Recent sermons
March 30, 2025 - Luke 15:1-3, 11-32
The gospel lesson read to you earlier is very familiar. It is a passage we most often refer to as the parable of the “Parodical Son.” It is a passage we really really think we know. Some of us could retell the story almost verbatim. In your familiarity, be careful. Why does everyone love the so called parable of the prodigal son? Answer, they don’t, not in its fullness. We should probably be honest… after all it is lent, let’s get down to the truth… we do not love this parable in its entirety. We like to tell this Jesus parable with syrupy words. Saccharine smell fills the air. We breath it in and taste it. We eat it up and devour it, too quickly to let it change us. This Jesus story is not sugar-sweet. It has a bitter-sweet ending. It is more like dark chocolate with hints of bitter acidic biting notes that will last and last and last in your mouth and heart. Hearing this tale truthfully is like eating 87 percent dark chocolate. If you don’t like dark chocolate, it is not too late to refine your palate. Besides, having it become part of your diet might well be good for you. I promise I’m not making this up, today is “refreshment” Sunday, or Laetare Sunday as it is called in the Latin. It is a day of refreshment and a moment to make merry… as we are over half way through the season of Lent. I have chosen to honor “refreshment Sunday” by giving you dark chocolate. I hope you take heed to the bitter sweet notes of the parable. Bitter please, it’s Lent for me, no sweets, I’m on the Lenten diet you see. No sweet sweet lies for me, only the bitter bitter truth for me. I have preached on this passage several times over the years. For me, I have tended to emphasize the story of the prodigal son in terms of God’s graciousness. It is a story about the scandalous prodigal father. Who although his child wished him dead, and takes his inheritance early, leaves his family, goes out into the world, squanders everything that he has… the scandalous prodigal father waits and longs for his son to return. When his son finally crawls home, smelling like a pig, he is not met with anger or bitterness or resentment. Rather, this sinner-son is received back into the fold by the gracious father. And the father extends the same graciousness to the older son. The older son, who if we are being fair to him, is filled with a kind of righteous bitterness because he stayed. Because He did everything asked of him and a party was never thrown for him. But the father was gracious to him too. The boy gets reminded that all the father has is his and encourages him to join the party and not to miss out. On the one hand, there is nothing wrong with this interpretation. It is beautiful and it contrasts those of us that were raised to view God as angry at us when we sin. When we find ourselves feeling like we are in a far off country or condemned because of it, how wonderful it is to read a parable like the prodigal son, to be told we don’t have to return to an angry God. The father is waiting and longing to show generosity and love. That’s the sweet part of the parable. It’s also true. But recently I came across a book written by Amy Lavine. She teaches New Testament at Vanderbilt. Interestingly enough, Dr. Lavine is a Jew, also interestingly enough, she argues, although the graciousness of the father is true, that is not the surprise of the text. Because back in the Hebrew Scriptures, God delivered the Hebrews out of Egypt. Even though they ended up in the wilderness, and even through each party got annoyed with the other at various times, God remains always with them and always true to his covenant with them. When the Jews found themselves in captivity, which happened multiple times throughout the Scriptures, and when they doubted God’s faithfulness, which most of us do throughout our life, God expressed he was with them even in Babylon. Perhaps one of the most beautiful moment was conveyed through the prophet Hosea. Hosea gives us the image that Israel has sinned and has gone into the wilderness, but who has also gone into the wilderness chasing after Israel? God. The idea of a gracious father does not bust onto the scene through Jesus’ telling of Prodigal Son parable. Jesus’ parable is building upon the rich notes of history left on their tongue. So that part of the parable is very very true, but it is not the element of surprise. What is the element of surprise or the element that would have left his hearers with a bitter aftertaste? The parable begins with a father who has two sons. A good rule of thumb in ancient stories was that we are meant to trust the second son. If trust is too strong a word, hearers would have pretty much expected that we are meant to side with the second son. The second son will turn out to be the hero. In the story of Cain and Abel that was the case. Cain was the oldest, his offering was not pleasing to God. His younger brother Abel’s was. Cain murdered Abel. Abraham had two sons, Ishmael and Issac. Ishmael and his mother Haggar ended up getting cast out from Abraham’s party and sent into the wilderness. Isaac, the youngest was the child of promise. Time and again in Hebrew Scripture, and Hebrew storytelling, it is the second and or the youngest, that usually gets the blessing. Already we are being thrown off, when a man has two sons and the youngest of the two sons leaves his father, goes off into the far country and lives a life of debauchery. Right then and there the crowd would have known this was not a standard Hebrew story, that Jesus was playing around with their expectations. Of course we know the youngest son returned and we tend to think it is so out of the ordinary that the father was excited the son came back after all the son had said and done. But consider your own children, if you were ostracized from your child for quite some time, they realized their error, and returned asking for your forgiveness, 9 times out of 10 of us would respond with open arms. Isn’t that also the story of David and Absolom we are currently studying in 2 Samuel in Bible study. So, the graciousness of the father is not the surprise. But the story continues. The eldest son is not thrilled. To be fair to him, would you be thrilled? Was Esau thrilled when Jacob cheated him out of his birthright? How did Ishmael feel about getting cast out of the family? Or Joseph’s brothers when they were told they were going to have to bow down before little Joe. We can relate to his reaction? It is Lent and we did promise to tell the truth for these 40 days, fingers crossed or not... That boy lived like a pig. If you look like a pig and smell like a pig, treat him like a pig. The older brother has a point. The father reminds the son, “all that I have is yours.” The son that I had was lost but now has been found.” It is the respectable thing to let the penitent come home. But let them come home to bread and water, not to a fatted calf. Let them come home to sack cloth, not a new robe. Let the penitent come home to ashes not jewelry. Let them come home kneeling not dancing. Let them come home with tears not to harps and merry making. Who here would attend a party like that? I’d rather kick myself. If anything the story ends too soon. We don’t know what happens to the eldest son or what happens to his relationship to the father. But perhaps we could make some assumptions from the Hebrew Scripture. Jacob was afraid to meet Esau after cheating him out of his birthright. Even after 40 years, Jacob was terrified of seeing Esau. But when they finally meet, they reconciled. So did Isaac and Ishmael, at the death of their father, they buried Abraham together. The story of Joseph was a little bit different, but in the end, Joseph forgave them and they all reconciled. So you see, the story is about graciousness. The father was gracious and he never changed. The youngest son who was off doing debauchery needed to change and did. It was the eldest son that also needed to change, but did he? That is the part of the story that is left unanswered. That is the part the story that would have left hearers not feeling happy but challenged. Before I wrote this sermon, I would have piously said, I like dark chocolate. Now I don’t think I do. We take the stories that Jesus tells and make them sentimental for us. Grace is an amazing thing but it is also offensive. Forgive like God! Do you mean me? Even the people I hate? I remember attending a Southern District Convention. It was three years ago. The Ukraine War had just begun. And a resolution was offered on the floor to support Ukraine, in particular, the Ukrainian Lutherans, and pray for them. Someone stood up and said, the only way he would vote in favor of the resolution is if it was added that we would also pray for the Russians too. The person you are most in need to be reconciled with may not be the most obvious. It might not be the person living out in the far off country. It might be the person living under your roof or a neighbor. Or some member of this congregation that feels far off and feels like no one cares. Jesus is calling for reconciliation. And reconciliation is never an easy thing to do. Can you taste it? Grace is scandalous and not easily palatable. But let me say this, there are some that believe if we do not forgive or reconcile instantly, we are doing something wrong. I don’t think that is the case. There are certain situations where reconciliation can be hard to come by and indeed it is a process. None the less, we are met with this parable that shows us there are situations where someone could go all the way to a far off country and get forgiven. And there are also situations where someone could stay under your roof and do everything seemingly right, yet grow in bitterness and resentment. Even there reconciliation is not impossible. All things considered, I wonder if our minds should not be left to wonder if the brothers ever reconciled. Reconciliation is not an easy things, but it is what Jesus calls us to be in the process of doing. And it is also what Jesus did himself. Jesus came not just to reconcile us to God but also to reconcile us to our brothers. There was a father who had two sons. One son ran off and made some bad decisions. The other son stayed home and made some bad decisions. Now this family has to work it out. It is a story we can all relate to. So, I tend to be hopeful. I like to think that even though Jesus did not wrap it up neat and tidy, it ended like many of the other stories in Scripture with reconciliation. Just know, if you hear this story and believe for one minute that you are the safe one, that is doing all the right things, and you do not need to repent, you need to read this story again and again. See this parable as a picture into who you really are. Perhaps you are the guy that went astray and you need to hear the graciousness of God, but you might just as well be the guy who has never went astray, that went to church every Sunday and always dressed your best. You too need to hear the graciousness of God and reconcile with your brother. What happened to the two boys? Do you think Jr., the eldest, reconciled with little tommy the jerk? Or did they find a way to get along? Do you recon those two boys went to synagogue and one sat on this side and the other sat on the other and when they left in the dismissal line they wouldn’t say a word to each other. We love to talk about amazing grace, how we can go off and do just about anything and how we will be received and forgiven by Jesus. That is true, but let’s not conveniently ignore that forgiveness entails being reconciled and changed. So, consider the implications or the force of the text? If the point is that you have been found and forgiven. Now what? I think the implication is that it is our turn to go a do likewise… forgive your brother. Forgive your sister. Forgive your daughter or grandson daughter. Forgive your neighbor… after all, you claim to forgive in the Lord’s Prayer. May the Lord not forgive me as I have forgiven others. But to know grace is to forgive just like you are forgiven, to know grace is to quit living like you are living and to begin living like Jesus… There is simply no room for condemnation in the house of God. We are all sinners here and if God forgives a “beggar” like me, how in the world could I withhold forgiveness from someone else? Pastors like to end with gospel, but today I will leave you with some bitter sweet notes. Thankfully, our heavenly father is not like us. He joyfully receives sinners and he forgives them. Go and do likewise. May this sermon forever change the way you view your dark chocolate.
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March 26, 2025 - 1 Kings 19:9-18
Last week we were in 1 Kings 19. This week we are also in 1 Kings 19. It is the only Chapter I have chosen to break into two weeks… not necessarily because it is more important than the other chapters. But it is definitely an important chapter, and this is a well-known reading which makes it into the lectionary later this summer. When I was in Milwaukee going to school, I attended a different church basically every Sunday. Perhaps I should also add I’m using the word “church” loosely. But basically I have attended a service at just about every church in the city. I’m not advocating that, but for me, I felt it was important. Because if someone attends here and says they had been going to the church of the Nazarene, I have not been to the church of the Nazarene in Wildwood, but I have been to a church of the Nazarene. I have not been to the synagogue in Wildwood but I have been to a synagogue. I have not been to the Jehovah’s witnesses in Wildwood, but I have been to a Jahaveh’s witness. I have not been to a Church of Christian Science in Wildwood, but I have been to one. I think you understand my point. I did it because I felt like it could help me relate to people of differing denominations and or faith communities. Because realistically, we are finding yourselves to be more and more of a pluralistic society. We can’t live under a rock any more and pretend everyone is LCMS Lutheran. And we need to be ready not to embrace it, but to meet it with truth. One of the pastors of one of the churches I had attended said something that stuck with me. He said, “It’s not how high you jump, but how straight you walk when you hit the ground.” What he was talking about was how to sustain and endure throughout your walk of faith. It is not about the grand high moments of jumping but when you hit the ground how straight will you walk. If we recall, Elijah had quite a jump. Elijah prayed and taunted the prophets of Baal. And then God brought fire down on a dripping wet altar. All the onlookers bowed down and worshiped God. That was a high moment on a high hill. But now Elijah has hit the ground and he collapses. He is ready to quit. We have all been there in those moments when sincere hopes are differed by God. In those moments when our holy expectations are delayed, in those moments, how do we walk? What do we need to keep going? What needs to be established? What we have already seen since the beginning of the sermon series, is Elijah has been labeled the “troubler of Israel”. He responded clearly “I am not causing the trouble of Israel. It is your idolatry that is causing the trouble.” We too live in a troubled world where anything and everything is worshiped except the one true God. If and when we bring this message to our troubled world, we trouble their trouble and get perceived as the trouble maker. In a troubled world, how does God’s servants endure? Well, we can count on fierce threats. That may not sound like helpful news, but it does help to rightly align our expectations. The fact is threats and terror come when God’s justice is perceived as infuriating and God’s grace is perceived as irrelevant. If others around us find that to be true, which they do, and we are the servants of that God, we can expect to be disliked. On Mt. Carmel God sent his justice upon false worship, and Jezebel was infuriated by it. Why? Because when God crushes our false gods, our natural response is frustration. And that is not just for unbelievers like Jezebel, it is even true for Elijah. And many times, in our frustration we completely forget about the grace of God. Did you notice, it is as if no one even realizes it has rained for the first time in three years. No one even brings it up. Not Ahab, not Jezebel, not Elijah. Here is some application, in the service of God, we have been called to the work of dismantling idols. What are idols? They could be anything. Luther said, they are anything and everything you place above your relationship with God. Relationships, family, home, vocation, anything that does not exist to the glory of God is an idol. Have you seen the commercial that says, “most people think about money all the time.” Money can be your idol whether you have too much of it or not enough of it. Can you sense it? We are at war, at war within ourselves wherever the worship of God does not predominate. There is a scene in the move Band of Brothers where a group of men are getting ready to go into the battle and they are met by other men just leaving the battle. One of them says, “you’re going to be surrounded.” And one of the men responded, “we are paratroopers. We are supposed to be surrounded.” “We are supposed to be surrounded.” That is the message here. We are surrounded. And if Jezebel teaches us anything about the human heart, it is how deeply it is inclined against God. God is teaching us we are solely dependent upon him. Insert Jesus into the scene. Jesus confronts idolatry really and truly all by himself. He is all alone. He is not merely threatened or merely terrorized. For exposing our idols… He is crucified. And he did it willingly for us. That is the grace of God for us… it is not irrelevant. In contrast to Elijah, who in the face of death prayed, “I have had enough Lord. Take my life. I am no better than my accessors and fell asleep.” Jesus in the Garden, stayed awake. Prayed for his persecutors, and prayed the will of the father be done. Elijah laments “I’m the only one left and they are looking to kill me too.” That’s not true. His discouragement comes in some part because he has forgotten God’s grace. Elijah, you are not the only one left. You just left a mountain where many bowed down in the name of Yahweh. And before that, Obadiah had said, “I have hidden prophets in the caves.” You are not alone. God is at work in this situation. Can you hear that message for you this evening???? God’s grace is not irrelevant. Can you remember back to your school days? A kid was picking on you, and you went home and told your mother “I hate school. Everyone hates me.” That is what Elijah is doing. He said, “They are trying to kill me.” And that is not quite accurate. Jezebel is trying to kill him… not everyone. He totalized the attack of one into everyone. And that sentiment is something we do all the time. Notice it when it happens in your life. Notice it when you are feeling all alone and one attack feels like many. Because it is in those times that God’s grace can feel seemingly insufficient. But remember what we have already learned in prior weeks. Remember the dirty birds, and the little trickle of water, and then the small jar of flour? God often, God normally uses seemingly insufficient sources for us to realize we are desperately in need of his grace. Elijah is basically saying “I don’t like the way you ruling the world. I’m done. Take my life.” To Elijah’s credit he is showing faith by making it his prayer and not his action. God, in his grace, says “Elijah, I’m not done with you yet.” In the midst of your discouragement, praise God for Jesus Christ. He did not have to come into this world but he did. He did not have to spend 40 days in the wilderness to beat the devil but he did. Above all, He didn’t have to die, but he did. He endured unto the cross. There are three phrases that get repeated through Chapter 19. “Get up and eat” “Go out.” “Go back.” Elijah has just prayed to die. And God says, “Get up and eat.” God is here for us even when we have not asked him to be. He meets our needs. Understand we have what we need. We are given a little bit of bread and little bit of wine. And in that meal we are told the Lord is present. It should not be lost on us that the Lord’s Supper was first instituted to despairing disciples the very night Jesus was taken into custody. Jesus even said that evening, “the world will hate you but I’m sending the Holy Spirit to comfort you.” That’s our consolation. You and I can endure because of God’s renewing presence continually refreshes and forgives. And how does God meet us? Through his Word and promises. God is not in the wind. God is not in the earthquake. Or in the fire. He meets Elijah in his Word in a gentle whisper. C. S. Lewis said in a grief observed, “a life guard cannot save someone who won’t stop kicking and screaming.” Elijah needed to be still enough and attentive enough to hear it. We have what we need. We have his Word. Disheartened threatened servants of God, “Get up and eat.” Hear his Word. Go out and meet God. If we are to be trees that provide shade in a troubled world, we must have deep roots found upon the Word of God. Earthquakes, fire, and wind will come. But be content with the gentle whisper of his Word. The LORD said to him, “Go back the way you came, and go to the Desert of Damascus. When you get there, anoint Hazael king over Aram. 16 Also, anoint Jehu son of Nimshi king over Israel, and anoint Elisha son of Shaphat from Abel Meholah to succeed you as prophet. 17 Jehu will put to death any who escape the sword of Hazael, and Elisha will put to death any who escape the sword of Jehu. 18 Yet I reserve seven thousand in Israel—all whose knees have not bowed down to Baal and whose mouths have not kissed him.” We are renewed, refreshed, and sent back into mission. Understand, God is not finished with us. You might be small. But you are not the only one. 7000 might not have been the number Elijah was hoping for. But God’s kingdom grows in weakness like a mustard seed. Don’t be worried about Jezebel. She will not get in the way. My covenant of grace will always have a people. And that is because of what Jesus did on the cross. Feel it. We have been given what we need most. We are renewed by his word. Now we are sent. I’ll close with this, in Melvin’s Moby Dick, there is a turbulent sea. And a boat going up and down in the ocean swells. All the crew is working hard at the oars with full attention on the chaotic sea, the demonic sea monster, and captain Ahab at the wheel. In the midst of the commotion there is one person doing seemingly nothing. He is quiet, poised, and waiting. Captain Ahab said to the harpooner, “to ensure the efficiency of the dart, the harpooner must start on their feet out of idleness, not out of toil.” If we are going to harpoon the idols in our lives, it is necessary to take the time to sit and listen to God’s Word, and after encountering him, be refreshed by his Spirit. That’s what Lent is about…. “then now get up, strike the target.”
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March 23, 2025 - Luke 13:1-9
Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Fires burn in LA. A tsunami hits Indonesia. An earthquake hits Honduras. A car accident kills Nine people, 8 students and one coach going to a golfing tournament. Tornadoes level homes and kill 40 people in Missouri and the midsouth. Tragedy and trauma strikes. What does it mean and how does it affect your spiritual life? Here at church we have been spared major injury for which I am thankful, but in our midst it is most certainly true that we have felt the playing out of the difficulties of life. The onset of disease, the acting out of a child, interpersonal hurt or conflict, death of a relative, friend, or parent, storms which knock out power. Have we done something wrong? Maybe we are being too liberal or too conservative. Maybe God doesn’t like our music. Maybe God doesn’t like our confession. Maybe he doesn’t like our complacency. Or our lack of evangelism or something else… Having heard the readings… did they help? Let’s be honest, if you were a visitor today, you might not come back. I mean that honestly, that’s happened before. After hearing the readings, literally, he talked in late, heard the readings and vocalized this place is not for me and left. It is sad because what he really meant was the Word of God is not for me. To be fair, I have not chosen the readings and being faithful means dealing with them as they come up. Because I know, if we were given the choice we would want warm and fuzzies… all the time… and I know you know, I’m all about warm and fuzzies. Did you notice there is no gospel in the Gospel? In fact, if you caught the consistent theme in all the readings, none of it is Gospel… it is all law. The message as presented in Luke 13 is not only if you sin you will die, but if you don’t sin you will still die… evil people will come after you and they will kill you and if they don’t kill you random events will. Harsh… but true. Let’s run to the Epistle lesson, because well, that is the easiest thing to do when you have a Gospel text that is hard to swallow. Notice the message in the Epistle is even worse. In 1 Corinthians Chapter 10 Paul writes, God himself scattered the Israelites in the wilderness. God killed the Israelites and He could do the same to us. Wow, that is not much better. Now what? What about the Old Testament reading? It’s even less helpful when it suggests “The wicked shall surely die.” “Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them.” If the themes of Lent have been encroaching up us for the past couple of weeks, today they are closing in on us, and we have nowhere to run. Let us take another look at our Gospel Lesson of Luke Chapter 13… why? Because that is what it means to be faithful. In Luke 13 some unnamed people have come up to Jesus to tell him the headline news. Pilot has apparently authorized the killing of some Jewish people while they were busy offering their Passover Sacrifices in the Temple. Did you catch the implicit question behind their statement? The question they wanted Jesus to answer was “why.” Why did these terrible things happen to these good people? They were just doing what God had commanded them to do? If God does not protect his people even in His temple, where does God protect His people? I wish I could give you an answer to that question. I wish I could give you Jesus’ answer, but Jesus not only did not provide an answer… and if anything he made the problem bigger. He inflated it by saying, “not only do bad things happen to good people, but buildings fall down on innocent people and kill people who are just doing their job and minding their own business.” So random… so unnecessary. 2000 years later we have the same headlines. Evil people terrorize. Evil people kill. Pedestrian struck and killed overnight in south St. Louis. It seems that every day the news is telling us about another plane wreck. A fire at the Heathrow airport. Recent events are so bad, we may have almost forgotten or moved on from the Ukraine war or the Israel Gaza war. John Mayer is not a theologian but he states the obvious as he points out, “gravity is always working against us.” Fair enough, but there must be someone else we could blame? The building management? The building inspector? I have a good idea, why not blame God? Isn’t he in control of all of this? Even if he does not claim to send the disaster, surely He allowed it and if he is aware and capable to intervene, and does not intervene or prevent it, doesn’t that make Him culpable. I’m certainly leaning towards some kind of second degree manslaughter charge from my perspective. Could not God have prevented this? That question has been asked many many times, and answered in many many ways in condolence letters, books, essays, sermons, or quiet words spoken in a hospital room. All those words, with varying success, have tried to make sense of that difficult question, why? I think these conversations are generally helpful and an indication of the love and concern we share within the Body of Christ for each other. Which is why it’s important that Luke 13 is in our lectionary… Dostoevsky once said, “I believe like a child that suffering will be healed and made up for, that all the humiliating absurdity of human contradictions will vanish like a pitiful mirage, like the despicable fabrication of the impotent and infinitely small Euclidean mine of man, that in the world’s finale, at the moment of eternal harmony, something so precious will come to pass that it will suffice for all hearts, for the comforting of all resentments, for the atonement of all the crimes of humanity, for all the blood that they’ve shed; that it will make it not only possible to forgive but to justify all that has happened.” Maybe he is right, but as he said, that takes a child like faith. It is much easier to put God under the microscope. It is much easier to formulate hypotheses about what God is doing and why? But let me caution you, be very careful with that. Your hypotheses (which you might confuse to be prophesies) will very very quickly degenerate into conspiracies or worse.. heterodoxies, heresies, secularism, and atheism, which to speak kindly but also bluntly, your opinions about what God is doing isn’t helpful to anyone. At best, it could lead to the confusion that you or anyone could fathom and or predict how God works. Or worse that he is the object of your study. Jesus refused to answer the implicit accusation of the crowd. Notice as well that he refused to provide any justification for the Father’s role in current events. And here’s the point, what he does say is incredibly revealing. Jesus does not allow the Father to be placed under the microscope. Notice Jesus turns the whole thing around and refocuses the discussion back onto the crowd. In essence, Jesus said, “People die… what about you?” Yes, Pilot killed good people and are you ready for that to happen to you? Yes, building do collapse crushing and destroying all that is inside. Are you ready for that to happen to you? Repent, therefore, and turn from your ways. It is not a coincidence that this exchange leads us into a parable about a fig tree that is not producing fruit. Ironically, if the man in the parable had it his way the tree would be cut down. Thanks be to God that the gardener intervenes and he secures one more season of opportunity. Understand the gardener did more than just intervene, he also commits to providing the tree the best opportunity for the tree to grow. He says he will till the soil and He will fertilize the land and he tells the man, if it does not produce in this next year than you can cut it down. Let me be clear, Jesus Christ desires to help you. He desires to remove all of your sins. That is why he died. That is why he rose. But to be fair to the text, we must note the pattern or rather the order to which this help is given. In order to receive the gardener’s cure, we must first take note of the problem. As uncomfortable as it might be, the problem in the text is not the gardener. It is us... the fig tree. As I said before, Jesus does desire to help and he does desire to forgive our sins but before he can get to that, Jesus wants us to have some honest reflection. He wants us to recognize the truth, and in the words of the Apostle John, “If we say we have not sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us.” That is where we ought to begin. By simply telling the truth, from there the right way is obvious. We have to fess up. We have to turn to God. We have to be on his road because his road is the only road that ultimately leads to something other than death. But the important question I have for you is this: are you able to hear the Good News even among all the bad news? My friend’s father just died. I asked him how he was doing. He said “all things considered I’m doing ok”. He also said he had just gotten into a discussion at the funeral with his cousin in which he told her “the biggest lie of the devil is that God wants you to be happy.” He said, “God doesn’t want you to be happy. He wants us to believe in him above all things. And when we believe and trust in him we have something better than happiness. We have eternal joy and resurrected life.” Can you hear good news in the bad news, like at a funeral? The reason judgment and repentance can be heard as Good News is because judgment and repentance always come along with the announcement of grace. Judgement and repentance is just another way of telling the truth, owning up to the way it really is, and taking off the masks. Ultimately, God promises to honor repentance and if we take the parable seriously, it was Jesus leading you all along. He is preparing the soil in hopes that you might bear the fruit of repentance. That is what Lent is all about… In the midst of eminent death, God wants you to live. God wants for you to have a life full of meaning and purpose, but the only way you can do that is through a personal trip to the cross. I think what the text is suggesting is that the proper response to another’s tragedy should be your own repentance. In other words, the trauma of another should bring you to your knees. Ultimately, the text is pointing us to the trauma of the One who should never have died, but did. To be sure, Jesus died, but he died for you and his last words were not law, but “father forgive them.” So for this reason I pray, as we continue through the Season of Lent, that on account of His work that we might bear His fruit. Brothers and sisters in Christ, don’t let the bad news get you down, because even bad news can be good news.
March 19, 2025 - 1 Kings 19:1-8
Grace, mercy and peace be to you from God our Father and Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This evening we are in the third Wednesday in Lent, and by now I imagine all of you are familiar with Elijah. And I suppose, given what we already know, I am stating the obvious when I say that this text is rather striking. It is striking because Elijah was, and still is, revered as one of the most important Old Testament characters. Elijah was a strong, powerful, and an important man in his day. Elijah was a prophet, a prophet of God, and an influential one at that. To be sure, Elijah was not a “wilting flower,” but rather a “prophetic superstar” that Jews believed would return in order to “prepare the way of the Messiah.” Consider this, he was so revered by first century Jews that when John the Baptist appeared on the scene, the Jews ask him if he was Elijah. Similarly, when Jesus cried out on the cross, some thought was calling for Elijah to come help him. To be sure, he was a “prophetic superstar.” Isn’t it striking then, that this revered Elijah would find himself in such a depth of misery in Chapter 19 that he prays for his own death? Recall your feelings when you first heard on the news that Robin Williams had committed suicide, or Anthony Bourdain, or more recently, Miss USA Cheslie Kyrst jumped out of a building. To say the least, the news was sickening because it is so hard to imagine how someone so revered, loved, and talented could be so depressed and so without hope. You too Elijah? Not long ago in this same text, Elijah worked spectacular wonders. It was through Elijah that God multiplied loaves of bread. It was through Elijah that God resurrected a boy from the dead. It was though Elijah that God even brought a three year drought upon the land; and in the same way, it was through Elijah that God restored rain to Israel. In Chapter 18 Elijah was so confident in the power of God that he called out 450 prophets of Baal for a showdown at Mount Carmel. Can you imagine 450 against 1? This does not sound like it is going to end well, and it didn’t. During this prophetic dual, Elijah humiliated the false prophets by calling down fire from heaven, and by the end of the day, the 450 prophets of Baal had been executed. And so it was, with one definitive blinding flash of light, the prophets of Baal were discredited and the truth of Yahweh vindicated, right? Well, not quite. One might expect that a great miracle such as the event at Mount Carmel would certainly be enough to convince. One might expect that this event would have surely forced the tide to turn away from Baal worship towards Yahweh. But it didn’t. At best, it failed to convince at least one very important person, that is, Jezebel, the queen of the Jews. She would not depart from her error and return to the worship of the one true God. Notice verse 1 and 2. “Then Ahab told Jezebel (all that had happened) and all that Elijah has done, she sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ’So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’ Elijah was shocked by this. He expected to see a revolution on account of the sign given at Mount Carmel, but there wasn’t going to be a great revolution. He expected a great turning toward God, yet there wasn’t going to be one of those either. In Elijah’s mind, the Word of God went out and it seemingly produced a worse situation then if it had never gone out in the first place. It was for this reason that Elijah fell into deep despair. You see, Elijah was angry at God for he thought that his ministry was over. It was done. It was finished. He could never return to Israel again. And so he fled for Mt. Horeb, in order to complain to God. It was on his journey that he became so overcome by frustration, depression, and self-pity, that he prayed to God and said, “I have had enough Lord. Take my life.” “My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even unto death.” “I am no better than my fathers before me.” It is unclear to me why Elijah expected to be better than his fathers. They too had their own ups and down. Elijah would be no different, and for that matter neither will you. Now maybe you have never prayed a prayer in which you were so upset that you prayed to die. My guess is that those types of prayers are rather rare; however, I imagine that you have prayed a prayer in which you felt that God was being unfair to you in some way or that He was not providing you with all that you thought you needed. After all, isn’t that really the essence of Elijah’s prayer, “God, why would you perform a spectacular wonder and not have it convert Jezebel?” “God, I would have done that one differently.” “God, after all that I have done for you, why did you not vindicate me?” “God, you weren’t being fair.” “You have set the people against me. Furthermore, I am ruined and it is your fault!” “Now, I am the only one left and because of you they now seek my life.” To be honest, I find myself praying prayers like this more often than I would like to admit. But there are obvious problems with sentiments like this? The focus is simply in the wrong place. Think about it, when you are in a situation where you are feeling like Elijah you are more concerned about the circumstances than the ultimate resource, that is, God. Many of us only have “a peace that passes all understanding” when the circumstances of life are stable and sure. You see, when Elijah should have turned toward God, to trust in Him, he instead made the focal point himself. Elijah turned the salvation story of Yahweh into a story centered on himself. But understand this, 1 Kings Chapter 19 is not really about the prophet Elijah. It is rather about God and what He has done. So what does the text tell us about God? Well, it tells us that God is faithful. And what does it mean for God to be faithful? For Elijah, it meant that God sent an angel to tend to his needs. The text seems to suggest that Elijah expected that God would provide for him in at least some way, given that he left for Mt. Horeb with no previsions… of course, he might have also simply expected to go there and die. But as the text states, God did provide. “Behold, an angel touched him and said to him, “Arise and eat. And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank.” So as one can see, 1 Kings Chapter 19 is a story describing God’s faithfulness. His people are callused and so deeply engrained in their life of idolatry that not even a great miracle will alter their faithlessness. Yes, their condition is a sad one, but it is not about them. It is about God and His determination to save a degenerate people like Israel. Now, I have to admit, just because God desired to save a wicked people like Israel that does not necessarily mean he desires to save us. So what does this text have to say to us today? Well, on its own… possibly not much. But don’t miss this, 1 Kings Chapter 19 is not an isolated story but it is rather one story among many in-which God time-and-time-again makes himself known as a faithful God. Consider that God made himself known as a faithful God to Abraham, Moses, David, Elijah, Isaiah and the Prophets. He also made himself known in the New Testament to Mary and Joseph, the disciples, and to Paul. God is faithful and we can see that throughout the Bible. But what does God’s faithfulness look like for us? Luther in the Small Catechism tells us what God’s faithfulness looks like for you. Luther writes that God has given you your body and soul, eyes, ears, and all your members, your reason and all your senses and he takes care of them. Moreover, he gave you clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land and animals and all that you have. God richly and daily provides you with all that you need to support your body and life. I think Luther is right. You certainly can consider your life and all that you have as evidence of God’s faithfulness. But I would like to point out that many, if not most, of life’s little luxuries are not things that were promised to us by God, nor are they things we should come to expect on account of God’s faithfulness. That being said, what do you suppose is a lasting sign of God’s faithfulness to us? Look to the cross. The cross was God’s ultimate display of faithfulness. It was there, at the cross, that Jesus took our sins and paid for all of them. In the midst of our doubts, fears and uncertainties, anxieties, and depressions, look to the cross for there is the place where God once and for all showed us just how faithful he was to us. An amazing God He is, faithful unto His own son’s death. And in order for you to know his faithfulness, He has provided to you His teachings and His disciple’s steadfast witness. He has given you His Word of promise through the church, through your Baptism, through the Lord’s Supper, through the confession and Absolution. Through several different ways. 1 Kings Chapter 19 makes plain that a life of faith is hard. Like Elijah, we ought not to expect our journey to be any easier than that of our fathers. The journey is long, seemingly always uphill, full of physical and spiritual ups and downs. But in the midst of life, listen and you shall hear an ever so small voice through the Word of God, reminding you that God is faithful and that he loves you and has chosen you to be his child. All this is because He is faithful even when you are not. Elijah is a man just like us… thanks be to God. In His peace, which surpasses all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.
March 16, 2025 - Luke 13:31-35
I’m sure you’ve heard some of these saying, “When you don’t know where you’re going, any road will work.” “If you don’t care where you’re going, you will probably end up somewhere you don’t want to be.” “If you don’t have a plan of where you’re going, you’ll end up nowhere.” Or said in a different way, “Why am I here?” “What am I living for?” “What can I do to give meaning to my life?” Jesus knew exactly why He was here. He had a plan. It was the plan His Father gave him. Prior to being born, the angel had said, “you will give birth to a son, you will name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” More than that, the Gospel of John begins with the words “in the beginning”. Point being, this plan of salvation has been the plan since the very beginning. Recall how we talked several weeks ago about Jesus’ mission statement. Recall Jesus’ mission statement. “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim liberty to the captives and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed, 19 to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.” The phrase “the year of the Lord’s favor” is a phrase that comes from Deuteronomy 15 to describe the Jubilee, a time when all debts would be cancelled. How exactly does He plan to accomplish this goal? Luke Chapter 13 makes it clear. But above all, Jesus knew His mission. He knew what He was doing. And He knew He was following the Father’s will for his life… and also yours. Today we hear Jesus’s own words and today we will hear Jesus describe His very purpose in terms of His suffering and his death in Jerusalem. His death on the cross is the reason why he was sent into the world and that is how he intends to cancel our debt. I’m sure some would desire that we focus on the more positive aspects of the ministry of Jesus. No doubt healing the lame and restoring sight to the blind are far less controversial and certainly more pleasant subjects. Don’t get me wrong, those are indeed good things… Jesus did a lot of those things and he will heal today and tomorrow. But on the third day, I will go to the cross. It is really interesting that he would talk in those terms. Because when we think of the third day, I normally think of the resurrection. But here, “On the third day I will reach my goal”… what’s the goal? The word for goal in greek is tetelestia. It means completed, to be finished. It is the same word Jesus used in the Gospel of John when he said on the cross “It is finished”. In both cases, he means to say, on the cross I have reached my goal. I have done what the Father has sent me to do as He gave up his life and died. Jesus has been directing us to the cross several times since Chapter 9. It was back in Chapter 9 when Jesus began what would become His extended journey to die, and most important, this is his journey and neither Herod nor the Pharisees can get in the way. Jesus’ words in Chapter 13 are deliberately provocative and confrontational? If that is surprising to you, the truth is that politically correct Jesus is something we have created in our own minds. In Verse 31 it says, “At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” It might sound like the Pharisees have concern for Jesus but given his response we can tell that is definitely not the case. The Pharisees were always looking for some way to silence Jesus. Why? Because they could not stand the way Jesus called into question their actions, their hypocrisy, their false piety, their legalism, their empty traditions, and their self-righteousness. As a word of warning, this problem with the pharisees is one in a series of problems with the pharisees that begins back in Chapter 7. It is always troubling to me that Jesus’ biggest problem is from religious authorities. I think we need to be careful to not fit into that category. So what were they doing? They were trying to intimidate Jesus, to scare him into doing what they wanted, but in its most basic sense, they were trying to stand in the way of His plan. Do we fit into that category? I’m sure someone might say we do. But here’s the thing, we may not do everything right… I guarantee we don’t, but I do not stand in the way of preaching Christ and his cross. In Verse 31, the Pharisees tell Jesus, Herod wants to kill you. To be fair, Herod was upset by the message of Jesus and this is to be expected. Why? Well, He preached the very same message John the Baptist had preached and we know what happened to him. That being said, notice Jesus’ response. “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.” Jesus called Herod, the king of the jews, a fox. In the scheme of things, foxes are not all that mean. They are cunning and crafty, but they normally run when they sense trouble. One thing I know about foxes is that they really like hens and chicks and that becomes a metaphor used in verse 34. But the irony of the story is that not only are Herod and the Pharisees not standing in the way of Jesus’ intended goal, they unknowingly are going to help Jesus accomplish his plan. Even though Herod was sly, and deceitful, and deliberately cruel, ironically not only was Herod not going to stand in the way, but in a definite way, Jesus was going to use Him. Brothers and sisters in Christ, thanks be to God that nothing stands in the way of Jesus… not you, not me… not Herod the King of the Jews, not cancer, not military might, nothing. ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course.” Nothing is going to stand in the way, and more than that, the point Jesus is making in the text is that although He had initially released many from the bondage of demons and sickness the final and penultimate release was still yet to be accomplished for you on the third day. Isn’t that what we get from the cross… the ultimate release from sickness and death. On the cross Jesus proved in a definitive way that He has power over death… in that death on that cross Jesus accomplished everything. It might sound striking for me to suggest that our central focus is not to carry out the Great Commission, or to feed the poor, or to treat one another as we would like to be treated. Let me be clear, evangelism and ethics are fundamental to the life of every Christian, they are expected, and moreover the Church will hardly continue in this place without it. That being said, the point I’m making is the reason why the Church exists at all is because of what Jesus did on the cross… that is the center of our Christian faith and I pray that would motivate us to bring the cross of Christ into our community. I can be ethical without it… but I cannot be saved without it. “O Jerusalem, O Jerusalem, how often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” In those words we see a heart broken Jesus. In the words of John “he came to his own and his own did not receive him. But to all who did believe, he gave the right to become children of God.” “How often would I have gathered your children together as a mother hen.” What a daring metaphor. I think the implied promise is that a mother does not give up on her chicks and so too neither does Jesus. As we have seen Jesus does not compromise on this plan. That means Jesus never gives up on you, and He does not give up on anyone else. To be sure, it does not take much to say you love someone like a mother. Anyone can say that… however, the reason why we know Jesus means what he says is because Jesus chose to take our punishment on the cross and that is exactly what a mother would do. Jesus says, “I must press on today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.” It is interesting to me, but I’m not surprised, Paul had a similar experience in which he uses the same terminology as Jesus does in Luke 13. In Acts Chapter 9, Paul encountered God while on the road to Damascus. In Acts 26 he talks about that meeting. He said, God told him his mission in life was to be a missionary to the Gentiles. Paul understood that deeply. So deeply, he also said in Philippians Chapter 3 just prior to our Epistle reading. He says, “Not that I have already obtained all of this (or already arrived, or already finished tetelestia), but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sister, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal. All of us then, who are mature should have the same attitude.” If Lent informs us of anything, it is that Jesus left the mount of Transfiguration. Although he could have stayed there, instead He descended into the valley of our pain and our sorrow. He took our screw-ups to the cross to redeem us. Although, it could be hard for us to relate to Jesus and his mission to go to Jerusalem to die on the cross for the salvation of the world, perhaps it is easier to relate to Paul… God had a plan for Paul… and a plan for you. Brothers and sisters in Christ, on account of Jesus and what he has done for you, press on towards the goal. This is not the time to become complacent, or petty, or sulky, or angry… As we continue through Lent, I pray the message of the cross would comfort you, encourage you, and enliven you to a life full of love in Christ. God has a plan for you. In the grace of God with surpasses all understanding Trust your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.
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March 12, 2025 - 1 Kings 18:1-39
I had a friend in college. He was a foreign exchange student from India. He was one of my best friends at school. During the four years we studied together, he came to faith, he was baptized, his family rejected him for it, but at the time, he seemed to be one of the strongest believers I knew. That is until a couple of years after we graduated I got a call from India and it was my friend. We talked for a while and we caught each other up about our lives. But then he said, I have something to tell you. I am no longer a Christian. He said, it is just too hard to be a Christian when my friends and family and everyone around don’t believe. I felt so distant from Jesus that I just couldn’t do it anymore. That phone call was about ten years ago and I have not talked to him since… haven’t been able to. To give a little more closure to that story, I recently found he married an old friend of ours from College and he moved back to the States. I have not been able to contact him… although I know he got married in the church and I assume he has found the much needed support he needed to get back on track with his faith. Unfortunately, it is common knowledge that it is hard to be a Christian in India. It is worse than that, I have heard Christian persecution is increasing. Why? Hinduism acknowledges 33 million gods and goddesses. When basically everything is God, what is the problem adding one more? The problem is that is not what Christianity is doing. We are not adding one more among many. We proclaim and believe there is One God and we claim there is only one mediator between God and man, Jesus Christ. That proclamation in India causes trouble. That proclamation in Israel to king Ahab by Elijah caused trouble. And I want us to acknowledge this troubling truth is far closer to us than we may like to believe. We live in a time of pluralism. To set the scene, Elijah has went to Ahab and Jezebel. Jezebel had brought in the worship of Baal and Asherah. Elijah had said, by the name of Yahweh there will not be rain in the land for 3 years. It is now the third year of a drought. Into an economy that depended on rain, Ahab’s rule, Ahab’s prosperity, Ahab’s prestige was in jeopardy. And those things were his idol. I know the theme of the series is Elijah: a man just like us, but today the theme is a little different: Ahab is a man just like us. Take my idol away and I’ll take you out… that is what Elijah is facing. Things are going to get confrontational fast because Elijah is set to return. And His name means my God is Yahweh and king Ahab and Jezebel say my God is Baal. In fact, during the drought they have been killing off the prophets of Yahweh. So what do you think they will want to do with Elijah? A man named Obadiah seems to know. His hesitation is not because he was faithless. We know he was a devout believer who had been risking his own life in service of the Lord. His hesitation was due to Elijah’s elusiveness. He had been hiding for the past three years and no one could find him. Obadiah knows Ahab is a ruthless king and you do not tell him you have found Elijah and then the next second you don’t know where he is again. I’d compare it to being in an airport security line. If you’re standing next to a TSA officer and make a bomb joke they will pounce on you… and not care that it was a joke. Obadiah knows Ahab will not react kindly to an Elijah joke. Let it be known the mark of devotion is it will cost you something… Bonhoeffer said, “The Gospel is not cheap… Hearing and reading the Word of God will cost you something. It might cost you some time or some money… It might cost you some friends or some family members…(in the case of my friend from India) Lord knows, it could cost you your life, and it might just change you into an altogether different person. But above all, it’s not cheap because it cost Jesus everything.” Jesus did not say the world will love you or that the world will find a way to tolerate you. He said the world will hate you. Our lives are marked as much as Obadiah and Elijah… hence the series title “Elijah: a man just like us.” Obadiah did as instructed and he went to Ahab, and Ahab went to see Elijah. And he said, “is that you troubler of Israel?” Elijah said, I have not made trouble for Israel. But you have abandoned the LORD’s commands and have followed the Baals. 19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.” Ahab cannot see the drought had nothing to do with Elijah and everything to do with Ahab’s own sin and idolatry. Elijah makes that clear when he says, “I am not the one causing you trouble. The trouble is that you abandoned the Lord’s command in favor to follow the Baals.” Idolatry is not merely playing with other gods. It always involves abandoning God’s commands. Elijah confronts Ahab with the truth and then he challenges him. Bring 450 prophets to Mount Carmel, which could also be called Baal’s bluff. Elijah says “I will meet you on your home turf.” With the odds of 450 to 1, and worse than that, because there was also Ahab, Jezebel, and a crowd. Let us understand the true trouble because the true trouble is easily mistaken. Often times we mistake God’s Word as the trouble, or the bringer of God’s Word as the trouble maker. One might say to a sermon or to a friend, “Leave me alone”. The true trouble maker is not God’s Word or the bringer of the Word. The truest trouble is idolatry. Our truest trouble is not a marriage. It is not a supposed friend. It is not a job or lack there of. It is not a culture war or big government. It is not a checkbook balance. The truest trouble is abandoning God and worshiping things that are unworthy. The first Commandment says “you shall have no other gods.” What does this means? Luther says, we should fear, love, and trust God above all things. In other words guard yourself from idols… but we don’t want to trouble our trouble. It reminds me of the scene from the Fellowship of the Rings when Gandolf confronts Bilbo Baggans who is struggling to hid the ring, and in that great prophetic voice Gandolf declared “Bilbo Baggons, I’m not trying to rob you. I’m trying to help you!” That is what God is saying through Elijah to Ahab… but Ahab is saying “no, you have come to take what is mine.” Into the midst of this, God is about to reveal himself on their home field. “Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.” But the people said nothing. Their silence is deafening. And in verse 22 they are given the rules of the match. Elijah says get 2 bulls, choose one for yourself, prepare it but do not set fire to it. I will do the same. Call upon your God and I’ll call upon the name of the Lord. The God who answers by fire is the true God. Understand, if Baal’s team had a mascot he would be depicted holding a club in one hand and a thunderbolt in the other. They believed Baal was the God of rain and fire. Of course, God has already shown that he controls the rain… “There has been no rain for three years…” now he is about to show that Baal does not control fire either. In verse 24 they accept the rules. In Verse 26 they prepare the bull and they begin to shout. They try to summon and provoke. They create a ruckus. And nothing happens. Because there is one thing true about false gods… they don’t answer when you call. In verse 27 Elijah does an end zone style taunt. “Shout louder!” Maybe he can’t hear you. Maybe he is busy or deep in thought or traveling. In the Hebrew, the word “busy” could be translated as “maybe he is having a bowel movement.” What do you do when you think God fails you? Do you get more frantic? God is not calling you to hysteria. He is calling you to trust Him. In Verses 30 and following, Elijah redirects us. He builds an altar with twelve stones. It was a way of saying the tribes of Israel are in ruins. His building of the altar was a sign back to what God had called them to be. And then he said douse the altar with water. Do it again. Do it a third time. All a while, they are in a drought and imagine the waiting as they went down the mountain to get the water. Can you see Elijah wanting them to think upon the question: who is the God of water and fire? Who is the true God? Elijah did not shout, manipulate, or bleed. He just prayed. And the true God came down. And when all the people saw it they fell prostrate and cried, “The LORD—he is God! The LORD—he is God!”” What is revealed in this text is Yahweh is the true Lord… who after sending fire will later send rain. The application this Lent is for us: learn to deal with the true God. Sadly, we often deal with God not as he truly is but as we have fashioned him in our image. Sadly, when God does not answer we act like the prophets of Baal. We think he is busy, or asleep, or traveling, and we need to awaken him with our good works or our manipulation, or babbling or blood. But that is not true at all, because we are covered by the blood of Jesus. It is his work not mine. It is his life he gave for mine. Therefore, we can know He is the one that sacrifices. He who gave a sacrifice on another mountain, that is the true God. Sadly, this evening, my struggle is not believing Elijah is a man just like me, but is God the same God here for me that was there for Elijah. God you don’t come down. It rains all the time, but I’ve never seen the fire. I pray and confess… I’m just like Elijah but are you the same God? And he says, “Yes. I have come down to you in the person of Jesus.” In 1 Kings I came down in fire, but in John Chapter 1 I came down in flesh to dwell among you. He is and always will be the one true God. And our focus should not be on his perceived absence but on our worship of him. Let us turn to his altar and away from all the false altars we have made. Jesus, the God of the universe, came down. The authorities believed he was a trouble maker and sentenced him to death. But the truth is Jesus took our trouble so that we might have life even in a troubled world. The real God has come down. May we continue to purge our life of God fantasies and may we worship him today and forever. And may we realize that he is not absent. He is present in the person of Jesus here and now. In the grace of God, which surpasses all understanding, trust your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus Amen.
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