Today's readings are Psalm 114, Joshua 5.1-6.5, and Acts 10.1-17.
The God of all is able to work out all things according to his purpose. We see in today's readings how supernatural our Lord really is. He sets apart his people, rolling away the reproach of Egypt in circumcision, showing that God is able to make a distinction among people even in the hidden places. He provides for his people to eat the Passover as they reach the end of the bread which God has provided from heaven. He gives his commands to Joshua and directs him in the way that God will overthrow Jericho. In our New Testament reading our Lord sends visions to Cornelius, a Roman centurion, and to Peter, just at the right time to prepare the way of the Gospel for Cornelius and his household.
What plans do we have today? As we go about our business will we be sensitive to our Lord's direction? Will we see when the Lord shows us his glory? Will we give thanks to God in Christ when we receive our daily bread, all the provision we have? Will we rejoice that our Lord uses us to work out his will and his ways in the world all around us? Our God is the supernatural God who works in and through us to care for the needs of this world. May we have grace to recognize his hand in all we do.
Thursday, June 30, 2011
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Psalm 103.1-12, Joshua 4.1-24, Acts 9.23-43 - Lectionary for 6/29/11 - St. Peter and St. Paul, Apostles
Today is the commemoration of St. Peter and St. Paul, apostles.
Today's readings are Psalm 103.1-12, Joshua 4.1-24, and Acts 9.23-43.
In today's high-power, high-velocity culture we seem to assume that the more influential someone is the less concern he will have with day-to-day affairs. Not so in the early Church. See in today's reading from Acts how Peter spends a good deal of time going here and there, praying for people who are sick, even raising Dorcas from the dead. Wouldn't we think this apostle of Christ, this greatly influential saint would have something more important to do? Shouldn't he be arranging an evangelistic crusade or a hard-hitting discipleship program? On the contrary, the saints of God spend a great deal of time in the New Testament just walking around praying for people and doing good wherever they find themselves.
I wonder where I will find myself today? I wonder if I'll be faithful to stop, visit, and pray with someone? May the Lord grant it to be so.
Today's readings are Psalm 103.1-12, Joshua 4.1-24, and Acts 9.23-43.
In today's high-power, high-velocity culture we seem to assume that the more influential someone is the less concern he will have with day-to-day affairs. Not so in the early Church. See in today's reading from Acts how Peter spends a good deal of time going here and there, praying for people who are sick, even raising Dorcas from the dead. Wouldn't we think this apostle of Christ, this greatly influential saint would have something more important to do? Shouldn't he be arranging an evangelistic crusade or a hard-hitting discipleship program? On the contrary, the saints of God spend a great deal of time in the New Testament just walking around praying for people and doing good wherever they find themselves.
I wonder where I will find myself today? I wonder if I'll be faithful to stop, visit, and pray with someone? May the Lord grant it to be so.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Psalm 89.24-29, Joshua 3.1-17, Acts 9.1-22 - Lectionary for 6/28/11 - Irenaeus of Lyons
Today is the commemoration of Irenaeus of Lyons.
Today's readings are Psalm 89.24-29, Joshua 3.1-17, and Acts 9.1-22.
As we read today we see God's love for his people as he prepares the way for them. Yet our selection from the Psalms, being a Messianic Psalm, reminds us that the very real events from history are actually a foreshadowing of God's work in Christ. The people of Israel are brought across the Jordan river through the waters which would bring them death, just as Jesus brings the eternal Israel through death by faith in him. Jesus prepares the way for Saul who is persecuting him to become the messenger of the true Gospel. Likewise, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. This is the real reality.
Today's readings are Psalm 89.24-29, Joshua 3.1-17, and Acts 9.1-22.
As we read today we see God's love for his people as he prepares the way for them. Yet our selection from the Psalms, being a Messianic Psalm, reminds us that the very real events from history are actually a foreshadowing of God's work in Christ. The people of Israel are brought across the Jordan river through the waters which would bring them death, just as Jesus brings the eternal Israel through death by faith in him. Jesus prepares the way for Saul who is persecuting him to become the messenger of the true Gospel. Likewise, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. This is the real reality.
Monday, June 27, 2011
Psalm 51.1-9, Joshua 2.1-24, Acts 8.26-40 - Lectionary for 6/27/11 - Cyril of Alexandria
Today is the commemoration of Cyril of Alexandria.
Today's readings are Psalm 51.1-9, Joshua 2.1-24, and Acts 8.26-40.
Cyril of Alexandria is well known for his defense of orthodox Christianity in the face of detractors. Our Scripture readings today show others who defended faith in the true God regardless of what others would say. Joshua and the other spies who entered the promised land did not know quite where they would go or what they would do. Yet in God's providence they accomplished their mission, searched out the land, and found that the people of Canaan were not ready to offer resistance. In our New Testament reading today we see Philip doing much the same thing. He had previously been appointed to do works of mercy but was directed by an angel to go to a road leading out of the area. At that place he found a man waiting to be told the Gospel. After he had finished explaining about Jesus to the Ethiopian eunuch and had baptized this man the Lord moved Philip to a different place where he continued the work of an evangelist.
Where do we find ourselves today? Do we expect that the triune God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - will use us according to his good pleasure? May we be his faithful instruments.
Today's readings are Psalm 51.1-9, Joshua 2.1-24, and Acts 8.26-40.
Cyril of Alexandria is well known for his defense of orthodox Christianity in the face of detractors. Our Scripture readings today show others who defended faith in the true God regardless of what others would say. Joshua and the other spies who entered the promised land did not know quite where they would go or what they would do. Yet in God's providence they accomplished their mission, searched out the land, and found that the people of Canaan were not ready to offer resistance. In our New Testament reading today we see Philip doing much the same thing. He had previously been appointed to do works of mercy but was directed by an angel to go to a road leading out of the area. At that place he found a man waiting to be told the Gospel. After he had finished explaining about Jesus to the Ethiopian eunuch and had baptized this man the Lord moved Philip to a different place where he continued the work of an evangelist.
Where do we find ourselves today? Do we expect that the triune God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit - will use us according to his good pleasure? May we be his faithful instruments.
Sermon for 6/26/11 "Looking Pretty Grim"
SERMON “Looking Pretty Grim” Jeremiah 28.5-9 audio link http://dl.dropbox.com/u/23575548/110626Jeremiah28.mp3
May the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ guard our hearts and minds, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Have you ever been around one of those people who talks negatively all the time? Maybe you know someone you can count on not wanting to talk to. You know the kind. Every time you see him (or her) you can expect to hear a hard luck story. And you’ve heard plenty of them. Maybe this week it’s about the relative or friend who ended up in jail. Last week it was about someone who is sick with five fatal illnesses. Maybe you’ve heard about the auto repairs needed which would cost more than the car was worth. Then the child’s dog had a flea infestation that spread to the whole house. Someone’s in trouble in school again. Someone’s been fired from a job. The more you listen to this person talk, the more you expect to be rained on, to develop a dread disease, or to be run down by a truck next time you cross the street. I think we’ve all run into those people who seem to have so much turmoil it’s hard to believe. And after a while we start wishing they would change their message. Can’t something good happen to them sometimes? Or maybe they would like to talk about something else? Surely they know about some good, some kindness, some little thing in this world to smile about. But it would seem not. Things are looking pretty grim.
Jeremiah, God’s prophet to Jerusalem, was one of the people who had a reputation for being negative. He was proclaiming his Lord’s truth to the people of Judah. But God’s truth was hard to swallow. At this time, God’s message to his people was that their longstanding history of unrepentant sin was sending them into exile. The city was to be besieged, overthrown, sacked. The people could expect to lose everything. This is a hard message. It’s unpopular. But at that time and in that place it was absolutely the truth. Everything was looking grim. No doubt there were people who wanted Jeremiah to stop. They didn’t want to hear this message, they had heard enough of it. They were scared enough by their surroundings, now they didn’t want God’s prophet to tell them about God’s judgment. So various people rose up against Jeremiah. One of them, here in Jeremiah 28, is named Hananiah.
Hananiah brought a message of hope. God’s enemies would be leaving within two years. The things which had been taken away would be returned. The kingdom would be re-established. Life in Jerusalem is going to change. God’s blessing is going to be upon us once again. Hananiah would say that Jeremiah was wrong. He didn’t know what God was doing. He was simply inventing a negative message in character with his negative attitude.
What was Jeremiah’s response to Hananiah? We read it a little while ago. Jeremiah would love it if Hananiah were right. May the Lord deliver his people and take them from the hands of their enemies! May he do exactly that and nurture his people again! But we are going to believe it when we see it. We don’t have permission to look to a rosy future until God brings that future to pass. Then we’ll know that Hananiah is right.
What does this have to do with us? We know from history that Hananiah died that very year, that Babylon overthrew Jerusalem, and that the captivity lasted some seventy years. Jeremiah was right. And here’s what he was focused on. It’s a message we need to look at. It looks pretty grim. Jeremiah, you see, knew that God’s people, the children of Israel, descendants of Abraham, were all sinners. They were all corrupted. They had fallen in Adam. And in that fallen, sinful state they couldn’t deliver themselves. The fruit of their sin remained. They were to receive the penalty for their sin, at least some of the penalty of their sin.
Maybe we need to bar the doors for a moment. Because I have to talk pretty frankly about sin. That’s one of those messages that the mega-church people think is negative. They don’t like to talk about it a lot. And I don’t either. Believe me, your doctor doesn’t like to tell you that you’re going to die and your lawyer doesn’t like to tell you that you’re going to jail. I don’t like pointing out sin. But sometimes we need to tell those difficult truths. Remember what we confessed at the start of the service? If our Lord kept a record of sins we couldn’t stand. We confess that we are unworthy. We confess that we sin in thought, word, and deed. Often in our confession we include the idea of sin in what we have done and in what we have not done. Do we need to go farther in how we identify sin? It’s anything that does not approach God in perfect love and trust. It’s anything that does not glorify God regardless of who is watching. It’s anything that lifts us up in glory, honor, and pride, exalting ourselves or anyone other than the triune God. I don’t think I need to start naming your sins or my sins. You know far more of them than I do. And our Lord knows them all. We are all condemned as sinners. That’s a hard message. Since I proclaimed God’s forgiveness at the start of the service, we’ve all had plenty of time to condemn ourselves again. Things are looking pretty grim. It’s a hard message. But it’s the truth, and I’m bound to speak it.
What relief is there? I can’t unbar the doors until you hear God’s remedy! After all, we who are condemned before God, convicted of our sin, could rush out and do ourselves harm. And we wouldn’t want that. We do all we can to nurture and protect people, not harm them. Earlier I said that we wouldn’t know Hananiah was right unless his prophecy came true and God delivered his people. It’s my great honor to tell you today, as a servant of the Gospel of Christ, that God has given us the remedy for sin, for the sin of the world, for every sinful act we have or ever will commit, in the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ on our behalf. Jesus has carried our sin. He has borne the penalty for the sins of his people in Jerusalem at the time of Jeremiah. Jesus has borne the penalty for the sins of his people in this congregation at this time. He has come to draw people to himself. He has promised his reward, as we read in Matthew 10. What is that reward? Jesus, who died for us, has risen from the dead. He is victorious over death, hell, and the grave. In Christ there is no more condemnation, no more shame, no more destruction. Even our mortal bodies, which are destined to die and decay, will be raised again in the glorious resurrection. How do we know this? Because Jesus has risen from the dead. He has triumphed. And he’s triumphed over our sin.
Now I can unbar the doors. Things don’t look very grim any more. This is the good news of the Christian life. Jesus has conquered my sin. He has conquered your sin. The rest of this Christian life is getting used to the fact that he’s done what he did. It’s a matter of living a life of repentance, knowing that our sin comes back to haunt us again and again, but that Jesus has granted us new life, that we can walk in the forgiveness he brings, that he will conform us into his image. Our Lord, who has shown us the depth of our sin, will also show us the glorious majesty of his righteousness. Buried with him in baptism, we rise again to walk in newness of life. And we walk in that newness of life together, confessing our common faith, receiving from our Lord in Word and Sacraments, feeding our faith in communion, encouraging one another in fellowship and prayer. Will things still look pretty grim sometimes? They sure will. You might still go to jail. You are very likely to die if our Lord doesn’t come soon. But our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ can and will strengthen you and me, building us up as living stones in his temple, his body, his Church, so we can find security, hope, and purpose in life, no matter the trials we face.
Let us rise and pray together.
Our Lord, thank you for sending the trials we face. We confess that they are difficult. We confess that we have seen the dangers all around us and that we have been frightened. We have been tempted at times not to trust in your providence, to look for other answers. Turn our hearts to your forgiving grace. Conform us into your image, that we may look to you, our hope and help in this world and in eternity, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
May the grace of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ guard our hearts and minds, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Have you ever been around one of those people who talks negatively all the time? Maybe you know someone you can count on not wanting to talk to. You know the kind. Every time you see him (or her) you can expect to hear a hard luck story. And you’ve heard plenty of them. Maybe this week it’s about the relative or friend who ended up in jail. Last week it was about someone who is sick with five fatal illnesses. Maybe you’ve heard about the auto repairs needed which would cost more than the car was worth. Then the child’s dog had a flea infestation that spread to the whole house. Someone’s in trouble in school again. Someone’s been fired from a job. The more you listen to this person talk, the more you expect to be rained on, to develop a dread disease, or to be run down by a truck next time you cross the street. I think we’ve all run into those people who seem to have so much turmoil it’s hard to believe. And after a while we start wishing they would change their message. Can’t something good happen to them sometimes? Or maybe they would like to talk about something else? Surely they know about some good, some kindness, some little thing in this world to smile about. But it would seem not. Things are looking pretty grim.
Jeremiah, God’s prophet to Jerusalem, was one of the people who had a reputation for being negative. He was proclaiming his Lord’s truth to the people of Judah. But God’s truth was hard to swallow. At this time, God’s message to his people was that their longstanding history of unrepentant sin was sending them into exile. The city was to be besieged, overthrown, sacked. The people could expect to lose everything. This is a hard message. It’s unpopular. But at that time and in that place it was absolutely the truth. Everything was looking grim. No doubt there were people who wanted Jeremiah to stop. They didn’t want to hear this message, they had heard enough of it. They were scared enough by their surroundings, now they didn’t want God’s prophet to tell them about God’s judgment. So various people rose up against Jeremiah. One of them, here in Jeremiah 28, is named Hananiah.
Hananiah brought a message of hope. God’s enemies would be leaving within two years. The things which had been taken away would be returned. The kingdom would be re-established. Life in Jerusalem is going to change. God’s blessing is going to be upon us once again. Hananiah would say that Jeremiah was wrong. He didn’t know what God was doing. He was simply inventing a negative message in character with his negative attitude.
What was Jeremiah’s response to Hananiah? We read it a little while ago. Jeremiah would love it if Hananiah were right. May the Lord deliver his people and take them from the hands of their enemies! May he do exactly that and nurture his people again! But we are going to believe it when we see it. We don’t have permission to look to a rosy future until God brings that future to pass. Then we’ll know that Hananiah is right.
What does this have to do with us? We know from history that Hananiah died that very year, that Babylon overthrew Jerusalem, and that the captivity lasted some seventy years. Jeremiah was right. And here’s what he was focused on. It’s a message we need to look at. It looks pretty grim. Jeremiah, you see, knew that God’s people, the children of Israel, descendants of Abraham, were all sinners. They were all corrupted. They had fallen in Adam. And in that fallen, sinful state they couldn’t deliver themselves. The fruit of their sin remained. They were to receive the penalty for their sin, at least some of the penalty of their sin.
Maybe we need to bar the doors for a moment. Because I have to talk pretty frankly about sin. That’s one of those messages that the mega-church people think is negative. They don’t like to talk about it a lot. And I don’t either. Believe me, your doctor doesn’t like to tell you that you’re going to die and your lawyer doesn’t like to tell you that you’re going to jail. I don’t like pointing out sin. But sometimes we need to tell those difficult truths. Remember what we confessed at the start of the service? If our Lord kept a record of sins we couldn’t stand. We confess that we are unworthy. We confess that we sin in thought, word, and deed. Often in our confession we include the idea of sin in what we have done and in what we have not done. Do we need to go farther in how we identify sin? It’s anything that does not approach God in perfect love and trust. It’s anything that does not glorify God regardless of who is watching. It’s anything that lifts us up in glory, honor, and pride, exalting ourselves or anyone other than the triune God. I don’t think I need to start naming your sins or my sins. You know far more of them than I do. And our Lord knows them all. We are all condemned as sinners. That’s a hard message. Since I proclaimed God’s forgiveness at the start of the service, we’ve all had plenty of time to condemn ourselves again. Things are looking pretty grim. It’s a hard message. But it’s the truth, and I’m bound to speak it.
What relief is there? I can’t unbar the doors until you hear God’s remedy! After all, we who are condemned before God, convicted of our sin, could rush out and do ourselves harm. And we wouldn’t want that. We do all we can to nurture and protect people, not harm them. Earlier I said that we wouldn’t know Hananiah was right unless his prophecy came true and God delivered his people. It’s my great honor to tell you today, as a servant of the Gospel of Christ, that God has given us the remedy for sin, for the sin of the world, for every sinful act we have or ever will commit, in the perfect life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ on our behalf. Jesus has carried our sin. He has borne the penalty for the sins of his people in Jerusalem at the time of Jeremiah. Jesus has borne the penalty for the sins of his people in this congregation at this time. He has come to draw people to himself. He has promised his reward, as we read in Matthew 10. What is that reward? Jesus, who died for us, has risen from the dead. He is victorious over death, hell, and the grave. In Christ there is no more condemnation, no more shame, no more destruction. Even our mortal bodies, which are destined to die and decay, will be raised again in the glorious resurrection. How do we know this? Because Jesus has risen from the dead. He has triumphed. And he’s triumphed over our sin.
Now I can unbar the doors. Things don’t look very grim any more. This is the good news of the Christian life. Jesus has conquered my sin. He has conquered your sin. The rest of this Christian life is getting used to the fact that he’s done what he did. It’s a matter of living a life of repentance, knowing that our sin comes back to haunt us again and again, but that Jesus has granted us new life, that we can walk in the forgiveness he brings, that he will conform us into his image. Our Lord, who has shown us the depth of our sin, will also show us the glorious majesty of his righteousness. Buried with him in baptism, we rise again to walk in newness of life. And we walk in that newness of life together, confessing our common faith, receiving from our Lord in Word and Sacraments, feeding our faith in communion, encouraging one another in fellowship and prayer. Will things still look pretty grim sometimes? They sure will. You might still go to jail. You are very likely to die if our Lord doesn’t come soon. But our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ can and will strengthen you and me, building us up as living stones in his temple, his body, his Church, so we can find security, hope, and purpose in life, no matter the trials we face.
Let us rise and pray together.
Our Lord, thank you for sending the trials we face. We confess that they are difficult. We confess that we have seen the dangers all around us and that we have been frightened. We have been tempted at times not to trust in your providence, to look for other answers. Turn our hearts to your forgiving grace. Conform us into your image, that we may look to you, our hope and help in this world and in eternity, for you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Psalm 31.19-24, Joshua 1.1-18, Acts 8.1-25 - Lectionary for 6/26/11 - Jeremiah
Today is the commemoration of Jeremiah.
Today's readings are Psalm 31.19-24, Joshua 1.1-18, and Acts 8.1-25.
Be strong and courageous! Whether you are Joshua leading the people of Israel into the promised land against all odds, or whether you are Philip, bringing the Gospel to the enemies of Israel in Samaria, being used by God to cast out demons and convert magicians, or whoever you are, God has called his people to accomplish his will on this earth. Do we trust in Jesus? What then will be impossible for us? What force of this world can stand against Christ's Church, following their Lord who conquered death itself? Nothing will stand against our Lord and Savior as he works in and through his people. Is there anything that is too difficult for him? Not at all. It may be too difficult for us. We may not understand what we are doing or what God's purpose is for us in our journey. Like Philip we may know that our enemies could kill us. We may also have times of uncertainty, not knowing where we will go next or what we will do next. Yet there is no need for fear. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, knows how he will use us. His perfect love casts out all fear. So may the Lord bless us to be strong and courageous this day.
Today's readings are Psalm 31.19-24, Joshua 1.1-18, and Acts 8.1-25.
Be strong and courageous! Whether you are Joshua leading the people of Israel into the promised land against all odds, or whether you are Philip, bringing the Gospel to the enemies of Israel in Samaria, being used by God to cast out demons and convert magicians, or whoever you are, God has called his people to accomplish his will on this earth. Do we trust in Jesus? What then will be impossible for us? What force of this world can stand against Christ's Church, following their Lord who conquered death itself? Nothing will stand against our Lord and Savior as he works in and through his people. Is there anything that is too difficult for him? Not at all. It may be too difficult for us. We may not understand what we are doing or what God's purpose is for us in our journey. Like Philip we may know that our enemies could kill us. We may also have times of uncertainty, not knowing where we will go next or what we will do next. Yet there is no need for fear. Our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, knows how he will use us. His perfect love casts out all fear. So may the Lord bless us to be strong and courageous this day.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Psalm 119.41-48, Proverbs 31.10-31, John 21.1-25 - Lectionary for 6/25/11 - Presentation of the Augsburg Confessions
Today marks the presentation of the Augsburg Confession to the German civic leaders.
Today's readings are Psalm 119.41-48, Proverbs 31.10-31, and John 21.1-25.
God shows his love for his people through providing for their needs - particularly their need of forgiveness and restoration. See in today's Gospel reading that Jesus provides for the disciples' economic need by providing them with an abundant catch of fish. He provides for Peter's need for forgiveness by restoring him and having him declare his love for Jesus as many times as he had formerly denied his Lord. He provides for John's need of comfort by saying that he would be with John throughout his long life, no matter what might happen to everyone else.
Our Lord has preserved his Church through the ages, always being there for his people, always working through the Gospel to draw people to himself. We can have the greatest confidence that he will always be with his people, for he has promised never to leave them. We are not orphans. We have received the forgiveness of God in Christ.
Today's readings are Psalm 119.41-48, Proverbs 31.10-31, and John 21.1-25.
God shows his love for his people through providing for their needs - particularly their need of forgiveness and restoration. See in today's Gospel reading that Jesus provides for the disciples' economic need by providing them with an abundant catch of fish. He provides for Peter's need for forgiveness by restoring him and having him declare his love for Jesus as many times as he had formerly denied his Lord. He provides for John's need of comfort by saying that he would be with John throughout his long life, no matter what might happen to everyone else.
Our Lord has preserved his Church through the ages, always being there for his people, always working through the Gospel to draw people to himself. We can have the greatest confidence that he will always be with his people, for he has promised never to leave them. We are not orphans. We have received the forgiveness of God in Christ.
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