http://al.lunneberg.com Sermons and Rumenations Sun, 05 Feb 2012 18:14:04 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 2005-2008 alunneberg@comcast.net (Allen Lunneberg) alunneberg@comcast.net (Allen Lunneberg) 1440 http://al.lunneberg.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg http://al.lunneberg.com 144 144 Sermons and more from my site. Allen Lunneberg Allen Lunneberg alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/18/h-o-u-s-e/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/18/h-o-u-s-e/#comments Sun, 18 Dec 2011 18:02:08 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=897 http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/18/h-o-u-s-e/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: 2 Samuel 7:1-16 Date: Advent IV + 12/18/11 When St. Luke reports of the visit of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary he says that Mary was “betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph,” and adds the important detail, “of the house of David.” Fur[...] Text: 2 Samuel 7:1-16 Date: Advent IV + 12/18/11 When St. Luke reports of the visit of the angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary he says that Mary was “betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph,” and adds the important detail, “of the house of David.” Furthermore, the angel’s announcement includes the prediction that Jesus “will reign over the house of Jacob forever.” Today’s sermon title points to the double use of the word “house” in our Old Testament reading telling of the great King David “dwelling in a house of cedar,” but the ark of God dwelling in (or should I use today’s protest language and say “occupying”?) a tent on the one hand, and the dynasty, lineage or family tree of David on the other. We are taught to make the distinction in the phrase (at least as old as Benjamin Franklin), “a house is not a home.” Franklin said a house becomes a home when “it contains food and fire for the mind as well as the body.” We generally make the distinction between house and home more simply between a structure and the family living in it. But you will notice the sermon title, “H O U S E,” is printed in graphic imitation of the title of the FOX television network’s award winning medical drama series starring James Hugh Calum Laurie OBE (Order of the British Empire) or simply Hugh Laurie. And chances are that you’ve probably seen an episode as the 2012 Guinness book of World Records has designated “H O U S E” as “the world’s most popular current television program, watched by a whopping 81.8 million people in 66 countries.” But did you know that the name of the lead character, Dr. Gregory House, and therefore the name of the program, is itself a double entendre, “a subtle homage” of the writers to the fictional British detective Sherlock Holmes. Get it? “Holmes,” “House”! And this even extends to their “sidekicks.” As there was Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson, so in the television series it is Dr. Gregory House and Dr. James Wilson. So the phrase becomes, “a HOUSE is not a HOLMES.” But this was precisely the confusion in the conversation of King David with the prophet Nathan and God Himself. David was concerned about an appropriate structure to house the ark of God as His dwelling place. God was concerned with the extension of His promise of the Messiah, a Savior. You will recall that promise was first made in the most general of terms to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, saying that one of Eve’s offspring will contend victoriously over the devil (Gen 3:15). The promise was defined and refined more in Genesis 12 as we are told He would be the offspring of Abraham. Then through Abraham, Isaac and Jacob the line continued through Ruth, Obed, and Jesse of Bethlehem, the father of David. So it was the promise and prediction that the Savior would be of the house, that is, the genealogy or lineage or family tree of David. That’s why the phrase “of the house of David” is so important in St. Luke’s narrative. But the Messiah was not merely to be identified and found as a descendant of David. The Messiah’s heritage as “Son of David” highlights a specific and important aspect of the salvation and kingdom He brings. That aspect is peace. And this is signaled in two ways here in Second Samuel. That this is a major step forward in God’s plan of salvation, first, seems to be indicated by God’s name spoken through the prophet Nathan. Because God had given David rest from all his enemies, only now did it enter David’s mind to build in Jerusalem a more permanent building, house or temple as God’s dwelling place rather than the temporary and portable tent that had served up until now. And he was on to something. The concept of rest is important, as we shall see. When he first mentions the idea to Nathan the prophet, Nathan says to the king, “Go.” Literally, “Quite right! Do it, for the Lord (Yahweh) is with you.” But then follows the vision and instruction to Nathan by Yahweh, “Go and tell my servant David, ‘Thus says Yahweh.’” And he basically [...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/11/the-robe-of-righteousness/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/11/the-robe-of-righteousness/#comments Sun, 11 Dec 2011 18:01:09 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=894 http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/11/the-robe-of-righteousness/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 Date: Advent III + 12/11/11 Last Sunday we heard the prophet Isaiah foretell the coming of John the Baptist. In today’s selection he speaks no more of him. Interestingly, even though the reading from John’s Gospel today rep[...] Text: Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11 Date: Advent III + 12/11/11 Last Sunday we heard the prophet Isaiah foretell the coming of John the Baptist. In today’s selection he speaks no more of him. Interestingly, even though the reading from John’s Gospel today reports about the Baptist, the Baptizer himself insists that he doesn’t talk about himself but came only as a witness to “the light,” “the Christ,” the “One standing among you who you do not know,” “the strap of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie.” So this Sunday Isaiah also speaks only of the coming Messiah and the joyful kingdom He brings. The tradition of the one pink candle of the Third Sunday of Advent proclaims joy. “Rejoice always,” says apostle Paul. John the Baptist proclaims the joyous light of glory that was coming into the world. Hope abounds in today’s psalm for “those who sow in tears” for they “shall reap with shouts of joy.” So the Servant of Yahweh, the Messiah brings good news, healing, liberty, the Lord’s favor and gladness. He says, “I will greatly rejoice in the Lord” as He is covered with the robe of righteousness in order to clothe others, to clothe us for the joyous marriage feast of salvation. “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,” writes Isaiah. But who is he writing about? Himself? That cannot be. For nowhere else does the prophet speak at such length about himself. Everywhere else Yahweh speaks of and to the One called the Servant of Yahweh, the One appointed to be the mediator of a new covenant, the light of the Gentiles, even the Suffering Servant. No, not Isaiah but the Messiah Himself speaks already. When He came, of course, Jesus Himself read these very words in His hometown synagogue of Nazareth as His own “call document” then declaring in no uncertain terms, “Today this Scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:21). In other words, who is this of whom the prophet speaks? Jesus says, “You’re lookin’ at him!” This is the calling and work of the Savior. He is “anointed,” literally, “the Christ.” He brings good news to the poor, mercy and the favor of God to all who know their need. “He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted” as His people have prayed for and expected for centuries in Psalm 147:3. When He comes to eradicate sin it is like throwing open the barred gates of our slavery to sin. These words always refer not to the mere opening of a room but the opening of the eyes. That is, the darkness of the prison cell of sin is invaded by the glorious light of the grace of God, the forgiveness of sins, of life restored. Here again is the important, life-giving word repeated from last Sunday, “comfort;” to breathe again, to comfort all who mourn, those who take to heart and can see that sin is the culprit and death the final enemy. To those who receive the gift of deliverance from sin and death comes beauty, gladness, praise of God and the steadfastness and sturdiness not of their own making but of this wonderful gift of God called “tsediqah,” “righteousness;” “that they may be called oaks of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he may be glorified.” “Righteousness” means that our relationship with God is restored, like God originally created and intended with Adam and Eve. As they were in a place called a “Garden,” so are God’s people now “the planting of the Lord,” the Church “a garden that causes what is sown in it to sprout up.” So important and central is it that the word “righteousness” is repeated three times in our text. The Servant Himself is righteousness, the sinless Son of God, even in the days when He took on our flesh. God is His Father both in the same way and yet an even more unique, glorious, mysterious and intimate way than of ours. For He is “the light” as apostle John calls Him. That is, He is as we confess in the Creed, “begotten” and “consubstantial,” “of one substance” with the Father. You can’t get any more intimate than that. In Jesus, God Himself came into the world, not “to condemn the world, but [...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/04/the-three-heralds/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/04/the-three-heralds/#comments Sun, 04 Dec 2011 16:49:28 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=891 http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/12/04/the-three-heralds/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Isaiah 49:1-11 Date: Advent II + 12/4/11 The number three is in the air today. At three-thirty this afternoon we look forward to having three musical stars lead us in our Third Annual Christmas Concert, flutists Alexander Zonjic and Ervin Monr[...] Text: Isaiah 49:1-11 Date: Advent II + 12/4/11 The number three is in the air today. At three-thirty this afternoon we look forward to having three musical stars lead us in our Third Annual Christmas Concert, flutists Alexander Zonjic and Ervin Monroe and acclaimed tenor Drake Danzler. This morning the prophet Isaiah speaks of three more stars. Not Plácido Domingo, José Carreras and Luciano Pavarotti, however, not three tenors but three preachers: God’s prophet Isaiah, John the Baptist and the Christian Church. These are The Three Heralds of Isaiah 40. On this Second Sunday of Advent the Good News of God’s coming is proclaimed loudly and clearly as any herald worth his salt should do. For God’s coming does not mean wrath and destruction but, in a word, comfort, the comfort of a God who comes to save us from sin and death, who comes to tend and carry us like a shepherd. The Prophet, the Baptist and the Church are the heralds, the preachers and proclaimers of this comforting Good News. And all this is in the inspired verses from Isaiah’s gospel. The first voice is God’s, God’s voice through his prophet Isaiah. And the first word is “comfort.” In Hebrew the word literally means to breathe again. It’s a “revival” word. “Comfort, comfort” God repeats Himself in almost a CPR[1] rhythm, as if to breathe new life into dying souls. “Comfort, comfort my people, says your God.” He speaks to those who belong to Him as their God. The tender message is the promised forgiveness of sins. “Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, her iniquity is pardoned.” That forgiveness, peace and pardon begins in the loving, merciful heart of God. It comes as a wonderful gift, not as something earned or deserved, to those who have known the oppression, the anxiety, the fear and sadness of the warfare of sin. And sin is warfare, a life-and-death struggle, a force causing all sorts of anxiety and unhappiness all along the way. The record of sin extends all the way back to that first one, the desire to rebel, to replace God, to exalt self. And how that separation from God, that rebellion contaminates every word and thought and act of every human being, no one excluded but One. Sin, rebellion against the one, true God is at the root of every false religion. It is behind every expression of anger, every selfish motivation that uses and abuses others, even those closest to us. “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (James 1:13-15). Since this promised forgiveness and salvation means to save us from death, it needs to be proclaimed by the second herald as a call to repentance of sin. “A voice cries/heralds: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God.’” John the Baptist fulfilled this prophecy most literally as he “appeared, baptizing in the wilderness and proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins” (Mark 1:4). The Christian faith does not promise a life free from anxiety, and certainly not a life of financial success. That’s why true faith does not begin with a massage or a lay-away program down payment. It begins where it is to end, with the confession of your sins because that’s what is killing you, and that’s what is being taken away. Sin and forgiveness is the issue, always, every day. God’s deliverance comes by way of the wilderness, the desert. It was through the desert that God went to redeem Israel out of Egyptian bondage, and there also to reveal Himself and His holy Law on Mt. Sinai as Psalm 68 recounts, “Sing to God, sing praises to his name; lift up a song to him who rides through the deserts…. O God, when you went out before your people, when you marched through the wilderness, the earth quaked, the heavens poured down rain, before God, the One of Sinai, before God, the God of Israel” (Psalm 68:4, 7-8). So[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/11/27/he-came-down-to-save/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/11/27/he-came-down-to-save/#comments Sun, 27 Nov 2011 18:00:22 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=887 http://al.lunneberg.com/2011/11/27/he-came-down-to-save/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Isaiah 64:1-9 Date: Advent I + 11/27/11 “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,” the prophet Isaiah leads God’s people to pray. But it is only when God seems far away, out of reach in the distant heavens that the heavens need to be [...] Text: Isaiah 64:1-9 Date: Advent I + 11/27/11 “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down,” the prophet Isaiah leads God’s people to pray. But it is only when God seems far away, out of reach in the distant heavens that the heavens need to be rent, that the separation between us and God needs to be torn apart. Because we cannot hope to ascend to God, He must “come down” to us. I used to wonder why, on the First Sunday in Advent, we would hear the Gospel reading that “belonged” to Palm Sunday and Holy Week, Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem. After more than four decades I think I finally figured it out. On Palm Sunday, when we begin Holy Week, we are the more aware of our hypocrisy (or should be!), the hypocrisy of our, first, cheering with the crowds, “Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Blessed,” indeed (Mark 11:9-10). But then in a matter of days we hear our voices joining the same crowds jeering, “Crucify him, crucify him” (Mark 15:13-14). But the Hosanna cheer and cry and the words of blessing are appropriate at every Sunday eucharist and throughout our lives especially as they express the heart of repentance and faith and hope in God. Today we begin a new Church Year with that season of hopeful anticipation. The people among whom the prophet Isaiah lived were just like us in this sense: they were a people more or less aware of their sin and need of God, and they were a people of hope. They had hope in God because they had God’s promises and they knew how God had acted in the past to deliver, to save and to redeem. Therefore they cried, and therefore we cry today, “Oh that you would rend the heavens and come down.” O Savior, rend the heavens wide; Come down, come down with mighty stride; Unlock the gates, the doors break down; Unbar the way to heaven’s crown. (LSB 355:1) God must come to us since we cannot rise to Him. We cannot seek and find God because, as Isaiah says, “there is no one who calls upon your name, who rouses himself to take hold of you; for you have hidden your face from us, and have made us melt in the hand of our iniquities.” Isaiah’s words are a prayer of the confession of sins, of repentance. Ever since Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of God’s care because of their disobedience, a wall has separated us from God. Indeed, so thoroughly has our sin alienated us from God that, like our first parents, we have made a veritable art of hiding in the bushes of our shame. Even if we desired God’s help we stand helpless to approach Him. “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” For this reason alone it is a fearful thing to come into the presence of God. For when He comes, He comes in judgment. As at Sinai He comes in mountain quake and fire “that the nations might tremble at your presence!” Yet, mysteriously it seems, it was not to destroy or annihilate His people that His anger burned, but to save them. In cloud by day and fire by night He led His people out of the slavery of Egypt. He led them through the Red Sea and destroyed their pursuers there. He gave them His Holy Law and promised them a home. By His Word He formed a people for Himself, the work of His hand as a potter forms clay. Our plea for help was answered, however, not in a mighty earthquake or fiery judgment but when God rent the heavens and came down in the person of the Son of God, the Son of Mary, Jesus. At Christmas we sing, Come from on high to me; I cannot rise to Thee. Cheer my wearied spirit, O pure and holy Child; Through Thy grace and merit Blest Jesus, Lord most mild, Draw me unto Thee! Draw me unto Thee! (LSB 386:2) And this is He who would speak of His ultimate act by which He would save us, just after His triumphant entry into Jerusalem, saying, “Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But for this purpose I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.” Then a voice came from heav[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2010/12/19/the-beginning/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2010/12/19/the-beginning/#comments Sun, 19 Dec 2010 18:12:58 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=681 http://al.lunneberg.com/2010/12/19/the-beginning/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Matthew 1:18-25 Date: Advent IV + 12/19/10 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI “Genesis.” “The Beginning.” St. Matthew begins his Gospel with this word, “The book of the genesis,” the beginning, the genealogy of Jesus Ch[...] Text: Matthew 1:18-25 Date: Advent IV + 12/19/10 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI “Genesis.” “The Beginning.” St. Matthew begins his Gospel with this word, “The book of the genesis,” the beginning, the genealogy of Jesus Christ. Certainly the Evangelist, when he wrote this, had in mind the first book of the Torah, the Old Testament, so that he was declaring that in Jesus Christ we have not only the fulfillment of the Old but the beginning of something brand new. After making his point that this Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises with his listing of three groups of fourteen descendants of Abraham and David, he begins the actual narrative of the conception, birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension, that is, the Gospel, the Good News of the Lord Jesus Christ with the same word. “Now Jesus Christ’s genesis,” beginning, birth “happened like this.” Everything that happens, that exists has a beginning with the exception, of course, of God Himself, the Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit Who is without beginning and without end, eternal. But all of creation exists in the created universe of time and space and as such has a beginning. There was, of course, THE beginning of everything when God created everything out of nothing. Each of us had a beginning; a beginning as a human being in this world, which we celebrate annually calling them birthdays; and, for Christians, each of us had a beginning as a child of God, which we celebrate in the anniversaries of our Holy Baptism, our new, heavenly birth. It was because of God’s creative nature and His love for His creation that the plan of saving it from the rebellion and destruction of sin and death had to be worked out in the creation itself, under the constraints of God’s own righteous Law and of a certain time and place in the history of the world. Today, on the threshold of the celebration of the incarnation, Christmas, the conception and birth of the Savior of the world, we consider what this birth means for each of us today and for the whole world. If Matthew focuses today on the beginning of the Gospel and the beginning of the earthly ministry of God’s Son, Jesus Christ, then we are to find its beginning, its continuation and its ending in ourselves, our new birth, our salvation and our eternal destiny. The better we understand the beginning, the better we may understand its purpose and its ending. So here are the details. What was the beginning of the Jesus Christ event? Matthew says it began with an act of God the Holy Spirit. It involved two human individuals of the house and lineage, descendents of the great king David of around 700 b.c. It involved the divine qualities of mercy and righteousness. And above all it involved the ancient planning and execution of that plan by God Himself. The meaning of the Christ event is, in a phrase, God coming to be with us and not against us. Matthew says he is telling us of the beginning of the person named Jesus Christ. But that simple announcement is not so simple as it already announces the great mystery of the two natures of Christ. This human child of Mary—Joshua or Jesus the name of His human nature—is also the promised Christ, the Greek word for the Hebrew Messiah, meaning “the anointed one” or the promised Savior, promised from Genesis 3:15 through the descendents of Abraham and David to the little town of Bethlehem of Judea. Then Matthew relates that Jesus’ mother’s name is Mary who was betrothed to a man named Joseph who is called “her husband.” Joseph is called “a just man.” That righteousness had two important meanings. The second meaning was that, after being encouraged by an angel of the Lord invading a dream not to fear following through taking Mary as his wife, Matthew says Joseph did, “but knew her not until she had given birth to a son.” That is, he didn’t even consider the possibility or the thought of beginning normal marital sexual relations until, first, this divine miracle[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2010/12/12/the-prophet/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2010/12/12/the-prophet/#comments Sun, 12 Dec 2010 16:47:41 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=678 http://al.lunneberg.com/2010/12/12/the-prophet/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Matthew 11:2-15 Date: Advent III + 12/12/10 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI Last Sunday, in Matthew chapter 3, a man named John appeared preaching a baptism of repentance. He looked like an Old Testament prophet—coat[...] Text: Matthew 11:2-15 Date: Advent III + 12/12/10 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI Last Sunday, in Matthew chapter 3, a man named John appeared preaching a baptism of repentance. He looked like an Old Testament prophet—coat of camel’s hair and leather belt, preaching not in town but out in the wilderness. He sounded like an Old Testament prophet—calling everyone out, the politically correct and the politically incorrect to repentance, labeling some snakes and hypocrites and all sinners. Matthew then nailed it down for us telling us he was a prophet, the one predicted by Isaiah (40:3) and Malachi (3:1). Now, today, we have one more piece of evidence that identifies him as a bone fide prophet—he’s in prison. All true prophets are persecuted and suffer violence. And those who have read ahead in the story to chapter fourteen of Matthew’s Gospel know that John lost his head being martyred as a party favor by Herod for a young lass dancing for the stars (14:1-12). Stop and think about that detail, being locked up in prison. ‘Ever been in jail? I almost get claustrophobic thinking about being locked up in a small cell. As I thought about it I was reminded of more modern-day martyrs and thought of Lutheran pastor Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his Letters and Papers from Prison when he was incarcerated by Adolf Hitler’s Nazi regime in the early 1940s. One little thing he wrote on November 21, 1943 while sitting in jail was about the season of Advent. He wrote, “A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes, does various unessential things, and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.” How true. Advent is about waiting; the long centuries of Israel waiting for the promised Messiah to arrive, being born in Bethlehem; our time of waiting for His final return. “Be patient,” says St. James today, “for the coming of the Lord is at hand” (James 5:7-8). And Advent is about hope. As “the hopes and fears of all the years” were met in the night of Christ’s birth, so do Christians spend their days in faith, hope and love. And, yes, Advent is, as Bonhoeffer says, “doing various unessential things,” I suppose like all the necessary things that obtain only to this earthly life, those things that finally will fly away, that disappear, that you can’t “take with you.” “A prison cell, in which one waits, hopes, does various unessential things, and is completely dependent on the fact that the door of freedom has to be opened from the outside, is not a bad picture of Advent.” “The door of freedom has to be opened from the outside.” So is the Gospel of the salvation of God. Mankind is so enslaved, held captive by sin that no one can escape or break out from that prison. The door of freedom must be opened from the outside, meaning someone else, someone other, someone greater than you must do the opening. That Someone is Jesus Christ who came, as it is written, “to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed” (Lk. 4:18-19/Is. 61). In Jesus is all our waiting, our hope, our freedom. The hymn writer captures Bonhoeffer’s description as he writes of all who belong to Christ, both those who go through the gate of death and the grave, and we who still await our deliverance. We sang this hymn exactly a year ago today at my dear wife’s funeral, saying: Oh, how blest are you whose toils are ended, Who through death have to our God ascended! You have arisen From the cares which keep us still in prison. We are still as in a dungeon living, Still oppressed with sorrow and misgiving; Our undertakings Are but toils and troubles and heart-breakings. Come, O Christ, and loose the chains that bind us; Lead us forth and cast this world behind us. With you, th’ Anointed, Finds the soul its joy and rest appointed. [LSB 679] So here is John the Baptist, his world closing in on him in prison, made the more [...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2010/12/05/the-voice/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2010/12/05/the-voice/#comments Sun, 05 Dec 2010 17:48:33 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=674 http://al.lunneberg.com/2010/12/05/the-voice/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Matthew 3:1-12 Date: Advent II + 12/5/10 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI Where did we come from? What was the beginning of creation? “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…. And God said…” (Gen. 1:1[...] Text: Matthew 3:1-12 Date: Advent II + 12/5/10 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI Where did we come from? What was the beginning of creation? “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth…. And God said…” (Gen. 1:1, 3). Whether you imagine a big bang or a series of smaller ones the creative force behind the “bang” was this: “and God said,” the Voice, the Word of God. For the Word of God is His creative power in the universe. “In the beginning was the Word.” And this Word is not just a thought but a Person, a power, an action. “Without Him nothing was made that was made.” Everything has its beginning with a Word, with THE Word of God. The greatest mystery is, in every generation, every living thing, every new person born is, ultimately, the result of “and God said, let there be….” The ruin and fall into sin happened in a similar way. But a different voice, a discouraging word raised doubt of the first Word. “The serpent…said to the woman, ‘Did God actually say..?’” (Gen. 3:1). And with a dark word, a deceitful, lying word everything was changed—naked now, separated, ruined, weed-infested, sick, dying, dead. And that would have been all there was, except even then, right at the beginning, the Voice of God spoke another Word, a judging but gracious Word, a redeeming Word spoken to the serpent: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he [this Word] shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Gen. 3:14-15). Now in case that is too general, too vague a hope, a chorus of voices followed through the centuries—the goodly fellowship of the prophets from Moses to Malachi, one following another praising God and proclaiming: “Abraham, by your seed will all the nations of the earth be blessed” (Gen. 12) Isaac, “God Himself will provide the lamb for a burnt offering, my son” (Gen. 22:8) David, “God Himself will make you a house…I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom” (2 Sam. 7:11-12) Isaiah sings, “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel” (Is. 7:14) “Comfort, comfort my people…a voice cries: ‘In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord; make straight in the desert a highway for our God’” (Is. 40:1-3) Then, though this kingly Son of promise, this Son of the virgin will grow up, we will esteem him not, for He will bear our griefs and sorrows, “and the Lord will lay on him the iniquity of us all” (Is. 53:6) The final prophet Malachi sings the last Old Testament recitative, “Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts” (Malachi 3:1). But did I say “final” prophet? No, there is one more: the Voice promised of old, heard in the concert hall of the wilderness of Judea. It is a chant, unaccompanied except for the desolate sound of desert-water echoing as this Preacher’s Word splashes against the procession of “Jerusalem and all Judea and all the region about the Jordan, confessing their sins.” “Repent” was the word. “Repent” is the word that reverberates on this Advent Sunday. “Turn around…yes again!” “Do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We already did that.’ In this life, in this wilderness, you’re never done. You’re never done until the wolf dwells with the lamb and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together, until the wilderness and the dry land blossom and rejoice, ‘until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God’ (Eph. 4:13).” “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” “I baptize you with water for repentance,” says the voice, that is, you haven’t really repented until you’ve been baptized! For repentance, like the creative Word, is not just a mental activity, an attitude. It is…well, for one thi[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2010/11/28/hosanna-3/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2010/11/28/hosanna-3/#comments Sun, 28 Nov 2010 19:10:28 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=671 http://al.lunneberg.com/2010/11/28/hosanna-3/feed/ 0 http://al.lunneberg.com/2009/12/20/the-visitation/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2009/12/20/the-visitation/#comments Sun, 20 Dec 2009 17:13:01 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=458 http://al.lunneberg.com/2009/12/20/the-visitation/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Luke 1:39-45 Date: Advent IV + 12/20/09 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI Who was or were the first to worship the Christ Child? Not the wise men of the Epiphany which could have been as much as months or even years si[...] Text: Luke 1:39-45 Date: Advent IV + 12/20/09 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI Who was or were the first to worship the Christ Child? Not the wise men of the Epiphany which could have been as much as months or even years since His birth.  Not even the angels or the shepherds of Christmas Eve, nor even Mary or Joseph. It was Mary’s relative Elizabeth when the Incarnate Word had barely, newly come on the scene, becoming incarnate in the womb of His mother Mary. “Blessed are you among women, and blessed in the fruit of your womb.” “And blessed is she who believed that there will be fulfillment for the things spoken to her by the Lord.” That’s liturgical, worship language, that is, the language of praise at the awareness of the real presence of God working and speaking right in front of your eyes. (I mean without that spiritual awareness the liturgy in itself is no worship). It is the language of praise blessing God who has blessed Mary and, thereby, the whole world in sending His only Son; sent not as a mighty warrior or heavenly apparition, but as a human being, the offspring of the woman—Eve and Sarah and Hannah and Ruth and Mary, mother, fair maiden, full of grace, according to “the things spoken by the Lord.” And let’s say it clearly, boldly and straight out: This text not only supports but mandates the acknowledgment and concern for the sanctity of human life from conception onward as it repeatedly refers to the persons of John (only six months in Elizabeth’s womb) and Jesus (only the smallest human fetus in Mary’s womb), before their birth as “brephos” in Greek or “babies.” They even interact, John’s leaping, literally jumping around happily at the voice of Mary’s greeting. There is no science or medical investigation or manipulation of terminology or language that can change the fact that what is human is human from beginning to end, not from some imagined time of so-called “viability” at the beginning or acceptable “quality of life” near the end. Among other things in our day Christmas stands as an annual call to our nation and others to repent of the murderous practice of legal abortion on demand. Now, this text summons us to “orthodoxy,” that is, the right worship of the God of all grace and blessing. That right worship is never engaged in from the point of view of paying off God or thinking of obligating Him to do anything for us. It is not the result of our searching for Him or impressing Him with our piety. Right worship begins with God coming to us out of His pure favor, love, mercy and grace. And He comes to us not in the threatening power of His righteous wrath, but in the winsomeness of love. He comes in a way and a form that we can understand, that we can see and hear, touch and taste, hold and believe. That’s what this Sunday in Advent emphasizes—that the “coming” we will celebrate at Christmas is just that, God coming to us in the surprising, impossible way of a virgin conception and birth. It begins with God. It always begins with God. Not with you! It can’t begin with you! For who and what are you? A sinner from birth, separated from God, or to use the Bible’s terms, spiritually blind, dead and an enemy of God. In ourselves we have no desire or impulse for God but rather that we might hide from Him in the bushes, like Adam and Eve in the beginning. So it must be God’s move first if there is to be any move at all. So He promised the fearful couple in the Garden of Eden that He would send a Savior; so He came to Abram, of all people, and started the Gospel line of His promise; so He renewed His promise through Isaac and Jacob and Ruth and King David all the way down to King David’s little town of Bethlehem, to his descendants, Mary and Joseph. Mary was obedient and full of faith. Elizabeth too rejoiced in great, joyful faith. In Mary’s visit to Elizabeth St. Luke means to say something about the presence of God in our world and our lives and about the Church as the place of His p[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2009/12/06/a-voice-in-the-wilderness/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2009/12/06/a-voice-in-the-wilderness/#comments Sun, 06 Dec 2009 22:01:46 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=453 http://al.lunneberg.com/2009/12/06/a-voice-in-the-wilderness/feed/ 1 0:00:01 Text: Luke 3:1-6 Date: Advent II + 12/6/09 (12/7/03) Christ came for one purpose: as the world’s Savior from sin. John came on the scene for one purpose: to proclaim a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Anyone who would follow Jesus,[...] Text: Luke 3:1-6 Date: Advent II + 12/6/09 (12/7/03) Christ came for one purpose: as the world’s Savior from sin. John came on the scene for one purpose: to proclaim a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. Anyone who would follow Jesus, then, does so because they have been made aware of the slavery of their sin and of Jesus as the only One who can free us from sin. The baptism of John that prepares the way by repentance is completed in the baptism of Jesus that brings the forgiveness of sins. Repentance consists in two parts, contrition or sorrow over sin, and faith in Jesus as the one and only deliverer from sin. The whole thing has to do with sin and forgiveness. Oddly, this is the very reason why the pews are not filled but empty these days in those churches that are trying faithfully to carry out their true, Biblical purpose. For there are competing voices in the religious marketplace most of which downplay sin, change the agenda and the message, and proclaim not as much a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins but more a baptism of happiness for the denial of sins. One reason John the Baptist did not appear on center stage in the temple courts or the synagogues but in the wilderness, out in the country, in a desolate place, was to get people as far away from all the distractions both of a misguided “church” and of the fallen, spiritually dead world, as far away as possible. The wilderness provides the historic picture of life weighed down by sin and threatened by death at every turn. So also today: we are asked to just back way, way off for a moment. Come out to the wilderness. Get a grip. Get the perspective. I mean it’s as plain as day if you will only see. It boils down to this: the less people see or are aware of the deadly effects of sin, the less people see the need of the forgiveness and taking away of their sin. And if the Church is all about salvation from sin then who needs it? Few realize it, but all need it. Some who may even have once seen the church and her mission to be primarily that of saving sinners, in their anxiety over dwindling membership and, therefore, finances, have actually changed their message simply in order to become popular and successful, to fill the pews and therefore also their coffers. They even say straight out that the church should be primarily concerned with people’s “felt needs” as they put it. But what is that but playing to only the earthly desires of the fallen nature? As a result, Jesus is proclaimed not primarily as Savior from sin but deceitfully as miraculous healer, the key to financial success, the solution to everything from loneliness to anxiety to weight loss to stress management to successful marriages. A former member of Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod churches, and with a thoroughly Lutheran name, Joyce Meyer, has found the key to success and the audience to pay for it. You see her on cable television all the time. I was at a so-called Christian bookstore the other day and was amazed to see an entire section of books, from floor to ceiling, written by Joyce Meyer. They include titles like “Eat and Stay Thin,” “Leader in the Making,” “Managing Your Emotions,” “Me and My Big Mouth Study Guide,” “Prepare to Prosper: Moving from the Land of Lack to the Land of Prosperity,” “Secrets to Exceptional Living,” and “The Most Important DECISION You Will Ever Make.” I mean back way, way off for a moment. Come out to the wilderness. Get a grip. Get the perspective. So-called “growing” churches remove the cross from their buildings because, they say, it sends too negative of a message. What else is that than a denial of sin and of salvation from it? Of course the cross sends a negative message, an uncomfortable message. For it took nothing less than the bloody, violent death of the holy, sinless Lamb of God taking on the sin of the world for the life of the world. Of course it’s uncomfortable. For repentance means to face up to God’s judgment, to admit a[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2009/11/29/blessed-is-the-coming-king/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2009/11/29/blessed-is-the-coming-king/#comments Sun, 29 Nov 2009 18:27:03 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=450 http://al.lunneberg.com/2009/11/29/blessed-is-the-coming-king/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Luke 19:28-40 Date: Advent I + 11/29/09 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI Probably the most important and most unknown and unexpected aspect of the Gospel of salvation is the fact that people think they have to somehow[...] Text: Luke 19:28-40 Date: Advent I + 11/29/09 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI Probably the most important and most unknown and unexpected aspect of the Gospel of salvation is the fact that people think they have to somehow look for God, try to find God, or come to Him. The surprising truth is, however, that God is the One who looks for you, who finds you, who comes to you. People really don’t get that, or agree with that. This is true of the beginning of the life of faith in a person as well as its continued life in authentic worship where the issue is never about us doing something for God, and certainly not about us doing something just to entertain ourselves, but is all about listening to God and receiving God who comes and speaks, who blesses, forgives, feeds and sends us. So also then with the end of faith. At death or on the Last Day, we are not shot out into an out-of-body experience to appear before a mysterious God all the time wondering what the final verdict with be, rather the Lord comes to us individually to receive us to Himself because we belong to Him already and, at the end of days, He comes with glory to raise us from our graves and judge the living and the dead. He already knows His own and His own know Him. There are no surprises with faith other than the sheer beauty and joy of it all. “Advent” means “coming,” God coming to us. Advent: God has come to our world, in our geography and history and time in the Person of His Son, born of the Virgin, crucified also for us under Pontius Pilate, risen and ascended into heaven. Since then, Advent: God continues to come to us in His Word and Sacraments by His Spirit. And finally, Advent: God will come again at the Last Day. So we emphasize and describe the Savior’s three-fold coming on this First Sunday in Advent by meditating on His “Triumphant Entrance” into Jerusalem at the beginning of the Great and Holy Week as recorded by St. Luke. For it’s all summarized there: the Lord’s first advent, the incarnate, in-the-flesh Messiah named Jesus; the Lord’s coming to individual hearts by faith in Him; and the majestic accolades due to the King of Glory and of eternity. Our text is divided into two sections. First, the immediate preparations for Jesus’ entrance into Jerusalem, then the response to His arrival. The preparation tells us who this Jesus truly is. The response tells of the joy of those who belong to Him by faith and the rejection of those who do not believe. Jesus and His disciples have been slowly making their way to Jerusalem during His three-year active earthly ministry. Oh, it’s not that He or they had not visited the Holy City at various times before this. They had. This time, however, He was coming for the last time and to perform His greatest work, the sacrifice of Himself for the life of the world. If Jesus is to enter as a King and the promised Messiah it required certain preparations to mark the occasion with appropriate dignity. First, royalty doesn’t walk. It rides. To demonstrate warrior-like strength a king might ride into town mounted on an impressive steed, decked out with armor, shield and weapons. However, sometimes the king would visit to emphasize a time of peace, safety and tranquility. Therefore a slower more humble arrival atop of donkey would be appropriate. Note that Jesus is in control of all these details even as He will be in control of all the events of this last, great and holy week including even those events where it seems that He has lost control! He sends two of His disciples to get a donkey. But He doesn’t just say, “Find me a donkey.” He tells them that, when they enter the village in front of them, they will find a colt tied. “Untie it and bring it here.” Not only that, but He tells them what to say in case anyone (that is, because someone was going to) ask them why they are untying the colt. Here Jesus demonstrates His divine omniscience, that is, His complete knowledge of events even before [...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/12/21/let-it-be-to-me/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/12/21/let-it-be-to-me/#comments Sun, 21 Dec 2008 17:37:34 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=194 http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/12/21/let-it-be-to-me/feed/ 0 0:00:01 Text: Luke 1:26-38 Date: Advent IV + 12/21/08 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI It’s not Christmas yet. It’s still Advent. In today’s Gospel there are still nine months to go. First there is John the Baptist, then Jesus, [...] Text: Luke 1:26-38 Date: Advent IV + 12/21/08 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI It’s not Christmas yet. It’s still Advent. In today’s Gospel there are still nine months to go. First there is John the Baptist, then Jesus, six months apart. It is the sixth month with John the Baptist’s mother, Elizabeth, when the angel Gabriel “was sent from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. And the virgin’s name was Mary.” Galilee, Nazareth, virgin betrothed, Joseph, house of David. Did you get all that? Are you confused yet? The angel told Mary that she has been blessed and favored by God to serve as the mother of the Messiah, the Savior, the Son of God whose name will be Jesus. I have a question I don’t think I’ve ever thought of before, and you may think it to be a bit strange. It came to me as I was studying today’s Epistle from the end of St. Paul’s letter to the Romans when he mentions the concept of “the obedience of faith.” And the question is this. Would Mary have conceived and borne Jesus if she had heard the word of the angel but didn’t believe what he said? I’m not asking whether she understood how what the angel said was to be. She clearly didn’t understand it. Faith is not identified (not the same thing) as understanding. I’m asking to what extent did God require Mary’s cooperation in the whole thing. When it comes to faith, you know, God doesn’t push or force Himself on anyone. You can’t make another person believe. And though faith is the work and creation only of God in a person’s soul, He desires such a cooperative relationship with human beings that He created us with the awesome ability to say “no,” to disbelieve, to reject Him, to turn our back on Him. Fortunately, Mary did not say “no.” She said, simply, obediently, faithfully, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” Today, as we make our last-minute preparations for the celebration of Christmas, on the basis of this text I’m asking not if you are ready but if you are believing. In all your circumstances, with all the pressures or problems, the confusions or conflicts, the busyness or loneliness of your life right now, your hopes and fears, your highest wishes and deepest disappointments, are you ready, nonetheless, to believe the Christmas gospel, to stop and listen and hear and say those words of the mother of our Lord for yourself, “let it be to me according to your word” with the obedience of faith? Well, I guess that depends on what “it” is that is being asked of us to believe. Certainly none of us have been or ever will be asked by God to serve Him in the same way as Mary. But faith in her Son at once holds before us deliverance, salvation, healing and hope even as we are or seem to be at times overwhelmed by doubts and darkness, sin and hopelessness. Christmas, you know, can be an especially difficult time of the year for those who have recently lost a loved one to death, or any manner of other life-changing tragedies or circumstances. If Christmas serves merely as a retreat into nothing more than an emotional safe zone for a short time, that’s one thing. But the gospel of God coming to save us is the greater thing. And as this gospel is spoken and heard, preached and received, God is at work giving the obedience of faith, which is to take God at His word and believe in His deliverance, much and most of the time in spite of our present circumstances, shortsightedness or the surrounding darkness. Luke says Mary was a virgin (v. 27-28). Mary says she was a virgin (v. 34). Yet she is told she is going to conceive in her womb and bear a son. Her betrothed husband, Joseph, will not be involved. Talk about changes to the wedding plans; this angelic greeting radically changed all the young couple’s expectations. How this was to be was explained by the angel, “the Holy Spirit” and “the power of the Most High[...] alunneberg@comcast.net no no