http://al.lunneberg.com Sermons and Rumenations Sun, 31 Aug 2008 18:44:41 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.1 en © alunneberg@comcast.net () alunneberg@comcast.net() 1440 Sermons and more from my site. alunneberg@comcast.net No no http://al.lunneberg.com/wp-content/plugins/podpress/images/powered_by_podpress.jpg http://al.lunneberg.com 144 144 http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/31/lord-over-death/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/31/lord-over-death/#comments Sun, 31 Aug 2008 18:42:39 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=124 http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/31/lord-over-death/feed/ 00:01:01 "Lord Over Death" by "the late" Rev. Allen D. Lunneberg Text: Matthew 16:21-26 Date: Pentecost XVI + 8/31/08 In Saint Matthewrsquo;s Gospel we have seen Jesus ... "Lord Over Death" by "the late" Rev. Allen D. Lunneberg Text: Matthew 16:21-26 Date: Pentecost XVI + 8/31/08 In Saint Matthewrsquo;s Gospel we have seen Jesus bringing His disciples along the way to faith in Him by means of His teaching and His miracles. With every step forward He was revealing to them (and to us), little by little, the depth and the fullness of who He is and what He came to accomplish. On the basis of His words and works, thus far, when asked straight out, ldquo;who do you say that I am?rdquo; Peter confessed, ldquo;You are the Christ, the Son of the living Godrdquo; (Mt. 16:16). It was a mighty confession of faith (and still is)mdash;revealed to Peter (and to us) not by flesh and blood, that is, not by our puny mindrsquo;s logic or examination of the facts, but by the heavenly Father Himself, His Spirit working mightily through His Word. To call Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, is to acknowledge Him as God the Redeemer who has taken on our flesh and blood, conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. To call Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, is to acknowledge that He came to usher in salvation in the Kingdom of God. To call Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, is to begin to understand the love of God for His world and everyone in it. But therersquo;s moremdash;because the salvation he came to bring us is for more than saving us from mere hunger as at the feeding of the 5,000, or from inclement weather as when He stilled the storm on the lake, or from sickness and suffering as with the daughter of the Canaanite woman, all of which is but the common lot of all in this sinful world. For, the love of God goes to the deepest recesses of our need. And thatrsquo;s precisely the destination and destiny of the Christ, the Son of God. At this point in the story, time is beginning to run short. The disciples were as ready as they were going to be, and so, ldquo;from that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.rdquo; ldquo;Great Confessor Peter,rdquo; however, demonstrated their shallow understanding and partial-faith by his reply, "Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you." Going to Jerusalem? Fine! Suffering many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes? We can understand that. In fact, wersquo;ve already seen that! But theyrsquo;re going to kill him? ldquo;Never, Lord!rdquo; And Peter meant that rebuke from a heart-felt loyalty and love and faith. So shocking were the words ldquo;and be killed,rdquo; it is as though they never really heard the last words, ldquo;and on the third day be raised.rdquo; But donrsquo;t we have the same problem, in a reverse sort of way? To the extent that the first disciples were shocked at His prediction of being killed in Jerusalem, to that same extent we take it all-too-lightly, as simply a matter of historical fact that shocks us not at all! To take anything ldquo;for grantedrdquo; can be just another form of denial. Like Peter, we would rather not hear or speak of death at all, much less Jesusrsquo; death on the cross. Death is a subject, maybe THE subject to be avoided at all costs as being too negative, too depressing, too distressing. And therersquo;s a kernel of truth in that! For death is negative, depressing, wrong, evil, or as the Scriptures call it, ldquo;the last enemy to be destroyedrdquo; (1 Cor. 15:26). Yet, the Christ and Son of God came not merely to rearrange our present circumstances to make them more tolerable, to give short-lived success to this otherwise transitory life, to provide a religious cosmetic that only makes us look good and doesnrsquo;t get to the real problem. All suffering and sickness, anger and separation, all loneliness and isolation, all fear and terror stems from but one thing: death, the limits determined by God that we cannot pass (Job 14:5). ... Pentecost,Sermons alunneberg@comcast.net no No http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/24/good-news-for-all/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/24/good-news-for-all/#comments Sun, 24 Aug 2008 18:16:11 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=123 http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/24/good-news-for-all/feed/ 00:01:01 Text: Matthew 16:13-20 Date: Pentecost XV (Proper 16) + 8/24/08 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI Peace be to you and grace from Him ... Text: Matthew 16:13-20 Date: Pentecost XV (Proper 16) + 8/24/08 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI Peace be to you and grace from Him who freed us from our sins. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. In relating the words and acts of Jesus the Savior, St. Matthew organizes his Gospel with the purpose of telling people about Jesus in a way that they will be convinced, come to the conclusion and believe what St. Peter says in todayrsquo;s Gospel, namely, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God, and in such faith and the confession thereof, be saved from death and hell by the forgiveness of sins and inherit eternal life. Matthew carefully arranges things in the beginning of his Gospel to demonstrate that Jesus is the promised Messiah because He perfectly fulfills everything written about Him in the Old Testament. He relates the words and teaching of Jesus to demonstrate how the Old Testament scriptures find their perfect, saving message fulfilled in Jesus. In addition he provides evidence of Jesusrsquo; identity as the Son of God in the various miraculous works that witness to His divine naturemdash;Jesus does what only God can do. Finally, then, this all leads to the most important part of the Gospel, namely, our Lordrsquo;s vicarious, sacrificial suffering and death on the cross and His glorious resurrection from the dead. We are approaching that most important, climactic section of Matthewrsquo;s Gospel where, in the very next verses of our text, Jesus begins to clearly tell His disciples of His coming suffering, death and resurrection. What is so troublesome today in the final third of the first decade of the 21st century, at least in our country, is that it seems most people donrsquo;t seem at all interested; that is, most people donrsquo;t seem to be aware that there is anything from which they need to be saved or delivered. It seems the biggest problems people face can be fixed or at least addressed by getting the right hair or skin products, the right clothing or the newest drug. Rarely does the next life, Godrsquo;s judgment or even the prospect of death enter anyonersquo;s mind; and when it does people have all sorts of ideas and theories and fantasies they use to calm whatever fears may lie beneath the surface. Jesus mentions the false and misled ideas of people in todayrsquo;s Gospel when He says to St. Peter, ldquo;flesh and blood,rdquo; that is, ldquo;peoplerdquo; ldquo;did not reveal that to you, Peter.rdquo; Reveal what? Well, reveal that the only way to be saved from eternal death and hell is by way of faith, and not just any faith, but faith whose content is Jesus, faith that is all about Jesusmdash;who He is and what He has done. You see, when Jesus asked His disciples, first, ldquo;who do people say that I am,rdquo; He wasnrsquo;t asking for some information that He did not already know or for something like a Zogby or Gallup poll to see how his reputation was faring in the public square, so that maybe He could adjust His message to be a little more popular. When the disciples answer that they had heard various people conjecturing that Jesus was John the Baptist come back from the dead, or Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the prophets, we, with them, maybe get a little knowing smile on our faces because of all the wrong answers. We know that, because of the spiritually blind, fallen nature of all people, on their own, apart from the revealing or revelation of divine scripture, flesh and blood people are able to come up with only wrong answers when the question is about Jesus. But stop a minute here and notice something else. The point is not only that everyone was getting the wrong idea about Jesus. But notice that every one of their guesses referred to prophets in the past who brought primarily judgment and bad news! John the Baptist, that fiery preacher as Luther called him, demanded repentance of sin and spoke of the coming Messia... Pentecost,Sermons alunneberg@comcast.net no No http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/17/lord-of-the-nations/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/17/lord-of-the-nations/#comments Sun, 17 Aug 2008 16:54:39 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=122 http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/17/lord-of-the-nations/feed/ 00:01:01 Text: Matthew 15:21-28 Date: Pentecost XIV + 8/17/08 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI In the hymn, ldquo;Beautiful Savior,rdquo; we sing of our ... Text: Matthew 15:21-28 Date: Pentecost XIV + 8/17/08 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI In the hymn, ldquo;Beautiful Savior,rdquo; we sing of our Savior Jesus Christ calling him ldquo;Lord of the nations.rdquo; The scripture readings appointed for today all point to the universality of Godrsquo;s plan of salvation; that God so loved the world; and that Godrsquo;s plan was worked out in a particular way that can be known as he has communicated it through the inspired Prophetic and Apostolic Scriptures: namely, the covenant begun in Abraham, through the descendents of Israel, culminating in the promised Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth. As God promised Abraham, ldquo;by your descendents will all the nations of the earth be blessed,rdquo; so Jesus concluded his earthly ministry with the command to make known this Good News and make disciples ldquo;of all nations.rdquo; This day we affirm again the Way, the Truth and the Life: Jesus who said, ldquo;no one comes to the Father but by me,rdquo; boldly testifying that ldquo;there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved" (Acts 4:12). Now, that should come as a shock to no one. Yet, today we make that age-old affirmation in the face of a new situation. For, especially with todayrsquo;s heightened awareness of the religion of Islam, and in the mix of a nation founded, in part, on the principle of freedom of religion and religious tolerance, that principle itself seems to have become a religion of sorts, one which will not tolerate the idea that any one religion is more or less true than any other. In other words, either all religions are true, at least to some extent (which is the false doctrine called universalism) or all religions are false (which attitude is called atheism). Godrsquo;s love for the world and everyone in it is demonstrated over and over again throughout the scriptures. The prayer has been on the lips of all of Godrsquo;s people ever since Psalm 67 has been prayed around the world, ldquo;May God be gracioushellip;that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nationshellip;. Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for youhellip;guide the nations upon earth. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you!rdquo; Ever since the temple of Godrsquo;s Presence was constructed in Jerusalem, the invitation and command was always there, as reflected in todayrsquo;s Old Testament reading, ldquo;lsquo;the foreigners who join themselves to the Lordhellip;these I will bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayerhellip;for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.rsquo; The Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, declares, lsquo;I will gather yet others to him besides those already gatheredrsquo;rdquo; (Isaiah 56:6-8). Along the same line, Jesus said, ldquo;I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherdrdquo; (John 10:16). The genealogy of Jesus as recorded in Matthewrsquo;s Gospel is witness to the universality of Godrsquo;s salvation. For there we find, besides the Old Testament fathers of faith and royalty, women and Gentiles included in the house and lineage of David, the history of salvation. Todayrsquo;s Gospel emphasizes how the Jews were the first to receive the Christ. When Jesus said, ldquo;I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel,rdquo; he meant that he was commissioned to work out redemption in the Jewish nation, as the Jewish Messiah, and only after that this invitation would be carried officially to all the world. Nevertheless, beginning already with the attraction of the Gentile Wise Men from the East at his birth, and now this Canaanite woman pleading for mercy, and so many others, faith happened even in non-Jewish hearts and was not denied. ldquo;O woman, great i... Pentecost,Sermons alunneberg@comcast.net no No http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/15/the-dormition-of-mary/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/15/the-dormition-of-mary/#comments Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:23:56 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=121 http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/15/the-dormition-of-mary/feed/ 00:01:01 Text: Luke 10:42 Date: The Dormition of the B.V.M. + 8/15/08 Zion Lutheran Church, Detroit, MI It is good to remember those who have died in ... Text: Luke 10:42 Date: The Dormition of the B.V.M. + 8/15/08 Zion Lutheran Church, Detroit, MI It is good to remember those who have died in the faith of Christ. Every Lordrsquo;s Day in the Prayer of the Church we commend to the everlasting peace of God those who have departed with the sign of faith and now rest in the sleep of peace. Because of our Lordrsquo;s saving work and His resurrection, and because in Holy Baptism we have already died and been buried with Christ, physical death, while it is still the enemy, has been overcome and transformed to be no more threatening than sleepmdash;a ldquo;sleep,rdquo; however, that is fully aware of the joys of being with the Lord. We remember especially those closest to us, a Christian father or mother or other relative; a Christian pastor or teacher from whom we heard and learned the ldquo;one thing needful,rdquo; the blessed Word and Gospel of Christ. Beyond that Holy Church remembers especially those of the household of faith who were given special grace in the service of the Lordmdash;the holy Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles and Martyrs, as examples for us of steadfast faith and holy living. We commemorate especially the apostles of the Lord usually on the anniversary of their death or martyrdom, their ldquo;heavenly birthday,rdquo; the date handed down to us through the long tradition of the Church. How much more so, then, should we remember the most blessed woman that ever lived, the Blessed and ever-virgin Mary, the Mother of Our Lord, who has always been and is an icon, a picture of the Church and the calm faith of every Christian? Though it was said by our Lord of a different Mary, the same can be said of the Blessed Mother and of all Christians, ldquo;one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.rdquo; Like us the mother of our Lord chose the one good and necessary thing because the Lord God first chose her. The angel Gabriel, sent by God, came to Mary and said, ldquo;Greetings, O favored one, the Lord is with you!rdquo; Troubled at first her fears were put to rest by the great joy that she had been chosen to bear in her body the Son of God. In humble and obedient faith she responded to the angel of the Lord, saying, ldquo;Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your wordrdquo; (Luke 1:28-31, 38). That is the prayer, the motto of all true faith that is born of the Word of God, that thrives and grows and hopes in the truth and promises of God. It was by faith in the Word of God that the young Virgin Mary received and bore the only Son of the Father giving Him to take on our human flesh and blood. It was faith given, as she was filled with the Holy Spirit, that sang, ldquo;My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.rdquo; It was faith that perceived and kept her Sonrsquo;s words and works, pondering them in her heart. Sometimes faith can weaken or be greatly challenged by the fears and concerns of life in this fallen world. We read and tell the story too quickly not fully imagining the fear and grief of searching for the 12-year-old for three whole days only to find Him in the Jerusalem temple. So it was maybe a growing, more mature faith in which Mary told the attendants at the wedding in Cana, ldquo;do whatever He tells you,rdquo; even when she herself did not know exactly what He would say. It was faith alone, pressed through the agony of her Sonrsquo;s crucifixion and death that enabled her to remain steadfast also to see her risen Lord. This same gift of faith, then, transforms also her death and ours, turning the grave to be but the gate to our resurrection and the eternal life of the world to come. The most ancient, holy tradition suggests not that Mary never died. For she was neither immaculately conceived nor spared from the suffering of the sin that is but common to all the sons and daughters of Adam. Yet this same holy tradition claims that, not... Festival,Sermons alunneberg@comcast.net no No http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/12/incarnate-word-goes-ablaze-c/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/12/incarnate-word-goes-ablaze-c/#comments Tue, 12 Aug 2008 21:17:34 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=120 http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/12/incarnate-word-goes-ablaze-c/feed/ 00:01:01 The name of the congregation is The Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word. The Incarnate Word, of course, is the Word of God that has ... The name of the congregation is The Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word. The Incarnate Word, of course, is the Word of God that has taken on flesh. It is as in hispanic neighborhoods when you go to a Carnacia, you are going to a MEAT market! Now this may not be the best "evangelism" tool since the question arises, how many people know what "incarnate" much less "incarnate word" MEANS?! Check out the "hit" from the yellow pages advertizing gal! Hilarious! Misc alunneberg@comcast.net no No http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/10/like-father-like-son/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/10/like-father-like-son/#comments Sun, 10 Aug 2008 16:48:34 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=119 http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/10/like-father-like-son/feed/ 00:01:01 Text: Matthew 14:22-33 Date: Pentecost XIII + 8/10/08 The account of Jesus walking on the sea proclaims how Godrsquo;s plan of salvation reaches its goal ... Text: Matthew 14:22-33 Date: Pentecost XIII + 8/10/08 The account of Jesus walking on the sea proclaims how Godrsquo;s plan of salvation reaches its goal in Jesus. The Scriptures often describe salvation using water imagery, and even actual water as in the sacrament of Holy Baptism. In addition, this miracle with others like it serves to assure Christians that God has the power and the will also to protect and guard his people from all disaster. But while these words do address the Christianrsquo;s facing of lifersquo;s difficulties and troubles, there is an even more fundamental lesson here, and that is the identity and Person of who Jesus truly is and the vital importance for the true, saving faith to make that accurate identification and make sure He is the center of attention. Yoursquo;ve heard the phrase ldquo;like father, like son.rdquo; It used to be a more common thing that a manrsquo;s son would go into the same line of work as his father. It used to be more likely, for instance, that the sons of Lutheran pastors would become pastors themselves. Golf has plenty of father/son teams like Tiger and the late Earl Woods, Bob and David Duval, the Davis Loves and so on. Nascar has itrsquo;s own dynasties probably the most famous being Lee Petty, his son Richard, his son Kyle, and Richardrsquo;s grandson Adam. ldquo;Like father, like sonrdquo; is even more essential when you talk of British royalty as the son and grandsons of Queen Elizabeth are in line to become King someday. Even among American Presidents, John Quincy Adams (1825-29) was the first son of a President, John Adams (1797-1801), to become President. And, of course, our current President George W. Bush (ldquo;Bush 43rdquo;) is the son of his father George H. W. Bush (ldquo;Bush 41rdquo;). ldquo;Like father, like son.rdquo; This is the underlying principle in this section of Matthewrsquo;s Gospel as todayrsquo;s reading concludes with all the disciples in the boat worshipping Jesus, saying, ldquo;Truly you are the Son of God.rdquo; When Godrsquo;s people, Israel, grumbled against Moses and against God in the wilderness because they were hungry, God rained bread from heaven and miraculously fed his people. Last week we heard of Jesus miraculously feeding more than 5,000 people in the wilderness from five loaves of bread and two fish. Jesus must be the Son of God because Jesus does what the Father does. Like Father, like Son. Our Old Testament reading for today says that God ldquo;shut in the sea with doors,rdquo; ldquo;prescribed limits for itrdquo; and stayed the proud waves of the sea. It says God ldquo;entered into the springs of the sea, (and) walked in the recesses of the deeprdquo; (Job 38:10-11, 16). Back in chapter 9 of Job it says that God alone ldquo;stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the seardquo; (Job 9:8). Psalm 77 says of God, ldquo;Your way was through the sea, your path through the great waters; yet your footprints were unseenrdquo; (Psalm 77:19). Now the disciples see Jesus walking on the sea. They rightly draw the conclusion that Jesus must be the Son of God because Jesus does what the Father does. Like Father, like Son. The true, God-given faith that saves is only that faith that believes Jesus is ldquo;true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the virgin Maryrdquo; (Small Catechism). Therefore we must also say, it is not the true faith that believes that Jesus was only a human being but not truly and essentially the Second Person of the Holy Trinity who was from the beginning, through Whom all things were made, which is the old heresy called Arianism. It is also not the true faith, either, that believes that Jesus is God but was not truly and completely human. It is not the true faith that believes either that Jesus no longer has his human nature or that his human nature does not participate in his divine attributes so that his body is locked up in heaven somewhere. In other ... Pentecost,Sermons alunneberg@comcast.net no No http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/05/all-truth-is-relative/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/05/all-truth-is-relative/#comments Tue, 05 Aug 2008 20:00:43 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=118 http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/05/all-truth-is-relative/feed/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/03/satisfied/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/03/satisfied/#comments Sun, 03 Aug 2008 17:32:33 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=117 http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/08/03/satisfied/feed/ 00:01:01 Text: Matthew 14:13-21 Date: Pentecost XII (Proper 13) + 8/3/08 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI Martin Luther commends the use of Psalm ... Text: Matthew 14:13-21 Date: Pentecost XII (Proper 13) + 8/3/08 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI Martin Luther commends the use of Psalm 145:15-16 to begin asking a blessing before meals: ldquo;The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.rdquo; It is a wonderful prayer most of all because it reminds you that, as Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount, life is ldquo;more than food, and the body more than clothingrdquo; (Mt. 6:25). For the psalm says God does more than merely satisfy physical hunger, but ldquo;you satisfy the desire of every living thing.rdquo; This is why the Lordrsquo;s feeding of the 5,000 in the wilderness was so memorablemdash;not just because of the miracle itself, but because of what it said about Jesus, who He is and what He came to do which is more than to provide food for the tummy, but to satisfy the deepest desire of every living thing; the desire for life not threatened by death, the taking away of the fear of death, the desire for reconciliation with God. The first desire spoken about in todayrsquo;s Gospel, however, is not ours but Godrsquo;s. God desires that all should come to the knowledge of the truth and be saved (1 Tim. 2:4). God desires not ldquo;the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and liverdquo; (Ezekiel 33:11). So, as of first importance, our text reports that when Jesus heard of the murder of John the Baptist, this was a sign and reminder of His own destiny and goal, the giving of His life into death on a cross so that all might be reconciled to God, freed from sinrsquo;s slavery, raised to new, eternal life. As much as His human nature recoiled at the horrible thought, this was His ultimate goal and desiremdash;to offer Himself as the one-and-only pure and perfect sacrifice for the sin of the world. So now He withdraws from His more public posture of preaching, teaching and healing. He heads ldquo;to a desolate place by Himself.rdquo; Martin Luther, in his Christian Questions with their Answers for Those who Intend to Go to the Sacrament, asks, ldquo;What motivated Christ to die and make full payment for your sins?rdquo; The answer: ldquo;His great love for his Father and for me and other sinners.rdquo; So now, when Jesus came out from his short, private retreat and saw the crowds that had followed Him out to that desolate, desert place, the compassion He felt for them was for a deeper need than merely physical healing and foodmdash;it was that gut-wrenching compassion for their need of forgiveness of sins, deliverance from death, the gift of eternal life and salvation. But first things first. Before making the people sit down for preaching and teaching, they needed healing and feeding. Now if satisfying hungry stomachs was the only issue, Jesus could have just made food appear on a giant buffet table and told the people to help themselves. But everything He did and taught aimed ultimately at the deeper need. The deepest need is for the gift of faith; and not just any faith, but faith in Him. So when His disciples came to Jesus, saying, ldquo;This is a desolate place, and the day is now over; send the crowds away to go into the villages and buy food for themselves,rdquo; to their surprise Jesus said, ldquo;They need not go away.rdquo; Then he gave them a seemingly impossible challenge, saying, ldquo;you give them something to eat.rdquo; Faith faces seemingly impossible challenges. The disciplesrsquo; first and natural reaction was to look and take inventory of the measly few loaves of bread and couple of fish they had on hand. Irsquo;m sure they wondered if He was serious. From their point of view, they looked at the situation and couldnrsquo;t figure out how Jesus could make such an impossible demand of them. We all have seemingly impossible challenges all around us. Therersquo;s the constant challenge of ldquo... Pentecost,Sermons alunneberg@comcast.net no No http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/07/20/god-planted-you/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/07/20/god-planted-you/#comments Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:54:49 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=116 http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/07/20/god-planted-you/feed/ 00:01:01 Text: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 Date: Pentecost X (Proper 11) + 7/20/08 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI In this great parable chapter of ... Text: Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43 Date: Pentecost X (Proper 11) + 7/20/08 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI In this great parable chapter of Matthewrsquo;s Gospel we need to listen carefully and not confuse especially the two parables having to do with sowing seeds. For, in the first parable of the Sower the seed is the Word of God. The point is that the Word of God is the all-sufficient means of His redeeming and saving sinners. In todayrsquo;s parable of the wheat and the weeds the seed is not the Word of God but the children of the kingdom, Christians themselves! It is to say that you are the planting of God in His field of the world. The parable of the wheat and the weeds shows how God is active in establishing his redemptive rule among men in the world even as the archenemy and author of sin and death, the devil, seeks to undermine that rule. Frustration and discouragement threatens Christians as they observe what may seem at times like a losing battle. How does one hang on to the hope of salvation in a world that calls evil good and good evil, denying that there is anything from which we need to be saved? How can we continue to forgive others including our enemies when itrsquo;s easier not to mention more satisfying to criticize, judge and condemn? How can we know and live in love amid so much lovelessness? Our faith values and believes in life triumphing over death even as we dwell in a society that has cheapened life and embraced death by the elimination of 47 million unborn children through legal abortion (1973-2006), and that apparently does not include the related killings of assisted suicide or euthanasia. We thank God for his design and gift of marriage and the family even while the devil succeeds in convincing people that sex outside of marriage is not only okay but to be expected and even encouraged, accepting couples living together without marriage as somehow ldquo;normalrdquo; and many other related issues. This is the picture Jesus was painting when he gave the parable of the wheat and the weeds. You see, the field in this parable is not just the church but the whole worldmdash;the world that ldquo;God so loved,rdquo; but is, nevertheless, the dominion of its prince, the devil (Eph. 2:1-2). Nevertheless, the Enemy also sows his weeds even in amongst the outward fellowship of the church. Hypocrites go undetected, for only God can see into a personrsquo;s heart. Judas Iscariot was called by Christ to be among the twelve apostles. But even we ourselves struggle as we are, on this side of eternity, simultaneously saints and sinners and sometimes do weed like things ourselves out of weakness. Certain church bodies have chosen the wide and easy, politically and socially acceptable and destructive road of moving with the times, trying to be relevant to the world by adopting its culture. Dr. Jean S. Garton of Lutherans for Life has written, ldquo;There are some 180 million Christians from all denominations in the U.S. Many of them describe themselves as pro-choice despite repeating the Apostlesrsquo; Creed every Sunday, ldquo;I believe in God the Father Almighty, Makerhellip;.rdquo; (Whatever Happened to the Human Race? in For the Life of the World, July 2005). And there are many other issues we can identify as things not of Godrsquo;s planting even in the church. As we said, in the previous parable of the Sower, Jesus said the seed is the Word of God and the various kinds of soil the people or the hearts of people and various conditions of receptiveness to the Word. In this parable the good seed are the Christians themselves, the field is the whole world and the weeds the sowing of the enemy, the devil. The servants of the master express surprise and are perplexed as they see the weeds growing among the wheat. What are we to do, they ask. Do you want us to go and gather up the weeds? that is, to take up arms and root out all evil around us? What is to be the position of the chu... Pentecost,Sermons alunneberg@comcast.net no No http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/07/13/hahyadune/ http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/07/13/hahyadune/#comments Sun, 13 Jul 2008 17:22:45 +0000 alunneberg http://al.lunneberg.com/?p=115 http://al.lunneberg.com/2008/07/13/hahyadune/feed/ 00:01:01 Text: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 Date: Pentecost IX (Proper 10A) + 07/13/08 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI I guess Irsquo;m just ldquo;too literalrdquo; ... Text: Matthew 13:1-9, 18-23 Date: Pentecost IX (Proper 10A) + 07/13/08 Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI I guess Irsquo;m just ldquo;too literalrdquo; for my own good. Have you noticed what (it seems to me) is no more than a ldquo;knee-jerkrdquo; greeting these days? Instead of saying, ldquo;Hello,rdquo; ldquo;Good morning (or afternoon or evening),rdquo; or ldquo;Greetings,rdquo; or ldquo;Good day,rdquo; it seems most people say something to the effect of ldquo;How you doinrsquo;?rdquo; Now that sounds to me like a question. And I assume a person asking a question does so with some interest in an answer. Of course, most people donrsquo;t really think that a person, especially a stranger, is really interested in an evaluation of the degree of your satisfaction with your health or well being at the moment and so most of us, if we answer the question at all, just slough it off with an equally disingenuous, ldquo;Fine.rdquo; Should you actually begin to answer the question with some evaluation of your physical, emotional, spiritual, financial, vocational or psychological condition, most supposed questioners would probably look at you as if you were crazy. That most people donrsquo;t expect an answer is betrayed by the fact that, usually immediately after they ask that question, they just keep talking. So I guess when someone greets you with the question, ldquo;How are you doing?rdquo; probably the best thing is just to smile and nod your head and say nothing, which will not strike the person greeting you as at all strange, and then any real conversation can commence. With the text today of the Parable of the Sower, the seed and the soil, before us Irsquo;m here to ask you, in all seriousness, that question, ldquo;How are you doing?rdquo; For it seems this parable was spoken at a moment when there was some question as to the progress or effectiveness of Jesusrsquo; preaching and teaching. As we have seen there was doubt and even resistance to Jesusrsquo; ministry among people in general beginning to grow in chapter 11. Then, of course, St. Matthew reports in chapter 12 that there was the increasing antagonism of the Pharisees and the scribes heating up to the level even of accusing Jesus to be in league with the devil. Finally, even His mother and his brothers (few of whom if any at the time believed in Him) seemed to be questioning where things were going with all the increasing controversy over Him. Was Jesus really following the best path, employing the most efficient means, choosing His words carefully enough, communicating effectively with his audience? Was he unnecessarily offending or turning people off to His message? Maybe He needed to take a break, cool His jets, reevaluate His methods and His message. It was in this context that Jesus spoke the Parable of the Sower or of the seed and the soil. And how about you? How are things going? And how about your congregation and your church body? The details of our lives unfold sometimes wonderfully according to plan and at other times, maybe most of the time, in surprising ways, not always pleasant or satisfying ways. Oh, sure there are the occasional happy surprises. Some call us ldquo;luckyrdquo; but we prefer to call ourselves fortunate. But most of the time we take notice of the negative things happening that are beyond our control and we call it fate. What, after all, is within our ultimate control? We can fend off illness, disease or accident to a certain extent by choosing healthy life styles or careful practices. But there is always a limit. That limit, ultimately, is sin and death. Churches and church bodies for some time now have been growing increasingly anxious as attendance and membership has been dwindling over the past years. Because we think wersquo;re in control in the first place the first question asked is, ldquo;What are we doing wrong?rdquo; as if we find the answer to that question we can turn things around, do thin... Pentecost,Sermons alunneberg@comcast.net no No