Catechesis on the First and Second Petitions

Jesus teaches you to pray: By His example, by His instruction, by making it possible for you to pray (by making Atonement and Reconciliation with God for you), by making His God and Father to be your God and Father, and by returning to the Father in the flesh by way of His Cross, Resurrection, and Ascension.  In His own Body, with His own Blood, He is the One who prays and intercedes for you, and He is Himself your Prayer to the Father.

As the Lord gave the heavenly Pattern of the Tabernacle/Temple (to Moses on Mt. Sinai, and then to King David), so has He given the Pattern of Prayer: and Christ Jesus is both of these.

He teaches you to pray, and in doing so, He teaches you to know and love and trust the true and only God, who has called you out of darkness into the marvelous Light of Christ Jesus, so that you might be His own; that you should be His own dear child, His beloved son (in Christ) by grace and by adoption; and that He should thus be your God and Father.

He tenderly invites you to believe this, and to call upon God with bold confidence, as a beloved child, within the household and family of the Church: He is "Our Father."

"Father" is not His Name, but the identity of the First Person of the Holy Trinity in His eternal relationship with the Son.  This identity and relationship belongs to the distinction of the Persons, whereas the divine Name above all names (YHWH) belongs to the Unity of the one undivided Godhead.  The Name of the Father is also that of the Son and of the Holy Spirit; and this Name of the true and only God, once made known to Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3), has been fully revealed and made known to us in the Person of the incarnate Son, in the flesh and blood of Christ Jesus, in His Word and Work of the Gospel, in His crucified and risen Body, and in His outpouring of the Spirit upon His Church (by whom we confess that Jesus is the Lord, YHWH).

As He teaches us to know the Name of God, He also bestows that Name upon us by the blessing of His Word, and by the washing of the water with His Word in Holy Baptism, and so teaches us to know God as "Our Father," to call upon Him as our Father, and in doing so, to call upon the Name of the Lord.  You "invoke His Name" (and in doing so, you hallow His Name) by appealing to the Father through Jesus Christ, our Lord, in the Holy Spirit, which is to say, as a child beseeching your own dear Father; for you now share the sonship of Christ Jesus.

It may seem a bit odd, though, the way He starts by teaching you to pray, first of all, for God's Name to be made holy; but note that Christ Himself prays this way in John 12, and in a similar way in John 17.  But why should you pray in this way, and what does it mean?

God's Name is already holy in itself, as He Himself is the Holy, Holy, Holy One; so there is nothing lacking in Him, nor in His Name.  There is nothing needed in this regard, in so far as the Lord Himself is concerned; for, in fact, all holiness derives from Him and depends upon Him, and whatever else is Holy is holy by the sanctification of His Name, by His Word and Spirit.

The holiness of God is absolute freedom and perfect Love.  He is utterly self-subsisting and self-sufficient, utterly complete within Himself, in the eternal relationship of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit: He is the "I Am," the One who was and is and is to come, and the One who is alone the Creator and Preserver of all things.  He is the One who makes things happen.  He is Life and Light and Love in Himself, in His own Being, and so also the Source of all life and light and love in His creation.  All things are created by Him, to be received in faith and used with thanksgiving, sanctified by His Word and prayer.  So are you also created to be consecrated by His Name for the life and love of God within the fellowship of the Holy Trinity.

As God's people were called by His Name — out of Egypt, through the waters of the Red Sea, to the covenant at Mt. Sinai — so are you called by His Name from out of the slavery of sin and death, through the waters of Holy Baptism, to the New Covenant of Christ's Body given and His Blood poured out for you and for the many in the Holy Communion.  So it is, that the Our Father is the prayer of the baptized.  You call upon God as your Father because you are baptized in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  You are His child because you bear His Name.

So, what is Jesus actually teaching you to ask and to pray in the First Petition?

You pray that God the Father would sanctify you by His Name, by the Atonement, forgiveness, reconciliation, and life of Christ Jesus in the Holy Spirit; that He would establish and maintain this living relationship with you in Christ, the Son, and so enable you to use His Name rightly, and to call upon His Name (as per the Second Commandment).

It is not unlike the prayer of Solomon at Gibeon, that the Lord would grant (by His Spirit) the wisdom of a listening heart, in order to know His Word and to live and work according to it.

Thus, it is a prayer or petition that you would sanctify God's Name in your life, words, and actions: by the catechesis, confession, and prayer of His Holy Word, and by doing what He has called you to do, to the glory of His Holy Name, by performing your duties within your vocation according to His commandments.

In much the same way, Moses and the Priests were to sanctify God and His Name before the people (though they did not always do so; e.g. Lev. 10).  In particular, on the Day of Atonement, Aaron and his sons were to sanctify the Name of God by performing their duties according to His command, and by coming into His presence on behalf of His people, bearing His Name by His grace (Ex. 28:36), and atoning for the sins of the people with His means of grace.

So does Christ Jesus sanctify the Name of God by His atoning sacrifice, bearing the Name of the Lord in His Body into the Holy of Holies eternal in the heavens (St. John 17; Hebrews).

You are not able to do or accomplish any of this on your own; for you are sinful and unclean in body and soul, in your thoughts, words, and deeds.  It is not simply that you have failed or fallen short; it is already true from the outset that you are not capable of sanctifying God's Name, until He has first of all sanctified you by and with His Name.

This is what Christ Jesus does for you, on your behalf, as your High Priest in all things pertaining to God; and this is what He also now does in you and with you, by His Word and Holy Spirit.  He does it by the way of His own Cross and Resurrection, and by the preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins in His Name (St. Luke 24).

The Father has given the Name above all names to Christ Jesus, to the incarnate Son of God, in His own Body of flesh and blood, crucified and risen from the dead (Phil. 2).  And Christ Jesus has revealed and bestowed this divine Name upon you (St. John 17): In Holy Baptism, in the Absolution of your sins, and really in the whole Ministry of the Gospel; in much the way that the Old Testament priests put the Name of the Lord upon the people with the Aaronic Benediction.

So, then, the Name of the Lord is hallowed in you, in your life, and in His Church, by the way of the Cross: By the preaching of repentance, unto faith in the Cross and Resurrection of Christ.

In the Invocation, and in the Absolution, you pray for and receive the blessed Cross of Christ upon your body and soul, upon your heart, mind, and spirit, in order that you be crucified, dead, and buried with Christ, as in your Baptism into His death, and so be raised with Him, also, unto newness of life in thoughts, words, and actions.

Certainly, among the foremost ways that you now sanctify the Name of God in your Christian life, is by calling upon the Name of the Lord in prayer.  You are able to do so in Christ Jesus, because He has been lifted up in death as the fulfillment of all sacrifice, and because He has been received by the Father in His Resurrection and Ascension.  He is the pleasing aroma and sweet-smelling Incense by which you are received by God in heaven and are pleasing to Him.  And, as you pray to God in Christ Jesus, so do you also live.

The Body of Christ Jesus is the fulfillment of the entire Old Testament, and of the Temple in particular.  His Body of flesh and blood is the House of Prayer for disciples, whom He calls to Himself by His Name from all the nations; for His crucified and risen Body is the Temple of God, wherein the Name and Glory of God dwell among His people, and from which the Lord reigns over His people in Peace and Love with the Gospel of His Cross and Resurrection.

Thus, you see that it is also in this same way that God's Kingdom comes, as Jesus teaches you to pray in the Second Petition.  He teaches you to pray, not for things that are in doubt or uncertain, but for that which He promises and does by grace alone before you or anyone else would ever have known or thought to ask for them.  He teaches you to pray in this way, so that you would thereby learn to look to Him, to trust in Him, and to live by faith in His Word and promise; that you would seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness, and, receiving these by faith in His Gospel, you would receive all His good and perfect gifts by grace.

The connections between God's Name and His Kingdom are implicit in every case, but are especially clear in a few key places: It is there in the Lord's promise to David that his son would build a house for the Lord's Name, and that the Lord would establish his kingdom forever; and in the fulfillment of that promise in the Annunciation of Gabriel to St. Mary (see 1 Chronicles 22; St. Luke 1; St. Matthew 1; 2 Samuel 7; and Isaiah 7).

God's Kingdom comes by the Incarnation of the Son: As David prays, “the Lord said to my Lord, sit at My right hand!”  It comes by His Cross and Resurrection and Ascension (Philippians 2).

Therefore, in Christ Jesus, God's Kingdom is established forever, and it will come, regardless of what man does or says or believes: Every knee shall bow in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.  But, again, we pray that the Kingdom of God would come to us in the grace, mercy, and peace of the Gospel, and that it would thus be established among us through repentance and faith in the forgiveness of Christ Jesus.

We pray that our Savior, our God and Father, would also be our own King; that the Lord would reign over us in righteousness and peace, with His wisdom and justice.  Therefore, the coming of Christ Jesus and the preaching of His Gospel necessarily begin with the preaching of repentance, because the Kingdom of God is at hand in His flesh and blood.

We pray, then, that our life would be governed by His Word and Will (which is already to anticipate the Third Petition, as well); that we should fear, love, and trust in Him as our King.

And we pray in this Petition, as well, that He would also exercise His rule over creation in our words and actions as His people, each of us within our own proper vocation.  The way that Adam and Eve cared for the Garden prior to the fall, and exercised dominion over all the works of God's hand: in His Name and stead.  So also pastors in the Ministry of Christ.  And it is so for you, too, as you care for your neighbor according to your calling, for example, as parents for your own children.  In all these ways, the Kingdom of God comes.

The Kingdom of God is a matter of living by faith and love in Christ Jesus, the King, "great David's greater Son."  The peace and prosperity, unity and strength of the Kingdom is located in the indestructible life and eternal reign of this one King, whom God the Father raised from the dead and exalted over all things at His right hand.

To pray for this coming of the Kingdom of God is to pray for the coming and the gift of the Holy Spirit (Small Catechism; St. Luke 11; Epiclesis): It is the Spirit who works faith by the Word of Christ, where and when it pleases Him, in those who hear the Gospel; and the Spirit teaches us to pray, as He also prays with us and for us, crying out in us, "Abba! Father!"  It is the Spirit who grants peace and Sabbath Rest in the Kingdom of God, in the Body of Christ Jesus.  It is the Spirit who sanctifies and keeps us in the one true faith unto the life everlasting.

As the Lord Jesus is anointed by the Spirit as the Christ, the King (at His Baptism and in His Resurrection), so is the Church consecrated by the Spirit to be His Kingdom.  As it the Spirit who comes upon St. Mary to conceive the Son of God in her womb, who bears the Name of God and reigns upon the throne of His father David.  It is the same Spirit who is also poured out upon the Church with the apostolic preaching and ministry of the Gospel of Christ Jesus (as at Pentecost).

Notice that Jesus receives both the Name and the Spirit of His Father in His own human Body of flesh and blood, in order to bestow the Name and Spirit upon us.  And the Spirit who is given to us by the Father in Christ, then also brings us to the Father in the Body of the same Lord Jesus Christ, by way of His Cross and Resurrection.

The Spirit calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the Church on earth with the Gospel of Christ; and it is also then within the life of the Church in the Gospel that the Holy Spirit establishes the Kingdom of God among us through the Ministry of the forgiveness of sins in the Name of the Lord Jesus.  So it is the Church that prays the "Our Father," because the Church is the Body of Christ, upon whom the Spirit rests and remains from Holy Baptism unto the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting (St. John 1; Acts 2; Romans 8).

The Father, by the Holy Spirit, brings us into the Kingdom of His beloved Son; and the Son hands over the Kingdom to the Father at the last, in order to live with Him forever.  This is the goal, in fact, for which the Lord names us with His Name and establishes His Kingdom among us, on earth as it is in heaven — that we might live with Him.

We see this foreshadowed and typified in the building and dedication of the Temple by King Solomon in the Old Testament, according to the Word and promise of God: The establishment of what one author has aptly called a "Liturgical Empire," dependent not on military might or economic prosperity, but established by and for the blessing of the Liturgy, and governed by the divine wisdom of the King.  In all of which we see a picture of Christ and His Church.  This is where God causes His Name and His Glory to dwell with and among His people, that they might live and abide with Him.  He’s not “homeless,” but He makes His home with them, for them.

Solomon's prayer of dedication and his offering of sacrifice on that occasion recall the promise of God to his father David, and focus on the Temple as a house of prayer and forgiveness.

In the fire and glory that come from heaven to receive the sacrifice and fill the Temple, and in the feast with which Solomon feeds the people of Israel in joy, the Lord proclaims the outpouring of the Spirit and the "apostolic doctrine and fellowship, the Breaking of the Bread and the Prayers," which will constitute and consecrate the Church of Christ as God's Kingdom on earth.

Solomon's prayer of dedication (comparable to the seven petitions) also looks to the Lord for repentance and the fruits of repentance, for rescue from enemies, from sin and death and every evil, and for a life with God characterized by thanksgiving and praise.  For David and Solomon, this thanksgiving and praise is given voice in the singing of the Psalms: by the Levites, et al.

If one does not care for the "Liturgical Empire" language, the Kingdom of God is, in any case, a priestly kingdom, and, as we Lutherans like to say, it is a “royal priesthood.”  So it is a liturgical kingdom, defined by sacrifice, prayer, and praise in accordance with the Word and promises of God, for the sake of bringing the people into His presence.

Therefore, both David and Solomon, in particular, like Moses and Samuel before, exercise both priestly and royal duties.  There is also Melchizedek, who is both priest and king of Salem; and in the Prophet Zechariah (esp. chs. 3, 6, and 14), one sees the coming together of the Offices of Priest and King, in anticipation of the coming of the Christ Jesus.

In Christ Jesus, YHWH is the King of Israel, and of all those whom He calls to Himself through His true Israel, the Christian Church, upon whom He pours out His Spirit, and whom He names with His own Name, in order to sanctify them for life everlasting with Himself.  God comes to us in Christ, in order that we might come to God in Him.  He is thus the one Mediator between God and Man by His Incarnation, by His Cross and Resurrection and Ascension, and by His Ministry of the Gospel of forgiveness.

The Lamb upon His Throne in the midst of His people — who has been slain, and yet, behold, He lives — He reveals the Name and bestows the Spirit of His Father, and He feeds His people with the Spiritual Food and Drink of His Body and His Blood.

He is thus both Priest and King, the Temple, the Altar, and the Sacrifice (including the Meal — the Host, the Waiter, and the Feast); He is both Prophet and Apostle, Bridegroom and Shepherd, Redeemer and Lord; and it really is in Him that all of your prayers are both asked and answered.

He is the Lord who rescues you from the devil's kingdom, as demonstrated especially by His casting out of demons throughout His ministry on earth (St. Luke 11:20; St. Matthew 12:28), and so also by the ministry of His sent ones in Holy Baptism, in Holy Absolution, and in the whole Ministry of the Gospel (St. Luke 10).  And He brings you into the Kingdom of His God and Father, already now within His Church on earth (which is His Body).

He liberates you from slavery to sin and death, and He provides for all your needs of body and soul.  He prepares a Feast for you at His Table in His House, where you belong to the one family of one Father (to the one Kingdom of this one King Jesus).  And in His Body and His Blood you do have a genuine foretaste of the neverending Feast to come.

As the Name of God is hallowed among us especially in Holy Baptism, so does the Kingdom of God come to us especially in the Holy Communion.

And, because He sets you free and provides for all your needs — because He, not sin and death, but He is your Lord and King — you live a godly life in, with, and under Him in His Kingdom, both now, by grace through faith in His Gospel, and forevermore in the resurrection of your body and the life everlasting of your body and soul in His heaven.

It is by the gracious gift and work of the Holy Spirit through His Word that you believe and live in this way; because God sanctifies His Name in you, and He sanctifies you in His Name, and He thereby gathers you into His Kingdom, now and forever.  All of this the Spirit does in, with, and through Christ Jesus, your merciful and great High Priest, your Good Shepherd and your King, crucified for your sins, raised for your righteousness, and ascended to the right hand of the Father as your acceptable Sacrifice, your sweet-smelling Incense, and your answered Prayer.  Amen!

Created for the Life and Love of the Holy Trinity

The Lord, Yahweh, the true and only God, has created you to live in a relationship with Him and with your neighbor: to live by His grace alone, by faith in His Word and promises, by the active presence and work of His Holy Spirit, with love for Him and for one another in His beloved Son.

This Holy Triune God has made you in His own Image and Likeness, so that, by faith and love, you should thus bear fruits after His own kind, that is, like those of Christ Jesus, crucified and risen from the dead in His own Body of flesh and blood.  Good fruits like those of His good Tree.

Trust in Him, therefore, and rely on Him for all that you need in both body and soul, for every good and perfect gift, for life and health and daily bread, unto the resurrection and life everlasting.  Be content with whatever He provides, and be at peace with Him who loves you.

And as He does love you perfectly in Christ, your Savior, so also love your neighbor: your spouse, your children, your parents and siblings, your fellow Christians, and your neighbors in the world.

It is not good that you should live for yourself, nor that you should attempt to go it alone in some kind of private isolation.  You are created to love, and to be loved, as God Himself is Love, the Father for His Son, the Son for His Father, in the Communion of the Holy Spirit.  To live like the Lord, you need your neighbor, and your neighbor needs you, to live as companions in Christ.

Where do you find that kind of life, and how do you live such a life in faith toward God and in love for your neighbor?  It is only in Christ Jesus.  For He is both your Neighbor and your God, your Savior and your Friend, your Pastor and Teacher, and your Companion through death into Life.

It is only in Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, crucified and risen from the dead, that you know God the Father and receive the Holy Spirit.  It is only in Christ Jesus that you not only know the one true God as He truly is, but that you also live in and with Him, both now and forever.

So, then, the real question is: Where and how do you find Jesus?  It is on the Mountain where He has directed you to meet Him; which is not a matter of geography or topography, nor of location, location, location in the usual sense, but of Holy Baptism in the Name of the Holy Trinity, and of ongoing catechesis in all that Jesus has taught and commanded by way of His Apostles.

It is by these means of grace, His Word and Sacraments, that you become a Christian, a disciple of the Lord Jesus Christ; and it is by these same means of Baptism and Catechesis, to and from the Lord’s Table in the Name and remembrance of Jesus, that you continue to live as a disciple of His.

Consider and learn from the tragic example of Judas Iscariot, who did not continue in the Word and faith of Christ Jesus, but departed and went to his own place, as we heard two weeks ago.  On the Mountain in this morning’s Holy Gospel, that wretched man is conspicuous by his absence; for it is “the Eleven,” not “the Twelve,” who are there gathered following the Resurrection.

But quite apart from Judas Iscariot, consider the example of those remaining eleven disciples; for they worshiped Jesus, St. Matthew says, but “some doubted.”  Considering the other accounts of the Lord’s Resurrection appearances, it is best to understand that all of them were torn between faith and joy on the one hand, fear and doubt on the other.  They were all confused and conflicted.

And isn’t that the same conflict of faith and unbelief that you find in yourself?  From one day to the next, and at any given time.  Like the father at the foot of another mountain: “I believe! Lord, help my unbelief!”  Tossed about and torn apart by the war that rages in your members between the old man, born of Adam, and the New Man, born of Christ and His Holy Spirit.

You are taught to observe all that Jesus has commanded; as a Christian disciple, you are called to take up His Cross and follow after Him in steadfast faith and love.  Indeed, the Holy Spirit has called you by the Gospel, enlightened you with His gifts, and sanctified you in this one true faith, so that you do believe in Jesus Christ, your Lord, and come to Him.  You are here this morning, after all, to worship Him with heart and soul, with your mind, your body, and your spirit.  And yet, to what extent, and in how many ways, are you still doubtful and afraid?

The fact is, that, even knowing the truth, you are not able to approach the Lord Jesus in peace; not on your own.  You cannot abide with Him in faith and love; nor can you live as the disciple you are called to be — except by His grace and His forgiveness of all your sins.

That gracious forgiveness is precisely the authority that He has been given by the Father in His Resurrection from the dead, and by which He now and ever calls you to Himself, away from sin and death to faith and life with God in Christ.  It is the special authority of His Cross & Passion, and of His Resurrection & Ascension, by which He daily and richly forgives you all your sins, and reconciles you to His God and Father in righteousness and peace, and anoints you with His Holy Spirit, so that you actually receive and share and live the divine Life of the Holy Triune God.

For Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of the Father, is the One who has died in your place, in your flesh and blood, bearing all your sins in His own Body; it was for you and for your sins that He was crucified, dead, and buried.

And it is this very One who bore your sin and died your death, whom God the Father has raised up again, and upon whom He has poured out His Spirit, in His Resurrection as also at His Baptism.  Thus, in the Resurrection of Christ Jesus, you also are absolved and raised from the dead; you are sanctified by the Holy Spirit; and you are declared to be a beloved and well-pleasing son of God.

This is the Great Exchange that Christ Jesus has accomplished by His Incarnation, His Baptism, His Cross and Resurrection: He became like you, in order to recreate you in His own Image and Likeness, to raise you from the dust of the earth, to breathe divine Life into your body and soul.

So it is that you become like Him; first of all in your Holy Baptism, whereby you share His Cross and Resurrection, and receive His Name, and enter into a living fellowship with the Holy Trinity.

And what you have been given in your Baptism, once and forever, you also continue to receive, and you retain it, by the daily catechesis of the Word of Christ; that is, not only the teaching and learning of facts and information, but the catechesis of contrition and repentance, of confession and Absolution, the preaching and teaching of the Law and the Gospel in the Name of Jesus.

It is by and with and in that Word of Christ, and specifically by His Word of the Gospel, that your sins are daily and richly forgiven, that your faith is renewed and strengthened, and that you live in love with God and Man by the Spirit of this same Lord Jesus Christ.

It is by that Word of His Gospel that you know and worship the Holy Triune God, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; not as an exercise of dogmatic trivia, but as your Light and Life and Salvation.

As He has taken you to be His own, and as He shall never leave you nor forsake you, so it is that sin and death have no more power and dominion over you.  For Christ is your King, who reigns over you in love from His Cross and at the Right Hand of His God and Father; who has redeemed you for Himself; and by whose Blood and Righteousness you live, both now and forever and ever.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

The Times and Epochs Ordained by the Father

It is no wonder that you are thirsty.  For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.  Your lips are parched, and your throat as dry as dirt, until God waters your soil with the living Waters of Christ Jesus, and so fills your body of flesh and bone with His life-giving Holy Spirit.

Here, then, is your Eden, your Paradise on earth, your Oasis in a desert wilderness.  For here, from the wounded side of Christ, from His innermost being, by the divine Glory of His Cross and Passion, the Lord pours forth the Holy Spirit like water into your thirsty soul.  This Spirit is the Water of Life from the Rock of Ages, cleft for you.  It is for this Drink that you have been created, and nothing else but this Gift of God Himself will quench or satisfy your thirst.

It is for this very purpose that God has not only created you in His own Image, but has come in the flesh, conceived by the Holy Spirit in the womb of the Blessed Virgin Mary, to be your Savior.  The Son receives the Spirit from His Father in His own Body of human flesh and blood, in the waters of His Baptism, and in His Resurrection from the dead, in order to pour out the same Spirit of God upon all flesh: To raise you up from the dust of the earth, unto the life everlasting of your body and soul with Him.  He receives and breathes the Spirit as true Man, that you might drink of the same Spirit and live forever with the Father in His Son.

So has the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ caused His Church to be planted and to prosper in this place, in order to pour out the living and life-giving Waters of His Holy Spirit upon the people of Maple Grove, and upon all whom He calls to Himself at St. John.  That was true when it was a little country church out in the middle of nowhere, and it is no less the case, now, as a thriving congregation in the heart of suburbia.  Here there is real Water in the wilderness of whatever kind.

But now, it seems, there are lots of nearby alternatives, many of them attractive and enticing with promises of life and health and success.  And the truth is, that you are tempted and prone to sample whatever is on tap, to belly up to the bar and have a round.  As often as you try to quench your thirst with other waters, other beverages of choice, with other spirits.  Maybe it’s too much of God’s good gift of alcohol.  But I’m not speaking only of drunkenness or alcoholic addiction.  It could just as easily be bottled water and a health food diet that you make into your personal well spring, in hopes of saving yourself and securing your body and life in the world.  It is whatever you turn to, to satisfy your thirst, to wet your lips and whet your appetites, to fill the empty hollow in your belly.  Even though any other water than the Spirit of Christ Jesus will not enliven your flesh, but will leave you dying of thirst.  Like trying to live on salty sea water.

Repent of such foolish idolatry.  It is both sinful and deadly.  Rather, come to Christ, and drink freely and fully of the Holy Spirit, whom He pours out generously, without measure and without cost, for all who believe in Him.  For when you drink of Him, not only do you have abundant life with God in body and soul, but you are also then able to receive, to use rightly, and to enjoy the good gifts of His whole creation.  When your thirst is quenched and you are filled with the living Waters of the Holy Spirit, then, whatever your own beverage may be, and whatever your diet is like, you eat and drink in faith and with thanksgiving to the glory of God.

For the Spirit who proceeds from the Father in the Son is the Author and Perfecter of Life.  He is worshiped and adored with the Father and the Son, because the Spirit is one and the same true God, the Creator of the heavens and the earth and all that is in them.  He brings all things into being out of nothing, breathes life into them by His grace, and bestows the true beauty of divine wisdom upon them.  He gives growth and good order to all of creation, and by the Word of the Gospel of Christ Jesus, He establishes the Church, the Kingdom of God, on earth as in heaven.

Come to Christ, therefore, and drink of this living and life-giving Spirit of God.

Does He not call you to Himself and bid you to drink this Water of Life?

But here is the most necessary question, which Pr. Briel taught me to ask and to answer in every sermon, when I was a vicar under his oversight some twenty-plus years ago: Where, and when, and how do you “come to Christ”?  For you shall not find Him randomly or on your own, but where and when and how it pleases God, by the ways and means, and in the place, where the Lord reveals and gives Himself to you; that is where He pours out the Spirit upon you.

It is by faith in His Word that you come to Christ.  For the Holy Spirit calls you by the Gospel, and by the preaching of the Gospel He brings you to Christ Jesus, even as He lays this same Lord Jesus Christ upon your heart, mind, and conscience, upon your body and your soul, with His free and full forgiveness of all your sins.

Listen.  Come to Christ by hearing and heeding His Word, which is preached to you by His Spirit in His Church.  For the Church is the Body of Christ, the fullness of Him who fills all things; and the Spirit of His God and Father rests and remains upon His Body. His Church on earth is the Mountain of God, which succeeds and surpasses both Mt. Sinai and Mt. Zion.  Here is the Tabernacle of God among men.  Yes, even here at St. John in Maple Grove.  Here is the Temple of the Holy Spirit in the one Body of the one Lord, Jesus Christ, in His Means of grace.

In your Holy Baptism, in the Name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, you are united with Christ in His Cross and Resurrection, and you receive the Holy Spirit in the external bodily means of water and the Word, as Christ received the Spirit in bodily form as a dove at His Baptism.  So, too, you come to Christ and drink as often as the Lord returns you to the remembrance and significance of your Holy Baptism by way of repentance and faith in His forgiveness of sins, and, in particular, by the confession and Holy Absolution of your sins.

Furthermore, the Body of Christ given for you, and the Blood of Christ poured out for you, in the Holy Communion, from the Lord’s Altar in His Church, is your Spiritual Food and Drink, your Meat and Drink indeed.  Here, again, and most especially, you come to Christ as He comes to you through the Ministry of His Gospel.  You receive Him here, because here and now is where and when and how He gives Himself to you for Life.

And as you are thus taught, by the Gospel in Word and Sacrament, to know and love the Lord your God, to believe in Jesus Christ and come to Him, and to receive and drink deeply of His Holy Spirit, so do you also pray, praise, and give thanks in the Name of Jesus.  You confess His Word and call upon His Name, and you are saved.  For the Lord is merciful to all who call on Him, even as He has, in mercy, taught you and invited you to pray to Him in Peace.  He has taught you to look to Him and to wait upon Him in the hope and confidence of the Resurrection.

The teaching of this Word of Christ is not random or haphazard, but is beautifully arranged and laid before you, as all of creation is ordered according to God’s glorious grace and wisdom, by His Word and Holy Spirit.  The Gospel is unfolded for you in the story of Christ Jesus in the flesh, in the pattern and progress of the Church Year: from Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany, through Lent, Holy Week, and Easter, into the ongoing Life and work of Christ in the Time of the Church.  Not only the stuff of creation, but also time – the hours, days, weeks, and years of your life, with all the seasons of time – all of this is sanctified by the Gospel of Christ Jesus, by the Holy Spirit with the Word of the Lord.

Thereby, within the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church, the prayer of Moses is answered in the Body of Christ.  That is to say, the Spirit of the Lord is poured out upon all flesh, and He rests upon all the people of God, because the Christ has been glorified by the Father in His Cross and Resurrection.  So it is that you and all the disciples of Christ Jesus are taught by God, by the Gift of His Spirit.  So do you also speak as He has spoken, by confessing the Word of the Lord that you hear and receive from Him.

Still, there is an ordering of the Church’s life in Christ.  All are one, and all are equal before God in the righteousness and holiness of Christ Jesus; for there is one Lord, one Spirit, and one God and Father of all; one faith, one Baptism, and one Body of Christ.  Yet, the unity, equality, and harmony of this Body, the Church, is not that of undifferentiated sameness, like some kind of bland, colorless blob, formless and void of character.  But, no, the Kingdom of God is ordered and arranged, like the artistry of the human body, like the genius of God’s good creation, with a great variety of different gifts, a wondrous panoply of sizes, shapes, and colors, of sights and sounds, and of beautiful contours and textures.

Not all are Moses.  Not all are ordained elders in the Church.  Not all are pastors and teachers, bishops, or deacons.  But there is a diversity and distribution of the many gifts of the one Holy Spirit.  There are different offices within the life of the Church, each of which bears the necessary graces of the Spirit for the fulfillment of God’s holy will and purpose.  With such a variety of “voices,” and such a multiplicity of “languages,” the one Gospel is confessed and is heard in all the world, from the rising of the sun to the place of its going down.  So also here.

It is for this faithful confession of the Word of Christ Jesus, that all Christians, with all their vast array of differences in personality, ability, interests, and skills, are each and all anointed and filled with one and the same Holy Spirit.  So are they united to one another within the Holy Communion of the Church; not to erase or eradicate all differences between them, but to give life to the entire household and family of Christ, to the praise and glory of His God and Father.

Those who are thus given to drink of the Spirit of Christ, who are filled with such living Waters of the Lord, become springs of living water and fountains of the Spirit for others: each of them within his own callings, in his own particular office and station in life.  So, also, each of you, in his or her own place, is a fountain of living water for your neighbor.  St. John is part of that, too: Not a mirage, but a true oasis in the desert, despite any appearance or experience to the contrary.  For the Word and Spirit of the Lord flow out from this place.

It is in, with, and under the Cross that such Waters spring up in you and water the earth; for it is by the Cross that Christ Himself is glorified, and by and from His Cross that the Spirit is given.  Your place in life, your words and works, are consequently despised by the world – and by the old man in yourself and others, too.  Taunts of drunkenness are leveled at you.  Even the New Wine of Christ, His holy and precious Blood, is blasphemed and disregarded in this way.

But do not be dismayed, and do not give up hope, nor grow weary of doing good.  The Lord is with you.  As you are thirsty, come to Him and drink.  You belong to the Kingdom of God, and the Spirit of God rests and remains upon you in Christ Jesus.

Blood and Fire and Vapor of Smoke, the Pillar and Cloud by night as by day, and all the signs of the Cross and Passion of Christ Jesus – these are not a denial or contradiction of God’s Kingdom among you, but are signs of His Power and His Glory, and of His gracious Presence.

For the Kingdom of God has been established in the crucified and risen Body of Christ.  Not only here and now, but also forever and ever.  For all the years yet to come, as in the years that have already come and gone.  Even to the close of the age, to infinity and beyond.

Christ Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, anointed by the Spirit in His own Body of flesh and blood, is the fulfillment and perfection of the Lord’s Old Testament Liturgy of grace, and of God’s ordering of time and space.  He is the true Passover Lamb, who has been sacrificed for you; whose blood has redeemed you, and marks your door to guard and protect you from death, and is poured out upon your lips and tongue and down your throat to quench your deepest thirst; whose flesh is fed to you for the freedom of forgiveness and faith.  And He is the true Pentecost, the Firstborn from the dead, the Firstfruits of the New Creation.  His Body and His Blood are the Atonement by which you are reconciled to God, received by the Father, and able to rejoice in Him who is your Lord and Savior.  For He is the Tabernacle of God, who abides with you, and you with Him, from the wilderness into Canaan.  He breathes the Spirit of Life into your body by His Word of the Gospel, and He pours out the same Spirit from His side in the Water and the Blood, to cleanse and refresh you within and without, in body and in soul.

All of this that He has done, for you and for all people, was promised and prepared for by the times and epochs ordained by the Father in the Old Covenant, in the pilgrim festivals that He instituted through Moses.  But now they have been accomplished in Christ Jesus, and they are bestowed upon you in the Sundays and Seasons of the Church Year.  Not as Law, but as Gospel, from Jubilee unto Jubilee, in the gladness, joy, and righteousness of the Resurrection.  Today, and every day of grace, is shaped, defined, determined, and filled by the Word of Christ, and thereby sanctified by the Spirit as your true Sabbath Rest in Him.

Therefore, though you do not know when the great and final Day of Judgment will come upon all flesh, the fullness of the time has come and is here for you in the Body and Blood of Christ.

Here, then, is the last, great Day of the Feast: The eternal Eighth Day of the Resurrection, and of the Life everlasting.  Thus far the Lord has brought you by His grace, by His Word and Spirit, to believe His holy Word and to live a godly life here in time and hereafter in eternity.  These are the times and epochs the Father has ordained for you, in order to feed you with His Spiritual Food and Drink.

Are you hungry?  Take, and eat, the Body of Christ.  And you who are thirsty, come and drink the Blood of Christ, poured out for you, for the forgiveness of all your sins.


In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

To Go to Your Own Place by Faith in Christ

The temptation is always to go to your own place, to find your niche and flee to your comfort zone.  Like going home, to where your heart is.  But is it the place for which you have been created, the place your Lord Jesus has prepared for you?  Or where is your heart found?  Where does it flee?

At its root, this is the problem with your sin.  It does not know God, but turns and runs away from Him; so that your own place, if you’re left to make it on your own, is not where you belong; nor is it where you want to be, not once you find yourself there, apart from the true and only God.

To go to your own place apart from Jesus Christ is not eternal life but everlasting death.  It’s not a place to call home, but a place of neverending anguish and torment; not peace, but punishment.  You get a taste of that, already, in the accusations of your guilty conscience, in the consequences of your sins and failings, and in the suffocating loneliness and isolation of your shame and regret.

Yet, the temptation remains to go there, whether by conscious and deliberate choices, because you really don’t know any better, or because it’s already so familiar that you feel like it’s where you actually belong; or whether it’s by the momentum and inertia of your mortal flesh, which keeps on running headlong into the dust of death, without any real thought, because that’s what sin does.

Temptation is always enticing, isn’t it?  Else you wouldn’t fall for it.  It promises all sorts of things that sound so good, so reasonable and reliable.  And they usually masquerade as positive things, as angels of light, despite their contradiction and denial of God’s Word.  You may be convinced that, in your case at least, it’s not only “okay,” but even the right thing to do.  It’s only when your heart has been hardened, your conscience seared, that you actively pursue what is obviously evil; which is one of the most fearful dangers of continuing in your sin, that you would reach that point.

The trouble is, that you don’t know how to turn this around, how to get yourself off this path of sin and death, to get yourself home to your God and Father in Christ Jesus.  Because you don’t know the only true God by any ability or resource of your own; nor can you get to Him on your own.  Even aside from your sin, which runs you in the opposite direction, you know the Creator only as He reveals and gives Himself to you.  It is for this that you are created, to live by faith in the Word and Spirit of the Father, as He speaks to you by His Son and breathes His Life into you.

This, indeed, is the Glory of God, that He has created you in His Love, for the sake of loving you with nothing less than Himself, that is to say, with the Love of the Father for His Son in the Spirit.  He has brought you into being out of nothing, in order to give you a place of your own in Himself.

It is for this purpose that the Son has been sent by the Father, that He has come down from heaven and become flesh of your flesh and blood of your blood, in order to give you His own eternal Life, to give you His own Place with the God and Father in heaven; not only for awhile, but for ever.

By His becoming Flesh, He has been given authority over all flesh, in order to reveal the Glory of God to all flesh.  All of humanity now hinges upon the Life of God in the Flesh of Jesus Christ, whom He has sent.  For the Father has given all things to Him, that He might bring them to God; not as property, nor as slaves, but as beloved children who come to their own Father in faith.

It is thus by faith in His Father that Christ Jesus lives, from His conception in the womb of His Mother Mary, unto His Cross and Passion.  He lives and works, He walks the walk and talks the talk, as the true Son of God in the flesh, as the true Son of Man, on behalf of all men and women.

He does so, not under ideal circumstances, but in the same situation that you find yourself and struggle with; under the curse and consequences of your sin and death; up against the clock and all the pressures of this mortal coil; in the face of fierce competition and constant opposition.

In all of this, He humbles Himself under the mighty hand of His Father; not because He is weak, but in the strength of His divine and holy Love, and in perfect steadfast faith.  It looks like futility and weakness, but it is the power and glory of the true and only God to live by such faith and love.  Thus, He voluntarily takes the burdens of your fallen flesh upon Himself, all your sins and griefs and sorrows, and He patiently awaits the rescue and vindication of His Father at the proper time.  Not to prove some point, but to raise you up and bring you to the Father in and with Himself.

He offers Himself up, in and with His Body of flesh and blood, as the culmination and perfection of Sacrifice: for atonement and cleansing from all sins, for reparation of all the damage and harm that sin has done, for reconciliation with God, for peace and communion, thanksgiving and praise.  His Sacrifice upon the Cross is all of this, for you and for all flesh, that you might be received by the Father in the Person of His beloved and well-pleasing Son, and find your own place in Him.

It is in Him that you know the Holy Triune God.  Not simply that you know about Him, that you know what to think or say about Him, but that you are brought into a real relationship with Him, with the Father in His Son and by His Holy Spirit.  In your mind, yes, but also in your heart, and in your body, soul, and spirit.  That you find your place with God in Christ, and that you live your life with Christ in God; already now, by faith, and forever and ever in His crucified and risen Body.

It is this holy faith and divine life that are given to you in the Apostolic Ministry of the Gospel.  Because it is the same Lord Jesus Christ who speaks in the preaching of His Word, who washes you in the waters of your Holy Baptism, and who feeds you with His Body and His Blood in the Holy Communion.  The Place that He has with the Father, He gives to you in these Means of grace.  Not means to some other end, but Means by which He Himself is here with you, to save you.

You don’t have to go looking for your own place, for your true home, for your God and Father, because all of these are yours in Christ Jesus, and are given to you here in His Church on earth.

But what you get is not yet what you see.  Now it is by faith, and not by sight.  And it is, frankly, a learning experience, if one can think of this rightly.  I don’t mean that you need to learn your way into heaven; and I’m not talking about the memorization or mastery of facts and information.  The catechesis of the Holy Scriptures, of the Small Catechism, and of the Service Book and Hymnal, is surely instrumental to your faith and knowledge of the Lord your God.  But the learning that I have in mind is the catechesis of life under the Cross.  And, of course, that life is lived by faith in the Word that you are taught to pray and confess from the Bible, the Catechism, and the Hymnal.

You learn to live by faith, as Jesus lives, and to know and love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, by the catechesis of the Cross itself within the particular office and station in life that God has given you.  That place in life participates in your own place with God, although it may seem quite distant and far removed from the Life of God.  Bear in mind that it was exactly that way for the Lord Jesus Christ, as He lived unto the Father by His Cross and Passion.

As the Son of God glorified His Father by doing the work that His Father had given Him to do, and as the Father glorified His Son by receiving the Sacrifice of His Cross and raising Him from death and the grave, so do you glorify your God and Father in Christ by bearing the Cross in faith and love.  Not by self-invented works of grandeur, but by doing what is right in your own place, in the confidence that the God of all grace, who called you to eternal glory in Christ, will raise you up.

The works of your own office and station will differ from those of your neighbor.  Do not worry about that, as though it were some kind of contest.  You are your own dear Father’s beloved child; so, then, live wherever He has placed you within His household and family, within the masterpiece of His Creation.  You are crafted and completed by His Word.  Live by faith in His Word.

What that means for each and all of you, regardless of your age, your education, or your job, is that you give attention to His Word and the preaching of it, and avail yourself of His Means of grace.  Nothing is more fundamental to the Christian faith and life than that; not simply “doing that,” as going through the motions, but living your entire life by and from the Word and Sacraments of Christ.  To be gathered together with His Holy Apostles, with His sainted Mother and His many brothers and sisters, with the whole household and family of God, in order to hear and receive His Gospel as a member of His Body, the Church, and then, also, to be given continually to prayer.

You have heard this morning that Christ Himself prays to His God and Father.  Indeed, He ever lives to make intercession for you before the Throne of God in heaven.  So it is that His Church, in heaven and on earth, is likewise steadfast in prayer: The Body of Christ prays together with the Head of the Body.  The Bride of Christ prays together with her heavenly Bridegroom.  You, also, are given to pray and intercede in the Name of Christ Jesus.  This, too, is to live by faith in Him.

It all comes back to the question of where your heart is: There is your own place, your true home.

It is not where it would have been, had you been left to find your own way.  It is where Christ is, seated at the Right Hand of the Father in the heavenly places.  Which is not some place up there, but where the Body of Jesus is given, His Blood poured out, for His Christians to eat and drink.  Here is the House of God.  Here is the Gate of Heaven.  Here is your own place in Christ Jesus.

If this is not where your heart has been, repent.  If you have set your heart and mind on worldly things, on the pursuits of your flesh with its own passions, or on anything other than the Word and Flesh of Christ, the Son of God, repent.  Admit that you’ve been living in all the wrong places, and come home to the place that Christ has graciously prepared for you and made your own.  Humble yourself, and trust that, not you, but God will raise you up and exalt you at exactly the proper time.  In such faith and confidence, live and work, walk and talk, as a child of your Father in heaven.

It’s not as though your place with God depends on you.  It is precisely to the point that it does not.  But you depend upon the Lord your God, your Maker and Redeemer, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  He has named you with His Name, and He glorifies you in Himself.  He does it by way of the Cross of Christ, which turns out to be the way of His Resurrection and Ascension, as well.

Even now, He catechizes you in this dying and rising of Jesus, unto repentance and forgiveness of all your sins.  In point of fact, the dying and rising of Christ Jesus are your faith and life with God, your knowledge of the Father in His Son.  You belong to Him, because the Father has given you to His Son, and the Son brings you to the Father in His own flesh, with His own blood.

So do you know the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as your own dear God and Father.

Now and evermore, your relationship with God, and your own place with God, are in Christ Jesus, in His Word and in His Flesh.  Such a Place is sure and certain; it shall not change or disappear.  And such a Savior as you have in this Lord Jesus is worthy of all thanks and praise and adoration.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.

She Is His New Creation by Water and His Word

There is a powerful scene in The Passion of the Christ, when our Lord, on His way to be crucified, on the Via Dolorosa, stumbles and falls under the weight of the Cross. He has been beaten and whipped, scourged without mercy, crowned with thorns, and rendered a bloody mess. And the Mother of Jesus is there, following as best she can through the crowds of people watching the grisly parade.

As He falls, St. Mary rushes forward to her Son, to comfort and support Him, to help Him in some way, in whatever way she can. But He looks up at her, His face all bruised and bloody, almost beyond recognition, and He says to her, "See, I make all things new."

Such images and words do not seem to fit together. But that is also to the point. Your way of thinking and of processing experience is also made brand new by the Cross and Passion of Christ Jesus. Everything is undone, in order to be recreated and raised up in the righteousness and holiness of His crucified and risen Body. All of creation, the heavens and the earth and all that is in them, find their fulfillment, their purpose and perfection in Him, in His flesh and blood, given and poured out for you and for the many.

From heaven He has come to seek you out and to save you in this way, to betroth you to Himself in loving kindness and compassion, in mercy, and in faithfulness. He has come to woo you to Himself in tender love, to call you by His own Name, and to give you safety, peace, and rest in the place that He has prepared for you. He has come to make of you His holy Bride. And so it is that you also are His New Creation, by the way and means of water and His Word. You are made brand new by your Baptism into His Cross and Resurrection, and all things are made new for you by His preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

Of course, there are lots of new things in your life at this point: For you, Kirsten, there's not only your marriage and new name, as of today, but also your graduation last weekend, and moving across the country to a new home in a new place. Lots of big changes going on, which is both exciting and stressful.

But the newness of your body and life in Christ Jesus is even bigger than all the rest of it put together. His New Creation includes and embraces all of these other things, but it is also far deeper and more comprehensive than that. Which is all the more exciting, in its own way, and all the more difficult, challenging, and stressful, too.

Honestly, there is no part of you, and no part of your life in body and soul, that is left unchanged by the Word and work of Christ the Crucified. By His preaching and Baptism of repentance, His Cross is putting you to death and calling you daily to the righteousness of an entirely new way of life, to brand new ways of thinking and speaking and acting, and, really, to a whole new way of being.

Marriage itself is like that, as it redefines your identity and all of your relationships; but even your marriage points beyond itself to the new identity and the new relationships that are yours in Christ Jesus.

Within this new vocation and station in life, He will be teaching you, Kirsten, to live by faith as a bride, a wife; and He'll be teaching you, Trevor, to live in love as a husband, to lay down your life for her. In both respects, He will teach the two of you, and your neighbors in the world, both married and unmarried, what it means and what it looks like to live and to love as faithful Christians, wed to Christ Himself as members of His Body and Bride, the Church. That is what this great Mystery of holy Marriage signifies; not only for those who are married or given in marriage, but also for those who are not. It is a high and holy calling, indeed.

You're not alone in this life to which the Lord here calls you. Not only because He gives you to each other, to have and to hold, to love and to cherish, to serve and support each other throughout your life together; but especially because He Himself is with you, who shall never leave you nor forsake you; and He gives to you the other Comforter, even the Spirit of Truth from the Father, who strengthens and sustains you in the faith and love of the same Lord Jesus Christ.

He cleanses and refreshes you with living water, and He pours out for you the good wine of His own holy and precious Blood, even as He feeds and nourishes you with His own Body in the Marriage Feast of the Lamb, which has no end. These are not impotent or meaningless things, but genuine means of divine grace, and a medicine of immortality for body and soul, unto the life everlasting. There is nothing lacking in and with Him. Salvation and glory and power belong to Him, the true and only God; because His judgments are true and righteous.

Nevertheless, to do whatever He tells you will, at times, perhaps even often, be confusing and uncomfortable, like filling up huge jars with water as though it could ever take the place of wine at the wedding celebration. Learning to live as husband and wife, for example, is going to require adjustments in the way that you arrange your days and use your time, and in the ways that you think about your "privacy" and personal space.

As adults, you've gotten used to being on your own, taking care of yourselves, making your own decisions, and doing your own thing. Having a spouse, and reconforming your entire routine to orbit around that other person, is frankly even more demanding and consuming than being a child in your parents' home. Therefore, to live by faith in the Word of Christ within the vocation of holy marriage, in all of the particulars of your life together, is going to be among the foremost ways in which the Lord will crucify the flesh of your old fallen nature, and by which He will teach you to love and serve as He does, which is by self-sacrifice and suffering.

You cannot do this on your own. Not even the two of you together can manage to make all things new. As capable and competent as you both are, the fact is, that, as often as you rely upon yourselves and trust in your own finite and fallen resources, you really "have no wine." It is quickly consumed and spent, and then you are left with nothing but regret and sadness.

You may inebriate yourselves for awhile with pursuits of the flesh and the inferior pleasures of this old world, but eventually you'll sober up enough to realize how aimless and empty such pastimes are. They are not the fine wine they pretend to be, but dust and ashes.

But again, you are not on your own, nor left to your own futility. Not only your dear family and friends, but the Mother of Jesus is here with you, that is to say, His Holy Christian Church. For Christ Himself and His disciples are here invited to your wedding, that He might bless and sustain and abide within your marriage by and with His Word and Holy Spirit. Are we not all gathered together here in the presence of God to pray and intercede on your behalf, as you now enter upon this holy estate? And you, also, have been taught to pray, to call upon His Name in every situation. Do not doubt that He is with you, to guard and keep you in His grace, mercy, and peace, and to care for you in holy Charity.

Of course, you should not suppose that His place and purpose is to provide for all your creature comforts, plans, and ambitions in this life on earth. It isn't a nonstop party. This world with all its glory is perishing, along with your own mortal flesh and bones.

And the Lord would have you turn away from all your Baals, away from all the idols on which you rely for your happiness, contentment, and future hope. He would have you learn to fear, love, and trust in Him alone, and, forsaking all others, to find your perfect peace and Sabbath rest in Him, even when everything else, including your own body and life, your goods, fame, children, and spouse, are all returned to the dust of the ground. By such faith in Him, He would have you clothe yourself in fine linens, to adorn yourself as the Bride of Christ, not with lust or greed, but with the true beauty of humility and righteousness and love.

His Peace be with you. It is true wisdom to rely upon the Lord your God. For He does provide for all that you need, for both body and soul, for this life that He gives to you on earth, and for the life everlasting in Paradise in the resurrection of your body at the last.

He has, in fact, made all things new by His Cross and Passion. Indeed, His own Body, crucified and risen from the dead, is the Firstfruits of the New Creation, into which He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies you by His Word and Spirit.

Thus, for example, at His Word, simple water only has become the life-giving water of your Holy Baptism, by which you have been reborn and are daily made brand new; and by which the Lord Jesus Christ, your heavenly Bridegroom, has clothed you in the beautiful white wedding gown of His Resurrection and His Righteousness. So does He adorn you, by His Gospel of forgiveness, with His own glory, honor, and majesty, as He delights in you with steadfast love.

In the same way also, He provides and pours out for you His Good Wine in abundance, even in the midst of adversity; so that you may rejoice, give thanks, and sing to the Lord a new song, who has done such marvelous things. And as He has not withheld Himself, but given Himself for you, so surely does He not withhold any good thing from you, but He freely gives to you all that belongs to Him. As He has risen from the dead and lives and reigns forever, so does He raise you up in and with Himself, to the newness of eternal Life with God, both now and always, even forevermore.

Your confidence and certainty of this New Creation is not yet by sight, but by faith in His Word and promises to you:

The Word and promises of your Holy Baptism speak the Name of the Lord upon you, and, with His own Voice, like the sound of many waters, they openly declare that you are His beloved and well-pleasing child.

So, too, the Word of Christ shall here and now make of you husband and wife, and shall join you to each other as one flesh in Him. This Word of His adorns the two of you for each other with His own hidden majesty, and so shall it stand fast against all the threats and temptations of the world against you and against your marriage.

Even so, the Word of His Gospel also stands fast, even when you do not. By that Word of Absolution, the forgiveness of your sins, He raises you up from death to life, as often as you fail and fall short. So does He renew you, day by day, with His righteousness and holiness. And thus do you also give life to each other in mutual repentance and forgiveness, as long as you both shall live.

It is for this purpose, really, that He gives you to each other, and for which He sets the two of you before His disciples on earth as a sign of His Glory, as an icon of His Gospel. That we might behold in you the goodness of His New Creation, and believe in Him on account of His grace toward you, and so rejoice and be glad and give glory to Him. And that we should thus be invited, through the two of you and by the witness of your life together, to the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

Every Good and Perfect Gift in the Body of Christ

Brethren, do not be deceived by the lies of the devil, nor by the foolish ignorance of your own fallen and perishing flesh.  Do not be driven about or persuaded by the promises of this world, in which death and destruction, perversity and falsehood reign as presumptuous lords, masquerading as that which they are not, as though they were angels of light.  Do not be deceived by such darkness.

It is the Truth that all good things are found and received in the perfect Gift of God, which is given to you freely by His grace in the flesh and blood of Christ Jesus, in His crucified and risen Body.  He is the Man from above, who has come down from heaven, from the Father of lights, in order to bear your sin and be your Savior.  He is steadfast, faithful, and true, and it is by Him alone, the Word-made-Flesh, that you live and abide with God, both now and forever.

The Incarnation of the Son of God, His death upon the Cross, and His bodily Resurrection from the dead -- His journey from the Father into the utter depths of your depravity and damnation, and His return to the Father in righteousness and peace, in and with the human nature that He shares with you by His conception and birth of the Blessed Virgin -- this is the foundation, the center of gravity, the definitive pattern and perfection of Creation and of Life with God.  Everything pertaining to your life and your salvation is rooted in this Lord Jesus Christ; it all depends upon Him.

It has become yours, and has been worked in you, in your flesh, in your body and soul, by repentance and faith in Christ Jesus.  This is what your Baptism is, and what it does, and what it means and signifies; not only once upon a time, but every day, all the time, and unto the life everlasting.  By the Cross and Resurrection of the incarnate Son of God, you have been converted from the death and damnation of your unbelief to the faith and life of the Holy Trinity; which is the fulfillment of Creation in the Body of Christ Jesus, the perfection of the Image of God in Man.

In the exercise of His Will, which is to say, according to the Grace and Love of His divine and holy Being, He spoke and it was so: He brought us forth by the Word of Truth, by the Father's speaking of His Son in the flesh, and by the Spirit's preaching of His Gospel in the world.  In raising you up from death to life in Christ, He has made of you, also, a kind of first fruits among His creatures, as the Tree of Life now bears such fruit after its own kind, like unto Christ.

This you know, my dear brothers in Christ.  By the grace and wisdom of God, you have been given the knowledge, the teaching and confession, the acknowledgment and affirmation, and even the affection of the Truth.

But now, also, in the exercise of your new will in the Spirit of Christ Jesus -- not constrained by guilt or shame, nor driven by the fear of death, nor pressured by the praises of men, but recreated and renewed in the Resurrection of the Lord Jesus from the dead -- since He has brought you forth from darkness into His Light, bring forth the fruits of faith and the produce of the divine life that He has planted in you by His Word of grace, by His forgiveness of your sins.

It is not at all the case that you should be self-reliant, a free or independent agent, but that you are humbled and repentant, and yet faithful and confident in the Word of Christ Jesus.  Trust His Word, and so live according to it.  Be patient and compassionate with your beloved brothers, who are beloved of the same Lord and your brothers in Christ.

Be quick to listen, to hear and heed the Word of the Lord, and to consider carefully the wisdom and the need of those whom He has given to be your neighbors in the world.  In faith and love, be slow to speak, until you have first of all heard and received the Word by which you will be able to comfort and encourage the weak and the weary.

By all means, be slow to anger.  Control your temper, and discipline your passions; lest the wrath of God be visited upon your disobedience, and He discipline you.  For the anger of man does not achieve the justice and righteousness of the Lord.  It rather denies Him and the righteousness of His divine mercy and forgiveness in Christ Jesus.  It also betrays the poverty and wickedness of your own self-righteousness, the sickness and mortality of your fallen flesh.

Rather than losing your temper and venting your anger, repent of your haughty self-conceit, of your animosity and bitter resentment, of your personal pride and your contempt for others.

What is such repentance, but to put aside all filthiness and all that remains of wickedness in your words and actions.  To be done with your adultery, your coarse language and the provocative innuendo of your dirty jokes; to quit your gluttony and drunkenness, and to give up your greedy love of riches and the pleasures of the flesh.  But, so also, to stop being so harsh with your own dear wife and children, with your colleagues and your congregation; to cease and desist your self-promotion at the expense of your neighbor; and no longer to delight in the fall of those who hurt you.

Such repentance is not a one-time move, nor is it ever complete in this mortal life on earth.  It is an ongoing effort, which daily returns you to the dying and rising of your Baptism into Christ Jesus: an exercise of the New Man, and the death and destruction of the old man, by the discipline of your body and life.

Which is not to speak of any twelve-step program of self-improvement.  But, no, this good and perfect gift of repentance is also from above, by the outpouring of the Spirit by the Father in the Son.  It is spoken and given to you, and worked in you, by His Word of Truth, which is and remains the fountain and source of your divine life in Christ.

As you are humbled by the knowledge of your sin and by its consequences in your body and life, by the grace and mercies of God, who calls you to repentance and to faith, receive the Word implanted in you by the Spirit of Christ, and so receive and live the righteousness of God in Him.

Remember your Baptism, and submit to its significance, which is the death of your sin and mortality, and the salvation of your body and soul.

Seek out the preaching of the Gospel, the teaching of the Word, the voice of Absolution, and the mutual conversation and consolation of the beloved brethren.  Even as you also apply yourself to the study of the Scriptures, and to the pattern of sound words that the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has provided and passed down to you by your fathers in the faith.

And let this water and the Word bring you in peace to the good and perfect Gift of the Word-made-Flesh, to the giving of His Body into your body, the pouring out of His Blood into you, into your body and your soul; that by these Firstfruits of the Cross, you should become what you receive, and be found to be among the good fruits of His New Creation through the Resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead.

Beloved, He is faithful.  His Word is Truth, His promises certain.  There is no variation or shifting shadow in Him.  His good and gracious will remains, that you should be rescued from sin and death and every evil, and raised up in the Body of Christ unto the life everlasting.  Do not be deceived by any lie that would deny it.  For as surely as the Lord speaks, so surely will He do it.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The Lamb at the Center

Let’s face it, St. Paul was a workhorse.  And you know guys who are like that, who put to shame, not only your laziness, but even you best efforts.  Maybe you’re a workhorse, too; or, maybe not so much.  But the question is not how long and hard you work, nor how efficiently and effectively.  Rather, who and what has the Lord called you to be?  And what has He called you to do?

Pastors are called upon to care for others; and that is not simply a matter of your job description, but really your identity in relation to Christ’s Church.  You are a spiritual father to God’s children; and your responsibility for those children is also like “a mother’s tender care,” on call 24/7, both day and night, sometimes with tears, often in humility, facing trials and temptations all the time.

You are called to shepherd the flock, to guard and defend the lambs and sheep of Christ; to feed and nourish them, and to lead and guide them with His Word.  It is hard work, and you know as well or better than anyone how important and necessary it is.  So there is a constant struggle with pride and self-conceit, on the one hand, and with shame and nagging regret on the other hand.

You are called to preach and teach, to testify and live according to the counsel of God, which is to speak of, and to practice, daily repentance and constant faith in Christ.  To do so, not relying on yourself, but in the confidence that He will guard and keep you, and build you up in His love.

There is joy and satisfaction in this calling, but it is exhausting work.  Sometimes it drives you to the point of burning out, and sometimes it drives you to the verge of despair, to give up and quit, or to get by with whatever you can, and hope to God that no one notices your shortfall.

Your care and concern for the Church involves a weight and weariness of duty, which becomes all the more discouraging and disappointing when you seem to be doing no good nor making any difference.  When you have worked so hard and done your best, and you perceive no results, nor even a response, is it all for nothing?  And what about those days and weeks, sometimes months on end, when you haven’t done all that you should, nor even all that you could have done?  Then the weight of the Office and its vital importance falls hard and heavy on your failure.

As if that were not enough, the Lord Himself and His Holy Apostles have repeatedly warned you of the dangers that will beset both you and the flock you are called to care for.  Enemies within and without will not simply ignore or despise your work, but hate you and hurt you on account of it.

So you are tempted, in subtle and obvious ways, to shrink back from the preaching and practice that will lead to persecution, affliction, and that most dreaded of crosses to bear, unpopularity.  It hardly seems worth it, anyway, when your best is never good enough, and, in fact, you know yourself to be unworthy and incapable of the duties laid upon you.  If it were left up to you, Luther had it right, it would be all for rack and ruin.  Therefore, nothing ventured, nothing lost.

But let us return to the real question: Who and what has the Lord called you to be, and what has He given you to do?  The answers are daunting, sometimes frightening, yet they are clear enough.

Only stop looking at yourself and at your hopes and fears and aspirations, and consider the goal and purpose of your calling.  It is not that you must save yourself or anyone else by your efforts; though it is true, indeed, that the Ministry of the Gospel to which you are called is the means of salvation for those who preach and those who hear the Word of Christ, for everyone who believes.

But, no, you are called to your office and station in life, so that Christ be praised and worshiped in your work, in what you do and suffer and receive in His Name.  Not to glorify yourself, but to be glorified in Him, and He in you, by the way and means of His Cross.

That Cross, which is laid upon you — the weight and worry of the Office; the discouragement and disappointment; the apparent failures, and the pressing fears — these, too, will have their way with you to the glory of God in Christ.  Not that He is making sport of you, nor extracting a pound of flesh to profit at your expense.  But that you would repent with the repentance you are called to preach and teach.  And that you would be taught and learn the faith of Christ, by which you call on the Name of the Lord, find grace to help in time of need, and are saved by the mercies of God.

Take heart.  The comfort and encouragement of the Gospel are also for you.  Repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus are not simply the content of your preaching, but the life to which you also are called by this same Lord Jesus Christ, who loves you, who has been crucified and is risen for you; that you should be, not only a shepherd of His flock, but a sheep of His pasture.

It is this, first of all, that you are called to be: a sheep of the Good Shepherd.  As He Himself, the great Shepherd of the Sheep, the Pastor and Bishop of your body and your soul, has become the Lamb of God, who has taken away the sins of the world.  He is the Lamb at the Center of His one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church in heaven and on earth, this Lamb who has been slain, and yet, behold, He is alive and life-giving.  He is the Crucified and Risen One, who lives and reigns at the center of the Apostles & Prophets, Elders & Evangelists, Pastors & Teachers, and sheep alike.

It is to Himself that He calls you, into this place of abundance, where He abides with you and all His sheep as the One Shepherd of One Flock.  The Cross by which He brings you into this Holy Communion of heaven and earth, by the way and means of His own sacrifice, aims not at your destruction, but to cleanse and purify your body and soul, as silver and gold are purified by fire.

As He has passed through the fire and the water on your behalf, and as He now dwells in the midst of His people, and so also with you in your suffering, your labors are not in vain.  For He brings you through the great tribulation into the gracious and glorious presence of God, to dwell with Him there, and to worship Him day and night.  So does He feed your hunger and quench your thirst; He dries your tears, shelters you from the scorching heat, and clothes you in His Righteousness by the cleansing of His Blood.

In the Name + of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.