Month: May 2016

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Unlikely Faith

Text: 1 Kings 8:22-24, 27-29, 41-43
Date: Pentecost II + Proper 4 + 5/29/16

After the flood of God’s judgment against the increasing wickedness and sin of every person, God made a covenant through Noah with the whole world that He would never again destroy the earth by water. That’s God’s promise to everyone whether they believe or not. But the central covenant promise of God to everyone was of a Savior from sin and death for eternal life. This promise however can be rejected, ignored, cast aside, for it becomes effective only in those who receive it by faith, who believe it. First to Abraham God promised that through his descendant “all the nations will be blessed.” The promise is to all nations, every person. But it comes through Abraham’s line, God’s chosen people Israel. Yet it comes to all like it did to Abraham, namely, by faith. Continue reading “Unlikely Faith”

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Pre-incarnate Word

Text: Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
Date: The Holy Trinity X Pentecost I X 5/22/16

This is a rather unusual day in the Church Year in that at first it appears to be concerned not with an event in the life of Jesus nor a saint but with a doctrine: the doctrine of the Holy Trinity. It is more than appropriate therefore that we should celebrate this day as a congregation which has taken for our name not that of a saint but the doctrine of the incarnation: The Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word. Some wish to ignore or even disparage “doctrine” as something spun out of human origin. But of course when we speak of “doctrine” we mean nothing else than the all-important teachings of the Bible. Yet the celebration of the Holy Trinity by the Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word is not merely of dry doctrine but really is primarily of a Person. He is the Incarnate Word, the Word and Wisdom and Son of God, the second Person of the Holy Trinity. He is the one and only Person by whom alone we are asked to grasp God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. In the end, you see, like everything else, this day and these doctrines are all about Jesus! Continue reading “Pre-incarnate Word”

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One Language of Peace

Text: Genesis 11:1-9
Date: The Day of Pentecost + 5/15/16

At first the connection between the Tower of Babel and the Day of Pentecost may seem obvious. At Babel God confused the one language and same words of people and at Pentecost God’s Word broke through the division of languages to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ the Savior of the world. A closer look however reveals our own need of deliverance from sin and the great love of God who delivers us. To this end we prayed the Alleluia Verse on this day, “Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of the faithful, and kindle in them the fire of your love.” Continue reading “One Language of Peace”

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You Will See His Face

Text: Revelation 22:1-6, 12-20
Date: Easter VII + 5/8/16

St. John has helped our Easter rejoicing this year with the visions given him in the final book of the entire Bible, Revelation. In it we are given a sense both of what the life of faith in the risen, ascended and reigning Lord Jesus is to be like now in this life and what is the great hope and goal of faith in our own resurrection, the end of this world of sin and death, and the new heavens and earth of eternal life. This past Thursday was the fortieth day after Easter, the day on which our Lord ascended to the right hand of the majesty on high, taking His rightful place as ruler and king of the universe. Today we find ourselves somewhere between joy and bewilderment looking with the first disciples to recall and anticipate both the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and our Lord’s promised return and the Last Day. Continue reading “You Will See His Face”