriages to be loving, our children to be obedient, our work environment to be satisfying, but we don’t want to put in the effort to actually listen to the one tool God has given us for accomplishing these things – His Holy Bible. We’d rather get in another hour of fruitless labor. We want our called workers to be supported financially, the exterior of our church to be inviting, the school to teach more children about Christ and the Gospel to be spread throughout our community, but we don’t want to make the sacrifice of supporting our ministries with real money. We’d rather spend it on ourselves and hope others pick up the slack.

Thanks be to God that He has accomplished so much here at Epiphany through sinful people like you being led by sinful pastors like us. You can see how unsuited all of us are for these great and difficult tasks. If we had lacked God’s help, we would have ruined everything long ago. We would easily have wrecked it all.

Pastor Kraus, Pastor Wasserman and I can all join with Pastor Paul with both humility and confidence in saying, “I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God. …I came to you in weakness and fear, and with much trembling.My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power,so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power.” This church and school did not change and grow over the years because of its leaders. Nor did it change and grow because of the people who sat in the pews. It all happened because of the message that was preached from this pulpit, played from the pipe organ, sung, confessed and believed by the members and taught by the teachers in the classrooms. And what is that message that can cause such dramatic changes without the aid of pastor or people?

“For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.”

We preach Christ crucified. Though the paint color has changed, the people have changed, the pastors have changed – one thing has remained exactly the same since January 1925 through January 2012 – we preach Christ crucified!

Or as Jesus said today in His Gospel, “Let us go … to the nearby villages so I can preach there also.” Why? Jesus added, “That is why I have come” (Mark 1:38).

We have worked hard over the years to beautify our church. But, I think, we have the tendency to also try to clean up the cross and turn it from an instrument of death into a thing of beauty. A brass cross to adorn the altar, a silver cross to wear around our necks, a wooden cross to afix to our walls. But the cross is not art – it is an instrument of death. But it was the instrument that the Father chose to allow His Son to die upon. There is no beauty here, only blood. There is no art here, only innocence. There is no pleasure here, but there is divine love.

We like it when Jesus says from the cross, “Father, forgiven them for they know not what they are doing.” But it pains us to hear Him cry out, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani!” We like the comforting image of Jesus carrying the lamb in His arms, but don’t forget the image of the sacrficial Lamb upon the altar of the cross – the sour drugged wine, the heaving breaths, the nailed hands, the thorn-crowned head, the blood-stained robe, the pierced side. Images not pretty, but profound.

Beauty may be the reason for the paint, woodwork, stained glass and paintings. But the purpose of the cross is redemption. Dirty, messy, wounded, hurting and dying sinners required a God who would get dirty with them, who entered their messy world, who was wounded for their transgressions, who bled for their forgiveness and who died that they mighty live. A God who died so that He would end death’s reign over us and instead grant us life eternal. We nail our lack of worship to the cross. We bury our laziness and apathy in the open tomb. We take our stingy, greedy, self-centered hearts and have them washed and atoned for in Christ’s blood. We take our stubbornness, our gossip, our grumbling, our reluctance and resistance, our ill thoughts, our angry words, our improper actions – all of our many and varied sins – and we given them to the bloody Christ nailed upon the cross so He can then give the beauty of His forgiveness, life and salvation to us in exchange. No, there is no beauty in the cross, but there is beauty and power in proclaining what Christ accomplished on the cross.

And that’s why we are here. We preach Christ crucified. Yes, God has accomplished great things at Epiphany through His forgiven saints. But the truly great accomplishments are not on the walls of this church, but what has happened within the walls of this church. Bringing a man and woman together in a commitment of love as husband and wife for life. Pouring water upon a child’s head and ripping her out of Satan’s clutches and placing her into God’s holy family. Sometimes force-feeing 8^th graders the Bread of Life in classes so they are ready to taste the Body and Blood of Christ upon their confirmation. Comforting hurting souls with the message of Christ’s forgiveness in the Absolution; taking sins and putting them on Christ in the Kyrie, giving our Triune God praise for His salvation in the Gloria. Making sinners feel the flames of hell licking at the soles of their feet when the Law is preached in all of its severity, and then offering the gentle whisper of sins forgiven in the Gospel proclaimed in all its sweetness. Feeding desperate souls the strengthening meal of Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper; availing ourselves of God’s power in our prayers for Gods’ people; and consoling the grieving with the message of life eternal in the risen Lord. All through the crucified Christ.

Basically, we are still doing today the same glorious things that those before us were doing in this church 85 years ago. As much as things change, they also stay the same. Yes, though some people’s children may think that we are all getting older and slower, with more wrinkles and white hair, this church is not.

A lot has changed at Epiphany in 85 years. But one thing remains the same today as it did in the first sermon preached from this pulpit in January 1927. We preach Christ crucified. Amen.

85^th anniversary of Epiphany Lutheran Church on January 29, 2012

Are You a Tipper or Tither or Both?

2012-01-27T09:59:00.000-06:00

A couple invited some friends out to dinner. The food was very good, and the waiter was courteous and prompt. When they were finished, the host couple wrote out the tip on the credit card slip. To show their gratitude for their service, they gave 20 percent, which is becoming more and more common. As they left, the waiter smiled, happily acknowledging the satisfactory tip.

Interestingly, as the hosts filled out their offering envelope, it dawned on them that they paid a waiter, who they did not even know, more that what they were giving God in their weekly envelope. They gave the waiter beyond a tithe, but to God they gave leftovers.

Is this situation that uncommon among us? Do we take God’s goodness, love, and mercy for granted? For who God is and what he has done for us through his Son, he deserves our first and best. The next time you eat at a restaurant, ask yourself as you leave your tip whether or not God is receiving his appropriate response from you.

Gaining Life

2012-01-26T10:16:00.000-06:00

North Korea, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Iran, the Maldives, Uzbekistan, Yemen, Iraq and Pakistan. Can you tell me what these nations have in common?

According to Open Doors USA, these are, in order, the top ten countries where Christians are persecuted. You've heard the expression, "It's a nice place to visit, but you wouldn't want to live there?" Well, our brothers and sisters are not just trying to live in these countries, they actually do live there. They live there and, fearing persecution, they practice an underground form of Christianity.

In most of these countries that means no church buildings on every corner; it means no Bible studies at the local coffee shop, no wearing a cross or crucifix, no Sunday school or parochial school. It means no Christian TV or radio (although radio can beam in from other countries.) You get the idea?

All of this means the church in these places is dying. Right?

Actually, the answer is wrong. Rev. Carl Moeller, president of Open Doors USA, an organization which monitors persecution, says so many Muslims are converting to Christianity in nations like Iran that they may constitute a fourth major branch of the global church (along with Catholic, Protestant and Orthodox Christians.) Can you believe it?

For these people to believe in Christ means they run the risk of losing friends, business, family and life. Still they believe.

But isn’t that exactly what Jesus said would happen as we live in these End Times? Then he said to them: "Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.¹¹ There will be great earthquakes, famines and pestilences in various places, and fearful events and great signs from heaven.¹² "But before all this, they will lay hands on you and persecute you. They will deliver you to synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors, and all on account of my name.¹³ This will result in your being witnesses to them.¹⁴ But make up your mind not to worry beforehand how you will defend yourselves.¹⁵ For I will give you words and wisdom that none of your adversaries will be able to resist or contradict.¹⁶ You will be betrayed even by parents, brothers, relatives and friends, and they will put some of you to death.¹⁷ All men will hate you because of me.¹⁸ But not a hair of your head will perish.¹⁹ By standing firm you will gain life. Luke 21:10-18

Did you hear what Jesus said? “By standing firm you will gain life!”

Sort of reminds me of that hymn: “And do what they will -- Hate, steal, hurt, or kill -- Though all may be gone, Our victory is won; The kingdom's ours forever!” (CW: 200)

As we get ready to celebrate 85 years of standing firm, we examine the life the Lord of the Church has granted us. Looking outward encourages us to look inward. In my ministry report, I focused on the physical blessings we’ve enjoyed this past year. But the spiritual blessings I want to mention in this devotion are even greater – bringing a man and a woman together as husband and wife; pouring water on a child’s head and giving that child life eternal; taking adults through a basic teachings class of the Bible and seeing their faith grow week by week; sometimes force-feeding 8^th graders the Word of Life so they are ready to taste the Bread of Life at their confirmation; feeding God’s people on a weekly basis with the Bread and Water of eternal life from this pulpit and with the Body and Blood of life in the Lord’s Supper; bringing comfort to a hurting soul whose body is hurting in the hospital; ushering a saint’s soul to heaven at the Christian funeral.

The Church around the world is alive with life! And we are alive here, too, at Epiphany! Amen.

Devotion for Voters Meeting, January 23, 2012

Celebration of the 85th Anniversary this Sunday

2012-01-25T17:10:00.000-06:00

All of our WLS children will be singing in the 8:00 am worship service. The Epiphany Festival Choir will also be leading us in the Kyrie and the Gloria. There will be other fantastic musical accompaniment for our hymns of thanks and praise.

All of you are invited to bring a breakfast dish to share for our Breakfast Potluck beginning at 9:15 am in the Church basement.

At 10:00 am, we will have a dedication ceremony for the unique works of art created specifically for Epiphany Lutheran Church. The paintings portray the two main events of the Epiphany season: The Magi following the star to Bethlehem and Jesus being baptized by John in the

Jordan

We have invited Pastor Pope, who created the arches and the framework for the paintings, and his daughter, Melanie Schuette, the artist who painted these unique masterpieces of artwork for Epiphany, to attend our anniversary service. They will speak and answer questions after the dedication ceremony.

We have also invited former Epiphany pastors, Pastor Wassermann and Pastor Kraus, to be our guests for this festival of God’s grace.

8:00 am Anniversary service and WLS children sing

9:15 am Potluck breakfast in the Church basement

10:00 am Dedication ceremony and presentation by Pastor Pope and Melane Schuette

10:30 am Anniversary service

Join us as we give God the glory for 85 years of grace and growth at Epiphany!

The State of the Church at Epiphany - 2011

2012-01-24T05:59:00.000-06:00

2011 was the 84^th year of God’s grace, Word and Sacraments celebrated and administered to God’s saints at Epiphany Lutheran Church. In January we completed the first phase of our church renovation project. The walls were repaired and repainted a brighter shade of white that brightened the room and made the arch stand out even more so. Wallpaper was added around the sides of the sanctuary that will be durable for years to come. Great care was taken to preserve the integrity of our worship facility. Though we were making everything new, Doug Evans, who headed up our beautification committee, took great care to not make anything look modern (modern in a few decades only looks dated). For example, instead of using regular chair rail like you might use in your home, Don Kirby placed a single strip of oak around the interior, separating the wallpaper from the paint. We took down the two hymn boards which were rather plain and installed a single original, ornate hymn board that was found in the attic. Armin Supernaw washed and re-stained the floor boards, pew caps, hymn board and other woodwork to make it shine again.

The biggest items that were purchased and installed for Epiphany’s 84^th anniversary were oak arches that mimic the arch around the Good Shepherd stained glass window above the altar. Two sheets of white sound fabric were placed inside the arches. Pastor Pope did a masterful job with the woodwork. I like quoting Jim Hermann, who grew up at Epiphany, who said, “This is the way the church should have always looked.” The church renovation costs were about $7,000. Well worth the money!

In January, we were blessed with the transfers of Brad and Kellie Nelson and the adult confirmations of Eric and Amber Wasurick.

In February, Pastor Zarling, Pastor Roekle and Mr. Boehm began attending meetings about School Choice coming to Racine. Throughout January and February, Epiphany members contributed $27,497 for Debt Reduction. Through a very generous gift from a family, that money was matched. The total was $55,000! $48,600 was paid to TriCity and the remaining balance was paid to LACE to whom we still owed $48,000. What an amazing thing to accomplish in the midst of a recession! Since we had a fire already, we burned the TriCity mortgage at the Easter Vigil.

February was also momentous because we passed the Joint Operating Agreement for the operation of Wisconsin Lutheran School between Epiphany and First Evan. This Joint Agreement was probably 10 years in the making. Now we will be able to work even more effectively and efficiently in our commitment of teaching God’s Word to our children.

We also had one of our most popular Lenten suppers … ever! Nathan Hefti provided Olive Garden salad and pasta for the congregation. It was both very well attended and very delicious! We also transferred Bethany (Bauer) Lee to Friedens, Kenosha.

In December of 2010, Pastor Zarling and Chuck Mano sanded and stained the wood floors in the Parish House and Frank Petrick painted the walls. In March and April, furniture was moved in to the Parish House to give it a “home” feel. It is very comfortable now for small group Bible studies and various meetings.

In May we accepted 8 confirmands into membership: Faith Allen, Devin Harmon, Danielle Hood, Michaela Mano, Cory Nejedly, Samantha Peterson, Sydney Smith and Abigail Zarling. I pointed out in my confirmation ceremony how many of these confirmands were baptized at Epiphany’s font and now they were confirming their baptismal vows before that same font years later. Unfortunately, we also released 21 people from their membership at Epiphany.

In June we tried something new. Pastor Janke and Pastor Zarling did a youth Soccer Camp at New Hope. There were over 80 children who heard God’s Word in devotions and lessons, while at the same time having fun learning soccer. We also had about a dozen teenagers from Epiphany helping as assistants. It was well worth the extra effort to do this soccer camp in place of a traditional VBS.

In July, Roger Tanner was baptized and then confirmed in the worship service. We transferred the Lowery family to Trinity, Caledonia. Pastor was again the head counselor for Training Camp. It was another successful year with about 80 campers from grades 3-9.

This summer and fall, Mano Fencing installed a new gate on the west side of school. They also replaced the fencing around the school playground. John Christiansen from John’s Tree Service, donated wood chips for the playground and cleaned out the gutters on the school. Throughout the year we also made minor improvements to the church and school: repairing downspouts, installing new exit lights, etc.

August was a very busy month at WLS. Because we had voted to accepted School Choice for our school, we had to have a lot of paperwork, building improvements, etc. completed by the middle of August. We had no idea what impact School Choice would have on WLS. The IPSC decided to open 31 seats for School Choice students. We received 26 students, all but 7 of those were from our own church families. School Choice has been a real blessing for our school! Instead of shrinking and cutting staff like is happening in so many of our other WELS grade schools, we are working towards increasing staff and filling our classrooms to about 20 students per classroom. Yes, there are risks and challenges with School Choice, but what a blessing God has granted to our churches and school at just the right time!

In September, we had our annual church picnic. We invited the popular WELS band, KOINE, to beautify our service. The weather, worship and fellowship could not have been more splendid! We also remembered the 10^th anniversary of 9-11. The Bakeless Bake Sale on September 25 raised over $1200 for the new paintings.

In October, the Lord of the Church allowed Epiphany to grow with new members: Lori Ballewske, John Christiansen, Jennifer Fitzpatrick, Adam Noll and Lynne Zygowski through affirmation of faith. Faith Kionka also transferred to Epiphany from Crown of Life in New Orleans, LA.

For the very first time in our history of working together with First Evan in running WLS jointly, we extended a Divine Call from both congregations through the IPSC per the Joint Operating Agreement. We called Michael Koestler to be the principal of WLS since Mr. Boehm is retiring at the end of the 2012 school year. Mr. Koestler was led to return the Call.

Beginning with the Reformation Festival in October, our choir began using parts of a new liturgy called “Jesus, the Compassion of God.” We have only started using the Kyrie and the Gloria for our festival services like Reformation, Christ the King, Christmas Day and the Epiphany Festival. The choir and the congregation love to sing this new liturgy. It is both reminiscent of our heritage by singing the Kyrie in Latin and yet also new and refreshing with the various choir voices and all the instrumentalists that Judy Kirby, Krista Reck and Joshua Krohn are able to organize and implement.

In January Pastor Pope and his daughter, Melanie Schuette, installed the framework and the new paintings. They are fantastic! We keep receiving compliments on them. Tom Hunt, a local artist and a member at First Evan told me that though we paid $3,000 a piece for the paintings, they are really worth about $15,000 a piece! Scott Martyn and Joshua Krohn also installed new track lighting for the paintings, lectern and pulpit, replaced light bulbs behind the Good Shepherd stained glass window to brighten it up, and replaced all the light bulbs in the sanctuary. A number of older members have also commented on how much they appreciate the worship service being brighter. Pastor commented that now the church looks like he always dreamed it could.

It is such a pleasure to worship in God’s house with all the beauty of our stained glass windows, artwork and woodwork, the passion of our musicians and the dedication of our members!

In the coming years we are going to be working on adding PayPal on our website; two video cameras for better quality in recording for DVDs for shut-ins, sermons for Facebook and live streaming on our website; doing even more outreach through canvassing and Facebook; adding insulation in the church attic, etc. Our next big facilities project is the basement hallway and the entire exterior of the church. We hope to take a group of Teens to the Youth Rally in Knoxville, TN this year. Pastor and his family didn’t really take a vacation in 2011. So in 2012, they are planning on going to Racliff, KY to see the new church that was built there, going to Disney in spring and South Dakota in August. Shelley and Pastor are also hoping/planning on taking a tour of the Apostle Paul’s missionary travels around the Mediterranean in 2013.

To God be the glory, great things He has done! – Pastor Zarling, 1/23/12

God Calls the Ordinary to Do the Extraordinary

2012-01-22T16:39:00.000-06:00

1 Kings 19:19 So Elijah went from there and found Elisha son of Shaphat. He was plowing with twelve yoke of oxen, and he himself was driving the twelfth pair. Elijah went up to him and threw his cloak around him.²⁰ Elisha then left his oxen and ran after Elijah. "Let me kiss my father and mother good-by," he said, "and then I will come with you." "Go back," Elijah replied. "What have I done to you?"²¹ So Elisha left him and went back. He took his yoke of oxen and slaughtered them. He burned the plowing equipment to cook the meat and gave it to the people, and they ate. Then he set out to follow Elijah and became his attendant.

Farmers, tentmakers, fishermen. What the Lord did then, He still does today. He uses the ordinary things to accomplish the extraordinary. He takes everday people, calls them to serve in His eternal Kingdom.

It shouldn’t surprise us that God wants to use the ordinary to accomplish the extraordinary. Look at what He did with some dirt and a rib or with some loaves of bread and a few fish. Or how He had His Son become one of us with our human flesh and blood to bring salvation to us (John 1:14).

The Christian faith is all about trust in a God who uses the ordinary to bring about the miracle of salvation. Ordinary blood dripping from some Roman beams to provide a cleansing from all mankind’s sin. Ordinary water taken from the tap, combined with the Word of God to remove a child from hell’s existence and place her into God’s holy family. Ordinary unleavened bread pressed into wafers and ordinary grape wine purchased from the store are combined with the words of Jesus so that we might receive the body and blood of the Son of God for the strengthening of a saint’s faith. Words spoken by a pastor during a worship service are really the words of Christ being heard in the invocation, absolution and benediction.

Just as the Lord uses ordinary things to accomplish His mission of salvation, so He also uses ordinary people to carry around the extraordinary. “But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us” (2 Corinthians 4:7). And so God calls the farmer Elisha, a tentmaker and Pharisee like Saul, and fishermen like Peter and Andrew to be jars of clay to carry around the treasure of the Gospel. He uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary.

When Elisha set out to work the field that morning, he surely had no idea what or who was headed his way. Just another workday, it seemed, when out of the blue a man walked up to him and tossed his coat on him. But this was no ordinary man who walked up – it was Elijah, who had recently come down from Mt. Carmel after slaying the 450 prophets of Baal. This was no ordinary cloak. This was the prophet’s cloak. The same cloak Elijah later threw down from the fiery chariot and Elisha then used to part the waters of the Jordan River. Placing the cloak upon Elisha passed on the prophetic office from one to another, much the same way pastors lay hands upon the head of a new teacher or pastor. An ordinary man called into extraordinary service.

In Antioch, the Lord of the Church called into service a very diverse ministry team. Simeon was black, Barnabas was from Cyprus, Lucius was from Cyrene in Northern Africa, Saul was a former Pharisee and persecutor, and Manaen was the foster brother of Herod the Tetrach, who had beheaded John the Baptist. Ordinary men called into extraordinary service.

As Jesus walked along the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee, who did He handpick to be His disciples? Fishermen, mostly. Then later a tax-collector, a doctor and a zealot thrown into the lot. A bunch of blue-collar, everyday, ordinary, working-class people. The extraordinary Son of God called ordinary people to follow Him.

But whether we serve the Lord as ordinary office personnel, factory workers, housewives, teachers or pastors; we are called into the extraordinary service of our Lord. It is important for us to remember that we are to follow the Lord and serve Him no matter what our vocation.

And yet, how do we often find ourselves following our Savior? Jesus calls us to follow Him closely, but we wander off this way to taste the forbidden fruit and then go off the other way to enjoy other ungodly pleasures. The Good Shepherd invites us to stay close to Him, yet we get bored and stray off into “greener” pastures or get scared run away because roaring lion of Satan and the ravenous wolves of the world are on our heels and we no longer trust the safety of our Shepherd. Jesus doesn’t seem so Good them. The Son of God says “Follow Me,” yet His path seems dark and difficult, filled with hard work, illnesses, heartaches and persecution. How many times don’t you find yourself praying in essence, “Lord, your way is fine, but if you’d just let me lead for a little while, I can avoid all these difficulties.”

Or how many times do you find yourself unhappy with your ordinary gifts, in your ordinary job, performing ordinary service? We want to be extraordinary, amazing and powerful. Do you ever notice how minor clerks or municipal workers enjoy their small ability to make people wait, to follow their official routines and procedures? They enjoy the power to issue tickets and levy fines and make us wait in line. How often aren’t we like that in our respective jobs? Whether as a CEO or a mom or a pastor. Power corrupts, Lord Acton once said. We think God owes us a better life and if He’s not going to give it to us, then we’re going to take it.

Because we fail God in our respective callings, we need to hear the Lord’s call to worship. For Lutheran worship is the medicine that carries the antidote of Christ to us who are Jesus’ lambs and sheep. We follow Jesus to the Lord’s altar for it is in the Lord’s house where God’s saints hear everything we need for our justification before God and our sanctification among our peers. In the Confession of Sins, we bring our ordinary, everyday sins and lay them before the altar of Christ. Then we hear the extraordinary forgiveness of Christ in His Absolution. In the Kyrie, we ask for the Lord to have mercy upon us for our failings as a spouse or single person, a parent or child, an employer or employee. We hear the Gloria to the Triune God who won mankind’s salvation so that we may keep the cross always before our eyes, both in the workplace and in the home.

In Create in Me a Clean Heart, O God, we join with that great sinner, King David who was both an adulterer and murderer, as we ask God to create in us clean hearts to overcome our innate selfishness. As we sing O Christ, Lamb of God, we lay our sins on Jesus and pray for Him to cover us with His blood-bought forgiveness. In the epiphany of the bread and wine that is Christ’s body and blood, Christ gives us forgiveness and strength to go on another week in our vocation. The Song of Simeon is the believer’s “Now I lay me down to sleep” prayer, so that we may confidently close our eyes for the evening or for death.

As the Divine Service begins with the Invocation, asking for the Lord’s presence, and ends with the Benediction, asking for the Lord’s blessings, we begin and end each day with the Lord. And as we come into church, we see Christ’s baptismal font reminding us that it is Baptism that makes us justified saints and heirs of God’s Kingdom and it is Baptism that keeps us as sanctified saints and heirs in God’s Kingdom here on earth. It is in our Baptism where the Holy Spirit initially called us from an ordinary life of sin to an extraordinary life of salvation.

We need Lutheran worship for what ails us. It is before the Lord’s altar where justification flows into sanctification – both for the pastor in the pulpit and the people in the pews. Allow the glowing sacred to bring light into the dreary mundane of the merely secular. We preach Christ crucified so we may constantly live under the cross (1 Corinthians 1:23; Matthew 16:24). Life organized around the forgiveness of sins, this is Luther’s idea of the calling to follow Jesus. It is through the gentle whisper of the Gospel, the remembrance of dripping water, and the taste of body and blood, that we can do all things through Christ who gives us strength (Philippians 4:13).

In our last few sermons, in our Sunday morning Bible study and now in a series of articles in our church newsletter, we are focusing on our vocation. Remember that our vocation is our calling into service to God and to His Kingdom. Last week I mentioned that if you have God with you in your job, then your job – whatever it is – becomes your vocation, your higher calling. But if you leave God apart from your job, then it just remains work.

Lutherans have a particularly keen focus on the doctrine of vocation, that is, that no matter who we are – stay-at-home mom, factory worker, carpenter, retired engineer, teacher or pastor – God uses the gifts He gives us to serve our neighbor and the world. God works through what we call “First Article” gifts. What does that mean? Luther in his explanation of the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, maker of heaven and earth” asserts that God has given to each of us all our abilities and talents, and that everything we are and everything we have is a gift from God to be used in service of others.

Look at what our Lord Jesus did. Jesus learned and taught as a child in the temple courts, but He almost certainly worked in His foster father’s carpentry shop. He preached on the Mount, but He also relaxed and ate at the home of Mary and Martha. He fed the multitudes, but He also went off on His own to pray. He gave His disciples the Holy Spirit as their Counselor, but He also fried up fish on the beach for their breakfast.

Martin Luther King, Jr., never sounded so Lutheran as when he proclaimed in a speech, “If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as Michelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music, or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” I like that.

In the Middle Ages, our Martin Luther was battling the concept that only priests, monks and nuns were doing godly service. That’s why he said, “The idea that the service to God should have only to do with a church altar, singing, reading, sacrifice, and the like is without doubt but the worst trick of the devil. How could the devil have led us more effectively astray than by the narrow conception that service to God takes place only in a church and by the works done therein. … The whole world could abound with the services to the Lord, Gottesdienste – not only in churches but also in the home, kitchen, workshop, field.

There are no second-class citizens in God’s Kingdom, for we were all called to faith and then given a purpose as heirs and priests. Our purpose is to praise God with our lips and our lives. “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light” (1 Peter 2:9). Again, Luther said, “What you do in your house is worth as much as if you did it up in heaven for our Lord God. … We should accustom ourselves to think of our position and work as sacred and well-pleasing to God, not on account of the position and work, but on account of the word and faith from which the obedience and the work flow.” I like that, too.

Jesus came into this world in human flesh, in a humble way, looking like an ordinary man. While in reality He was the almighty Son of God. He rode a lowly donkey, died a criminal’s death and was buried in a borrowed tomb. Yet, it was through those humble means that Jesus won our glorious salvation! He took our ordinary, everyday sins and nailed them to His cross. He took our ordinary, everyday lives and buried them in His tomb. Now He rides triumphantly into our hearts through the humble means of Word and Sacrament so that we might now live extraordinary lives of service to Him.

The Lord who formed Adam from ordinary dirt has formed us from sinners and made us His saints. The Lord who called ordinary people into His service has called us to serve as His holy ones with a vocation and a higher calling that He has planned for us. The Lord wants us to see the big picture of what following means in our respective callings. We are ordinary jars of clay … carrying the treasure of extraordinary Christ. Amen.

3^rd Sunday after the Epiphany on January 22, 2012

Follow your calling

2012-01-15T21:15:00.000-06:00

John 1:43 The next day Jesus decided to leave for Galilee. Finding Philip, he said to him, "Follow me."⁴⁴ Philip, like Andrew and Peter, was from the town of Bethsaida.⁴⁵ Philip found Nathanael and told him, "We have found the one Moses wrote about in the Law, and about whom the prophets also wrote-- Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph."⁴⁶ "Nazareth! Can anything good come from there?" Nathanael asked. "Come and see," said Philip.⁴⁷ When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, "Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false."⁴⁸ "How do you know me?" Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, "I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you."⁴⁹ Then Nathanael declared, "Rabbi, you are the Son of God; you are the King of Israel."⁵⁰ Jesus said, "You believe because I told you I saw you under the fig tree. You shall see greater things than that."⁵¹ He then added, "I tell you the truth, you shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man."

Do you like your job? Do you enjoy going to work every day? Do you see your job as your vocation?

I love my job. I love being able to share God’s Word with you in the pulpit and open the Scriptures to you in a Bible class. I enjoy talking with our teachers after school, our shut-ins in our visits and members before and after service. There is nothing I appreciate more in my role as pastor than beautifying our worship and church, preaching for a saint’s funeral, or baptizing a baby and communing a new confirmand. And I have fun in my work. I had fun working with Sue and Sarah and now Rod in the office – although I remind Rod that if he’s doing a good job I’ll call him the office manager; if he’s not doing a good job that day he’s the church secretary.

But I also love my other roles as a father to my children and a husband to my wife. Spending time in the stands for basketball, coaching the girls in soccer, helping with homework, going on a vacation, fixing something around the house – or really having Scott come over and fix it and handing him tools.

Those are my jobs, the roles God has given me to do here on earth – husband, father, pastor. They are also my vocations.

Do you see your job as your vocation? The term vocation in popular language is a person’s work, profession or trade. However, Scripture defines vocation as God’s call to be who we are in whatever we do. With God, your job becomes your vocation. But without God there is no vocation, only work.

By His grace, Jesus has called you to follow Him in faith. Like Philip and Nathanael, Jesus has entered your life and called you to something greater. This call to faith invites you to believe the impossible – that God’s own Son came to live and walk on this earth, then die to pay for mankind’s sins and then rise again to give eternal life to all who believe this. This amazing call invites you to believe that on account of what Jesus did for you, sinners are made saints, beggars are placed on thrones and heaven replaced hell in mankind’s future.

That is your call to faith. Now Jesus invites you to follow Him in your calling. Jesus extended a calling to Philip and Nathanael. Their calling was to become disciples of the Lord Jesus – to follow Him wherever they went. Listen to Him. Learn from Him. Follow His example. See that everything they said and did was to be done to God’s glory and in service to others. When they did this, then their job of disciples became their vocation and their calling as disciples.

Since Jesus has called you to faith, He now extends to you a calling. Your calling is your vocation. Find satisfaction and contentment in serving God and serving others in your respective vocations. Whether that vocation is catching speeders on the bypass in Burlington (where they’ve caught me), catching touchdown passes thrown by Aaron Rodgers or wiping your toddler’s nose after she caught a cold at Day Care. Follow your calling.

Men are Like Waffles – Women are Like Spaghetti was a popular book a few years ago about the relationships of men and women. It explained why a man is like a waffle (because each element of his life is in a separate box), and why a woman is like spaghetti (because everything in her life touches everything else.) Not only do men compartmentalize, like waffles, but we Christians have somehow confined God and faith and actions to church and school, and so have left much of God’s Word and teachings in the parking lot. That’s why Joe can justify or ignore his potty-mouth at work, while at the same time faithfully coming to Bible study. Or why Jill can feel it is fine for her to gossip and complain during a women’s meeting at church.

It is truly fantastic when members of the Holy Christian Church are going out into the schools, playgrounds and businesses of our nation. It is tragic that they are capable of forgetting who they are once they get there. This is compartmentalization.

It is all too easy and tempting for Christians to crowd their faith out of their work, home and daily life. Take Jesus with you wherever you go. Not in your lunch pail or coffee cup, just to take out whenever you feel malnourished or need a quick caffeine shot of Jesus. But, just as you daily wear your work clothes – business suit, overalls or apron – so daily to put on Christ as a garment of salvation.

We, as Christians in our various vocations, need to be spaghetti – letting God, His Word and His Spirit-given faith flow through and intermingle with everything we do. Trusting Christ makes as much sense in the church pew and the hospital bed as it does while changing the baby’s dirty diaper or closing a million dollar business deal. Like it was stated earlier, a job is just a job, but when God is involved, the Christian’s job becomes a vocation, a higher calling of service.

For those of us who like to compartmentalize church and work, we need to be reminded that sin committed in the workplace is still a sin. On the other hand, Christ’s forgiveness and mercy are just as available at the office as they are in the church pew.

Because we are members of one Body (1 Corinthians 12:12-27; Romans 12:4,5), we must never lose our connection to Christ, who is our Head. When we compartmentalize our faith away from what we do on a daily basis, it is as if we are cutting off parts of our Body. When we leave Christ at home, only to use for Sunday mornings and evening prayers, it is as if we are removing the Head of the Body for the rest of the week. Why would we not want to take Jesus’ love, forgiveness and holiness with us wherever we go and with whatever we do?

What did Philip and Nathanael know about following Jesus? How well trained were they in their new calling as Jesus’ disciples? They knew nothing and they had no training. But that’s why they spent so much time over the next three years following Jesus. They learned from the Master.

If you want to learn how to be a stronger supervisor, a better business person or a qualified caregiver, then follow Jesus. Learn from the Master. And that doesn’t come from one hour in worship every few weeks. It comes with quality – and quantity – time digging into the Scriptures in weekly worship, personal devotions and congregational Bible studies. And then applying those words to your life once you go back home or to work. If you want to live for Christ, you must make sure Christ is alive in you. You will only bear much fruit if you are connected to the vine (John 15:5).

Many work for money and so the weekend becomes about them. Sadly, because many Christians do not take God with them to work, they feel exhausted, worn out and weary at the end of the workweek. They think they need to get-away up north or hole-away in the house for the weekend in order to recharge. But if you understand that when you have God with you every day at work – with your daily Bible reading in the lunchroom, with your motivation on the assembly line and in your conversations in the boardroom – your “spiritual battery” isn’t being drained so dramatically and quickly. Then, since you have time for God during the week, you will make Him a priority on the weekend.

Vocation is really about humbling oneself. It is serving others. It is putting others ahead of yourself. Just as Samuel did with Eli or Paul thanking the brothers in Thessalonica. If you want to know how to serve God in your vocation, then examine how Jesus served you in His vocation. “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:8). Jesus fulfilled His vocation that was assigned Him since before time began. Jesus served you by fitting all the divinity of the Godhead into the body of a human baby. He served you by living the perfect life for all the times you have failed as a parent, child, employer, employee, friend or church member. Jesus served you with His resurrection from the borrowed tomb so that His heavenly home would be bought and paid for – for you.

But not only did Jesus serve humanity in His incarnation, crucifixion and resurrection, He also served us in the otherwise mundane events of interacting with people around Him. What did Jesus do? The same things you and I do. He washed feet (John 13:5). He settled arguments (Mark 9:34,35). He served a meal to others (John 6:11). In a way, He even cleaned house (John 2:15,26).

When it comes to vocation, consider how the Creator of the universe humbled Himself to wash filthy feet, so you can certainly wash your daughter’s dirty face. If Christ served bread to others, you can serve meatloaf to your family. If the Son of God willingly performed menial work rather than appointing someone else to do it, how can you complain about disinfecting the diaper pail?

Life has no purpose without God. But with God, all of life has a purpose, from the most noble estates to the most insignificant duties.

Follow your calling by constantly hearing Jesus whisper, “I have you. I forgive you. I lived for you. Now you live for Me.” Fulfill your daily vocation by hearing the voice of Jesus tell you just as gently as it told the adulterous woman, “Neither do I condemn you.” … “Now leave your life of sin” (John 8:11).

Though you are presently in the Church Militant with dirty robes, tarnished crowns and wilted palms in the land of this world’s prince, some day you will be dressed in white robes, wearing golden crowns, holding palm branches in victory around the throne of the Lamb in the Church Triumphant (Revelation 7:9-17). Now go out and live as those victorious, white-robed saints in your various vocations.

Le Chambon is a unique town in

France

. Not because of its architecture or because it is the ancestral home of a great composer or artist. It is interesting because, while other towns in

France

handed their Jewish friends and neighbors over to the Nazis, the citizens of Le Chambon did not.

During the Holocaust in

France

, while the French government was collaborating with the Nazis, the villagers of Le Chambon hid 5,000 Jews, mostly children, inside the homes of 5,000 Christians – almost the entire population of this tiny mountain Huguenot village. The Christians hid the Jews in their homes for years. They provided the refugees with forged identification, provided education for the children, rations, and sent them to safety in

Switzerland

It isn’t as though the Christians had convened a town meeting and decided collectively to oppose the Nazis and hide the Jews. So why did the inhabitants of this little French village stand up during the Nazi occupation and stand out to us so many decades later that the town is now being honored in the Holocaust Memorial Museum? Sunday after Sunday the villagers would hear sermons from Pastor Trochme. Over time they became, by habit, people who knew what to do – and they tried to do it. So when the Nazis came to town, when it came time for them to be courageous, they quietly did what was right. One elderly woman who had faked a heart attack when the Nazis came to search her house said, “Pastor always taught us that there comes a time in every life when a person is asked to do something for Jesus. When our time came, we knew what to do.”

There may not seem to be anything extraordinary in your job, whether at home or at work. But understand that since God put you there and you have Jesus with you, then that job is now your vocation. Listen, learn and follow your calling so that when the time comes, you will “just know what to do.” Amen.

Baptism is the beginning and ending

2012-01-09T20:59:00.000-06:00

Mark 1:4 And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.⁵ The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.⁶ John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.⁷ And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.⁸ I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."⁹ At that time Jesus came from Nazareth in Galilee and was baptized by John in the Jordan.¹⁰ As Jesus was coming up out of the water, he saw heaven being torn open and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.¹¹ And a voice came from heaven: "You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased."

Did you know that the Bible begins and ends baptismally? I know that sounds strange, but think about it for a moment. The second verse of Genesis tells us, “The Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.” Spirit and water. Water and Spirit. A new creation. Right there in the opening verses of Holy Scripture, a baptismal beginning. Before there was day and night, sea and sky, sun, moon and stars, sea and dry land, plants, fish, birds, land animals and humans as the crown of God’s creation – in the very beginning there was water and Spirit and Word.

Jesus Christ reveals to St. John a vision of heaven in His Revelation. It is a picture of the eternal end. John sees Christ’s saints dressed in white robes. Just as the baby is brought to the font wearing her white baptismal gown, as the confirmand stands before the font wearing his white confirmation gown, so the saints in heaven are standing before the River of Life wearing their white robes of righteousness.

The Bible begins and ends baptismally.

Mark begins his Gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God, baptismally. The beginning of Mark’s story of the Gospel is John the Baptist and the Baptism of Jesus. Mark has no need to tell us about Jesus’ conception, His birth in Bethlehem, His presentation in the temple, or anything about His childhood. He allows Matthew and Luke to fill in those blanks. For Mark, the Gospel, the Good News of Jesus, begins with His Baptism. And we are here once again on the first Sunday after the Epiphany to consider the Baptism of our Lord.

Jesus came out to the edge of the wilderness where John was preaching and baptizing for repentance and forgiveness of sins. Even though Jesus had no sins to repent of, no sins to be forgiven of, He was baptized. Not because He needed it, but because we needed it. He waded into the muddy waters of the Jordan River so that those waters might flow with the mud and filth of our sins being washed from us. Because if He had not been baptized, then our baptisms would be empty.

Martin Luther asked the question in his Catechism: “How can water do such great things?” The answer is that “it is certainly not the water that does such great things, but God’s Word which is in and with the water.” And today we see that picture before us – both verbally and visually. The Word made flesh is in the water … for us. The same Word through which everything was created in the beginning and the same Word which will announce the end of all things at Judgment Day – that is the Word that is in the Jordan River. The same Word that is spoken at our font.

We need this Baptism of water and the Word. For it is water that creates life, makes it clean and makes it new. We pray with King David, “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me” (Psalm 51:10)

Do you remember when your children were younger, and after a full day of rough and tumble sports and play activities, they would arrive home for supper, filthy? Their little bodies looked like they had been rolling in dirt, their clothes stained with grass marks, and the smell of sweat from the hot summer sun was clearly evident. As soon as they entered the house and you got a look at them, you stated, “Into the bathtub you go! And don’t forget to scrub!” Thirty minutes later, the kids would walk down the stairs sparkling in their cute footied-pajamas, wet combed hair, clean and sweet-smelling bodies. “How different you look,” you would say. “Are these the same dirty children I saw a few minutes ago?”

God does the same thing for us, but with much more miraculous proportions in our lives. We come to edge of the water filthy with our inborn sin, our natural lusts, our sinful cravings, our lies, jealousy, anger, gossip and guilt. We were brought to the font by our parents so that we might be washed clean, presented with a new heart and spirit. We are bathed in the light and love of the Lord and made a new creation. How different we look from the way we once were.

But just as we need to bathe daily to wash away the sweat and grime of the day and be made clean and sweet-smelling again, so we need to come before Christ’s font daily with our sins. Sadly, the unbelievers around us do not see the power in Baptism because they see us daily offering the parts of our body to sin, living as the spawn of Satan instead of the heirs of salvation we were recreated to be in our Baptism. That is why Baptism is not just a one day event, but it is a daily occurrence and a daily washing.

Baptism isn’t something that happens once and is then forgotten except for the pictures and the certificate. It is a daily repentance of transgressions, a sorrow over sin, a grieving of the heart that we have once again fallen into the hellish desires of our inborn sinful nature. It is a daily washing and rebirth. Each day Baptism drowns our Old Adam (and boy, does he need drowning). The sinner dies, the saint in Christ arises. Each day is a new resurrection day. That is why our font has 8 sides, 7 sides for the 7 days of creation, and the 8^th day for the dawn of the new creation. That is why the Paschal candle is lit to remind us that Baptism lifts us out of the death and chaos of sin to a new life in Christ. It is an identity we wear – like white-robed saints. We don’t simply say, “I was baptized,” but “I am baptized.” That’s who you are. Every time you see this font and confess your sins, you are once again identifying yourself with what Christ accomplished that day in the Jordan River.

That is why Mark stresses Jesus’ Baptism at the beginning of his Gospel. For just as the Holy Trinity was involved at creation and will be eternally present in heaven, so the Father, Son and Holy Spirit were present and active at Jesus’ Baptism. The sinless Son stands in solidarity with sinners, immersed in their putrid bath water. All our adulteries, thefts, murders, deceits, idolatries and blasphemies are washed in that water, and Jesus steps into it to make the bitter water sweet. Like a sponge, He absorbs the sin of the world and becomes the Sinner for us all.

Remember how the Spirit was hovering over the waters at creation? Here the Spirit hovers over Jesus’ baptismal waters as a dove. And in your Baptism, the Spirit descended upon you. Not visibly in the form of a dove, but audibly in the Word. The Spirit is there in that water combined with His holy Word testifying, naming and claiming you as one anointed by God, chosen for a purpose, and made an heir of eternal life. By Baptism, the Holy Spirit unites us with the God-Man, Jesus Christ, who unites us to His Father.

The Father bears witness with His voice calling from heaven, “You are my Son, whom I love; with you I am well pleased.” There’s an echo of Isaiah here: “You are my servant,

Israel

, in whom I will display my splendor” (49:6). The Father is well pleased because the plan of salvation that was formulated before the foundations of the world were laid, is now being put into effect. The pin is pulled; there is no stopping it now until it all ends on a cross outside of Jerusalem. There Jesus is once again declared to be the Son of God, but this time by a Roman soldier witnessing His death.

Mark adds one more detail that we should not overlook. As Jesus was coming up out of the water (Jesus was probably baptized in the shallow Jordan River by standing in the water up to His knees or waist and then walking up to shore), He saw “heaven being torn open.” The English translation is fine, that the heavens were “tore open.” But the Greek Mark uses is much stronger. He says the heavens were “schismed!” At Christmas I encourage my girls to nicely unwrap their presents and neatly fold up the wrapping paper so we can reuse it again next year. Yeah, like that ever happens! They tear into their presents and there is paper everywhere!

God the Father tore the heavens in two! And Mark uses that word on purpose. In fact, he’s the only Gospel writer to do so, even though Jesus’ Baptism is recorded in all four Gospels. Because he wants to make a point, a connection, with this word – for it is a word that he uses in only one other place – and that is at Jesus’ death. The connection is that when Jesus died on the cross, it was the curtain in the Temple that was “schismed,” torn in two from top to bottom. For in Christ – in His sacrificial death for us, in His atonement for our sins, in His bringing God and man back together again in the forgiveness of our sins – there is now no longer any separation between us and God. Because of what Jesus Christ, our Great High Priest, accomplished in the muddy

Jordan

and upon the bloody cross, we now have free and unfettered access into the Holy of Holies, to the throne of God.

And Mark wants you to know that is what your Baptism means for you today. In Jesus’ Baptism, we see our own. And remember that when you were baptized, hell’s gates were slammed shut and heaven was torn wide open to you through the forgiveness and washing away of your sins. There is now no longer any barrier for you to overcome. Your Baptism has not just promised you heaven and eternal life … it has given it to you!

That is how important Baptism is! It is more than just an initiation rite into the Church. It is more than just a one-time event. It is an enduring reality in our lives. For Martin Luther it was virtually synonymous with the entire Christian life. Just as the Bible begins and ends baptismally, so our life as a Christian begins and ends baptismally.

Baptism is the foundation of who we are and what we are. Baptism is what makes us justified saints and heirs, and it is Baptism that keeps us as sanctified saints and heirs. The Sacrament of Baptism is the foundation sacrament for all other church rites and the Sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. In Baptism we are brought into God’s holy family, marked with the sign of the cross and sealed with the Spirit. It is the beginning of our life as a child of God.

Confirmation is the affirmation of Baptism. It is the confirmand’s opportunity to make his parents’ or godparents’ promises his own.

Confession and Absolution is the practice of Baptism. We stand before the Lord’s altar and His font and ask that our sins and guilt once more be washed away. We are once again made clean and new in our baptismal grace.

Baptism is our invitation to the wedding feast of the Lamb here on earth given to us in Holy Communion. We are baptized before we may commune.

As we received the blessing of forgiveness in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit in our Baptism, so we end our worship by receiving the three-fold blessing of peace from our Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

It is also at the end of a Christian’s life, at the committal at the end of the funeral service where the pastor asks for the Triune God’s blessing and recalls the departed saint’s baptism: “May God the Father, who created this body; May God the Son, † who by his blood redeemed this body together with the soul; May God the Holy Spirit, who by Holy Baptism sanctified this body to be his temple; keep these remains to the day of the resurrection of all flesh.”

For all this, Luther could not extol and lift up Baptism enough, encouraging in his Catechisms that every day – twice a day, every morning and evening – we should make the sign of the cross over our head and heart and remember our Baptism.

In Baptism, Jesus in the water, there with you as your Brother, making His Father your Father. Making His death yours, His life yours, His holiness yours. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit declare it to be so. It is your new creation so that you may stand confidently at the end on Judgment Day. Baptism is your beginning and ending of the Christian life. Amen.

“Gift Annuities Are Like Potato Chips . . .”

2012-01-08T16:04:00.000-06:00

Usually when WELS Christian giving counselors work with donors, a lot of their time is spent letting people know how their money can work for themselves—and for the Lord.

This time, however, counselor Gerry Heckmann was working with a pro. “In Daniel’s* work-a-day world, he had been working for secular non-profit agencies, helping donors set up charitable gift annuities,” says Heckmann.

When it came time for Daniel and his wife Sarah to retire, they knew they wanted their money to help WELS ministry and started a charitable gift annuity. As he set up the paperwork, Daniel was already thinking ahead to the possibility of doing another and said, “Charitable gift annuities are like potato chips, you can’t have just one.”

Here’s how it works. Daniel and Sarah made an irrevocable cash gift to the WELS Foundation. In exchange, they receive quarterly fixed payments for the rest of their lives. When the annuity ends, the remainder of the gift will move to their designated ministry. Adding gift annuities at improved rates in subsequent years serves to increase yearly payments as well as the funding for ministry.

Even as this couple provides for themselves in retirement, Daniel and Sarah experience the joy that comes from financially supporting the spread of the gospel. That’s even better than potato chips!

For more information on planned giving instruments such as the charitable gift annuity, visit www.welsfoundation.net or contact your local WELS Christian giving counselor by calling 800-827-5482.

* Names have been changed to protect donor confidentiality.

Gold, Incense, and Myrrh . . . and a Message to All

2012-01-04T08:53:00.000-06:00

How much do babies appreciate the gifts they receive when they are born? Did Jesus, being the Son of God as well as the son of Mary, value the gifts the Magi brought? We would think those gifts impractical for a baby, but then this was not an ordinary baby. Probably that gold bought food and lodging and everything that was needed by this family as they fled to Egypt and then got established in a new home. The incense was likely burned as their prayers ascended to the Father in heaven. Perhaps even the myrrh was used some 30 years later to anoint the body of the baby grown to be our Savior.

The gifts the Magi brought were traditional gifts of the East. We can be sure that these gifts were appreciated by our Lord, for Paul writes, “If the willingness is there, the gift is acceptable according to what one has, not according to what he does not have” (2 Corinthians 8:12).

Were the gifts of the shepherds that first Christmas night acceptable as well? The Bible does not record their bringing any gift at all—except, that is, the gift of their running to the stable with anticipation, the gift of their humble worship as their anticipation turned to realization, and the gift of their “spread[ing] the word concerning what had been told them” as they returned to their flocks, “glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen” (Luke 2:17, 20). It is obvious the willingness was there as the shepherds brought gifts according to what they had. Therefore, according to Scripture, their gifts were acceptable.

We, too, can be sure that our gifts are appreciated by our Lord: the gifts of our treasures—our gold and silver—and the gifts of our praise and adoration as we witness to what we have heard and seen. Like the Magi and the shepherds, we are drawn to the manger bed. Like them, we kneel in awe and adoration. Like them, we use the gifts God gives us, wherever we are, wherever God places us, to “spread the word concerning what [has] been told [us].”

Epiphany: The appearance to the Magi and in the Jordan

2012-01-03T19:09:00.000-06:00

The word “epiphany” means “appearing,” as in the appearing of a deity, the appearing of God.

We have waited. We have planned. We have given special offerings. And now our unique artwork and woodwork are about to appear at the Festival of the Epiphany of Our Lord on January 6.

These paintings are unique. Pastor Pope is a student of church history, art and architecture. He has told me that he doesn’t know of anytime in church history when canvass paintings were created to look like stained glass.

But we commissioned these unique paintings to mimic the beautiful stained glass windows our congregation’s forefathers have installed through the years. Pastor Pope also told me that many churches have a stained glass window in the front of the church, but that ours is very unique because it is the focal point above the altar.

We wanted to build upon that uniqueness with these unique paintings. Melanie Schuette, Pastor Pope’s daughter, has other paintings hanging in WELS churches. But not a single painting looks like ours.

These paintings are created to be a part of a triptych. A triptych is a set of three paintings or pictures. In many triptychs, the center picture always remains the same, while the two outer pictures can be removed and replaced. Jesus as the Good Shepherd will obviously always remain at the center. The two outer pictures will be removed and replaced for the various seasons of the Church Year.

(Right now, we only have the one set, but the long-term goal is to also have sets for Lent, Easter, Pentecost, etc.)

It was an obvious choice to have the first paintings centered on the Epiphany theme.

The painting that will hang in the arch behind the pulpit is of the Magi following the star to Bethlehem. The skin tones of the Magi are of an African and a Persian, for the Wise Men were from various nations and cultures serving in the Persian kingdom as astrologers. They follow the star which stops above the little town of Bethlehem. There is a light on in the home where the Magi are going to.

Jesus appearing to the Magi reveals Himself as the Savior of the Gentiles. That is why we call January 6, the Gentiles’ Christmas. Jesus also appears as the Savior of the world by stepping into the Jordan River at His Baptism. His step into the

Jordan

is His first step toward the cross.

The first Sunday after the Epiphany is always the commemoration of Jesus’ Baptism. In the painting that will hang in the arch behind the lectern, Jesus is pictured standing in the water up to His waist with His head bowed, receiving the waters of Baptism. John is pictured holding a shell in his hand and baptizing the innocent Lamb of God. The dove of the Holy Spirit hovers over the scene, shining down His glorious beams of light.

Like stained glass windows, these paintings tell a story – a story that will change with other paintings through the church year, but also repeat, season after season, year after year.

Don’t forget to also examine the amazing woodwork that Pastor Pope has created for us. The sound fabric inside the arches will serve as matting, like in picture you may hang on the wall. (We couldn’t cover the whole arch with a painting because it would cost too much and we still need to have sound come from the pipes of the pipe organ). Just as the arches Pastor Pope created for us last year mimic the arch around Jesus, the Good Shepherd window, so this framework mimics the woodwork inside that Good Shepherd window.

The paintings will be revealed at our Epiphany Festival on January 6. We will dedicate them at the celebration of Epiphany’s 85^th anniversary on January 29. Both Pastor Pope and Melanie Schuette will be present to discuss these unique Epiphany paintings with us.

Thank God for His Epiphany – to the Magi and in the

Jordan

… and in the front of our church.

In our Epiphany Lord’s service,
Pastor Michael Zarling

Waiting

2012-01-02T14:32:00.000-06:00

Luke 2:25-40 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.²⁶ It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord's Christ.²⁷ Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required,²⁸ Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying:²⁹ "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.³⁰ For my eyes have seen your salvation,³¹ which you have prepared in the sight of all people,³² a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."³³ The child's father and mother marveled at what was said about him.³⁴ Then Simeon blessed them and said to Mary, his mother: "This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against,³⁵ so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too."³⁶ There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage,³⁷ and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.³⁸ Coming up to them at that very moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were looking forward to the redemption of Jerusalem.³⁹ When Joseph and Mary had done everything required by the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee to their own town of Nazareth.⁴⁰ And the child grew and became strong; he was filled with wisdom, and the grace of God was upon him.

The Holy Family with Saint Simeon and Saint John the Baptist

“Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him.” Waiting. That’s something we usually don’t consider to be a very good thing. In fact, to most of us, WAIT is a four-letter-word. We are forced to wait in checkout lines, to wait at the doctor’s office, and to wait for the installers or repairman to show up at our home. We think microwave popcorn takes too long, so how can we be expected to wait?!

Advent forced us to wait. Four weeks of waiting. While the rest of our nation was physically, emotionally and monetarily spent by the time December 25 finally rolled around, the Christian Church was just getting around to celebrating Christmas. Waiting encourages us to slow down, notice what is going on around us, look forward, look backward, anticipate and wait to celebrate.

Waiting can be good for us. It can be a time of preparation and reflection, if we let it. Children who are forced to buy their own video games or clothing have to wait to earn enough money to make their purchase. And the waiting allows them to appreciate the value of money and the value of what they are purchasing. People who are waiting to die because of their serious health problems, often discover how valuable the gifts of life, family and faith are to them. Waiting gives us opportunities for conversation and meditation that we might not otherwise have in our busy and hectic lives.

But when the waiting is over, it is time to rejoice! To break forth in jubilation! When we finally reach the front of the line, when our name is called, when we finally hear the knock on the door. And now our Advent waiting is over. We have ripped into the Christmas presents, visited with our relatives and broken forth with Christmas hymns and carols. But our Christmas celebration isn’t over yet. For Christmas isn’t just an Eve or a Day, but it goes on for 12 days after Christmas until the Epiphany Festival on January 6. That is why we are still celebrating Christmas on New Year’s Day.

It makes me sad to see people’s Christmas trees on the curb and their decorations down before January 6. It’s like baseball fans who go home in the 6^th inning to beat the traffic and miss out on the best part of the game. There’s plenty more to Christmas, so just wait a little longer.

Simeon is the perfect man to hear about at Christmas for he is truly and Advent man. He was waiting for the coming of the Savior. He was waiting for the “consolation of Israel” which means the relief or redemption of Israel. Simeon had been told by the Holy Spirit that he would not die until he had seen the Lord’s Christ. Think about that. Doctors may tell a terminally ill patient that she doesn’t have long to live. But Simeon learned that he was going to keep on living until he had seen with his own eyes the promised One of Israel. This wasn’t a death sentence but a life sentence. Every day Simeon would awake and wonder, “Is this the day?” Every child who came into the temple would make him ask, “Is this the One?”

Simeon is a man on tiptoes, wide-eyed and watching for the One who will come to save Israel. Studying each passing face. Staring into the eyes of strangers. Patiently vigilant. Calmly expectant. Eyes open. Arms extended. Searching the crowd for the right face, and hoping that face appears today.

We can learn a lot from aged Simeon, because you’ve probably noticed how short-sighted we all are. We are like children: “I want it now!” Waiting, patience and thinking ahead are all learned behaviors, skills that need to be taught. It is easy to live for just right now, to indulge our sinful nature and gratify our natural cravings. Drug or alcohol addictions, out-of-wedlock childbirths and credit card debts all “happen” to people who couldn’t defer gratification to a later time.

God’s ultimate gift to you is to let you live with Him forever. But that wonderful destination can seem so distant as not to exist. Future thinking is an important skill that each of us needs to cultivate in our own heart. That’s why St. Paul writes, “As God’s chosen people, holy and dearly love, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience” (Colossians 3:12).

Waiting is not a weakness. It comes from the serene confidence that God will keep all His promises, that our future is going to be way better than our past, and that God is managing all the events of our lives to get us to the finish line of faith intact.

What joy must have filled Simeon’s soul when His waiting was over! His heart must have skipped a beat when Mary and Joseph walked into the temple carrying their Son. The Holy Spiriti whispered into Simeon’s spirit, “This is the One you’ve been waiting for.” And Simeon gathered the little Child in his old arms and lifted his weary eyes to heaven and broke forth in song.

Before Christmas there were all kinds of Christmas hymns and carols playing on the radio. But have you ever stopped to listen closely to some of them? For example, in the carol “Do you hear what I hear,” there is a line, “Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy …” I think the shepherd boy has been out in the field a little too long, don’t you? Listening to talking sheep?! Then they go to the mighty king, “A child, a child, shivers in the cold, let us bring him silver and gold.” How about bringing him a blanket? Or some hot chocolate?

But Simeon’s Christmas song is filled with deep and wonderful theology. Simeon unwraps his Christmas present with his song: "Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you now dismiss your servant in peace.For my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel."

Simeon’s time of service has come to an end for God has kept His promise. You can almost hear the relief in his voice, for he is at peace. His tired, old eyes have seen the Lord’s salvation. Though Jesus has yet to be visited by the Magi, step into the Jordan River, do battle with the devil in the wilderness, preach on the Mount or be betrayed, arrested, scourged, crucified and laid in the tomb – it is as good as done. This Child is the light of God, but His Light hurts our eyes which are used to the darkness of sin. “The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it” (John 1:5). Because He was rejected by His own people, Jesus revealed Himself to the Gentiles – to us and the rest of the world. He is the glory of God to Israel, but that glory was revealed in serving, in lowliness and in humility, and so His glory was in being nailed to the cross. This tiny Child was the redemption of Israel and the salvation of the Gentiles – the world’s Redeemer.

We still sing Simeon’s Christmas song. It is a Lutheran innovation to sing it at the close of the Communion liturgy. The traditional place for this hymn is at the close of each day. It’s the Christian’s “Now I lay me down to sleep” prayer. That is why we sing The Song of Simeon at the end of our Service of Evening Prayer in Advent and the end of our Compline service in Lent. But it is also very appropriate to sing as we depart from the Lord’s Table. For it is deep and wonderful theology. We have beheld the salvation of our Lord. We have looked upon the humble vessels of bread and wine that carry the Lord’s salvation to us in body and blood. We have held Christ’ body in our hands. We have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. We have heard His words addressed to us personally – “my Body given for you; my Blood poured out for you.” This body and blood born of Mary, laid in a manger, nailed to a cross, raised from the dead, glorified at the right hand of God – this He gives to us as our food and drink. And we, like Simeon, lift up our old eyes to heaven and sing our song of release and redemption. We can truly depart in peace.

Make no mistake, Simeon is now saying he’s free to leave. Not leave the temple, but die. When I was a kid, I used to think we were thanking God because we were free to go home from church now. That was my prayer, “Lord, now lettest thou thy servant, depart in peace.” But that’s not what Simeon was singing. He was saying, “Now I can die and rest in peace. I am released from life’s sentence and free to die. I have seen Your salvation and I know it’s mine in this little Child.”

And so are we. We’ve worshiped the Child in the manger, the Man upon the cross and the Redeemper risen from the tomb. We have beheld His glory, hidden beneath word and water, bread and wine. We have heard His proclamation of forgiveness and received His blessing upon us. We can truly depart in peace.

A retired pastor said it pretty well in commenting on Simeon’s song sung after the Lord’s Supper, “We go to the Sacrament as though we were going to our death, so that we might go to our death as though going to the Sacrament.”

Christmas joy is inevitably giving way to the reality and harshness of the New Year. The presents are unwrapped, the tree will soon be put out on the curb or packed away, the lights grow dim as we return to our business as usual. We don’t know what the coming days, weeks and months of 2012 will bring. Most of us will face financial, personal and spiritual challenges. Some of you may not have jobs or an income next year. Some of you will face health crises or family issues. 2012 may be a difficult year. And so we wait. We wait for release and redemption. We wait for Jesus to return. We don’t know if this will happen in our lifetime or not. But one thing is certain, whether we depart from this world or Christ Jesus returns first, we will see Jesus with our own eyes, face to face – just as Simeon did. But not as a 40-day old baby, but as the King on His throne.

In the meantime, we wait for the beginning of the week to roll around once more so that we can once again come to the Lord’s Temple, behold God’s salvation and sing Simeon’s song. We force ourselves to slow down. To take a break from work and rest in the Lord. To look back at God’s blessings. To look forward to God’s promises. To anticipate and wait to celebrate. To break forth in song. And joyously look forward to the day when we too will see Christ Jesus with our own eyes. Amen.

Appearances are deceiving

2011-12-27T18:53:00.000-06:00

John 1:14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.

‘Tis the season for Christmas, Hanukkah … and atheism. At the Milwaukee County Courthouse there is a giant lighted Christmas tree, a crèche on a small table, a menorah marking the Jewish Festival of Lights, and a three-foot-high sandwich board type sign proclaiming the winter solstice. The solstice sign comes courtesy of the Freedom from Religion Foundation. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that the group’s sign states: “At this season of winter solstice, let reason prevail. There are no gods, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but a myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”

Seeing a winter-solstice sign like this next to the manger scene may make you upset that people put down Christianity so brazenly. Or maybe it makes you sad that the devil has such a strong grip on these people.

But hopefully it makes you appreciate all the more that simple manger scene with Joseph, Mary, the baby Jesus and probably a sheep, donkey and a cow nearby. Because it is so easy to pass by a manger scene in our homes or out in public and not give it much thought. All we see is a human baby lying in a manger. But appearances are deceiving. There is so much more to see here.

John records in His holy Gospel: “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

The Word the Father spoke at creation is now living among His creation. The King took off His royal robes, set down His crown and put on the work clothes of a servant, rolled up the sleeves and came down. The Creator became a man. Perfection became sin so that the old would be made new again.

It is no wonder Joseph and Mary were filled with joy at the sight of this Child. He wasn’t just their firstborn. He was their almighty Lord. The Child they had just delivered would soon deliver them. When they kissed the face of their little baby boy, they were kissing the face of God. This sleeping Child in Mary’s arms was in reality heaven’s perfect Lamb and the great I Am.

This Child is none other than the Word of God in the flesh, the One who reveals the Father, the only begotten Son of God, the second person of the blessed Holy Trinity. This Child is the everlasting Light, the fulfillment of all the hopes and fears of all the years, before and ever since. This Child’s chubby fingers would someday make the blind see, the deaf hear, the lame walk and the dead alive. The radiant beams from His holy face would shine once again upon the mountain of transfiguration. He was born in a barn so we might live forever in His mansion.

He was born in darkness so that we might be reborn as children of light. He died in the darkness so that we might live in the light of His life. He rose at dawn to usher in the new day of His resurrection.

His mother Mary feeds Him and changes His diapers, but He provides food for all His creatures and holds the stars in place. His foster-father Joseph guards His life, but He commands the wind and the waves.

He who formed the mountains and valleys would learn to be a carpenter in Joseph’s shop. He who called the galaxies into existence would speak forgiveness to lepers, prostitutes and soldiers. He who commands all the forces of nature would surrender to be arrested, beaten, whipped and nailed to a cross. But it is through all this that He would win pardon, forgiveness and peace on earth and good will to men.

His golden throne room had been abandoned in favor of a dirty sheep pen. Worshiping angels had been replaced with kind but bewildered shepherds. The praise of the saints had been exchanged for lowing cattle.

Majesty in the midst of the mundane. Holiness in the filth of sheep manure. Divinity entering the world on the floor of a stable, through the womb of an unwed teenager and in the presence of a protective carpenter.

Meanwhile the little town of Bethlehem was ablaze with activity. The merchants were unaware God had visited their planet. The innkeeper was too busy to know he had sent God into the cold. The townsfolk wondered at the shepherds’ crazy talk that the Messiah lay in the arms of a virgin mother on the outskirts of town. Those who missed His Majesty’s arrival that Christmas night missed it not because of evil acts or malice; they missed it simply because they were not looking.

Little has changed in the last 2000 years, hasn’t it?

Though the world around us continues to ignore, push aside, miss or even ridicule this Child in the manger, you are different. Live your Christmas faith all throughout this new year. Worship, praise, adore and glorify. Pray, proclaim, give and live as Christmas Christians. Hurry to see this baby in the lying in the manger. Spread the word concerning what has been told you about this child. Return here week after week, glorifying and praising God for all the things you have heard and seen. Go home and treasure up all these things and ponder them in your heart.

Let the Jews have their Hanukkah, the Muslims their Ramadan and the atheists their winter solstice. Their public insistence on their religions may be upsetting or maddening or disheartening. But above all, they should force you to look more closely and reflect more deeply upon what you see in that simple manger scene. Don’t let appearances deceive you. For through this Child lying in a manger, death would bring life, slave would become heir, sorrow would turn to joy, judgment would be replaced with forgiveness, the gates of hell would be slammed shut and the gates to glory flung wide open. … And we would be His forever. Amen.

Christmas Day at Epiphany on December 25, 2011

Do not be afraid

2011-12-25T07:05:00.000-06:00

Luke 2:10-12 But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.¹² This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."

Tommy was in the Preschool class of his Sunday School. All the children were assigned different parts to play for their church’s Christmas play. Tommy was given the role of the first angel on Christmas Eve announcing to the shepherds, “It is I. Do not be afraid.” Other older children were the other angels who would them recite the longer, more difficult verses. All Tommy had to say was one line, “It is I. Do not be afraid.” To his credit, no actor on the silver screen ever rehearsed his lines with as much dedication as that little lad.

Again and again he said, “It is I. Do not be afraid.” He said it fast; he said it slow; he said it with emphasis on one word and then on another; he said it loudly and he said it with a whisper.

I would love to tell you that all this practice made the prospect of the play more comfortable. It didn’t. By the day of the Christmas service, he was a wreck. Tommy’s stomach churned, his hands shook and his voice had a quiver, which hadn’t been there during rehearsals.

Trying to alleviate his butterflies, Tommy’s Sunday School teacher kept coaching him until it was time for him to walk out to the front of the church. It was then that he got his first look at the crowd. The church was packed! Hundreds of faces were looking right at him.

Tommy’s brain stood still and his mouth operated independently. Instead of saying, “It is I. Do not be afraid,” he shouted, “It’s me! And I’m scared to death!”

Although we might not like to admit it, that little Preschooler’s words are familiar to all of us. Think how many times in your life you have silently admitted with trembling in your voice, “Lord, it’s me and I’m scared to death.” Did you say it when you learned you were laid off from work? Did you admit it after the doctor told you the lump you found was cancerous? Did you pray it when the bank said they were foreclosing on your house or when your employer said you were being relocated across the country or while your child was in the ambulance on the way to the emergency room or after your beloved spouse of decades just died?

Yes, most of us, at one time or another have admitted, “I’m scared to death.”

And if we really think about what was happening that first Christmas evening, we would also have to cry out, “God, I’m scared to death.” For this was the most momentous event in human history. The Creator was coming among His fallen creation. The holy God was setting His feet upon His corrupted planet. The Judge of heaven and earth was coming down among people who had continually disobeyed Him. The King of kings was coming among His subjects who had constantly disregarded His rule. The Lord of lords was coming to peasants who had consistently destroyed His perfect Kingdom.

For if the Creator was coming to destroy, the Judge was coming to bring justice, God was coming with righteous anger, the King was coming to punish, and the Lord was coming to call down judgment, then we should be afraid; very afraid. More than just knocking knees and a cracking voice, it should be a terror that comes from the knowledge that we deserve the Lord Almighty’s righteous wrath. We should be like those pictured in Revelation on Judgment Day calling to the mountains and rocks, “Fall on us and hide us from the face of him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!” (Revelation 6:16-17)

But we can listen to the angel’s announcement, “Do not be afraid!” Why not? The angel continues, “I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

This was good news the angel was announcing. Not the terrifying judgment we deserved. The Creator has come, not to destroy, but to become one with His creation. The Judge has come to be our Advocate. God has taken on human flesh. The King has come to dwell among His people. The Lord Almighty has come to live so He might die.

We don’t need to be afraid for the angels sang, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests” (Luke 2:14). Jesus comes not in anger, but to bring peace on earth. Many of our hymns and the children’s songs tonight sing of this peace. “Peace came to earth at last that chosen night When angels clove the sky with song and light And God embodied love and sheathed his might” (CWS: 707). They explain peace: “Be near me, Lord Jesus; I ask you to stay Close by me forever and love me, I pray” (CW: 68). They examine the reason for peace: “Sing glory, glory! God’s Son has come to us.” They instill peace: “Silent night! Holy night! All is calm, all is bright, Round yon virgin mother and child. Holy Infant, so tender and mild, Sleep in heavenly peace” (CW: 60).

After the Christmas meal you have tonight, you’ll be hungry again. Though there is relative peace around the world right now, wars and rumors of war will continue. Though you’re looking forward to spending time with your extended family tonight and tomorrow, you’ll soon return home wondering what were you thinking. The Christmas toys you’re kids wanted so desperately will soon be broken or forgotten.

None of these things bring peace – real, lasting, true peace. Peace comes to us tonight as a present from heaven wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger. Peace because our Savior became one of us so He could repair our broken relationship with God our Father. Peace because He lived the perfect life to make up for our rebellious life. Peace because He endured the punishment we deserve for our disobedience and suffered in our place on the cross. Peace because He rose from the tomb so we might have the promise of eternal life. Peace because He returned to heaven so He might make His home our home.

This “peace” Jesus gives is not intended to make all the bad things in life go away. The peace Jesus gives strengthens us as we endure the many difficult challenges of life. The peace Jesus gives also lifts our eyes from the temporary things of this world to the eternal things of heaven. The peace Jesus gives is the assurance that our sins are forgiven, and we will be in heaven forever with him.

Jesus doesn’t just show us the way to peace … He IS our peace. When Joseph delivered the Christ Child and handed Him to His mother, Mary, there was no terror on his face or in her eyes. Oh, yes, there were tears, but tears of joy streaming down their cheeks. A son was born to them – a baby boy whose name would be Yeshua, Jesus, “Savior.” But unlike so many other Jewish boys who shared the same name, this baby boy was their Savior-God, their Messiah, their “Jesus.” With hearts full of joy, they beheld the face of God. No fearful hiding. No terror of His holy condemnation. Just hearts and minds and eyes filled with joy and peace that had come for us.

It is a Christmas peace that calms our heart, quiets our conscience and removes our fears. Not just tonight, but every day. It is a peace we have with us in the hospital room, in the unemployment line, after the divorce papers are signed, at the cemetery … and even in front of hundreds of faces at a Christmas Eve service. This is the reason we can have peace and listen to the angel pronounce that one line, “Do not be afraid!” Amen.

Christmas Eve at Epiphany on December 24, 2011

Songs of Advent: Gloria

2011-12-21T18:01:00.000-06:00

Midweek Advent 2011 Luke 2:14 J.D.Roekle

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

Dear Friends in Christ,

An old pioneer traveled westward across the Great Plains until he came to an abrupt halt at the edge of the Grand Canyon. He gawked at the sight before him. He saw a vast chasm one mile down, eighteen miles across, and more than a hundred miles long. He gasped: “Something musta happened here!”

A visitor to our world at this time of year might say the same thing. The lights, the wreaths, the trees, the parades, the decorations in stores and homes alike, the special cookies, candy, and eggnog, the special festivities and the special worship services,… they all point to the fact that something musta happened here.

And indeed something did happen here over 2000 years ago. The Savior of the world was born! Since Jesus Christ has come into the world, countless songs, hymns and carols have been written to honor him, and are still being written.

In Old Testament times, the birth of the Messiah was greatly anticipated. So much so, that when Jesus was just about to be born, we see some of the key players, such as Mary and Zechariah bursting out in song. Today we look at one of these “Advent Songs.” Today we want to examine the song of the angels: The Gloria in Excelsis.

Martin Luther once wrote that the Gloria Excelsis “did not grow, nor was it made, but it came from heaven.” That makes it a pretty special song! Here is a song that does not have a human author. The song literally comes from heaven because it comes from the angels of God. What a gift that God would give us this special song so that we could praise him!

This song is one that celebrates the great news that the angels delivered to the shepherds: “A Savior has been born to you!”

Why would the angels be excited to deliver this news? After all, the angels who delivered the news were perfect; they did not sin. Therefore they had no need for a Savior.

But those angels still had good reason to praise God. After all, it was God who had created them in the first place. It was God who gave them such important roles as his perfect messengers and guardians. In all this, the angels knew the love of God for them and for all creation.

And as such, the angels understand how special human beings are to God. They know that people are the crown of God’s creation. They also know what happened to the human race from the beginning of time. The angels experienced war in heaven with other angels who turned away from God. They understand that it was these fallen angels who had a devastating effect on the world. It was the leader of these fallen angels, Satan, who introduced sin into the world to Adam and Eve. Because of that, the entire world and every human being have been affected by sin and its terrible eternal consequences.

And the angels rejoice that God did not abandon people. They praise God that he would stoop down and come into this world to rescue us. The angels are so enamored with God and his works that Peter writes (I, 1:12) that “angels long to look into these things.”

As they do, they also take time to lift their praises to God. “Glory to God in the highest!” they sang to the shepherds. An army of angels – more than could be counted – honored God with their voices.

There was so much reason to honor God; to praise him; to give glory to God! And the reason the angels were exulting God at this point comes in the second part of the song: “and on earth peace to me on whom his favor rests.”

A restaurant advertised that it would be open on Christmas Day. The advertisement went on to say that in keeping with the true meaning of Christmas, they were going to feed the poor and homeless a Christmas dinner. No doubt that is a generous gesture, but to say that it is the true meaning of Christmas is missing the whole point of Christmas.

Jesus did not come to feed the world. Christ Jesus came to give peace to the world. Peace. What kind of peace? Peace from wars? Peace from the threat of terrorism? Peace from nagging health issues? Peace among family members?

Jesus didn’t make any promises of any of those kinds of peace on earth. In fact, Jesus spoke against those ideas of peace when he said (Matt. 10:34-36): “Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to turn ‘a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law – a man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’”

It is safe to say that as long as we are alive and as long as the world is around, the world won’t see peace between all nations and peace between all people.

But the announcement of peace on earth is a different peace. It is the peace that world needs more than any other. It is a peace between us and God.

Earlier we talked briefly about the introduction of sin into the world by the devil to Adam and Eve. At first glance, Adam and Eve’s disobedience may have seemed like a minor blip on the screen. But what it did was to break the perfect harmony that existed between people and God. Their sin had set Adam and Eve up as enemies of God. And their sin has been passed on to every generation since.

God saw what was happening and acted quickly, and in making the first promise that peace would be restored, God told Satan: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers.”

So how was that peace achieved? The hymn writer explains:

“Peace came to earth at last that chosen night

When angels clove the sky with song and light

And God embodied love and sheathed his might –

Who could by gasp: Immanuel!

Who could but sing: Immanuel!

Peace came to earth on that first Christmas as God himself left his throne and became a baby. God himself came down to go to work to forgive us, so that our relationship with him would be restored. So that we would no longer be his enemies. So that we could have peace!

Think about what that means for you on a day to day basis. At the beginning of worship, we confess our sins. We do it in such a general way, that sometimes we may overlook the depth of how our sins have affected us and others.

Whenever you have opportunity, identify those sins. Come before God and confess: Lord, I have sinned against my friend, by betraying his confidence and posting it on Facebook or through email so that he would look bad. Lord, I have sinned by not treating my body as a temple of the Holy Spirit. I have not been leading a chaste and decent life. Lord, I am guilty of despising your Word since I don’t open my Bible often and I give every excuse possible to avoid worshipping you. Lord, I have led others into temptation and down the wrong path at times by my poor example. Lord, in doing these things, I have pitted myself against you.

When you have been honest with yourself about your sins, then be reminded of the song of the angels: the Gloria in Excelsis. Remember the proclamation of peace that is yours because God cared enough about you to send his Son into the world to wipe out your sins with his perfect life and innocent death. Consequences for certain sins may go on in this world, but having peace with God through Jesus means that those consequences won’t last into eternity.

We hear songs and people talking constantly about how this time of year is a time of peace. And yet, our lives don’t show it. This time of year turns out to be about the most hectic time of the year. We rush around trying to get all our preparations done. We get immersed in the commercialism of the season. In so doing, we wear ourselves thin. And we do all those things in the guise of preparing ourselves for Christmas.

To truly prepare yourselves, listen again to the Advent song of the angels. During this special season remember the extraordinary thing that happened: peace between us and God was promised and peace was delivered through Jesus Christ. And look forward also to the time when this one who came down as a helpless infant will return to earth in order to deliver us to perfect peace with him. Amen.

This Christmas, Get the Best News of All!

2011-12-20T06:42:00.000-06:00

It's hard to find good news these days, and heaven knows people are trying. But believe it or not, the best news in the history of the world isn't new at all. At Epiphany Lutheran Church, Christmastime is a great season to hear all about the Good News of Jesus Christ. Hear about the Savior who was born as a baby and laid in a manger so that He might be laid on a cruel cross to die and save us from our sins.

Join us and find out why Christmas means you’ll never be without good news again!

Christmas Eve … 5:00 pm

Christmas Morning … 9:00 am

The O Antiphons of Advent

2011-12-19T06:24:00.000-06:00

For our sermon today we use the Great “O Antiphons” of Advent. An antiphon is a psalm, hymn or prayer sung or chanted in alternate parts. These O Antiphons have been used at the end of the Advent season since the very early Church.

The importance of the O Antiphons is twofold: each one highlights a title for the Messiah: O Emmanuel, O Wisdom, O Lord, O Root of Jesse, O Key of David, O Dayspring and O Desire of the Nations. Also, each one refers to the prophecy of Isaiah of the coming of the Messiah.

Emmanuel

“God helps those who help themselves.” It almost sounds biblical. Some people think it comes from the Bible, but it doesn’t. It is actually unbiblical, even anti-biblical. For the Bible actually says the opposite: God helps the helpless, those who cannot help themselves. God saves those who cannot save themselves. For we are prisoners who cannot free ourselves. We are dead and cannot raise ourselves. We are hell-bound and cannot change our direction.

God must come to us to help us. He must reach down to us; we cannot reach up to Him. He must come to be with us.

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel” (Isaiah 7:14). Emmanuel means “God with us.” God sets down His crown, takes off His royal robes and puts on the work clothes of a servant. He takes our humanity. Emmanuel works and weeps and suffers and sleeps and bleeds and dies. God comes to help those who cannot help themselves – for He is Emmanuel.

Sing verse 1.

1. Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive

Israel

That mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O

Israel

Wisdom

Foolishness is apart from God. Wisdom is from the Lord. “The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him-- the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD--and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears” (Isaiah 11:2-3). Man turns away from God and seeks to study creation without worshiping the Creator. Worship the creature instead of the Creator. We believe the original lie: “You can be like God.” “You can have knowledge apart from God.” That’s not Wisdom but Folly, foolishness, unbelief. “The fool says in his heart there is no God” (Psalm 14:1). The end of folly is death.

But Jesus Christ is Wisdom incarnate, holy, perfect Wisdom in the flesh. He is the “power of God and the wisdom of God” (1 Corinthians 1:24). “He is before all things and in Him all things hold together” (Col 1:17). He is the gracious “glue” that holds the universe together – the stars, your DNA, these pews – they hold together by the power of His Word. He is the Intelligent Designer. And He gives us His holy Wisdom so we might be saved.

Sing verse 2.

2. Oh, come, our Wisdom from on high, who ordered all things mightily;

To us the path of knowledge show, and teach us in her ways to go.

Rejoice ! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O

Israel

Lord of Might

Jesus is your Adonai (Hebrew for Lord Almighty). “Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this” (Isaiah 9:7). The Lord Almighty comes to save His people. He comes in a burning bush to name a leader. He comes as a pillar of fire to protect His people from the Egyptians. He comes as the angel of the Lord to rescue a son from a father’s knife. He comes to bridge the huge gap between His holiness and our lowliness. He comes as a child to be a Savior for humanity. He comes as a Shepherd to lead His straying sheep and lambs to safety and salvation. He comes as Redeemer to die for wayward souls. And He comes as King to bring His people to His eternal Kingdom.

Sing verse 3.

3. Oh, come, oh, come, our Lord of might, who to your tribes on Sinai’s height

In ancient times gave holy law, in cloud and majesty and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O

Israel

Root of Jesse

“A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit” (Isaiah 11:1). The Root of Jesse is God’s Promise that David’s throne would stand forever. Jesus is in the family tree of David,

Israel

’s greatest king. Jesse is David’s father. Even when the tree of the nation of

Israel

was cut down and reduced to a lifeless stump, the Promise lived on in the Root.

Our sin goes all the way to the root. Not only is the fruit tainted, but the whole tree is bad, roots and all. That’s why God says in Malachi 4:1: “Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire. Not a root or a branch will be left to them.”

We must be grafted to a new Root. We must be joined to the Root of Jesse and connected to the Vine who is Jesus. We are now the living branches grafted to the living Root of Jesse. Jesus is your Vine and your Root. Apart from Him you can do nothing. Joined to Him, believing in Him, you bear much fruit.

Sing verse 4.

4. Oh, come, O Rod of Jesse’s stem. From every foe deliver them

That trust your mighty pow’r to save: Bring them in victory through the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O

Israel

Key of David

Isaiah had prophesied: “I will place on his shoulder the key to the house of David; what he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open” (22:22). Sin locks the door to heaven. It makes our lives a prison of fear of death. Like the disciples in the locked upper room on Easter evening, we are hiding from our enemies, hoping death doesn’t find us. We are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. No matter how much we struggle against the chains and rattle the bars, we are unable to break out of prison. The eternal penitentiary of hell is waiting us once death finds us.

But Christ has come and entered the prison. He endured the Law’s death sentence. He stormed the gates of death and hell with His death and His descent into hell. He turns the key to our prison cell. He is the Key that closes hell’s cell doors and unlocks heaven’s gates and breaks the chains of death. He sets us free to live as free children in His free city. For Jesus is the Key of David who opens and no one can close, and who closes and no one can open.

Sing verse 5.

5. Oh, come, O Key of David, come, and open wide our heav’nly home.

Make safe the way that leads on high, and close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O

Israel

Dayspring

God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness. God spoke Light into the darkness. Light is life. Without light there is no life. Darkness is death, the silence of God, the absence of God.

Our sin plunged the creation into darkness and death. Sin loves the darkness and hates the light. Sin loves the death and hates the life. Adam hid in the darkness of the trees. Judas betrayed his Lord at night. Sin seeks shelter under the cover of darkness. Darkness cannot produce light. It is nothing, formless and void, empty. Light must be spoken into darkness from the outside.

God sent His Son, the light of the world thrown into darkness. He is the light no darkness can overcome. “The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned” (Isaiah 9:2). Jesus is the Morning Star, the Dayspring from on high, the signal of the coming morning. Day is at hand. The Dayspring has risen. The sun of righteousness rises with healing in His wings. He was born in darkness that we might be reborn as children of the light. He died in the darkness that we might live in the light of His life. He rose at dawn to usher in the new day of His resurrection. He shines into our hearts by the Holy Spirit who works through the Word, dispelling the darkness, killing the death and bringing light and life.

Sing verse 6.

6. Oh, come, O Dayspring from on high, and cheer us by your drawing nigh;

Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, and death's dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O

Israel

Desire of the nations

Jesus is the Desire of the nations, the King of Peace. “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). “He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore” (Isaiah 2:4).

The sinful nature refuses the King and resists His rule. Sin is the overthrow of God’s reign, the attempt to place a god in place of the God. The outcome is chaos and death. A kingdom in which everyone is king is no kingdom at all. It is anarchy.

But Christ has come as King to set up His Kingdom in our hearts and in His heaven. His coming was without the trappings of royalty. A virgin teenage mother. A manger crib. No place to lay His head. Fishermen for followers. A borrowed donkey. Royal robes worn in mockery and scorn. His crown was made of thorns. His throne was a cross. His glory was in His grave. But He has come as King and He is coming once again as King to bring us Peace.

Sing verse 7.

7. Oh, come, Desire of nations, bind in one the hearts of all mankind;

Oh, bid our sad divisions cease, and be yourself the King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to you, O

Israel

The Song of Mary: Magnificat

2011-12-13T09:44:00.000-06:00

Luke 1:46-55

And Mary said:

“My soul glorifies the Lord

⁴⁷and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior,

⁴⁸for he has been mindful

of the humble state of his servant.

From now on all generations will call me blessed,

⁴⁹for the Mighty One has done great things for me—

holy is his name.

⁵⁰His mercy extends to those who fear him,

from generation to generation.

⁵¹He has performed mighty deeds with his arm;

he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.

⁵²He has brought down rulers from their thrones

but has lifted up the humble.

⁵³He has filled the hungry with good things

but has sent the rich away empty.

⁵⁴He has helped his servant

Israel

remembering to be merciful

⁵⁵to Abraham and his descendants forever,

even as he said to our fathers.”

My Soul Glorifies the Lord

She burst into singing. That’s the only way Mary thought she could express how great God is and how wonderful he has been towards her. Her song was the most personal and heartfelt a song could be. What she sang weren’t just words to her. What she sang is what she believed, what she trusted, what she depended on. After all, her song was about her Lord, her Savior.

This wasn’t a song about her. How could it be? What was there to sing about? She was just a lowly maiden; a poor peasant girl. Was she supposed to sing about her tattered clothes? Was she supposed to sing about her common house chores? Was she supposed to sing about how if you walked past her in the street you wouldn’t even notice her, because there was nothing notable about her? Was she supposed to sing about her sin, about how she didn’t deserve anyone’s attention, much less God’s attention? No way! This song isn’t about her. She wanted to sing about her Savior.

Beyond anything she thought she deserved, God regarded her with favor and affection. Yes, the God of all creation, God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, regarded her. He didn’t go out and find a rich, renowned, noble, and mighty queen. He let his pure and gracious eyes light on Mary. He would use her for his glorious work.

It was from then on that all generations would call her blessed. As if to shine the spotlight on God and draw all your attention and awe and marvel to him, she sang, “The Mighty One has done great things for me.” Because God regarded her, and what is more, because God worked such a great miracle in her; she sang some more to sing of God’s grace. For little, despised, unworthy Mary, Almighty God has done some marvelous things! He would use so poor and despised a maiden to give birth to God’s Son. Holy is his name! Just like the angel said, the Lord took on flesh in her womb and was growing and kicking inside her. The eternal Son of God would drink her milk. The Son of God would become so intimately and completely united with humanity so that he could redeem us sinners from sin and separate us from sin and all its unholy consequences. The Holy One would intimately join sinners in order to separate sinners from sin.

Don’t you just want to join with Mary in her song of praise?! Don’t the thoughts of your heart turn right towards God and praising him for his mercy? Because his mercy extends to you, too! Can’t we relate with Mary? Who are we that God would extend mercy to us? We’re nothing special. We’re not nobility. We’re not famous. We’re just…us. Why should the Prince give his hand to us?

Or does our heart harbor pride? Don’t we secretly think that there must be something about us that should make God like us? Doesn’t he see that we took time to come to church? Doesn’t it count that I consider God my friend? Shouldn’t he be grateful for my allegiance and my time?

God has no regard for the proud. He scatters those who are proud in their inmost thoughts. He doesn’t owe you anything for populating the pews. He brings down rulers from their thrones. He has no desire to fill up those who are already full of themselves. He sends the rich away empty. Mary’s song convicts and condemns us. If God condemned the proud Egyptians and Babylonians, why should he spare the proud Americans? Could we possibly tell God Almighty why he should listen to our excuses?

Mary’s song also comforts us. Over whom do Jesus’ outstretched arms not extend? Whose sin does the blood of God’s Son and Mary’s Son not cover? Have your sins weighed you down? He entered Mary’s womb to lift you up. Are you hungry for true peace with God? He became like you to fill your greatest need.

Just like Mary sang. Just like God promised. God promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He promised Moses and Joshua. He promised David, and Solomon. He promised all of them and all of us that he would help us in our greatest need. He would rescue us from our sin. He would redeem us from Satan. He would deliver us from death and hell. That promise was being fulfilled, and the bump on Mary’s tummy showed it. God was coming to the aid of his people through the baby growing inside Mary because he remembered his promise of mercy.

How do you express how great God is and how wonderful he has been towards us? How do we express our gratitude for what we believe, what we trust, what we depend on which God has done for us? How do we express our love for what our Savior did for us? The best thing I can think of doing is to sing! Sing with all your heart as Mary sang. My soul glorifies the Lord! Amen.

The Day of Judgment is coming

2011-12-12T05:58:00.000-06:00

Malachi 4:1 "Surely the day is coming; it will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire," says the LORD Almighty. "Not a root or a branch will be left to them.² But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.

The courtroom is packed. This is the day that they have been looking forward to for three years. And one man has dreaded it for just as long. Three years earlier, their daughter had been murdered. They went for weeks, months, years, without knowing who had destroyed their lives like this. Then, after two years, someone was arrested and charged with the murder, and now they would find out the verdict. They looked at the man across the courtroom. He had been dreading this day. He knew he had done it, and for two years thought he had gotten away with it. Then they tracked him down, and now here he was, charged with murder. In just a few minutes, he would find out if he had actually gotten away with it, or if he would spend the rest of his life in prison. The jury foreman stood up to read the verdict, and for everyone on the courtroom, three years of waiting was about to come to an end.

For one it would be a day of relief and satisfaction, for the other, a day of sorrow and agony. But for both of them, the day that they knew was coming was finally here.

Just like your child ripping open her present on Christmas morning, so our Savior will rend or rip open the heavens for His coming on the Day of Judgment.

Malachi was dealing with a complaint of the Jewish people that God wasn’t fair. It appeared that wicked unbelievers always got ahead, while the righteous believers always got left behind. So what was the point in serving God faithfully?

Look at Bible history. How could a God of fairness let His servant Naboth be stoned to death and robbed of his field by the wicked queen Jezebel? Yet it happened. How could a righteous God allow evil men to triumph over His Son Jesus and nail Him to a cross? Yet it happened.

Do you ever feel that way? How often does it seem like evildoers prosper? Or that the politician caught in adultery and lies becomes more popular, while the staunch Christian politician is looked upon with disdain for his beliefs and morality? Or that the business CEOs are padding their pocketbooks while the poor factory workers are being laid off?

Sometimes we may be tempted to ask ourselves, is it worth it to serve God? We see other people get ahead because they’re ruthless and dishonest, and we Christians are stuck lagging behind because we feel we have to be loving and honest. We could very easily say along with the Israelites of Malachi’s time, “the evildoers prosper, and even those who challenge God escape” (Malachi 3:15).

But God reminds us through Malachi that they’re not getting away with anything. He sees everything that they do, and He will judge them.

“Surely the day is coming,” the Lord Almighty says. “It will burn like a furnace. All the arrogant and every evildoer will be stubble, and that day that is coming will set them on fire.” That’s what those who disobey God have waiting for them. They will be stubble in God’s furnace. That day will set them on fire.

God says, “Sinners, you’re living on borrowed time! The Day of Judgment will come!” And on that day, God’s anger will burn hot, not like the crackling flames of a campfire, but like the iron-melting heat of a blast furnace. No unbelieving evildoer will escape that day.

God tells His Old Testament people that He has not forgotten them. He will come in judgment on these evildoers.

One day, the ages of earth will end. It will be a day of wild extremes. There will be a final judgment when God separates the evildoers from those who call on His name in faith. The wicked will be like chaff, swept away in engulfing flames. When the fire is past, nothing remains but ashes, their place before God will be no more. “Not a root or a branch will be left to them.”

The idea of a final Judgment Day followed by an eternal heaven or hell seems alien to our permissive culture. Ours is a “three strikes and you’re out” culture, and if you whine a bit, we will give you four or five strikes. We even curve the grades on the SAT’s so that the outcome will look better. Many schools have many valedictorians rather than one because we don’t like to have winners and losers. In such a society, it sounds strange to hear about a final Judgment Day and eternal punishment and burning and pain.

Some might argue that a loving God wouldn’t send people to hell. But that’s missing the point. A loving God must send people to hell. In punishing the wicked, He is demonstrating His love for the righteous. He is showing that there are consequences to actions. The Bible says that God wants all people to be saved. (2 Timothy 2:4) The problem isn’t God. The problem is people.

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Anne Graham Lotz, the daughter of Billy Graham, was interviewed on CBS’s “The Early Show.” Jane Clayson, the interviewer, asked Lotz, “I've heard people say … if God is good, how could God let this happen? To that, you say?”

Lotz replied, “I say God is also angry when he sees something like this. I would say also for several years now Americans in a sense have shaken their fist at God and said, God, we want you out of our schools, our government, our business, we want you out of our marketplace. And God, who is a gentleman, has just quietly backed out of our national and political life, our public life. Removing his hand of blessing and protection.”

Over the years we have listened to the ACLU and removed prayers and Bibles from public schools. We have listened to Dr. Spock and Oprah and Dr. Phil and now parents are afraid of disciplining their children, but instead wish to be their friends. We have taught a “survival of the fittest” evolution for generations. We have allowed our video games to become more violent, music to become more graphic, television and movies to become more vulgar.

Now we’re asking ourselves why our children have no conscience; why they don’t know right from wrong; why they don’t respect those in authority; why we have generations of people who don’t value life.

Perhaps it is because without the threat of judgment and punishment, without the insistence that there is a right and a wrong, without the fear of God put into our children, they have no love and respect for that same God who wishes to save them.

Hell is the ultimate expression of a fair and just Creator. He is God who is punishes evil. He is also God who has been patient for several millennia. But like the father who counts to three before the spanking and grounding in order to teach his son a lesson, so our Heavenly Father has been counting for thousands of years, but there will come a time when His patience will run out and the unbelieving world will receive more than a tanned behind and a timeout. When Judgment Day comes, it will be a day of ultimate terror and misery for those who removed God from their lives here on earth. For God is a gentleman and He will then honor their choice and remove Himself from their eternity.

Hell is scary. You don’t want to go there. So you want to listen to Paul’s instructions on how to live waiting for the Lord, so that “your whole spirit, soul and body are kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-24).

Even though, on the Day of the Lord, the evildoers will burn like stubble, on that same day, the righteous will shine like the warming sun (and we could also spell that S-O-N if we wanted to). “But for you who revere my name, the sun of righteousness will rise with healing in its wings. And you will go out and leap like calves released from the stall.” The day of the Lord will not mean disaster of everyone. For those who revere God’s name, it will be a great day!

Imagine having the two weeks of Christmas vacation all rainy and gloomy. You’re depressed because the weather is depressing. The kids are driving you crazy because they’ve been cooped up inside for two straight weeks. The inside of the house definitely looks “lived in.” You feel all achy and icky because you haven’t been outside to exercise in days. And then the sun comes out! It is glorious and shining and bright and warm. It brings healing to your aching bones. You aren’t ashamed to run outside with your kids to play. All of you are so excited to finally be outside that you are running and jumping like calves released from their stalls after being penned up all winter. You finally feel good. You want to run and jump just for the sheer joy of it.

That is the way it is with us who accept God’s love and believe in His Son, Jesus, as our Savior. When we get to heaven, we won’t be sick with our sin any more. Our spirit feels good. We want to kick and frolic in God’s Sonshine forever!

A family had recently lost their 7-year-old son to death. They experienced all the dynamics of grief as they dealt with the different stages, listening to the counselors and the experts, trying to do everything exactly as it is supposed to be done. And they felt that they were dealing with their grief in a fairly successful way – until Christmas came and it was time to put up the Christmas tree. When the family gathered to put up the tree and start hanging ornaments on its limbs, the mother realized that some of the ornaments had been made by their son who was now gone. As she was putting up those ornaments, her tears began to flow. Their older son, Jim, all of 10 years-old, came to her, put his arm around her and said, “Mom, you miss Dougie, don’t you?” She answered, “Oh yes, I miss him more than you’ll ever know.”

He said, “Well, Mom, Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of Jesus, isn’t it? And Dougie has gone to be with Jesus, hasn’t he? Then that must mean, that Dougie is having more fun than we are.”

Isn’t that exactly right? Heaven is more fun than this earth. And it is certainly better than even one moment in hell. And it is all because of Jesus. In God’s fairness and justice, we deserved for our sins to be punished. But Jesus was willing to stand in our place and receive our punishment. The Bible says, “Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.” (Hebrews 9:28) The cross is the only ladder tall enough to reach heaven.

That is what is truly not fair. It isn’t fair that we are forgiven. It isn’t fair that Jesus’ brings salvation. It isn’t fair that we are loved so much. It isn’t fair that we receive heaven because of Jesus’ cross. But that is the way it is. And aren’t you grateful that it is?

The people who go to hell deserve to go there. The people who go to heaven don’t deserve to go there. How wonderful is that?

And that means that we can look at the day of the Lord much, much differently. For us who accept Jesus’ sacrifice and believe in Him as our Savior from hell, the day of the Lord won’t be a day that burns like a furnace. It will be a day that brings life. That day will be the first day of our new life, our life free from sin, free from pain and trouble and sorrow and death. Look forward to this Day. Amen.

Funeral for Peter Olling

2011-12-07T10:22:00.000-06:00

(Jesus said) "In My Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?" John 14:2

Here's a question for you. What has 90,000 square feet, 23 bathrooms, 13 bedrooms, 10 kitchens, a 20-car garage, three pools, a bowling alley, an indoor roller rink, a two-story movie theater, a video arcade, a fitness center, a baseball field, and two tennis courts?

Give up? I thought so. The answer is Versailles. No, not the palace of French kings; this is Versailles the mansion of tycoon David Siegel. Siegel started building the mansion when his business in timeshares was booming. He stopped building the mansion when the timeshare market got clobbered by the recession.

Right now the mansion is for sale. For those of you who are curious, the cost of the joint is a mere $75 million. If you wish, you can buy the place in a completed state for a paltry $25 million more.

Now, although I don’t know many of you, I’m willing to go out on a limb and say that most of you don’t have that kind of change in your petty cash box.

Now here’s the point, if we cannot scrape together the money to buy an earthly home, how short are we going to be when it comes to purchasing a nice place in heaven?

Honesty compels me to inform you that you cannot purchase a place in heaven. Not a mansion, not a condo, not a starter home, not even a closet space. You cannot buy a home in heaven. You cannot even get close enough to peer over the pearly gates.

Your sin separates you from God. Your ungodly lifestyle causes you to fall short of the glory of God. Your spiritual bankruptcy keeps you from your eternal dream house. If those rooms in heaven are going to be bought and furnished by us, they’re going to sit empty and unfilled for a very long time – for an eternity.

But, thanks be to God, those heavenly spaces with our names on them are not based on what we do or don't do. Those places, even now, are being prepared for us by the Savior. The down payment was made on them with His Bethlehem birth; the monthly charges were picked up as He lived His life, and the last disbursement was made when Jesus laid down His life on the cross. His third-day resurrection from the dead says that all who believe on Jesus Christ as their Redeemer from sin have been given a heavenly home.

And that’s why we are here today. To thank God that Pete has entered the mansions of heaven. Not by being a good son or a caring friend or even a faithful Christian. Pete’s heavenly home was purchased for him by the precious blood and innocent suffering and death by his Savior, Jesus Christ. It is through his faith in Jesus that he has moved into his glorious new room.

A faith that he did not earn or deserve or work for. I met Pete after visiting with Jerry when he became homebound. I would have a devotion with Jerry, then he would confess his sins and we would pray the Lord’s Prayer and then he would receive communion. Pete sat at the dining room table while we did this. Eventually, Pete asked what he needed to do to join the church. After a few weeks of visiting and conversations and then a confession of sins and confession of faith, Pete was taken into membership in January of 2008.

It was a faith that was tested with Jerry’s death and then with Pete’s oxygen and with his constant health problems. But it was a faith that was fed with God’s Word and nourished with Christ’s body and blood in the Lord’s Supper.

A faith that enjoyed hearing God’s Word in our church in both Word and song. When Pete was able to come to church, he would sit in the fifth pew from the front. His oxygen tank would make its little noises. He usually didn’t open a hymnal and sing along. He just closed his eyes, smiled and enjoyed the music. But now Pete is healthy, without any tears or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He is in the new city of Jerusalem the Golden. It is such a place of peace and safety that even the wolf and the lamb feed together. It is a place of singing and praise by the saints and angelic choirs. And Pete is literally in heaven enjoying all of this.

Pete certainly had his sins. He knew them. He confessed them. He admitted that those sins kept him separated from his friends, his family and especially, his God. He knew that his deserved punishment in hell.

But that is why Jesus came to this earth, as God in human flesh. He came to save sinners like Pete, you and me. Jesus left His mansion in heaven to come to this earth of pain, sin and shame. He came to take our sins upon His perfect self. He suffered so we might be saved. He died that we might live. He endured hell so we might be given heaven. Now that gift of heaven has been given to you, me and Pete. It is ours through faith in Him.

Pete’s mom liked to say that he was born in the north woods in Meteor, WI in a sawed hut. A few years ago Pete and Jerry moved to Alabama, but that didn’t last very long. Pete liked to stay busy with his antique dealing, even buying right up to his death. I visited with Pete in his apartment last month. He had just come home from the hospital and he was still out buying more stuff. Now all of that is over. Pete has a new place to stay. No more moving. It is home. And it’s a big place – a mansion. And he has an eternity to fill it up.

It is Pete’s room. Through Jesus. Free and clear. Lock, stock and deed. For eternity. Thanks be to God. Amen.

November 30, 2011

Make a straight path

2011-12-06T11:05:00.000-06:00

Mark 1:1-8 The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ, the Son of God.² It is written in Isaiah the prophet: "I will send my messenger ahead of you, who will prepare your way"--³ "a voice of one calling in the desert, 'Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight paths for him.'"⁴ And so John came, baptizing in the desert region and preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.⁵ The whole Judean countryside and all the people of Jerusalem went out to him. Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.⁶ John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey.⁷ And this was his message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie.⁸ I baptize you with water, but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit."

“I’ll come to church once I get my life straightened out.” The response from a person whose life was going in the wrong direction. “I’m not happy being married and God wants me to be happy.” A reply to my insistence that a member’s divorce is unscriptural. “We’re not religious, but we’re spiritual.” The argument from a neighbor after an attempt at Christian counseling. “Shouldn’t the Bible change with the times?” The answer after trying to explain the Bible’s doctrine of the rules of men and women. Slam! The sound from countless doors slammed on me while door canvassing.

Maybe you’ve had similar responses when inviting a friend to church, or pointing out sin to a family member, or calling your child to repentance. “Don’t stir the pot.” “Live and let live.” “You go your way and I’ll go mine.” You’ve heard these things. Maybe you’ve even said them a time or two. We want to be left alone. Don’t bother me, I’m fine! Especially when it comes to religion … people get even a little more stern: “Don’t impose your religion on me!” Which these days for many means: don’t even bring it up for discussion; don’t say something that will offend me; don’t talk about sin; don’t do anything that might get people upset. Don’t go there. Stay superficial, so we can all just feel good about ourselves.

That’s how many feel about Christmas. It is a holiday of warm fuzzies – the lights, the greens, the tree, the music, the parties – maybe even a little mention about a baby, manger and angels. These things are supposed to help us “get into the spirit of Christmas” (whatever that means). But preparing for the birthday celebration of the Child who will bear the sin of the world requires more than tinsel and eggnog. It requires repentance.

In fact, the Church has something very helpful to prepare our hearts for Christmas. It’s called Advent.

Advent is a time when we hear readings, not about shepherds and angels, but about Christ’s glorious return and John the Baptizer’s calling us to repent. We sing hymns, not of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” but “Prepare the Royal Highway.”

And so today, as he does every second Sunday in Advent, John the Baptizer comes onto the scene. He is God’s divinely appointed “pot stirrer” and “road leveler.” He is here to prepare the way for the Lord. To flatten your mountain of sin and fill in your valley of guilt. To make your crooked life straight.

John will not leave you alone. He will not let you go your own way and remain in your sins. And he’s going to impose his religion on you, whether you like it or not. He’s going to be that voice in the wilderness – that voice that you try to ignore, but can’t. That voice that keeps speaking, keeps proclaiming, keeps calling you to repentance. He doesn’t have time to worry about his wardrobe (clothes with camel’s hair and a crude leather belt), or what he eats (locusts and wild honey), to make himself look respectable and attractive to you. There are more important things at hand.

And so John is here once again to answer our prayer. What prayer? The one we prayed earlier: “Stir up our hearts, O Lord, to prepare the way for your only Son.” (Prayer of the Day) John has come to stir up our hearts. To prepare the way. To straighten the crooked road of your heart. Because salvation is at stake. Your salvation.

Perhaps you didn’t know what you were praying earlier. Or maybe you weren’t paying attention. Either way, John is still here and we have to deal with him. He’s good at what he does – stirring up, straightening out and preaching repentance. Very good. Because he doesn’t stop with the easy sins, the obvious sins, the sins that everybody knows are sins, because that’s not stirring up the pot or straightening the road. That’s skimming the pot and filling the potholes. That kind of preaching only makes comfortable, confident sinners … and Pharisees. And what did the Pharisees do with John? They made a show of coming out to hear him. They ignored his teachings and eventually turned their backs on him.

John preached the Old Testament message of Isaiah: “In the desert prepare the way for the LORD; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain (Isaiah 40:2-3).” Make straight because something is not straight, not right; something is twisted and confused and crooked in your life. It is your lack of love and abudance of anger, your lackluster faith and your apathetic worship. It is the boredom with God’s Word and the resistance to the changes that Word wants to make in your life. It is the easy silence in your lack of prayer and your failure to tell others of the Savior. It is the evil desires, the filthy language, and the over-indulgence in your eating and drinking. It is the sensible-sounding explanations and excuses for sins – “I had no choice;” “Everyone is doing it;” “I’m not hurting anyone;” I was busy with something else.”

And so we have taken the clear, straight path to God – His royal highway – and twisted and contorted it into a maze. But this is when we need to hear the rough voice of John calling us to repentance. He bulldozes his way into our hearts. He shows us the ugliness of our sins. He makes us comfortable and alert and agitated. For his is a voice that is very different than the voices we hear in our world today which tell us that we’re all O.K. and to accept who we are and that we all deserve a medal. But John shouts, “You’re not O.K. You are not living holy and godly lives before the coming of the Lord (2 Peter 3:8-14).” “You’re not as nice and respectable as you want others to think you are; or as you think you are.” And John makes no apologies. He doesn’t say, “Sorry to burst your bubble.” No, he says, “Thus saith the Lord!”

John prepared the way for the Lord. But he doesn’t just preach. He also points. He preaches the Law in all its severity so he can point to the Gospel in all its glory. For this was his message: “After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am unworthy to untie.”

John was only the warm-up act. He was the Advent man. He was preparing the way. The way for whom? For God in sandals.

Think of that. John’s expression of Jesus’ might is so powerful that it often slips by without much notice. Jesus has sandals. He has feet. God has our hands, legs, eyes, ears and all the other things we humans have because Jesus is God incarnate – God in our flesh.

John is using this Advent time of preparation and repentance to point us to Christmas and beyond. All those sins that the bulldozer of John the Baptizer just laid bare. All those filthy, ugly, shameful sins – this Child has come to take them from us and put on His tender, innocent body. So that we might receive comfort from our God (Isaiah 40:1), God became uncomfortable as a little baby wrapped in rough cloth and laid in a feeding trough. So that we might be saved from the fires of Judgment Day, the Father’s only begotten Son received His Father’s wrath. The wood of the manger would be replaced by the angry mob crying out, “Crucify Him!” His mother’s milk replaced with vinegar. His swaddling clothes stripped away so that He hangs naked in shame. His life offered on the altar of the cross as His blood outpoured into the ground.

John gets us all stirred up this Advent season so we can truly see and appreciate what God has done to save us from ourselves, in order so we may be found spotless, blameless and at peace with God on the Day of Judgment (2 Peter 3:14). For John’s fiery speech gives way to the tender voice of Jesus, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.” “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing.” “Today, you will be with me in paradise.” “Because I live, you, too, will live.” The flames of our sin are doused by the waters of baptism. The punishment we deserve is trumped by grace. The cup of God’s wrath is replaced with the bread and cup of Christ’s mercy found in His body and blood. So that the way of the Lord may be straight. And the Lord comes straight to you – not as Judge, but as Savior. Not as Tyrant, but as Shepherd. Not as Accuser, but as Forgiver. Not to pin your sins on you, but to take them away by pinning them on Himself. That He may comfort, comfort His people.

But John isn’t finished with you yet. Now that your sins have been pinned to Jesus; now that your path is straight and the royal highway has been prepared … now live like it. Hearing John’s voice consistently calling you to repentance and seeing John’s finger constantly pointing you to Jesus: “You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God” (2 Peter 3:11-12). “Lift up your voice with a shout, lift it up, do not be afraid” (Isaiah 40:9). No longer living with hidden sin, but with sin forgiven.

Advertisers and the world have no need for Advent – except to sell trees, ornaments and decorations for Christmas. But we Christians need Advent. We need a time before Christmas to encounter the darkness, to slip slowly into winter, instead of immediately masking it with tinsel. We need a season of hunger and silence to make us eager for our coming festival, instead of “holiday” parties and concerts and all the other distractions that can rob Advent from us. For without Advent we stop being what we are: a people who are waiting. We need the Lord’s terrifying announcement of the end of time. We need the prophets’ consolations and threats. We learn who we are in the uneasy raving of John the Baptist and in the gentle strength of the Virgin Mary.

We also need Christmastime. We need a festival that runs beyond a single day, beyond a single week. We need time to tell about the singing of the angels, the wonder of the shepherds, the humble obedience of Joseph and Mary, about the embrace of Old Simeon, the faith of Old Anna, and the journey of the Magi.

Of course, Advent cannot exist if we jump the gun on Christmas. And Christmastime cannot exist if we are already tired of it by December 25. These two seasons are a package deal: One demands the other. Only after the silence of Advent can the carols of Christmastime spring. Only after Advent’s darkness can a single star give such cheer. Only after Advent’s terror can an angel be heard, once again, telling us to fear not. Year after year, we so genuinely need these seasons as rehearsal for heaven.

This is what God wants. That’s why you are here today and every day of worship. That’s why Advent before Christmas. That’s why John the Baptizer every Advent season. For we and others must be made uncomfortable in our sin so that we may find comfort in our Savior. The wilderness, then the manger, then the star, then the Jordan, then the cross and the open tomb. First the Law, then the Gospel. First the forerunner then the Messiah. First repentance then forgiveness. Making a straight path … for the King of kings is near! Amen.

2^nd Sunday in Advent at Epiphany on December 4, 2011

Advent: The Most Lutheran of Seasons

2011-12-05T07:08:00.000-06:00

Lutherans are often portrayed as being “Lent” sort of people. Somber, slow chorales. Serious, meditative worship. Deliberate and determined people with their eyes set toward the cross. Anyone looking too happy or cheerful must be a charismatic or something. Yet, if anyone is looking too sad or melancholy, they must not know that Jesus loves them.

Sometimes it’s hard being a Lutheran.

Yet in comes the season of Advent. Advent is a time of urgency and waiting. It is a time of being prepared for Jesus’ return at any moment and knowing that moment has already been 2000 years in coming. We have our eyes set toward our work and worship and also toward the clouds awaiting Christ’s coming. The hymns of this season are joyous and hopeful, yet at the same time, penitential.

Advent seems to reflect the paradox which is Lutheranism.

We look for the coming Savior, but we do so with both repentance and joy. Though our church may be decorated for Christmas, the Bible lessons for this season of Advent really do not reflect a period of pre-Christmas. Rather, they reflect the judgment of the Flood and the judgment of the Last Day, the call to repentance by the prophets and John the Baptizer, and Jesus’ and Paul’s admonition to watch and wait for the coming of Christ in the clouds.

This short season of Advent – only four weeks long – perfectly reflects what it means to be a Lutheran Christian in our world today.

We are told by our society to have parties with our family during this “holiday” season, but then conflict inevitably ensues. We are encouraged to shop, spend and stay busy from “Black Friday” until all the after Christmas sales are over. Our American culture pushes us to have everything now and that this time of the year is all about gifts.

This is also the time of the year in Wisconsin that is often the darkest with less sunlight and more depression.

Yet there is hope in this Advent season. It stands in stark contrast to the fake and plastic joy of our culture.

Advent says to us:

· The hope Christ offers is real, not contrived.

· Slow down. Watch. Be ready. Don’t be consumed by this world. Rather, focus on the world to come.

· Wait. We have the Gifts of God now, but not in fullness.

· Peace is coming – in the manger, then upon a cross, and finally in the clouds.

· Examine the past so that you may live in the present and focus on the future.

· This season is necessary, that’s why you need both the Sunday morning and the midweek Advent services.

Advent. What a great time to be a Lutheran!

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! Come. Amen.

Watching and waiting,

Pastor Michael D. Zarling

Midweek Advent Theme: The Songs of Advent

It has been said that music is an outburst of the soul and the literature of the heart. Music played a huge role as the Christ was about to be born into the world. Mary sang God’s praises in her Magnificat. Zechariah blessed the God of Israel in his Benedictus. And the angels sang to the shepherds with their Gloria in Excelsis.

These songs of Advent have been a part of the Christian Church for two millennia. We celebrate this Advent season by singing these ancient songs which still speak to our hearts, lift up our souls and magnify our Lord.

Nov 30: Benedictus – Pastor Zarling

Dec 7: Gloria – Pastor Roekle

Dec 14: Magnificat – Pastor Janke