Opening Worship and Ordination

“I was glad when they said to me,

‘Let us go to the house of the Lord!’ ”  Psalm 122

On October 6th, the family of University Hills Lutheran Church joyfully entered their new sanctuary and gave praise to their heavenly Father for their new worship space.  

The dedication service began outside the front door.  The congregation then followed the processional cross into the building, where the organ, bells, lectern podium, pulpit, crosses, altar and communion ware were rededicated to the service of the Lord.

We are thankful for our brothers and sisters in the faith at Christ Lutheran Church who opened their doors and their hearts to us and gave us a place to worship for 5 1/2 years.  As a token of our thanks, and as a memorial to our years together, the saints of University Hills gave the saints of Christ a plaque inscribed with the three “Sola’s” of the Reformation.  An identical plaque hangs in the entryway at University Hills.

The week following our opening worship we were privileged to host the ordination service for Benjamin Vanderhyde, who has accepted a Call to pastor the saints of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Wray, Colorado.  Pastors in attendance were (right to left) Revs. Paul Aarsvold, John Larson, David Vanderhyde (presiding), Benjamin Vanderhyde, Joshua Vanderhyde, Craig Patterson.  

Around eighty members and friends attended the service.  It was a beautiful fall day.  Following the service, we shared a meal and  fellowship on the front lawn. 

October/November Epistle: Anchor Within the Veil

   Our family doesn’t own a boat, only a little canoe.  Some of you, I know, have owned or do own boats larger than that, with an outboard or inboard motor, and you’re familiar with the joys of boating on a lake, or maybe even on the open seas.  And, if you’ve had much experience, you’re likely familiar with the dangers involved in boating when the weather turns ugly.

    Now, I’m not a sailor, but I worked at a marina one summer renting, cleaning and driving small aluminum fishing boats.  There were several times when I was out on the lake in one of these and needed to get it back to the marina.  In the late afternoon the winds would sometimes pick up, and the surface of the lake could get pretty rough (for a small craft).  I remember one time in particular when I was fighting high winds and something like one-and-a-half foot waves, and I was very aware that the elements could swamp the small boat if it weren’t kept pointed into the wind and perpendicular to those waves.

    Each of our little boats was supplied with an anchor, which in reality was simply a hunk of concrete secured to a ten-foot line.  It was only designed to hold the boat in place with a mild breeze and in a shallow area for fishing purposes.  It certainly would have been useless in my situation.    

   Have you ever heard of a sea anchor?  I’m not talking about the great big steel anchors that you see hanging from larger ocean-going vessels.  A sea anchor is an anchor that, in essence, is a small parachute.  It’s not designed to reach the bottom (think out on the ocean), but is thrown into the sea as a drag.  When a small ship encounters a storm where the winds are dangerous and the waves are massive (towering over the vessel), the captain must keep the boat headed into the wind, and riding up and down the waves, so as not to be bowled over and swamped.  A powerful motor and deft use of the rudder can accomplish this in most cases.

    But what happens if the boat has engine trouble, or if the steering becomes disabled?  In that case, a sea anchor can be used to save the ship.  The sea anchor is attached to the bow of the boat (in the front) and thrown out into the sea.  As the wind blows the ship, the sea anchor provides drag, keeping the bow pointed into the wind and facing the oncoming waves.

    There are different types of anchors.  The sea anchor is only one and serves a specific purpose.  There is an account in Acts where anchors are used to save a ship in a storm.  The apostle Paul had been in prison for over two years and, being a Roman citizen, had finally appealed to Caesar for the adjudication of his case.  He was in the process of being transported on a merchant ship to Rome for trial, but pretty late in the season for sailing, when a violent storm called a northeaster came up, and the ship was being driven along before the wind.  The crew took down the sails, and at last the “gear” or sea anchor was deployed.  

    Now, the sea anchor does not hold the ship in place, it only acts as a drag, pointing the ship into the wind and waves.  For many days, Paul, his captors and the crew were driven along by the wind.  As they neared an island during the night, taking soundings and finding that the water was becoming shallower, the crew threw out four anchors, hoping to keep the ship from being driven onto the rocks.  The anchors held.  In the morning light, they cut away the anchors, in an attempt to guide the ship onto a nearby beach.  The ship, however, ran aground on a hidden reef and the ship began to break up from the pounding of the waves.  In the end, everyone made it to shore safely.  Read Acts 27 for the exciting details, including the appearance to St. Paul of an angel who promised that no one would perish.

    Where is your anchor placed?  To what is it holding?  Is it just cast out into the milieu of this day and age?  Are you drifting slowly along in the tempest of this life, with Satan and the world buffeting you on all sides, trying destroy your faith and driving you away from hoping and trusting in God?  Is your future certain, or is it unknown?  To what is your ship anchored?

    Edward Mote (1797-1874) grew up without any religious training.  He became a Christian at age 15.  He was a cabinet maker, and loved to sing and write hymns.  Sometime around 1834, Mote wrote one of our beloved hymns.  The first verse goes like this:

My hope is built

on nothing less than

Jesus’ blood and righteousness;

No merit of my own I claim

but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.

    The verse conveys the joyful Gospel news that our hope of being saved from the guilt of our sin, from the power of death and the devil, from the wrath of God and eternal suffering in hell, lies in the fact that His Son, Jesus, has come in our flesh to bear our sin and be our Savior, as we say in our liturgy.  Our hope lies in the blood of Christ, blood that washes away our sin, blood that cleanses us of our guilt and makes us white as snow – forgiven and righteous in God’s sight.

Verse 2:

When darkness veils

His lovely face,

I rest on His unchanging grace;

In every high and stormy gale

my anchor holds within the veil.

On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.

    Here we see the anchor motif: “My anchor holds within the veil.”  Our ship may be tossed about in this life, tossed by circumstances, by doubts, temptations, fears and the by the voice of the devil accusing us and muddying, or downright contradicting, the Word of God.  But our anchor is not lodged in our good works.  Our anchor is not grasping at the strength of our faith but at what our faith is holding onto.  Our anchor holds solidly to the blood of Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross.

     In the Tabernacle and in Solomon’s Temple there was a heavy curtain or veil that separated the Holy Place from the Most Holy Place where the Ark of the Covenant rested.  On top of the Ark was the Mercy Seat, overshadowed by the wings of the Cherubim.  Onto this Mercy Seat, once a year, the High Priest would sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice on the Day of Atonement.  This sprinkling of blood foreshadowed Jesus Christ, our great High Priest, who carried His own precious blood into the Most Holy Place, into heaven.  His blood atones once for all.  Hebrews 9:12 says, “He entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemp-tion.”  Our anchor holds there, as it were, within the veil, at the mercy seat where the blood of the sacrifice is sprinkled.  Our hope is built on the blood of Jesus, shed on the cross for you and for me, nothing less. 

    This Sunday we celebrate the Reformation that occurred 500 years ago.  It was a return to the sure and certain hope of salvation by the blood of Jesus – not on salvation dispensed at the will of Popes and Councils, not a salvation based on the decrees, thoughts and musings of men, but a salvation brought about by the shed blood of Jesus Christ.  Our anchor holds within the veil.

    Halloween is not far off.  It’s a day that precedes All Saints’ Day.  Some see it as a day for scary costumes, darkness, ghosts and fear.  But we are not afraid, even of death itself because our Savior, by his suffering and death, has brought us life and light.  We are united with the Saints of every time and place who have gone before us, all those whose anchors held within the veil.  

    And, as we approach the Thanksgiving holiday, we have more to give thanks for than just food and drink, house and home, family, etc., the temporal things of this life.  We have something much greater for which we thank our heavenly Father: we are thankful that our hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.  We are thankful and praise our God because in our baptism our anchor is set firmly there, within the veil, at the Mercy Seat of God, where Christ’s blood pleads for our justification, having paid the price and satisfied God’s wrath for sin.

    If you’ve attended a service in our new building, you’ve likely noticed the shadow on the wall behind the altar, a shadow formed by the placement of the spotlights above the cross.  Someone pointed out that the shadow reminded them of an anchor

I like that image, especially since it was there, on the cross, that the blood of Jesus was shed for us, and at the altar we receive into our mouths that very blood, on which the sure and certain hope of our salvation is built.

Verse 4:

When He shall come

with trumpet sound,

Oh, may I then in Him be found,

Clothed in

His righteousness alone,

redeemed to stand

before His throne!

On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; All other ground is sinking sand.

    Give thanks in this season for the blood of Christ that has purchased for us forgiveness and life.  Anchor your faith there.  There is no better harbor.

God be with you all,

Pastor

September Epistle: Superhuman Strength

The year 1896 saw the beginning of a rush of people to a very remote area of Alaska.  It would come to be known as the Klondike Gold Rush.  In only a few years, 100,000 people tried to get to the gold fields of Dawson in the Yukon Territory of Canada, with dreams of wealth and bliss.  Stories about the strike were enhanced until it was said that one could simply pick gold nuggets from bushes!  Unfortunately, the truth was much harsher.  Of the 100,000 people that attempted the journey, only 30,000 made it to the gold fields.  Of those, only a few hundred realized their dreams and struck it rich.  In just three short years, the bulk of the gold fields played out and Klondike gold fever was over.

    Most of the personal stories of those who came to the Yukon are stories of struggle and hardship.  One of the direct routes to Dawson lay through Skagway and the lesser-known town of Dyea.  While the latter name may be unfamiliar, one of its lasting images is more famous.  Gold seekers disembarked their ships at Dyea and began the 500-mile overland trek on foot to Dawson.  Deep snow blanketed the ground.  Most were not prepared for the dangerous winter conditions of the Yukon.  The Canadian Mounted Police decided that anyone heading to Dawson from Dyea would have to carry with them 2,000 pounds or a year’s worth of supplies.  At a point 16 miles outside of Dyea, the gold seekers were confronted with a steep climb up a wall of snow and ice.

    Up this wall of snow, each man had to carry his 2,000 pounds of supplies, making trip after trip up to the pass, bowed under their burdens.  Some turned back at this point.  Many did not, taking as much as a month to get their supplies to the top.  Those that made it now faced the rest of a difficult overland trail, taking as long as a year to finally reach their destination.  When they did, many found that there were no available claims.  Some found other work, many simply turned around and headed for home.

    The great burdens borne by these men and their superhuman struggle to get to the gold fields put me in mind of another struggle, one that affects each of us.  Some of our sin we’re aware of: the times that we speak out in anger, or when we act selfishly, ignoring the needs of those around us in order to satisfy our own wants and desires of the moment; times when we’re impatient or act in an unloving manner; when we embellish the truth or gossip about our neighbor, or desire what our neighbor has.  And much of our sin we’re not even aware of.  But all of it is a breach of God’s righteous Law.  All of it brings guilt and death.  And that guilt and death are like a great weight on our backs, bowing us down to the ground.  Some of the men hauling their ton of supplies, took the measure of the climb up Chilkoot pass and simply turned around.  They gladly dumped their burdens and headed for Dyea.  We sinners, however, are not able to rid ourselves of sin’s burden.  Those gold-seekers who went on were able, given time, to get that 2,000 lbs of supplies up that icy climb.  But there is no climb, no heavy lifting, no work we can perform, no way to make amends for our sin and get the guilt and death off our backs.  It would take a super-human act to pay the debt owed to God by each one of us.  And it did.  It did take a superhuman act.  One man, Jesus Christ, took our load, took that load of guilt and death from each of us and from the entire human race.  Jesus was able to do that because he was human, like us, flesh and blood – and, unlike us, he was also the divine Son of God.  How else could he have done it?

2 Cor. 5:21 says, 

“For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”

And Isaiah 53:12 says,

“He bore the sins of many”

    Each of those seeking riches in the Yukon gold fields would have given dearly to have some super-human person take all 2,000 lbs of their supplies on their back and march it effortlessly up that mountain of ice.  What Christ did for us was infinitely more difficult, and infinitely more valuable.  Being a man born under God’s Law, Jesus became guilty of our sin.  And in his suffering and death, our punishment and death were owned by him.  

“He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”

Isaiah 53:5-6

    The gold-seekers out of Skagway and Dyea gave all they had to reach Dawson.  In the end, for most of them, it had no value at all – it was worthless effort.  Christ, in giving all, offers to us the treasures of heaven, opens the way to eternal joy, and freedom from the massive burdens of guilt and death.  In Christ, we are offered real and lasting peace, and a restored relationship with God our heavenly Father.

    Surprisingly, most of those who struck it rich in the gold fields of the Yukon died penniless.  Their wealth was unable to bring them the peace and happiness that they had longed for.  Jesus tells us not to put our hope in earthly treasure that fades and passes away:

“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

Matt. 6:19

    Two hymns are brought to mind as I ponder the desire for gold that drove these intrepid gold-seekers to risk all in their pursuit of riches (fleeting) while the riches of heaven (eternal) are offered to us freely.

[Away], all fear and sadness!

For the Lord of gladness,

Jesus, enters in.

Those who love the Father,

Though the storms may gather,

Still have peace within.

Yea, whate’er I here must bear,

Thou art still my Purest pleasure,

Jesus, priceless treasure!

(LSB 734:v 6)

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness;

No merit of my own I claim

But wholly lean on Jesus’ name.

On Christ the solid rock, I stand;

All other ground is sinking sand.

(LSB #575:v1)

    As you struggle through this life with its burdens, remember that there is One who has borne for you the greatest burden: the burden of our guilt and its wages: death.  And this One, the Lord Jesus, invites you to lay those burdens on him in prayer, because he cares for you (1 Peter 5:7).  He says,

“Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”

Matt. 11:28-30

    God’s peace be yours as you cast your cares on him.

    In his name,

Pastor

August Epistle: Gazing at Beauty

 It was the summer of 1893 that Katherine Lee Bates, Professor of Literature at Wellesley College in Massachusetts, came to Colorado Springs to teach summer courses at Colorado College.  

    One day, Katherine and several other teachers decided to go on a trip to the top of 14,000-foot Pike’s Peak.  They hired a “prairie wagon,” and then finished the last of the ascent on mules.  In her writings, she details how tired she was when they finally reached the top.  But when she saw the view, it took her  breath away!  She wrote,

“It was then and there, as I was looking out over the sea-like expanse of fertile country spreading away so far under those ample skies, that the opening lines of [a] hymn floated into my mind.”

    The poem/hymn Katherine Bates penned she originally sold for $5.  It was later set to music and became the beloved patriotic song we know as America the Beautiful.

Oh, beautiful for spacious skies,

For amber waves of grain

For purple mountain majesties

Above the fruited plain!

America! America!

God shed his grace on thee,

And crown thy good with brotherhood

From sea to shining sea.

    I’m sure we’re all familiar with the first verse.  Here is the lesser-known second verse:

Oh, beautiful for heroes proved

In liberating strife,

Who more than self their country loved,

And mercy more than life!

America! America!

May God thy gold refine,

Till all success be nobleness,

And ev’ry gain divine.

    Perhaps you learned this hymn in elementary school and still enjoy singing it on patriotic days.  America the Beautiful praises the beauty of our country and the pride we have in our nation.

    Another well-known hymn praises not the beauty of creation, not our pride, but humbly praises our beautiful Savior.  The hymn praises the beauty and majesty of Jesus Christ, comparing Him to the natural wonders of the world and emphasizing His divine qualities and role as Savior of the world.  Originally, the hymn was titled Fairest Lord Jesus.  It wasn’t until 1873 that the hymn was renamed Beautiful Savior.  Here are the words as we have them today:

Beautiful Savior, King of creation,

Son of God and Son of Man!

Truly I'd love Thee,

Truly I'd serve Thee,

Light of my soul, my joy, my crown.

Fair are the meadows,

Fair are the woodlands,

Robed in flow'rs of blooming spring;

Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer;

He makes our sorr'wing spirit sing.

Fair is the sunshine,

Fair is the moonlight,

Bright the sparkling stars on high;

Jesus shines brighter,

Jesus shines purer

Than all the angels in the sky.

    It was in 1848 that Richard Willis translated the hymn from German into English.  Two years later, in 1850, the hymn appeared in his book titled, Church Chorales and Choir Studies.  

    It’s great that we are patriotic and love our country.  There really is no other country on earth like it!  And, during this politically charged time, it’s easy to pin our hopes for our future on the success of one party or another, on one political leader or another.  But it’s also very important to remember that this world, with its politics and economies, its divisions and strife between peoples and nations, this world is passing away, it is fleeting.  The purple mountain majesties and amber waves of grain will be burned up by fire on the Last Day, and then will come judgment.

    In the end, the Word of God will remain, and the saving work of Jesus Christ: His incarnation, His sinless life, His atoning death and His death-defeating resurrection.  He is the light of our soul, our joy and crown.  He is, truly fairer and purer than the beautiful meadows and woodlands.  He does shine brighter and purer than the sun, the stars and the angels in the sky.

    Jesus is a beautiful Savior.  What He has done for us cannot be matched.  That the One who created and sustains this beautiful creation would give up his glory, take on our flesh and our sin, go willingly to take on the wrath of His Father as he suffered and died on the cross, then rise again to life all for us sinners truly takes our breath away.  The heroes of our past can’t hold a candle the work of our beautiful Savior, who loved us and laid down his life to liberate us not from tyrannical rule, but from sin, death and hell!

    It was in 1873 that Joseph Seiss, a Lutheran pastor and theologian, renamed the hymn.  He did so on the occasion of discovering that there was a fourth verse: 

Beautiful Savior,

Lord of the nations,

Son of God and Son of Man!

Glory and honor,

Praise, adoration,

Now and forevermore be Thine!

    Glory and honor, praise and adoration be Thine, now and forevermore, our beautiful Savior and Lord!

In the name of Jesus,

Pastor

July Epistle: By the Dawn’s Early Light

     On July 4th we all remember our Founding Fathers and the Colonies’ declaration that they would be a nation free from rule in which they had no representation, and we give thanks for the freedoms that we enjoy.  But do we remember why we celebrate with fireworks? 

     On June 18, 1812, the United States declared war on England after repeated disputes over free trade and the rights of sailors.  In August of 1814, American forces were overrun at Bladensburg, and the British captured and burned Washington D.C.

     With the nation’s capital fallen, the British set their sights on the city of Baltimore. In September, 5,000 British soldiers landed nearby, and began their march toward the city.  They were held at bay by the Americans, who had hastily constructed earthworks as a line of defense.  The British navy was called in to support the soldiers in their attack.  However, as the ships entered Baltimore harbor, they met resistance from Fort McHenry and its 1,000 defenders. 

    On September 13, 1814, the most powerful navy in the world sent a force of bomb and rocket ships to dislodge the defenders from their fortifications. Anchoring out of range of the fort’s cannon, the British ships launched a withering attack.  For twenty-five straight hours bombs and rockets rained down on Fort McHenry.

     All that day and through the night, from a British ship in the harbor, a young American lawyer named Francis Scott Key witnessed the devastating bombardment of the fort.  On the morning of September 14th, the guns of the ships went silent.  When the smoke and fog had cleared, he saw the huge American flag still flying proudly over the fort.  Unable to rout the fort’s defenders, the British military was forced to withdraw, leaving the city of Baltimore in America’s hands.  Francis Scott Key was so inspired by the sight of the American flag that he wrote a poem called “The Defense of Fort McHenry,” which was later put to music and renamed “The Star-Spangled Banner.”  It later became our National Anthem.

     We recently stood on the earthworks at Fort McHenry in Baltimore Harbor.  As we looked out over the bay we imagined what it must have been like for the poor soldiers defending the fort as the British flotilla fired off rockets and lobbed exploding shells over their heads.  It must have been terrifying!

     Today, as I think about the Church throughout the ages, that image of Fort McHenry comes to mind.  Like Fort McHenry, the Church has undergone heavy bombardment from its enemies –  from Satan and from the world.

     The first major persecution of the Christian church followed the great fire that destroyed much of the city of Rome in 64 AD.  Emperor Nero blamed the fire on the Christians, and launched a campaign of terror that led to many of them being tortured and killed, some in unimaginably gruesome ways, being crucified or burned alive.

     Other persecutions under various Roman emperors followed, until finally, the Edict of Milan (313 AD) permitted all religions to be practiced in the empire, including Christianity. 

     However, although the Roman emperors were no longer sanctioning persecution, the Church established by Jesus Christ has continued to be under constant bombardment from Satan and his worldly kingdom.  Millions of Christians worldwide have been killed under communist regimes, where religion has been seen as an enemy of the state.

     The Church has also come under fire from the modern secular state as “Science” has purportedly replaced the “mythology of religion” in explaining the origins of the universe (i.e. evolution), and where the teachings of the Bible have become “intolerant views,” and therefore something to be jettisoned, even from our theology (i.e. marriage between a man and a woman, two genders – male and female, sexual purity, etc.).

     Satan has been attacking the Church since its beginning, since he tempted our first parents to rebel against their Creator.  And yet, as the flag still flew over Fort McHenry that next morning, so God’s Church has remained and will continue to exist and to grow until the final day when Christ returns in glory.  The Holy Spirit continues to create faith in the hearts of people through the hearing of God’s Word, which will never pass away.  The Church is growing 

as the Holy Spirit grants faith in the hearts of believers in our own country, and in many countries worldwide, most notably in Africa and Asia.  The Church will continue to exist into eternity.

Built on the Rock

The Church shall stand

Even when steeples

Are falling.

Crumbled have spires

In ever land;

Bells still are chiming

And calling,

Calling the young

And old to rest,

But above all

The souls distressed,

Longing for rest

Everlasting.

Built on the Rock

the Church Shall Stand

LSB #645

    This July 4th, if you have the opportunity to watch a fireworks display commemorating the Battle of Baltimore and the attack on Fort McHenry, remember with great thanksgiving that the Lord preserves and enlarges His Church on earth, even in the face of Satan’s attacks; that His Word endures forever, even as the world tries to supplant it with its own philosophy.

O little flock, fear not the foe

Who madly seeks your overthrow;

Dread not his rage and pow'r.

And though your courage

sometimes faints,

His seeming triumph o'er God's saints

Lasts but a little hour.

As true as God's own Word is true,

Not earth nor hell's satanic crew

Against us shall prevail.

Their might? A joke, a mere facade!

God is with us and we with God—

Our vict'ry cannot fail.

O Little Flock, Fear Not the Foe

LSB 666

     Not all freedom is good, though that may seem odd to us.  Freedom from the rule and reign of tyrants, freedom from persecution, yes.  But freedom from God’s rule and reign, no.  Thanks be to God that He has sent His Son to free us from the guilt of our sin and the kingdom of Satan, and has brought us back into God’s kingdom, where we find that we are truly free.

God’s peace be with you,

Pastor

June Epistle: Master of Wind and Wave

     “John and Valerie Bernhart were among those on Blackburn Lane who nearly lost everything, while also enduring a night of intense fear not knowing if they were going to survive.”  So begins a story about a retired couple living in Maury County, TN, after a tornado ripped their house apart this past week as they huddled together on the floor and prayed.  “We have hope,” they say, “and thank God we are alive.”

     I’ve never been in a tornado.  Perhaps you have.  Or maybe you’ve experienced some other storm of wind, driving rain, hail, or some other storm that prompted you to pray to God for protection.  Sometimes, in these circumstances, God might seem to be far off and unconcerned.  Other times, maybe as you reflect back on the event, God might seem to have been near, protecting you from harm.

     In Mark chapter four, we read the account of Jesus stilling the storm on the sea.  In this case, God was near to the disciples; in fact, He was right there in the boat, on a cushion, asleep!

When evening had come, [Jesus] said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”  And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him.  And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.  But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”  And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.  He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”  And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

     The disciples’ faith is in its infancy.  They are still learning just who it is that is asleep on the cushion in their boat.  One of the Church Fathers notes that, while the boat carries Jesus, Jesus, as part of the Godhead carries the boat!  Hebrews 1:3 says, “[Jesus] is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of his power.”  Paul says, “In him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).  

     Jesus allowed the storm to come up on the sea that night.  He allowed waves to buffet the boat and to begin to swamp it.  Athanasius (c. 296 – 373 A.D.) writes that, “Even while he was asleep on the pillow, the Lord was testing his disciples… For when he arose, and rebuked the sea, and silenced the storm, he plainly disclosed… that the Lord who rebuked [the storm] was not a creature, but rather its creator.”  What was the purpose of this miracle, if not to instill in the disciples a deeper understanding of who Jesus was?

     The disciples are not the only ones to ask, “Who is this?”  The Pharisees and Scribes, the leaders of the people ask it, but in a little different way – they ask, “Who do you think you are!”  They come at Jesus with unbelief and reject him out of hand.  He performs miracles, signs and wonders, but most of them harden their hearts against Him, and do not put their faith in Him.  

     Our world today certainly follows their lead:

“We have modern medicine and medical procedures.  No need for a Healer.”

“We have scientific support for evolution.  No need for a Creator.”

“We have our reason.  No need for a God.”

     And yet, the Holy Spirit is active through the Word and the Sacraments.  Our Augsburg Confession (Article V) states that, “Through these, God gives the Holy Spirit, who works faith, when and where it pleases God, in those who hear the Gospel.”  The Holy Spirit creates faith and sustains that faith through Word and Sacrament.  

     We may wonder why, if God loves us, do the storms of life still come?  Why, if Jesus is with us as He promises, doesn’t He prevent some of the difficult and terrifying experiences to happen?  Perhaps, as we see with the disciples, these experiences come with a purpose, to mature our faith, as opportunities to go our Lord, to call on Him, trusting that He does, indeed, care for us, and believing that He will carry us through to the other side.

     Just as the storm on the sea was sent that night to increase the faith of the poor, frightened disciples, so the storms in our lives are opportunities to grow in our faith as well.

     Of course, the storms do not have to be tornados that destroy our homes.  A storm might come in the form of a physical ailment, a hospitalization or diagnosis that destroys our tranquility and our reliance on our good health, and moves us instead to rely on Jesus our Good Shepherd.  A storm might come in the form of a change in our financial situation that destroys our reliance on our good planning, and directs us to look to the One from whose hand we receive all things, and who has promised to provide for all of our needs.  A storm might come in the death of a friend or family member, shattering our peace, and moving us to turn to Christ who suffered death for us, who defeated death by dying and rising again, urging us in our grief to lean on Him and find peace in His promise of resurrection.

     The storms we encounter in this life are opportunities to ask with the disciples, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him,” and to recognize in faith that He is your Lord and Master.  He is your Brother through baptism.  And He is your Redeemer – the One who stilled the wrath of God over your sin by accounting your sin as His own, so that for all who believe on His Name, the day of judgment will not be a day of storm and gloom and gnashing of teeth, but a day of serenity, a day of great calm, and a day of endless rejoicing.

     In the Lutheran Study Bible there is a prayer that accompanies this miracle: “Lord, forgive our doubts, for we sometimes take Your silence as nothing more than sleepy indifference.  Remind us that You never sleep nor slumber, but always keep us under Your watchful eye.  Amen.”

God’s peace be yours,

Pastor

May Epistle: Cleaning House

     Every week there is a great cleansing in our neighborhood.  I see its beginning as the first trash bins begin to show themselves on our street.  That’s the signal that trash day is coming.  We each dutifully collect the trash from our homes, place it in the bin outside, then move it to the street for pickup.  By the morning of trash day, the street is lined with bins, all waiting for that truck to come along and lift all our waste into its giant bin, where it is smashed down to make room for more.  When the truck is full it makes its way to a transfer station and dumps its load.  Trash from many trucks is compacted and loaded into “tipper” trailers – large semi-trailers – which are then driven in a constant stream to a hill outside the city, east of the metro area, where it is “tipped” to dump its haul into a 2,364-acre landfill.  There the trash is again carefully compacted and eventually buried.  The methane produced as the waste decays is even siphoned off to power a small generator.  The electricity produced is enough to power 2,500 homes.  It takes a lot of coordinated effort to get rid of all that trash from our 3-million-person metro area!

     Some trash is more hazardous than other.  In the 90’s, we replaced our house siding.  In 1951, when our home was built, asbestos impregnated panels was the siding of choice.  Who knew that asbestos would turn out to be a dangerous material that could cause lung cancer and death?  Disposing of our siding would not be simple.  We pulled a permit downtown, and followed their instructions for the careful and safe removal of the siding.  We bundled the siding panels into packages which we triple wrapped in heavy plastic, carefully taping each seam with heavy duty duct tape.  Each package was then labeled with our name and address and taken to the landfill.  The bundles of asbestos were stored away, but they will remain our property forever!

     Thank God for good government that arranges for the weekly collection of our household trash!  What would it be like if we each had to do something about it ourselves (burn it, burry it, toss it into our neighbor’s yard?).  It would prove to be quite a nuisance!

     We’ve recently held services commemorating and celebrating Christ’s death on the cross, His three days in the tomb, and His resurrection from the dead on Easter morning.  The Church has placed quite an emphasis on these events with forty days of Lent, Holy Week, and seven weeks of the Easter season afterward.

     But why the great fuss?  Why give so much attention to these two events?  Well, what happened on Good Friday and Easter was, in a way, a great house cleaning, though immensely greater than that.  

     The sin in our lives is like a constant stream of trash.  And it’s not just an annoyance, it’s not just something that we need to handle ourselves, to bury it or hide it or try somehow to cleanse ourselves of it.  The wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23).  And not death when the pile of sins becomes too large, or becomes a nuisance, or exceeds some objective measure.  The wages of sin is not dependent on the “severity” of the sin.  It’s not like asbestos waste versus a crumpled piece of paper.  Any and all sin is a breaking of God’s commandments.  James 2:10 says, “Whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.”  To transgress God’s law in one point, however “small”, is to break the first commandment, “You shall have no other gods before me.”

     We sin daily, and multiple times each day.  We sin because we are sinners, a state inherited from our parents going back all the way to Adam and Eve.  In Psalm 51:5 David writes, “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.”  He was not saying that his conception was sinful, but that he was conceived sinful.  Romans 3:23 states that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

     Our sin is death to us.  It poisons our relationship with God and with one another.  We have no recourse, no way to undo it, dispose of it, make ourselves right and clean before God.  So, He did it for us.  He sent His one and only Son to clean house for us, to rid us of all of our sin.  God the Father placed every one of our sins on Jesus.  He became the great “Sin-bearer” for us.  2 Corinthians 5:21 says, “[God] made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”  God imputed the sin of mankind to His Son, so that Jesus, who was sinless, “became sin for us.”  That sin (our sin) was nailed to the cross.  God’s wrath for sin fell on Jesus that Good Friday.  All of the punishment, death and hell that should have been ours, Jesus took on Himself.  

     Jesus died on a hill outside the city and His body was placed in a tomb.  A great stone was rolled into place; the tomb was sealed and a guard was set.  Was Jesus who He said He was?  Was His sacrifice enough.  Did His death really mean the death our sins?  Is it true that our sins no longer can accuse us?

     Yes!  Absolutely!  Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  The tomb was empty when the angel rolled away the stone!  “Why do you seek the living among the dead?” he asked the women.  His resurrection was proof that our sins were atoned for.  Romans 4:25 tells us that, “[He] was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.”  The great house cleaning had taken place.  The soil of our sin and our brokenness has been removed from us.  The packages of asbestos siding still bear my name, but God put Jesus’ name on our sin, and Jesus paid what was due.  Isaiah writes, “He was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.”  In Jesus’ suffering and death, payment for each sin was made.  It is finished.  You and I are clean, pure, holy, by faith in our crucified and risen Savior.

     The next time you take a bag of trash outside or take the can to the street, think about what God has done for you in taking away your sins, in offering to you each week forgiveness in the Sacrament of the Altar as He gives into your mouth the body and blood of our Lord.  And thank Him for the forgiveness He gives to you each day as you repent again of your sin and turn to Him in faith.  And when you bring the empty can back up to your house, thank and praise Him once again for the miracle, for the gift of Good Friday and Easter.  That gift is yours through all eternity!

God’s peace be with you,

Pastor

April Epistle: The Christ Is Raised!

The Christ Is Raised!

     The syntax of this title certainly comes off a little clunky.  We would be more comfortable, perhaps, to have the title say, “Christ is Risen!”  After all, this is the witness of the angels, the women who went to the tomb, the Apostles, the Christians from the early days of Christianity, and the ongoing cry of the Church today!

     But I’d like to briefly focus on each of the words in this title.  First of all, the word “The.”  Seems like a silly place to start.  We all know what “the” means, right?  But “the” is different than “some,” “any,” “all,” etc.  It denotes a singularity, a uniqueness, specificity.  “The Christ” is a much different statement than “Some Christ,” or “Any Christ.”  No, there is only one, unique Christ.  

     This may seem like a small matter (as small as the word “the”).  Actually, it is quite important.  There is only one Christ.  Many have come and claimed to be the Christ.  Jesus says in Matthew 24:5, “Many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray.”  I was surprised to find on Wikipedia a long list of people who have actually claimed to be “the Christ”.  THE Christ is the Son of God whom we describe in our creeds: Born of the virgin Mary, the one who suffered under Pontius Pilate, who was crucified, died and was buried.  That one.  The one of whom God said, when THE Christ came up out of the Jordan River at his baptism, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”  THAT specific Christ, who lived and died 2,000 years ago, THAT Christ is raised!  “There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

     The CHRIST is raised!  The name, Christ, is sometimes not properly understood.  We tend to use it as though it is Jesus’ last name.  And, truly, that is not an improper use.  However, in the beginning, it denoted his title as God’s Messiah.  “Messiah” is a Hebrew word that means “anointed or chosen one.”  God’s Son, Jesus, was the One chosen/anointed by God to be the Savior of the world.  He was Israel’s Messiah, prophesied as the One to come to redeem Israel and, indeed, the world.  The word “Christ” comes from the Greek translation of “Messiah.”  It is “Christos” in the Greek, “Christ” in English.  We see some of its meaning in the English word, “Christen”, as when you Christen a baby, or christen a new boat.  

    “Christ” means “anointed one”.  Jesus is the One anointed by God to be our Savior.  That means that he was anointed, as were kings and prophets, to fulfill a specific role in our salvation.  He actively earned righteousness by his sinless life, fulfilling every commandment perfectly in our place.  Then he took our place on the cross, took our sin on himself, and took, there, our punishment, one man dying for the sins of the people (world).  God’s Anointed One is raised.

     The Christ is RAISED!  Now, there have been several (many?) people that have been raised from the dead.  The prophet Elijah raised the widow’s son.  Elisha raised his host’s son.  And there’s one more recorded in the Old Testament; that’s the strange one where a dead man was being buried and those carrying the body threw it hastily into a cave that held the bones of Elisha.  When the dead body touched the prophet’s bones, the dead man came to life! (see 2 Kings 13)

     Jesus raised the widow of Nain’s son, the daughter of Jairus, and, famously, Lazarus.  Many of the saints who had died, we are told in Matthew 27, were raised from the dead when Jesus gave up his spirit on the cross and died.  And in Acts, Peter raises Tabitha in Joppa and Paul raises the young man, Eutychus, who fell out of a window.

     In each of these instances, God raised someone from the dead through an intermediary: A prophet, Jesus, an Apostle, or as a result of Jesus’ death.  But THE CHRIST is RAISED from the dead after three days in the tomb, not through any intermediary or causative circumstance.  No one is standing outside the tomb praying for God to raise Jesus.  God simply brings him back to life.  Ephesians 1:20, Acts 2:24, Romans 8:11 and other passages all say that God raised Jesus from the dead.  Though, in an interesting twist, Jesus also predicts that he himself will take up his life again after he dies.  Jesus says that he is the Good Shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep.  “I have authority to lay it down,” he says, “and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.”  This is a mystery, and quite impossible to understand, that Jesus lays down his life, and on the third day, he himself takes it up again.

     The Christ IS raised!  The last word we’ll look at is the word, “IS”.  It’s a small word, but a very important one.  The Christ rose from the dead, God raised him from the dead.  But our joy, our very hope, is caught up in the fact that Jesus is alive eternally.  God raised him from the dead because his sacrifice for sin was sufficient for our salvation.  The One anointed by God to be the sin bearer fulfilled everything, completed everything, so that from the cross he could declare that “It is finished!”  His death and resurrection have eternal consequences for all who believe.

     THE CHRIST IS RAISED!  Alleluia!  Jesus lives!  Alleluia!  Jesus is coming again to take us to himself and to present his bride, the Church, to the Father!  Alleluia!

     May God bless your celebration this blessed Eastertide as you bask in his love for you, demonstrated in the sending of his Son to be the Christ.  And what joy we have in knowing that Jesus is raised from the dead and is seated at God’s right hand where he intercedes daily for you and for me.

THE CHRIST IS RAISED!  ALLELUIA!

God’s peace be with you,

Pastor

Art: The Resurrection of Christ by Giovanni Antonio Boltraffio and Marco d'Oggiono

March Epistle: The Wondrous Cross

Ever looked through a telescope at the night sky or at the moon? It’s amazing what can be seen through that little lens - craters on the moon, supernovas painting vivid pictures in space, beautiful galaxies of various shapes and sizes and colors, the rings of Saturn… . Ever put a quarter in those swivel mounted observation glasses at the top of a skyscraper, or lifted a good pair of binoculars to your eyes to examine a pretty bird, or put your eye to the lens of a microscope to see in vivid detail a miniscule, single-celled animal? How many satellites do you suppose are out there in space gazing back at us, mapping the world, reading weather data, or measuring some opponent’s military might? 

We do a lot of gazing. We’re curious. We like to examine and understand things. In the season of Lent, we focus our gaze on important truths about salvation history. Lent turns our gaze inward. There we see again in vivid detail the sinfulness of our fallen flesh since “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1), we look elsewhere for our salvation. ”Who will deliver me from this body of death,” Paul asks in Romans 7:24. And the Holy Spirit through Scripture points our gaze to the cross. 

Christ came in the flesh to redeem us. He did this by taking our sin on himself (2 Cor 5:21) and receiving in himself the punishment from God for that sin in the form of his suffering and death on the cross (1 Peter 2:24). 

One of our beloved hymns of Lent written by Isaac Watts in 1707 focuses our gaze on that cross: 

When I survey the wondrous cross 

On which the Prince of Glory died, 

My richest gain I count but loss 

And pour contempt on all my pride. 

Forbid it Lord, that I should boast 

Save in the death of Christ, my God; 

All the vain things that charm me most, 

I sacrifice them to His blood. 

A lot of our inward gazing might be considered “navel gazing” - self-centeredness, pride. We like to look at things that charm us. But as we look at that wondrous cross and see hanging there the Son of God, the Sacrificial Lamb, suffering and dying for our sins, shielding us from the wrath of God, we see our pride and our navel gazing for what it is. And so, we say with Paul that, whatever gain we had, we count as loss for the sake of Christ Jesus our Lord (Phil. 3:7), and we boast only Christ who died on our behalf. 

See, from His head, His hands, His feet 

Sorrow and love flow mingled down! 

Did e’er such love and sorrow meet 

Or thorns compose so rich a crown? 

Paul says, “God demonstrates his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for the us” (Romans 5:8). The hymn writer sees the blood that flows from Jesus’ wounds as representing that love of God for us, yes, but also sorrow - “Sorrow and love flow mingled down!” Love and sorrow? Yes. 

Christ did not use his divine power to lessen the suffering he experienced on the cross. He was, fully, man. He felt keenly the prick of the thorns, the tearing of his flesh, the beating he received, the beard pulled out, the nails piercing skin and bone, the agonizing hours of torment, etc. Matthew writes that Jesus, as he brought his disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane, said, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me” (Matt. 26:38). Jesus, in the Garden, is overcome with sorrow, with deep sadness at the thought of God’s wrath (hell) being poured out on him as the bearer of our sin. He sweats great drops of blood as he wrestles with what is to come. But he submits to his Father’s will, “Not my will, but Yours be done” (Luke 22:42). He will drink the cup. He will take our punishment - all of it. 

The blood also represents the sorrow that God feels over our sin; our sin has broken the relationship between loving Creator and beloved creature. It was our will (in Adam) to break that relationship, and it brings God sorrow. He loves all people. His Son died for all people. While man’s sin broke the relationship, Jesus’ death paid for its restoration! Nowhere in all of history has there ever been nor will there ever be such a convergence of sorrow and love. 

What can we do to thank God for this great gift of reconciliation? What could we ever offer to our God or to his Son, our Lord and Savior? Even if the moon, the stars, the beauty of the heavens were ours to give, it would not be enough to thank God for the salvation he has purchased for us through the suffering, death and resurrection of Jesus. As Isaac Watts hymns so beautifully,

Were the whole realm of nature mine, 

That were a tribute far too small; 

Love so amazing, so divine, Demands my soul, my life, my all! 

God bless your contemplation of your great sin and of your greater Savior, as you gaze anew at the cross of Christ, as you sorrow over your sin that required such a sacrifice, and as we, together, anticipate with joy the glorious day of Christ’s resurrection from the dead. 

God’s peace in Christ,

Pastor

February Epistle: To Wear a Crown

     When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.  Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.   And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day… The Lord God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?… Have you eaten of the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”….To Adam he said

“Cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life; thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you; and you shall eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return”. (Genesis 3:6-19).

     February 14th is Valentine’s Day, a day when we celebrate love and friendship.  It’s a wonderful coincidence that, this year, Valentine’s Day falls on Ash Wednesday.   “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return,” the pastor says as he places a cross in ash on your forehead at the service that evening.  How is Ash Wednesday connected (and in a wonderful way) with Valentine’s Day?  Great question! You’re obviously in rare form!

     Ash Wednesday begins our season of Lent, a time for reflecting on how we have fallen short of God’s expectation that we be holy, as He is holy.  It is a season of repentance, which is often reflected in the Bible by the putting on of ashes.  The Lenten season is a time of preparation for Holy Week-   the Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem, the Last Supper with the disciples, a week culminating in Christ’s suffering and death on the cross and His triumphant resurrection on Easter morning!  All of this as God’s good plan of redemption for mankind, to undo the curse of the fall, to make atonement for sin going all the way back to Adam and Eve and the first sin in the Garden.  It’s all about love- the love of an almighty and holy God for sinful people.

     Cyril of Jerusalem makes an interesting observation.  Writing near the end of the fourth century, he remarks that in mocking Jesus the soldiers echoed prophecy.  He writes, “When they clothed him in purple, it was in mockery, yet ironically it was a fulfillment of prophecy, for he indeed was a king. Even though they did it in a spirit of derision, still they did it, and his regal dignity was by that symbolically heralded.  So, likewise, though it was with thorns they crowned him, it was still a crown (Sermon on the Paralytic 12).

     I’ve lately been thinking about the crown of thorns the soldiers placed so cruelly on Jesus’ head.  True, it was a ‘crown’, and true, it was to mock him as the king of the Jews.  But I see here another image as well.  In His incarnation, Jesus stepped into our world,   Born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, as Paul says in Galatians 4.   He was born under the law so that He could fulfil it in every sense, be obedient to God’s law as Adam was not, in order to earn the righteousness that He offers to us in the forgiveness of our sins.  He takes our sins into Himself and puts them to death as He suffers and dies in our place.

     But the crown of thorns tells a story all its own.  One of the indications of the curse that befalls creation as a result of Adam’s sin is that the ground will now bring forth thorns and thistles.  The incarnate Son of God, as He lives life as we do, experiences the creation in its fallen state.  He grows tired and weary.  He is hungry and thirsty.  He weeps and laughs and bleeds with the rest of us.  And perhaps the thorns encircling his head are also symbolic of His bearing for us the curse of the fall.

     Paul writes that even the creation is longing for the Last Day.  He says, “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (Romans 8:19-21).  Christ’s death and resurrection are the beginning of the restoration of all creation.

     The curse of the fall encircles His brow as he hangs, dying, on the cross.  The cumulative sins of mankind which have resulted (and which will result) from the fall are borne in His body as He hangs on the tree.  By His death and resurrection, the Word of God which was active in creation gives Himself as the atoning sacrifice to undo creation’s curse, to destroy the power of sin and death and the devil.  In His blood and by the power of His resurrection, both we and creation are restored by faith now, and ultimately on the Last Day.

     As we enter this season of Lent, as we confess ourselves fallen sinners and receive the ashen cross on our foreheads on Ash Wednesday, let us consider the burden Christ has carried for us, perhaps symbolized by the crown of thorns.  And, let us also rejoice that our Savior is the true King of kings, who died and who is alive, whose victory is our victory!

     God bless you as you contemplate the depth of your sin and the powerful love and mighty deeds of Jesus, your Savior.    

- Pastor