Author: Al

Text: John 15:9-17
Date: Easter VI + 5/17/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

You’ve heard the comment, “With friends like that, who needs enemies?” Not everyone with whom you happen to be acquainted would you classify as a friend. A friend is someone from among your acquaintances who cares about you and demonstrates loyalty to you; and someone to whom you feel responsible to care about in return. With how many people are you acquainted? How many among them do you count as friends? How many people call you their friend? A very few people, maybe even only one, you may call your “best” friend. If you’ve been around long enough you may have found that the identity of your “best” friend may have changed at different times in your life. Today we hear our Lord Jesus call us, his followers, his friends. By faith in Him, He is saying, our relationship with God has changed from enemies into friends. Our text today speaks of both the privileges we enjoy as friends of God and the responsibilities we have because of that heavenly friendship. Continue reading “You Are My Friends”

Text: John 15:1-8
Date: Easter V + 5/10/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

When asked if he understood what he was reading the Ethiopian eunuch answered Philip honestly, asking, “How can I [understand], unless someone guides me?” And this has been a theme in our Easter season scripture readings, namely, the opening of a believer’s mind (Luke 24:45) by God to understand the Bible. It’s not that you cannot understand it to a certain extent since it is all composed of words you already know. The Ethiopian could understand the passage he was reading from the book of Isaiah was about someone who suffered unjustly to the point of death. The question is the identity of this suffering servant. “‘About whom, I ask you, does the prophet say this, about himself or about someone else?’ Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus” (Acts 8:34-35). Jesus is the key to truly understanding the Bible. In one way or another it is, finally, all about Him. Reject Jesus and you miss the heart and real message of the Bible. Continue reading “Abide in Me”

Text: John 10:11-18
Date: Easter IV + 5/3/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

Every year during the Easter season the Fourth Sunday after Easter is designated “Good Shepherd” Sunday on which we hear a reading from the tenth chapter of John’s Gospel where he records Jesus’ words telling of Himself and His relation to His believers using the “figure of speech” (Jn. 10:6) of a sheepfold and a shepherd, saying, “I am the good shepherd.” The Psalm for the day, every year, is the beloved Psalm 23 reminding us that the metaphor of sheep is used throughout the Bible to describe God’s people and His continual loving care for them. You may have come here today questioning God’s promised love and care for you, or at least have had some days of questioning in the past. St. John tells us that when Jesus first spoke these words nobody understood what he was saying (John 10:6). It is only in light of Easter, of the resurrection of our Lord from the dead, that we can begin to understand, believe and take comfort in these words. Continue reading “You Bet My Life”

Text: Luke 24:36-49
Date: Easter III + 4/26/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

On Easter Sunday this year we heard the good news of the resurrection from St. Mark. Last week, the second Sunday of Easter, we heard St. John’s account of the risen Lord’s appearances to His fearful disciples and especially to Thomas. On this, the third Sunday of Easter, we hear from St. Luke’s perspective many of the same things—the Lord’s greeting of peace, the disciples’ fear and doubt, the Savior’s invitation to touch Him. But Luke includes this, that though the resurrected body of our Lord does not need food, He, nevertheless, eats a piece of fish before them as further proof that it is He with His 100% human body intact. Continue reading “Christ Is Risen, Go Proclaim”

Text: John 20:19-31
Date: Easter II + 4/19/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

Every year on the Second Sunday of Easter we hear St. John’s account of two appearances of the risen Lord to his disciples, the first “on the evening of that day” (Easter Sunday), and the second a week later. A central figure is the Apostle Thomas who was absent for the first appearance, spent the whole next week not just “doubting” but refusing to believe that the Lord had risen unless he could see him with his own eyes, and then was present to receive a direct appearance “eight days later.” This year, I would suggest the following outline for our consideration of this text under the theme, “Real Peace.” First, the Peace of Christ is in the forgiveness of sins and reconciliation with God he provided by his sacrifice on the Cross, now vindicated in his bodily resurrection. Second, the Peace of Christ is by way of faith in him. And, thirdly, this faith comes to us by way of the means of grace administered by Christ’s chosen ministers in the Office of the Ministry. Continue reading “Peace Be With You”

Text: Mark 16:7
Date: Easter + 4/12/09
Lutheran Church of the Incarnate Word, Rochester Hills, MI

This is Easter, the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The resurrection of Christ is the central and most important doctrine, for without it there would be nothing to believe, nothing to hope for, nothing of any real help to our daily lives surrounded by sin, separation and death. But because Christ is risen there is faith, there is hope and there is love to be found, to be had, to be preached and to be learned and believed both for our eternal destiny beyond death as well as for this puzzle we call life. Easter! Though the world around us languishes in the darkness and shroud of hopelessness, hatred and death, for us this is the day the Lord has made. For us Easter is a matter of life and death. And today we proclaim for all the world to hear, Life wins out. Continue reading “Just As He Told You”