10232016 - 22nd Sunday After Trinity - Apostle's Creed - "I believe in the Holy Spirit."

October 23, 2016
“I believe in the Holy Spirit,”

Growing up in the Bible Belt of the South, you easily find in most every town a Baptist Church on one corner, a Pentecostal church down near the creek and a Methodist or Episcopal church usually in town.  To find either a Catholic or Lutheran Church meant you had to drive sometimes an hour or more one way.  But what was very clear if you attended any of these churches no matter the name the Holy Spirit was working.  As a child I remember attending an African American church that clearly would call upon the Holy Spirit during the service, because the people believed in the clear and manifest work of the Holy Spirit.  They would shout from the pew, ‘preach it’, ‘Amen’ and other acclamations of praise.  For some of us this would be seen as rude and disconcerting, but these people would not just hear the Word of God, they would let the Word of God inspire them to speak and in one sense cheer on the preacher and this was a strongly conservative Lutheran Church.

At our latest LCMC Convention in Denver, Rev. Ebassa Berhanu preached the opening worship.  Though born in Africa he grew up in his formative years in Minnesota.  Not only have I met him, but attended many meetings with him.  When we would sit around the table talking, he is very reserved, very soft spoken and very quiet and introspective.  But Sunday October 2, 2016, Ebassa didn’t speak with timidity or lack of conviction.  Ebassa was given a gift that we confess in the Apostle’s Creed.  For nearly 30 minutes, Ebassa not only engaged, but mesmerized and inspired many in the audience.  He not only preached the Word of God and the purity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, but simply allowed himself to be led, inspired and emboldened to preach by the power of the Holy Spirit on him and his message.  Many people I talked with afterwards, who watched whether in person or on the internet agreed even three weeks later, Ebassa was on fire with the Holy Spirit.

You see, today we turn a page in our confession of the Apostle’s Creed.  We have talked in the last 7 weeks specifically of the Father Who Created the heavens and the earth.  Declared that Jesus Christ the Second Person of the Holy Trinity came down to earth and walked among us, healed many people, but ultimately was crucified, died, was buried, but rose from the dead and ascended into heaven.  And boldly confessed Jesus Christ will come again as we said last week to judge between the living and the dead.  And today as we turn the page, we now move to the Third Person of the Holy Trinity, the Holy Spirit.

We confess, “I believe in the Holy Spirit,”.  Our confession of the Holy Spirit is a simple, yet powerful acclamation that the same Spirit that inspired people to shout ‘Amen’ or inspires a preacher to speak with clear boldness and authority like Ebassa did at the convention, is the same Holy Spirit that we believe in and boldly claim today with our confession of “I believe in the Holy Spirit,”.

Martin Luther who pounded the 95 Theses on the door at Wittenberg almost 499 years ago in his Small Catechism makes a bold assertion of what not only belief in the Holy Spirit means, but how it applies to each of us today.  Luther writes in his explanation of the Third Article of the Apostle’s Creed, “What does this mean? I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to Him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with His gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith.”

You see this same Holy Spirit that is not only the Third Person of the Holy Trinity is directly responsible for our faith.  Luther says even our ‘reason or strength’ cannot be used to believe in what Jesus Christ did on the Cross of Calvary.  Unlike other churches, Luther says we cannot believe without the divine Work of the Holy Spirit.  For “the Holy Spirit has called [me/us] by the Gospel”.  The Holy Spirit breaks through our at times hard outer shell that we put on like a coat to protect us from the cold winds of Western Kansas, but the Holy Spirit cuts through all layers and powers that we think we have in order to ‘call each and every one of us by the Gospel of Jesus Christ.’

When we confess, “I believe in the Holy Spirit,” we believe the Holy Spirit is not only the Third Person of the Divine Trinity, but the Holy Spirit calls each of us with the Gospel.  For in this call, we receive the proclamation of God of the forgiveness of sins and life and salvation.  We hear the sweetest story ever told that changes our eternal destination.  For it is through and by the Holy Spirit that the Holy Spirit, “enlightens [me/us] with His gifts and kept [me/us] in the true faith.”  This is the gift of God our Father, His Son Jesus Christ, and by the divine Work of the Holy Spirit the gift that is offered unto us when we confess, “I believe in the Holy Spirit,”.

Yet you might ask, I don’t feel any different, I don’t understand how this can occur for me here in Goodland, KS?  Six years ago today in this very sanctuary, I took my ordination vows and publically accepted the yoke of responsibility signified by the stole as the Pastor of Emmanuel Lutheran Church.  I say this not, and let me repeat that, not to hold it over anybody, but simply because one person who was here that day felt how tangible the Holy Spirit was in our congregation of Emmanuel.

Jason Trupp who at that time was Pastor of the Four Square Church here in Goodland took part in my ordination reading one of the lessons.  After that day when meeting with other pastors here in town, Jason made not only an observation, but an acclamation of being able to see and feel the Work of the Holy Spirit here at Emmanuel at my ordination.  Not only in the ordination and installation, but Jason said the Holy Spirit’s presence was so tangible for him and his wife Beverly.  At that acclamation I agreed and said, yes it was present and we as the people of Emmanuel remember the Holy Spirit with a simple light fixture.

It’s not one of the lights out in the sanctuary proper that help you all to read the bulletin or sing the songs.  The Light that reminds us of what the Holy Spirit continues to do with our confession of “I believe in the Holy Spirit,” comes from the altar.  The eternal light is the beacon, the light in the darkness of our fallen world that daily reminds us of Gods continuing to walk with us in our walk of faith.  It is the reminder of how Martin Luther explained it in the Small Catechism.  Our belief in the power of the Holy Spirit Who still today inspires pastors to preach with vigor and vitality like Ebassa, but also the people of God to respond to God’s Work for us, in us and how the Holy Spirit keeps us in the true faith.  May we not only remember what the Holy Spirit does when we see the eternal light when we enter for worship or the darkened sanctuary at night, but believe and boldly confess with the entire church on earth, “I believe in the Holy Spirit,”.  AMEN.

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Speak Your Mind

10262014 Reformation Sunday (Observed)

Sermon Audio

October 26, 2014

What is our legacy?

May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord our Rock and our Redeemer.  AMEN.

            Last Sunday as I sat in the Sherman Theater, our Film of Faith entitled, The Ultimate Life challenged me.  It wasn’t the connection to The Ultimate Gift and the twelve gifts that Jason Stevens learned about.  It wasn’t learning the back story of how Red Stevens had built an oil empire with an express goal of being a billionaire.  It wasn’t the love story of Hannah and Red because of a chance encounter on a street in rural Texas.  What impacted me most was the statement that Hamilton, the man who was clinging to life itself after being hit on the 205 on his way to eat Christmas dinner with his mother challenged Red Stevens with as he lay in the hospital bed after receiving the donation of Red’s kidney.

  

          Hamilton said after acknowledging Red had accomplished his goal and dream of being a ‘billionaire’, “your legacy, your legacy is your family”.  Up to that point in Red’s life, money and being a billionaire was the only thing that mattered.  Red had sacrificed his family, relationship with his wife and children and the clearest impact he could have in the world after he was gone all on the altar of the almighty dollar.  The question that I asked myself thinking about myself and Emmanuel Lutheran church was, “What is our legacy?”

Today we stand at a crossroads in history here at Emmanuel.  We need to ask ourselves this question that will have lasting effects, not only upon our church, but our relationship with one another, with our community and even with our world.  We need to ask ourselves today “What is our legacy?”

Martin Luther stood up on October 31, 1517 and clearly spoke the words that changed history and the world when he uttered, “Here I Stand, I can do no other”!  This was the legacy that not only sent shock waves around the world, but clearly changed the landscape of the church and set in motion the Protestant Reformation.  The protest that Luther had was over the abuses that were occurring in the Catholic Church.  The Legacy impact he had we feel even today.  Because of Martin Luther standing up to the Pope, the Cardinals and the Catholic Church we gather here today.  Outside of our church on our front lawn is not a monument, but the legacy that Luther stood up for, our sign that calls us Emmanuel Lutheran Church.

The legacy we live does not begin with Luther, but connects us through Martin Luther to Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ stood in the temple and cleansed it because of the abuses that were occurring in His Father’s house.  Jesus Christ made the ultimate sacrifice of dying on the Cross in order that we might live and have eternal life.  Jesus Christ legacy was to enter into the world in a lowly manger, live as a lowly carpenter’s son, teach the truth about His Father and die on the Cross of Calvary to set us free.  We are Jesus Christ’s legacy, passed down by the Gospel writers, inspiring Martin Luther to return to the Gospel of Salvation and which we here today gather to celebrate with our remembering the Reformation.

But the question still remains, “what is our legacy?”  What will Emmanuel Lutheran Church be remembered for?  Will it be our being a church that was built by the founders blood sweat and tears only to fall in ruin?  Will Emmanuel be known in our community as a closed group of people?  Or will our legacy be different?

Jesus Christ wants our legacy to be measurable, meaningful and to matter for us and for our community.  This was why Jesus Christ was born in a manger, walked the desert of the Middle East, ministered to the people He met along the way and made His way to Jerusalem to die for you and for me on the Cross of Calvary.

What is Jesus calling us to?  To measure our legacy, not by how much money we give or have at the end, but the impact we have with the money God has entrusted to each of us.  As Jim Stovall wrote in the Ultimate Gift, “In the end, a person is only known by the impact he or she has on others.”

Our lives have meaning, not only to the parents that brought us into this world, but especially to our God Who redeems us.  Stovall said, “If we can learn how to live one day to its fullest, our lives will be rich and meaningful.”  We are each given every day of our lives to live to its fullest and “be the church” and fulfill our legacy.

For in our fulfilling our legacy, our lives will matter.  Do you think Martin Luther from the day he began his studies to be a lawyer knew he would ultimately leave law school, enter a monastery and end up saying, “Here I stand, I can do no other.”  Probably not, but our legacy like Martin Luther’s is extremely important for the people that we meet, it will matter in the eternal scheme of things.  All because God is working through each and every one of us in order that the Gospel of Jesus Christ will be shared, here in these four walls, when we pass through the doors of the church and each and every time we tell what Jesus Christ has done each of us and for all of mankind.

So I want each of you to ask yourself today, as a child of the Reformation, a saint of Emmanuel, redeemed by the Blood of the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.  “What is your legacy going to be?”  AMEN.

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