Text: Luke 2:22-40 (34-35)
Date: Christmas I + 12/31/17
Simeon beheld the fulfillment of the Lord’s promise to him as he took up the child Jesus in his arms and blessed God saying, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation.” Yes, the salvation from God was and is this Child. But how can our eyes see God’s salvation? For that first Christmas was a long, long time ago. We even sing in one of the Christmas songs the wish, “Oh, that we were there! Oh, that we were there!” We weren’t there. And so how can we say with Simeon, “my eyes have seen Your salvation”? A hint is that we sing with Simeon these words after every communion! Continue reading “My Eyes Have Seen Your Salvation”
Text: Matthew 1:18-25
Date: The Nativity of Our Lord, Christmas Eve + 12/24/17
The angel said to Joseph, “do not fear.” But what’s there to be afraid of? Well, plenty. First is the appearance of an angel, a messenger from God. These created beings of God have personality, that is, they are persons with intelligence and will. We know from scripture that they also have great numbers and great might. What they do not have are physical bodies like ours. But then, because of that, though like us they can only be in one place at a time, nevertheless they can change places instantly. Distance does not limit. So, when you stop to consider this report in detail, that encounter alone would cause a certain level of fear. “Joseph, do not be afraid.” Continue reading “This Most Holy Night”
Text: Luke 2:21
Date: Circumcision and Name of Jesus + First Sunday after Christmas + The Eighth Day of
Christmas + 1/1/17
The kingdom of God comes to us in just the same manner as the Christ of Christmas: all by Himself without our prayer. Before we even knew we needed a Savior God sent His Son. For “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” “While we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son” (Rom 5:8, 10). That’s the first reason that the Gospel of salvation is really good news. God knows our true need. God knows your real need. And He comes to fill and answer your need out of love. Continue reading “Thy Kingdom Come: Jesus! Name of Wondrous Love”
Thy Kingdom Come.
Now in the manger we may see
God’s Son from eternity,
The gift from God’s eternal throne
Here clothed in our poor flesh and bone.
Alleluia! (LSB 382:2)
In a way Mark Twain’s famous novel “The Prince and the Pauper” parallels the mystery of Christ and of Christmas. The main difference, of course, is that Twain tells of two young boys who are identical in appearance, one a pauper who lives with his abusive father and the other Prince Edward, son of King Henry VIII. In Jesus Christ, however, the two are one, He is both the King Himself from God’s Eternal throne taking on our human nature of His human mother, Mary. Continue reading “Thy Kingdom Come: "Gift from God's Eternal Throne"”
Text: Luke 2:1-14
Date: Christmas Midnight + 12/24/16
Thy Kingdom Come.
Welcome to earth, O noble Guest.
Politics and governmental intervention. Wherever you go you can’t get away from it. Caesar Augustus when Quirinius was governor of Syria. Mandatory registration. For what purpose? We’re not told. But tax money cannot be far from the picture. And now we ourselves have been dragged through another national election. But this time politics have divided people more than nearly any time in our history. What are the two things to avoid in family gatherings? Politics and religion, they say. Why is that? I’ll bet it’s because a person’s opinions of both are on the one hand so personally held and on the other hand seemingly without any real, objective, principled bases in reality. Mere personal opinion. Continue reading “Thy Kingdom Come: "O Noble Guest"”
On the eighth day after His birth, this little Babe so few days old was received as a member of the covenant of God through the rite of circumcision. Today is the tenth day. Especially in a secularized world that considers Christmas to be over on December 26, and as even our own Sunday lectionary propels us forward on this tenth day of Christmas to consider the twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple, it is good for us to pause, to put on the brakes, to continue our celebration of Christmas in real time. I mean the glow has not yet faded, at least our trees are still up, and the lights are still there on Main Street in downtown Rochester at least through today. Continue reading “God's Gift of Wisdom”
Text: Exodus 13:1-3a, 11-15
Date: Christmas I + 12/27/15
On this third day of Christmas the word of God tells us about the thirty-third day after Jesus’ circumcision. We will celebrate the circumcision of our Lord on the eighth day according to the Law of Moses, on January first, the eighth day according to the Church’s calendar when Jesus was circumcised in His home town of Bethlehem. The next important requirement of the Law of God, however, was the purification of Mary and the presentation of Jesus, her first-born, with the appointed sacrifice. This is one of the oldest and most important of God’s covenantal laws as we heard its institution immediately preceding the Passover Exodus of Israel from their bondage in Egypt. It was to remind and remember that fundamental, original deliverance by God. God’s final plague and sign to Pharaoh was the death of all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast. So now God claims the firstborn of His people and their beasts as sacrifices of praise to Him, a reminder of God’s original deliverance. When asked by your son what this ceremony means they were to say, “I sacrifice to the Lord all the males that first open the womb, but all the firstborn of my sons I redeem.” To redeem means to buy back, to save by means of paying the redemption price. Today we hear of the Redeemer being redeemed, that is, dedicated to the service of the God who sent Him. He Himself would be the redemption price for the salvation of the whole world, for your salvation. Continue reading “Redeem the Redeemer”
Text: Ephesians 1:8 (3-14)
Date: Christmas II + 1/4/14
Solomon of old asked God not for a long life or riches or the life of his enemies but for “an understanding mind” and God gave him “a wise and discerning mind.” In the Holy Gospel today St. Luke tells us that Jesus “grew and became strong, filled with wisdom,” and that in his discussions with the doctors or teachers in the temple that “all who heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers.” Spiritual wisdom and understanding come from God alone. As the psalm says, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding” (Ps 111:10). From that time “Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” Continue reading “All Wisdom and Insight”
Text: Luke 2:22-40
Date: Christmas I + The Holy Innocents + 12/28/14
Twenty-one times today; twenty-one times today you will sing, say or hear the word “glory” or “glorious” or “glorified.” Go ahead! Count them! Continue reading “See the Glory”
Text: Matthew 1:18-25
Date: Christmas Eve + 12/24/14
Christmas is the annual celebration and proclamation of the incarnation, the nativity of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. Because He is unique—unique in Person and in purpose—His birth needs to be explained, Christmas needs to be explained. It needs to be explained because the whole idea is wrought with human misunderstanding. It needs to be explained or rather enlightened because God is here revealing His truth, will and purpose. Finally, it needs to be explained in order that it might result in a faithful, trusting response from those who hear it. Continue reading “The Royal Birth”
