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God's Righteousness

Text: Romans 3:19-28
Date: Reformation Day (Observed) + 10/27/13

Blessed is the King, the King who comes in the name of the Lord. No, not Martin Luther King, Jr. And not even Martin Luther. But the King “after the order of Melchizedek” (Ps 110), Jesus, “the source of eternal salvation to all who obey him, being designated by God a high priest after the order of Melchizedek” (Heb 5:6-10), “by translation of his name, king of righteousness” (Heb 7:2). Jesus is the King. Jesus is God’s Righteousness. Jesus is your righteousness. Continue reading “God's Righteousness”

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Whatever Happened to "Importunity"?

Text: Luke 18:1-8
Date: Pentecost XXII (Proper 24) + 10/20/13

“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Are you getting a little sick of hearing that phrase begin every sermon for this whole year, today for the 49th time? (Don’t worry there’s only five more times till the end of this liturgical year). That’s what “importunity” is. It is to make urgent requests to the point of becoming annoying. Continue reading “Whatever Happened to "Importunity"?”

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Whatever Happened to "Importunity"?

Text: Luke 18:1-8
Date: Pentecost XXII (Proper 24) + 10/20/13

“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.”

Are you getting a little sick of hearing that phrase begin every sermon for this whole year, today for the 49th time? (Don’t worry there’s only five more times till the end of this liturgical year). That’s what “importunity” is. It is to make urgent requests to the point of becoming annoying. Continue reading “Whatever Happened to "Importunity"?”

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That I May Leave You Never

Text: Luke 17:11-19
Date: Pentecost XXI (Proper 23) + 10/13/13

Blessed is the King: the Son of David—the son of Jesse, the grandson of Obed, the great-grandson of Ruth; blessed because God gathers for Himself the Church even from among the heathen. “Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord” was the cry of the crowds on that first Palm Sunday in Jerusalem. It is the cry of faith of all the world over who are His disciples. It is the cry of the whole Church, but sometimes of just a single voice. “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us,” cried ten Samaritan lepers. But only one saw that Jesus was more than merely some miracle-working “master,” but that He was indeed the King Himself. When the ten were told to go and show themselves to the priests, only this one was given the grace to discover that this Jesus is The Priest to whom is given all power, worship, adoration and thanksgiving. Continue reading “That I May Leave You Never”

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Children's Message: The Duty of Faith

Text: Luke 17:1-10
Date: Pentecost XX (Proper 22) + 10/6/13

“As [Jesus] was drawing near—already on the way down the Mount of Olives—the whole multitude of his disciples began to rejoice and praise God with a loud voice for all the mighty works that they had seen, saying, ‘Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord! Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!’” (Luke 19:36-38). “But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying out in the temple, ‘Hosanna to the Son of David!’ they were indignant” (Matt 21:15). Continue reading “Children's Message: The Duty of Faith”

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Angels, Help Us

Text: Revelation 12:12
Date: St. Michael and All Angels + 9/29/13

Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord, and all His angels with Him (Matt 25:31).

“This feast commemorating the angels has been placed in the church’s calendar…for the sake of all Christians, so that they might train themselves to think about the beloved angels and thank God for appointing these mighty lords to be his servants for us.”[1] So began Martin Luther in a sermon on this day in 1532. We do not think about the angels or preach about them very often, unless, that is, you pray Luther’s Morning and Evening Prayers each ending with the words, “Let Your holy angel be with me, that the evil foe may have no power over me.” But though we rarely think about the angels we sing with them all the time in the Divine Service! We sing their Christmas song in the Gloria in Excelsis, “Glory be to God on high, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” And we sing with them and all the company of heaven every Sunday in the words first heard by the prophet Isaiah, the eternal Sanctus, “Holy, holy, holy Lord God of Sabaoth; heaven and earth are full of Thy glory.” In our day we have even added the Dignus es from the book of Revelation, “Worthy is Christ, the Lamb who was slain,” “This is the feast of victory for our God.” So let us consider God’s angels on this day that we may be the more assured of our deliverance from the attacks and onslaughts of the devil and, with all the angels, more clearly and “always see the face of [our] Father who is in heaven” (Matt 18:10). Continue reading “Angels, Help Us”

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Merciful Choice

Text: Luke 16:1-15
Date: Pentecost XVIII (Proper 20) + 9/22/13

Blessed is the King, the merciful King, who comes in the name of the Lord, the merciful Lord. “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty” (Ex 34:6-7). A contradiction? By no means. This is the Gospel for sinners; the good news from a merciful God who forgives our disobedience and sin for the sake of His love demonstrated in His Son, Jesus Christ the Lord. Continue reading “Merciful Choice”

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God's Choice

Text: Luke 15:1-10
Date: Pentecost XVII (Proper 19) + 9/15/13

“Blessed is the King who comes in the name of the Lord.” This is the shout of joy by people who recognize the true King and have joyful expectations of the gifts He brings. Today we are hearing the heart of St. Luke’s Gospel: three parables linked together by the repeated theme of joy. “Rejoice with me” says the shepherd. “There will be more joy in heaven” says Jesus. “Rejoice with me” says the woman. “There is joy before the angels of God,” says Jesus. And then in the parable of the prodigal Son, the father says, “let us eat and make merry, because this my son was dead and has come to life, he was lost and has been found” (Lk 15:23-24; Lent 4C). Let us not miss the note of joy in the Word of God before us today, the joy He has over you. Continue reading “God's Choice”