Thursday, January 4, 2018

Jean Hentschke Funeral 4 January 2018

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: John 14:3
Theme: At Home With The Shepherd




Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

Jean Hentschke has received the crown of everlasting life. The weight of her mortality has been lifted. She has been released from all the consequences of sin. That means she has no anxieties or cares. Nothing troubles her at all. She is at peace. Most importantly, her soul is in the unmediated presence of the holy God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. She is in the company of saints and angels. She is with her Shepherd. She dwells in His house forever. Thanks be to God for His immeasurable love!

Jean and Glen had Psalm 23 as their wedding Scripture. It begins, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.”1 Jean correctly understood that to mean that the Lord was her shepherd in prosperity and in adversity. She had a close relationship with her Saviour. She was not a fair-weather follower, nor did she know Him to be a half-hearted Lord. Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. I know My own and My own know Me.”2 And that’s how it was with Jean.

We are gathered here now with the opportunity to hear God’s powerful Word and reflect on what mortality means. We have opportunity to pause and consider that life is fragile. It is fleeting. Nothing is guaranteed in this temporal sphere. We have no entitlements. In a list of topics people are most likely to avoid, mortality ranks right at the top. It’s not a mystery why. We naturally shun things that are particularly fearful or distasteful. And what is more distasteful than death? What threat is greater. We don’t like to be reminded of our limitations.

So, a Christian funeral is an occasion for grieving, for giving thanks for blessings shared with the departed loved one, and for self-reflection. God calls us from our selfish, sinful ways. He calls us from our obsession and preoccupation with fleeting things. He calls us from our attitudes of indifference and arrogance towards others. He calls us from doubt and scepticism. He calls us to repentance. And it’s only in the humility repentance brings that we can see things from a different perspective, with the Spirit-given eyes of faith. We can see that every day is a gift.

Jean was a genuine gift. She was a genuine person. She was a straight shooter. She didn’t try to keep up appearances. She could be forthright, but she was respectful. She wasn’t fickle, and you usually knew where she stood on disputable matters. She was familiar with the rigours of farming in the Mallee. She suffered the grief of losing a child and her husband, but she pressed on, grateful for the Lord’s blessings. She honoured a Sunday as a day to be in the Lord’s house, not allowing other activities to take pride of place. The rhythm of her week was set by the order of God’s love. Jean was devoted member of the St. Peter’s Ladies’ guild and supported it passionately. In these things she was well-grounded, and they were expressions of her faith. Family was important to her and she was always concerned for everyone’s well-being.

Jean was person who appreciated the gospel and what it really meant. Death is the arch enemy, over which, we have no power. It takes no prisoners and plays no favourites. You can’t negotiate with it. You can’t outwit it. That’s why the Scripture says, “The last enemy to be destroyed is death.”3 How is this done? Jesus said, “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep.”4 Christ came down to live in the trenches. He immersed Himself in all the fragility of people’s lives. Their muck, their filth, and their dirt stuck to Him. He carried it all the way to the cross. The Bible says, “For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.”5 Christ became the greatest sinner for us! The profundity of that truth is right at the heart of the gospel. Jesus suffered so that we might be spared.

Dear friends, there are no shortcuts to heaven. Jean knew this. You can’t forge your own path to get there. You can’t choose your own means of transport. That is, you can’t be carried to heaven in a vehicle called piety. You can’t ride the bus of popularity. You can’t be chauffeured in by your charm or generosity. There is no taxi for those who are more honest, upright, and righteous than others. You cannot buy your way in, bribe anyone or trick God. Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”6 People are saved by grace, trusting in God’s mercy for Jesus’ sake or they are not saved at all. Jesus took our place on the cross. He died the death that we deserved. He paid the price of our debt of sin. He freed us from just condemnation. He bore Satan’s accusations so that we could be acquitted. Death could not hold Him and now He lives eternally and will one day come again in glory.

Grieving is probably a little easier when we feel the person has reached a certain age. But, it’s a loss nonetheless. Nothing fully prepares you for it. When we lose a loved one we lose a little piece of ourselves, a piece of our lives. Still, when a believer dies, we can confidently rejoice. The Scripture says that the angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner who repents, how much more so when they are received into eternal glory! That truth is what lifts our hearts even in the midst of sorrow. The Holy Spirit leads us through the temporary fog of grief to the bright, clear, and certain permanence of the resurrection. How brief is the struggle and long is the bliss!

The Lord was Jean’s Shepherd. He protected her. He provided for her. He comforted her. His promise to her in baptism has come to fulfillment. His words have come true for her. “I will never leave you or forsake you.”7 And again, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.”8 And again, “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.”9 Jean Hentschke was called home for Christmas and we raise our Hallelujahs because she is with her Lord. Amen.

+ In nomine Jesu +

Christian Burial of Jean Hentschke
4 January 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 Psalm 23:1 2 John 10:14
3 1 Corinthians 15:26 4 John 10:11
5 2 Corinthians 5:21 6 John 14:6
7 Hebrews 13:5 8 John 10:27-28
9 John 14:3




Tuesday, January 2, 2018

New Year's Eve 2017

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: 1 Peter 1:23
Theme: Life in the Living Word




Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”1 That Scripture intends to give us enduring comfort in an environment of change. Another calendar year has passed. It has been filled with joys and griefs, achievements and failures, realised hopes and shattered dreams. To some, it’s a year to be forgotten. Good riddance! To others it was a year to be cherished- something to be savoured for a long time. For some, important milestones were accomplished. For others, the year may seem to have cruised by without anything too noteworthy happening. Such lack of excitement may be just what the doctor ordered!

The end of a calendar year is a good opportunity to take stock. It’s beneficial to reflect on the passage of time and try to wrap our minds around what it means for our individual and communal existence. With each passing year there is a cumulative collection of experiences to assess. Grieving is part of stocktaking, but so is giving thanks. The Scriptures call us beyond a parochial view of our lives and the world. We’re not to look only at our personal prosperity or adversity. A biblical worldview sees the presence of the living Christ in a dying world at the heart of all things.

So, how do we understand this fleeting time we have on earth and the role we have? The Holy Spirit gives us some clarity through the apostle’s words this evening, “You have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, ‘All men are like grass, and their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.’”2 He calls us to repentance, reminding us we are sinners, reminding us we are mortal. In contrast, God’s truth, and those saved by it, will endure.

There is a call to earnestness throughout the Scriptures. Paul writes, “You know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”3 And John says, “Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near.”4 We should not assume that Christ’s Second Coming is a long way off, or that we’ll live to a ripe old age either.

Consider briefly what a relative reality human lifespan is. Noah’s Father Lamech was 182 years old when Noah was born5. Noah was 600 years old when the flood came6. That cataclysmic event radically diminished human lifespans. Still, Moses was 80 years old when he led the Israelites out of Egypt7. In contrast, some human lives never escape their mother’s wombs. And yet, because with the Lord a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years as a day8, each life is exactly as valuable to Him as the value of the life of His only-begotten Son.

Knowing this, Peter said earlier in his letter, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.”9 And what is this inheritance that is kept in heaven for us? It is life in abundance. It is the life we already have through the gospel. We receive it in the promise of forgiveness. We receive it in the body and blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper. When we receive these gifts, time becomes irrelevant because we are at the threshold of eternity.

Above all, the good news of the crucified and risen Jesus is what we prize as we move into a new year. We can never understand it too well or prize it too highly. The world, even those who are well-meaning, always have a different message, a different “gospel”. The true gospel, the Christmas gospel, the Easter gospel, the good news of Immanuel, God-with-us is NOT located in human effort to be more kind, tolerant, and loving. The gospel is not human obedience or piety. The gospel is not human striving against selfishness and greed. The gospel IS Christ for us, on our behalf, and in our place. The gospel is Christ among us as Absolver, as Defender, as Comforter. The gospel is the declaration of righteousness to sinners for the sake of Jesus’ sacrifice. The gospel is the announcement of freedom from divine condemnation. The gospel is thoroughly and unequivocally God’s activity through Christ and in Christ. Of course, transformed and renewed human hearts and lives are fruits of the gospel. They are evidences of the Spirit’s work.

Dear friends, we are fellow heirs with Christ. That is a spectacularly amazing reality. It wouldn’t matter if we ended the year without a single material possession, without any real prospects of prosperity, without any hope of keeping up with the Joneses, every believer is still rich in the only way that matters. The newly baptized infant benefits from the inheritance in the same way as the mature believer. When our mortality is fully realised only one possession matters, it is the possession of being possessed, as the Scripture says “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”10 Come what may in 2018, you are still His baptized. Satan cannot take that away from you. He can throw a tantrum or a fit. He can devise a deception or plan an insurgency, and he most certainly will try, but he cannot take by force or trickery what the believer possesses by divine right.


New Year is also a good opportunity to reflect on our callings. We all have vocations. These vocations are gifts from God. We are husbands, wives, parents, children, grandparents, and siblings. We are employers, employees, students, and retirees. We serve in our communities in various capacities. It is a privilege to serve God in these ways. We are living stones in God’s temple.

How will 2017 go down in history? And what about in the bigger picture? Will historians be kind in their descriptions of life in the era in which we now live? What distinguishing descriptives will be used? Will we be described as shallow, spoiled, or erudite? Will we be known as fighters, quitters, or peacemakers? Will we be credited as innovators, or scorned as arrogant? Will the achievements of our age pale in comparison to other eras? And what about the spiritual state of affairs? Statistical analysis will tell one story, anecdotal evidence another.

In just a few hours we will step forward into a new year. (Well, some of us may be lying flat on our beds!) What will The Year of our Lord 2018 hold for us? We don’t know. Possibilities, fears, and excitements all lie before us. But we step forward bathed in Easter’s glow. It is humbling to think that all of our glory perishes like mown grass in the summer sun. But how magnificent to know that in the resurrection we will experience a glory that we can’t even now imagine! Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +

New Year’s Eve
31 December 2017
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 Hebrews 13:8 2 1 Peter 1:23-25
3 Romans 13:11-12 4 Revelation 1:3
5 See Genesis 5:28 6 See Genesis 7:6
7 See Exodus 7:7 8 See 2 Peer 3:8
9 1 Peter 1:3-4 10 1 Corinthians 13:12

Sunday, December 31, 2017

First Sunday After Christmas (B) 2017

+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.

Text: Luke 2:29
Theme: “Released In Peace

Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

The certainty of God’s love is never in doubt. It cannot, however, be verified by human measurements. Often it may seem that God has turned away or is inept. Only the eyes of faith see Him during times of adversity. Even Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem can appear pretty unimpressive in spite of the sentimental applause it garners. But remember, Jesus’ identity is underpinned by countless miracles, and finally resurrection from death. Christ brings the great reversal of the spiral into sin and death. His presence brings light, and joy, and peace.

Today the Christmas story progresses. Mary and Joseph were faithful Jews. They took the baby Jesus to the temple according to the custom. He was received there by Simeon and Anna. They had long awaited the fulfillment of the promise. The world has now come to expect the advent of the next big thing; a ground-breaking technology or a life-changing innovation. New medical breakthroughs, new fashions, new entertainments, and on and on it goes. But the next big thing has already arrived and nothing bigger will ever come. Simeon and Anna understood this. Faithful servants, they were blessed to see Jesus, the Suffering Servant.

From the Spirit-inspired lips of Simeon we have a liturgical song of praise that has long held a prominent place in the church’s liturgy. The “Song of Simeon”, or, in the Latin, the “Nunc Dimittis”, is the believer’s response to having received the same divine blessings that Simeon and Anna enjoyed. Sung, after communion in the Divine Service, it expresses thanksgiving for having received Holy Communion, which carries the fulfilled promise of the coming Jesus. The emphasis is on peace. “LORD, NOW let your servant depart in peace according to Your word. For my eyes have seen Your salvation…”1

As in baptism and absolution, we receive the fulness of God’s love in Christ. You see, Christ is not present with us in a piecemeal fashion. We don’t get little bits of Jesus here and there, sometimes getting forgiveness, other times getting hope, and still other times strength. Yes, as mortals, we can only receive in finite measure. We have limited capacities. But God is not limited and it’s a great encouragement for us to understand that. The entire Christ, God and man, with all His gifts and all His blessings, the infant of Bethlehem and the Creator of the universe, the One who died and the One who lives is present with us according to His promise.

Now, to be sure, He attends to us according to our needs and our capacity to receive. Otherwise we would be overwhelmed by His majesty. To one He gives hope, to another, strength against temptation. The person racked by doubt seeks fortification of his faith. The person burdened with regret seeks relief from her guilt. Those living in fear need the certainty of divine protection. The living Christ grants all these according to the need. And, God always speaks to us according to our eternal need. This is so because God is always true to Himself. God does not see myopically, think short-sightedly, or fail to consider all the necessary parameters. He suffers no ignorance so there are no variables He needs to consider. He knows all things, and most relevantly, He knows we are sinners.

Because we are sinners He must speak to us His word of rebuke as well as His word of grace. The smug, idolatrous heart has no desire for a Saviour. Therefore, the law of God speaks not only to our reason, our intellects and wills; it speaks to our hearts. It’s an important concept. Consider how the Lutheran Confessions correct the common falsehood that we can be saved by our good efforts. “Here the scholastics, having followed the philosophers, teach only a righteousness of reason, namely, civil works, and fabricate besides that without the Holy Ghost reason can love God above all things. For, as long as the human mind is at ease, and does not feel the wrath or judgment of God, it can imagine that it wishes to love God, that it wishes to do good for God's sake. [But it is sheer hypocrisy.]”2

You see, the word of the law cannot woo the heart, it cannot transform it, because the law does not forgive, it does not show grace It cannot. No one can know the favour of God through the strength of the law. No one can be assured, therefore, of God’s acceptance of them based on their obedience. Trying harder or giving more effort, striving to be more pious or generous...it’s like trying to steer the Titanic away from other icebergs when it is already sinking.

Remember, the purpose of the law is to drive us to repentance but never to despair. The Scriptures are full of examples. Two will suffice. “The LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know; am I my brother's keeper?" And the LORD said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood is crying to me from the ground”3 “When you work the ground, it shall no longer yield to you its strength. You shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth." Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is greater than I can bear. Behold, you have driven me today away from the ground, and from your face I shall be hidden. I shall be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me." “Then the LORD said to him, "Not so! If anyone kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD put a mark on Cain, lest any who found him should attack him.”4 Cain’s mark was a warning to others and it helped to protect him.

Or consider the case of David, the adulterer. Nathan said to David, the self-righteous King, “You are the man!”5 And through these words the Holy Spirit did not commend him; the Spirit convicted him. Yet, it was not to drive him to despair. Soon the word of absolution came, “You shall not die.”6 So we see with what precision the Holy Spirit works, like a master surgeon. It is the same way with us. He seeks to purge us of our hypocrisy, idolatry, and unbelief, but always with the purpose of restoring us.

The law is not the final word of God. Of course, if in arrogance and unbelief, people reject the work of the Holy Spirit, they will be left under the condemnation of the law. He who lives by the sword dies by the sword. But the Scripture says, “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death.”7 And today, “God sent His Son, born of a woman, born under law, to redeem those under law…”8 When the nails were being driven into the cross there was an echo ringing through the halls of hell. Satan knew he was finished. The plan of salvation could not be derailed. The light of Easter was waiting to burst through.

Christmas is the fulfillment of centuries of expectation. In a manger the immortal God took to His possession a fragile human body. In so doing, He made possible the redemption our bodies condemned to die. The body of Jesus was never relinquished. He possesses it now in eternal majesty. It is the same body conceived in Mary’s womb, crucified under Pontius Pilate, laid in a tomb, and raised in glory. His bodily resurrection is a preview of our resurrection from the grave. The great day of the resurrection will be our full experience of Christmas. Amen.


+ In nomine Jesu +

First Sunday After Christmas
31 December 2017
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt

1 LH, p.20 2 Book of Concord
3 Genesis 4:9-10 4 Genesis 4:12-15
5 2 Samuel 12:7 6 2 Samuel 12:13
7 Romans 8:1-2 8 Galatians 4:4-5
9 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24