The Life that You Live Before God by Faith in Christ

It is a matter of life and death, whether you worship the Lord your God or turn away from Him to pursue your own way and to worship the work of your own hands.

To fear, love, and trust in the Holy Triune God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength — to worship the Father in the Spirit and through the Son — that is Life.  That is the true Spiritual life, which is lived before God in the righteousness and purity of faith in Christ; not apart from your body, but in your body by the Holy Spirit through faith in the Word of the Lord.

Apart from such faith, apart from the Word and Spirit of God in Christ, your life in the body is no life at all, but a living death, even now.  And that will not end well.  It will go from bad to worse, unto eternal death in hell.  For that is finally all that remains apart from God.

So the true Spiritual life begins with faith in the heart before God, and then it is lived in love for God and man in both soul and body.  For it is the very nature of faith in the God who is Love, to live in love for both God and the neighbors He has positioned alongside of you.

With your words and actions you love and serve the people around you in the way that Christ Jesus loves and serves you with His Word and Spirit and with His flesh and blood.  As you pray, praise, and give thanks to the Lord your God, so do you also speak with grace, mercy, and forgiveness to your neighbors.  And as you are clothed by the Lord with His Righteousness in Holy Baptism, and fed by the Lord in the Holy Communion, so do you feed and clothe your neighbor in peace.

It is with fear, love, and trust in God that you live before Him in love for others.  You fear the Lord your God, first of all, because He is God and you are not.  And you fear His wrath because you are justly punished for your sins, since He has the authority to command and forbid you, as He does, and yet you have disregarded His Word and disobeyed Him in thought, word, and deed.

Even so, you are to love and trust in Him, also because He is God and you are not, and on account of His gracious Word and promises of the Gospel.  Thus, your fear does not drive you to despair, but rather it drives you to God in Christ, to worship Him in the Spirit and the Truth.

Thus do you fear and love the Lord your God, so that you do not despise the preaching of His Word but gladly hear and learn it.  You rest yourself in the Word that God the Father speaks to you by His Son, and you call upon His Name.  Everything else proceeds from this faith and worship.

You are to fear and love God so that you do not despise your parents, whom God has given you, but honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.

You are to fear and love God so that you do not hurt or harm your neighbor in his body, but that you help, defend, and protect your neighbor in his body and life.

You are to fear and love God so that you are not unfaithful to your spouse, but that you cherish the spouse whom God has given you.  The husband whom your heavenly Bridegroom has given as your head.  The bride whom He has given you to love as He loves His own Body, the Church.

You are to fear and love God so that you do not take but give, and you help your neighbor to keep what he has.  You are to fear and love God so that you speak with the mercies and charity of God as you speak to and about your neighbor, just as you depend upon the mercy and charity of God.

This is your Life, and this is how you are to live.  Not in order to become righteous, as though by your works to justify yourself.  But this is the life that you live because you are righteous before God, by His grace, through faith in Christ your Savior.  Whereas to live apart from God, without such faith and love in Christ, is death and damnation, no matter how busy you may be.

God’s chief concern is not that you be well behaved, although your good behavior is pleasing to Him and is good for you and for your neighbor.  His first concern is that you would have life with Him.  It is for such life that He has created you.  He does not want you to die.  So He calls you to repentance as a parent calls his child away from the cliff, the speeding car, or the deadly poison.

Where you have been angry without cause against your neighbor, and where you have not dealt with your anger righteously but have hardened your heart against your neighbor; and where you have withheld your love from your neighbor because you are angry — Repent, and do better.

Where you have spoken harshly, not with words of grace, but rather with hostility and hatred, with wrath, and with ill intent — Repent, and do better.

Where you have been covetous; where you have been lustful; where you have been greedy and selfish; and where you have nurtured such idolatry by worshiping your flesh — Repent.

Where you have caused harm to holy marriage and to family, whether your own or your neighbor’s — Repent, and do better.  Honor your father and mother.  Love and cherish your spouse.  Care for your children in the grace of God.  And support your neighbor in his calling to care for his family.

Where you have presumed to worship God with your lips and with your body, while turning your heart and mind to other things — Repent.  Do not withdraw your lips and your body, but humble your heart and mind before God.  Bowing your body, bow your heart also.  Confessing with your lips, confess also with your mind.  Praise God and glorify His Name, not only by attending to His Word and Sacrament here within His House, but also by serving your neighbor in the world.

Such repentance is a matter of being and living as a child of God, instead of living as though you were not baptized in His Name; as though you were nothing but a child of that old man, Adam.

Be sure of this: Repentance is not by your own wisdom, reason, strength, or effort.  You cannot fix your heart and mind by applying your heart and mind to the problem, because you are the problem!  You cannot make yourself brand new or give yourself new life, for you are not God but His creature, created to live by faith in Him, and otherwise dead in your trespasses and sins.

It is by the Cross of Christ, and by His Resurrection from the dead, that you are rescued and repent.  It is by the Word of His Cross, and by the Spirit who is poured out from the Cross, that you are put to death and raised to new life.  It is by His Cross that you are born again to a new and living hope.

You cannot repent or manage to make anything better of yourself.  But the Word of God is living and active and powerful.  When you come to church and avail yourself of that preaching, God works in you.  So give attention to His Word and the preaching of it.  And humble yourself under that Word. It really is the height of self-righteousness to suppose that you have already mastered the Word or have no need of it, as though you could make do and rely on your own intellect, knowledge, and savvy experience.  Faith begins and continues with the hearing of the Word of Christ.  It remains only so long as you rely on His Word: Hearing it, confessing it, and praying it.

Lay hold of Christ in His means of grace: In His preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, in the ongoing significance of your Baptism, in Confession and Absolution, and in the Holy Communion of His Body and Blood, given and poured out for you and for the many to eat and to drink here at His Altar.  Discipline yourself to live by such faith in His Ministry of the Gospel.

When I speak of discipline, I do not speak of works righteousness.  I do not mean that you can set things right with God.  You cannot.  But God has set things right with you.  Therefore, live in that righteousness of God in Christ, which is already yours by His grace, by His Word and Spirit, by faith in His Gospel.  Discipline yourself by and with His Cross, and live according to His Word.

This is where your life as both a child of God and a sinful child of Adam can be so confusing and so difficult.  On the one hand, you are tempted to hypocrisy, to say and do the right things while your heart remains hard and distant.  But on the other hand, you are tempted not to speak or do anything until you have your heart and mind just right; and, because you cannot make that happen, you never do or say anything.  Do not fall into that trap.  But, rejoicing in the freedom of the Gospel, know that you are free to speak, and free to act, despite the fact that you are still a sinner.

You can do what is good and right.  You can do your duty.  It is not a pretense.  It is not hypocrisy.  It is to spite the devil, the world, and your own mortal flesh, and to live according to the Word of God in spite of all the odds against you.  It is not works righteousness, but a training of your heart and mind, your body, soul, and spirit, in the way of faith and love and righteousness in Christ.

Because the Cross and Resurrection of Jesus are the fulfillment of God’s Law, the perfection of faith and love, and the reconciliation of the world to God — so it is that, when you are crucified, dead, and buried with Christ, by His Word and Holy Spirit, you are also raised with Christ in His Resurrection to live before God in righteousness and purity.

It is accomplished in you by and through and with His forgiveness of your sins.  In this poor life of labor, nothing good happens apart from His forgiveness.  But His forgiveness is plentiful, and it is for you.  His forgiveness is there in the waters of your Baptism, daily washing away all of your sins and your unrighteousness.  And His forgiveness is here for you on the lips of your pastor.

The Lord your God has not divorced you.  He has allowed divorce on earth because of the hardness of man’s heart.  But His heart is not hardened toward you.  He has not sent you away.  Nor has He murdered you.  He has not robbed you of life.  Even when He puts you to death by His preaching of repentance, by His Word of the Cross, it is for the sake of giving you life.

He has not given you a certificate of divorce, but He has given you His sure and certain promises in the Ministry and preaching of His Cross and Resurrection.

Cling to that sure and certain Word of the Gospel, which does not depend on you, but you depend on it.  To cling to His Gospel is to live before God in faith.  And living before God in faith, you live in love for your neighbor, because the Gospel sets you free to love.

Where there is no freedom, there can be no real love.  And where there is fear and punishment, there can be no real love.  But Christ has taken away your punishment, and Christ has dealt with your fears by meeting them head-on and overcoming them.  He thus bestows upon you the glorious freedom of the sons of God, because He raises you up with Himself.  Your sins cannot destroy you in Christ.  The Law cannot accuse you any longer.  You are set free.  You are loved by God in Christ, and you are free to love your neighbor.  You are free to forgive, as you are forgiven.

In loving your neighbor, your life itself becomes a glorious song of praise.  You call on the Name of the Lord and sing to Him with both your mouth and your life.  You worship Him and serve Him rightly by faith.  You offer yourself to Him as a fragrant aroma, as sweet-smelling incense.

This is your life, in both body and soul, in Christ Jesus.  For here in the midst of His Church — His true Jerusalem, the City of the great King — He reigns in love from His Cross, He befriends you through His Gospel, and He judges you righteous with His Holy Absolution.  He feeds you and clothes you and cares for you.  He helps you, and He heals you.  And He gives you life.

By the preaching of His Word, the Holy Spirit lays Christ Himself upon your heart and mind, upon your body and your soul.  And that is how you are made brand new.  For Christ Himself is laid upon you as your righteousness and holiness, your innocence and blessedness, unto faith, and unto life with God in Him.  He who is the Word of God is spoken into your ears, and into your mind, and into your heart.  And so has He become your Prayer, your Confession, and your Song.

He is the Sacrifice of Atonement.  And He is the sacrificial Meal of Fellowship that is given to you, that you might eat and drink with God in peace.  He is also the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving, the Eucharistic Sacrifice of Praise, in whom you worship the Lord your God, your own dear Father in Christ Jesus.  You do so in the Beauty of His Holiness.  Therefore, do not be afraid.  Approach His Altar in the confidence of faith and with great joy and gladness.  And offering yourself unto Him, receive His Life, His grace, and every blessing of body and soul, of heart, mind, and spirit.

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

The 2016 Grampies

It's a bit later in the New Year (2017) already than I had intended or would have preferred, but I'm still ahead of the Grammys in publishing my list of the 2016 Grampies.  Here follows the compilation of my favorite albums of this past year across a variety of genres.  In fact, I've further diversified my classifications, as compared to previous years, dividing the vast span of country music into two different categories (the first comprising tradition and modern, mainstream and retro country, and the second covering ground from folk to Americana), and creating a niche for music spanning progressive rock and symphonic metal.

Noting that "country" (even with a second category) still covers a broad span of music, I've provided a long list of albums under the main "Country" heading, almost twice as many as in the others.  But the reality is that "Pop," "Rock," "Metal," and "Alternative" have a fair amount of overlap between them, and any number of albums could conceivably be categorized in a variety of these ways.  I've had to make decisions, some of which are inevitably arbitrary and subjective.  But it is my list, after all, and making those hard choices is part of the challenge and part of the fun of doing this each year.

As in the past, my thanks to Spotify and Amazon, to my local public library, to Fireworks and Powerplay rock and metal magazines, to Rolling Stone Country, to the Rate Your Music (rym) and the Album Of The Year (aoty) sites, and to my buddy, Rev. Erich Fickel, with whom I got to see Sturgill Simpson in concert this past year, and whose thoughts on music are encouraging.

To my ears, 2016 was a great year for music of all kinds, and I enjoy the chance to share my favorite discoveries with others.   So, then, without any further ado, here are the 2016 Grampies:


D. Rick’s Album Top 50

1. Theocracy - Ghost Ship (Metal)

2. Sister Hazel - Lighter in the Dark (Pop)

3. Green River Ordinance - Fifteen (Country)

4. The Avett Brothers - True Sadness (Folk/Americana)

5. Andy Black - The Shadow Side (Alternative)

6. Volbeat - Seal the Deal & Let's Boogie (Metal)

7. The Roosevelts - The Greatest Thing You'll Ever Learn (Rock)

8. Parker Millsap - The Very Last Day (Folk/Americana)

9. Lori McKenna - The Bird & the Rifle (Folk/Americana)

10. Rachel Platten - Wildfire (Pop)

11. Brian Fallon - Painkillers (Rock)

12. Dori Freeman - Dori Freeman (Folk/Americana)

13. The Roomsounds - Elm St. (Rock)

14. Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth (Alternative)

15. Brandy Clark - Big Day in a Small Town (Country)

16. Simple Plan - Taking One for the Team (Alternative)

17. Alter Bridge - The Last Hero (Metal)

18. Dream Theater - The Astonishing (Progressive)

19. Nordic Union - Nordic Union (Rock)

20. Brothers Osborne - Pawn Shop (Country)

21. Tremonti - Dust (Guitarist)

22. Miranda Lambert - The Weight of These Wings (Country)

23. Bon Jovi - This House Is Not for Sale (Rock)

24. Panic! at the Disco - Death of a Bachelor (Alternative)

25. Maren Morris - Hero (Country)

26. Rick Springfield - Rocket Science (Pop)

27. Poets of the Fall - Clearview (Alternative)

28. Joe Bonamassa - Blues of Desperation (Guitarist)

29. Treat - Ghost of Graceland (Rock)

30. Wigelius - Tabula Rasa (Rock)

31. Jorn - Heavy Rock Radio (Rock)

32. Margo Price - Midwest Farmer's Daughter (Country)

33. Elton John - Wonderful Crazy Night (Pop)

34. Twin Atlantic - GLA (Alternative)

35. Holy Grail - Times of Pride and Peril (Metal)

36. Serenity - Codex Atlanticus (Progressive)

37. Black Stone Cherry - Kentucky (Rock)

38. Austin Allsup - This Weary Land (Country)

39. The Head and the Heart - Signs of Light (Alternative)

40. Aubrie Sellers - New City Blues (Country)

41. Lindsey Stirling - Brave Enough (Alternative)

42. BJ Barham - Rockingham (Folk/Americana)

43. Keith Urban - Ripcord (Guitarist)

44. Ryan Beaver - Rx (Country)

45. Eliza and The Bear - Eliza and The Bear (Alternative)

46. Metallica - Hardwired...to Self-Destruct (Metal)

47. Dommin - Beautiful Crutch (Alternative)

48. Dare - Sacred Ground (Rock)

49. Sabaton - The Last Stand (Metal)

50. Megadeth - Dystopia (Metal)


Country  (Traditional and Modern, Mainstream and Retro)

1. Green River Ordinance - Fifteen

2. Brandy Clark - Big Day in a Small Town

3. Brothers Osborne - Pawn Shop

4. Miranda Lambert - The Weight of These Wings

5. Maren Morris - Hero

6. Margo Price - Midwest Farmer's Daughter

7. Austin Allsup - This Weary Land

8. Aubrie Sellers - New City Blues

9. Ryan Beaver - Rx

10. Loretta Lynn - Full Circle

11. Dianna Corcoran - In America

12. The Honeycutters - On the Ropes

13. Florida Georgia Line - Dig Your Roots

14. Ward Thomas - Cartwheels

15. Casey Donahew - All Night Party

16. The Warhorses - The Warhorses

17. Thorne Hill - No More Holding Back

18. Jared Deck - Jared Deck

19. Paul Cauthen - My Gospel

20. Frankie Ballard - El Río

21. Cody Johnson - Gotta Be Me

22. Seth James & Jessica Murray - A Million Miles of Love

23. Drake White - Spark

24. Reckless Kelly - Sunset Motel

25. Garth Brooks - Gunslinger

26. Derek Hoke - Southern Moon

27. Randy Rogers Band - Nothing Shines Like Neon

28. Wynonna & The Big Noise - Wynonna & The Big Noise

29. Jamestown Revival - The Education of a Wandering Man

30. Kenny Chesney - Cosmic Hallelujah

31. Cody Jinks - I'm Not the Devil

32. Zane Williams - Bringin' Country Back

33. Levi Parham - These American Blues

34. Phil Vassar - American Soul

35. Whiskey Myers - Mud

36. High Valley - Dear Life

37. Kane Brown - Kane Brown

38. Martina McBride - Reckless

39. Jamie Kent - All American Mutt

40. The Cactus Blossoms - You're Dreaming

41. Shane Owens - Where I'm Comin' From

42. Shannon Labrie - War & Peace

43. The Cadillac Three - Bury Me in My Boots

44. Willie Nelson - For the Good Times: A Tribute to Ray Price

45. The Shires - My Universe

46. Ronnie Dunn - Tattooed Heart

47. Jon Pardi - California Sunrise

48. Mark Chesnutt - Tradition Lives

49. William Michael Morgan - Vinyl

50. Karen Jonas - Country Songs


Country Folk ~ Rustic Americana

1. The Avett Brothers - True Sadness

2. Parker Millsap - The Very Last Day

3. Lori McKenna - The Bird & the Rifle

4. Dori Freeman - Dori Freeman

5. BJ Barham - Rockingham

6. Flatland Cavalry - Humble Folks

7. The Stray Birds - Magic Fire

8. Brent Cobb - Shine on Rainy Day

9. Hayes Carll - Lovers and Leavers

10. Shovels & Rope - Little Seeds

11. Sarah Jarosz - Undercurrent

12. Sara Watkins - Young in All the Wrong Ways

13. Mary Chapin Carpenter - The Things That We Are Made Of

14. Courtney Marie Andrews - Honest Life

15. Aoife O'Donovan - In the Magic Hour

16. John Prine - For Better, or Worse

17. Dylan LeBlanc - Cautionary Tale

18. Darrell Scott - Couchville Sessions

19. Amanda Shires - My Piece of Land

20. Kate Rusby - Life in a Paper Boat

21. Lee DeWyze - Oil & Water

22. case / lang / veirs - case / lang / veirs

23. Jason Eady & Courtney Patton - Something Together

24. Kelsey Waldon - I've Got a Way

25. The Time Jumpers - Kid Sister

26. Robbie Fulks - Upland Stories

27. Mandolin Orange - Blindfaller

28. The Lumineers - Cleopatra

29. Dwight Yoakam - Swimmin' Pools, Movie Stars...

30. Amos Lee - Spirit

31. Seth Lakeman - Ballads of the Broken Few

32. Paper Bird - Paper Bird

33. John Paul White - Beulah


Pop

1. Sister Hazel - Lighter in the Dark

2. Rachel Platten - Wildfire

3. Rick Springfield - Rocket Science

4. Elton John - Wonderful Crazy Night

5. American Authors - What We Live For

6. Anthony D'Amato - Cold Snap

7. Parachute - Wide Awake

8. Jace Pawlak - Promise

9. Britt Nicole - Britt Nicole

10. Colbie Caillat - The Malibu Sessions

11. Regina Spektor - Remember Us to Life

12. Passenger - Young as the Morning Old as the Sea

13. Jacob Whitesides - Why?

14. Lewis & Leigh - Ghost

15. OneRepublic - Oh My My

16. Sia - This Is Acting

17. Muddy Magnolias - Broken People

18. Dawes - We're All Gonna Die

19. Gavin DeGraw - Something Worth Saving

20. Jimmy Barnes - Soul Searchin'

21. Andrew Leahey & The Homestead - Skyline in Central Time

22. Lake Street Dive - Side Pony

23. Meghan Trainor - Thank You

24. Josh Kelley - New Lane Road

25. KT Tunstall - KIN

26. Lights - Midnight Machines

27. Roxette - Good Karma

28. Tegan and Sara - Love You to Death

29. Sabrina Carpenter - EVOLution

30. Britta Phillips - Luck or Magic

31. The Candles - Matter + Spirit

32. Audrey Spillman - Thornbird

33. BROODS - Conscious


Rock  (Rock ‘n’ Roll, Classic Rock, Retro Radio Rock, Modern Rock)

1. The Roosevelts - The Greatest Thing You'll Ever Learn

2. Brian Fallon - Painkillers

3. The Roomsounds - Elm St.

4. Nordic Union - Nordic Union

5. Bon Jovi - This House Is Not for Sale

6. Treat - Ghost of Graceland

7. Wigelius - Tabula Rasa

8. Jorn - Heavy Rock Radio

9. Black Stone Cherry - Kentucky

10. Dare - Sacred Ground

11. Epic - Like a Phoenix

12. 3 Doors Down - Us and the Night

13. Wolfmother - Victorious

14. Blackfoot - Southern Native

15. Rival Sons - Hollow Bones

16. Letters From the Fire - Worth the Pain

17. The Record Company - Give It Back to You

18. Blackberry Smoke - Like an Arrow

19. The Answer - Solas

20. Kings of Leon - Walls

21. The Black Moods - Medicine

22. Inglorious - Inglorious

23. Tim Montana and The Shrednecks - Tim Montana and the Shrednecks

24. Grand Slam - A New Dawn

25. Rob Moratti - Transcendent

26. Angels or Kings - Go Ask the Moon

27. Glenn Hughes - Resonate

28. Handful of Rain - Three Days to Come Back

29. Mudcrutch - 2

30. Nemesea - Uprise

31. Overland - Contagious

32. First Signal - One Step Over the Line

33. The Radio Sun - Outside Looking In


Progressive Rock ~ Symphonic Metal

1. Dream Theater - The Astonishing

2. Serenity - Codex Atlanticus

3. Avantasia - Ghostlights

4. Epica - The Holographic Principle

5. Avenged Sevenfold - The Stage

6. Delain - Moonbathers

7. Sonata Arctica - The Ninth Hour

8. DGM - The Passage

9. Rhapsody of Fire - Into the Legend

10. Sirenia - Dim Days of Dolor

11. Redemption - The Art of Loss

12. Insomnium - Winter's Gate

13. Opeth - Sorceress

14. Of Mice & Men - Cold World

15. Lacuna Coil - Delirium


Hard Rock & Heavy Metal

1. Theocracy - Ghost Ship

2. Volbeat - Seal the Deal & Let's Boogie

3. Alter Bridge - The Last Hero

4. Holy Grail - Times of Pride and Peril

5. Metallica - Hardwired...to Self-Destruct

6. Sabaton - The Last Stand

7. Megadeth - Dystopia

8. Eden's Curse - Cardinal

9. Amaranthe - Maximalism

10. Amon Amarth - Jomsviking

11. Rage of Angels - The Devils New Tricks

12. Pretty Maids - Kingmaker

13. Trapt - DNA

14. Freedom Call - Master of Light

15. Michael Sweet - One Sided War

16. Evergrey - The Storm Within

17. Stitched Up Heart - Never Alone

18. Striker - Stand in the Fire

19. Tyketto - Reach

20. Gemini Syndrome - Memento Mori

21. Myrath - Legacy

22. Innerwish - InnerWish

23. Last in Line - Heavy Crown

24. Primal Fear - Rulebreaker

25. Serious Black - Mirrorworld

26. HammerFall - Built to Last

27. Sixx:A.M. - Prayers for the Blessed Vol. 2

28. Resurrection Kings - Resurrection Kings

29. In Flames - Battles

30. Shakra - High Noon

31. Obscura - Akróasis

32. Wovenwar - Honor Is Dead

33. Killswitch Engage - Incarnate


Ambiguous Alternatives

1. Andy Black - The Shadow Side

2. Sturgill Simpson - A Sailor's Guide to Earth

3. Simple Plan - Taking One for the Team

4. Panic! at the Disco - Death of a Bachelor

5. Poets of the Fall - Clearview

6. Twin Atlantic - GLA

7. The Head and the Heart - Signs of Light

8. Lindsey Stirling - Brave Enough

9. Eliza and The Bear - Eliza and The Bear

10. Dommin - Beautiful Crutch

11. The Wild Feathers - Lonely Is a Lifetime

12. James McCartney - The Blackberry Train

13. As Vultures Circle - Human Conditions

14. Skillet - Unleashed

15. Drive-By Truckers - American Band

16. Needtobreathe - Hard Love

17. Switchfoot - Where the Light Shines Through

18. Good Charlotte - Youth Authority

19. Thrice - To Be Everywhere Is to Be Nowhere

20. Nothing But Thieves - Nothing But Thieves

21. Yellowcard - Yellowcard

22. Jimmy Eat World - Integrity Blues

23. The Jayhawks - Paging Mr. Proust

24. Fitz & the Tantrums - Fitz & the Tantrums

25. Weezer - Weezer [White Album]

26. Lacey Sturm - Life Screams

27. Phish - Big Boat

28. Goo Goo Dolls - Boxes

29. Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeros - PersonA

30. Savages - Adore Life

31. Deftones - Gore

32. Taking Back Sunday - Tidal Wave

33. Young Guns - Echoes


Guitarists

1. Tremonti - Dust

2. Joe Bonamassa - Blues of Desperation

3. Keith Urban - Ripcord

4. Wolf Hoffmann - Headbangers Symphony

5. Scotty Bratcher - That Album

6. Zakk Wylde - Book of Shadows II

7. Vince Gill - Down to My Last Bad Habit

8. Tedeschi Trucks Band - Let Me Get By

9. Gary Hoey - Dust & Bones

10. Jeff Beck - Loud Hailer

11. Steffen Schackinger - Fire Dance

12. Rik Emmett & RESolution9 - RES 9

13. Punky Meadows - Fallen Angel

14. Ace Frehley - Origins Vol. 1

15. Bonnie Raitt - Dig in Deep

16. Ana Popovic - Trilogy

17. Steve Wariner - All Over the Map

18. Monte Pittman - Inverted Grasp of Balance

19. Animals as Leaders - The Madness of Many

20. Stefan Berggren - Stranger in a Strangeland

21. Joanne Shaw Taylor - Wild

22. Andy Timmons - Theme From a Perfect World

23. Polyphia - Renaissance

24. Peter Frampton - Acoustic Classics

25. Kee Marcello - Scaling Up

26. Eric Clapton - I Still Do

27. Oz Noy - Who Gives a Funk

28. Eric Johnson - EJ

29. Paul Gilbert - I Can Destroy

30. Yngwie Malmsteen - World on Fire

31. Santana - Santana IV

32. Jack White - Acoustic Recordings 1998-2016

33. Neil Young - Peace Trail

The Epiphany of Righteousness in Christ

So, what would you say is the least of the Commandments?  Whoever annuls one of the least of these Commandments and teaches others to do the same, he shall be called least in the Kingdom of heaven.  Indeed, he shall not enter the Kingdom of heaven at all.  So, which is the least of these?

Probably not the Commandments against murder,  adultery, or theft.  Even the world knows that such things are grievous wrongs.  And I expect you know that the First Commandment is not the least but the greatest of all the Commandments: You shall have no others gods before the Lord.

But perhaps you would say the Eighth Commandment is one of the least: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.  After all, sticks and stones may break your bones, but words will never hurt you.  Except you know that’s ridiculous.  Words can hurt deeply and leave real scars.

If you are caught bearing false witness, that is, testifying falsely under oath, then you are held in contempt of court, and that is no small thing.  In the Old Testament, if you bore false witness, then you would be liable to the same punishment as the person you falsely accused would have been.

And don’t suppose that idle and malicious gossip is any less sinful, no matter how common it may be.  To harm your neighbor’s good name and reputation is to despise the Word of the Lord, which teaches you to defend and protect your neighbor by speaking up on his behalf against detractors.

Well, then, what about coveting?  Granted, it may not be as harmful to your neighbor as murder, adultery, or theft.  However, the envy and jealousy, lust and resentment in your heart do harm your relationships.  And even more than that, St. Paul the Apostle deals a death blow to your coveting when he identifies it with idolatry.  To break the Ninth or Tenth Commandments is to break the First Commandment.  It is to make a false god out of things that are not God.

Okay, what about the Third Commandment?  Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.  Dr. Luther even says that this Commandment doesn’t apply to Christians anymore.  The Sabbath Day was a law given to the Jews, and Christians have no such command to rest from all their labors on the seventh day of the week.  It is in the freedom of the Gospel that we go to church on Sunday to hear the preaching of Christ Jesus and to receive His Body and Blood in the Holy Communion.

Even so, the meaning and significance of the Sabbath remain in Christ Jesus.  Indeed, the Third Commandment is the most gracious of all the Commandments, in which God simply tells you to rest from your labors, to rest in Him, to hear His life-giving Word, to receive His glorious and gracious gifts.  It is your sinful heart that perverts this blessed Word of the Lord into a heavy yoke.  You act as though it were a burden and a chore to go to church, and you make light and easy excuses for avoiding it, though it is fundamental to the Christian faith and life, since you cannot live without God’s Word and the preaching of it.  You despise the very thing that saves you.

Then there is the Fourth Commandment: Honor your Father and your Mother.  No commandment is more routinely broken than this one, and not only by the little people.  You are to honor your parents, not only when you are little, but also when they are old and need your help, as they helped you when you were small.  And you are to honor, respect, obey, and serve the other authorities that God has placed over you, because they are His representative and servants.

According to St. Paul, the Fourth Commandment is not the least; it is the first one with a promise, that it may be well with you, and that you may live long on the earth.  To honor your father and your mother is to your own advantage in this body and life.

And by the same token, the penalty for dishonoring father and mother in the Old Testament was death by stoning.  So that is how seriously God takes this Commandment, which is not abolished in the least but is fulfilled and affirmed in Christ Jesus.

Well then, we’re left with the Second Commandment: You shall not misuse the Name of the Lord your God.  Or, as many of you learned it: You shall not take the Name of the Lord your God in vain.  That pertains not only to your speaking, but also to your living.  For you bear His Name as a dear child of God, baptized into Christ Jesus; and you are to keep His Name holy by hearing and confessing His Word, and by leading a godly life according to it.  The Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His Name in vain.  But whoever calls on the Name of the Lord shall be saved.

Whoever annuls even the least of these Commandments shall not enter God’s Kingdom.  But the truth is, there is no “least” Commandment.  They all flow from the first and return to it.  And all of them together require perfect faith and perfect love in all of your thoughts, words, and deeds.

That is the Righteousness of God’s holy Law, which is good and right, and wise and true.  Keeping your nose clean is not good enough.  Dotting your “i’s,” crossing your “t’s,” and minding all your “p’s” and “q’s” doesn’t do it, either.  But it requires fear, love, and trust in God, and love for your neighbor as yourself, in heart and mind, in body, soul, and spirit.

God has called you to be His child, to bear His Name, and to live by faith in His Word.  You are to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world, an epiphany of the Lord Himself in the flesh.

Yet, even as a Christian, you are still too much of the world, and too much like your fallen father Adam instead of your Father in heaven.  You do not fear the Lord your God; you do not love and trust in Him as you ought; and you do not love and serve your neighbor.

How, then, shall you become salty again?  How shall you live as a child of God after the Image of God in Christ Jesus?  With what light will you brighten the world around you?

Certainly not by removing or rejecting the Law.  You shall not climb up higher by lowering or getting rid of the standards.  They’re not your standards to monkey with, anyway!  It is rather by the perfect fulfillment of the Law that you are justified and saved — by Christ, the Son of God.  For His fulfillment of the Law is your Righteousness in Him.  It is the Gospel of your Salvation.

On the one hand, He fulfills the Law by suffering its judgment and punishment of your sins, of your idolatry and unbelief and lack of love.  For all of this, He is trampled under foot in His death upon the Cross.  He is thrown out of the Garden with Adam, cast into the ground, and buried.  But in His bodily Resurrection from the dead, not only does He remain salty in Himself, but the whole earth and all of creation are seasoned in and with Him, and are preserved unto life everlasting.

As you are baptized into Christ, you are baptized into His Cross and Resurrection.  Thus are you seasoned with Jesus.  You taste and smell like Hm.  You are seasoned with His Righteousness.  You are seasoned with His Holiness.  For not only has He suffered your punishment under the Law, but He has in fact kept the Law perfectly, as only He ever could do.  He has fulfilled and accomplished it completely, in perfect faith and perfect love.  He truly is both Salt and Light.

He is the Salt of the earth.  He is the Light of the world.  As the Son of God by nature from all eternity, but so also in His human flesh and blood.  He is the perfect Man.  He is Man as man ought to be.  Thus, He fulfills and establishes the Righteousness of God as your Brother in the Flesh, so that you also might belong to His Father and His Family by faith in Him.

So it is that His Gospel now shines His Light upon you.  This it the true Light of God in the flesh and blood of Jesus.  It is the Word of His Gospel.  It does not demand, but it forgives.  It does not take, but it gives away freely.  It does not kill, but it gives life.  And it shines upon you from His Holy Cross.  That is the Lampstand in the midst of His Church, which fills His House with Light.

Ironically, this Light of the Cross is hidden in the deepest humility, in the greatest weakness and poverty and shame.  It appears so weak and foolish, so powerless and helpless, because it is the opposite of the world’s wisdom, the world’s power, the world’s strength, and the world’s glory.

It is self-sacrifice instead of self-righteousness.  It is selfless love, instead of selfish greed.  It is giving freely, instead of grabbing and taking.  It is forgiving and saving those who trespass against you, instead of exacting revenge.  It is speaking kindly and graciously, instead of gossiping.

The world has never seen or heard of such love, never before.  But in the Gospel it is heard.  And in the Cross of Christ it is seen.  For in such love Christ has kept all of the Commandments.  Not only in your stead, so that His keeping of the Law is credited to you.  But more than that, He has kept and fulfilled all of the Commandments in love for you, in caring for you as His neighbor.

Not only has He not murdered you, but He has guarded you and kept you in safety in your body and life.  And when you are sick, He heals you.  And when you die, He raises you up.

He has not robbed you, but He has given you the treasures of heaven.  And He has not committed adultery against you, but in faithfulness He has forgiven your adultery of every kind.  And He is constantly wooing you back to Himself.  Unfaithful bride that you have been, He still loves you.

He does not covet.  He does not bear false witness.  He gives generously from a heart of love.  And He bears witness that, for His sake, you are not guilty, because He has given Himself for you.

He honors His Father, even unto death.  And sinless though He was, He submitted to His human parents, to Mary and Joseph, who were mortal sinners like yourself; who were not always right; who did not always understand.  He submitted to them, because He trusted His Father in heaven.  And trusting His God and Father, He called upon His Name.  He cried out to Him in the hope and confidence of faith, even as He went to the Cross, knowing that His Father would raise Him up.

It is in this way that Christ has become your Sabbath Rest.  He has become your Peace, your Hope, your Life, and your Salvation.  For He divides His Bread with the hungry.  He divides His Body with you in His Church.  In Holy Baptism He has brought you out of the cold into the House of God.  He has made His House your home, His Castle your castle, so that you live with Him in the Kingdom of His God and Father.  He has covered your nakedness by clothing you with Himself.

As He has suffered and died in your place upon the Cross, so does His Light break forth and dawn upon you in His Resurrection from the dead, in which His Righteousness goes before Him in the Ministry of the Gospel, in the preaching of forgiveness, in the glory of His Body and His Blood.  By such ways and means of His grace, He glorifies you with His divine Glory.  That is how it is that you are now an epiphany of Christ within your own vocation and stations in life.

As often as you falter, as often as you fail, as often as you fall down flat on your face, He raises you up to stand straight and tall in His own crucified and risen Body.  It is His Righteousness that avails for you before His God and Father in heaven.  And it is likewise in His Righteousness that you prevail and persevere in love for your neighbor, even in spite of yourself.  You are seasoned by the Lord Jesus Christ, and you are preserved by His strength, by His Word and Spirit of the Cross, and by His Resurrection from the dead.  Thus, in Him, you also season and preserve your neighbor by your confession of the Gospel in the way that you speak and the way that you live.

Even in great weakness, the Lord Jesus is at work in you to will and to do according to the good and gracious will of God.  Not because you are so faithful, but He is.  Not because you are sincere and trying so hard, but because He does all things well, and He has accomplished everything for you.  Day by day and week by week, He freely gives you all good things by His grace, by His Gospel, within His Holy Church.  That’s why He wants you to be here.  That He might give you His good gifts and justify you with His Righteousness in body and soul, for now and forever.

Thus are you given the mind of Christ.  Thus do you receive the Spirit of God.  Thus do you know what is good and right and true.  You know both faith and love, because He is faithful, and He is Love.  He catechizes you with His Word and gives Himself to you in peace.  So do you know His grace toward you.  You know the Will of God in His Gospel.  For God raised this Jesus from the dead, who loves you and gave Himself for you.  He is your Righteousness, in whom you enter the Kingdom of heaven and live with the Lord your God forever and ever.

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

Life with God in the Blessed One

The Kingdom of heaven has drawn near to you in Christ, in His Word and in His Flesh and Blood.  And now, by His preaching, He draws you to Himself and brings you to His God and Father.

He has seen you from afar and beheld you with compassion, and so has He come down from heaven to lay hold of you in love.  And then, by His Cross and in His Resurrection from the dead, He has gone up the Mountain of God; He has risen and ascended to the right hand of the Father, so that He might gather you up in Himself and bear you in His Body into the Kingdom of heaven.

He has come down in order to raise you up.  So it is that His Baptism — in and out of the water, in and out of His death — has fulfilled all righteousness and established justice for you and for all the sons and daughters of man.  He has accomplished for you, in His own Body and Life, the right relationship of sons to God the Father in heaven.  Thus are you beloved and well-pleasing to God in Christ Jesus, and you live with Him in faith toward God and in love for God and your neighbor.

The Sacrifice of Christ is your Atonement and the forgiveness of your sins; so that, first of all, what was broken and out of sync between you and God has been repaired and rectified in Him.  As you are baptized into Him and live by faith in Him, His rising from the dead is now also your resurrection and your righteousness, and His Ascension into heaven means that you live with God in Christ in the heavenly places, even as you live by faith a holy and heavenly life on earth.  For you follow after Christ Jesus, through death into life, bearing His Cross and sharing the fruits of His Resurrection.  And within His Body, you live and abide with God the Father in the Holy Spirit.

It is for this great salvation, that you should live with God in body and soul, that the Lord Jesus comes to you and preaches repentance, forgiveness of sins, and the Kingdom of heaven into your ears, into your heart and mind, into your body and soul.  And the Holy Spirit calls you by this preaching of Christ Jesus into the gathering of His Body, the Church, into the Life of the Lord in the Liturgy of His Gospel, in order that you should be with Him where He is, both here and now and forever hereafter.  Indeed, you are with Him even now, because He is with you here in mercy.

He is here with you, and He calls you to bear His Cross and follow Him.  He calls you to live with God by grace within His Body.  He calls you to do as He does, within your own office and stations in life, and to suffer with Him in your own place, for His Name’s sake, in holy faith and holy love.

It is with the love and mercy of Christ Jesus that you are called to do justice for others.  Not as a social warrior, but by coming down from the heights of yourself in order to care for others, to raise them up in peace, and to bring them to God by the confession of Christ and His Gospel.  To bear the blessed Cross in love for your neighbor.  To forgive those who sin against you.  To defend and protect those who are under attack, especially those who are so weak and small and helpless.

The Lord would have you value kindness over power, and to be kind.  Not with mere sentiment or empty words, but to sacrifice yourself and your pride, your time and energy, your ambitions, desires, money, and possessions, in order to serve and support your neighbor in his or her need.  For His own Name’s sake, your Lord Jesus Christ calls you to give yourself in love and gladly to do good, not only to friends and family, but even to those who have failed you or let you down.  Not to condone or participate in sin, but to bear with your neighbors in mercy and with patience; gently but firmly to speak the truth in love, as necessary, and so also to instruct by your example.

As Christ Himself has done, walk quietly and patiently with God.  For though He was rich and powerful and had no sins of His own, He made Himself poor and weak and bore your sins in order to become your Savior in holy faith and perfect love.  Recognize your own poverty, weakness, and genuine need.  Acknowledge and confess your sins and your unworthiness.  And yet, in the peace and promise of the Gospel, rest yourself in the grace and forgiveness of Christ Jesus.  Hold His Word sacred, and so make every effort to hear and heed the preaching of it.  Find your life and salvation in His means of grace, in the significance of your Holy Baptism, in Holy Absolution, and in the Holy Communion.  In the humility of repentance and the confidence of faith, give thanks to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and glorify His Name by the prayer and confession of His Word, and by the way that you live with the people around you, including the most difficult.

Turn away from your sins and your pursuit of death, and return to the Lord your God, to your Creator and Redeemer, to the Author and Giver of Life.  Live according to the Word that He has spoken to you, and rely upon His Gospel even in the teeth of death and the grave.

That is the foolishness of God which is wiser than man: To rejoice and be glad in the Cross of Christ, and in the bearing of His Cross, in the sure and certain hope of His Resurrection.  It is to hunger and thirst for His righteousness, above and beyond the daily bread that your mortal body craves and requires; and to be satisfied in body and soul with the Body and Blood of Christ Jesus.

Does such a life seem challenging, idealistic, and naive?  Are you already making excuses as to why you can’t and haven’t lived as you should, and consoling yourself with rationalizations and the promise of grace, as though the gracious Word of God promoted sin and a carefree easy life?

In fact, the blessed life with God to which you are called is impossible to the fallen sons of Adam and their children, and it is utterly foolish to this fallen and perishing world.  But you are not only a child of Adam.  You are a new creation, a son of God in Christ Jesus, anointed by His Spirit, upheld by His living and life-giving Word, and a citizen of His Kingdom on earth as in heaven.

The life to which you are called is the Life that is given to you by the grace of God, and it is yours in Christ Jesus.  His Word does not condone your sin, nor does He overlook it, neither the wrong that you do nor the good that you fail to do, but His Word does forgive your sin and call you from your idolatry and unbelief to repentance, faith, and love.  That Way of Divine Life in human flesh and blood has been opened to you in the Body of Christ the Crucified, in the New Creation of His Resurrection from the dead, and in the ongoing Ministry of His Gospel within His Holy Church.

By the life of Christ, from His cradle to His Cross; by the faith and love of Jesus, even unto death; by the hope and promise of His Resurrection, know and believe that the wisdom and greatness of God are not found in worldly power and strength, in wealth or popularity, in luxury or leisure, but in dying to yourself, to your sins, and to the world, and relying absolutely on the Charity of God.

The Kingdom of heaven is thus at hand in the midst of sin and death and deep darkness.  And it is given to you by the grace of God in the Word and Spirit of the crucified and risen Lord Jesus.  He is the Light of the Revelation of the Glory of God, who has become flesh and tabernacles with you.  He feeds you with His own Body and Blood.  He forgives you all of your sins.  He guides you by His Word in the Way of life, which is the way of faith and love in His Cross and Resurrection.  He anoints you with His Spirit and preserves your relationship with His God and Father in heaven.

In Him, in His Body of flesh and blood, your eyes behold His great salvation; because, in this Lord Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead, you are reconciled to God in true Peace and Joy.  No longer are you at enmity with God.  Nor are you a slave any longer, shackled and chained by the Law’s demands and Satan’s accusations.  You are called a blessed son of God in Christ; and so you are, born again by your Baptism into His Cross and Resurrection.  The world cannot rob you of that, because it is given to you by Christ.  He has opened His mouth and spoken.  It is so.

So it is that, by His Word and Holy Spirit, you now live and love like Christ in relation to God and man, on earth as it is in heaven.  You are comforted in the face of sin and death by His forgiveness and His righteousness.  And with the courage and strength of faith, hope, and trust in that Gospel, you are merciful to others, as He is merciful toward you.  You are gentle, kind, and pure of heart.  You are slow to anger, patient and long-suffering, abounding in love; quick to apologize where you have done wrong to your neighbor, and quick to forgive and let go of the wrong that others have done to you.  As the Lord your God has made peace with you and all the world by the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus, so are you at peace with God and with all people, for His sake.

You live righteously; which is to say that you live by faith in Christ, the Son of God, in whom His God and Father is your true God and Father, and you are His true child.  Although your faith and love are not what they ought to be, and it is still the case and your experience that you daily sin much in your thoughts, words, and deeds, for which you deserve nothing but punishment, yet the faithfulness of Christ and the love of God in Christ remain and prevail for your life.  Even though you die, yet shall you live.  Though you are poor and miserable, yet the heavens and the earth are your inheritance.  The One who feeds you here and now with the Fruits of His Cross, will feed you forever with Himself in the Resurrection, and you shall be satisfied.  So shall you see God and live.

Blessed are you, indeed, who bear the Cross of Christ and the Name and Spirit of God by your Baptism into Him.  For in Him all things are yours forever, since He has gone up the Mountain for you, and has sat down at the Right Hand of the Father, and by His grace you follow after Him.

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

Called Out of Darkness into the Light of Christ

One could hardly over-emphasize the significance of St. Paul’s conversion for the history of the Church on earth, and really for the history of the world.  Indeed, U. S. News and World Report once identified the conversion of St. Paul as the single most significant event in western history — and that was not even considering his theological contributions, but simply his impact on the life and culture of western society.  More important, by the grace and mercies of God, by His Word and Holy Spirit, St. Paul built upon the rock foundation that his Savior, Christ Jesus, established.

Incredibly, there are no less than four complementary accounts of Paul’s conversion in the Holy Scriptures: three within the Acts of the Apostles (a surprising repetition in a carefully selective record of Church history), and the fourth from St. Paul’s own hand in his Epistle to the Galatians.

The significance of St. Paul’s conversion and call to Apostleship goes far beyond the fact that he preached to the Gentiles in his day.  As a thirteenth Apostle, he was in his office an indication of God’s good and gracious will to extend the Kingdom of His people and His Church beyond the twelve tribes of Israel.  As St. Peter and the others Apostles were the new Patriarchs of a new Israel, so was St. Paul, the Apostle to the Gentiles, the divinely-ordained link between the new Jerusalem and the rest of the world within the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church of Christ.

So also, as the other Apostles were called to give up everything, to the point of losing their lives for the sake of Christ and His Gospel, so was St. Paul called to give up everything he knew, to suffer many things in the Name of Jesus, and finally to be martyred under Nero in Rome.

More to the point at hand, the same Lord Jesus calls you to forsake all that you have known and trusted — yourself and your life, your family, your home, and all of your possessions in this world.  That is to say, He calls you to repentance.  He calls you to be converted every day, as it were, from the darkness and death of your sin to forgiveness and life in the Light of His Gospel.

Now, you know what it’s like to come out of a dark room into the light — maybe first thing in the morning, or after a movie matinee.  The light hurts your eyes at first, and it takes a while to adjust.  That’s how it was for Saul of Tarsus, when he was suddenly surrounded by the blazing Light of God from heaven.  Except that Saul had thought he was already walking in the light of the Lord.

As the Lord Jesus had forewarned His Disciples, the day had come when men like Saul believed they were serving the Lord their God by persecuting the Church and Ministers of Christ.  So what a shock it was for Saul to be confronted by the true Light of God in Christ Jesus — far brighter than any he had known — and to learn that he was living and walking in the darkness as a chief of sinners.  The devastating impact of that realization brought Saul to his knees and brought him to nothing.  For he, Saul, a pharisee of pharisees, was the blind and ignorant one.  All of his efforts on behalf of the Law and the Temple were wrong and counterproductive.  He was running in vain.

To make note of all of this is fine and good.  And it might be easy enough to sit back and point fingers at poor Saul.  We don’t even have to feel too badly for him, since we already know how his story will continue, and how he will become a great Apostle and a Champion of Christ.  What is not so comfortable and easy, however, is that you, like Saul, are also kicking against the goads and persecuting Jesus by your sins.  Which means that you must also be confronted by the Lord and painfully converted, and not only once upon a time, but day after day throughout your life.

Apart from the Epiphany and Self-revelation of Christ, you are the one who is walking in darkness — no matter how zealous and pious you might be, and no matter if you serve as an officer of the congregation, or even as a pastor!  Your credentials and your zeal will surely never be greater than Saul’s.  If the Lord Jesus Christ does not surround you with His Light and speak His Voice to you, then you remain nothing but a poor, miserable sinner, breathing threats and murder against your neighbor, and running in vain on the road that is wide and smooth on its way to destruction.

And if Jesus does not send His Ananias to you — to lay his hand on you in Holy Absolution, to open your eyes and ears to the preaching of the Gospel, to return you to the life-giving waters of Holy Baptism, and to nourish you with the Food of Christ in the Holy Communion — then you remain in your blind ignorance, and you will starve to death in utter despair.

Thus, you cannot (you dare not) hear the story of St. Paul’s conversion as a casual listener with detached objectivity; because it must become your story, your conversion from darkness to Light.

In the Voyage of the Dawn Treader, Eustace is turned into a dragon on account of his greed and selfishness.  He is converted back into a boy by the great lion, Aslan, only by the painful stripping away of layer-upon-layer of scales — right down to the core of his being — and by a “baptismal” cleansing in the waters of repentance.  C. S. Lewis thus provides a powerful, dramatic picture of Christian conversion, including your own.  For it is a painful removal of all that you have been, the drowning and death of your old Adam, before you are raised up to newness of life in Christ.

Yet, as brilliant as C. S. Lewis was, his poetic description of conversion does not surpass the poignancy of St. Paul’s conversion as described by St. Luke in the Acts of the Apostles.

In the story of St. Paul you are presented with the paradigm and pattern of Christian conversion.  And though, of course, the details and specifics of the experience and its outcome are different in each particular case, by the eyes and ears of faith you are able to recognize your own story, as well, in the calling and conversion of St. Paul.  For you have also been on your own road to Damascus, self-confident and self-righteous in your own ambitious choices, decisions, ideas, and ideals.

So it goes, until the Lord stops you dead in your tracks.  Maybe not with a brilliant light flashing all around you from heaven, but perhaps with the exposure of some secret sin, or with evidence that you actually don’t know it all, and you don’t understand even what you do know.  Perhaps it is not a voice from the heavens, but the voice of a parent laying down the law, or a doctor saying “cancer,” or a phone call in the middle of the night that someone you love has been killed.

Whatever it may be, whatever it takes, you find yourself blind and groping in the darkness of your sinful ignorance and unbelief.  You cannot help yourself; you have to be taken by hand and led around by others.  All your proud plans and grand ambitions have to be given up and set aside.  It is a time of repentance, of fasting and prayer, and of watching and waiting on the Lord.

Three days in the tomb, in the dust of the ground — in the dark with Saul of Tarsus, in the belly of the great fish with Jonah — before you are resurrected from the dead by the Word of the Gospel.  The Lord has not forgotten you.  But He must kill the sinner before He raises the saint.

And then the Lord who loves you sends His Ananias, a servant of His Word, to lay a tender hand upon your head; to speak the grace, mercy, and peace of His forgiveness; to baptize you in the Name of Jesus, or to return you to His Baptism; and to feed you with His Body and His Blood.

Thus, by the Ministry of His Gospel, the Lord opens up your eyes, in such a way that His Light is no longer blinding but a Lamp unto your feet and a Light upon your path.  No longer are you on the road to Damascus, but on the Road to Emmaus with the crucified and risen Lord Jesus.  And as you have died with Him by your Baptism into His death, so do you now live with Him, as well.

And just as St. Paul’s conversion from the darkness to the Light included God’s call to a particular office and station in life, so are you called to a particular place and purpose as a child of God and a Christian disciple of Christ Jesus.  But your place and purpose, your office and station in life are different than St. Paul’s, and different than your neighbor’s.  Your vocation, your relationships, and your responsibilities are uniquely yours.  But you need not go hunting and searching to find them or figure them out, because they are set before you plainly in your neighbors, beginning with your own parents, siblings, spouse, and children, if you have them; so, too, in your classmates, your colleagues, and coworkers; in your teachers or students; in your boss or your employees; in the orphans and widows the Lord has placed beside you; and in your brothers and sisters in Christ.

As a child, you are called to love, honor, serve, and obey your parents and other authorities.  As a parent, you are called to rear your children in the fear and admonition of the Lord; to bring them to the washing of the water with His Word in Holy Baptism, and then to continue bringing them to His Church; to care for them in body and soul; to catechize them in God’s Word and prayer; and to teach them by your words and by your example to live and walk in the Light of Christ.

As husband or wife, you are called to love and serve your spouse in the faith and love of Christ and His Bride, the Church.  As a Christian, you are called to drown and destroy the old Adam in you through daily contrition and repentance, to confess your sins and to receive the forgiveness and eternal life of Christ Himself in His Gospel and Sacrament.  That is your most important calling.

As a member of the congregation, you are called to serve and support the Church and Ministry of the Gospel in this place, for your own sake and for your neighbors, to the Glory of God in Christ.  Pray for me as your pastor, as I pray for you.  And within your community and neighborhood, and in your job if you have one, serve and support those around you in the confession of Christ Jesus.

Though none of us will be another St. Paul, and perhaps only a few of you might ever be called to the pastoral office, each and every one of you has been called out of the darkness of your sins into the marvelous Light of Christ.  You are called to be a child of the Father in heaven; called to live and walk in the Way of Christ and, whatever your particular place and station are, to be His Light in the midst of the deep darkness all around you.  You are called to receive the gracious gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation in Christ, and to learn from Him what it is to be truly alive.

At the heart of the story at hand — what St. Paul was called to do, according to the Word of Jesus — what was necessary, according to the Word and Will of God, in much the same way that the Cross and Resurrection of Christ were necessary — was that St. Paul would suffer many things for the Name of Christ Jesus.  He was called to bear the Cross in this life on earth, even unto death.  Not as those who suffer and die without hope, but in the hope and promise of the Resurrection.

And to this same life, death, and resurrection, you also are called.  For you received the Cross of Christ upon your forehead and your heart in Holy Baptism.  You are marked as one redeemed by this crucified God, who calls you to bear His Cross and follow Him, to confess His Name and suffer for it, to die and rise with Him to the praise and glory of His God and Father.  For as you are crucified, dead, and buried with the Lord Jesus Christ, so also do you live with Him, as well, in body and soul, both here in time and hereafter in eternity forever.

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

Living in the Light of Christ

He has come to rescue His people Israel; to fulfill His Covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; to bring about and bring to fruition His promises concerning Judah and the House of David.  He truly is the King of the Jews, and He will save His people from their sins, from death and the devil.

But it would be too small a thing for Him to save only those who are Jews according to the flesh.  He is Himself the Seed of Abraham, and He is the Son of David according to the flesh — but so does He also share the faith of Abraham, and He lives according to the faith of His father David.  And as Abraham was called from the land of pagan idolatry on the far side of a distant river, so does Christ Jesus call disciples to Himself from beyond the Jordan, from Galilee of the Gentiles, and from all the nations of the world.  For in Him, the Seed of Abraham, all the nations are blessed.

So, too, as David once gathered loyal followers to himself from the foreign peoples all around him, the Lord Jesus enlarges the nation of Israel by calling all people to Himself.

In Him, in His Body of flesh and blood, the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.  And by His preaching of repentance unto faith in His forgiveness of sins, strangers and foreigners, enemies and exiles become true citizens of His Kingdom, true sons of His Father.

When His own native Israel rejects Him, His preaching and His preachers, He withdraws to those who were despised, neglected, far off and forlorn.  He is the Light that shines in the darkness, and His Light of the Gospel brings life to those who languished in the valley of the shadow of death.  He breaks the yoke of the oppressor, the burden of the Law with its accusations and judgments.  He breaks down the wall of hostility and reconciles the world to His God and Father.  He grants peace, blessed peace, where there is no peace on earth: To the Middle East.  To the old world, the new world, and the third world.  And also to your heart and mind, to your body and your soul.

In Him, in His Person and work, in His flesh and blood, and in His preaching of repentance for the forgiveness of your sins, His Light now shines upon you.  He is the Morning Star who rises upon you with healing in His wings.  His Word is a Lamp to your feet, a Light to your path.  His Gospel scatters the darkness and awakens you to the dawning of the New Day in His Resurrection.

Beloved, follow Him in the Light of that New Day while His Light shines for you in the preaching of His Word, lest He withdraw from you and where you are to go elsewhere and to others.

When you attempt to live and walk by your own sight, according to the wisdom of the world, you actually stumble around in the darkness without a clue.  What the world considers bright is really foolish, and what the world calls “light” is blackest night.  That is the most perverse and deadly curse of sin, that is, the inability to see things as they truly are.  The true Light seems so dark, while the darkness looks so brilliant.  Therefore, do not be deceived, for nothing is as it appears.

One case in point is the heinous sin and deep darkness of abortion, which our nation celebrates as a matter of personal choice and great freedom.  The blindness of this great lie is at times so blatant as to be ludicrous, yet half the nation apparently seems unable to perceive the wrong from right.

If you have had an abortion — or if you have urged someone else to have an abortion — or if you have condoned or defended the legality of abortion — recognize your sin, repent of it, and cling to Christ Jesus who loves you.  His Light not only reveals this sin for what it is, but He also remits and removes it.  You cannot restore the lives that have been taken by the violence of abortion, but the Lord Jesus brings life out of death, even as He causes the Light to shine out of the darkness.

If you have not practiced or supported abortion, praise God.  But do not congratulate yourself.  Repent of your own sins.  Repent of your failure to help wherever and however you are able.

Repent of your failure to love and care for your neighbors, whether the unwed mother God has placed near you, or your own spouse and children.  If you have allowed your children to live, but have not given them your time and attention, your love and affection, Repent.  Or, if you have avoided children for the same selfish and unfaithful reasons that others abort them, Repent.

The Fifth Commandment, “You Shall Not Murder,” not only forbids abortion and all other harm and violence against your neighbor; it also requires you to serve and protect your neighbor’s body and life: To feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to shelter the homeless and defend the helpless.  It requires you to pay attention to your neighbor, not for the sake of competing or criticizing, but for the sake of loving and helping.  It requires that you consider the needs of your brothers and sisters in Christ, for example — whose bodies of flesh and blood, like unto the Lord’s, sit beside you here within His Holy Church — and that you offer more than just sympathy and soft words.

Hear and heed the call of Jesus, who has come to you and called you to Himself, to follow Him.

You have heard how He called Simon Peter and his brother Andrew, and James and John the sons of Zebedee, and how they immediately left their nets, their boats, and their Dad to follow the Lord Jesus.  They left their father and mother, as it were, the way a man does when he takes a wife, that they might cleave to the Church, the Bride of Christ, as faithful husbands in His Name and stead.  The yoke of the Law is removed from their necks and backs, but the yoke of Christ is laid upon them for the Ministry of His Gospel, for the benefit of their neighbors to the close of the age!

In the case of these four men and others after them, they are called not only to discipleship but to the new office and station of apostleship.  No longer fishermen, they are now to be fishers of men.  Not boats and nets, but Word and Sacrament, the preaching of repentance, the catechesis of Christ, Holy Baptism, Holy Absolution, and the Holy Communion will be the tools of their new trade.

You also are called to follow Jesus, but where and how?  Some of you men, I hope and pray, will be called to become pastors in the footsteps of the Apostles.  But most of you will not be called to full-time offices in the Church.  Yet, each and every one of you is called to discipleship.

How are you to follow Jesus?  Are you supposed to quit your job and leave your home and family?

If you are still a child or young person, there are certainly many possibilities ahead of you and many free choices available to you.  To be a disciple does not require any one of those choices over all the others.  But discipleship does mean that you will listen to the wisdom, counsel, and advice of your parents, and that you will proceed in the fear, love, and trust of God above all things.

And if you are married, you certainly should know that discipleship does not require but forbids you to abandon your spouse and your family.

Regardless of your circumstances, following Jesus does not mean that you should turn your back on family, friends, and neighbors — which even pagans normally do not do!  Nor does it require that you must give up your honest labor.  Rather, what it does mean is that you are called to serve all of your relationships and all of your stations in life in the Light of the Gospel, in faith and love.

Faith and love will do no harm to the neighbor.  They will never dishonor father or mother.  They will never be unfaithful to husband or wife.  They will never neglect or abuse a son or daughter.

It is true that faith and love may cause division within families, as even within the Church on earth.  Just as faith and love divide you within yourself, between the old Adam and the New Man in you.  There is quite a difference, however, between the division that results on account of the faithful confession of Christ Jesus, and divisions that are caused by pride, selfishness, and party spirit.

To oppose or withdraw from your neighbor out of contempt or competition is sinful and wrong.  But if your neighbor opposes or withdraws from you on account of Christ and your confession of His Name, know that you bear the blessed and holy Cross of Christ.  Take courage, and do not be dismayed, but find your hope and confidence in the promise of His Resurrection from the dead.

The fact is, wherever Christ enters in with the preaching of His Gospel, with the teaching of His Word, with the proclamation of repentance in His Name, and with the promise of His Kingdom, there Satan, all his works, and all his ways will be cast out.  Wherever the New Creation enters in, the old creation is crucified, put to death, and buried.  But of course, your sinful old Adam does not care for that, nor does the old Adam in your neighbors.  Hence, division, but do not despair.

By those whom He has called and sent in His Name, Christ Jesus is still teaching in the synagogues of His Church; He is still proclaiming the Gospel of His Kingdom, even here and now to you.

And with this Word of Christ, the Light of the revelation of the Glory of God shines upon you — in His flesh, and in His forgiveness of your sins.  His preaching of repentance is for your rescue.  He has not come as your enemy, in order to destroy you, but He has come as the great Enemy of sin, death, and the devil, in order to release you from their bondage.  He has come to cast out your demons, to heal your diseases, to remove your iniquities, and to remember your sins no more.

This is the Good News of Christ Jesus that has spread even well beyond Syria — from Galilee to Jerusalem, from Judea and Samaria to the ends of the earth.  His Word and Spirit have spread even here, to Emmaus in South Bend, Indiana, and by the Holy Gospel He calls you to follow Him.  That does not mean you have to pack your bags and travel to Palestine or anywhere else on earth, but only that you hear His Word, receive His good gifts, and live in the Light of His Presence in the place where He has stationed you to be, in the place where He has promised to be with you, which is to say, wherever He has established His Church on the Ministry of His Gospel.

Christ is here with you; and He is with you in your home and family, in your job and relationships.  He is with you to forgive your sins and to cover you with His own righteousness.  He is with you to uphold you by His grace, to shelter you in His mercy, to strengthen you with His courage and compassion.  He is with you in your heart and mind with His Word and Spirit, and so do His own flesh and blood fill your body and soul with His Life and Light and Love, His grace and peace.

The crucified and risen Body of Christ is the First Fruits of the New Creation, and as a member of His Body, the Church, you are a New Creation, a new man or woman, in Him.  Even if you may be divided from your family on earth by the faithful confession of Christ Jesus, you actually belong to the household and family of God in Him.  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the Patriarch Judah and King David are among your fathers in Christ, because you share with them one Lord, one faith, one forgiveness of sins, one God and Father, one Spirit, one Church, one life and salvation.  And by one Holy Baptism into the Cross and Resurrection of Christ Jesus, you belong to one Body in Him.

You and all of your true brothers and sisters in Christ are of the same mind and the same judgment, which is the mind of Christ and His righteousness.  Not by your own reason or strength, but by the Word and Spirit of God, by the faith and confession of His Gospel.

As you have heard, so do you believe, and so also speak.  That is what the Creeds and Prayers and Rites of the Church provide and protect, that is, the faithful confession of Christ and His Gospel.  You speak together with His Word and voice, and so do you also speak to and for one another — you for your neighbor, your neighbor for you.  You give as you receive, and together with the whole Church in heaven and on earth, you live in the Light of Christ, in the Love of God the Father, and in the Communion of the Holy Spirit, now and forever.  Amen.

The Ministry of the Confession of Christ Jesus

Now you know who the Wise Man is, who builds His House upon the Rock.  And when the winds blow, the rains pour down, and the waves beat and slam against that House, it shall not fall, because it is founded on the Rock

The Wise Man is your Lord Jesus.  He is the One who builds His Church.  And it is His Church.  If we simply remember those few important points, then we shall not be ensnared by the many fights and arguments that have been fought over this beautiful Holy Gospel.

It is the Lord’s Church, and He is the One who builds it, using the same Wisdom by which He has been the Architect of all creation: The Word and Wisdom of God, who speaks, and it is so.  But He brings His creation to fulfillment by His own Incarnation.  Not only that He has become Flesh, but also that in His Flesh He has borne your sin and become your Savior, and has poured out His holy, precious Blood to atone for you, to make peace with God; to reconcile you to the Father; to cleanse you with His Spirit, and to anoint you with His Spirit, so that you are now His Christian.

So it is that He also brings you into His House, His Holy Church, and herein He keeps you safe.

Remember that it is His House, and that it is in Wisdom that He builds it, even though the way in which He goes about it seems altogether foolish to this fallen and perishing world.

So have the Scriptures told us, that the Wisdom of God is foolishness to man; that the Cross is a scandal and a stumbling stone.  Likewise, the Office of His Holy Ministry.  How offensive it is, that God should call men like Peter and Paul, a denier and a persecutor, men who are sinful and mortal and in need of salvation, like yourself.  Finite creatures.  Fallen.  Frail.  Flawed.  Sometimes too timid to speak, when they ought to speak.  Sometimes too quick to speak, when they ought to shut their mouths and listen.  Sometimes courageous and bold, even to the point of sticking their feet into their mouths.  And otherwise scared to death to do that which God has given them to do.

It is easy to know the faults and flaws of St. Peter, at least some of them, because that holy Apostle has seen to it that his own faults and failings were included in the preaching of the Holy Gospel.  They were written down by St. Mark and by St. Matthew.  And yet, God chose this man, and through his mouth, his lips and tongue, through his voice, the Lord caused His Gospel to be heard.  He caused His Holy Name to be confessed.  He preached repentance for the forgiveness of sins.

This man, who was at one point afraid of a little servant girl, huddled around that charcoal fire when our Lord was led to His Passion, stands up in the strength of the Spirit and boldly preaches to those crowds of people on Pentecost: “You crucified the Christ, the Son of the living God.  But now, repent, and believe the Gospel.  Be baptized in His Name for the forgiveness of your sins.  For this promise is for you, and for your children, and for as many as God shall call to Himself.”

So has He called you.  By His Word of the Gospel, that is why you are here.  That is why you have been baptized.  That is why you pray and confess.  That is why you are a faithful Christian within your own stations in life, whatever those may be.  That is why you live by faith in the midst of sin and death, and why you cling to Christ Jesus, though for now you cannot see Him.  It is by the Word that He speaks to you through sinful, dying men whom He has called and sent, into whose mouths He has placed His own Name for the sake of your repentance, forgiveness, and salvation.

That is what He did for St. Peter.  And not only for St. Peter, the Rock, but for the whole Church.

Our Lutheran Confessions answer that persistent question, as to what exactly is “the Rock” to which the Lord Jesus refers.  To be sure, many other answers have also been given, and various interpretations.  But our Confessions say it simply: Christ Jesus addresses St. Peter as a minister of the Gospel, and so He says, “Upon this Rock,” that is, upon the Ministry of this Confession.

The preaching of Christ Jesus by those whom He calls and sends, that is the Rock upon which He establishes His Church.   He does it through St. Peter and the other Apostles to begin with, and in the apostolic Holy Scriptures to the close of the age.  Thus do we confess one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church.  And on the basis of that apostolic Word, He continues to build and sustain His Church on earth through those men who are called and sent in His Name.  Perhaps some of you will someday be called and sent in that way, but already such men are sent to each and all of you.

And what is it that characterizes that Office of the Holy Ministry?  That Ministry of the Confession upon which Christ Jesus builds His Church, what is it that chiefly defines it?  What is it all about?  What is it for?  It is for the forgiveness of sins.  That is what this is all about.

It is the Office of the Keys that defines the Office of the Holy Ministry.  Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven.  The Keys of forgiveness in Jesus’ Name.

Again, you hear it in Peter’s preaching on Pentecost: “Repent, and believe the Gospel, and receive the forgiveness of sins.”  For as Jesus promises, “Whosoever sins you forgive, they are forgiven.”

Astounding.  Miraculous.  The Glory of God placed not only into the mouth of men like St. Peter, but into the ears of sinners like yourself.  And what your ears hear, it is so.  Here, then, is the New Creation.  Here man is taken again out of the dust of the ground and made into a living being.

Here there is Life and Light and Salvation, where there was only darkness, death, and damnation.  Here there is now something very good, called forth by the Word of Christ from out of nothing.

Not only mighty winds and heavy rains and powerful waves, but even the gates of Hades, that is, the gates of death and the grave shall not be able to prevail against Christ’s Holy Church.  That is His promise.  And that is true for you, as well, who live within His Holy Church.  The guarantee of that Word, the guarantee of your forgiveness and of your resurrection from the dead, is the fact that God has raised this Jesus from the dead, who was crucified, dead, and buried for your sins.

It was impossible for death to hold Him.  His Body did not suffer decay.  His soul did not remain in Hades.  Death and the devil could not contain Him or restrain Him.  Nor can they have or hold you, who belong to Jesus, who believe in Him and are baptized into His Cross and Resurrection.

When I was growing up, I always loved this particular passage.  But I also puzzled over it.  This phrase, “The gates of Hades (often translated, the gates of hell) shall not prevail against her, against the Lord’s Church,” what does that mean?  For years I struggled with that picture.  Sometimes you hear people talk about the Church storming the gates of hell, or some such thing.  But that seems backwards.  That seems skewed in some way.  But what is really going on here?

Our Lord Jesus Christ, He is the stronger Man who has invaded Satan’s kingdom and bound him up by the way and means of His Cross, so that He who is our Savior and our God in the Flesh might release us from the bondage of sin, death, the devil, and hell.  And that is getting to the point at hand.  We, His Church, are not the ones who storm the gates of Hades in order to get in!  Rather, on account of Christ our Lord, the gates of Hades shall not prevail against us to keep us in.

Fast bound in Satan’s chains you lay, death brooded darkly over you.  The gates of Hades had you trapped, and they were locked, shut tight by sin.  But where there is forgiveness of sin, there is life and salvation.  And as Jesus was raised from the dead, so shall you also be raised from death and the grave, and so shall you be glorified in Him, both body and soul, together with all who have departed in the faith, in the confession of His Holy Name.  Hades, death, and the grave shall not be able to hold you nor any who belong to Christ; they shall not prevail against His Holy Church.

The Lord Jesus Christ is the Wise Man, and He has built His Church well.  He has set her pillars, and He has prepared His Feast for her in the face of all her enemies.  So here you are set free from your sins, from the fear of death, and from all the assaults and accusations of the devil.  Here you are safe and sound in Christ Jesus, so that you may eat and drink in Peace, receiving the Fruits of the Tree of Life, His Body and His Blood, given and poured out for you and for the many, for the free and full forgiveness of all your sins.  Here you have life with God in Christ, now and forever.

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