Month: June 2009

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Compassion for Grief

Text: Mark 5:21-43
Date: Pentecost IV (Proper 8) + 8/28/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

The last time I preached on this text was nine years ago. And it just happened that this Gospel followed the very sad laying to rest in death of a little seven-year-old of St. Mark’s congregation who had died in a terrible traffic accident. Though we do not normally spend much if any time thinking about death on a daily basis, sometimes we are forced to consider it and deal with it. No matter your age, when you allow yourself to think about your own death, the greatest fear is that of being alone. No one can go with you. Not mom or dad, not son or daughter. And especially at the death of a son or daughter, no one can know the incapacitating grief that literally seizes you, the pain as a part of you dies, unless you have gone through it yourself. Continue reading “Compassion for Grief”

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Heather Yanke and Jonathan Lunneberg Wedding Sermon

Text: John 2:1-11
Date: June 26, 2009
Grace Lutheran Church, Redford Township, MI

In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Dear family and friends, Deb and Roy, Alice, kids, and especially you, Heather and Jonathan, peace be to you, and grace, from Him who freed us from our sins, and God’s blessings to you on this your wedding day. It is a day we’ve been looking forward to and preparing for, and today, here it is.

Part of that preparation has been the happy discovery of the hospitality of Pastor Timothy Halboth and of Grace Lutheran Church here in Redford Township so that your wedding could be performed in the context of a service of worship. And we thank you and Grace congregation, Pastor Halboth.

Because your wedding is being done in the context of a service of worship of the Triune God, you are witnessing and giving testimony and saying to the world what is most important and most essential to your being as baptized Christians and, we pray today, to your new being as the brand new marriage person being created today called Heather and Jon Lunneberg. For, “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labor in vain” (Ps. 127:1).

As such it is my treasured honor to preach the sermon for this service of worship. I don’t know how many weddings I have presided over in the past 30 years, but, of course, this one is different, unique, at least for me. As father and mother of the groom certainly memories of all the years leading to this moment flood the private minutes of contemplation. And I’m sure the same is true for the parents of the bride. But this isn’t the time for that. Neither is this the time for any last minute counseling or advice for the wedding couple. Rather, like Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, we can also say that “the world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what [we] did here.” For what we do here is nothing short of calling on God’s creative, redemptive power to create and bless this brand new marriage person. For here is someone the world has never known before, and someone who will influence the world and leave a legacy the significance and extent to which we can only now imagine.

For this is how God, who “invented” the whole idea of marriage in the first place, tells us is the essence of the marriage relationship when he speaks of “the two becoming one flesh,” that is, the one brand new person of God’s creation and blessing. Beginning today both of you together begin to get to know this new person, this new marriage person who is more than merely the sum of “one plus one” but is more—I always say like putting two dimes together and getting a quarter—more interesting, more creative, more empowered, more joyful, more everything!

Why did our Lord perform “the first of His signs” or miracles at a wedding? Some might be tempted to look for some deep, hidden meaning or significance, calling up the images of Christ as the bridegroom and the Church as the Bride of Christ, or other significant parallels between the marriage relationship and the gift of salvation. And indeed, such is what the Apostle Paul has in mind when he sounds like he’s giving marriage advice in Ephesians 5 where he says, “Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord,” and “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.” But then he surprises us and says, “This mystery is profound, [but] I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church.” “But,” he adds, “let each one of you [also] love his wife as himself, and let the wife see that she respects her husband” (Eph. 5:22, 25, 32-33). But this isn’t yet the reason Jesus performed His first miracle at a wedding.

The answer to the question is more like the answer to the crazy question, “Why did the chicken cross the road?” Answer? “To get to the other side.” That is, Jesus performed his first miracle at this wedding simply because there was a need and He was moved to do something about it. I mean, running out of wine at the reception, while a problem, isn’t, after all, an issue of life and death! (Is it?) And yet, when His mother Mary brought it to His attention, then, without asking or even knowing what He was going to do, she issued the invitation of faith telling the servants, simply, “Do whatever He tells you.” “Do whatever He tells you.” That is the attitude of trusting faith in the loving God who desires only the best blessings to you because you belong to Him.

What I take away from this reading is that, while we certainly look to God alone for deliverance from the biggest problem of life, namely, sin and death, still He is interested and we can look to God also for those “little” needs, those things we think, maybe, we shouldn’t or don’t want to bother God about. Here He was simply “saving” the bridegroom from embarrassment and providing for the further joy of the gathering.

And that gets us to the prayer and desire, the blessing and wish of a pastor for the wedding couple, of a dad and father-in-law, and a mom and mother-in-law for their son and daughter: to trust in God’s blessing and design in every aspect of your new relationship, from the biggest to the smallest needs or difficulties, questions or challenges, conflicts or troubles, joys or blessings. We—your parents, your family, your friends, your brothers and sisters in Christ—wish for you every joy and blessing, smooth sailing, happiness and everything good. And we all pledge to you also to be there with you to support you and continue to surround you with our love.

In this way we reflect and remind you of God’s great, never-ending love for you that has the power the bring you through every joy and blessing, challenge and trial. For as our Lord and Savior showed His love and care and provision in this little incident at a wedding in Cana, this relatively “small” need, so did He show the ultimate reaches of His love when He fulfilled that for which He came to earth, the giving of His holy life on the Cross, canceling the sin of the whole world, opening the kingdom of eternal life to everyone who comes to Him and believes.

So now it’s time to sing with joyful abandon,
to begin the duet that turns into a magnificent symphony of melodies,
a composition of God, strong to save and to bless;
may the joy of this day accompany your living out of your vows of faithfulness that together you will become, more and more, a magnum opus of God,
reflecting His joy, His glory and His love for you and for the whole world.
____________________
Rev. Allen D. Lunneberg

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Sleeping In

Text: Mark 4:35-41
Date: Pentecost III (Proper 7) + 6/21/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

Up to this point in Mark’s Gospel the evangelist has told of Jesus performing a number of healing miracles. It’s really something, isn’t it? that we so easily get to the point of not being impressed, of taking it for granted that Jesus can perform miracles of healing…until, of course, we are the ones in need of and praying and looking for deliverance from a threatening illness! Then, maybe, we’re not so sure, and wonder. Today Mark relays an eyewitness account telling of Jesus’ power over even the elements of nature in the stilling or subduing of the sea. And again, how many people to this day aren’t moved to pray, if rarely before, when the tornado sirens sound loudly or the floor starts rolling and the walls start shaking at an earthquake? This account, of course, testifies to the divine nature of Jesus, that this Man is also the God who created everything in the first place. In today’s Old Testament reading we hear God putting Job in his place almost mocking him, asking what a mere man had to do with “my establishing the earth.” In Jesus, however, we have that Man, the One who has harnessed God’s almighty power with His love for the benefit and the deliverance of the whole world. Continue reading “Sleeping In”

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Ron Smith Funeral

Date: 6/15/09

St. John Lutheran Church, Fraser, MI

Dear Christian friends, friends and acquaintances of Ron Smith, Pastor Merrill, Pastor Fischer, and especially you Diane, Pastor Bradley and Judy, Corey and Alison, Nathan, and you Tim, Jacob, Ian and Lauren:

Peace be to you, and grace, from Him who freed us from our sins (Rev. 1:4-5). In the Name of the Father and of the  Son and of the Holy Spirit.

We are gathered here today to commend our beloved brother, husband, father, grandfather and dear fellow Christian friend Ronald Smith to the safe-keeping of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ who said, “if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also” (Jn. 14:3). We do this with great faith and confidence that Ron’s faith and confidence was always in that certain Word and promise of Christ. A faithful, confessing member of the Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, he has been walking with us accompanied by God’s Word every step of the way. As such we take God’s Word with us from Sunday to live it out in the days and the weeks following. And it is because of our connection with God’s Word in the lectionary from Sunday to Sunday that I would like to draw your attention to that Word which we have heard even as our dear Ron has departed to be with the Lord. That Word is the little parable of the growing seed. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground. He sleeps and rises night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows; he knows not how. The earth produces by itself, first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come” (Mark 4:26-29). Continue reading “Ron Smith Funeral”

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With The Harvest in Mind

Text: Mark 4:26-34
Date: Pentecost II (Proper 6) + 6/14/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

Today we enter “the long, green season” of the church year. We wish to remind everyone, however, that the colors of the liturgical year were chosen first and our use of the color green has nothing whatsoever to do with saving energy or environmental concerns. It does, however, have to do with the planting and the growth and nurture of the Kingdom of God and of the gift of saving faith in the heart of each Christian. The two parables of Jesus that form today’s Gospel reading simply illustrate the mysterious growth and the impressive growth of the Kingdom of God as the Gospel of Jesus Christ is preached and proclaimed, planted and taught throughout the world and throughout the centuries.

The Word today has everything to do with the growth of the saving faith and of the Kingdom or rule of God. With the recent passing, however, of our dear friend and brother, Ron Smith, let us take note today that these parables and the planting and growth of faith and of the Kingdom are all for the sake of the promised harvest, as Jesus says, “when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

“The kingdom of God is as if a man should scatter seed on the ground,” because the kingdom of God is God’s own rule and work among men through His Word. It is scattered on the ground because the rule and love of God is for all people of the whole world. It is the love of God that motivates and drives Him to reach out, to be involved, to redeem, save and win back his fallen world, alienated by the rebellion of sin, opposed and confiscated, “kid knapped,” taken hostage by the devil. Into this hostile environment of death He sent His Son who, having taken on the very form of created man, earned for everyone the right to be called, once again, “children of God” by His own obedience, His bloody payment for the sin of the world on the cross, and His disarming of the devil and of death itself. Now by faith in the crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ, all men, everywhere can turn to Him and be saved.

This parable means to say that we cannot explain to you, much less determine, man-handle or direct how the seed of God’s Word works. Like the seeds you recently buried in the dirt of your garden, they just sprout and grow on their own power whether you sleep or rise, night and day. Suddenly we see the sprout, “first the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear.” Some of the seeds don’t seem to do anything. But most sprout “automatei” is the word St. Mark uses, automatically. So for you and the whole Church, these are words of assurance and encouragement to keep on planting and teaching and preaching and witnessing and proclaiming and believing: The Word Works!

More than that, the growth of the Kingdom of God is impressive. “It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when sown on the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes larger than all the garden plants and puts out large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.” This is the “you never know” part of the mystery of faith. This is also why, when you boil it down, all our preaching is basically the same thing, dressed up as applying to different subjects or times or people, but it is always about sin and grace, Law and Gospel, confession and forgiveness, the cross and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And you just never know what word, which phrase, what expression is going to be used by God the Holy Spirit to connect with various individuals. I think of the surprise, for instance, of hearing of one of my confirmation students back in the 80s in Wood River, Illinois. These years later I find out it was through the Word I preached and taught that young Tyler discovered God’s call to him to be a pastor. You just never know.

And think of the Word’s influence on all to whom Tyler is privileged to preach. This is the big picture, after all, you see unfolding in the book of Acts. It begins with the preaching of the 12 becoming about 3,000 on the Day of Pentecost, then more and more are added (2:41; 2:47; 5:14; 11:24); but the adding quickly turns into multiplying (6:7; 7:17; 9:31; 12:24). Certainly there are down times, times of persecution, times when the Gospel of Christ is not popular or does not meet with any particular favor in the public ear, but this is what St. Paul meant when he wrote to young pastor Timothy, “preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths” (2 Tim. 4:2-4). The Church’s stance against abortion, for instance, was no surprising thing until the law changed in this country, and today many look at at least the Roman and a few conservative or confessional Lutheran church bodies as being positively from the dark ages. The same goes for so-called women’s ordination to the priesthood or to the insistence that God invented marriage and we have no authority or right to change it from involving only one man and one woman. “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season.”

“First the blade, then the ear, then the full grain in the ear. But when the grain is ripe, at once he puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.” It is the harvest that is the goal. As one of Ron Smith’s favorite Bible passages puts it, “Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). “Faithful” means remaining in the faith. And that takes remaining in the Word of God through which you were given the gift of faith in the first place. As Jesus said, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free” (John 8:31-32), and, “I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5).

Jesus Himself, during His earthly ministry, appeared weak and insignificant especially to the powerful and influential, be they of the religious establishment or the mighty government of Rome. How more weak or insignificant than when He hung dying on that cross outside the city of Jerusalem on that dark Friday of the great Passover? Yet here were nothing less than the universal powers of life and death contending for the life of the world. By His humiliating death, burial and exalting resurrection, of His Kingdom there shall be no end. His Word now has the power to make all things new (Rev. 21:5). So is the final triumph of His Church and of all souls made new in Him now by faith.

Because of the certain, mysterious but impressive growth of the Kingdom of God and of the gift of faith in your heart, all in view of the final harvest in heaven, so “be faithful unto death” and the Lord “will give you the crown of life.”

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True Worship

Text: Isaiah 6:1-8
Date: The Holy Trinity + 6/7/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

On the First Sunday after Pentecost the western Christian Church celebrates not an event nor a person but a doctrine, a mystery, namely, that the one, true God has revealed Himself in sacred scripture as a trinity of persons identified with the names Father, Son and Holy Spirit. I suppose there is very much about God that we human beings could never comprehend or understand much less explain, even if He were to tell us. But this mystery—that there is only one true God, one God, who, yet, can be known and must be known and worshiped as a trinity of persons—while beyond human ability to do anything but describe and believe if not understand, must be acknowledged and held by anyone who would be saved. This is, after all, the language of the ecumenical creed called the Athanasian: Continue reading “True Worship”