Lent 5 midweek sermon: Romans 7.1–8.1
This sermon concludes our Lenten midweek services, wherein we read and meditated upon Romans 4:1–8:1.
When President Bush landed on USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003 to announce the end of major combat operations in Iraq, there was a banner displaying the words “Mission Accomplished.” That phrase would later come to haunt Bush’s presidency, as the insurgency in Iraq grew more and more deadly. Read more…
Prayer for the Church
Judica – John 8.42-59
Strong words from Jesus today; He calls His hearers children of the devil. That’s a pretty good way to not grow your church. At least, not growth in numbers. But if the church is going to grow, if you and I are going to grow spiritually as this season of Lent enters the last stage, we need to hear and believe that those words apply to us. We are by nature children of wrath. The desires of our father the devil we wish to do. What are those desires? St. Paul puts desires into two categories: of the flesh and of the mind: “we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath” (Eph. 2.3). Read more…
The Annunciation to Mary – Luke 1.26-38
Some of the phrases and most all of the thoughts in this sermon are cribbed from Luther (The Festival Sermons [Mark V Publications] and the House Postils [Baker]).
Rejoice, highly favored ones, the LORD is with you! Blessed are you among the children of Adam, for in your baptism, you received grace, and in the Communion you have been filled with grace! Rejoice and be glad!
But as you know well, this dark world, along with the devil and our own wicked inclinations, would deny us that gladness. This particularly happens through the exercise of our reason, fallen human reason. The things that Christians believe in most dearly – the virgin birth, the resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the forgiveness of sins, the coming resurrection of all men on a day of judgment, the kingdom of heaven – all of it goes against our experience, which says that this life is all there is, suffering or success are arbitrary, there is no god, there is no meaning to your life. Read more…
Annunciation diversions
The great Rose Vestment Controversy of Laetare 2009 has generated enough heat to make Al Gore even more nervous than he already was. You can read about it (in somewhat chronological order) from Sandra Ostapowich (and again), Pr. George Borghardt (and again), Pr. William Weedon, Pr. David Petersen, and Pr. Richard Heinz.
Related, Pastor Weedon also has a good post reminding us to be Christian in our internet behavior.
My former parishioner, friend, and now colleague Pr. David Juhl posted a beautiful excerpt from Johann Gerhard on having a good conscience.
Peter Leithart condenses an argument by Charles Krauthammer that the confiscation of the AIG bonuses was unconstitutional.
Pastor Lehmann (when you think of Lehmann in its hominyminal form, that title + name always makes me laugh, but then, I’m weird that way) discussed prophetically the Confessional Elephant.
If you know anything at all about the Redskins, Daniel Snyder, and Vinnie Cerrato, you will find this diagram gut-busting funny.
Weedon again, on growing in the faith.
Great sadness has descended upon the Purple faithful, especially those who have a man-crush on the smartest center in the NFL: Matt Birk is breaking up with us.
Finally, I’ve known that soccer was ruining America for a long time, but I didn’t know why until this terrific piece over at the sadly-Neuhausless First Things ‘splained it to me.
Why you probably usually misunderstand me
I have come to realize that few things in life are actually important. The liturgy is important. Family is important. Beyond that, most everything is transitory and a joke. For years, I took myself and everything I said and did far too seriously. I regret that.
So when I’m preaching or presiding at mass, I’m deadly serious. If you’re among the congregation gathered for Divine Service, I expect you to be too. If I’m hearing confession, I’m serious. If I’m baptizing someone, or saying the commendation of the dying, or officiating at a funeral, I’m serious.
Otherwise, I’m probably joking. I like to laugh, and for too long I suppressed it. I almost never tell a joke during a sermon. I may say something funny, but it will be for a serious purpose. But the rest of the time, there’s plenty of things to poke fun of, both in myself and in our crazy world. Now I’m a terrible joke-teller – can’t remember ‘em, get nervous trying to deliver the lines at the right time. Since I can’t tell a joke, I use sarcasm, understatement, and hyperbole. So lighten up a bit, and don’t take it so seriously!
When I write something like “Real priests wear rose,” IT’S A JOKE. If you’ve been around this blog, or me, for any period of time, you know I’m a traditionalist. I think tradition is important. Really, really important. But I also believe that differences in fasting are not differences in faith. I think I read that somewhere. 
So, I’ve prepared this handy guide to help you, gentle reader, delve into the Esgetological mystery:
- If it’s a sermon … no joke
- If it’s an exegetical discussion of Holy Scripture, the Word of God … no joke
- If it’s a discussion of just about anything else … probably a joke. Assume that I’m just poking fun at myself and you, trying to remain sane in this dark world
Apparently, there was a heated discussion in the Lutheran blogosphere yesterday about rose vestments and probably deeper related issues. I’ve tried to find it, but only found oblique references here and here. In a conversation I had with a few people on Twitter last night, it obviously has left in its wake confusion and hurt feelings. However, I can’t find it. I have not kept up with blog reading much lately, and yesterday was a very busy day for me from beginning to end, so could somebody please enlighten me where the discussion was happening?
Real priests wear rose
I lost 5 followers on Twitter today with the remark, “Real priests wear rose.” So in the comments, please suggest short items equally scandalous by which I can weed out the rest of the chaff among my followers on Twitter.
Rose (NOT pink!) is the liturgical color for Gaudete (the third Sunday in Advent) and Laetare (the fourth Sunday of Lent), and last autumn my parish gifted me (see, I can use that annoying verb too, but not without a parenthetical comment mocking it) with a rose chasuble. The long-suffering Kassie snapped a picture after Divine Service in the vestry.
Kindly note that my vestments are actually rose, unlike Petersen’s (you’ll have to see the pictures on Facebook).
Laetare – John 6.1-15
The last few months have shown many that the foundation of their trust is crumbling. Yesterday’s investment gurus are today’s criminals. The value of your home, in which you trusted, is declining. The value of your investments, on which you planned to retire, is plummeting. For those finishing school, the prospects of employment are bleak. The powerful joke about the disadvantaged, the politicians break their promises, and the people around us disappoint. Even in church, we can let each other down, losing our temper, not following through on what we promised. What then can we trust? Read more…
Oculi sermon – Luke 11.14-28
In the political realm, there is a term many of you have probably heard: RINO’s – Republicans in Name Only. Faithful Lutherans sometimes refer to church bodies that have given up on Lutheran doctrine as LINO: Lutheran in Name Only. Today’s Gospel demands that we answer this question: What kind of a Christian are you? Are you a Christian in Name Only?
There can be no neutrality with respect to Jesus. “He who is not with Me is against Me.” Yet there are those who try to have it both ways. They do not want to openly reject Christ, but neither do they wish to make a real break from the Old Adam, the sinful nature. C.F.W. Walther calls these “half-Christians”:
“They are straddling the fence, and thus do not belong in Christ’s kingdom but in the kingdom of the devil. Such half-Christians are among the most accursed subjects of the devil. They think that, going down the middle of the road, they are on firm footing as members of Christ’s kingdom. But their faith is imaginary, and they are, in the end, traveling the road to hell” (God Grant It, p279).
If you aren’t right now one of these “half-Christians,” you live daily in danger of falling into it. We must not underestimate the power of the devil. He can in a moment “recast and pervert a godly man who has a strong faith, and beguile a pious husband, who today is living chastely in his marriage, to become an adulterer tomorrow” (Luther, HP 1:336). He propels men into fornication, greed, anger, hatred, envy, and holds on to them so tightly that they cannot free themselves. Likewise he drives people into despair, heartache, fear, anxiety, and grief. These things can consume and incapacitate us.
As a result, the experience of the law—God’s just wrath against us—and the power of sin in the world (both our own besetting sins, and suffering from being sinned against) – both these things cause us to feel desolation. That’s the emotional and spiritual condition of the psalmist in today’s antiphon, where he says, “I am desolate and afflicted.” He is lonely in his solitude, and feels he has no one to turn to, no one who will share his suffering. Many of you I know have felt this. The Bible says it is not good for the man to be alone, but that is what the sin does – it separates us both from God and our neighbor.
But then there is another method the devil uses to turn people away from following Christ and make them “half-Christians” – through “empty words,” as St. Paul mentions in the Epistle: “Let no one deceive you with empty words.” So the Devil seeks to deceive by means of “empty words,” and he does so quite comfortably from pulpits. Those “empty words” are the preaching of forgiveness without genuine contrition and repentance. Empty words are an absolution given to those half-Christians who attend church but are not really “with the Lord,” make no effort at amending their sinful life, and as Luther said in the Large Catechism, leave at the end of the year no different than they were at the beginning. St. Paul gives us a list of identifying markers: those who are do not imitate God, who do not walk in love, who engage in sexual immorality, impurity, covetousness, filthiness. And what about foolish talking, crude joking, or coveting (desiring what God has not given you)? Do not be deceived: those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of Christ and God.
And the truth is, we so easily stumble like drunken fools into this kind of half-Christianity, mouthing prayers and attending services while living a life that is consumed with thoughts and desires for the things of this world.
Today, the Third Sunday in Lent, is called Oculi, meaning “eyes,” from the beginning of the Introit: “My eyes are ever toward the Lord.” If we are going to be kept safe from the devil’s assaults, if we are going to be rescued from our penchant for being “half-Christians,” our eyes need to be constantly directed towards God, constantly praying, constantly listening to His Word, constantly receiving His Sacramental gifts. Otherwise, we will be trapped in the enemy’s net, the snares of sin and false belief, and will perish. The encouragement of this 3rd Sunday in Lent continues last Sunday’s theme: that the Lord hears and answers persistent prayer.
Likewise today’s Gospel, which is a stern warning against allowing the devil to be readmitted to your life, is also written for our encouragement, so that we are comforted by the knowledge that as strong as the devil is, our Lord Jesus Christ is stronger still. He works by the powerful weapons of the Word and the Sacraments, which alone have the potency to drive away the devil and defeat him. Only the Means of Grace, i.e., the gifts of Christ, can free a person from slavery to sin and the devil’s tyranny.
So here is what you should take away from today’s Gospel: Christ has overcome the strong man, the devil. On the cross He is victorious; it was the greatest feint in the history of battle, for by the evil one’s own devices he was overthrown; the moment he thought he had secured victory—the death of Jesus on the cross—was the moment of his defeat. By yourself, you have no power against the devil. But you are not by yourself. You are not desolate and afflicted, solitary and alone. You are in Christ, and so you are never alone in this life’s struggle against the devil, against worldly influences, and against your own sinful flesh. God’s Word has come and turned your eyes toward the LORD, and He shall pluck your feet out of the devil’s net.
