You would be correct if you thought during the reading of today’s Gospel from Mark chapter 1; “Wait a minute, hasn’t that passage already been read in church; and that quite recently? “

Well you’d be right for already since the First Sunday in Advent we’ve actually heard from the 1st chapter six times. On Dec. 6th we read Mark 1:1-8. Then just six weeks ago, January 10th, at the start of Epiphany on the Baptism of our Lord we read Mark 1:4-11.  Then, on January 24th, 31st and February 7th, we also read portions of Scripture from chapter 1, several of them overlapping each other. And finally, today on the first Sunday in Lenten Tide we read Mark 1:9-15.

And yet for all of that overlap and partly covered verses, there remained just two verses left unspoken this year; Verses 12 and 13.

¹² The Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness. ¹³ And he was in the wilderness forty days, being tempted by Satan. And he was with the wild animals, and the angels were ministering to him.

That’s it. Remarkably spare of detail here in Mark. In Matthew and Luke we are allowed a ring side seat of the struggle of the 2nd Person of the Trinity in the flesh contending for your soul with the god (small g) of this world.  Stones into bread, High flying trapeze act on the pinnacle of the temple, viewing all the nations, none it. No details except…

In the 13th verse, we hear simply of the devil’s test[1] of Jesus.   And then Mark finishes off with a sentence made up of two independent clauses.  The First is “And He was with the Wild Animals.” And the second is “…and the angels were ministering to Him.”   

The prophet Hosea says: “And I will make for them a covenant on that day with the beasts of the field, the birds of the heavens, and the creeping things of the ground. And I will abolish the bow, the sword, and war from the land, and I will make you lie down in safety.” (Hosea 2:18)

The creatures of the Earth and the creatures of the heaven are brought together. Jesus begins to proclaim the establishment of God’s reign (or “kingdom”) as a peaceable kingdom.

The wilderness is where Christ contends with Satan, because the wilderness is where you also are tested and trained.  The wilderness is where the fallen children of Adam & Eve learn how to live in God’s peaceable kingdom again.  It is the long stretch of desert between Egypt and Canaan, in which the children of God are catechized to enter the Good Land that He has promised.  It is where you are taught to live in the Kingdom of God by faith, and so also to work in love for God and for your neighbor, instead of trusting and loving only yourself.  To that end, it is in the wilderness that you are called to repent and believe the Gospel.  But, of course, it is especially at those points of repentance, faith, and love that you are under attack and assaulted by the devil.

The Lord your God tests you and tries you, in order to clarify and strengthen your faith and your confession.  The devil tempts you into evil, in order to rob you of life and bring you to death and condemnation.  So it is that Satan wickedly entices you to sin against God’s Word, but then, in craftiness and spite, he is also the first in line to accuse you and bring charges against you.

At every point in your life on earth, this battle is waged: In your successes, and in your suffering and failures.  In what you have, and in what you lack or lose.  In what God has promised, and in what you covet for yourself that God has not given you.  Always the devil is tempting you to question and contradict, to ignore and despise what God has spoken, both the Law and the Gospel.

But, now, let God and His Word be true, and know that everything else is a lie and a deception.

Trust the Lord, your God and Father in Christ Jesus. Cling to His Word, come hell or high water against you.  Do not despair of His goodness, nor despise His good gifts of body and soul.

Do not be deceived or misled into evil, which has merely the appearance of “good,” but leads only to death.  Beware the assaults and temptations of the enemy: the lies, the flattery, the questions, and the accusations of the devil; the enticements and attacks of the world; the lusts and desires of your own mortal flesh, which are the rotting cesspool out of which all sin and death proceed.

Sometimes crass, sometimes subtle, the devil is always crafty, and every sin to which he tempts you is dangerous and deadly.  Do not kid yourself.  It is not true that “all sins are equal,” but all sin, by definition, is contrary to the Word of the Lord, and that is always to your detriment.  Every denial, and every disobedience of what God the Lord has spoken is a refusal and rejection of the Life that is found only in the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  That is why the soul that sins shall die.

Repent.  Now is the time.  Do not wait, as though to accomplish your own agenda first, but turn away from evil and do good.  Exercise your faith in deeds of love.  Deny your own lustful desires, and live instead by the charity of the Lord.  For the Kingdom of God is at hand in Christ Jesus.

Remember your Baptism into Him.  Remember what God has said and done.  Recall what you have confessed and sworn by His Spirit.  Renounce the devil, all his works, and all his ways.

Obey the Word of the Lord, no matter how difficult it may be, and no matter how ludicrous it may sound.  Rely upon His promises, and call upon His Name in the confidence that He will provide, that He will save you from sin and Satan, death and hell, even forevermore.  Trust Him, that He will do it.

At times it will seem otherwise, as though God were actually against you —  But even in the desert wilderness, even as you are called to fast and pray, you shall not starve.  Your God still feeds you.  Nor shall you go naked.  Your God still clothes and shelters you.  You shall not die alone.  Your God is with you always, through death into life everlasting.  Indeed, beloved of the Lord, your God dies with you and for you.  He is your Strength and your Song, your Surety, and your Salvation.

He has set Himself as your great Champion, and He is faithful; He does what He has promised.  There is no shifting or turning with Him.  You are sheltered under the shadow of His wings.

Thanks be to God, His Kingdom does not rest upon your faithfulness, nor even your repentance and faith.  The Kingdom of God is at hand in the Body of Christ Jesus, and only in Him.  It is as sure and certain as His Nativity, His Baptism, His life, His death, and His Resurrection from the dead.  Your repentance and faith, your life, and your salvation are all firmly established on Him.

In Jesus Name. Amen

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[1] In Matthew 4 and Luke 4, “test” is probably a better translation of the Greek verb peirazo than “tempt.”

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

The strange regalia of the Kingdom of Heaven. In the World, a king is robed in

Baptism; it is an essential possession of the Christian. A possession that, I submit  according to the Lutheran way of speaking, defines the Christian as Christian..  But what kind of possession is it?  What is the use or benefit, in a world of such trouble and death as ours. What is the use of  splashing around  barely a couple of cups of water?   That may sound like a crass question

The answer comes from an extended reading of  Rev. Dr. Martin Luther’s  Large Catechism:

“ ⁷ For it is of the greatest importance that we esteem Baptism ⁸ excellent, glorious, and exalted, for which we contend and fight chiefly, because the world is now so full of sects clamoring that Baptism is an external thing, and that external things are of no benefit. But let it be ever so much an external thing, here stand God’s Word and command which institute, establish, and confirm Baptism. But what God institutes and commands cannot be a vain, but must be a most precious thing, though in appearance it were of less value than a straw.

⁹ If hitherto people could consider it a great thing when the Pope with his letters and bulls dispensed indulgences and confirmed altars and churches, solely because of the letters and seals, we ought to esteem Baptism much more highly and more precious, because God has commanded it, and, besides, it is performed in His name. For these are the words, Go ye, baptize; however, not in your name, but in the name of God. ¹⁰ For to be baptized in the name of God is to be baptized not by men, but by God Himself. Therefore, although it is performed by human hands, it is nevertheless truly God’s own work. From this fact every one may himself readily infer that it is a far higher work than any work performed by a man or a saint. For what work greater than the work of God can we do?”[1]

Everything that happens to Christ Jesus is for your sake, and He receives all things in heaven and on earth on your behalf.  Thus, you have a new identity, a new reality, and a new life in Him.  And when the Father looks at you, He does not behold the sinner that you are, He does not look upon your sins; He sees instead His own dear Son, and He speaks His divine blessing from an open heaven, now also to you in Christ Jesus: “You are My beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

So have you also been given the Holy Spirit in your Baptism, the same Spirit who descended on Christ in the form of a dove at His Baptism.  For all that He has received is given to you, as well.

Thus do you now bear in your body and soul the Spirit of God, who unites you with Christ Jesus as a member of His Body and Bride, the Church.  And in this Christian Church, by and with the Word of the Gospel, He strengthens you and keeps you steadfast in the one true faith; He helps you in your weakness; and He teaches you to pray to the Lord God Almighty as your own dear Father.

But let’s be plain, there is a  battle, however, which you are called to engage. A battle not against principalities and powers but against your own fallen flesh and sinful heart. It is a battle not  won by any good intentions or firm resolve on your part. The discipline of  your body and life is solely by the Word and Spirit of God.  And just as Christ the Lord defeated Satan by adhering to the promises of His Father, unto His death upon the Cross, so do you triumph by clinging to the Word of the Lord which puts you to death and raises you to newness of life in Christ by repentance and faith.

You have that very same comfort in the waters of your Holy Baptism, waters encompassed by the Lord’s command and promise and administered in His Name; waters sanctified by His Baptism for you and all the people in the Jordan River.  To the human eye and your fleshly senses, according to the wisdom of this world, it is nothing but a splash of ordinary water, an empty symbol, and a worthless ceremony.  But to the eyes of faith, according to the gracious Will and Wisdom of God, it is a gracious water of life, a rich and full washing of regeneration.  It works the forgiveness of sins, delivers from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe this, as the Words and promises of God declare: “He that believes and is baptized shall be saved.”

For Christ also was baptized, once for all, the Just for the unjust, the Righteous One for all of us poor sinners, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in our flesh, but made alive in the Spirit of His God and Father.  Participating in that good work of His, your Holy Baptism in His Name now saves you.  Not as a removal of dirt from your face and hands, but as the testimony of a good conscience in the presence of God through the Resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead — in whose crucified and risen Body you are now seated at the right hand of the Father in heaven.  By your Baptism you have died; and by your Baptism your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

In Jesus Name

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[1] https://bookofconcord.org/large-catechism/part-iv/

All the stained-glass windows around the church are in double sets; with one Old Testament depiction and one New Testament depiction next to each other.  The windows on the left side of Trinity’s sanctuary are arraigned in an extraordinary manner.  

There is one window that is not really visible to most worshipers. What is strange is that that window is seated behind a door and is partially hidden by the staircase up to the organ and choir loft. This window shows the Genesis narrative of the fall into sin of Adam and Eve and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil.  Its corresponding New Testament window is of the Nativity. The birth of the second Adam answers the sin of the first is the message.

Coming through the door, entering the sanctuary and heading up the left wall, the next set includes a scene of Simeon holding the blessed child and praying what has become for us the Nunc Dimittis. Which is always good for the first Sunday after Christmas

Moving to the next window we move to our reading for this the second Sunday of Christmas, the boy Jesus discussing the scriptures with the teachers of the Law in the Temple.

Therefore by the sequence of events of our windows, we move from Christmas through the first and second Sundays in Christmas. What is missing of course is any discussion of the wise men, or Herod’s slaughter of the Holy Innocents or of the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt and their return. I pondered this by remembering the cornerstone of this building was set in 1947. Perhaps, the builders had had a belly full of war as political maneuvering and the human devastation that it had brought. That is pure conjecture of course.

However Saint Luke does not ignore the sequence of the incarnation. It perhaps is easy to see how the narrative of the twelve year old Jesus in the Temple is a response to all the murder and mayhem that comes before it.

It hadn’t been an easy twelve years for Mary and her husband Joseph, especially the start. Rejected and shunned so that their first born son was born among the common animals. Then on the run from insane violence that has come seemingly out of nowhere and left in its wake the murder of innocents.  

Note this, they find Jesus where? In the Temple, The temple rebuilt by Herod, the very same Herod that threatened His life around ten years before and after him comes five Herodian children just as murderous as their father.

What’s the message of the boy Jesus to His parents? God is in control. You may have lost Jesus; but Jesus has not lost you.

Do not suppose that death has got the upper hand, nor that death will have the last word.  For out of Egypt God has called His Son — the same Son, Jesus Christ, who has come in the Flesh to bear your sins and be your Savior.  He has shed His Blood and died for you, and God has raised Him from the dead.  Therefore, death has no power over Him, and neither does it have any power over you, since you are baptized into Christ Jesus and belong to Him now and forever.

And yet, despite all that, it sure still looks and feels as though death were winning.  Examples abound on all sides, and you can hardly read or listen to the news without adding more on a daily basis.  Explosions, shootings, accidents, and illness.  And it strikes even closer to home too often.

“In the very midst of life, death has us surrounded.”  And the fear of death, under its many guises, enslaves and tyrannizes you, driving you to sin.  It is at the heart of all your selfishness and greed, your covetousness and idolatry, your deception and manipulation, and both your lazy negligence and your works-righteous legalism.  For death has come into the world on account of sin, and sin increases all the more in the fear of death.  It is a vicious cycle which erupts here and there, within and without, sometimes with cold calculation, and then again with aimless outbursts of violence.

Sometimes, like King Herod, you get angry and lose your temper, and you fight back and defend yourself with force — as though you were a god, with the power and authority of life and death.

At other times, like Rachel, you despair of any help or consolation — you weep and moan, refusing to be consoled or comforted — as though there were no God, no Savior, and no hope to be found.

Such fear of death, such anger, and such inconsolable grief are all sinful and unrighteous, because they are contrary to faith and to the love of God.

I tell you, then, repent of misplaced fear, of violent temper, and of hopeless despair.

Wait quietly and patiently upon the Lord, and rise up at His Word to do what He calls you to do.  No matter how daunting, difficult, or discouraging the task at hand may be, get up and go in the hope of His grace, mercy, and peace.  Live and work as St. Joseph of Nazareth has done in caring for his wife and for her Son, as he flees with them to Egypt and waits upon the Word of the Lord.

So, then, about that story set before us on this day: Once again it would seem that death has got the upper hand, and that everything is out of God’s control.  After all, the little Lord Jesus has to be rushed away to safety in the middle of the night, while the innocent baby boys of Bethlehem are slaughtered in His wake.  Where is the justice or the hope in such events as these?

To point out that everything actually unfolds according to the Scriptures seems, on the surface, only to make matters worse.  For why on earth would God permit such atrocities to happen?

Why, indeed, does God permit you to suffer?

And why does the Lord your God permit you to hurt and harm your neighbor?

Truth be told, God does respond to and deals with evil, with sin and death, with fear and anger and despair.  But He does not respond as you would do, nor does He act like either Herod or Rachel.  He does not react with force, nor retaliate with the raw unbridled power of a temper tantrum.  He has no need to get “defensive,” as though He were backed into a corner and desperate for some way out.  Nor does He panic and throw up His hands in frustration.  He does not give up the fight.

True enough, there is a day of reckoning, a day of judgment, when God vindicates His people and punishes the sons of disobedience.  He does get glory over against Pharaoh and the armies of Egypt who are drowned in the depths of the Red Sea.  Herod also dies and is judged by the Lord.

But the Lord God demonstrates His almighty power over sin, death, the devil, and hell, chiefly by showing mercy to sinners, and having compassion upon them, and forgiving them all their sins.  He is patient and long-suffering, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.  He establishes His righteousness in the midst of the nations, not by punishment to start with, but by redemption.  Else we should all be lost, completely and forever, and then there really would be no hope at all.

You may have lost Jesus; but Jesus has not lost you.

As it is, the Lord our God is faithful in His mercy, and He is righteous in His forgiveness of sins.  So it is that Herod’s treachery does not triumph, because death does not get the last word.  Herod’s slaughter of the innocents is no less sinful and wicked on that account, but neither does it win.

It is not at Herod’s whim, but in fulfillment of God’s holy will, that Christ Jesus lays down His life in the hope of the Resurrection, trusting the Scriptures of the Prophets, the promise of His Father.

And now, behold, He is risen from the dead and lives forever in His own glorified Body!  For He is raised by God to life again, which is your justification, your righteousness and holiness before God in heaven.  Thus does the Son return to His own territory, to the Right Hand of His Father.

Beloved of the Lord, you now follow this Lamb, Jesus, wherever He goes, so that you are with Him where He is.  So it is by your Baptism into His death, and so too by the eating and drinking of His true Passover Feast, which is His Body given and His Blood poured out for you.

And so it is that you shall be with Him forever, alive with His Spirit in both body and soul, holy and righteous in the presence of His Father, residing in peace on the heavenly Mount Zion.

This is your future, and in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus it is your sure and certain hope. 

This Christmas you may have lost Jesus, but He has not lost you! A Merry Christmas to you,

In Jesus (+) Name

Christmas Eve The Nativity of Our Lord Luke 2:1-20 2020-12-24

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Holy Family traveled to Bethlehem from Nazareth Joseph’s “home of record” by the political logic of Caesar Augustus.  We gather this year under the political logic of the Governor’s COVID-19 Executive Order 59.

In the 1830’s,  Carl Von Clausewitza Prussian General of the Napoleonic Era who famously applied political logic to warfare stated: “War is not merely a political act, but a real political instrument, a continuation of the political process, an application [of politics] by other means.”^[13]   

An extension of Clausewitz’ use of such supposed logic is Biological warfare, the deliberate use of disease-causing biological agents to obtain a political end.   By the 1925 Geneva Protocol, to benefit politically when a population suffers from a biological corruption is listed as a war crime. An understanding that has become painfully obvious in our day as COVID-19 has severely affected our Christmas celebrations.

That being said, Our celebrations of Christmas are always full of disappointments, but now we won’t complain if; The turkey was dry, the food was cold. We won’t complain if; the gifts we received were lackluster or the ones to whom we gave gifts accidently showed their disappointment in what we had given. We won’t complain if; we open the box to discover that the gift is incomplete, that all the required screws or fasteners or even the batteries are missing.

But what if missing also is that special someone because of divorce, death, sickness, the need to work to fend off poverty or just plain stubbornness?  And now we can add “Quarantined” to the list.

Yes, to be honest our celebrations of Christmas are always full of disappointments

It should not be this way, but no matter how hard we try we can never make Christmas perfect. We can’t live up to Hallmark or the state run media’s ideals. Our lives are messy and complicated.

It has always been so, Adam and Eve had eaten from the tree of knowledge. Then they knew the pain and toil and hurt, sorrow. Then they ushered in death, not just into the human equation. They handed creation over to the devil. They chose evil. They brought evil’s death and misery, evil’s hardship and heartbreaks, upon themselves and upon all their children. And we, their descendants and successors, bear their guilt by right of inheritance. It is ours. That would be enough by itself, to vindicate damnation. But that is not all the guilt we have. We are also guilty of our individual way of sinning, of hatred and jealousy, of pride and stubborn stupidity, of greed and gluttony. Hosanna, God save us! All this guilt, all our transgressions, presses death UPON US. There is no way out. Everybody has to suffer annihilation it seems. That is the result of the all consuming knowledge that divides Good from Evil, and leaves us on the evil side.

Now you few pilgrims who come to church this night might be tempted to think that the pastor has given in to modern spirit of despair. But he has not. It is Christmas. Repent

It is Christmas, God became Man; became incarnate.. It is Christmas, He was born of the Virgin, became one of us, joined Himself to the lineage of Adam, so that He could die. He became Man so that He could inherit Adam’s guilt for us. He was Incarnate to be a Sacrifice, born to be forsaken, to be mutilated, desecrated, defiled by the hateful hands of violent men, nailed to a crossbeam of torture and shame. And that gory death, that lonesome cross, is the source of the peace of which the angels sing. It causes the shepherds to rejoice. For that brutal killing of the Mary’s innocent Son is God’s good will toward men. It is our only hope and comfort. Because Somebody had to die. So Jesus died. He died that we would escape.

That is the reason that the Creator, who provides for all living things, had no place to lay His head on this earth. There was no room in the inn. There was no room in all of creation for Him. He was an outcast, stricken, smitten, and afflicted. He was a worm and no man, One born out of time and out of sync. He allowed all this by denying Himself, in part, and for a time, His Divine rights and attributes. He humbled Himself so that He could suffer in our place, so that He could know sore feet and a tired back, hunger and sorrow, betrayal by friends, laughter at times, but mostly disappointment. He lived as a Man, with all those goes with it, in Adam’s fallen, chaotic world. He lived as a Man but without sin. He lived a perfect, an innocent, a righteous life, but paid the penalty for the guilty.

He was tempted by the devil, even as we are. His temptation was fundamentally to be God only, to not be Man, to abandon us, to take up His power and reign, to not go hungry or without, to not be mocked or hurt, to come down from the cross and leave us to what we deserve: death, Hell, and the devil. But He would not. The annihilation of death had to die. Not Him. He didn’t have to. He was innocent. Somebody had to, but not Him. But He died anyway. He wanted to die so that we wouldn’t have to die. He wanted to be our Substitute, to defeat the devil for us, to break down the bars of Hell of that held us in and swing open the gates of heaven that locked us out, to make us again His. He came with a mission: to seek and to save the lost; to lay down His life as a ransom; to be lifted up and draw all men to Himself; to be THE Atonement, THE Scapegoat, THE Passover Lamb, THE once-for-all Sacrifice, that the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve might be pardoned, guilt-free, and exonerated as though they had never sinned. He accomplished that mission. He fulfilled His Father’s will. He crushed Eden’s lying serpent and reconciled the world to Himself.

The annihilation of death had to die. For this He was born: to die. He has died. And now, because of that death, we don’t have to die. He became one of us so that He could take what was rightly ours: guilt, sin, shame, death. He crucified it. It is gone. There is no more to pay, not a thing. It is done, complete, finished, no strings attached, no questions asked, God for man as Man that men might have peace. He took what was ours. He gives what is His: innocence, righteousness, holiness, blessedness, perfection, communion with the Father and the Spirit, comfort, hope, love, peace, life.

There is no one to accuse you. There is nothing left to do. Mary’s Son has done it all. And, now, thanks be to God, nobody has to be annihilated! Death has been conquered. He died to kill death. He died but He is not annihilated! He lives! He came forth from the grave even as He came forth from Mary’s holy womb: alive, in love, perfect, for mercy’s sake, for you.

These are the things that that holy, honored, most blessed of all women pondered in her heart: that she had been overshadowed by the Holy Spirit; that God had entered into her virgin womb and taken up her flesh to redeem her and her kin; the great and awful cost of the world’s salvation that her innocent, little Boy would pay – because Somebody had to die. Let us also ponder these things in our hearts. And rejoice in them. Let us eat what God laid in the manger. Let us feast upon the Body that snuggled up to Mary’s breast and the Blood that was shed on Calvary’s cruel cross. Let us partake of resurrected glory of this Bread of Life, this Lamb of God, this Firstborn of the Father, our Lord and Savior, who has died for us, and who lives for us. Let our mouths and hearts receive Him as eagerly as Mary’s arms.

Because death had to die so that your life would end in a resurrection. A Merry Christmas To You.

In +Jesus’ Name. Amen.

   Luke 1:26–38 (English Standard Version)

26In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, 27to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary. 28And he came to her and said, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!” 29But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and tried to discern what sort of greeting this might be. 30And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. 31And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. 32He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give to him the throne of his father David, 33and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.”   34And Mary said to the angel, “How will this be, since I am a virgin?” 35And the angel answered her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God. 36And behold, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son, and this is the sixth month with her who was called barren. 37For nothing will be impossible with God.” 38And Mary said, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And the angel departed from her.

In the name of the Father and of the Son (+) and of the Holy Spirit, Amen

Your past may be full of regrets; your present may be hard to bear; and your future may be daunting and unsure.  There are so many times when your sinful heart will tell you, in so many ways, that God has turned His face away from you, or that He is punishing you for your sins as you deserve or that He is just not there.

But when those doubts and fears arise, consider that your Lord has set before you the example of His Blessed Virgin Mary, His most highly-favored Lady, Oh I understand that such talk is hard for we Evangelicals. Opposed rightly as we are to the fantasies of Medieval and modern Rome. I am far from treating the Virgin as a vice-chairwoman or Co-redeemer of mankind.

But, with my Holy Apostolic ancestors, to rightly preach Christ and Him crucified and risen, I also have to preach that He was conceived by the Holy Spirit and Born of the Virgin Mary. That is that Christ is to be witnessed to in terms of objective flesh and Blood that could be seen and touched and listened to.

Moreover, I must speak then of Mary who, like the Church carries a merciful and gracious God who wills to be delivered to the World in a specific manner.  

Mary lived under the Cross of her Son: Suspected of adultery by her fiancée, who planed at first to divorce her.  Then threatened by her king and forced to flee to Egypt with her precious newborn Son.  And warned by faithful Simeon that a sword will pierce her soul, cutting her to the very heart with which she magnifies the Lord; with the intention that she will be found, as a widow, in tears, at the foot of His Cross when His Hour has fully come.

But what did St. Mary do to deserve such an honor?  In truth, she did nothing to deserve it.  And that, O Baptized Ones, is precisely the point.  She was chosen by God because He desired to express His love by a show of His mercy, and for no other reason than that.

She didn’t earn it by her virtues, nor by her poverty and humility.  She did nothing at all but to receive what was given to her by grace, and that by faith alone, which is itself the gift of God.

And all of this, not only for her, but also for you and your salvation.  For He who is true God, begotten of His Father from eternity, has also become true Man, born of this Blessed Virgin Mary.  And He has now become your Lord, because He has redeemed you from sin, death, and the power of the devil.  Not with gold or silver, but with His own holy and precious Blood, and with His innocent suffering and death.  He has done it all for you by grace, that you might be His very own, and live under Him in His Kingdom, and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead and lives and reigns eternally. (SC II, 2, 04)

Whatever else you might see or think or feel or experience, it is this that is most certainly true!

So, is this ANY way for the Holy Mother of God to live and to be treated?  Actually, yes, it is.  It is the only way for the Mother of a Crucified God to live, that is to say, It is the only way for a disciple and follower of the Way of Christ to live, by faith alone, and not by sight. It is How you live. Because it is the Way that Jesus goes to His death and resurrection.

He does put down the mighty of this world from their thrones, as He ascends the throne of His Cross.  And so does He exalt the lowly, as surely as that poor young Mary has become the Mother of God; so surely have you been rescued from sin and death; for her crucified Son has conquered death by His death in our flesh.

Perhaps you cannot perceive it or perhaps feel it.  You can only believe by the Word & Spirit of God.  We do not have His perspective, whose thoughts are not our thoughts, whose ways are not our ways.  We are not God but His servants and His handmaids.  It is for us according to His Word.  But in that Word, you are given the blessed perspective of Christ and His Cross, the incarnate Son of God, who makes sense of it all.  You live by His Word, by faith in His Word, and He remembers His mercy toward you.

As He was conceived in St. Mary by the Word and Spirit of God, so does He come to abide in you by the proclamation of His Word and by His Holy Spirit.  So does He make your life His own.

And as He was given birth from the waters of St. Mary’s womb, so has He given birth to you in the waters of Holy Baptism, for the baptismal font is the womb of His Church.  There, in the washing of those waters with His Word, you were crucified, dead, and buried with Him, so that you are also raised up with Him, as well.  For as you were born from those waters, united with Christ, you were born again as a son of God in Him, a dear child of His own dear Father in heaven.

And as He received His flesh and blood and human life from the virgin body of His Mother, so do you receive His Body and His Blood from His servant in His Church for divine Life & Salvation in Him.  It is the same flesh and blood of the same true God who was conceived and born of Mary, who was crucified for you and for the many, who feeds the hungry with good things, here at His Altar, for life with God both here in time and hereafter in eternity.

All of this you are given to receive with thanksgiving, in and with His Church, in the same way as the Blessed Virgin Mary, that is, by grace alone, through faith alone, according to the Word of God.  
So has He remembered you and chosen you to be His own, to live under Him in His Kingdom, to serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.  Always and only out of His divine mercy, without any merit or worthiness in you, but with His steadfast love and affection. 

In Jesus Name (+) Amen

In the Name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen

And so IT is on us again. That season of frantic “Happy Holidays” spewed through gritted teeth, made worse this year by the death that stalks, and hinders our every step. 

With the past decade or so, our “Happy Holidays” have begun before the Jack-O-Lanterns of Halloween begin to rot, so it is again this year. Appropriate that; since Halloween is the celebration of Death’s constant influence in our lives; therefore our celebration of “Happy Holidays” begins in death and never gets too far from it.

Martin Luther in his Large Catechism’s commentary on the 1^st Commandment makes the reason for this plain:

 “If your faith and trust be right, then is your god also true; and, on the other hand, if your trust be false and wrong, then you have not the true God; for these two belong together, faith and God. That now, I say, upon which you set your heart and put your trust is properly your god.(LC I 3)”[1]

Does it have to be this way? What is your Christmas hope; and how different is that from your Christian faith?  You may say that your hope is in the Lord; but what does that mean?

Is your Christmas Hope just blind Faith? Can Faith be blind?

 “Yet if any one wishes a distinction to be made, we say that the object of hope is properly a future event, but that faith is concerned with future and present things, and receives in the present the remission of sins offered in the promise. (Ap. V (III) 191)”[2]

 Melanchthon’s distinction speaks a great truth.  

Is what you call Christmas Faith just blind Hope? And if it is what good will it do you?

My point this morning is that it is impossible to have a Christmas hope without an Advent Faith.  

The Son has left His home with the Father in heaven and has come forth on a journey to redeem you and save you. As true Man, conceived and born of the Blessed Virgin Mary — as your brother in the flesh, with a body and blood like yours — He has waited in faith upon His Father (not knowing the day nor hour). He has heeded and relied upon His Father’s faithful Word. He has taken heed, stayed awake, and been alert; so that, when the day and hour came, He was ready.

He deals with sin, which is the problem. It is the underlying problem, not so much as bad behavior to be punished, but as an inability to turn toward God, the Creator, who is alone the Author and Giver of life.

He deals with sin by sending forth a law and establishing His justice. Now His righteousness is near, and His salvation has gone forth. Although the heavens and the earth will perish — the sky will vanish like smoke, and the earth will wear out like a garment — His salvation and His righteousness are forever.

His righteousness and salvation are forever, and they are for you.

His arm will judge His people. Therefore, wait upon His arm in faith which is greater than hope.. For with His mighty, outstretched arm, in the palm of His hand, He suffers the tribulation and the final judgment of sin in Himself. He, Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, atones for the sins of the world. He rectifies what was broken in all of creation. He reconciles the world to God: in Himself.

Learn the lesson of His Cross. Consider its leaves and its fruit, which are for the healing of the nations. They are no less so for you. He has sent forth His messengers with its rich and lush produce to gather His elect from the four winds, to call His disciples from all nations: To call, gather, enlighten, and sanctify His whole Church, on earth as it is in heaven; daily and richly to forgive you all of your sins.

So, also, to you He says: “Be on the alert!” Take heed. Be watching for Him and waiting upon Him. Set your heart on the pilgrim’s way, to live by faith as a sojourner through this world, a wayfarer on earth. Lift up your head, your heart and your mind, unto Christ your Savior; unto Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, who shall cause you to stand in His glorious presence, blameless and beloved before the God and Father.

Keep yourself in that Love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.

But how?

He has taught you how, and He continues to catechize you in the way you are to go, which is the way of life in Him:

Build yourself up on your most holy faith by giving attention to the Word of Christ. Hold it sacred, and gladly hear and learn it. Avail yourself of the Gospel, that is, the preaching of Christ, His Word of Holy Absolution, the administration of His Body and His Blood in remembrance of Him. Return daily to the significance of your Holy Baptism in His Name. You will not overdo it or get too much of Christ Jesus.

For it is impossible to have a Christmas Hope without an Advent Faith. But with an Advent Faith, Christmas Hope is certain!

In Jesus Name. Amen

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[1] Luther, Martin The Large Catechism Ten Commandments, Part I, 3 accessed 11/30/2020 9:03 AM https://bookofconcord.org/large-catechism/part-i/commandment-i/

[2]Melanchthon, Philip The Apology of the Augsburg Confession, Article V, 194  https://bookofconcord.org/apology-of-the-augsburg-confession/article-v/

In the Name of the Father and of the +Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
The Feast of the Pentecost is about Holiness, specifically where Holiness may be found.
Holiness was a circumstance fashioned by God in His creative work; where He declared it is Very Good. Holiness was a circumstance lost by Adam’s noncompliance. For most of Human History from father Abraham on through the Children of Israel; Holiness was, as it were, a divine bridgehead into the profane world, the place where heaven and earth overlapped. Holiness was a circumstance reestablished when God’s presence filled the tabernacle among the freed Israelite slaves. Its opposite pole was the state of impurity which was utterly incompatible with holiness, like light with darkness. In fact, holiness annihilated impurity, like fire which burns up gasoline.

The human world lay suspended between these two poles and within the magnetic field of either power. Everything natural and normal in it was common. Anything common could be either clean and normal, or else unclean and abnormal. Ordinary food could be common and clean, if free from impurity, or else common and unclean, if infected by impurity. If something common became holy, it ceased to be common, since it then belonged to God and existed in his domain. Likewise, if something clean became unclean, it remained common but ceased to be clean. Holiness and impurity were therefore powers which vied for the control of the world and what was in it.

Because nothing that God had created was either inherently holy or unclean, there were various degrees of holiness and impurity. The closer something came to God, the holier it became. Hence the high priest was holier than the ordinary Israelite and the holy of holies than the holy place. The ark, the altar of incense, the lamp stand, the showtable, the main altar, and the laver were most holy, because they were closest to God and most directly associated with him. The peace offering was less holy than the other sacrifices, because no part of it ever came into the tabernacle or temple. The same applied for impurity. Some kinds of defilement, like acting as a medium (Lev 20:27) and sacrificing a child to Molech (Lev 10:2), were so absolute that the death sentence was mandatory for them, whereas others, like contact with corpses and venereal discharges, were temporary and readily rectified.

Our Lord did not abolish all this language and thinking, as some contend. His incarnation did, to be sure, change the locus of holiness from the temple to his body (John 2:21) and the focus of defilement from the physical body to the human heart (Heb 9:13-14). It also extended the range of purification and sanctification from the righteous Israelite to the Israelite sinner and the unclean gentile (see Luke 15:1-2; Mark 7:1-30; Acts 10). The blood of Jesus brought about the justification of the ungodly and the cleansing of unclean sinners. Jesus also taught that only those who were pure in heart would see God (Matt 5:8; cf Ps 24:4). He invaded the realm of impurity and cast out the ‘unclean spirits’ from those who were trapped in it. His mission was to destroy them, and they were the first to recognise that (Mark 1:21-27). He washed and cleansed his disciples so that he could sanctify them (John 13:8-11; 15:3; 17:17,19). He was, then, as much priest as he was king.

The language of holiness is therefore the language of worship, for holiness has to do with God’s presence, and access to that presence is given in worship. Where God is present, there holiness is to be found; where he is worshipped according to his word, there his presence sanctifies his people and everything connected with their worship. Since God’s holiness is connected with the mystery of his being, it cannot ultimately be understood rationally and defined abstractly; it can only be adequately apprehended in adoration and truly expressed in praise by those who share in his holiness and stand in his holy presence (Is 6:3; Ps 9:9; Rev 4:9).
Until then the Holy Spirit comforts and encourages Christians through His Word and Sacraments by revealing the Truth of the Son’s sacrifice, resurrection, and perfect love. The Holy Spirit is the inspiration of all the prophets, apostles, and holy writers which all testify and reveal Christ. He gave those writers the very thoughts and words to express and thus, we rightly call their words God’s Word. We trust those words and they are the sole source of all our doctrine and life. The Holy Spirit bestows His own Name and holiness in the waters of Holy Baptism by drowning us with Christ and raising us up again out of the Lord’s death. He calls us His own and enacts the miracle that causes that who cannot, by their own reason or strength, believe in Jesus Christ to not only believe that Jesus is Lord, but more precisely to believe and love that Jesus is their Lord. He is also the efficient cause of the risen Lord’s bodily presence in the Holy Supper. We don’t need, however, to call Him down. He comes down of His own accord and of His own mercy in order to reveal and testify and bestow again to the atoning Sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Still, there is more to the Holy Spirit and His sanctifying than that. He is also the Spirit bestowed by the Christ in the Upper Room for the purpose of Holy Absolution. The Lord Jesus breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit. Whosever sins you forgive, they are forgiven.” So also does He intercede and pray for us. This is no small thing. Even as He convicts us of sin and righteousness, even as He rebukes our old man and protects us from our sins while absolving us for Christ’s sake and comforting us with the hope of things unseen, He also advocates for us to the Father and the Son, praying for us with words inexpressible by human tongues. He brings the inmost thoughts and needs of our hearts to the Father in Jesus’ Name. He is the Spirit who lives in us and works in and on us through and Word and Sacrament, who speaks also in the mutual consolation of the brethren, who maintains and blesses the Church on earth. He both prays for us and also causes us to pray and for our brothers and sister, who He declares righteous, to pray for us and the prayer of a righteous man availeth much.
So we life, day by day, hour by hour, and minute by minute, in and by the forgiveness of sins. The Holy Spirit has begun and is growing holiness in us daily by the forgiveness of sins. Meanwhile, “we await the time when our flesh will be put to death, will be buried with all its uncleanness,” when it will no longer need forgiveness, “and will come forth gloriously and arise to complete and perfect holiness in a new, eternal life. Now we are only halfway pure and holy. The Holy Spirit must continue to work in us through the Word, daily granting forgiveness until we attain to that life where there will be no more forgiveness. In that life” we will be His “perfectly pure and holy people, full of goodness and righteousness, completely freed from sin, death, and all evil, living in new, immortal and glorified bodies.”
Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord with all your graces now out-poured.
In +Jesus’ Name. Amen.