Month: November 2010

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Hosanna

Text: Matthew 21:1-11
Date: Advent I + 11/28/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

“And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!’”

“Hosanna” is the word. It’s the word for the First Sunday in Advent. It’s the word for Palm Sunday of Holy Week. It’s the word with which we join our voices Sunday after Sunday as the promised King, the Messiah, the Christ, our Savior comes into our town, into this very place as He promises in the humble means of the Sacrament of the Altar. Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna is the word. It’s the word to sing that looks by faith to Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Continue reading “Hosanna”

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Lord, Enthroned in Heavenly Splendor

Text: Colossians 1:13-20
Date: Last Sunday in the Church Year (Proper 29) + 11/21/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

On this Last Sunday of the Church Year the last word of it all—it may surprise us—is not the picture of pearly gates and roads paved with gold, the gates of heaven lifted up as the saints go marching in behind the King of Glory, but rather the all-too-real picture of our King of Glory as he hangs helpless between two criminals on a cross in a place called The Skull (Luke 23:27-43). Jesus, crucified! The mocking, the shame and yet the gracious words of the true triumph, “Father forgive,” “today you will be with me in Paradise.” Continue reading “Lord, Enthroned in Heavenly Splendor”

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Sheltered by God's Presence

Text: Revelation 7:15
Date: All Saints’ Day (Observed) + 11/7/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

I need to apologize, right off the bat. As I approached preparation for All Saints’ Day this year I checked my calendar and my sermon from last year and realized that at that time, Sunday, November 1, 2009, I hadn’t yet even given one thought to the possibility that I would be losing Alice in little more than a month. So this is the first All Saints’ Day following the reality that my dear wife is now among those safely sheltered in the presence of Christ. We heard Revelation 7:15 say of those who have gone before us, “they are before the throne of God…and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence.” Continue reading “Sheltered by God's Presence”