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Submit Your Own! Santa's About Works, God's About Grace By David von Schlichten ALSO SCROLL DOWN TO READ RICK BRAND'S SERMON. Sermon on Advent, Mary, and John the Baptist At St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, Youngstown, PA On Sunday, December 12, 2010, Third Sunday in Advent, Year A, The Reverend Dr. David von Schlichten
Santa’s About Works, God’s About Grace (word count: 883) Friday night over at Wimmerton, a couple of fire trucks came around escorting Santa. Katie and I rushed out to the end of our driveway and waited for him to make his way to our house. He walked over to us and shook our hands. He studied me for a second and said, “You’re a Lutheran minister, aren’t you?” I said, “Yes, I’m over at St. James in Youngstown.” Leave it to Santa to know. Santa said, “I’m a Lutheran, too.” He said, “How about that? Santa is a Lutheran.” I said, “Boy, you learn something new every day.” Santa said, “Of course, that’s a problem for me. Santa’s all about works, but Martin Luther was all about grace.” Santa’s all about works, but Martin Luther was all about grace. Hm. The statement, “Santa’s all about works,” means that, if you want Santa to bring you presents, then you have to be good. [sing:] “He knows if you’ve been bad or good, so be good, for goodness sake.” Right? “Santa’s all about works” means that Santa looks at the works you do. If you do good works, you get presents. If you do bad works, you get coal. Many of us humans think that God works that way, too. If you want God to bless you, then you better do good works. Many of us assume that God, like Santa, is all about works. However, that is incorrect. God is not like Santa. God is not all about works. God is all about grace. That’s what Martin Luther taught, that God is all about grace. That’s why Santa said, “Martin Luther was all about grace.” God’s about grace, so Luther was about grace. Luther devoted his life to teaching people that we do not earn eternal life by doing good works. Our good works do not earn us forgiveness of sins or other blessings from God. The truth is, we can never do enough good works to deserve any of God’s mercy, but God gives us many riches solely out of the goodness of God’s heart, period. We may receive presents from Santa because of our good works, but we receive blessings from God because of God’s grace. Santa is all about works, but God is all about grace. Martin Luther devoted his life to teaching people that God is all about grace; therefore, Martin Luther was also all about grace. So when Santa said, “Santa’s all about works, but Martin Luther was all about grace,” he was saying that, with Santa, we get presents because we do good works, but Luther taught that, with God, we receive blessings, not because of our good works, but because of God’s grace. “But Pastor, if I receive blessings from God because of God’s grace and not because of my good works, then why should I bother doing good works?” Good question. We bother doing good works because that’s how we show our gratitude and love toward God. Further, doing good works is beneficial. Doing good works will often make your life better. God may bless you for doing good works, but God does not have to bless you for doing good works. That is the key point. God may bless us for doing good works, but God never HAS to. God is not required to. We never deserve God’s blessings, but we receive them because God is all about grace. Think about John the Baptist. John the Baptist was extraordinary. He had the enormous honor of preparing people for the coming of Jesus. He was a prophet whose calling was to get people ready for the Messiah. What an honor. Did John earn that honor by doing good works? He probably did many good works throughout his life, but God chose him for this special calling long before he is born. As we hear in Luke 1, God designated John to be this great leader before he was even conceived. In other words, John did not get to be this great prophet because of good works he did. John received that honor solely because of God’s grace. Wow. Think about Mary. Did Mary deserve to become the mother of Jesus? Sure, she was probably a good person. The Bible doesn’t say, but it’s reasonable to surmise that Mary was an exceptionally devout servant of God. However, she was still human. She was still a sinner. She still did not earn the honor of becoming the mother of Jesus. None of us could earn such a gigantic honor. No, Mary did not earn the honor of becoming Jesus’ mother by doing good works. She received that honor solely because of God’s grace. Amazing. Think about us, the baptized. You and I will live in heaven. The day will break on which you and I shall gather around the tree in heaven. Dark-brown-eyed Mary will be there. John will be there. We will enjoy warm, comforting food, comforting and warm aromas. We will enjoy the tree’s sparkling lights. We will give each other presents. We will celebrate the birth that led to the death that led to the resurrection that led to our being here in heaven. We shall live in heaven, not because of our good works, but because of God’s grace. What a present. Either/Or By Rick Brand EITHER GARDEN OR FIRE December 5, 2010 Rick Brand, Supply Well, you can really take your pick. The song has been covered by some of the best. Ray Charles sang it, so did Conway Twitty, Van Morrison has a version and even the contemporary Katy Perry has recorded it. Because the song really does ask a very profound question. “What Am I living for? If not for you. What am I living, my whole life through.” Because that is a pretty profound and abiding question for all of us. What are we living for? What is it that shapes our lives? What is it we keep looking for, waiting for, hoping for? What do we hope to get that will make us happy? It is that gnawing, pressing, restlessness, that discontentment in the center of our hearts that keeps us stirred up. Heaven knows, it is that emptiness, that “looking for something” that keeps us shopping. That hope that we can find the right thing or enough things to bring us some contentment, some satisfaction. Jaggers and the Rolling Stones were right, “We can’t get no Satisfaction” with what we have. So we are always wanting something more. There is another song about “Not one man in ten has a satisfied mind.” Our economy is built on the effort of constantly of telling us that our happiness, our joy, our delight, our restlessness will be satisfied by some material thing, a new car, a Bailey box, some kind of present, some kind of gift. What are we living for? The song says that what we are living for is the fulfillment of our own beings by the love of another person. Our lives are shaped, blessed, and fulfilled by the people in our lives. That is why so many experts tell us that a broken home, single parents, abused children, all of them have trouble and struggle because their lives are shaped by the people around them or the people who are not around them. So Christmas comes with the promise of both of those things. The great blessing of Christmas is that the happiness of seeing the faces of those we love filled with joy and excitement by the material things we get them. There is a great reality in that there is great power and satisfaction in being able to bring joy to the ones we love. The great desire of love is to give joy to the beloved. That is part of the mystery of the incarnation of Christmas. God’s desire is to give love to the ones he loves so he gives us himself in Christ Jesus. That gift of Himself in Jesus Christ is but the purest expression of that love and that gift is the promise of God to fulfill his intentions in creation. What are we living for? What is our greatest desire? Is it not that there will indeed come a day when all creation has been renewed and fulfilled in the purposes of God? When we say that our hope for all is “Peace on earth, good will towards all people”, are we not hoping for the final full coming of the Kingdom of God?Distorted, twisted, co-opted, abused, exploited as it may so often be, this emptiness, this hunger, this restlessness inside each of us is the human heart hoping, waiting, watching for the final coming of the Promises of God for all creation. This hope, this longing, this eagerness takes a lot of different shapes. It gets pictured in so many different ways. So many different images and vision. The Bible talks about it as the coming of a garden where all the animals live together. There is an image of the central plaza of a town where the old men and young men, women and children play in safety. There is the vision of the fortress city with streets of gold, and pearly gates. There are so many different visions. Ian and Sylvia, a Canadian folk duo in the l960’s had a song about their own painful pilgrimage to paradise. They sang, “Some people speak of pastures where the milk and honey flows, but I have no such illusions of the place I want to go.” So how do you speak of what you are waiting for, hoping for, longing for? Because Advent is the season of the Christian year that talks about waiting, watching, hoping, and anticipating that which is to come. Advent is pointing us towards that which will be coming. We are waiting for something that has happened to become a final reality. We are preparing ourselves, getting ready for that which has already happened to become visible to all. Advent is not just about preparing to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but it is about the hope and waiting and preparation we make for the coming of the time when the reign of King Jesus will becomes a reality. The vision, hope and power of Advent to shape our lives depends on what we think we are waiting for. Are we really just waiting to celebrate a baby’s birth or are we waiting and watching for the events that establish that child as Lord over all? Frederick Buechner put it that we are really waiting and watching for signs of the invasion of holiness, that we are watching and waiting for signs that give evidence of the coming of the glory of God. Advent is watching, hoping and waiting for the actions which reveal the presence and power of God in our lives. These old Bible stories this morning give us different clues as to where to look and what might be signs of that invasion of the holiness of God. The Old and New Testament lessons are almost like George Carlin’s routine about the differences between the peaceful and lovely gentle game of baseball and the military, macho, violent game of football. Isaiah speaks of the coming of the servants of God who will establish the kingdom of God’s holiness and it is a vision we have labeled the peaceable kingdom. Matthew has John the Baptist speaking of the one who is to come who will bring in the Holiness of God and it will be cutting, chopping, pruning, fire and judgment. Isaiah’s vision of the coming of the Holiness of God evokes from us thoughts of gentle soft music. Maybe Vivaldi’s lovely music of spring. The images point to the power of new life coming into old bushes. Dead stumps producing new shoots. A new kind of leader with gentleness and kindness will have great wisdom and make judgments that will not be tainted by politics or lobbyists. All of us will be living together in a harmonious whole. Not just humans but all creation. No three year olds will be mauled by tigers in a zoo. No fear of snakes. You can decorate this vision with your own mountains stream and magnificent sunset over the ocean. You can add the Jews and Arabs will live in Jerusalem together as brothers. Babies will not be born with HIV or addicted to crack. That is the way Isaiah watches and waits for the incoming of the Holiness of God. The man who designed and built the George Washington Bridge in New York City, finished his calculations for the bridge and then decided, because he knew he was working in a political, devious world, he multiplied his figures by 4, because he figured that there would be fraud, graft, kickbacks, and corner cuttings so that he hoped that by the time they built it they would build it to his original numbers. When Isaiah’s kingdom becomes a reality there will be no need for that kind of scheming. Now John the Baptist on the other hand is looking for different kind of signs and events to demonstrate the coming of the Holiness of God. When the events begin to happen, all that is evil and contrary to the will and purpose of God will be cut off and punished. All that is corrupt and worthless and evil will be destroyed. This is the vision of the coming of the Kingdom that fueled Michelangelo’s picture of Last Judgment in which he has painted the herding of humanity into the Pit of the everlasting fire. The emphasis on judgment produces a frightening picture of God. The way criminal justice people take youths to prison to try to scare them straight. The places where the Kingdom of God begins to come and establish its presence there is “cleaning house” of the evil around. Chopping off, knocking down, burning up. The terrible swift sword. And John is very much like Jonah in that John is not sure he wants the evil people to hear his warning because he is afraid they might repent and flee from the wrath that is to come. The vision of the coming of God’s will is full of fierce judgment and punishment. What are we living for? We are waiting, watching, hoping, as Christian people, for the coming of the kingdom of God. We are living and working in anticipation of the establishment of the will and purposes of God for all creation. There are lots of different ways we envision that coming and happening. Isaiah sees it as a peaceful kingdom. John sees it as a society taking its garbage out to the dump and setting it all on fire. What is the image you have for the coming of the kingdom? It makes a different in how we live. The way we see this coming of God shapes the way we live. A group of American Christians went on a mission trip to Brazil. They had been prepared by their leaders before they went on the conditions they would be seeing. But no amount of talking can prepare you for the sights, the smells, the noise for what they encountered. Children, babies being buried every day because of hunger and disease. Police brutality. Government’s indifference. Corporation’s greed. Within a couple of days they had lost all interest and hope in even trying to make a difference. Everything they did one day was destroyed during the night. Any suggestion of what might change things and make life better was found to be impossible for the short time the group was there. Finally one of the Brazilian church leaders confronted the group of disillusioned young American Christians, “You Americans, you only know how to think about things in terms of progress and success. You always think you can change things. You want to go home and say how much good you did. You want to think that the enlightened Americans went down to the poor Brazilians and in a couple of weeks made all the difference in the world. So you look at our lives and our struggles and you do not know how to carry on. You don’t know anything about endurance and long struggles. Yet when you look into our faces you are amazed to see the faces of hope. Not hope based on progress, not hope because we are winning, we’ve been losing all of our lives. They are our children we are burying. These are our stomachs that are always empty, our necks that live with the heavy boot of political oppression upon them. When you look into our faces you will always see faces of hope. We are hopeful not because we can do anything. We are hopeful because we are convinced that we are trying to be faithful to what God is coming to do, faithful to what God is inviting us to do in this situation where we are, and because of that hope we have that when the kingdom of God comes, when that victory over evil becomes a reality, that victory will be ours. It may come tomorrow. It may come in three hundred years, But when it comes, it will be ours.” Advent is our watching and waiting, hoping and praying, working and enduring for the coming to fulfillment of the promises of God made to us in the coming of the Christ child. How we think, hope, watch and talking about that coming will indeed shape and direct the way we live. Surely there is a great longing, a great hunger, a great desire in the heart for the day when all of God people will live in the joy and power of the promises of God. We dream of that time in different ways: oh, yes, we want the peaceful kingdom, and when it comes certainly evil will be removed and eliminated, but we live these days of Advent day in and day out in the hope that when that victory does come, it will be ours. Let us come then to the table of our Lord, where we will receive a new the promise that we eat and drink from his gifts until He comes again.Sermon on Isaiah 11:1-10 for Advent 2A By David von Schlichten Sermon on Isaiah 11:1-10 At St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, Youngstown, PA On Sunday, December 5, 2010, Second Sunday in Advent, Year A, The Reverend Dr. David von Schlichten
Candles of Advent Part Two: Peace (word count: 798)
Our first reading, Isaiah 11:1-10, contains inspiring images of a perfect society of peace. Here we have magnificent and soothing animal images, including verse 6A, which declares, “The wolf shall live with the lamb. / the leopard shall lie down with the kid.” It is from this passage that we derive the famous image of the lion lying down with the lamb. Throughout Isaiah 11:1-6-10 we have soft, warm images of animals who would normally be enemies instead living peaceably with each other. One day, God will establish a new reality. Amazing. One day, God will unleash the peace that will dominate every relationship. Wolves normally hunt and eat lambs, but the day will dawn on which wolves and lambs will stand side-by-side without the wolf thirsting for blood or the lamb’s heart quickening in fear. The lion shall eat straw like the ox. A toddler will play over the hole of a poisonous snake without risk of the crafty serpent striking and biting her. Think about it. I wonder if we’re supposed to take this imagery literally or figuratively. Is this passage saying that, one day, animals will literally live peaceably together, or is this animal-imagery a poetic way of describing peace among people? Given that, repeatedly, the Bible speaks of animals, plants, and other elements of nature experiencing new life because of God, I surmise that we are to understand this passage literally. So will animals one day live in eternal peace with us in the new Jerusalem? Yes. When you and I are rejoicing forever with God in the new Jerusalem, the animals will be with us. Marvelous! I imagine lying down to nap and resting my head on a Siberian tiger, his purr massaging me to sleep. Mm. Of course, this image of peace that we hear in Isaiah 11:6-10 is not limited to non-humans. Humans, too, will experience this peace with each other. Isaiah 11 starts by talking about a shoot coming out from the stump of Jesse. That shoot is a person, and the passage speaks of a special person who will come to bring peace among animals, yes, but also among all people. Revelation 21 and 22 echo this promise of peace. Those last chapters of the Bible describe the great city, the new Jerusalem, as a fortress of glittering and fragrant peace among all people, thanks be to God. Think of it. In the new Jerusalem, there will be no more fighting, bickering, gossiping, back-stabbing, adultery, abuse, addiction, poverty, or war. We humans will inflict no pain against each other. No one will rape, steal, molest, cheat, or insult anyone. People who detest each other in this life will be friendly next-door neighbors in the new Jerusalem. Sarah Palin and Barack Obama will have nothing negative to say about each other. Rush Limbaugh will go on the radio and announce, “Well, I really don’t have anything bad to say about anyone, so let’s spend the next three hours talking about all the ways that God blesses us.” Imagine it. The time will break upon us of the warmest peace, which only God can generate. Christ inaugurated this peace two-thousand years ago when he was born. His birth made possible his death and resurrection, which secured salvation for us, even though we are ever undeserving. You and I, the baptized, have a house in the new Jerusalem, and Christ has already given us the keys. He will complete this peace when he returns and calls down from heaven the new Jerusalem, where we shall live with the lion, the lamb, and every creature, free from violence, glowing with peace. In the meantime, we often flail in violence, othering, poverty, and murder. Over and over, we humans hurl harmful words and hateful acts against each other. Nevertheless, even amid humanity’s shrieking brutality, we still, thanks be to God, experience peace. Thanks be to the Holy Spirit, we humans, despite our addiction to cruelty, still manage to visit each other in the hospital, sign petitions for peace, support institutions such as the Blackburn Center, strive to end cruelty against animals, donate gifts to the Angel Tree. Yes, we humans tend to be violent, but, by God’s grace, we also tend to be loving and charitable, especially toward people in distress. We do not yet have peace in full, but God enables us to embody peace in part. God also enables us to experience a special peace during Sunday worship. We gather. We do not always get along, but we sing and pray together, talk with each other. God brings peace. God brings us peace when we receive the body and blood, holy communion. God offers the food and drink of peace to every single one of us, even to people we dislike. Matthew 24:36-44 Sermon for Advent 1A By David von Schlichten Sermon on Matthew 24:36-44 At St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, Youngstown, PA On Sunday, November 28, 2010, First Sunday in Advent, Year A, The Reverend Dr. David von Schlichten
Candles of Advent Part One: Hope (word count: 765)
One day, perhaps a long time from now, there will be the light of Christ filling the new Jerusalem, where we all shall live, free eternally from good-byes, disease, heartbreak, and unfulfilled voids. One day, Christ will come again and delete misery, injustice, aching, dementia, fighting, betrayal, and hurtful apathy. Christ will come one day and replace all of that with a new heaven and a new earth. That is our destination, the new Jerusalem. The best of times is ahead of us, not behind us. Over and over, we humans yearn for the good ole days and talk about the future with ashen pessimism, as if the future contains not even a whiff of goodness. The Bible says otherwise. The Bible promises that one day Christ will come – the Second Coming – nullify evil and the present reality, and replace it all with a new, perfect reality. Actually, Revelation 21:5 declares that this process has already begun. In that verse, Jesus announces, “I am making all things new.” Do you understand? He IS MAKING all things new. The process has already begun. God is pulling us toward the consummation, the end that is the beginning, the eternal eon of the new Jerusalem, in which Christ’s light will fill the streets and alleys. Revelation teaches us that there will be no need for light of lamp or sun, for Christ will be the light for every creature. That light, the light of Christ in the new Jerusalem, shines ahead of us, in the future. Do you not see it? “I can see it, shining somewhere.” That light in the future shines ahead of us, illuminating our path. We see that light in Scripture. We hear that light in pronouncement that our sins are forgiven. Yes, this is a light you can apprehend with all your senses. We feel that light in the baptismal waters. We smell and taste that light in holy communion, which, as the Book of Concord teaches, is the real presence of Christ. We experience that light in the announcement that our sins are forgiven. We experience that light in the comfort and consolation we give to and receive from each other. The light of Christ shining from the future fills our lives today. See, God is making all things new. In addition, a light shines from the past. That is the light of the Bethlehem-birth. Look back. See the light of Bethlehem. It shines upon the old, rugged cross at Calvary. That light causes the cross’s shadow to fall upon us, the shadow that points to our salvation, which we do not earn but which is a gift from God. That light from the past, from Bethlehem, shines upon us today, and the light from the future shines upon us today. These two lights are actually one light, have one source, and that is Christ. Christ coming to us in the future, in the past, and in the now. Do you dare allow the light to embrace you? We say we want light, but, like some sort of anti-moth, we fly to the darkness and away from the light, even while declaring that we hate the darkness. For instance, many of us humans will say that money doesn’t matter, but then we obsess over it and secretly long to be wealthy. Many of us will say that family is important while being cold-hearted and nasty toward those we claim to cherish. Many of us humans will say most things are not worth getting stressed out about but then get stressed out about them anyway. Allow the light to embrace you. Feel the embrace of God. Do you ever think about why we light candles during worship? People used to light candles so that they could see, but now we have electric lights. Yet we light candles anyway, and during Advent we light more. We don’t need them in order to see, or do we? One crucial reason for lighting candles is that they remind us of the Light, the light of Christ, the light that scatters the darkness and that the darkness cannot overcome. Much of the world insists on darkness. Here, God insists on light. This Advent, let’s recommit ourselves to the light’s embrace. Christ’s light shines from the future, the past, the present. That light, we see it shining in many and various ways. It shines here. There is a candle lit today, shining with the light of Christ from the past, future, and present. The candle is before you, and her name is Hope. Where is she leading you? Sermon on Luke 23:33-43 Christ the King/Thanksgiving By David von Schlichten Sermon on the Reign of Christ and Thanksgiving At St. James Evangelical Lutheran Church, Youngstown, PA On Sunday, November 21, 2010, Reign of Christ Sunday, Year C, The Reverend Dr. David von Schlichten
Honor the Sovereign All Year: Live Thanksgiving (word count: 697)
Rulers tend to have a significant impact on how the people live and on the values and spirit of a nation. Today, the last Sunday of the Church year, we celebrate and think about Christ as our ruler. Christ is the ruler of the universe. What kind of ruler is Christ? Let’s start by considering what kind of ruler Christ is not. He is not corrupt. He does not have affairs. He does not make promises and then break them. Christ the Ruler is not in it for the money, fame, or power. Christ the Ruler does not ride around in a stretch limo, wearing lots of bling. When you contact Christ the Ruler, you do not get his secretary or get sent to voice mail. Now let’s consider what kind of ruler Christ is. Actually, one of the best passages for helping us to understand what kind of ruler Christ is is our gospel for this morning, Luke 23: 33-43. This passage tells of Jesus hanging on the cross. The sign hanging over him reads, “This is the king of the Jews.” This is our ruler, hanging on a cross, saying, “Forgive them, Father, they do not know what they are doing.” Our ruler forgives, pardons. He pardons one of the criminals crucified with him. The criminal just asks to be remembered, but our ruler goes one step farther and promises him a place in paradise. That’s the kind of ruler we have. We have the kind of ruler who has granted us humans eternal life through baptism into his death. [AJ]. We are unworthy. Our sin is so great that we deserve eternity in downtown hell and not even two seconds in the suburbs of heaven. Because of our unworthiness, our ruler Christ could easily turn away from us. Instead, he dies for us. As the Book of Concord stresses, we have life in heaven, not because of our deeds, but solely because Christ has saved us. Yes! Think of it. Because of Christ, ten-thousand thousand years from now, we will still be living in our neighborhoods of perpetual peace in heaven. Because of Christ, whatever your sins are – no matter how heinous you think they are – if you repent, Christ the Ruler will pardon you. Because of Christ, we have baptism, holy communion, and sermons. Because of Christ the Ruler, we are part of the body called the Church. Because of Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit, who empowers us to be the Church. Because of Christ, we are joined to the Father. That is the kind of ruler we have. Wow. Incredible! Alleluia! We are to respond to this ruler by making our lives one gigantic, neon thank you. We are to live thanksgiving. How do we live thanksgiving? We love God, love one another, love ourselves, take care of creation. How do we show our love? We do loving acts, speak loving words. We un-other one another. We love one another as Christ the Ruler has loved us, by sacrificing himself for us. For instance, let’s say that you spend 200 dollars on Thanksgiving dinner. What if you took a tenth of that, twenty dollars, and gave it instead to someone in need? That could be an act of thanksgiving in response to Christ the Ruler. What if you helped to care for the planet by turning off unnecessary lights, even ones in public places? I sometimes turn off restroom lights if I can do so without posing a safety hazard. That could be an act of thanksgiving in response to Christ the Ruler. What if, this Black Friday, you remembered Good Friday by donating to the Salvation Army a tenth of whatever you spend that day on presents? That could be an act of thanksgiving in response to Christ the Ruler. Live thanksgiving in response to Christ the Ruler, a stunningly different kind of politician. Christ the Ruler is not interested in power, money, and fame. He is interested in acts of saving love. Christ the Ruler is the kind of ruler who looks over at you and says, “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” [First Page] [Prev] 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 [Next] [Last Page] Return |
