Month: January 2010

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The Mighty Word

Text: Luke 4:31-44
Date: Epiphany IV + 1/31/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

In Jesus Christ God came down from heaven to earth, to His world broken by sin, death and the devil, in order to fix it, to heal it, to restore it, to redeem it, to save and renew it. He came not only to “take us to heaven to live with Him there,” but to restore the creation itself to reflect His glory. To do this took nothing short of God Himself taking on our human flesh, the Creator becoming one with His creation, human flesh and blood with feet planted firmly on the ground. We confess this so clearly in the Nicene Creed, first by confessing the second Person of the Holy Trinity, the Son of God who was “begotten, not made.” As God Himself, “of one substance with the Father,” He is the eternal Creator, by whom “all things were made.” It is only as you get to the second part of that second article of the Creed that we confess and talk about the second Person of the Trinity as the incarnate God named Jesus. “Who, for us men and for our salvation, came down from heaven…and was made man.” The Son of God “was made man.” As a man He never gave up his divine nature or ceased to be the Son of God. He only “humbled Himself” to live under God’s Law as a man, empowered for His work only by the Holy Spirit and the Word of God; the same Spirit and Word that has been given to us. Continue reading “The Mighty Word”

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Not the Preacher We Wanted

Text: Luke 4:16-30
Date: Epiphany III + St. Timothy, Pastor and Confessor + 1/24/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

It is great that this day, today, is not only the Third Sunday after the Epiphany wherein we hear of the beginning of Jesus’ earthly ministry of preaching, teaching and healing, but also that this is the day, today, on which the holy Church throughout the world remembers and commemorates St. Timothy, Pastor and Confessor. It is great because the prophetic pattern of Jesus’ earthly ministry beginning to be laid out by St. Luke in our text applies also to the preachers Jesus will send out, beginning with His apostles, then others taught by the apostles like Timothy, then others, then more, up to this day, today. Unfortunately, these days, we hear, more and more, not respect for, thanksgiving to God for, prayer for and spiritual obedience to our pastors, but complaints, frustration, even angry disagreement and conflict between pastors and people, more often than ever now even to the point of dismissing pastors from their divine Call. There are three traditional reasons to get rid of a pastor, namely, if he is tenaciously clinging to false doctrine, immoral life or inability to perform the duties of his office. I used to, then, make the humorous comment that, if you can’t “get him” on any of those grounds then there is always the “Missouri Synod way” of just making life so miserable for the pastor that he wants to leave. I say, I “used to” say that jokingly until that “way” also bit me. Continue reading “Not the Preacher We Wanted”

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Epiphany

Text: John 2:1-11
Date: Epiphany II + 1/17/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

The word “Epiphany” means “manifestation” or the revealing of something that is hidden. The liturgical season of Epiphany does just that, especially with its three traditional Gospel events, the Magi following the star to find the infant Jesus, then Jesus’ baptism by John in the Jordan River accompanied by the Holy Spirit in bodily form as a dove and the Voice from heaven, “You are my beloved Son,” and finally Jesus’ first mighty sign of changing water into wine at the wedding in Cana. In all of these events what will remain hidden until you, like Jesus’ disciples at the end of today’s reading, “believe in him,” is His identity as the Son of God, come in the flesh, in order to fulfill God’s Law perfectly for us and yet to go into death for us, taking all our sins with Him. All of that is in these three events. The gifts of the Magi make these things obvious to the eyes of faith—gold for a heavenly king, frankincense for the worship of God, and myrrh for his coming death. So at His baptism, the Holy Spirit is given because, in His state of humiliation, Jesus will not use any power beyond what you and I have been given to live perfectly according to God’s Law, and yet the Voice from heaven identifies Him as the unique Son of God. And now here at a wedding these themes of revealing who Jesus is and what He came to do are the important points. The rest of the Sundays after the Epiphany, then, are a thumbnail sketch of His life on the road to His holy death as the Savior of the world. Continue reading “Epiphany”

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Baptism of Karl Davidson Lunneborg

The Worship of the Holy Church
Throughout the World
on The Baptism of Our Lord
The First Sunday after the Epiphany
January 10, 2010, 9:30 a.m.
Divine Service Setting One
+ The Service of Holy Baptism +
Candidate: Karl Davidson Lunneborg
born January 1, 2010 to David and Kelly Lunneberg

Baptismal Hymn
590 – Baptized into Your Name Most Holy

Please STAND.
The Baptismal Liturgy                                      pages 268-271

+ The Service of the Word +

Salutation and Collect of the Day                             p. 156

Please BE SEATED.
Old Testament  Isaiah 43:1-7
The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Psalm 29 [NIV] setting by Henry V. Gerike
Cantor: Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness.
Congregation: REFRAIN
Ascribe to the Lord, O mighty ones, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. Ascribe to the Lord the glory due His name; worship the Lord in the splendor of His holiness.
Congregation: REFRAIN
The voice of the Lord is over the waters; the God of glory thunders, the Lord thunders over the mighty waters. The voice of the Lord is powerful; the voice of the Lord is majestic. The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon.
Congregation: REFRAIN
He makes Lebanon skip like a calf, Sirion like a young wild ox. The voice of the Lord strikes with flashes of lightning. The voice of the Lord shakes the desert; the Lord shakes the Desert of Kadesh. The voice of the Lord twists the oaks and strips the forests bare. And in His temple all cry, “Glory.”
Congregation: REFRAIN
The Lord sits enthroned over the flood; the Lord is enthroned as King forever. The Lord gives strength to His people; the Lord blesses His people with peace.
Congregation: REFRAIN
Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit; as it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever. Amen
Congregation: REFRAIN

Copyright © 2002 Concordia Publishing House
3558 S. Jefferson Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63118-3968
All Rights Reserved                       Used by permission

Epistle  Romans 6:1-11

The Word of the Lord.
Thanks be to God.

Please STAND.
Alleluia and Verse
Alleluia. Alleluia. You are my beloved Son; with you I am well pleased. Alleluia.            Mark 1:11b

Holy Gospel  Saint Luke 3:15-22                                  p. 157

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Prepared for Glory

Text: Luke 3:15-22
Date: Baptism of Our Lord + Epiphany I + 1/10/10
Baptism of Karl Davidson Lunneborg
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

What a wonderful day to gather together in the presence of God according to His Word and Sacraments! What a wonderful way to celebrate this First Sunday after the Epiphany, the Baptism of Our Lord, by celebrating also the Sacrament of Holy Baptism for little Karl Davidson Lunneborg, now child of God, child of David and Kelly. What a grand son! What a grandson! (You may call me “grrrrand-fah-thah”! “Bestefar” in Norwegian.) What glorious promises he has and we have in God’s blessed gift of Holy Baptism! Baptized into the death of Christ we are no longer to fear death! Clothed now with the white robe of the righteousness of Christ we are members of the eternal kingdom of God with the promise of eternal life in Christ our eternal King! By the simple use of this Sacrament we are prepared for glory. Continue reading “Prepared for Glory”

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Searching for Jesus

Text: Luke 2:40-52
Date: Christmas II + 1/3/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

I remember seeing, a long time ago, a silly spoof on TV of a 50s-style, bee-bop rock group singing really sappy words in a song called “Jesus was a teenager too.” The main message of the song, of course, was a lame and farcical attempt to get teens to believe that Jesus personally knows the stresses and struggles they are going through, I guess as an attempt to keep them in church or something. But is that why St. Luke alone includes this little incident from “when he was twelve years old,” as an attempt to “relate” to a younger audience? Or is it merely to show that our Lord had an otherwise “normal” childhood? Or surely it is not just to use Jesus’ example of submissiveness and obedience to his parents as a hammer in order to guilt our children into obeying their parents. No, the point is not to “prove” anything about Jesus real humanity. The point for Luke and anyone who reads his account is the doctrine or Biblical teaching of the two natures of Christ; that from the very beginning until now, from his incarnation throughout His earthly ministry, His death, resurrection and ascension, and to this very day on His heavenly throne, Jesus is 100% human and 100% divine. Continue reading “Searching for Jesus”