07022017 - 3rd Sunday After Trinity - “Hold firm to the faith in Jesus Who cares for us! (1 Peter 5:6)”

July 2, 2017
“Hold firm to the faith in Jesus Who cares for us! (1 Peter 5:6)”

Audio (Will be posted soon!)

Recently, I was playing Trivial Pursuit with Sarah and we came upon a question that for me jumped back to my childhood days in Virginia.  The question was about ‘stalagmites’ and ‘stalactites’ and their differentiation.  When growing up in Virginia there were a lot of caverns in the mountains that we toured.  And one of the memories was hearing the saying, “Stalagmites might touch the ceiling and stalactites hold tight to the ceiling” enabling one to correctly call it by its proper name in the cave.  This morning, Peter like the stalactites wants us to firmly ‘hold onto something’.

In his letter we heard in the epistle, Simon Peter is attempting to instruct the church, which is illegal at this time to remain true to what Jesus Christ had called them to become.  Hence why Peter, the Rock upon whose confession the church would be built wrote, “Hold firm to the faith in Jesus Who cares for us!”.

Peter is pointing to what Jesus Christ clearly and emphatically lived while here on earth and which Jesus Christ gave unto the people of God including His disciples like Peter.  It is a faith, humility and trust in Jesus Christ, because not only did Jesus Christ descend from heaven and be born of a virgin in Bethlehem, Jesus Christ died on the Cross of Calvary to offer all of mankind eternal life.

So powerful was the faith of Jesus Christ that He not only calls us to believe in Him, but trust in Him for all things.  For as Peter says, we are to “Hold firm to the faith in Jesus Who cares for us!”  Jesus Christ cares so much for us that we should not doubt, but hold firm in our faith, for Jesus Christ is not only the author of our faith, but Jesus Christ perfected it by His trust in His Father in Heaven.  And we who gather here can lay claim to Jesus Christ faith, through our baptism into Jesus Christ life, death and resurrection.

There are some who are wary of trusting in man and even God that much, because of their own personal experiences.  Yet, Peter wants us to believe and desires for us to “Hold firm to the faith in Jesus Who cares for us!”  For Jesus Christ cares for us so much it cannot be measured.  If we truly look to the Cross of Calvary, Jesus Christ willingness to go and die in order that we might live, should clearly not only show us but inspire us to believe that Jesus Christ cares for us that much.

In today’s world, with the rise of ISIS, the clear sense of doubt in our fellow man, whether justified or unjustified, we have only to step out in ‘faith’ and trust in spite of what our world may be telling us.  And this last week having Sky Ranch here to minister to our community and church is a prime example and opportunity that we have followed and ‘stepped out in faith’ in Jesus Christ and His offer of grace and mercy, for all of mankind.

The theme for this last week is based upon the celebration this year of the 500^th Anniversary of Martin Luther’s pounding the 95 Theses on the door at Wittenberg.  The counselors had had lots of energy as they helped us “Rejoice”, understand how God’s Word is “Revealed”, how we are “Reclaimed” through our baptism, how Christ “Restored” us on the Cross, how through communion we are “Renewed” and how we are “Reformed” in Christ’s image.

So impactful and powerful has this week been that Emmanuel has again, been inspired to remember, connect with the theme from this week and we can hold onto not only Peter’s confession, but his inspiration for us to be embraced by God’s love and look to eternal life as the gift that will never end.  For truer words could not be said then what Peter was inspired by the Holy Spirit to write.  We as the saints of Emmanuel should “Hold firm to the faith in Jesus Who cares for us”!  AMEN!

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06252017 - 2nd Sunday After Trinity - “Christ laid down His life for our brothers and sisters and each and every one of us! (1 John 3:16)”

June 25, 2017
“Christ laid down His life for our brothers and sisters and each and every one of us! (1 John 3:16)”

Audio

If you turn on the television, listen to the radio or even only hear the highlights of the days news, it sounds like our world is spiraling down and out of control.  From events in the Middle East, Asia and most recently in London and even our own Capital of Washington, DC, sadly life is no longer valued and people dying.  Sometimes as a result of evil in our world, at other times just a matter of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  The reality remains, we the church of Jesus Christ live ‘in the world’.

We as the church have a choice, either we can become like an ostrich and stick our head in the sand.  It seems the safe bet, no harm if we don’t encounter that which is evil.  No harm if we choose not to look and do what is right if we ‘don’t see it’.  Yet, when and if we do this, we then forget the truth that John the evangelist reminds us about from our epistle this morning.

In 1^st John 3:16, like the Gospel of John 3:16, we are reminded of the truth that sets us free.  John wrote, “Christ laid down His life for our brothers and sisters and each and every one of us!”  Jesus Christ was willing to faithfully stand firm against the evil of the devil and ‘lay down His life’ and die in order to offer us eternal life.  Jesus Christ knowing not only the future, knew that the only way we would have eternal life would require His life.  And it required Jesus Christ taking on the sins of the entire world and redeeming us and offering us the greatest gift of grace the world would ever see or be offered, eternal life.

What was the price?  To us and all of mankind, the cost is free because Jesus Christ has paid for our ticket to eternity.  All we have to do is believe, that Jesus “Christ laid down His life for our brothers and sisters and each and every one of us!”  When we believe this and lay claim to Jesus Christ offer of grace and mercy out of His great love for us, when we take our final breath, we will receive the gift of eternal life.  We will receive Jesus Christ offer of salvation out of His great love for all of mankind, including each and every one of us.

Jesus Christ offer of grace didn’t come out of obligation, but out of love for His Father in heaven.  Jesus listened to the voice of His Father and willingly Jesus “Christ laid down His life for our brothers and sisters and each and every one of us!”  How might we receive this?  It is simple, believe in Jesus Christ and His offer of grace on the Cross of Calvary, and feel His loving embrace as His follower.

This coming week we as Emmanuel offer to our community again the opportunity for the Gospel message of Jesus Christ to be shared and proclaimed again with Sky Ranch.  It is a long history and connection we have with Sky Ranch and their coming here is one way we not only impact our community, but inspire our church to embrace and be embraced by the love of God and His offer of grace and mercy for all of mankind.  How can we support this?  Simply by praying for God’s will to be done, helping us to get the word out and ultimately by loving everyone who walks through the doors of our church.

When we love unconditionally and without attitude or looking down on people no matter how we feel, God redeems not only the relationship with Him and the people we encounter even here in the church, but by His power inspires our love for each other through His perfect example.  We then are not ‘hiding our head in the sand’, but taking a firm stand with Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and insuring a simple fact.  That the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ can change us and faithfully saying with John, Jesus “Christ laid down His life for our brothers and sisters and each and every one of us!”  AMEN.

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06182017 - 1st Sunday After Trinity - “God is love, we who abide in love, abide in Him (1 John 4:16)”

June 18, 2017
“God is love, we who abide in love, abide in Him (1 John 4:16)”

Audio

Recently in Minnesota, a clergy friend of mine was presented with the most divine and honorable privilege and challenge.  On December 7, 1941, when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, numerous ships were damaged or destroyed and many lives were lost.  For those who have visited Pearl Harbor’s National Park monument it is a clear reminder of the scope of loss and how some individuals’ remains were not recovered and how some individuals upon their passing wish to return to be with their shipmates as a final resting place.

Now decades later, a young man killed that day whose remains were found, but never identified, finally with today’s technology was identified.  He was from Minnesota and his name was Glaydon Iverson.  He was killed on that faithful day aboard the USS Oklahoma.  And only last month was finally able to be returned to his family.  After years of uncertainty for the family he was finally able to be laid to rest back home at Emmons Lutheran church in Minnesota.  He was honored and given the burial in his hometown with full military honors that his family desired surrounded by his community and especially his church.

Some would ask, why does God allow things like Pearl Harbor to occur?  Others would immediately ‘get angry’ and ‘blame God’ for everything that is happening in life.  Whether the tragic loss of life during war, the weather that causes roofs, windows and siding to be replaced, like last fall here in Goodland, hail storms that mow crops to the ground or moisture that comes at the wrong time and causes not just Plan B, but even Plan C.

Easily, we could blame God for everything, because He is the one Who created the World.  Yet, what we at times forget is that we who live today cannot ‘buy and sell’ God like a possession or commodity, nor can we gain His favor nor get what we want all the time.  We like the VBS theme for the pre-school a few years ago, need to Fully Rely On God.

How can we do this?  It takes our exercising our muscles of faith given in Holy Baptism and listening to and leaning fully on the words from John the evangelist this morning.  John wrote this eternal truth we need to remember and hold onto dearly and clearly, “God is love, we who abide in love, abide in Him (1 John 4:16)”. When we understand “God is love”, we can clearly understand that God as love has our best interest in mind in all situations even though it may not seem that way at the time.

Daily we encounter situations where it seems the world is against us, we are lost and we are easily angered at our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ and even at God.  But God’s love not only can sustain us, but enable us to understand, when the world seems to be crashing down around us, God is still there, loving us, walking with us and holding us clearly and dearly in the palm of His Holy hands.

Abram, from our Old Testament lesson this morning, shows and demonstrates clearly this faith and the exercising of this faith in God and God’s love for him.  What occurred in Abram’s exercising his faith?  God when Abram exhibited and put his faith in God, God “reckoned it to him as righteousness”.  So if we like Abram believe in God with our whole heart, we to not only will be embraced by God’s love, but “we who abide in love, abide in Him”.  And with our ‘abiding in love’ and ‘abiding in Him’ God will not only embrace us, but when it is our time to enter the church triumphant, we will be welcomed into eternity and fully embraced by the love of God that we find in what His Son, Jesus Christ willingly did on the Cross of Calvary for each and every one of us.

Today on this Father’s Day, there is for us a final example and demonstration of love for one’s fellow man from that faithful day in December when so many lost their lives.  The Chaplain on the USS Oklahoma Father Aloysius H. Schmitt was also tragically killed, but during the recovery after, they found him and his chalice and Latin Prayer book.

Father Schmitt unlike most individuals was alive and tried to escape.  Father Schmitt demonstrated the love of God for us by his willingness to when he could not escape from the ship, he out of his love for his fellow man helped at a bare minimum 12 men to get to safety with his blessing before succumbing to the watery grave.  It is clear his faith in the love of God and His Savior, Jesus Christ sustained him and is a beneficial and clear example for each and every one us of faith active in love.  For the page in his prayer book from that faithful morning was a final word through him to us today from Psalm 8:1.  David wrote, “O Lord, our Lord, How majestic is Thy name in all the earth.”  Hence why today on this Father’s Day, when we celebrate Father’s who willingly sacrifice themselves for their families,  we clearly declare, not only that God’s name is majestic, but with a firm faith that “God is love, [and] we who abide in love, abide in Him.”  AMEN.

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08142016 12th Sunday After Trinity - Jesus has pity on even the least of these, including us!

August 14, 2016
Mark 7:31-37 – Healing of Mute Man
Jesus has pity on even the least of these, including us!

If you have ever had a child who was sick, a parent who was ailing, a friend who was dealing with sickness, whether cancer, long term sickness or even the frailty of their body, have you ever prayed for them or someone you know to be healed?  I’m not just talking feeling better, but their complete healing? 

This morning we have heard from our Gospel the story of Jesus healing the deaf man who also had difficulty speaking.  All of us have encountered individuals with similar challenges.  Jesus clearly not only had the power, but also the authority to heal this man of his malady, both of hearing and speaking.

Could you imagine this man being led to Jesus by his friends?  His family and friends had probably carried him when he was younger and taken him to many healers throughout the land and his lifetime.  For some today we would be willing to drive or fly across the country for a glimmer of hope.  Yet, for that young man, the healers and their practice upon this man was to no avail.  Every person they had brought him to did not change his condition.

Yet, as we have heard today, Jesus during His lifetime and ministry on earth simply had pity upon the least of these, especially this deaf and mute man.  It may not seem like much when we are healthy, but for a man, who had for his entire life, never heard the birds sing, been able to speak plainly and be understood or be welcomed because he was not ‘normal’, this change was radical.  Jesus gave this man his life back in a way that is utterly profound, but it wasn’t an herb he used, nor a new treatment that had gone through the trials that we are so used to hearing about today.  Jesus did something radically simple.

Simply, Jesus not only laid His hands upon this man, but took this poor man’s hands in His own and gave him the freedom he had never experienced.  This same offer of freedom Jesus offers to each of us today.  Unlike the man who was freed from the shackles and prison of the lack of speech and hearing, we who gather here today are offered a greater freedom from something far more sinister.  Today, we are offered freedom from the binding of sin in our world into the life giving world of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

During these uncertain times, whether from a world that is at war with ISIS, global climate change where the experts tell us the ocean is rising or so close to home of the uncertainty of the elections in the fall or the price of wheat and corn being at a low not seen in our collective lifetime, we who gather here today want, need and desire stability.  As Christians our uncertainty can find balance and freedom in only one source and one surety, our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

When the deaf and mute man took the hand of Jesus Christ his reality radically changed.  It wasn’t like the hope we sometimes find sitting in a medical office or surgery waiting room when a surgeon comes out and says, “we got it all” like with cancer surgery or an emergency procedure that saves one’s loved one’s life.  The reality that changed for the deaf and mute man was of his taking Jesus Hand and a clear and profound healing that gave his life to him like he had never known.

This morning we are offered this same chance when we come and take Jesus Holy Hand offered for each and every one of us.  It isn’t about our being healed from sickness or disease, but Jesus wants to take our hand and release us into the world to tell others what a life of eternity looks like with Him.  Jesus wants to take our hand and help us enter into a new relationship with Him and it be a relationship, not of empty promises, but of fulfillment made in and for each and every one of us.  Jesus wants to take our hand and escort us into the reality found not on the streets of Goodland, but in our being welcomed into our heavenly home when we go to be with Him for eternity.

Jesus wants to help us like the deaf and mute mans friends and help us help others to take Jesus hand.  Hence why our sermon hymn this morning is “Precious Lord, Take my hand”.

All of us have probably heard and have sung this song numerous times.  But the story of this song has a deeper and more profound meaning.  Thomas Dorsey, penned these lyrics in 1932 after his wife Nettie died in childbirth and soon after Thomas lost the child they were bringing into this world.  Steeped in the loss of both the love of his life and the child they were planning on raising, Thomas, with these lyrics gives us the greatest gem in understanding what it means to take Jesus hand.

The simple prayer this hymn prays is a plea by a man who has lost everything, but clearly understands what is to be gained when Jesus takes our hand.  The question we need to ask and answer this morning, will we remain in our self-imposed prison, or will we be liberated like the deaf mute man and believe Jesus sure promise when we sing “Precious Lord, Take My Hand”?

It is my prayer that each of us take Jesus Hand and feel the freedom from that which binds us which is found in the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  For Jesus Christ has pity even on the least of these, including each and every one of us gathered here this morning.  So let’s firmly, faithfully and fully believe the words that we sing and respond with our simple plea “Precious Lord, Take My Hand”!  AMEN.

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11162014 22nd Sunday After Trinity

Gospel Reading Audio
Sermon Audio

November 16, 2014

What fills your cup?

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.

At this time of year when celebrations with family and friends ramps up into high gear for the holidays we all experience a common use of one of our five senses.  When you enter a home, whether your own or another abode as a family member or guest, the first thing that everyone notices is the smell.  Today we have either an opportunity or a burden and challenge, depending upon your vantage point of smelling the feast that has been prepared for us downstairs by the ladies of the congregation.  So I will try and keep the sermon short so we can celebrate by eating some turkey and all the fixings together as the family of God and brothers and sisters in Christ downstairs.

It is clear when anyone sets a table for a feast, there is always a plate, silverware a napkin and finally a cup.  As a child I remember we would get the small cups, which were either plastic, covered or indestructible, because someone would always drop their drink and that was the last thing that any parent wants to do on Thanksgiving or Christmas, clean another spill by their child or have an expensive trip to the emergency room to get stitches or even the dry cleaner to clean the fine linen that is only used during the holidays.

For adults sitting at the table during the holidays at our house there would always be the opportunity to have a glass of wine, so the fine stem china wine glasses would be set at the adults seats.  As I grew older I even would have one of the more expensive wine glasses, and mine would have either water, milk or grape juice, but not wine.

But this begs a question for we who gather here this morning that we need to ask and answer during our Thanksgiving celebration, “What fills your cup?”  Not the physical cup we drink from, but our spiritual cup.

In our Epistle lesson this morning Paul states simply that we need to be “always offering prayer”.  When we begin with an attitude of prayer in the morning, we carry throughout the day an attitude of gratitude, generosity and concern that clearly demonstrates our thanks for what we have been entrusted with from God.  As the word thanksgiving shows we have the greatest opportunity at this time of the year to offer our heartfelt thanks for the gifts that God has given us.

As farmers, there are times when you survey the fields that have been struck by an unrelenting hail storm, a wind storm that has knocked all of your ready to harvest corn to the ground or even a drought that seems to last for years.  Immediately what comes to mind is how will I pay the note, how will I make ends meet until the next crop is harvested, is the field on the other end of the county going to be hit by this storm?  All of this is the worry of daily life of a farmer here on the plains of Northwestern Kansas.

When we encounter this reality, the last thing we sometimes can do is pray or be thankful.  But God wants us to do just that.  Offer prayer to God and call on Him at our darkest hour as well as our time of clear celebration and thankfulness.  For God’s promise is true, “He Who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus”.  The good work is our baptism into Jesus Christ life, death and resurrection.  The good work of our baptism is all about our eternal salvation, not the things that will pass away, but the eternal.  Hence we return to the question, “What fills your cup?”

Paul goes on to say, “this I pray, that your love may abound” and that we may be “blameless until the day of Christ”.  Paul wants us to share with one another the love of Jesus Christ not only around the table and feast we will share downstairs in the fellowship hall, but more importantly the feast we share in a few moments from the altar of Jesus Christ true Body and Blood.  When we share the love of Jesus Christ with each other and allow this to fill our cups  to overflowing, we no longer focus on what ‘drives us nuts’ or ‘worries us’, but look past the faults, the things we have no control over and we are empowered to love as Jesus Christ first loved us.

This is the good work in our baptism that Jesus Christ wants us to share with one another.  Jesus Christ is calling us to share this with each other every day of our lives especially when we gather here to celebrate our Thanksgiving feast, but more so His Hoy Supper that gives us the forgiveness of sins and life and salvation.  For when we share the grace of God with one another in this meal, we fulfill Paul’s final statement from our text.  Paul says, “having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ” we no longer will see the faults of others, but share in the fruit which God gives us in the Holy Sacrament we share from around the altar, the meal of salvation of His Body and Blood offering us eternal life.

Then when we gather downstairs or around our family tables at Thanksgiving we can with one another remember God’s gifts given to us and give thanks and praise as we gather together as brothers and sisters in Christ.  We gather today offering our prayers of thanksgiving and can clearly see and share the blessings of the grace of God offered on the Cross of Calvary for all of mankind.  Especially all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel ready to share in the feast Jesus Christ offers us from the altar of His Body and Blood and with one another downstairs as we celebrate the fruits that God has entrusted to us and we share with one another of the grace of Jesus Christ with all of mankind.  AMEN.

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10052014 Sixteenth Sunday After Trinity

Gospel Reading
Sermon Audio 

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

We are no different 3000 years later

In the faith based movie, Courageous, Adam, the main character encounters a reality dreaded by all parents, the loss of a child.  For Adam, a policeman who faces dangerous situations  by putting his own life on the line daily, with this more personal loss the questions were numerous and the answers were scarce, but the meaning and implication was very personal and the hurt was very tangible.  In the same way, our Old Testament lesson this morning also tells of the loss of a child to a widow woman.  And Elijah, the great prophet is expected to answer her questions of why, but also bring the woman’s son back to life.  The reality is that even Elijah knows, he cannot perform this miracle on his own, Elijah needs God.

We who gather here 3000 years later are not any different than Elijah, the widow woman or Adam from Courageous.  All of us need God, and the church especially today needs God.  But for this woman and we who gather here, we daily doubt if the church and even if God cares.

The mother was deaf because of her reality

For the grief stricken mother, dressed in clothes that are only worn for mourning, hunched over the lifeless body of her son, any words spoken by Elijah would clearly fall on deaf ears.  This woman isn’t listening, she has mentally and emotionally shut down.  Because her world, her child, lay motionless in the bed.  But Elijah knows his actions done by God through him will either break this woman’s faith or enable her to see that God does care for her and her son.

Here and now vs. eternity!

For this mother, she sees clearly the ‘here and now’, but does not understand how her present reality connects to eternity.  This woman cannot see past her grief and fear of being alone like she was before Elijah entered her life and the eternal implications.  We who gather here today are no different, our choices we make on a daily basis have eternal consequences, but we, being human, lash out at our friends, neighbors and especially our family in fear, because of the unknown or it isn’t going our way.  Whether how we will pay the farm note, put food on the table, the clothes we wear or even how we will give back to God here at church.  Our reality, the here and now, crowds out of the picture our eternal consequences and God’s potential impact.

Paul and the Ephesians

Enter Paul, and his letter to the Ephesians.  In his letter, Paul connects clearly and puts down in black and white what Elijah portrayed and lived in the sight of and for the widow and as an example for us today.  Simply Paul wants us to, not lose heart, be strengthened, you will comprehend the love of Christ, so that you will be filled with the fullness of God.  This is all about God and His promises and how God fulfills them for this mother through Elijah and even for each of us gathered here today in the name of Jesus Christ.

The role of the Spirit of God

The reason God continues to be interested in each of us today is because of God’s promises, from the Garden of Eden to the desert where this mother mourns her child to we who gather here at Emmanuel Lutheran in Goodland, KS.  The promise that God made to Adam and Eve in the Garden, the widow and to us today was to give us the Spirit of God.  God’s Spirit is inside of us through our baptism and we can find comfort in this gift from God.  But daily we doubt God.  When we are struck by the arrows that Satan loses at us, they find their mark and we easily forget about the Spirit of God, doubt the Spirit of God exists inside of us and wonder why we feel ‘alone’.  This widow was no different than any of us gathered here today and all of us especially the church need the Spirit of God today in each of our lives.

God’s Spirit Strengthen’s us

And today in the most powerful way God reaches from heaven into each of our lives and offers us His Son, Jesus Christ.  Not only does God change the playing field and landscape of our reality, he navigates us to a different truth that is fulfilled in the Spirit of God in our lives.  Just as it was no accident that Elijah came into the widows life and prophesied about her son’s birth, Elijah also had a purpose of showing the clear action of the Spirit of God by raising her son from the dead.  Today when we partake of Jesus Christ precious Body and Blood, God’s Spirit enters into each of us again to strengthen us in our daily lives.

We will comprehend the love of Christ

As God strengthens us we are enabled to see with the eyes of faith, given to us in our Baptism into Jesus Christ life, death and resurrection.  We no longer will be blinded by the devil and society or what is ‘accepted’ by those around us who only have an earthly perspective, but we through our remembering our baptism will be made new through the gift of God in Jesus Christ.  When we make the decision to come forward to partake of Jesus Christ Body and Blood around His altar this morning we will more fully comprehend the love of Jesus Christ for each and every one of us.  And this is the same love lived out by Elijah for the widow.  This event was pointing to what Jesus Christ would do on the Cross of Calvary for all of mankind nearly 1000 years later.  And we who live 3000 years after Elijah and the widow can be filled to overflowing with the love and fullness of God as was promised to us and shared for and with us in our baptism and be strengthened by God and clearly comprehend the love of Christ for each of us on a daily basis.

So what are we to be as the church?

Yet, the elephant in the room is what does this have to do with the church?  Last week I spoke of our finding purpose for our lives.  How we need to find and have a purpose for each of us.  But today, for the church where we are gathered this morning, “what are we to be as the church?”

One of my pastoral mentors loved the ocean and would spend as much time there as he could and he found a picture that represented what the church was to be.  It simply was a lighthouse with its keeper standing outside of the door of the lighthouse.  The lighthouse protecting the man from the ocean was at the center of the picture.  If you were to step back and see the full picture, a wave, not 10 feet, not 25 feet, but 75-100 feet tall was crashing into the lighthouse on the opposite side, but the keeper was unmoved.

This picture epitomizes for me what the church can and should be.  The church is a place of safety from the waves of life that crash against us.  The church is built on the solid rock of Jesus Christ and His Word.  And we should not shy away from engaging each other as well as the world and be a beacon of what Jesus Christ did for all of mankind and offers each of us today.  We have the opportunity to show and share the Spirit of God in our lives and be the church of Jesus Christ with a purpose which was built on the foundation of the meal we are about to share.

Our sermon hymn this morning is a favorite of mine because it reminds me of four things, We need God, God is in control, He gives us His Body and Blood and God daily offers all of us grace and mercy even though we don’t deserve it.  This is the reality that God changes for each of us on a daily basis.  God offers mercy to all of us by coming to church weekly and through our sharing the story of Elijah, the widow and her son who was raised from the dead.  God shows clearly he does care for us.  God’s care is not only from a story from 3000 years ago, but made clearly manifest for each of us today in sharing His Son’s precious Body and Blood.  In this meal God imparts to each of us the love, the truth and the reality that like the lighthouse, God is here to protect us from the waves of life.  This is a protection God offers for all of mankind, including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning seeking God’s presence.  AMEN.

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08172014 Ninth Sunday After Pentecost

Sermon Audio

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

“Are you ready for some football?”  This iconic song and statement means one thing, sports are starting back up! Whether it is football, the coming of the playoffs in baseball as well as the beginning of school, it is certain that we will watch commercials advertising the sports and showing the stars of the different sports.  Currently the NCAA is in talks to pay college athletes for using their likeness on posters and other advertising, because kids look up to these athletes and see them as the model and example.  But the reality and question we here in the church need to address is, who do we look to as an example?

Clearly, there are probably three distinct groups that we look to in our daily lives.  They include our parents, our teachers and even the professionals that we pay lots of money to go and see, or sit in our living rooms and dedicate our Saturday’s and Sunday afternoons to watch on television.  But what do these three groups provide as a model for us?

Certainly our parents are clear examples of people we want to emulate.  Recently there was a clear expression of why we look to parents to emulate by a mother who was diagnosed with cancer.  But her cancer as well as the situation wasn’t normal.  She found out she had cancer after she learned she was pregnant.  Instead of sacrificing the child, which would have been publically acceptable, she chose to carry the child to term, allow the cancer to continue to grow along with her child in the womb and ultimately give birth at full term, before she began treatment for the cancer.  This woman now has been told she has less than a year to enjoy and bond with the child she would not sacrifice giving life too.  Why would we not use her as our example?

Or teachers who not only teach our children, but model for our children more during their waking hours than even parents do.  They not only are expected to provide discipline, compassion and even provide for them, but teach our children how to read, write and do arithmetic.  But even teachers model something above and beyond.  Remember both Columbine and especially Newton, Massachusetts.  There were stories told of a teacher who hid her students in the cabinets and told the gunman they were gone and sacrificed herself, in order to save the students she loved and cared for.  We have seen the impact of those tragedies, both by our redesigning our schools here in Goodland and refitting them to protect our children.  Why would we not use teachers like this woman as role models for our children?

We also not only see the professionals who play the sports, but how the media portrays them or in some cases crucifies them and their beliefs.  Having lived in Niagara Falls, New York, I watched Jim Kelly quarterback the Buffalo Bills.  But now Jim Kelly no longer on the radar or in the cross hairs of the media, fights for his life with cancer.  Yet he continues to hold his firm convictions not only as a parent but also as an advocate for children with mental and physical challenges.  Tim Tebow closer to home for us, former quarterback of the Bronco’s received more scrutiny than most for not only his upbringing, but especially his faith in God and willingness and desire to show it both on and off the field.  Why would we not want to follow the model of those who show their faith willingly and in some cases to their downfall?

No matter who your own personal example may be, each and every person has character traits that can both attract praise as well as criticism.  Yet as Christians, members of Emmanuel and especially members of the church, we have to ask ourselves the most serious question, who do we look up to as our example?

The simple answer should be Jesus Christ.  Jesus Christ modelled for all of humanity not only the desire to do the Father’s will, but the willingness to sacrifice Himself because of His great love for us.  If you could have had a conversation with Paul after he had written this letter to the Corinthians, he would have plainly stated Jesus Christ was the person we need to look to most as an example for our daily lives.  Years ago the “WWJD” bracelets and key rings were the rage, but have fallen out of constant circulation.  But the reality remains, we as Christians not only can ask but look to Jesus Christ, what He was willing to do for all of mankind and know He is the best example for us today.

Paul in his letters always pointed and had his ultimate centering in and upon Jesus Christ.  Prior to his personal experience of being blinded on the road to Emmaus, Paul persecuted the underground church that followed the teachings of Jesus Christ.  But after encountering Jesus Christ, Paul preached tirelessly, through the night in order for the Gospel of Jesus Christ to be preached and proclaimed.  Paul confessed he was not the perfect example, but Jesus Christ was and came to set us free.  Paul was not afraid to point to Jesus and we can daily look to Jesus Christ as not only our ‘true North’, but our example for each of us.

Ultimately as the church, we can and do point to Jesus Christ as the perfect example.  We see His likeness in our stained glass window above the altar.  Yet the reality remains, we even have examples here among us today that emulate and model for each of us a clear measure of sacrifice.  Whether it is the mother that speaks on behalf of and represents a departed son and continues his legacy of service in the community and making the world a better place.  Or the sacrifice many families in our community daily make of taking care of their loved ones, as they see them diminish and ultimately go to meet their maker.  Or even those who watch as their children who should have grown up and had families of their own, now have to be cared for by the very parents who gave them life.  We have examples right here among us where Jesus Christ is clearly visible and present in action and deed by the people we call brothers and sisters in Christ.

Clearly this is where we can see and individually lay claim to the example given us by Jesus Christ and know that Paul was true and correct when he said, “God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.”

We each know people who are in need of being introduced to Jesus Christ and we as the church have the opportunity not only to introduce them, but continue to model for them who our example is in Jesus Christ.  Recently, I saw the movie “God is not Dead” and was struck by not only the profound opportunity, but clear impact one person can have upon countless lives.  But it was not the philosophy professor, nor the young man that defied everyone he held dear to defend Jesus, but it was the Pastor that for me that emulated the example we need.  Though he had the best laid plans for vacation, God used him and orchestrated the greatest opportunity and element of seeing and being an example and shoulder to cry on by many of the characters in the movie.  While he knelt at the side of the Philosophy professor, he truly understood Who his example was in Jesus Christ and what he needed to do for this man he had just met, but had been counseling people that were impacted by him.  It wasn’t make the man comfortable, but offer him the opportunity to confess Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior.  It crystalized for me what we need to be challenged to do as Christians, but also the church, not just be willing, but clearly be open to point to the Man Jesus Christ in all of our opportunities that daily present themselves.

We need to daily point to and introduce others to the perfect example we have that is found in Jesus Christ.  We need to be challenged to not only emulate Jesus Christ, but be His emissaries here in the church, and also and especially in our community.  And when our ‘perfect plans’ are changed, see it as our being used to not only give greatest glory to God, but used for His Glory.  For “God is faithful” and we can point to Jesus Christ as our perfect example for all of mankind that we daily encounter, including all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.  AMEN.

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08102014 Eighth Sunday After Trinity

This sermon will be preached both at Emmanuel Lutheran Church, Goodland, KS and at First Saint Paul's Lutheran Church, Burlington, CO.  I will be posting both audio's of the sermon.

Sermon Audio Goodland
Sermon Audio Burlington

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

Do you remember the first time you said, “Dadda” or “Momma”.  Probably not, but your Father or Mother probably remembers clearly the sweetness of the moment.  Maybe even in your baby book they recorded the exact date, time and memory.  For our 21^st Century culture and the invention of the cell phone with a camera, some parents even captured the moment on video and have shared it with their friends via Facebook, Instagram and even Youtube.  But the reality is that there are some couples who have never heard those words.  Whether it was due to infertility and the inability to have children or even parents who have lost a child due to no fault of their own before birth.  The memorable phrase of “Dadda” or “Momma” or even Paul’s phrase from our lesson “Abba, Father” tug at our heart strings.

But Paul, isn’t just talking about children calling out simple words like “Daddy”, Paul is speaking about we Christians being adopted by God.  In, through and by our baptism into the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, we have been claimed by God and as Paul says, “received a spirit of adoption as sons [and daughters]”.  We are not on the outer limits of the realm of Christianity, where God is far away, we are close and like Father and child, brought closer together and told of God’s love and shown His love in a special way.

We are shown the love of God through His Word, being proclaimed, the sacrament being celebrated, the fellowship of the saints of God, all because we are as Paul says, are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ”.  In the movie the Ultimate Gift, the heirs of the family fortune, who know how much the patriarch is worth all gathered around the table for the reading of the will.  Each of them expected to receive the bulk of his riches or a great share, because they were the ‘perfect’ children.  As the will was read, each received a small portion of the estate, but not what they wanted or felt they deserved.  We to who are Christians will receive our inheritance from God.  It will also not be what we deserve, but out of the great mercy of God and we will receive this only because we are heirs of God through our being washed with the Blood of the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the World.

And as heirs we have an advocate, the Holy Spirit.  When we were baptized in the font, the Holy Spirit was given to each of us and Paul reminds us, “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God”.  The Holy Spirit not only claims us, but indwells within each of us.  But we suppress the Holy Spirit.  For some it is because, that is not how we were raised or taught and it is not ‘Lutheran’, others suppress the Holy Spirit because we don’t want to be seen as a ‘Holy Roller’ or ‘Slain in the Spirit’.  But the reality is, God’s Holy Spirit indwells in each of us and we are empowered to be the children of God and heirs of the mysteries of God for the all the people of God.

It is like we have been given a check for “$1000” and we cannot just put it in the bank or use it for something we want to buy.  There are stipulations on this gift.  It must be given away.  What would most of us do?  Go to a charitable organization and give the money to them with all the fan-fare and acknowledgement that our society likes to give when a ‘big gift is given’.  But what if instead of giving it all away at once, we were required to look at this gift differently and cash it in for 1000 one dollar bills, or even better, 4,000 quarters, or even a greater challenge of 10,000 dimes.  What could we do with 10,000 dimes, but walk up and down the streets of a large city and put the dimes in the parking meters for people we do not even know?  This is exactly what God has done with and for each of us, gifted us with His Holy Spirit.  God didn’t tell us as heirs that we had to use His gift to each of us only for ourselves, but empowered each of us to use our gifts of cooking, fellowship, companionship and love for people that we know and love and share it with one another.  God has given us the greatest opportunity in our being given the Spirit of God to be the children of God and gift others with our blessings.

Nowhere is this any clearer than in the One Spark Foundation.  Daily, they share the sparks of life that impact people the most and bless people.  Here is an example from One Spark of the Holy Spirit working in one woman’s life. 

Recently, there was a mother who pulled into the drive thru at McDonald’s and she had seen a homeless man walking to the back of the parking lot to the trash dumpsters.  In the car with her was her mother-in-law and daughter.  While ordering, she added an extra dollar hamburger and fries.  Upon doing this her daughter asked why?  Simply she stated, there are many people that are not as lucky as they were and they may find someone like that.  After getting their food the woman pulled back into the parking lot and pulled up to the trash dumpster that the homeless man was now searching through for any food.  Rolling down the window the mother proceeded to get the man’s attention handed him the burger and fries.  Through the tears of gratitude and unspoken words of the homeless man, the mother knew she had made a difference, not only in this man’s life, but also the witness who was sitting in the back seat of her car.

We to, who gather here today have the greatest opportunity to be ‘led by the Spirit of God’ and be the “children of God”.  For that is what we have been baptized into and empowered to be as God’s Children who not only cry out “Abba!  Father!” but enabled by God to share our love of God with all of mankind, including those who are not here to hear and experience the Gospel of Jesus Christ through our Holy Spirit led hands and lives.  AMEN.

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08032014 Seventh Sunday After Trinity

Sermon Audio

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

If I were to ask about the one thing Christians don’t like talking about, what would it be?  Would it be relationships?  Would it be politics?  Would it be money or the lack there of?

Our reality is that we Christians don’t like talking about sin.  Sin is something that each of us thinks about on a daily basis, feel compelled to confess every Sunday and don’t need a reminder of by anyone, especially me the Pastor.

Paul, prolific writer of the New Testament on the other hand had no problem speaking of sin.  Just as some of us wear glasses because we need the corrective nature of a lens to see the world around us and do not share our glasses or contacts with others, even our family and close personal friends.  We who gather here today keep our glasses or contacts close to us so we can see the world around us in clarity.  We even do the same with our sin, we keep it close, because our sins are private and very personal for each of us.  Yet, Paul in stark opposite saw sin as we see glasses or contacts, something he looked through to see something greater and more powerful.  Paul talks about sin in every book and letter he wrote and looks through the lens of sin, not with condemnation for the people he is writing to, nor to us who gather here today, but with the greater vision in mind of the Savior, Jesus Christ.

In our lesson this morning Paul states, “I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh.”  We are weak.  Granted living here on the high desert plain, we have to be strong and independent, but Paul is speaking of our fleshly human nature.  This is the part we do not like speaking about, the part that is close and personal to each of us like our glasses or contacts.  But like how we see things and what we look through, like our glasses, it is not what is close that we need to see.  We like Paul, need to see through our sin and our self to our Savior Jesus Christ.

Paul continues, “For when you were slaves of sin, you were free in regard to righteousness.”  We are free in Christ to be the children of God.  Just as the Sudanese woman who was threatened with death by her Muslim family for marrying a Christian.  She was ultimately freed from captivity and the threat of death and met with Pope Francis.  We too who gather here today are free as well in Christ.  We are set free as the Children of God and the Children of light in our righteousness won for all of us by Jesus Christ death on Calvary.  We are no longer bound by sin, but set free to be the people of God and focus with clarity and perfect vision on God, keeping Him in our sights and on our minds.

Every week we begin our service with Confession and Forgiveness.  This is where we let go of that which binds us, weighs us down and holds us back.  Symbolically when I kneel at the footsteps of the Chancel, I along with you the people of God am seeking God’s forgiveness in our corporate confession.  God hears our confession and then reminds us through the Forgiveness of Sins that we are set free.

As Paul continues, “But now having been freed from sin and enslaved to God, you derive your benefit, resulting in sanctification, and the outcome, eternal life.”  We no longer are bound by sin, but bound to God’s gifts of grace and the benefits freely given.  We find our sanctification in Jesus Christ, Who offers Himself for us from the Cross of Calvary.  But what is sanctification?  Yes, it is one of those big theological words, but simply it is ‘our being made holy’.  And this is exactly what God does for and to each and every one of us every time we confess our sin.  God makes us holy through His sacrifice for us.

We are like the penny found on the street that is grimy and grungy.  No one wants it.  Nor does anyone want to pick it up or be near it at all.  Because it would take work to make it look pretty and used to pay for something at the store or a fast food place.  But God, unlike man, see’s through the grime, which is like our sins and weekly picks us up in our confession and shines us up in the forgiveness of sins.  God makes us new because of His sacrifice on the Cross of Calvary.  And what does God do, but send us out for circulation again.  We are continuously coming and being made new as the people of God and renewed by God for and by the “free gift of God…eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord”.  This is what we receive with our coming every week and being shined up and made new.

This past week, I saw a great example of this here at Emmanuel.  Three ladies came and did for the Altar ware what God does for each of us weekly.  They scrubbed the grime that had built up on the brass, shined the pieces and renewed the luster and shine of the altar ware we use in God’s house here for worship every week.  So to this morning we gather, not only seeing their elbow grease, but by our confession we can feel how God has shined up each of us to be returned to His service in the Kingdom of God.  God has picked us up and made us new in our confession and His forgiveness of us.  We can now, as the people of God shined up and made new by God’s work of sanctification, making us holy, can now go out and circulate and be God’s witness of the “free gift of God…[of] eternal life” offered for all of mankind, but especially all of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.  AMEN.

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07272014 Sixth Sunday After Trinity

Sermon Audio

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

If there is one thing Pastors do not have a problem doing, it is sharing opinion, sometimes to often and other times not enough.  Humanity in general as well does not have a problem sharing our opinion.  Whether it is the politics of our country, the latest entertainment news of who has done something outrageous or what was on Facebook.  Or even how we farm the land, make decisions about which combine to buy or whether we strip till or plow.  Everybody has opinions and we are not afraid to share.

Here in the church we are not any different.  From the color of the paint, to how we feel when put down, our opinions shine through like the noon day sun and scorch any skin.  We react and like our skin burn within ourselves or the polar opposite, we blow up.

But Paul in Romans 6 poses a question we all need to seriously consider and answer.  “What shall we say then?”  Paul is seeking to frame the conversation by asking a question, not for negativity but with a direction in mind.  Paul’s direction isn’t legalistic as he had been known before he personally encountered Jesus Christ.  Paul has one clear focus in mind looking directly at what Jesus Christ did on the Cross of Calvary.  Paul says, “Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?  May it never be!”  We are called through our baptism to live a life of grace, not the law.  For Grace is exactly what we find and receive each and every day from Jesus Christ.  Paul continues, “do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?  Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the Glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.”  We are raised with Him and no longer should live in fear, but live in faith as Children of the Light.

Last week we concluded church with the sending song, “I want to walk as a Child of the Light”.  This is exactly what the Christian life is to be, the desire to walk in the light of Christ.  For with Christ we see no darkness, we feel no fear, we are the redeemed children of God set free by the blood of the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world.  This is the gift of grace Paul alludes to and we are empowered and called to embrace and share with one another.

We here today are united with Jesus Christ in the most intimate way, not like husband and wife, but more intimate in that God knows our inner most thoughts and feelings, fears and failings that we share with no one else, and Jesus Christ responds to our unspoken and personal struggles by not putting us down, but lifting us up.  Jesus Christ with our baptism shields us from the arrows of the devil and even those who point at and to the blemishes we live and bear as burdens in our daily lives.  Recently, not only have some of our own farmers felt the sting of the devil and what we experience with the loss of both winter wheat and summer corn due to the hail, but even our church building has experienced the hail and had damage.  But as Dr. Henry Cloud says, we should be courageous in the face of these attacks.  We fear, which is natural, but what we do with the fear is another opportunity for us.  Dr. Cloud states, “Courage does not mean that you don't feel fear.  Courage means that you do what is needed even when it scares you.”  This is our opportunity to be courageous and be showered with and by God’s Grace.

Because of what Jesus Christ has done we now can lay claim to a life not living in fear, but faith.  For Paul says, “Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him”.  We live with Christ and Christ has set us free.  Now it is a mind-set shift that we need.  It is the opportunity for us to change how we act and react.  Paul was a good example of this, prior to His encounter with Jesus Christ, he hunted down Christians and put them in jail and ultimately saw them killed, because they went against the Jewish faith as taught in the synagogue.  But after his personal encounter with Jesus Christ, Paul became the best known writer of the New Testament and was instrumental in spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Paul’s mind and view point was changed to a life of faith and not fear, a life of grace and not the law.

We are no different today, hearing God’s Word, believing that it is for each and every one of us and living a life of faith, not fear, we can follow Paul’s new life after his encounter with Jesus Christ as well as his last statement.  He concludes, “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus.”  We are alive and free from that which binds us and now can in putting on the full armor of God believe we are new creatures because of our baptism into Jesus Christ life, death and resurrection.

Recently on Facebook there have been pictures of three little girls.  They are shown as a group, not the typical kind of kids who post ‘selfies’.  These three girls are shown not touting any location or something they are trying to sell or ‘look funny’.  In the picture they simply portray themselves as three survivors of cancer.  From a young age they have known and experienced the valleys of doubt and pain associated with the disease known as cancer.  They all lost their hair, endured multiple trips and long stays in the hospital, but in this one moment, they have their picture taken, not in failure, but in triumph.  You see, all three of these young ladies have been healed of their individual cancer.  For each of them the picture taken is not mourning the loss of nearly half of their young lives, but of their triumph of beating the disease that nearly took them from the loving arms of their families.

We to who gather here today can answer Paul’s original question, “What shall we say then?” with the boldness epitomized in the picture of these three young ladies.  We can respond as Paul concluded, we are “alive to God in Christ Jesus.”  And we through Jesus Christ innocent death on Calvary have overcome sin, death and the devil.  For this is the gift offered to and for all of mankind including each of us saints gathered here at Emmanuel this morning.  AMEN.

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