Author: Al

Text: Luke 18:1-8
Date: Pentecost XXI + Proper 24 + 10/17/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

She wasn’t praying for a husband, nor for a handout of bread, and certainly not for a nice suburban house, a second TV or a Mercedes-Benz. She was praying for justice, a just judgment in the face of everything and everyone that spoke against it. It is a complete misuse of this text to draw the conclusion, as so many have, that we are being told here that if we pray long enough, or hard enough, God will ultimately give us what we ask for, no matter for what it is that we ask. But this parable is not about praying for anything and everything, but only one thing. It is about prayer over the long haul, the prayer for ultimate deliverance from our adversaries, sin, death and the devil. It is about the constant prayer for salvation in view of the fact that we are not there yet. “Thy kingdom come.” Continue reading “Don't Give Up!”

Text: Luke 17:11-19
Date: Pentecost XX + Proper 23 + 10/10/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

We used to hear this Gospel reading only on the Day of National Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving Day, with its obvious parallel of the Samaritan healed of leprosy returning to give thanks to Jesus. Unfortunately, this only encouraged the temptation for preachers and others to moralize this text to be but an annual lesson to remind little Johnny or Suzie to remember to say “Thank You.” Restoring this reading to the normal round of the lectionary ought to help us break from that temptation and discover what is really here presented by St. Luke and the Holy Spirit for us to see. For it is of much more eternal value than any mere moralism. Continue reading “What Do You See?”

Text: Luke 17:1-10
Date: Pentecost XIX + Proper 22 + 10/3/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

In this section of St. Luke’s Gospel we have heard Jesus addressing various groups of individuals; “the disciples” are all His followers numbering in front of Him at least eighty-plus; “the Pharisees” who were listening in and received Jesus’ special attention, and now, today, He has some words specifically for the Twelve, “the apostles” who were to be the official witnesses of His coming death and resurrection, a few of whom were to write portions of what would become the New Testament of the Bible, and all of whom were to form the foundation of the teaching and preaching ministry of the Word and Sacraments for the Christian Church of all times and places throughout the world. Continue reading “Forgiveness, Faith and the Field”

Text: Luke 16:19-31
Date: Pentecost XVIII + Proper 21 + 9/26/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

You will recall that this chapter of Luke’s Gospel began with a story Jesus told about a dishonest, shifty or crafty steward or manager who, when he found out the end of his employment was near, quickly made arrangements in the nick of time to survive. The surprise ending was that the dishonest steward was commended by his boss for his shrewdness. Jesus was simply saying, because you can count on God’s mercy at least for now, it would be best to take advantage of that mercy now before it is too late, to repent and be received into His eternal family of faith. Continue reading “Moses and the Prophets and the Resurrection”

Text: Luke 16:1-15
Date: Pentecost XVII (Proper 20) + 9/19/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

I “batted 1000” on vacation. The first Sunday, in Kingman, Arizona, I attended the Wisconsin Synod church. Though I could not attend communion I heard an absolutely marvelous sermon—textual, organized, clear, and though a little heavy on the Law to begin with, ended with a wonderful flourish of Gospel at the end. My second Sunday I attended our Grace congregation in San Diego, California—young pastor, lots of young couples with children, and they “put up with” an hour-and-a-half long service! While it had its “informal” moments, still it was a reverent and liturgically sensitive service with a magnificent sermon that, as the previous Sunday, began with a “practical” (read, “Law”) direction but ended with a joyous proclamation of pure Gospel. Continue reading “Merciful Lord”

Text: Luke 14:1-14
Date: Pentecost XIV (Proper 17) + 8/29/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

God Himself is present:
Let us now adore Him
And with awe appear before Him.
God is in His temple;
All within keep silence;
Humbly kneel in deepest rev’rence.
He alone
On His throne
Is our God and Savior;
Praise His name forever! (LSB 907:1)

These are the words of their deeply pious, even mystical author, Gerhard Tersteegen (1697-1769). These words have been sung by many almost as a sort of “ordinary” of the liturgy, a regular or common “call to worship,” Introit or preparation to the worship service. Though from a man of Reformed theological persuasion and Moravian background, nevertheless these words speak not only of a mystical, spiritual, ethereal or charismatic almost palpable divine presence but can also be sung in adoration of God’s real and true sacramental presence in the sanctuary set apart for His dwelling and dynamic visitation through Word, absolution, water, bread and wine, in pulpit, font and altar. “It is the glory of God to conceal things” (Prov. 25:2) and this is how God “hides Himself,” right in front of our eyes in the most humble of means and circumstances. Now, how ought we to enter God’s presence and conduct ourselves in His sanctuary? With awe and silence “humbly kneel in deepest reverence” says the hymn. You know, a person will conduct him or herself in this way only to the extent they truly believe that “God Himself is present.” Otherwise we will just race about, maybe gabbing loudly beforehand not pausing for a reverence or a silent bow, those outward actions reserved only for “Showtime,” which conduct calls into question whether faith be right at all. Continue reading “Blessed at Table in the Kingdom of God”

Text: Luke 13:22-30
Date: Pentecost XIII (Proper16) + 8/22/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

It was an innocent enough question. Just religious curiosity, I suppose, “Lord, will those who are saved be few?” When you look around, especially these days in our country with church attendance at, it seems, an all time low, that may be the first question that comes to mind. Now, that question was either an acknowledgment by this “someone” that this Jesus is such a person who could know the answer to it, or it was just theoretical, an hypothetical, just for the sake of discussion. Have you ever known anyone like that? The person who always seems to like to spar over religious (or political) questions but doesn’t seem like they are really interested in an answer, after all? They’re just interested in the argument. “Faith” is, after all, just a person’s personal opinion, right? But this is no meaningless issue. And Jesus won’t let such a question just drift off into the fog of religious speculation. The questioner asked about others; “those who are saved.” Jesus asks him, “But what about you? Will you be saved?” The question is for the multitudes to be answered one by one. Continue reading “The Multitude of the Few”

Text: Luke 12:22-34
Date: Pentecost XI (Proper 14) + 8/8/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

This Sunday’s Word is about faith. But it’s more than that. The first two readings are about faith and the third reading from Luke’s Gospel is about worry, the opposite of faith. But it’s more than that. The last verse of the Old Testament reading is that classic and important sentence that describes and defines the central message of the Bible, “the justification of the sinner by God’s grace through faith” when it says, “And [Abram] believed the Lord, and [the Lord] counted it to him as righteousness” (Gen. 15:6). How is a person saved? Through faith alone. For the sake of faith in Christ God declares the sinner justified, righteous, restored, redeemed, saved. Continue reading “Faith in the Treasure”

Text: Luke 12:13-21
Date: Pentecost X (Proper 13) + 8/1/10
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

This is a most difficult sermon on a most difficult Word. It is difficult, first, because the bottom line, the “punch line,” the basic message ends up being, as you would expect, that you should give more of your money away to others. That’s Law, not Gospel. While that’s true, it is a most difficult sermon also because it touches on the very heartbeat that characterizes most of our life lived in the economic struggles of day to day, everyone concerned mainly about who gets the money and how. But this is a most difficult sermon on a most difficult Word mainly because of the temptation that we will end up talking only about you, your stuff and the more stuff you might want and never get around to what this all may have to do with your relationship with God, proclaiming Jesus Christ and Him crucified! Well, let’s see if we can discover what’s going on here in today’s scripture readings and find something we can call “the Gospel of the Lord.” Continue reading “You Shall Not Covet…Right?”