Six days ago, Peter made the pithy but proper confession, “You are the Christ.” Then, immediately following, Jesus began to teach them what it meant to be Christ. The Christ must suffer many things, be rejected by the religious establishment, and finally be executed at the hands of those who should have received Him. But this was not the end. He would rise three days later. This was His promise. This was Jesus’ mission; the mission of God for us. This is what the Christian faith is all about. But Peter doesn’t understand, not yet.

And so, Peter says something stupid. This isn’t the first or last time he will let his emotions rule his words. And so he rebukes Jesus. There was no need for a cross for Jesus. Peter had seen what Jesus could do. Jesus could prevent an arrest. He could prevent a crucifixion.

But the words coming out of Peter’s mouth are now the words of the Devil. And so Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Jesus’ words sting. But like rubbing alcohol on an open wound, His words both hurt and help. They kill and make alive.

This is forever Peter’s problem. And it is our problem too, isn’t it? We want to be Christians but we also want to think whatever we want. We want to be followers of Jesus Christ, but we want to define Jesus our way. And instead of following Jesus, what we really want is for Him to follow us.

Like Peter, we don’t really want too much of things of God. We want God to bless our things, our ways, our lives. We don’t want Christianity to change our hearts, attitudes, ideas. Christianity should bring us whatever we think it should bring us. We want God to be our cosmic good luck charm.

But here in Mark 8, Jesus reveals what it means to be a Christian. And His definition is overwhelming. We are called to a much more costly following. Jesus reveals what He means when He says to set our minds on the things of God. Listen to what He says next,

“If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospel’s will save it. For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his life? For what can a man give in return for his life?

“For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him will the Son of Man also be ashamed when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”

There you go. This is what it means to follow Christ. His way was the way of the cross. His way was to die for the sins of the world, yours and mine. His way was to give His life away. And our way is the same.

True Christianity is the way of the cross. It is to give our life away; to give up our way, our pride, and the way of this adulterous and sinful generation. Christians follow Jesus through the suffering and death of the cross. But Christians also follow Jesus into the glory of His resurrection. And into the glory of His return at the last day.  We experience the cross now, but we experience His glory in the age to come.

In the first verse of chapter nine Jesus says, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” And with that expectation, some of the disciples would have a brief foretaste of the true glory of Jesus Christ and the glory of the Kingdom of God. And so six days later, Jesus and Peter, James and John walk up the mountain. And we discover Jesus is worth following.

The transfiguration should cause us to marvel. Perhaps we are so familiar with this account that we have lost our sense of wonder. But Jesus’ appearance should catch our attention. His clothes are radiant, brighter than your best work with bleach or borax or oxy-clean, painfully bright. It is a heavenly glory, veiled to them throughout much of Jesus’ ministry, now made manifest.

Next, Peter, James and John discover they are not alone. Moses and Elijah are there too. Now these guys were supposed to have been gone for hundreds of years. And this should make it clear that something spectacular is happening.

We heard a parallel account of Moses in our Old Testament reading. We find Elijah’s account on the cover of our bulletin today. Both had interesting experiences with the glory of God foreshadowing what God would do this day.

Moses and Elijah aren’t ghosts or zombies, but are supernaturally made present to remind Peter, James, and John of the Law and the Prophets, the Hebrew Scriptures, the entire Old Testament. Moses was the law-giver and reminds us of the written Word. Elijah was the prophet who reminds us of the spoken Word. Both had deaths that point us to the resurrection of Christ. No one knew the place of Moses’ tomb. And Elijah was received into eternal life in a chariot of fire.

It is no accident that these witnesses of Christ are present with Jesus at the Transfiguration. Jesus fulfills both of their offices. Jesus fulfills all that these men had done and said, and so much more. They were mere shadows of Jesus in their day and on this day.

Now all of this isn’t lost on Peter. He is amazed and terrified. I hope we share both of these responses. But once again he speaks out of his emotion and says something stupid. “Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” Scholars have debated about what he meant.

Did he want to build three tabernacles like the Israelites had in the Old Testament during their wandering in the desert? Did he desire to worship Jesus, and Moses and Elijah? Or was he just interested in an extended camping trip with these three amazing men? Whatever was going on in his head, it certainly derails Jesus’ journey to the cross once again. We prefer glory to the cross.

And so God the Father steps in and explains the purpose of the transfiguration. “And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came from the cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son; listen to Him.’” The same word, “overshadowed,” is used when the angel Gabriel came to the Blessed Virgin Mary to announce that she was to be the Mother of God. She heard these words, “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.”

And so all this glory, the amazing metamorphosis of Jesus, the appearance of Moses and Elijah, the overshadowing cloud point us to these words, “This is my beloved Son; listen to Him.” All this glory points us to Jesus, the Word of God.

This is what it means to be a Christian. It is about Jesus, the beloved one of God. And more than anything God calls us to listen to Him. The Law of Moses shows us our need for Him. The Prophet Elijah points forward to the Word made flesh. And finally God the Father Himself calls us to hear what He has to say. Jesus’ words give what they say, and so they give us forgiveness, eternal life, and salvation. His Words show us His way. His words utterly covert us, change us, and claim us.

Martin Luther said it this way, “You must close your eyes and shut off all your senses and not want to know or hear anything but that which God’s Word says.” To follow Jesus is simply to listen to what He has to say, to trust His words, and to live accordingly. It is to find our truth in the words of Jesus.

At the end of our account, the glory vanishes. The miraculous transfiguration of Jesus ends as abruptly as it began. Moses and Elijah are gone. Jesus’ appearance is ordinary again. Things are back to normal. But things are never the same for Peter, James, and John. And I pray that they are not the same for us.

Now we know the truth. “We have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” We know the glory that is to come at His return. We have seen Jesus. And we have heard God the Father who calls us to listen to His Beloved Son.

Like Peter, James, and John, we don’t spend most of our lives on Transfiguration Sunday. In fact, a lot of life is more like Lent. The Christian life is often tough rather than glorious. There are uncertainties, trials, questions, difficulties. He doesn’t just say yes to whatever we want Him to do. The Christian life is the life of the cross, as we follow Jesus.

But it’s all right. This is right where God wants us to be, at least for now. We have Jesus. We have His cross. We know the truth and it informs everything. We have His Word and His Sacraments. We have the things of God. And we have the promise of His return. And the transfiguration reminds us of the glory that He will give us at the last day. That is enough. Follow Jesus. Listen to Him. For His words give us all we need. In the name of Jesus.

+Soli Deo Gloria+

Christians don’t belong in pagan temples. This may seem obvious to you. But, let me suggest that it is something that needs to be said. In our Epistle reading today,St. Paul introduces this serious issue in the first century Christian community. Now, you might think we are smart enough to stay out of pagan temples today. But I invite you to withhold your judgment for just a moment.

The Church in Corinth seemed to be a magnet for dysfunction. Everything seemed to go wrong for them. Or rather, they found ways to do everything wrong. If anyone suggested an idiotic idea, they were willing to try it. Their Church was characterized by a culture of ignorance and lawlessness, experience and autonomy.

And in our Epistle reading today, the issue at hand was even a bit more specific. The question was, “Can Christians eat meat which had been sacrificed to idols?” Now, St. Paul was not the first one to address this issue. James and the Church of Jerusalem had begun to address it already.

Corinth was not in Israel. In fact, it was the cosmopolitan city of ancient Greece. Hip and trendy,Corinth’s multiculturalism brought together the practices and philosophies of many cultures. And in the ancient world, this meant the city was full of temples to false gods.

Temples then weren’t just exhibits of beautiful architecture and elegance. In much of human history, temples also served to supply meat to the community. Rituals of sacrifice permeated religion back then. And so, the priests who offered animals in pagan temples, were also the butchers who prepared and sold the meat.

And so once again, the question for the day is, “Can Christians eat meat that has been offered to idols in a pagan ceremony?” Much of the meat available to purchase originated from these false pagan temples. Is it okay to buy this meat? Is it okay to eat it? And right away, we get the understanding that there isn’t a simple answer.

At the beginning of our reading,St. Paul makes it clear in these false religions and in their temples, pagan priests made sacrifices to demons and not to God. These false religions were false, demonic even. And so the Corinthian Christians should have absolutely nothing to do with these temples. Christians don’t belong in pagan temples.

They shouldn’t be there. They shouldn’t flirt with their pagan ideas. Now these temples had dining rooms, restaurants really. But the Corinthian Christians were not to go there for dinner. To eat meat at a pagan temple was a compromise of their confession of Christian faith.

And to eat at these false temples caused the believers to be participants with demons. They were uniting themselves with the demonic. And one absolutely cannot be united to God and be united to demons.

God won’t allow it. One of the two has got to go.  St. Paul even says, that communion with the idolatry of false religion provokes the Lord to jealous anger. The Corinthian Christians needed to be reminded that they were weak human beings, easily sucked into sin and error. Pagan temples were neither safe nor good.

Now meat from the meat market or at the home of a non-Christian friend was a different issue entirely, even if it had previously been in a pagan temple. In reality, all food received in thankfulness to God, remained the good gift of God. And so St. Paul quotes from the twenty-fourth Psalm as he says, “For the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof.” So they were to eat their meat in thankfulness. And there was no need to ask about whether it has been offered to an idol or not.

In fact they shouldn’t ask. Because then things get even more complicated. If they were eating dinner with their non-Christian friend and the friend says that this meat was offered to false idols, then they must not eat. As awkward as it might be, it was a compromise of their confession to knowingly be outwardly united with false religion.

And for the sake of others and their conscience before God, the Corinthian Christians could not communicate unity with idols by eating the meat. Idolatry was such a big issue, it was better to offend their friend than to give the okay to violate the first commandment. This was the very best thing for your non-Christian friend as it gave voice to the exclusive claims of God.

So, did you get all that? Don’t eat in pagan temples, ever—even if they look like restaurants. At home, be grateful for your food and don’t ask fussy questions regarding the history of your meat. At the home of your non-Christian neighbor, when he tells you he is giving you idolatrized meat, you must turn it down.

Now I hope you haven’t tuned out. And I hope also that you have begun to think about how this applies to us in our Christian community. Idolatry is still alive. In fact I think we can see it all around us. John Calvin once said, “The human heart is a factory of idols…Every one of us is, from his mother’s womb, expert in inventing idols.”

This truth is difficult for us to accept. Few people think of themselves as idolaters. For most people the concept of idolatry conjures mental images of statues and shrines. And since few people would knowingly bow down and worship an idolatrous image, it is easy to understand why that notion is so easily ignored.

In the Large Catechism, Luther said, “Whatever you set your heart on and put your trust in is truly your god.” Your god, or your idol, is whatever has your heart. Whatever motivates you. Whatever gives your life meaning. Whatever is your first priority. Your god is whatever has your confidence. It is where you turn for fulfillment. Your god is where you get your answers.

And although idolatry creeps into our lives in a number of different areas, it creeps into our heads in the realm of ideas. Now I hope we are all opposed to visiting a pagan temple for worship. But I think we have become far more open to letting pagan ideas dwell inside our heads.

I received posters from a local Christian group this week asking that we advertise their Lenten retreat and Lenten services. I generally like to be aware of what other Christians are doing in town. But I didn’t expect to find them eating in the pagan temple.

During Lent they are going to be exploring personal and world peace through the writings of Ghandi, a Buddhist, and another teacher of Zen Buddhism from Vietnam, among other discussions. My point here is not to be overly critical, but to suggest that publicly embracing a false religion leads people away from Christ. There can be no fellowship between truth and error. This type of compromise is exactly what St. Paul is talking about in 1 Corinthians.

The fancy word for this is syncretism. Claiming to be Christian, syncretism attempts to merge the Christian faith with ideas from other religions. It is claiming to be one with Christ, and then entertaining and embracing the views of paganism.

Now before we are too tough on them, we might very well have the same problem and not be aware of it. Sometimes the influence of false religion is much more subtle. Darwinian evolution. Reincarnation. Karma. Fate. Universalism.

If we are convinced that all good people go to heaven, or that people are even essentially good, false religion has impacted our thinking. If we tell people to follow their heart, when the Scriptures reveal, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” idolatry has found its way among us.

So what do we do? Our text gives us a couple of answers. First,St. Paul says in verse thirty-one, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” And this means that we need to see what the Christian faith says to all areas of our life. Everything in us must give glory to God, and this is possible only though faith in Christ. Without faith it is impossible to please God.

Faith is putting all of our money in one bank. All of our life with the one true God. It is finding all of our wisdom from Him. It is casting ourselves entirely on Christ. This kind of faith, the kind that gives glory to God, doesn’t find its ideas in pagan temples or from Buddhist monks.

This kind of faith looks to Jesus alone for my status with God. It is trusting in His Word alone as my insight, and in His way alone as my path.  And this kind of faith, even admits that it all originates with Him. Jesus alone is the source of our salvation, knowledge, and trust. It is all from Him. He alone gives us new hearts that trust in Him. He alone forgives us for our idolatry.

And what a beautiful place to be. Much better than in some pagan temple, or any of today’s equivalents. Safe in the arms of Jesus Christ. Sins forgiven, that “I may be His own and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness.”

Secondly, St. Paul says, “Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ.” Now this is a gutsy move by St. Paul. He is saying that the Corinthian Christians are to follow his example. Because he is following Christ, they can safely follow him. And this is our way too. This is what we need to be saying to the non-Christians, and the syncretistic Christians around us, “follow us as we follow Christ.” Are we ready to say this?

Now this does not mean that we co-opt Christ for our agenda. It means that we follow His agenda, for He is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life.” It means we actually know His agenda. And this means that we have our noses in His book. It means that we have out seats in the pews. It means we kneel at His altar.

He is our Leader, and to be His disciples means we follow Him. And let me be clear, this will mean lots and lots of time reading the Bible. Lots and lots of time. And it means that we learn to read the Bible well as we read it with the historic and apostolic Church.

To be an imitator of Christ is not a private matter. And, I hope you can hear that it is not just a Sunday matter. It spills over even into where you eat dinner. It spills over into the way that you train your children. It spills over into the ideas that you forward on your computer. And it should cause us to see our whole lives in light of Christ. It means we give up seeking our own advantage and success, and look to what is good for our neighbor and consistent with the faith.

St. Paul tells us today that Christians don’t belong in pagan temples, and frankly pagan temples don’t belong in Christians. And he calls us not to be so quick to do what everyone else is doing; to watch what everyone else is watching; to think what everyone else is thinking. Follow Christ. He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. And you won’t find these things anywhere else. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

+Soli Deo Gloria+

In our Epistle reading today, St. Paul says “I have become all things to all people that by all means I might save some.” These words suggest St. Paul was willing to go great lengths to fulfill his task as an apostle and evangelist. He realized the Gospel was a costly treasure and he needed to do all within his power to reach both Jew and Gentile with the good news of the forgiveness found in Jesus Christ.

Now it is difficult to take a phrase like, “I have become all things to all people” and apply it today. Some have understood this to mean the Church must become what the world expects it to be. If the world wants a garage band, then I will be all things to all people and give them a garage band.

If the world wants advice on how to be happy in life then I will be all things to all people and give them advice. In other words, do whatever it takes to fill the seats. But, let’s face it, the world expects a lot of different things. And frankly, not everything the world wants is what the world needs.

A couple of years ago, a new Church in Texas advertised the car they were giving away on Easter Sunday morning. All you had to do was show up and put your name into the box. And with all the proper marketing, they did fill the seats. And someone left with a car.

And frankly we could do the same. Our seats are not full. I would be glad to take your keys after service. But is this even appropriate for the Church? Should we be giving away a car? Or getting a garage band? Or modeling our service after the Dr. Phil show?

This is probably the road to outward success. If it is simply about marketing and doing whatever “works”, then there is so much more that we can do. Some Churches have moved Holy Communion from Sunday mornings so that the visitors in the pew might be more comfortable.

Some have even removed the word Lutheran or the word Church from their title. Some have hidden the difficult teachings about things like sin and judgment, and only talk about happiness and tolerance. Some have replaced preaching with stand-up comedy or a book club.

And then, when we, trying to be faithful, don’t see the results we might want to see, or the results others achieve, it is really easy to be critical of our own congregation. Let’s face it, we don’t do everything right. We don’t do everything the way I think that it ought to be done. And we don’t do everything the way you think it ought to be done.

And because the Church doesn’t do what we expect it to do, it is easy for us to turn to gossip, slander, complaints, or, simply stay home. If the Church is going to be all things to all people, then certainly things should be the way I think they should be.

Now, of course, this is not what St. Paul intends for us. Our goal is not simply to fill the seats. Church isn’t a shopping mall or a movie theatre. Popular polls should not define our Service. St. Paul is suggesting something else entirely.

To be all things to all people requires that we understand the full context of what St. Paul is saying to the Corinthians in this book. And the book begins with a statement of doctrinal unity.

“I appeal to you, brothers, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be united in the same mind and the same judgment.”

This is doctrinal and personal. We are to be together in what we believe and then we need to live out that doctrine in our lives together. And so being “all things to all people” cannot mean that we compromise when it comes to truth and life.

And as we keep reading, we find that we are not to compromise when it comes to the content of our Service.St. Paulwrites the Corinthians to correct their misunderstanding of what Sunday Services should look like. For the Corinthian services had become wild and confused. And so St. Paul says, “all things should be done decently and in order.”

And again he says, “Maintain the traditions even as I delivered them to you.” They weren’t to abandon the Scriptures or the historic order of the Church. They were to hold onto their rich heritage. They were to devote “themselves to the apostles’ teaching and fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.”

So how are we to be all things to all people? It isn’t about neglecting doctrine and practice. It isn’t about neglecting order and tradition in the Church. Instead it is about neglecting self. Let me say that again in case you missed it. It is about neglecting me. “To be all things to all people” is about self-denial. It is about giving up my way, or my opinions for the good of the congregation. It means that I won’t insist on my own way. It is to prefer to be inconvenienced for the good of another.

Back in chapter six he gives the example of two people in this one local congregation who were suing one another in the public court. They had such a big conflict that they couldn’t talk it out. St. Paul suggests that when we let our conflicts in the Church elevate to such a level, it is an embarrassment to the body of Christ.

It means that we are defeated already. He says, “To have lawsuits at all with one another is already a defeat for you. Why not rather suffer wrong? Why not rather be defrauded?” Don’t get caught up in the critical spirit. It is ultimately self-destructive. Sin destroys. That’s all it can do. Overlook an offence. Forgive as you have been forgiven. And don’t bring it up again.

St. Paul’s passion for sharing the Gospel with others moved him to forego his rights and liberties for the good others. He says, “I do it all for the sake of the gospel, that I may share with them in its blessings.” He desires above all things to share the Gospel with those around him, at whatever cost to him personally.

Grace is always costly. Always. For St. Paul, preaching would land him in prison. And for Christ, grace meant rejection, suffering, and death. But His death brought life and forgiveness to us. It restored our relationship with a holy God. Yes, it was at great personal cost, but it was a price He was willing to pay for you and for me. This gift is a gift that must be shared. It is just that important.

And so this is the work of the Church: to share that costly gift Christ has provided. In a sense, this is what defines us as a group of people. This is what the Church is all about. We are not defined by our petty complaints and conflicts. We aren’t defined by trying to be cool, or relevant, or by giving stuff away.

Let us instead be people who receive His good gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation in the preached Word, in the Bread and Wine. And let us be people who encourage others to do the same. Even for people we don’t like much. Even for people who get on our nerves. Even for people who have wronged us. This is what it means to be all things to all people.

So when something needs to be done in the Church, do it. If someone isn’t here and you are worried about them, call. Send a note. Go by for a visit. When you don’t like the decision of the Church board, it is okay. I don’t like all of their decisions either. But you don’t need to tell anyone and neither do I. There is a beautiful culture that is created in Christ’s Church when we turn from sin and turn to Christ as we find Him in Word and Sacrament. This culture is a culture of sound doctrine and faithful liturgy. And it is a culture of personal sacrifice for the good of others. It is a culture of costly grace.

The Augsburg Confession defines Church like this, “Our churches teach that one holy Church is to remain forever. The Church is the congregation of saints in which the Gospel is purely taught and the Sacraments are correctly administered.”

Let’s face it. Being part of the Church is messy work. It isn’t going to be perfect here or anywhere else. The Church is full of people like us. Sinful. In need of Christ’s forgiveness. In need of His Word. In need of His Body and Blood. But it is also beautiful work, as we give ourselves away for the eternal benefit of those around us.

So let us, pastor and people, do all we need to do, to be here. To receive that costly grace. To listen. To learn. To grow. To change. To be encouraging. To sacrifice our ideas and rights for the good of another. And to do all within our power to ensure God’s Word and Sacraments are available to all who are willing to hear and receive. Welcome to Church. It’s a good place to be. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

+Soli Deo Gloria+

Peter, Andrew, James, and John are introduced to us in our Gospel reading today. These four are probably the best known of the disciples. And as Jesus finds them, they are at work in their family business. They are fisherman by trade. And, as they are working with their nets and boats, and whatever else fishermen do, Jesus gives a direct command, “Follow me.” The words are simple, these first disciples understand what they mean, and yet in reality, they have no idea what they will mean.

And here are these four men, gainfully employed, life settled, not looking for the call of Jesus. They had their priorities. We know that Peter had a wife. They had family and friends. They had homes. They had the lifestyle their occupation allowed.

And somehow, at these simple words, they left everything to follow Jesus. All they had heard from Jesus in Mark’s Gospel at this point was this, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.” And at this word, they walked away with Jesus.

Our Gospel reading and our Epistle reading are nicely tied together today. Although, I will admit that the reading from 1 Corinthians today is a bit difficult to understand.

It begins with these words, “The appointed time has grown very short. From now on, let those who have wives live as though they had none.” And then it ends with these words, “I say this…to secure your undivided devotion to the Lord.”

Last week we talked a little about marriage from 1 Corinthians 6, and how much of the sin of our society undermines the God-given institution of marriage. Marriage is to be the building block for society. Family is meant to have a central place in our society. And as we start defining marriage as something less than the life-long commitment of one man and one woman, then we begin to undermine God’s order and our own lives.

But here in 1 Corinthians 7,St. Paul reveals that there is something more basic and more foundational than the covenant of marriage. Yes, marriage is good for society. It is good for how we live and interact with our neighbors. But, as St. Paul suggests here, sometimes even the good gift of marriage and family gets in the way of following Christ.

Our relationship with God is our most primary relationship. Christ must be first. Not even the other godly relationships that He has given us should get in the way of our devotion to Christ. And this is not the first time we hear words like this in the Bible.

In Luke 14, Jesus says this, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple.”

Now I would suggest that by “hate” here, Jesus does not mean to “despise with animosity” or “to consider as an enemy.” Rather it is a question of priorities and commitments. To be a disciple, Jesus must absolutely be first. We need a single-minded devotion, realizing the time is short; this present world will ultimately pass away. So Jesus calls us to have in mind the things of God, rather than the things of this world.

St. Paul suggests that husbands and wives are often distracted by the things of the world. Now some of the obligations of marriage are good and godly. But we also find ways to let the business of life overshadow our devotion to Christ. We let our family activities eclipse the things of God. It is possible to get too much of a good thing.

My generation is especially guilty of having our kids do so many things that they don’t have time to think deeply, to be creative, or to be in Church. We work so many hours that there isn’t time for the things of God. We have things so out of balance that we don’t sit down to dinner together. We don’t do family devotions. We don’t make Sunday morning a priority. Here,St. Paul is teaching that marriage and family must not reduce a Christian’s obligations to the things of God.

Now even if we were able to keep our lives perfectly balanced, those who are married and those who have kids at home, simply have more obligations. And here St. Paul addresses the single, the widowed, the teenagers, all of those who don’t have the obligation of marriage. He suggests that if you fit into this category, you have a special opportunity for devotion to Christ.

It is easy to feel like life is incomplete when we are young and can’t wait to be married. Or when a divorce happens. Or when we are older and our spouse has died. It feels like something is missing. It feels like life has lost some of its purpose. But St. Paul is suggesting that to be single offers a unique opportunity to be holy in body and spirit.

It is interesting to note that at this point, as he is writing 1 Corinthians,St. Paul is single. Now some have suggested that he had been married. And that perhaps his wife left him when he converted to Christianity.

Some have even suggested that St. Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” in 2 Corinthians 12, the “messenger of Satan” that was sent to “harass him,” was his ex-wife. Now, I have certainly heard ex-wives and ex-husbands spoken of in this way, but I don’t know about all that for St. Paul.

Regardless,St. Paul saw his singleness as an opportunity for great devotion to the Lord. It allowed him a certain freedom for his missionary endeavors, for writing to the churches, for time of study, and for reflection upon God’s Word. It is because of his singleness that he was able to do some of the things that still benefit the Church today.

And in this chapter,St. Paul has been speaking quite eloquently of the advantages of remaining unmarried in terms of Christian service.  The unmarried are free to consecrate themselves in body and soul to the Lord. They simply are free from some of burdensome cares of life, and so have more time to follow Christ.

Now I am not talking about joining a monastery, or a convent, or even taking a vow of celibacy. I am not even talking about spending every waking moment here in this building. Rather, this is about stewardship of our time according to all of our vocations. It is about seeing our opportunities to be followers of Christ where we are right now. It is about being content with our station in life. It is about following Christ with our whole lives.

Now let me be clear, while St. Paul speaks highly of the freedom from distractions for the single person, he at no point suggests the marital state is displeasing to God. Not everyone has the spiritual gift of remaining single. Many are instead gifted with the ability to care for spouse and family. Whether single or married, be satisfied with where you are. And according to your station in life, follow Christ with your whole heart.

So what does it mean, in the words of St. Paul, “to be anxious about the things of the Lord”? What does it mean to have “an undivided devotion to the Lord”? Perhaps the perfect answer here is the account of Mary and Martha in the 10^th chapter of Luke’s Gospel. Allow me to read this brief account to you,

“Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving.

And she went up to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.’”

To be anxious about the things of the Lord and to have undivided devotion means to sit at Jesus’ feet. We are to follow Mary in choosing the better part, rather than Martha, who was distracted with too much doing when she should have been listening.

If you don’t have time for Jesus, slow down. Don’t be so busy. Listen to Jesus. Think deeply about what He says. The words of Jesus are creative and bring salvation. They free us from the worries and anxieties of the world. They forgive our sins. They make us new. They shape us into the people He has called us to be.

This word “devotion” thatSt. Paul uses here is only found in this one passage and it literally combines the word “good” with the preposition “beside” or “near” with the verb “to sit.” A similar word is used later in 1 Corinthians 9, describing those who would constantly attend the altar in the temple. So, to put it all together it means that “sitting near Jesus is good.”

And so, what St. Paul calls us to here is the life of Mary before the life of Martha. Of first importance, we follow Jesus by sitting at His feet and listening to His Word. And so perhaps the monastic rhythm of life is exactly what we need.

Once again I don’t mean that you should quit your job and leave your family and run off to Italy. Being a monk is not a higher from of life than being a mom, or dad, or a student, or a retired person. Instead it means we start and end our days in God’s Word.

Listening to His Word is discipleship. And there are lots of creative ways to do this. If we are married, or married with kids, I think it starts by not doing so much. By slowing down and being here on Sundays. By talking about God’s Word around the dinner table. By learning the Catechism together. By reading the Scriptures and saying prayers before bedtime.

When you take a trip plug your Ipod into your car stereo and listen to a book of the Bible and then talk about it. Start with the New Testament Epistles of Colossians and Ephesians if you don’t know where to begin. They are full of rich theology and practice that have a great deal to say to families.
If you are a teen, or single, or divorced, or widowed and don’t have the same responsibilities with your time, use that time to be with Jesus. Read His Word. Get in a Bible Study. Learn the Small Catechism by heart. Read the Large Catechism. Sit at His feet. Pray, praise, and give thanks.

In John 6, Jesus was asked, “What must we do, to be doing the works of God?” And Jesus answered and said, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” Jesus calls us to a receptive spirituality that listens to His Word in faith. And this doesn’t mean that you cut yourself off from the business of this world. All the other business of life is fine, just in its proper place.

“Follow me” Jesus said, “For the time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe the Gospel.” TheKingdomofGodbrings everything else into perspective. The appointed time has grown very short. The present form of this world is passing away.

And so in this life, Christ calls us to be free from the cares of the world. In Christ, our citizenship is in heaven and so we simply are not so engrossed with the drama of this life. We are His disciples. We are His followers. Let us “be who we are” with undivided devotion. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

+Soli Deo Gloria+

I enjoy teaching youth Confirmation classes. It is almost always a pleasure. But then there is always that day when you get to the 6^th Commandment. If you are counting them off in your head, that is the one about adultery. And of course, someone always asks, “Pastor, what is adultery?” And whether the really want to know, or they just want to see me squirm, it is always challenging to find the right words to talk about adultery with teens and preteens.

Luther says it this way, “We should fear and love God so that we lead a sexually pure and decent life in what we say and do, and husband and wife love and honor each other.” And this is a good start. But as we will find, Jesus and St. Paul get more specific.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”

These are the words of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew chapter five. And they cut right through our pious exteriors and reveal our hearts and motives. Jesus takes the wisdom of the day, and throws it on its head. There is no room in the Christian life for adultery or lust. These things enslave us. They don’t set us free.

This kind of reasoning is what we find in our reading from St. Paul in 1 Corinthians 6. In fact, he even addresses the same issues that we hear about in the Sermon on the Mount. Right before our reading,St. Paul warns us that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God. And he even gives us a list.

And frankly the list sounds like the “virtues” of our world. Our society has begun to treasure the things that separate us from God and each other. Against the culture then and the culture now,St. Paul says “Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit  the Kingdom of God.”

Now, lists like this can cause a few different reactions. Some will suggest that St. Paul is just a product of his times and has nothing to say to us today. Others will just say that he is wrong. Still others will say that God is saying different things today. But these are words that we must not dismiss. And we must remember that God’s Word is eternal. Comfortable or not, they are true.

And after a list of sins like this, it is very easy to respond with objections. Sure, I am a sinner, but I am no worse than anyone else. It doesn’t matter how I live, Jesus will forgive me anyway. I can do whatever I want with my body as long as I love Jesus.

This is the way the Corinthian Christians were thinking. And so Paul takes up the same rhetorical style as Jesus. “You have heard it said…but I say to you.” “You have heard it said, ‘All things are lawful for me.’ But I say to you, not all things are helpful.” “You have heard it said, ‘All things are lawful for me.’ But I say to you, I will not be enslaved by anything.’”

“You have heard it said, ‘Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food.’ But I say to you, God will destroy both one and the other.” See,St. Paul is also attacking the popular wisdom of the day. And their perspective had this radical separation between spirit and body. You could be a deeply spiritual person and yet sin grievously with your body. The soul was meant for spiritual things and the body was meant for pleasure. If it feels good, do it.

I think that the same is often true in our day. It is so easy to compartmentalize our lives. And so we fail to see ourselves as one person, body and soul. We keep our spirituality deep inside, so no one notices, and our life in the body looks like the rest of the world. This distinction allows someone to say he is a Christian, and live enslaved to sin.

We have a little slot for Church on Sunday Morning, and the rest of our lives are about the things of the flesh. And in that realm, God doesn’t reign, I reign. Pleasure reigns. There is a disconnect between how we view our bodies and how we view our souls. And to this reasoning St. Paul says, “The unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of God.”

A recent poll suggests that almost half of churchgoing Americans say their life has not changed a bit due to their time in the pews. But how about you? If you were to rate your time in the pew, has your life changed? Is there anything different about you based on your time in Church? What is there in your life that is different than the rest of the world?

Now, with a question like this, it is easy to start placing blame. The Church is out of touch. The pastor is boring. No one is listening. Sin gets in the way. The influence of the world is too strong. And any of these may actually be true. But there is also something fundamentally wrong with the question from this poll. And this is important to get right! The central purpose of the Church is not to change your life. Let me say that again. The purpose of the Church is not changed lives. That isn’t the barometer of how well we are doing as a Church or as individuals.

The Church is not primarily in the business of cleaning you up to make you acceptable to God and impressive to your neighbor. The Church is in the business of preaching the Gospel in its purity and administering the Sacraments. The Church is in the business of talking about Jesus and the forgiveness of sins we find only in Him.

We are to bring the Word of God, and that Word rescues us from our sin. It frees us from guilt. It gives us a clean conscience before God. And, to bring the Gospel to our issue today, it empowers us for a new obedience. Changed lives is not the Gospel. It’s not. Changed lives is the result of the Gospel. But the Gospel must be first before we are going to find power to be the people He calls us to be.

And so the words of St. Paul in the verses immediately before our reading are really important, “You were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.” This is our power. This is our righteousness. And right here we find that we are truly set free from sin and its power over us. Only in the Gospel are we free to live God’s way.

Now, in today’s reading,St. Paul shows us the great inconsistency of us Christians using our bodies for sexual immorality. And although St. Paul is quite vivid in his language, for the sake of younger ears, I will be less specific. But he shows us that there in no room in our lives to let our bodily passions drive us. We cannot be enslaved by them. It is simply not consistent with being united to Christ.

He tells us to flee from sexual immorality. And this refers to any sexual activity outside of the God-given covenant of marriage between one man and one woman for life. This may sound old-fashioned, but it is nonetheless God’s design.

And apart from the safety and security of the marriage bed, sexual behavior becomes sin. And St. Paul even warns us that this type of sin is personally destructive. It destroys lives, and marriage, and I would suggest it has even destroyed our culture.

So what does this mean? What is St. Paul calling us to do? Two things: First, it means that as Christians, living in His grace, we must hold up the fidelity and sanctity of marriage. This week President Matt Harrison of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod joined religious leaders from across the country to call our country to protect marriage.

The document says this, “Marriage is the permanent and faithful union of one man and one woman. As such marriage is the natural basis of the family. Marriage is an institution fundamental to the well-being of all of society, not just religious communities…We honor the unique love between husbands and wives; the indispensable place of fathers and mothers; and the corresponding rights and dignity of all children.”

The document is on our bulletin board downstairs. You might find it interesting to see the others who signed it. They aren’t just Christians. Even though they fail to identify Jesus as our Savior and Lord, they recognize the order God has placed in creation.

Second, it means we refuse to let bodily passions enslave us. We must literally flee from sexual activity apart from marriage. And there are so many implications here. It might mean we get married to the person we are living with, right away. It might mean we cancel a magazine subscription.

It might mean we change our sexualized language. It might mean we screen the movies we allow our children to watch. It most certainly will mean that we will look to Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins.

At the very end of the readingSt.Paul gives us the principle of how we should regard our bodies as people of God. “Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body.”

Your body, and every other body out there, is the special creation of God. Bodies are not objects. They are people created in the image of God. And they aren’t designed for sexual immorality. In Christ, our bodies are united to Christ. And it is to real physical bodies that Christ comes to us bodily in bread and wine in the Sacrament of the Altar and makes us one with Him in Spirit.

Together in Christ, we become the Temple of God, and so the presence of God is with us. In Christ we are new creations, the old has gone and the new has come. So by the grace and power of God, look to Him for the power to live in a godly manner. Trust His Word when it comes to the way we work. And glorify God in your body. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

+Soli Deo Gloria+

It is an odd little story. We often think of it as part of the Nativity of our Lord. The visit of the wise men to Jesus and Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem, at first glance, doesn’t seem to have much consequence. And it almost makes you wonder why St. Matthew would include these details.

Maybe it serves to introduce Herod and his murder of the innocents later in the same chapter. Herod, the one called “Herod the Great,” was worried about losing his throne to his new competition, a new King of the Jews. And so, he had all the infant boys in the region executed. What a great guy.

This explains why Mary and Joseph flee to Egypt. And this allows Jesus to begin where the nation Israel began, in Egypt. Hosea 11 prophetically reminds us that God called His people from this foreign land, “out ofEgyptI have called my Son.” And here Hosea suggests that there will be a future “Israel” that comes out of Egypt.

Fulfilled prophecy is a hallmark of Matthew’s Gospel. It is a sign that we must not ignore. And so, Jesus begins to perfectly fulfill national Israel. What Israel was unable to be, Jesus would be. He is Israel reduced to one. But as significant as this escape to Egypt is, there must be more to this account of the wise men. This passage can’t just serve to introduce the rest of the chapter.

St. Matthew tells us, “Behold wise men from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, ‘Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.’”

Our lectionary assigns this account as the Gospel reading for Epiphany. Now, Epiphany was actually on Friday, but we observe it today on the Sunday after. Epiphany immediately follows the 12 Days of Christmas on our calendar. And thus it brings to a close our Christmas celebration.

The word “epiphany” as used in the text of the New Testament means “to enlighten, appear, or manifest.” In our own every day usage, it refers to a feeling or experience of “sudden realization or comprehension of the larger essence or meaning of something.”

It is like when you place the last piece in a puzzle and now see the whole picture. It is like a word problem in math class you have been thinking about for days, and suddenly, you figure out how to solve it. If you have ever watched the M. Night Shyamalan movie, The Sixth Sense, at the end of the movie when you finally figure out what has been going on all along, that is epiphany.

And so, as we celebrate the Epiphany, we focus more on an idea than an event. Epiphany isn’t just tied to the visit of the wise men to Bethlehem. In fact there are a number of Epiphany moments in Scripture.

In the New Testament, the word Epiphany is used five times to refer to the return of Christ on the last day. But here in the season Epiphany, the word emphasizes the appearance of Jesus who reveals himself again and again, to both Jew and Gentile.

The regular reading for today, the Sunday after Epiphany, is the Baptism of Jesus. Here it is made clear, visible, and manifest, that God is on earth. He is with us, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And the Father, with the blessing of the Holy Spirit, points us to Jesus, as He speaks those enlightening words, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.” And with these words we start to put the puzzle together.  By divine revelation, we start to grasp who Jesus is.

But the epiphany in our reading comes to the Wise Men; Magi, really. The word means “great ones.” And they probably didn’t look much like our Christmas cards. They weren’t kings. And they weren’t wise men in the tradition of Solomon from the Old Testament. Tradition names them Melchior, Caspar, Balthazar. But we don’t know their names from Scripture and we don’t know that there were three, just three gifts.

And once again we return to the question of why St. Matthew includes the account of these Magi in his Gospel. In Matthew, we don’t get the visit of the Shepherds. We don’t get the Angels announcing, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” Instead the first visitors to Bethlehem and to the Holy Family are the Magi.

Now, this isn’t the first time we hear about Magi in the Scriptures. The Prophet Daniel, after being translated into Greek, uses this word. Here the astrologers and magicians and soothsayers of his day were called Magi. And so these men that we call the wise men are, quite simply, pagan.

And, as a product of their times, these men are probably well-trained experts in false religion. The reference to the Magi coming from the “east” probably meant they came from Arabia, or Persia, or Babylon. Their minds are filled with ideas and morality and spirituality of the Ancient Near East. And chances are, they are men who believed in a multitude of gods.  They found gods in trees and stars, and pond scum.

In addition, for many of these cultures, the king was a god-like figure. The line between god and king was very thin. And so, even as they come looking for the one born “king of the Jews,” they aren’t looking for God Almighty.

These Magi are looking for a human king with god-like qualities. Even as they arrive, they don’t grasp the full glory of this infant Child of Bethlehem.  And so we are left with the question, what are these pagan soothsayers doing at the cradle of Jesus Christ? Why does St. Matthew include their visit?

Matthew doesn’t necessarily want us to admire these men. Matthew doesn’t wants us to listen to their pagan wisdom. Even though in the ancient world, these men probably are considered to be intellectuals, that is not what Matthew wants us to see. This description of them as wise men is dripping with false pagan spirituality. And we need to be careful to get our wisdom from God.

Today, the wisdom of the world seems to be everywhere. And often we hear this wisdom in little sound-bites. And we need to be careful with these little words of “wisdom” that we find on Facebook, in email, or on posters in the school lunchroom.  One of the little sound-bites I heard this week was, “Never forget that you are destined for greatness.” That sounds good right?

But when we hear something like this, we need to start asking questions. Who wrote this and why? What is the worldview behind it? Does this resonate with me because it strokes my ego? Who has destined me for greatness? What does it mean be great? What if my life is ordinary, boring, or even difficult? Have I then missed my destiny?  And most importantly, is this consistent with God’s Word.

Don’t believe these little nuggets of “wisdom” because they make you feel better. We need to look at these ideas critically. Examine them with God’s wisdom. Examine them through the Word of God; with Christ who is the Word and Wisdom of God. To be frank, the guy who posted this doesn’t know whether I am destined for greatness or not. And frankly, God is great, and I am not. And that is just the way it should be.

So, if the Magi are not included to get us to listen and be amazed by their Pagan wisdom, then why are they in Bethlehem? Why are they in St. Matthew’s Gospel? And who really should have been there?

Now Herod the Great, as we heard in this account, is anything but great. And really, we wouldn’t expect him to go and worship the newborn king. But the chief priests and the scribes that Herod turns to for answers should grasp the significance of the birth of the Messiah, even if they don’t fully understand who Jesus is.  They have a much greater knowledge of a coming King that will reign on the throne of David.

And incredibly, they aren’t looking for the coming of the Messiah either, although they should be. They have Moses. They have the prophets. They have the Scriptures. And here is the Savior of the world born just five miles away and they don’t get it. And not only do they not understand, when they find out that something is going on, they don’t even go and see for themselves.

So Herod is not there, the chief priests and the scribes are not there, but the Pagan Magi come and visit. Many scholars have suggested that these Magi may have been aware of some of the Hebrew Scriptures. Numbers 24:17 connects the birth of a Messianic King with the appearance of a star. “A star shall come out of Jacob, and a scepter shall rise out of Israel.”

Maybe. But, we really don’t know that to be the case. And let suggest that the answer isn’t found in the greatness of these Magi, these wise men, these great ones. Instead, this whole incident reveals something about God.

Matthew chapter two reveals that in spiritual and divine things, our intellect, heart, and will are utterly unable to understand, believe, accept, or seek Christ. Our “free will” is entirely dead. We cannot seek God. We will not. In the human nature since our fall into sin, there is not the least spark of spiritual power. No person can prepare himself for God’s grace.

And so we need God to step in. And that is the point here in Matthew’s Gospel with these Magi. These were the least likely people to show up in the presence of the Christ Child. And they are there because God called them. He drew them. He chose them.

These are men whose religious ideas were so off that we would laugh at them today. But even with all of this error and sin, God sends help. He sends a miraculous star to guide them. And even more importantly, He gives them the words of the prophet Micah, “But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.” The Word of God brings them to Christ. And this is the only way.

And see, this is the beauty of this odd little story. In Christianity, we aren’t on a journey or quest for wisdom. The One who is the Wisdom of God is on a quest for us. This is the way of Jesus, even as a child, he seeks and enlightens unlikely people: the poor, the pagans, the Gentiles, tax collectors, prostitutes, outsiders, sinners. Indeed Jesus came only for people like this. If you are already perfect, faultless, and self-righteous, then this Epiphany is not for you.

God sends signs in the Heavens that point us to a greater reality than ourselves, but that is never enough. More importantly, He sends His Word in the Holy Scriptures. Indeed, the Scriptures are the manger which brings us Christ. God seeks us out when we are pagan, and sinful, and lost, wandering in the desert. He calls us to Himself.

Jesus reveals himself again and again in Matthew’s Gospel to the Gentiles; to a people who were not looking for Him. And not just them, but us too. That is the Epiphany moment. The One and Only Son, Begotten of the Father before all worlds, has revealed Himself in a cradle in Bethlehem to be our Savior. And it is this Jesus who seeks us, a people who would never seek Him on our own.

Epiphany is about Jesus. And today, we are reminded that this Jesus who has taken on flesh in humble circumstances, who has taken on the form of a servant, is the One True God. And this is a sign that God has not abandoned us in our sin and foolishness.

And this Jesus continues to reveal Himself in humble but physical ways. In the Word as it is read and preached. In the Sacrament, as He reveals Himself in the flesh in Bread and Wine. God is with us and He comes to seek and save the lost.

Now this might all sound like foolish talk, and it certainly takes more than a sound-bite to explain, but it is the true wisdom of God. This is what Epiphany is all about. It isn’t about the wisdom of the world, about the intelligence of the Magi who find Jesus. It is about Jesus who sought them, and brought them to Himself. And he does the same for us.

Perhaps, in conclusion,St. Paul says it best, “For the word of the cross is folly to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written, ‘I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and the discernment of the discerning I will thwart.’ Where is the one who is wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the debater of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world?

“For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. For Jews demand signs and Greeks seek wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles, but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” In the name of Jesus. Amen.

+Soli Deo Gloria+

New Year’s Day means we have to write “2012” rather than “2011.” We start thinking of the changes we want to make in our lives; New Year’s resolutions. Bad habits we want to break. Good habits we want to cultivate. Weight we want to lose. Goals we want to accomplish. Books we want to read.

Now, I am not opposed to New Year’s resolutions, but new habits are tough to establish. It takes hard work and determination. And resolutions also can be very revealing about what is important to us. Whether we are successful or not, our resolutions reveal our priorities. They reveal our hearts. In fact our habits in general reveal our hearts. Our habits reveal our character.

I heard a story this week of a 16-year-old young lady who is a brain tumor survivor. She was given tickets to a San Jose,California, Sharks hockey game for Christmas. Now she isn’t a Sharks fan, and so she wore her Vancouver Canucks jersey given to her by Canucks players who had supported her during her treatment. Now when you go to a game and wear the visiting team’s jersey, there might be some good-natured teasing.

But that’s not what happened. Apparently there was an older lady sitting behind her, quite drunk, who struck this young brain tumor survivor on the head so hard that she had to be taken away by ambulance, all because she was wearing the wrong jersey.

Now, according to reports, this young lady will probably be okay. But we must remember that character, good or bad, can reveal itself anywhere, in the middle of a sporting event, behind the steering wheel, at a New Years Eve party. And our character doesn’t just impact our own lives, it impacts others as well.

Now you won’t find too many conversations about character these days. Many people just live without thinking, in whatever way feels right at the moment. Or, they simply do whatever everyone else is doing. Maybe we try to do things a little better. It makes us feel more complete if we are a little better than others. But this is all a mob mentality. And clearly the Scriptures call us to something different.

We need a return to real godly character. By character I mean our moral disposition; our way of life and the reason for it; our ethics. And let me suggest that our morals and ethics must originate outside of ourselves. It isn’t up for a vote. It isn’t for each of us to find our own individual way. We look to God to reveal the moral standard in His holy Word. As our Maker, He knows how we are to function. He knows what is best for us and our lives.

And true Christian morality isn’t something we conjure up with New Year’s resolutions. It must be a response to the Christian Gospel. Character begins with the work of Christ. In Christ, God offers the grace and mercy that justifies us even though we are flawed and sinful beings. We need not climb up some ladder of increasing righteousness to make ourselves worthy before God. This method is useless, because none of us can stand up to God’s demands.

And let me be clear, we don’t become His saints through extraordinary character. Instead His saints are given extraordinary character through the work of Christ. And this is part of the Gospel that sometimes gets lost for us. We hear so much about the Gospel as the forgiveness of sins, and freedom from working for our salvation. And yes, we are forgiven our sins by grace through faith in Christ. This is most certainly true.

But this isn’t the end of what Christ does for us. One of my favorite quotes from Luther’s Large Catechism is this, “To state it quite briefly, the Creed teaches us to know Him fully. This is intended to help us do what we ought to do according to the Ten Commandments.”

Luther saw the Apostles’ Creed as a summary of the Gospel. And one of the benefits of the Gospel is that God empowers us to live the Ten Commandments. He begins to make us people of character. Not only does he declare us righteous, He begins to make us righteous.

Yes, the Gospel of Jesus Christ gives us great freedom. Freedom from the curses of the Law. Freedom from having to live up to God’s standards in order to have eternal life. But this freedom is not a freedom to live life on my own terms. It is not a freedom to choose my own path morally or to just do whatever I want.

It isn’t a freedom for immorality. If you are thinking or living this way, you are not living in the Gospel. The Gospel brings freedom to live on God’s terms. To live according to God’s will for your own good and for the good of your neighbor. We are set free to be people of character, of morality, of righteousness.

We meet two excellent examples, Simeon and Anna in our Gospel reading. We will focus on Simeon today. The account from St. Luke details Jesus’ first trip in the flesh to His temple in Jerusalem, 40 days after His birth. Firstborn sons were to be presented at the temple and redeemed by sacrifice.

And waiting for them at the temple is this man Simeon. Although he is only mentioned here in this one account in Luke’s Gospel, he is much more famous than we think. Indeed, we sing his words every time we receive the Sacrament of the Altar. His words are called the Nunc Dimittis. In Setting I in our Hymnal they sound like this:

“Lord now You let Your servant go in peace; Your word has been fulfilled. My own eyes have seen the salvation which You have prepared in the sight of every people; a light to reveal You to the nations and the glory of Your people Israel.” We know his words.

And, several things are said about Simeon in this passage. He was “waiting for the consolation of Israel.” This is the comfort that we heard about in Advent from Isaiah chapter 40. And he finds this comfort and consolation in Jesus. This infant Child is his salvation. And Jesus is Savior, not just for him, but for all people, Jew and Gentile.

Many have suggested that Simeon is old, because he says he is now ready to depart this life in peace. He is prepared for death now because his Savior has come. But, other than that line, there is nothing in this text that suggests he is old. He had simply been waiting for Jesus. He had the promise of God that he would see the Lord’s Christ in this life, and now that promise was fulfilled. When his time for death came, he was ready, because of Christ.

Simeon is also defined as righteous and devout. The word “devout” here literally means “one who receives what is good.” This is a word that should describe us too: devout. And the righteousness that is mentioned here is an active righteousness. He lived in goodness and godliness. He was a man of faith and character. Now we are often quite critical of those we think are godly. And we start picking them apart trying to find their flaws. Perhaps we feel better about our own sin, when we drag another person down.

When it comes to people like Simeon, often the accusation goes something like this, “He is so heavenly minded, he is no earthly good.” But let me say that is simply not possible.

Now, there are people who are zealous and wrong about their religious knowledge and practices. And this cliché might apply in those circumstances. But if we are truly seeing life through the eyes of heaven, if we are truly heavenly minded, than we will be people of character here on earth.

And when we are heavenly minded, we actually become more truly human. We become less and less the flawed, sinful, twisted version of humanity that we can find anywhere and everywhere. The Gospel shapes us to be like the man Jesus Christ who showed us what true humanity looks like. And so we are given Simeon as an example, not perfect, but righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of God’s people.

In Christ we are equipped to have godly character. So whether at a sporting event, or in the car, or at a party, we simply cannot get so wrapped up in the ways of the world, and in worldly priorities, that we cease to be righteous and devout; that we cease to be human.

So make those new resolutions this year. But as we do, we must let God’s Word shape our priorities. God’s Word forms our hearts and habits. The good news of Jesus Christ remakes and reforms us. The forgiveness of sins leads us to lives of thankful righteousness, living the way He has designed. We are like Simeon, people of character; righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Jesus Christ.  In the name of Jesus. Amen.

+Soli Deo Gloria+

“Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus.” Now these aren’t the words that you typically hear from your Lutheran Pastor. But believe it or not, they almost made it into the Small Catechism.  In fact, they were a part of Martin Luther’s Personal Prayer Book from 1520.

And let’s be honest. To this point, the “Hail Mary,” is simply the Word of God. These words are from our Gospel Reading today. This passage is most often called the Annunciation. The Annunciation of the Lord refers to the announcement by the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary, that she would conceive and become the mother of Jesus.  The Feast of the Annunciation is March 25, nine full months before Christmas. This is where we get our date for Christmas, by the way.

These are the words of the Angel Gabriel. We heard these words in the song our choir sang a couple of weeks ago. Here he says, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you…Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.”

The next portion of the “Hail Mary” comes to us from Elizabeth, Mary’s close relative, and the mother of John the Baptist, as she says to Mary later in Luke 1, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!”

And Elizabeth is right! The Angel Gabriel says this Virgin-born Child will be a blessed Child, “He 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, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” This is the message of Christmas. This is the message of Christianity.

Now, I get quite a few questions from former Roman Catholics, and those who fear that we are too Roman Catholic, asking if we pray the Hail Mary. The answer is of course “no, we don’t pray the Hail Mary.” But let me say that we would do well to reflect on the words we hear from the Angel that day.

Now certainly, we reject the petition in the Hail Mary, “Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death.” And in the Augsburg Confession, the Lutheran Reformers make it quite clear; we are not to pray to the saints or to expect the departed saints to pray for us.

“The Scriptures do not teach that we are to call on the saints or to ask the saints for help. Scripture sets before us the one Christ as the Mediator…He is to be prayed to.” And so we pray to God alone through Christ alone. Nothing in Scripture suggests that we are to ask our departed sisters and brothers in the faith to pray for us or to help us in any way.

Specifically, in the Personal Prayer Book I mentioned, Luther addresses the Virgin Mary this way, “Now, no one should put his trust or confidence in the Mother of God or in her merits, for such trust is worthy of God alone and is the lofty service due only to Him…Love her simply as the one who, without merit, obtained such blessings from God, sheerly out of His mercy, as she herself testifies in the Magnificat.”

So we look to Mary, not for help, but as an example of faith. We honor her and recognize her good works, according to her calling. She is a remarkable woman. And it is okay to call Mary the Blessed Virgin, or Saint Mary, or even the Mother of God. The Lutheran Confessions talk about her in all these ways.

The Church has recognized that when we call Mary the Mother of God, it is nothing more than recognizing that Jesus is God. And that is something we most definitely want to do. This understanding of the Virgin Mary as the God-bearer informs us that this is no ordinary Child, that this is no ordinary pregnancy, and that the Angel Gabriel makes no ordinary announcement.

Now, not everyone is comfortable with this language about Mary, or about Jesus. In a recent article in the New York times, one writer suggested, “Faith in the Virgin Birth reflects the way American Christianity is becoming less intellectual and more mystical over time.” Among skeptics, the Virgin birth is often the first thing from the Bible to be rejected. And this is usually followed by a rejection of the resurrection.

But criticism of the Virgin Birth is not limited to those outside the Church. Recently a prominent Anglican Church in New Zealand put up a controversial billboard. The billboard contained no words, but had a picture of Mary holding a positive pregnancy test with a shocked expression on her face.

The Church said that they wanted to make the Christmas story more relatable to people today, to “avoid the sentimental and trite and spark thought and conversation.”

But, as you keep reading about this Church, you find out that their intentions are not so wholesome. The members of this Church consider themselves “Progressive Christians.” And as you dig deeper, you find that they deny the miraculous. They even deny the existence of a personal God.

They find the Bible to be thought-provoking but it is only a human document full of all kinds of myth and contradiction. With this billboard, they have no desire to affirm the Virgin Birth. In fact their purpose is to trample on this precious gift to us from God.

The Annunciation, the announcement of the Angel Gabriel to the Blessed Virgin Mary in Nazareth two thousand years ago isn’t trite or sentimental, but it is historical, and the Christian faith rests on its truthfulness. If this is a myth, there is no need to be here today.

Gabriel’s announcement to Mary fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 7. We will hear this reading at the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service. “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” “Immanuel,” of course, means “God with us.” The Virgin Birth explains how Christ could be both God and man, and how Jesus could be born without sin.

When we lose the Virgin Birth, we lose the authority of the Bible. When we lose the Virgin Birth, we lose the deity of Christ. When we lose the Virgin Birth, we lose the Gospel.

All those who find salvation will be saved by the atoning work of the Christ Child, divinely conceived in the Blessed Virgin Mary, over 2000 years ago. No one will be saved without this miraculous conception. Anything less than this is just not Christianity, whatever it may call itself.

So don’t let the press, or the skeptics, or atheists, or “progressive Christians” undermine your faith in the Virgin Birth. Perhaps we can learn a little from the response of Mary. She takes this message of the Angel quite seriously. And let me suggest her knowledge of the Scriptures enables her to accept this message of the Angel in faith. And this Annunciation will change her life forever and ours as well.

After the Angel explains that the child she bears will be the Son of God, she responds, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Her faith in her Savior is clear. She submits to and believes in her Lord.

When the power of the Most High overshadows her, God becomes incarnate—becomes flesh—as part of her flesh. Mary rejoices as the one favored by God to become the flesh and blood home of His incarnate Son. And here she humbly submits herself to God’s Word and to His miraculous presence with her and in her body.

And so as we prepare for Christmas next Sunday, may we imitate her faith as we hear the annunciation of the Angel Gabriel, “Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you. Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.”

Truly, Mary is the blessed Virgin and the Lord is with her. And blessed is the fruit of her womb, Jesus. And through this Christ Child, the whole world is blessed. The child born of the Blessed Virgin Mary is “God with us,” Immanuel. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

+Soli Deo Gloria+

I will admit that service always come with a little chaos. Things are a bit unpredictable. We never know for sure if all the kids will show. We have little angels wiping their noses on their costumes. We have competition to get the right seats to see our kids. The whole thing can be a little unruly.

But the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service has a different tone. It is quiet and peaceful. It is even a bit otherworldly. Candles. Soft lighting. Soft music. Ancient words. We sing Silent Night and O Come, All Ye Faithful. Even the late evening puts us into a different frame of mind. It is all a bit magical.

And the Service leaves us with a sense of catharsis. Catharsis is a Greek word that means “cleansing.” It refers to the end of inner turmoil. It is a feeling of peace and resolution.

Catharsis is that feeling you get when all the loose ends get tied up at the end of a movie. The villain is defeated. The hero gets the girl. The sexual tension is resolved with a kiss just before the credits role. Think Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Catharsis.

But tonight our Gospel text doesn’t seem to quite fit the mood of the evening. It just isn’t one of those kinds of accounts. St. Matthew’s account of the Birth of Christ is a bit different than the one we are used to from St. Luke’s Gospel.

In Luke, we hear that classic beginning, “In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered…And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem…to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.”

The focus in Luke’s Gospel is on Mary. We get majestic detail about shepherds, and angelic praise, and great glory. We hear from the Angels, “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord…Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

And things get nicely wrapped up before the credits, “And Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.” The End.

Matthew’s story of the Nativity of the Lord admittedly lacks the charm and detail of Luke’s account. It leaves tension. It leaves questions unanswered. But let me suggest that may well be its value. Sentimentality can get in the way of the true Gospel.

And the accounts of Jesus’ birth have proven to be common material for mushy sentiment. But Matthew’s account of Jesus’ conception and birth is unapologetically realistic and tense.

Now admittedly, the details are straightforward, but the situation isn’t at all simple. Matthew’s focus here is on Joseph rather than Mary. And his betrothed, his fiancée, is pregnant. And that is a huge problem.

See, Joseph is a righteous and moral man and the baby is not his. And he wrongly assumes that Mary has been unfaithful. But Mary and Joseph are not the Kardashians. This isn’t “reality” television. And so we get to see two people of character manage a difficult situation all with the intervention of Almighty God.

In the ancient Jewish culture, the period of betrothal or engagement was seen as a binding commitment. You didn’t just break an engagement. Betrothed couples that decided not to marry, had to get a legal divorce. Most betrothals lasted 9 months, and you can probably guess why.

They believed that a sexual relationship apart from marriage was sinful. And this is most certainly true. Once it was clear that the bride-to-be was not pregnant, they were free to marry; and then, and only then, could the marriage be consummated. In many scenarios, sexual relationships apart from marriage were punishable by death. Sadly, I think that very few people would survive if that were the case for us today.

The reaction of Joseph to the pregnancy of his betrothed tells us even more about his character. Not only is he a moral man, he is also compassionate. And so instead of having Mary executed, or even publicly disgraced, he resolves to divorce her quietly. This is the kindest thing that Joseph thought he could do.

Even though he most certainly felt betrayed, he does his best to protect Mary. In fact you might even say that Joseph refused to address Mary according to the Law, and instead chose to treat her in a manner that Jesus himself would later exemplify by his attitude toward known sinners.

But as we know, that is not the end of the story. Matthew explains that the Child was “from the Holy Spirit.” And this is a remarkable statement. We do well to marvel. And we see that Matthew does not assume that it is his task to make God’s work intelligible to us.

The language is very much like what we hear in our creeds. “Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit of the Virgin Mary and was made man.” And so The Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds do not explain the mystery of the Trinity or the Incarnation, but rather they teach us how to speak of the mystery of God without explanation.

The Child is from the Holy Spirit. The child is not illegitimate. But Joseph doesn’t know that yet. And while he is still thinking, while he is still figuring out what to do with this seemingly awful situation, an Angel intervenes.

“Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”

It would be so interesting to dig into Joseph’s mind at this point. A pregnant fiancée and he is not the father. A future in shambles. Then an angelic announcement. A child miraculously conceived. And this is not just any Child. The Child is to be named “Jesus” and His name means “The Lord Saves.” They will soon hold the Messiah, the Christ. They will hold God Himself, and no one knows it. No one understands.

And for Matthew, everything hinges on an ancient prophecy from the Prophet Isaiah. It is the one we heard earlier from Isaiah chapter seven. “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” But this is such a difficult sign for Joseph to prove to his neighbors. It is truly a sign that only Mary can verify.

There is no catharsis here. So much is still unresolved and unanswered. What did Mary and Joseph do next? How could anyone possibly believe that this child was legitimate, much less believe that this was the very Son of God? Did they live with the stigma of sexual immorality? Did Mary have a scarlet letter? Was Joseph ridiculed for his promiscuous wife? What did they actually say to the family?

All of this reminds us of the reality of the Nativity of our Lord. It wasn’t a movie. It wasn’t fairy tale. It was real life. It was more like the Children’s Service than the Candlelight Service. It was chaotic and unpredictable for Mary and Joseph. Jesus was born to real people whose lives were utterly changed by this miraculous birth.

And there was a real cost for them in raising the Christ Child. If we kept reading into chapter two of Matthew, next we find King Herod trying to hunt them down. Yet, the rewards were far greater, they held Immanuel, God with us, the Savior of the world. Their Savior. Our Savior.

Our reading concludes with these words, “When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him: he took his wife, but knew her not until she had given birth to a son. And he called his name Jesus.” Through all of this Joseph stayed. He heard the Word of God and responded in faith.

And no, there is no catharsis here. Sorry. Things aren’t neatly wrapped up for us. But that’s because the Nativity is not the end of the story. It is the beginning. There is still so much more to come. Through it all, Joseph and Mary simply held onto Jesus. May we do the same. In the name of Jesus. Amen.

+Soli Deo Gloria+

Merry Christmas. The Gospel reading assigned for Christmas Day is John chapter one and it is a marvelous and beautiful reading. But frankly, it is also one of those passages that causes our heads to spin, especially if you were at the Christmas Eve Candlelight Service and stayed up way too late.

It sounds more like a theological treatise than it does like a reading for Christmas. It doesn’t even mention Mary or Joseph. It doesn’t mentionBethlehem, or Angels or Shepherds. But of all the Nativity accounts in the Gospels, it was this reading that really caught the attention of the early Church in the first three centuries.

Theologians often give this section of Scripture the really boring title, “the prologue.” We’ve got to come up with something better. If you have any ideas, let me know. But if you think of the boring title as the wrapping paper, underneath the boring title, there is a wonderful gift.

The prologue reveals St. John’s overriding goal. His purpose, as suggested in this section, is to reveal the identity of Jesus. So that “you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in His name.”

Simply put, John is not interested in being a detached observer of the life of Jesus. He is trying to persuade his readers of the truth of Christ, the identity of Christ, so that we might become Jesus’ disciples. He wants us to believe and trust in Jesus Christ.

And so,St. John begins his account of Jesus at the beginning. Not Bethlehem, not the manger, but Genesis one. That beginning.  In fact he borrows words from Genesis one throughout our reading.

Now we might immediately ask the question, “what is Jesus doing in Genesis chapter one? He doesn’t belong there does He? When we talk about the creation, we often think that is the work of the God the Father, not the Son. “I believe in God the Father Almighty, Maker of Heaven and Earth.”

But let me say that Jesus does not get His beginning in Bethlehem. In fact, He is without beginning. He is the beginning. Before the worlds began, He was God Almighty. He was the great “I Am.” AtBethlehem, he just takes on an additional nature. In Bethlehem the One True God became flesh and dwelt among us. In verse 14 of our reading we hear about the incarnation, as Jesus becomes true man, although He was and continues to be true God.

Jesus is uncreated. He is eternal God. And He has been busy. Let me suggest that the Baby we celebrate today was active in Creation. In fact,St. John tells us that all things were created by Him.St. Paulsays it too in Colossians 1, “For by him [Jesus] all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities-all things were created through him and for him.”

John calls Jesus the Word. And that is the key to understanding this reference to Jesus work in creation. Jesus is the Word through which all things were created.

Remember the language of Genesis one. Again and again, the author of Genesis tells us, “And God said.” “And God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light.”

And here we see God’s Word is preformative. It does what it says. It does not merely state something, but it accomplishes or brings about that which it declares. And Jesus is that Word. The Word of God is a person.

Now, St. John addresses two specific day of creation in John chapter one. He looks back to the first day of creation, as God separates the light from the darkness, and to the sixth day, when God breathed the breath of life into men, when he says, “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” This passage serves to introduce themes of light and life that St. John will explain in the rest of the book and even in his other writings. Listen:

John 3:19 “And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.”

John 8:12 “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”

John 12:35 ^“So Jesus said to them, ‘The light is among you for a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, lest darkness overtake you. The one who walks in the darkness does not know where he is going.’”

John 12:46 “I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.”

1 John 1:5-6 “This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.”

Christ came to restore life and light that have both been lost because of Satan and human sin. And so the light is not only revelation bound up with creation, but with salvation. Light is necessary to sustain life in the created order. And Light is necessary to sustain life in the redemptive order. Apart from Christ there is not biological life. And apart from Christ there in no ultimate spiritual life. We need light to have life, but it doesn’t mean it is always what we want.

I like to wake up slowly in the morning. Especially on a morning like this when there was not enough sleep. If someone in my house is cruel enough to turn on the light right after the alarm goes off, it is painful and I literally cannot open my eyes. At that moment, I truly love the darkness rather than the light.

And if there must be any light, I want just a tiny bit. A nightlight maybe. Or the glow of the power button on the television. The backlight on my watch. As little as necessary to find the alarm clock and turn it off.

And so it may be with the coming of Jesus. We would prefer the darkness, we would prefer the evil. As Jesus said, “people loved the darkness rather than the light because their deeds were evil.” We would prefer to hide in the darkness and protect it from the light.

We don’t always want God’s Word to lighten our world, because we don’t want to admit our sin.  We don’t want the light of Christ to expose our refusal to forgive our family member who has wronged us. We don’t want our greed and discontent revealed. We don’t want the light to expose harsh words we have used to hurt our friends. We want to keep our sins in the protection of the darkness.

We hide it and protect it from the light of Christ. We block out the light of Christ’s truth. As John says here, “He came to His own and His own did not receive Him.” We want as little of the light of Christ as necessary.

And so we do our best to limit the light. We come to Church just often enough to keep Grandma from getting upset. We want just enough of Christ to get into eternal life, nothing more. We want just enough of Jesus that we can call on Him when things are really really bad and He will still hear.

But thankfully, Jesus Christ is not content to leave us in the darkness of sin that we treasure so much. He knows what darkness is. Sin destroys our lives and it separates us from God. And so, Christ plans to separate us from the darkness. And it is not going to be easy for us. It is a little like when we haven’t had enough sleep and someone turns on every light in the house.

The True Light that enlightens everyone has come into the world. Light as it shines into our lives reveals things that the darkness hides. It shows sin to be sin in all of its ugliness. The Light coming into the world and sends us to our knees. It causes us to confess our sins and look to Christ.

But it is worth it. Because the Light also brings us life. It brings growth. It purifies. It makes us alive. It recreates us in the image of God. And we belong in the Light.

And so we say with Mary, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” And we say with the Shepherds, “Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.” And we say with the Angels, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.”

And we receive this Word of God in faith and favor in Word and Sacrament, in Bread and Wine and Word. And here, this Light becomes Life for us. For as John says, “many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name.” Jesus is eternal life. Jesus is the light of the world. Merry Christmas. Amen.

+Soli Deo Gloria+