St. Thomas, Apostle

Today the Church remembers and thanks God for St. Thomas. Though a faithful follower of the Lord Jesus, Thomas wasn't quite sure about the message he received from the other ten that they had seen the Risen Lord. We usually think of Thomas as "doubting," but the text uses the word "unbelieving." And I wonder if it isn't best to keep the context in mind: Thomas wasn't doubting/unbelieving everything, but specifically that the other ten had seen the Risen Lord.

At any rate, we remember and honor St. Thomas because the Lord does lead him to confess the God-Man, Jesus Christ. What a great confession of the Divine-Human Savior Thomas makes when he says, "My Lord and my God"! And that just after he had poked his fingers and hands into Jesus' very open, fleshly wounds in His hands and His side. That wounded Man is truly God and Lord indeed.

So, we can thank God for Thomas because we see how He, our gracious Lord, handles our doubts and questions that undoubtedly creep up on us from time to time: He simply keeps revealing Himself to us; He lets us poke around and explore the wounds; He does bring us to confess Him as "Lord and God." It's no wonder that the Church as placed this feast so close to the celebration of the Christ-Mass. In just a few days we'll all get to hear and sing with great joy that our Lord and God is in the flesh and in the manger at Bethlehem!

Hymn Verse:
All praise, O Lord, for Thomas,
Whose short-lived doubtings prove
Your perfect twofold nature,
The fullness of Your love.
To all who live with questions
A steadfast faith afford;
And grant us grace to know You,
True man, yet God and Lord. (LSB, 517:6)

Collect for St. Thomas, Apostle
Almighty and ever-living God, You strengthened Your apostle Thomas with firm and certain faith in the resurrection of Your Son. Grant us such faith in Jesus Christ, our Lord and our God, that we may never be found wanting in Your sight; through the same Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

And for a little "holy-day" fun...

...check out this rendition of the "Hallelujah Chorus" (quite entertaining, for a bunch of men impersonating nuns!).

...and, while you're at it, check out this cultural statement about saying, "Merry Christmas" instead of a mere "Happy Holidays."

Incarnation and Renewal of Creation

Here's a great little gem from St. Athanasius. As he introduces his work, On the Incarnation, he ties our salvation together with creation. After all, he says, the same Incarnate Word accomplishes both.

You must understand why it is that the Word of the Father, so great and so high, has been made manifest in bodily form. He has not assumed a body as proper to His own nature, far from it, for as the Word He is without body. He has been manifested in a human body for this reason only, out of the love and goodness of His Father, for the salvation of us men. We will begin, then, with the creation of the world and with God its Maker, for the first fact that you must grasp is this: the renewal of creation has been wrought by the Self-same Word Who made it in the beginning. There is thus no inconsistency between creation and salvation; for the One Father has employed the same Agent for both works, effecting the salvation of the world through the same Word Who made it in the beginning (St. Athanasius, On the Incarnation, 1:1, emphasis original).

"The Doctrine of Bethlehem" - part 2

Advent preparations are winding down and the celebration of Christ's Birth is just around the corner. So we continue the serial reading from Pr. Berthold von Schenk's book, The Presence, under the title "The Doctrine of Bethlehem." This section picks up where Part 1 left off (p. 41) and runs through the end of Chapter 1:

Some may complain that all this is too theological, to dogmatic, and perhaps to abstract. Is there not some spot on earth where this great truth can be focused, where we can reach out to this mystery which the angels desired to behold? Can we not have it human, real, living? It is possible. We can harness that great truth of Bethlehem to a single point. We can translate it into a concrete concept which will bring this sublime truth nearer to us. “God Himself has given us this focusing point in the Incarnation. God had to do it since the world is what it is.” “There is a law which runs throughout our universe. It is this, that life normally functions through matter. Life is known to us through outward signs. The scientist will tell you that this is a law of the universe. Take the lowest form of life—vegetable life. How is it known? Through flowers and trees. Take animal life. How is this known? Through animal bodies. Human life is know through human bodies. You never saw a baby without a body. So then, when the great life of all lives came into the world—when the Eternal was to function here on earth as Saviour, how did He come? In a blaze of glory across the sky to drive men down to their knees? No, He came through the law which runs throughout His creation. God was manifest in the flesh. God, the Eternal, became a little baby”—

“Veiled in flesh the Godhead see,
Hail the Incarnate Deity!”

“They all were looking for a King
To stay they foes and lift them high;
Thou cam’st, a little baby-thing,
That made a woman cry.”

“And this shall be the sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.”

Simply the story is told: Mary brought forth her first-born Son and wrapped Him in diapers. God in diapers! You see, God obeyed His own Law—He focused Himself to Bethlehem, so that we could conceive of Him through our finite minds. In order that we could harness the great truth with our finite minds, God was made very human babe, and there is nothing so human in all the world as a baby. God became one of us—so that we could realize Him. You will say, “I can grasp that, but my trouble is not with some history which happened 1900 years ago. I believe all this to be true and beautiful. I also believe this was God manifest in the flesh, the eternal God in a manger. But how can this truth become effective in my life? How can it be a living truth? We follow the same scientific law. As God focused Himself in Bethlehem and to Bethlehem as a little babe, in order that we can historically grasp Him and realize Him, so He has also focused the Truth of the Incarnation. He made it possible for the doctrine of Bethlehem to be a reality today.

It is true that Bethlehem, the Virgin Mother and the angels are a reality to many little children. They do not have to be convinced about the reality of Bethlehem. But how hard it is for a grownup to become as a little child. How difficult it is for us to have and to hold the reality of Bethlehem by merely hearing about it. However, it can be brought down to today, for it is focused beautifully for the believer at the Altar—in the Holy Communion. The Holy Communion is the continuation of the Incarnation.

Homily - Advent 3 Midweek

Waiting with Isaiah: Waiting for God's Promised Land
Isaiah 35:1-10 & James 5:7-11

This Advent we’ve been “Waiting with Isaiah.” The Prophet Isaiah spoke some pretty amazing promises about the coming Messiah – and all about 700 years before the Messiah would come. God’s people would have to wait to receive and rejoice in God’s promised Savior. Just as God’s people waited, lo, those 700 years, we’ve been learning to wait with Isaiah, and just a few weeks to celebrate the Savior’s Birth. So, how well have we been doing?

Two weeks ago we heard about “God’s Promised Justice.” Since our coming King promises and gives His cross-won justice – His victory over our enemies of sin, death, and Satan – we can learn to wait for God to give us His final victory, His final vindication, for all eternity. And as we wait for that day, we can put off the works of darkness. Last week we heard about “God’s Promised Peace.” When our King came in the flesh, He inaugurated lasting peace between us sinners and our loving God. That peace, which passes all understanding, fills us with encouragement, hope, and harmony as we wait for His full, final, and eternal peace. So, how well are we doing in our waiting?

Let me ask that question another way. Are you just plain tired and worn out – tired of the rat race called “the Holiday season”? Are you already stuffed to the gills from the Christmas goodies and the Christmas luncheons, dinners, and parties? Do you feel absolutely under the gun to get everything done, frantic that it won’t get done, and stretched too thin in too many directions all at once? Are you looking forward to December 25 so that you can just crash and burn and say, “Whew, glad that ‘merry chaos’ is over”? If so, to whatever degree, you haven’t been waiting very well, have you?

Yes, waiting is very difficult for us Americans. Being patient is just not in our cultural DNA. Like children waiting for Grandma and Grandpa to arrive so that we can begin opening presents, we get antsy and fussy if it – any it – takes too long at all.

Perhaps it’s hard for us Christians to wait for God’s promised justice and His promised peace because, well, they don’t seem real enough. Hey, we gotta live in the here and now, Pastor. We gotta be practical and down to earth, you know. That justice stuff, especially from things like sin, death, and the devil, may seem more like a dream than real life. That peace stuff, especially if we can’t see it, may seem more like a Christmas card wish than something real to experience and enjoy.

Isaiah’s words tonight should give the soothing, healing medicine we need. Isaiah promises: “The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad; the desert shall rejoice and blossom like the crocus; it shall blossom abundantly and rejoice with joy and singing.” Now that’s more real – a barren, dry land blossoming with vibrant life. Sounds like a real promised land. The prophet continues: “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped; then shall the lame man leap like a deer, and the tongue of the mute sing for joy.” More joyous, real-life stuff – blind people able to see again; deaf people able to hear; limping people able to walk and leap without hindrance; and tongues loosed to sing for joy. It’s a new creation folks. It’s a creation that bubbles forth with good life – life without the problems that we face day to day and at different stages of life. Truly a promised land And, yes, folks, Isaiah promises; it will happen.

And between these great, real-life promises, Isaiah says: “Strengthen the weak hands, and make firm the feeble knees.” My, how we need those words as our weariness leads us to stumble through the “merry chaos” season! “Say to those who have an anxious heart, ‘Be strong; fear not!’” Great words for us who are so anxious about getting everything done and just enduring until December 25! “Behold, your God will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God. He will come and save you.” Normally vengeance is a bad thing, but when it’s God’s vengeance on behalf of His redeemed people, then we can welcome it with open arms. You see, God is our mighty King who comes to rescue us from our prisoner of war camp in Satan’s domain.

You see, dear friends, our worries, our weariness, our impatience with crazy drivers, with shopping mall clerks, and with each other show that we are not waiting so well. In fact they show that, spiritually, we still live in Satan’s prisoner of war camp called this fallen world. If we are stressed out and anxious, it’s because we are diverting our eyes from our Coming King. If we are impatient with fellow Christians, loved ones, and friends, it’s because we falsely think that all of our efforts at creating the “perfect Christmas” (again, this year) will create heaven on earth, at least for a day or two.

But, dear friends, Isaiah promises our real heaven on earth, our real new creation, our real promised land. It all comes when our Lord God comes as the Infant in the manger to save us. It all comes when the Son of God takes on our flesh and blood to restore us to life in His kingdom. It all comes when Jesus Christ spills that innocent blood and has His perfect body broken on a cross to rescue us from being prisoners in Satan’s war against the Triune God. Our Lord Jesus comes to inaugurate His eternal “promised land,” a land where we need not worry over and succumb to crowded malls, forgotten gifts, hectic schedules, or overindulging. You see, God’s promised land is where Jesus gives His forgiveness, His life, and His rescue from our self-centered concerns. God’s promised land is not in the shopping mall or around the Christmas tree; it’s in the Church. It’s where the Son of God stretches out His arms, even as they are nailed to a tree, and says, “Come, I will give you rest.” It’s the promise that Isaiah gave some 2700 years ago, and it’s still true: “The ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” Did you hear that? In God’s promised land of Jesus and His Church, our sorrow and sighing shall flee away. What replaces our anxieties and our stresses? The singing, the everlasting joy, the gladness that our God, that Infant small, has conquered our sins, our death, and the devil himself.

And so, dear friends, we once again hear very timely and wise words to help us wait, this time from St. James, the brother of our Lord: “Be patient, therefore, brothers, until the coming of the Lord.” We can be patient, because our God has come in the flesh. As a farmer plants his crop and waits for rain and soil to work together to bear the fruits of the crop, we can wait for our God to deliver us from our self-inflicted “merry chaos.” St. James continues: “You also, be patient. Establish your hearts, for the coming of the Lord is at hand.” Yes, when you keep your eyes on your Coming King, the anxieties of “merry chaos” fade away.

And James even gives an additional bit of sage, sanctified advice: “Do not grumble against one another, brothers, so that you may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing at the door.” Yes, the King is coming. He has come in flesh and blood. He continues to come in the preaching of His forgiveness and life. He continues to come in the very Body and Blood on the Altar. And He will come again to rescue us from this fallen land and bring us to our eternal promised land. With such great promises already given and yet to come, why grumble against one another? We get to spend eternity together, with our God who is Love and with each other. We get to celebrate His mercy and compassion now and into eternity. There’s no need to let the world’s chaos get the better of us. As James also says: “you have seen the purpose of the Lord, how the Lord is compassionate and merciful.” Amen.

"The Doctrine of Bethlehem" - part 1

As we continue and conclude our Advent preparations, and as we look forward to celebrating the Christ-Mass, here's a little something from Pr. Berthold von Schenk on what he calls "The Doctrine of Bethlehem." Some great and meaty devotional reading for our Advent preparations and Christmas celebrations!

Chapter 1
“Et Incarnatus Est”

The Church confesses, “I believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God…. Being of one substance with the Father, by Whom all things were made; Who for us men and for our salvation came down from heaven, And was incarnate by the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary and was made man.”

This sublime truth of Christmas is based on the simply story told by Luke: “While they were there the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son; and wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Another Evangelist tells of Wise Men who came to Jerusalem at the time of the birth of Jesus and inquired: “Where is he that is born King of the Jews? For we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.” The Wise men sought Bethlehem. They asked, “Where is Bethlehem?” This should be our great quest. Can we find Bethlehem to-day? [sic] Can Bethlehem be more to us than an historical event? The Wise Men found Bethlehem. The Shepherds also found it and worshipped the Child. We too can find Him if we are men and women of good-will, if we have a sincerity of purpose, seeking earnestly and eagerly. We might have to overcome certain habits, rid ourselves of some prejudices, and permit ourselves to be guided and to follow the sign given unto us.

Repentance is the condition for a successful quest.

Repentance is necessary before we can find the real Bethlehem. Thus John, the herald of the Christ, preached repentance as a necessary condition for entrance into the Kingdom. The word that is used in the New Testament for repentance literally means a change of mind. This is not simply an acceptance of new ideas in place of old notions. It actually implies a complete change of one’s inner attitude.

To repent is to change the inner attitude toward self, toward sin, toward God, toward Christ. The Herald of the Messiah came preaching to vile publicans and to haughty Pharisees, “Change your inner attitude.” He who seeks the way to Bethlehem will get this direction, “Except you repent, change your attitude, have a complete reversal of your inner attitude, you will never find Christmas.”

How Shall We Find Bethlehem?

There is first of all the doctrine of Bethlehem. There is nothing more thrilling than when Christians confess—“And was made man.” We want to kneel when we express this great mystery that God became man.

To state it very simply, the doctrine of Bethlehem is that God became man and remained God. The human nature of the Divine Redeemer was the instrument of His redemptive work. We must believe that, for John says: “Every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God.” Scripture thus calls Him the Son of Abraham, the Rod of Jesse, the Son of Mary. God had to become man and lower Himself. Let us imagine a conversation in Heaven. God the Father says to His Son, “You wish to redeem mankind? It is better not to don the apparel of a Ruler, on the contrary, in a manger you will lie, the lowliest bed, and this bed will be in a stable, for such is the world to which you will go.”

To find Bethlehem, then, we must realize that our Saviour, that Child in the Bethlehem manger, is the SON OF MAN. This does not mean that He was the ideal man, the flower of manhood! He was of course all of that, and more. He was the one wonderful man who is at once the child of Mary and the Son of the Living God.

Behold this wondrous Person:
Of the Father’s love begotten—in a stable.
He whom the Heavens could not contain—a poor Babe.
He forgives sins—and is despised.
He is the Lord of Sabaoth—and has no place to rest His Head.
He sits at the right hand of God—and dies.

It was God’s plan from eternity that if man should sin, He would send the Redeemer. But this Redeemer had to be true God and true man. Therefore, His conception in the Virgin Mary was supernatural, but His birth was natural.

The conception happened this way: There is a maid in Nazareth who is of “the house and lineage of David.” She is unmarried. God sends a messenger to her. This messenger tells her that she is to have a child. Amazed at this statement, she replies: “How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?” The messenger answers: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: Therefore, also, that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Thus Mary conceived, and when her time came she gave birth to the Christ.

It was God Himself Who was conceived in the Blessed Virgin. When, therefore, Mary visited her cousin Elizabeth, who was to give birth to John the Baptist, she said to her: “Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?”

We should know that the Incarnation does not consist in this that God worked in a single human form, nor that God expressed His will through a human form called Jesus, but that the Son of God with His divine essence went into the human nature. The Son of God received the human nature into His Divine Being. God assumed the human body. “The Word was made Flesh.” The human nature of Christ is, therefore, the Body of the Son of God, “for in Him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.”

The Rod of Jesse is Jehovah.
He Who came from the Father is God forever.
The Son of God is Jesus of Nazareth—
Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God.

The Son of God is that Babe, born of a woman, Mary, for “When the fulness of time was come, God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the Law.”

This is the doctrine of Bethlehem, the true spirit of Christmas. The Christ-Child on Mary’s lap is perfect God and Man, the God-Man; “for God so loved the world,” the human race, that He came out of eternity into time that we might see Him and be united with Him in return, “for unto us a child is born, unto us a Son is given: And the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” (The Presence, pp. 37-41)

Advent Fasting?

I've often pondered the folly of being so gluttonous for several weeks *before* Christmas, and then almost collapsing with fatigue for the real celebration of Christmas' Twelve Days. Our society likes to celebrate first and recover later (something about hangovers comes to mind).

However, the Church reverses the order: first comes preparations, and then comes the celebration. The preparations - such as fasting, prayer, and giving to charity - help us get ready for the "true message" - and celebration of - the Christ-Mass. When we empty ourselves first (rather than after overindulging), then we can truly enjoy the celebration and feasting...and without the guilt-laden exhaustion.

Here's a though-provoking little piece from Fr. Fenton on devouring the Advent Fast. Now I'll have to track down that article in First Things!

Homily - Advent 2 Midweek

And here's what I delivered a couple of evenings ago for our second week of Advent Evening Prayer:

Waiting with Isaiah: Waiting for God's Promised Peace
Isaiah 11:1-10 & Romans 15:4-13

This Advent we are learning to wait with the Prophet Isaiah. After all, Advent is a time of waiting, of patiently preparing to receive our Coming King. Even though waiting and being patient do not come easily for us Americans, God does invite us to learn and grow in such virtues. Last week we heard about “Waiting for God’s Promised Justice.” Our normal sense of fairness, and fair play, demands that we get justice as soon as possible. However, God exhorts us to wait for Him to give justice. And justice He gives – in His Son Jesus Christ, in His victory over sin, death, and the devil for us.

Tonight, let’s focus on the theme “Waiting for God’s Promised Peace.” Isaiah gives us quite a wonderful and glorious picture of God’s promised peace. “The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and lion and the fattened calf together.” Wow! What a picture! After all, we know how wolves, leopards, and lions love to prey upon lambs, young goats, and fatted calves. We’ve just come to expect such a “natural” food chain in nature. But it’s far from natural, at least as God designed it. You see, when wolves eat little lambs for breakfast and lions devour fatted calves for supper, we see death – one creature sustaining its life by the death of another. That’s not the way God created His world to work.

And what about that Christmas-sounding line, “and a little child shall lead them”? Oh, we know better, don’t we? Little children cannot lead. Save the leading for older people, more mature people, people who have grown through the school of hard knocks, or experience in politics, and have gained their wisdom for dealing with the people they must lead. Again, it’s not the way God planned things from creation. You see, most leadership tactics have to stem the tide of the sin, death, and evil that we human creatures have brought into the world.
But Isaiah’s picture is still God’s picture of promised peace. No more death. No more killing. No more intrigue and shady, back-room deals among authority figures. No, God’s peace brings real peace. It brings a world of creatures living and lying down together without fear of death. It brings the innocence, purity, and trust of a little child as the way in which people deal with each other. As Isaiah says, “They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” I don’t know about you, but I can hardly wait to see that Day! But wait we must, because, obviously, we don’t see such a world of peace and innocence.

And how does our gracious God accomplish this peace? Isaiah gives us another picture: “There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.” Again, we hear a familiar Christmas-sounding picture. But let’s ponder this image. First, Isaiah speaks of a stump – a cut down tree, a lifeless hunk of wood sticking out of the ground, just waiting to trip up folks who walk by and don’t see it. Yes, God had to make this stump. It’s a picture of His Old Testament people. They had strayed from Him to worship foreign, false gods. They had ignored His many pleas to return to Him in repentance. So God chopped them down. The grand, glorious tree of God’s people had to be cut down and sawed into firewood. Only a stump remained.

That’s what our sin and death do to us. It may be the sin of getting upset with family members, with each other at church, or even with the tired, cranky store clerk who has dealt with all of those other impatient Christmas shoppers. Our sin and death may be our sheer greed in wanting only the best Christmas present for ourselves this Christmas. It may be our tendency to place so much attention on the “spirit of the season” and enjoying that “perfect Christmas” that we forget, or minimize, the God who took on our human flesh to give us His life and His Holy Spirit. So God comes to us to chop down our sinful pride, our impatience, and our self-reliance. That’s why we wait and prepare during Advent.

But Isaiah does not leave us with only the stump of a sawn down tree. The picture that brings us peace comes in that little “shoot from the stump of Jesse.” That tender little twig speaks loudly and clearly: the tree is not completely dead; the tree of God’s people will come back to life. That tender little shoot is none other than our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, He comes as a tender little sapling, born of the pure Virgin. But don’t let His fragility in the manger fool you. This tender Root of Jesse brings God’s eternal peace. He ushers in God’s picture of lions and lambs dwelling together. He inaugurates the reign of innocence and purity among His people. This little shoot named Jesus would hang lifeless from a cross, another piece of lifeless, chopped down wood, but He brings the healing peace of God’s forgiveness for our impatience. His spilled blood brings the pardon for our prideful, self-absorbed ways. And when He rises from the dead, He shows beyond all doubt that “righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.” This tender little shoot, whose birth we will celebrate in thirteen short days, brings God’s promised peace. “In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples—of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.”

But, again, we must wait. We must wait until the celebration of our Lord’s Birth; it’s not Christmas just yet. We must wait until the Last Day to witness and enjoy the picture of peace between lions and lambs, the scene of utter innocence and purity among people. And what shall we do until that Day?

St. Paul says it well: “Whatever was written in former days – think of Isaiah, about 700 years before Christ – “was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” We wait, but we wait with hope. And remember, hope is not some mere wish, as in, “Gee, I hope it doesn’t rain today.” No, hope is as certain as a young Virgin carrying a Baby in her womb for nine months. All the peace of God is wrapped in that little Infant inside that holy Mother’s womb. It’s just a matter of time before He bursts forth. It’s just a matter of time before His peace reigns supreme. And so we wait with hope, with confident expectation, with eager anticipation. God’s promised peace does come and will come. It comes in the lifeblood of Jesus that gives forgiveness and life. It will come when He will chop down the ways of this God-ignoring world only to reveal the true life of peace and innocence.

What else do we do as we wait for God’s promised peace? Listen to St. Paul again: “May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Now there’s a breath of invigorating fresh air in this world where we suffocate from living by creed of “I gotta have it my way.” Our gracious God and Savior gives endurance to wait, but He also gives us the ability to live in harmony with each other. In our world sadly divided by our individualism and our personal likes and dislikes, our gracious God says, “Live together in harmony with each other, because you are in one accord with Me.” In other words, God uses our time of waiting to train us in His promised peace. Better yet, when we, His redeemed people, live in harmony, Savior Jesus is showing how His cross-won peace is already breaking into our world, our hearts, our minds, and our lives. Call it a preview of Isaiah’s peace-filled picture. Call it a foretaste of the feast to come – both on Christmas Day and on the Last Day.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Amen.

Homily - Advent 1 Midweek

For our Advent Evening Prayer services, I've decided to focus on the Old Testament and Epistle readings from the LSB Series A Lectionary. In light of our American propensity for turning life into a veritable rat-race in the weeks before Christmas, I've also chosen to look at these texts with the theme of "Waiting with Isaiah," because, after all, Isaiah proclaimed some pretty magnificent promises of God, but then God's people had to wait...about 700 years...before seeing them come to fruition in Jesus Christ.

Here's what I proclaimed on the Wednesday of Advent 1 (5 December 2007):

Waiting with Isaiah: Waiting for God's Promised Justice
Isaiah 2:1-5 & Romans 13:8-14

We Americans sure are an impatient lot, aren’t we? When the speed limit sign says “60,” we insist on pushing “70”…at least. When we go to the store, we just expect our favorite products to be on the shelf; and when they’re not, we insist that we just cannot wait a few days. And it gets really bad with things like email. We send an email to a loved one, a friend or a coworker, and if they don’t respond, say, within 5 minutes (at the outside), then we feel we are being ignored, snubbed. Yes, we are an impatient lot, we Americans. We want what we want, and we want it now (if not sooner).

But Advent is a time of waiting. Advent teaches us to wait, to be patient, to persevere. So, this Advent let’s learn how to wait with the Prophet Isaiah. Tonight and the next two Wednesdays we will focus on readings from Isaiah, readings that promise the Savior and His forgiveness, life, and salvation. These promises will teach us how to wait and what to wait for. We will also look to the New Testament reading each week to teach us how to live as we wait for God’s deliverance. How do we Christians live in this time of waiting until our Lord returns on the Last Day with His full and final salvation? This Advent let’s learn to wait with Isaiah.

Isaiah lived and proclaimed God’s message about 700 years before Christ. It was actually a time of prominence for Judah and its capitol city Jerusalem, but the kingdom would soon decline in decades to follow. It was a time of international treaties and alliances as the king of Judah sought to protect his land from invading attackers, but God’s people tended to trust those political alliances for their safety and security more than they trusted God and His promises. It was a time of prosperity as the people of Judah enjoyed their splendid homes, abundant possessions, and nice clothes. Does this sound at all familiar? It’s very much like our day, isn’t it?

So, God sent Isaiah to proclaim His words of judgment and promise to His people in this prosperous, prominent land, safe in its own “homeland security.” And Isaiah had some pretty stern things to say to these people redeemed by God. “Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the LORD has spoken: Children have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against me. The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s crib, but Israel does not know, my people do not understand” (Is. 1:2-3). God’s own people were laden with iniquity and dealt with each other corruptly. Isaiah even compared them to Sodom and Gomorrah! God used Isaiah to warn His people that He would have to remove all of their “nice things,” because they did not trust and cling to Him. He would take away “the finery of the anklets, the headbands…the pendants, the bracelets, and the scarves…the perfume boxes…the cloaks, and the handbags; the mirrors, the linen garments…,” (Is. 3:18-22) and so on. Well, there went that shopping list! All those treasured possessions from the 8th century B.C. version of the shopping mall and Best Buy would be gone!

But right in the middle of these two sermons of judgment, in the passage we hear tonight, Isaiah gives a sweet promise, a promise of the Lord’s holy mountain. The Lord’s mountain will be “lifted up above the hills…and many peoples will come to it.” Yes, God would have to humble Jerusalem, but He promised to lift it up again. And what would happen on God’s holy mountain? People would invite one another to go up to it “that [God] may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” Instead of being consumed by and worried over the things of international politics and how to have lots of stuff in nice big houses, God’s people would much rather have His teachings and His paths. Isaiah also says, “[God] shall judge between the nations, and shall decide disputes for many peoples.” God would work His pure, fair, and loving justice. And here’s what it would look like: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.” There would be actual, real-life world peace.

Great picture, isn’t it? I’m sure that people who first heard Isaiah’s words would say, “Please, show us this mountain!” Even now, 2700 years later, we want to say, “Please, show us this mountain!” But the people would have to wait for this promised paradise; they would have to wait about 700 years. You see, “the mountain of the house of the LORD” would be built from the wood of a cross on a hill outside Jerusalem. The Lord Himself would come and build it, but He would build it by dying on that cross. Yes, God would work His justice, but He would do so through the weakness of His Son being born of a virgin, living a humble, penniless life, suffering rejection and crucifixion, and then rising again on the third day. The mountain of the Lord is Mt. Calvary. His cross shows His ways of mercy, forgiveness, and true life. His path leads us to trust and enjoy Him much more than the national security or seasonal goodies of our day. The Lord would work His justice by conquering our real enemies: sin, death, and the devil.

Now, at first, we might think, “Well, they had to wait for the Lord’s promised justice,” but we know it’s already come. Yes, people had to wait 700 years to see how God would give justice by forgiving sins in Christ Jesus. So, why do we need to learn to wait? Don’t we have God’s justice? Yes, we do. His justice, His righteousness, His forgiveness, comes in Christ Jesus, wrapped in human flesh and bone, hung on a cross, and risen again. But we still wait. We wait for that final grand display of God’s justice when Christ shall return on the Last Day.

But it’s so hard to wait, isn’t it? We are an impatient lot, even though we know the promise fulfilled on Calvary. It’s hard enough to wait until December 25th each year before we start celebrating Christmas. We want the celebration right now, on our terms, with all of the material trappings of the season. We want the picture-perfect Christmas with all the sugary joy and smiling cheer, hot cider and Christmas sweaters, and everyone else doing things our way.

But have you ever noticed how tired, tense, and irritable we get this time of year? When things don’t go our way, what do we do? Complain. Complain about the driver who cut you off on the way to the mall. Complain about not finding the right gift for that certain someone. Complain if things don’t look, sound, or go as you want in church. Complain…. Well, you can fill in the blank. We want the perfect celebration of Christmas now, and if we don’t get it, well….

We really need to hear St. Paul’s words in our second reading: “Owe no one anything, except to love each other…. Love does no wrong to a neighbor.” That’s God’s promised justice! Now that He has conquered our sin and death, we are free to love one another. We are free to take our eyes off of ourselves and put them on our neighbor. We are free to wait for God to deliver the perfect Christmas. We are free because “salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.” We are free to “cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.” We are free put off the drunkenness and sensuality and indulgence of this time of year. We are free to put off the quarreling and jealousy that happens at home, at work, and at church.

And how are we free from all of that? God has worked His promised justice already in His Son Jesus. God promises something far, far better than the “perfect Christmas.” He promises real peace, eternal peace that comes only by feasting our eyes, our ears, and our hearts on the Son of God made flesh. Whatever happens to us in the meantime, whatever we disappointments we endure, we can persevere; we can wait. You see, when we “put on the Lord Jesus Christ,” we can resist gratifying our selfish desires. His mercy helps us wait. So, “house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the LORD.” Amen.

Getting in the Christmas spirit?

Two weeks ago we began our Christmas preparations by getting and putting up the Christmas tree. This year, however, we decided not to spend the whole weekend flooding the house with decorations. (For years I've said that we put away the normal house and pull out a whole new one - a different looking one - for the Christmas season!). Instead, we're putting up a few more decorations every few days. It kind of stretches out the preparations - a fitting way to observe Advent, if you ask me.

But even one of the dogs - Gimli - decided to get into the Christmas spirit...well, okay with a little help from a certain teenage daughter I know. Here's Gimli enjoying both his "decoration duds" and his rawhide bone (intended to keep him out of trouble while the family decorated a couple of Saturdays ago). Hmmm. I wonder which he enjoyed more? (which may explain how he allowed the "new duds" ;-)

Yes...

...I'm still here.

And no, I have not fallen off the face of the earth!

Please pardon my recent absence from blogosphere, especially on my own blog. I trust that everyone will understand, given regular Advent duties, annual Christmas preparations, both at home and church, then a funeral or two, and add on top of that a critical situation in the congregation. A young man from the congregation, intoxicated and belligerent, was tasered by police one week ago tonight, his heart stopped and he was not given CPR for about five minutes, and he has been in ICU all week...at first in a doctor induced coma, and now slowly waking up. The first couple of days were very touch and go - everyone feared the worst. However, God has been merciful, and this young man seems to be making a good recovery. Only time will tell how my former student at Hope school will recover, but we're all praying that God will grant healing. (We'll have to see what comes of the mistake of the police tasering him in the chest and then neglecting to give him CPR for several minutes!)

Anyway, it's been a pretty hectic couple of weeks - in addition to the usual Advent preaching duties, preparing-for-Christmas "hectic-ness" (as the teens in my house might say) - so perhaps I should reintroduce myself:

I'm Randy Asburry. And, yes, I'm the operator and author (technician? poet?) behind this blog.

Or maybe I should just start posting again and looking forward to your comments. :-)

"Merry Tossmas"

Are you tired of all the commercialism that taints and spoils the "real meaning" of Christmas? Well, then, you may like this "new holiday" called "Merry Tossmas." Check this out for a delightful little commentary on all of those "holiday" catalogs that are, no doubt, flooding your mailbox this time of year!

And, sorry, but I just can't resist reworking an old time favorite song (I'm sure you'll get the tune): "I wish you a 'Merry Tossmas,' I wish you a 'Merry Tossmas,' I wish you a 'Merry Tossmas,' and Holy Christ-Mass!"

Christmas & Easter Combined!

Well, I thought that today would be a great day to set my mind and work to the things of Advent and Christmas - Advent Evening Prayer homily for Wednesday and succeeding Wednesdays, etc. However, the Lord has a way of spoiling our useless plans in order to work His own, infinitely more useful plans!

After I finished my teaching duties at school, I came to my church study to be greeted by word that one of my shut-ins, Jane, had passed away and a funeral would be forthcoming...this week. Fair enough. The Lord has a way of giving us pastors more to do during these already busy weeks before Christmas. (Did I say that His plans are infinitely more useful?)

Then I received word that a friend of our family was ill. Bonnie, my former deaconess at my former congregation in Boonville, MO, informed us that her dad was in the hospital. A short while later another email came: Bonnie's dad had gone on to glory; more details would be forthcoming.

Now, back to the funeral I'm working on this week. I met with Jane's family to discuss funeral arrangements. In the course of my preparations, I had discovered that Jane had been baptized at a St. Nicholas church (I presume Roman Catholic) here in St. Louis. Wow! And she'll be buried on St. Nicholas Day, December 6. Can the Lord work things out for His glory, or what? I can confidently predict some kind of connection between the gifts of St. Nicholas and the Lord's gifts that He gave to Jane through her life.

Then the family and I discussed having a funeral this close to Christmas. And Jane's daughter-in-law said, "We just have to have a Christmas hymn." My mind started processing (you know, one of those older processors, I'm sure! ;-), and I thought of a couple of references to our Lord's defeat of death in Christmas hymns. "Good idea," I replied.

Yes, the Lord knows how to work His infinitely more useful plans by getting us to ponder Christmas and Easter combined! As I rummaged through the hymnal for specific verses to ponder these next few days, the perfect one jumped out at me. It comes from that great hymn "Hark! The Herald Angels' Sing" (LSB 380). Here's the combination of Christmas and Easter in one small package, gift wrapped so beautifully:

"Hail, the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail, the Sun of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings,
Ris'n with healing in His wings.
Mild He lays His glory by,
Born that man no more may die,
Born to raise the sons of earth,
Born to give them second birth." (LSB, 380:3).

Thank You, Lord, for taking Jane and Harry home this close to Christmas so that we can celebrate Christmas and Easter combined! To the families of Jane and Harry, what a great comfort it is that your loved ones now get to bask in the great healing of the Prince of Peace, the Sun (Son) of Righteousness!

Homily - Advent 1 - Ad Te Levavi

Come, Lord Jesus!
Matthew 21:1-9; Romans 13:8-14; Jeremiah 23:5-8

Did you pay attention to the Collect of the Day that we prayed before the Scripture readings? Instead of addressing God our Father, we actually addressed our Lord Jesus. Advent is one of the very few times in the Church Year when we do this. We dare to address our King directly and beg Him to come. And come He does – just as He came long ago in the humble attire of our flesh and blood, just as He will come on the Last Day in power and great glory. Here’s what we pray this morning: Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come, that by Your protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins and saved by Your mighty deliverance….

Did you pay closer attention this time? Not only do we call upon our King directly, but we actually ask Him to stir up His power: Stir up Your power, O Lord, and come…. Now that can be a frightful thing! “Stir up Your power”?! Remember, we are addressing the God who descended upon Mt. Sinai in thunders and lightnings, in a thick cloud and with a loud trumpet blast, with an awesome display of fire and smoke. The people told Moses: “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die” (Ex. 20:19). We are addressing the God whom Moses asked to see, the God who told Moses: “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live” (Ex. 33:20). Are you sure you want this King to come?

Perhaps our Gospel Reading makes you more at ease to bid your King to come. And that’s a good thing. After all, here you see your King coming “humble, and mounted on a donkey.” You can join the crowd from that first Palm Sunday and sing, “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” That sounds much better, doesn’t it? A King we can welcome with open arms; a King more like us; a King so humble and lowly that we can relate to Him and He to us.

But remember, we pray today not just that this King will come, but also that He will stir up His power. So, what kind of power is this, parading into town on a goofy looking beast of burden? What kind of power is this, that He doesn’t even have an army to back Him up and defend His honor? Where’s the power? The power actually comes a few days later as this King is crowned with a crown of thorns, as He is given a purple robe in mocking homage, as He is enthroned on a bloody cross instead of a royal, golden chair. Your King’s power shows itself in His humble suffering and death.

You see, your King does come and He does stir up His power. His power is made perfect in weakness as He defeats sin by suffering, as He conquers death by dying. That leads to the second thing we pray today. We cry out to our King: that by [His] protection we may be rescued from the threatening perils of our sins…. Yes, our King must protect us from our sins. He must rescue us from our sins. And notice how we describe our sins in our prayer: “the threatening perils of our sins.” That’s almost as frightful as asking our King to stir up His power.

We have grown accustomed to that saying, “To err is human.” We have come to view our sins as, well, just normal life, just the way we are. But our sins – yours and mine – bring threatening perils. Remember our Second Reading. St. Paul reminds us of God’s commandments, the very commandments He gave when He descended upon Mt. Sinai in His awesome, frightful appearace of thunders, lightnings, dark cloud, fire, and smoke. “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet.” And St. Paul does not stop there. He adds, “and any other commandment.” Let’s also remember the first three commandments: “You shall have no other gods”; “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God”; and, “Remember the Sabbath Day by keeping it holy.” When we do not live the way that God commands, we are in great peril. It’s not “human to sin.” No way! It’s quite devilish. In fact, our disease of sin and our actual, sinful thoughts, words, and deeds are very sub-human. Our disease of sin and our actual sins truly cut us off from the God who loves us. They also isolate us from each other.

So St. Paul elaborates on the threatening perils of our sins, and he exhorts us to avoid them: “Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy.” Now there’s a fitting exhortation for this “holiday season,” rather this Advent season! Are you gearing up for the fun, festivities, and frivolity of the coming weeks? Are you preparing yourself for all of the over-eating, over-drinking, and over-spending, knowing you shouldn’t, but planning to do it anyway? Are you just waiting for the sentimentality of the season to wash over you like an uncontrollable flood, eager to lose yourself in the good feelings, or at least do everything in your power to make it all feel just right, no matter what others around you feel, think, or need? That’s the drunkenness and sensuality that St. Paul warns against. That’s the threatening peril of your sins. Will you let the overcrowded malls and schedules wear you out so that you snap and snarl at family, friends, and fellow Christians? Will you fret over finding just the right gift for your loved one, or sigh with exasperation that you must buy one more thing for someone you left off your list? Will the stress of these weeks lead you to lose your patience with people around you? Will you covet the gift the other person received while being dissatisfied with one that you received? Will you speak the usual unkind words about someone who, again, tests your patience? That’s the quarreling and jealousy that St. Paul warns against. That’s the threatening peril of your sins.

But today we pray that our Lord will come, stir up His saving power, and rescue us from these threatening, perilous sins of ours. Yes, they are perilous; they are deadly; they show that in our sin we are sub-human.

That’s why we also pray today that our coming King will save us by His mighty deliverance. We need the power of His humble, donkey-riding advent. We need the power of His suffering and death. We need His humble, cross-borne power to liberate us from the threatening perils of the sins in which we wallow. And when King Jesus comes – once on His cross and continually in His Supper – He does rescue you from your sins. You see, He has to humble Himself, He has to lower Himself, because that’s where He finds us, down in the strata of our sinful sub-humanity. And when He comes to us in His humility – born of the Virgin, nailed to the tree, and under the bread and wine on the Altar – He comes to lift us up and out of toxic waste of our sub-human sins. He comes to elevate us and restore us to being truly human. He comes to reunite us with our loving, merciful God and Father, and with each other.

This is what Jeremiah proclaims in our First Reading. “Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch.” That Branch is humble yet powerful King Jesus. “He shall reign as king and deal wisely.” He “shall execute justice and righteousness” by conquering your sins for you and in you, so that you won’t be enslaved by them. “And this is the name by which he will be called: ‘The LORD is our righteousness.’” Yes, your Lord Jesus makes you right with God so that you can resist gratifying those perilous desires of the flesh. And in His Body and Blood, He not only rescues you from your sins, but He also strengthens you to resist all those selfish impulses that lie ahead in the coming weeks.

So, we boldly pray our King to come – and come He does – right here, on the Altar, under the bread and wine, in His humble yet powerful Body and Blood. Yes, let’s make the throne of His Altar the real focal point of our Advent preparations. As we come forward to meet our King, let’s sing, “Hosanna, praise, and glory! Our King, we bow before Thee” (LSB 335). Amen.

Savior of the Nations, Come

Nothing says, "Advent is here," like the great Advent hymn "Savior of the Nations, Come" (LSB 332). That's why I insist on singing it every year on the First Sunday in Advent, just as it has been sung on this Sunday for many years and centuries, even since St. Ambrose of Milan (340-397) evidently wrote it, I presume.

Why do I love this hymn so much? Not just because it signals the beginning of Advent, however good that is in itself, but because of the strong confession of our Lord's Incarnation. Yes, "Savior of the Nations, Come" begins Advent and prepares us for Christmas by focusing our attention the real message and joy of this season: God became man to bring us back to God.

I no longer settle for the all too tame "Jesus is the reason for the season" slogan (not that I ever had, really). That my be fine when setting the record straight over against the secular, commercialized, shopping-frenzied, party-wearied version of "the season." However, for Christians, this time of year goes far deeper - gloriously deeper! - than "Jesus is the reason for the season." Yes, He is, but there's so much more. Let's talk Incarnation. Let's talk the mystery that reunites us with God Himself. Let's talk God and man being united in one Person, Jesus of Nazareth, so that we, sinners all, may be reunited with the God who loves us. That's the true and glorious reason for the season!

And without further ado, here's how the hymn "Savior of the Nations, Come" confesses the incarnational reason for the season:

Savior of the nations, come,
Virgin's Son, make here Your home!
Marvel now, O heav'n and earth,
That the Lord chose such a birth.

Not by human flesh and blood,
By the Spirit of our God,
Was the Word of God made flesh--
Woman's offspring, pure and fresh.

Here a maid was found with child,
Yet remained a virgin mild.
In her womb this truth was shown:
God was there upon His throne.

Then stepped forth the Lord of all
From His pure and kingly hall;
God of God, yet fully man,
His heroic course began.

God the Father was His source,
Back to God He ran His course.
Into hell His road went down,
Back then to His throne and crown.

For you are the Father's Son
Who in flesh the vict'ry won.
By Your mighty pow'r make whole
All our ills of flesh and soul.

From the manger newborn light
Shines in glory through the night.
Darkness there no more resides;
In this light faith now abides.

Glory to the Father sing,
Glory to the Son, our king,
Glory to the Spirit be
Now and through eternity. (Lutheran Service Book, 332)