Preachrblog

  Sermon – Christmas 1 – Luke 2:22-38 “Depart in Peace” The family is all gathered around. The doctors have given the grave news. “Time is short. Say your goodbyes.” The pastor is called, and he comes to the hospital. He, too, knew this might be coming. This faithful child of God, who had so often heard the word and received the gifts in the local communion of saints... was now going to join the communion of saints that rest in Christ. God's name is invoked. Scriptures are read. Prayers are said. Then the pastor sings a familiar little song, “Lord now lettest thou thy servant, depart in peace, according to Thy word. For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which Thou hast prepared before the face of all people. A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the glory of thy people Israel. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning is now and ever shall be, world without end, amen.” That child of God, that saint of God, departs in peace. That loved...

  On Christmas Eve, we have the Nativity account from Luke 2, with the shepherds, the angels, the swaddling clothes and the manger.   It’s the Christmas story you see on greeting cards, and in children’s Christmas pageants.   We can picture it, even picture being there, visiting the manger and worshipping the newborn Christ alongside those shepherds. But on Christmas Day, we read a different Nativity account, one that is admittedly a little harder to picture and imagine.   We come to John chapter 1, and hear this Gospel’s very distinct version of just how it is that Christ came into our world.   It’s less about the story, or the characters, or the events of the birth of Christ.   It’s much more about the theology, the deep and sublime meaning of Christ and his appearance among us.   And not that the beauty and sentiment of Christmas are bad or wrong, but let’s appreciate the opportunity to dig a bit deeper this morning and join St. John in ponderin...

  Isaiah 9:2–7 The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shined. A blessed Christmas Eve to you. There is a reason we light candles tonight.   We do so often, even every church service.   We have the seven and the seven – reminding us of the Holy Spirit’s presence among the churches, as pictured in Revelation 1. We have our Advent Wreath here, which helps us countdown to Christmas over the course of four weeks, with a white Christ-candle in the center.   We light it to symbolize his birth. Then of course there are other candles – the paschal candle (the tall one), the baptismal candles (over on the wall), and many other churches have many other traditions when it comes to lighting candles. And I suspect that even a young child can usually tell you the basic symbolic significance of light.   As children are often afraid of the dark, and need a night light or hall light left...

  Today we come to that portion of the broader Nativity account known as “The Visitation.”   Mary, as soon as the Angel Gabriel is done with his announcement concerning the birth of Christ, and as soon as Mary finishes singing her joyful “Magnificat”, she hurries off to the hill country of Judea to visit her relative Elizabeth. You can imagine young Mary had a lot on her mind.   The words of the angel, the implications of this pregnancy, not only for her own life, for her betrothal to Joseph, what her friends and neighbors would think - but also the meaning of the angel’s words – that this child would reign on the throne of his father David forever.   It was all so much, so much to take in, and you can imagine why a young woman might seek out the company and counsel of a trusted older relative. And humanly speaking, Elizabeth would have been a good person to call upon.   After all, who else could Mary go to for sage advice on an unexpected, miraculous pregna...

  This Sunday is the Sunday of “Joy”.   We see it in our reading from Philippians, “Rejoice in the Lord always!   I will say it again, rejoice!” We see it in our Old Testament reading: “Rejoice and exult with all your heart, O daughter of Jerusalem!” We see it in the Advent wreath, where the pattern of blue candles is broken by the pink candle, the “Joy” candle. Joy, Joy, Joy everywhere.   Everywhere except in our Gospel reading.   At least at the beginning.   Where we see John the Baptist sitting in Herod’s prison.   Waiting, wondering, longing for salvation. Advent sets this strange tension before us.   The words of our hymn, “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel…” say it well, praying that Emmanuel would “ransom captive Israel that mourns in lonely exile here, until the Son of God appear”   That part seems to fit John sitting in his cell.   But the refrain goes, “Rejoice!   Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, oh Israel!” On...

  Like an old friend, here comes our yearly Advent visit from John the Baptist. But unlike a friend who might visit you for some coffee and Christmas cookies, John’s visit comes with a bit of discomfort.   John comes with a call to repentance. In fact his greeting is rather stark, “You brood of vipers!”   Nice to see you, too, John!   But he’s right, isn’t he?   Harsh as it sounds, those people coming to hear him preach and see about baptism – they were a brood of vipers, snakes in the grass, slithering around in sinfulness.   Born in sin, living in sin, somehow unaware of just how wicked they really were.   We know they were, because we all are.   John could be speaking to us, just as well.   And in reality, he is. You and I are a brood of vipers.   We’ve always been that way.   We are sinners descended from sinners, conceived and born into sin.   And the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree since our first parents ate...

  The Davidic King who Executes Justice A blessed Advent.   As we begin another church year and the readings emphasize the Christ who comes to his people, today we find ourselves again on Palm Sunday, with Christ’s Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem. Paired with our reading from Jeremiah, we can gather, especially, some of the deep meaning of this event.   Let’s spend some time with the prophet first, and then connect the dots with Palm Sunday and Christ’s coming to Jerusalem. Jeremiah is sometimes called the “weeping prophet”.   He lived to see some sad days.   Born around 650 B.C. and serving as a prophet for some 50 years, he did not have an easy time of it.   He was often opposed, persecuted and even imprisoned.   Jewish tradition says he was killed by stoning to death in Egypt.   But his weeping was mostly prompted by the people’s failure to heed the word of God, and the ultimate consequences of that were that Jerusalem and the southern kin...

  Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions. A blessed Thanksgiving Eve to you, as again we come to that national holiday which our church also observes – a day set aside to give thanks to God for his blessings. This year, we are using the readings appointed for a “Harvest Observance”, which certainly have quite a bit to teach us about thankfulness. In our Deuteronomy reading, we see instructions for the people to give a thank offering of the first fruits of the harvest.   There, God reminds the people to be thankful not only for the harvest itself, but for the land that produces it, and the fact that all of this is given by the God who saved them and brought them out of Egypt.   He saved them from slavery and brought them to a land flowing with milk and honey.   Rehearsing and recounting God’s goodness is always a beneficial exercise, and is part of the process of giving thanks rightly. Paul teaches the Corinthians in our Epistle reading about th...