+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Exodus 20:1
Theme: He is OUR God!
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
The Ten Commandments were written by the finger of God. Etched in stone (twice) they were given through Moses. These decrees of God do not come without context, however. They are not arbitrary regulations of a jealous and short-sighted Deity. The prologue of God’s directives through Moses is important., who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”1 In other words, there’s already history between God and His people. God initiated the relationship in the beginning and now He’s renewing it in dramatic fashion. He is a God who rescues, saves, and redeems.
So, God speaks to His people in love. Believers are redeemed, but we still live in a fallen world. Remember, when it comes to your propensity to sin, it’s not likely you are exceptional or special. The commandments weren’t written because you’re the only one whose mind gets flooded with lust, heart gets overcome with greed, conscience gets overwhelmed with worry, or whose will is stubbornly arrogant and self-centred. God has seen it all. Opportunities to participate in ungodliness take on a new look with every new technology that comes along, but the motivations of the human heart remain unchanged. We are conceived in sin and without God’s intervention would continue along that trajectory.
Don’t think for a moment, though, that you can achieve anonymity by morphing into the crowd or blending into the multitudes. Comparison to others is an age-old way to alleviate guilt. The refuge of comparison is a popular one. Yet, any pacification of the conscience is hollow. Just because you feel you’re meeting society’s standard of morality doesn’t excuse your guilt before God. Repentance that involves shifting the blame is not weighted with true contrition. The Holy Spirit breathes fresh air into the life of the soul that is truly penitent. When we try to hide our sins, we’re just playing games with God.
It’s important to remember that God has not given us the Ten Commandments to restrict our enjoyment of life. Again, they are not arbitrary rules, nor are they obsolete. The Ten Commandments are the parameters of God’s will for our wellbeing. They are perfect guidelines of love. We can only be certain that our attitudes, words, and actions are godly when they are within these dynamics of love. Still, even our best efforts fall short of God’s standard of holiness. There is no ‘close enough’ when it comes to following God’s will. Willful disregard of God’s will is certain to have consequences. We require forgiveness and restoration.
Christ meets our need in two important ways. Firstly, He kept all of God’s law perfectly and He credits His fulfilling of the law to believers. Secondly, He makes payment for our sins by offering His own life in sacrifice in place of ours. This is the core truth of our faith, and it is expressed in many ways throughout the Scriptures. St. Paul writes today, “The message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.”2 The apostle calls God’s saving work foolishness to the perishing. That is, it is illogical and unintelligible to the unbelieving mind.
But in what way is it illogical? While anyone can grasp the basic concepts of love and even sacrifice, and most can understand the martyrdom of someone for a cause, it’s impossible for the human mind, without the aid of the Holy Spirit, to appreciate what grace really means. The gospel is counter-intuitive and counter-cultural. It will always be counter-cultural because it doesn’t originate from humans but from God. It doesn’t matter if there are a million different cultures that change countless times over the course of human history, the gospel will never be innately understood. It must be proclaimed, taught and received as a gift. It is the wisdom of the Holy Spirit.
The gospel isn’t just an abstract decree of God, though. Jesus said today, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days.”3 It was a provocative statement, and, in the minds of the Jews, arrogant, They have a logical response, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and You are going to raise it in three days?”4 The conversation is so important, St. John gives us an explanation, “But the temple He had spoken of was His body. After He was raised from the dead He disciples recalled what He had said. Then they believed the Scripture and the words that Jesus had spoken.”5
Of course, dear friends, without the resurrection, the passion of Jesus becomes a tragedy. All the unjust suffering, the unwarranted accusations, the unrighteous condemnations that Jesus endured, His excruciating humiliation and death would just be a footnote in the history of religion had He not risen from the dead. Without the resurrection the plan of salvation would have failed, and all the effort invested would have mostly gone to waste. Having the risen Jesus doesn’t mean we can downplay the suffering and sacrifice of Jesus. The two events are one seamless reality like the two sides of a single coin. The power of the gospel to enlighten darkened minds and convert unbelieving hearts is sourced from these events. Your baptism has the authority of God’s covenantal promise because through it you participate in the death and resurrection of Jesus. This bread and wine carries forgiveness because His body broken and raised empowers it.
We cannot submit God to the rules of plausibility. If we could, He wouldn’t be God. What kind of God would it be who was unable to contravene the observable laws of nature? What kind of God would it be who is unable to find the lost, heal the sick and raise the dead? What kind of God can’t be present wherever and whenever He pleases, especially in this sacrament? We can compose all kinds of theories about God and debate them, but we’re not finally interested in speculations. Jesus is the hard evidence of God among us. “They will call Him ‘Immanuel’ – which means, ‘God with us.’”6 “In Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form.”7 And again, “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.”8 Think of Peter’s Pentecost sermon, “Jesus of Nazareth was a man accredited by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs, which God did among you through Him… and you, with the help of wicked men, put Him to death by nailing Him to the cross. But God raised Him from the dead.”9
The Almighty begins the Ten Commandments by saying, “I am the Lord your God.”10 We can stake our confidence in that. Lent is the journey of understanding God’s deliverance. Jesus makes good on all of God’s promises. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Third Sunday In Lent
4 March 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Exodus 20:2 2 1 Corinthians 1:18
3 John 2:19 4 John 2:20
5 John 2:21-22 6 Matthew 1:21
7 Colossians 2:9 8 John 1:14
9 Acts 2:22-24 10 Exodus 20:2
Monday, March 5, 2018
Monday, February 26, 2018
Second Sunday in Lent (B) 2018
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Mark: 8:33
Theme: Forewarned Is Forearmed
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Forewarned is forearmed. Perhaps you’ve said it yourself. If we know in advance the threats we will face, we have opportunity to be prepared. We can direct our energies to mitigating or avoiding the danger. If we fail to heed the warning the consequences should not be surprising. Lent is surely a good season to consider how this is true in our walk of faith. On the one hand, the Scriptures warn us constantly and clearly about the menace of sin and the consequences that follow. But on the other hand, God doesn’t fail to come to our aid, rescue, and support. Jesus, the Suffering Servant, intercedes for us. The Holy Spirit attends to us. And we are fitted with the only weapon necessary which the Bible calls “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.1”
Being forearmed, however, is no reason to be apathetic, falsely secure, or foolishly self-confident. Nearing the end of a three-year intensive apprenticeship, Jesus and Simon Peter knew each other pretty well. Peter was impulsive, but passionate and loyal. He was seldom remiss in expressing his convictions or sharing his opinions. He had confessed Jesus to be the Messiah saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”2 But now we see clearly that he didn’t know what that really meant. Peter was looking for the strident path to glory. Jesus was leading him by way of the cross. The agendas were irreconcilable. Peter would need to concede, of course, he just didn’t understand how harrowing or painful it would be. The apex is reached today when Jesus responds to Peter’s rebuke saying, “Ge behind Me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”3
Peter envisioned, in some measure, an earthly kingdom established by Jesus in which he would have a high-profile position. He felt very strongly the martyrdom of Jesus was not the way to achieve it. He was self-confident; but He was misled. The passion of his convictions didn’t prevent them from being proven false. He truly thought his assessments were godly. Herein lies an important lesson. If you have an intuition, a feeling, or a sense of what you think God is telling you or wanting you to do- perhaps you’ve seen a sign that supposedly affirms your instinct- don’t automatically assume it is the voice of God speaking to you. Anything and everything that conflicts with God’s revealed word is not a prompting of the Holy Spirit.
If I have a strong feeling that it’s okay to be unfaithful to my wife because I think the circumstances warrant it, that is not the stimulus of the Holy Spirit, but of my own selfishness. If I am convinced that it’s permissible to deceive a business partner because we haven’t been seeing eye to eye on things, that attitude is not being provoked by the Holy Spirit. If I have been hurt by someone in a relationship and now I’m plotting my revenge, my motivation is not from the Spirit, but from my sinful nature. The Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Commandments don’t make exceptions for me. My judgment will never be more righteous than God’s. In the context of today’s gospel account, Peter was so self-confident he actually accused Jesus of being off track. Such wrongheadedness cannot be mitigated or re-directed. It must be ousted. It must be defeated.
And this is precisely how the Holy Spirit deals with our sinfulness. He doesn’t try to refine or revise our sinfulness. He doesn’t make the best of an undesirable situation. Sin cannot be reformed, only the sinner can be. Ungodliness cannot be civilized. It must be rebuked. Conviction of the heart and will must occur so that repentance will lead to revival and new life. When you receive God’s forgiveness, He is not condoning your sin. He is not overlooking your transgressions. The Spirit works to crush your sinful motives, so that godly ones can leap to the fore. God does not tolerate sin, He atones for it.
Dear friends, our Lord goes right to the crux of the deepest concerns of existence when He says to the crowds today, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”4 Posed as rhetorical questions, they have very definite answers. It’s doesn’t matter if we have everything imaginable in this life, no one can save their own soul from God’s just wrath against sin. We have nothing to offer Him worthy of reconciliation. But Christ does, and He has offered it: His own holy, precious life. This priceless gift results in a favourable exchange for us.
The divine pardon proclaimed to you is not hypothetical or abstract. Your forgiveness was purchased with Christ’s blood, the blood from His thorn-pierced brow, the blood from His hands impaled by nails driven into a cross. It is the price of redemption rendered by the Holy Son of God. When He speaks it is with the Father’s authority. There is no caveat you can raise, no complication you can assert, no exception you can claim that He is ignorant of or too impotent to address. He’s heard all the reservations. “But my sin was different!” “I did it intentionally.” “I did it viciously.” “I don’t deserve to be forgiven because I’ve committed this same transgression so many times.” “I can’t get it out of my mind or out of my heart so that must mean I’m not forgiven.” “I’m beyond help.” No one is out reach of His mercy. Dear friends, don’t waste any time trying to assess the severity of your sins compared to others. Don’t spend a moment doubting whether you could be the lone exception. Throw yourself on the mercy of God in Christ. He welcomes you like the father welcomed the prodigal son.
The capacity of Christ to forgive is far greater than our wickedness. The law of God reveals the depths of sin, thus opening the way to recognize the mercy of Christ. The Scripture says, “Now the law came to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”5 You cannot be a greater sinner than Christ is a Saviour. Peter denied Him, yet he was restored. Thomas doubted Him, yet he was reconciled. David committed adultery and murder, and yet He was absolved. Can you really believe God is unable to forgive you?
God does forewarn us against the danger and consequence of sin. Those who hard-heartedly separate themselves from God can expect darkness and judgment. Forewarned is forearmed. Still, knowledge of the danger alone cannot save us. But God doesn’t leave us to our own resources. He doesn’t leave us to fend for ourselves. We are His baptized. We dine at His table. He clothes us with His armor. The outcome of the war is not in doubt. Satan is silenced. Death is defeated. The life we have now is only a shadow of what is to come. We pray that during this Lenten season our faith will become more firmly grounded in God’s unshakeable truth, so that the prayer of St. Paul which says, “I pray you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,”6 will be realized for us too! Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Second Sunday In Lent
25 February 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Ephesians 6:17 2 Matthew 16:16
3 Mark 8:33 4 Mark 8:36-37
5 Romans 5:20-21 6 Ephesians 3:17-18
Text: Mark: 8:33
Theme: Forewarned Is Forearmed
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Forewarned is forearmed. Perhaps you’ve said it yourself. If we know in advance the threats we will face, we have opportunity to be prepared. We can direct our energies to mitigating or avoiding the danger. If we fail to heed the warning the consequences should not be surprising. Lent is surely a good season to consider how this is true in our walk of faith. On the one hand, the Scriptures warn us constantly and clearly about the menace of sin and the consequences that follow. But on the other hand, God doesn’t fail to come to our aid, rescue, and support. Jesus, the Suffering Servant, intercedes for us. The Holy Spirit attends to us. And we are fitted with the only weapon necessary which the Bible calls “the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.1”
Being forearmed, however, is no reason to be apathetic, falsely secure, or foolishly self-confident. Nearing the end of a three-year intensive apprenticeship, Jesus and Simon Peter knew each other pretty well. Peter was impulsive, but passionate and loyal. He was seldom remiss in expressing his convictions or sharing his opinions. He had confessed Jesus to be the Messiah saying, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.”2 But now we see clearly that he didn’t know what that really meant. Peter was looking for the strident path to glory. Jesus was leading him by way of the cross. The agendas were irreconcilable. Peter would need to concede, of course, he just didn’t understand how harrowing or painful it would be. The apex is reached today when Jesus responds to Peter’s rebuke saying, “Ge behind Me, Satan! For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”3
Peter envisioned, in some measure, an earthly kingdom established by Jesus in which he would have a high-profile position. He felt very strongly the martyrdom of Jesus was not the way to achieve it. He was self-confident; but He was misled. The passion of his convictions didn’t prevent them from being proven false. He truly thought his assessments were godly. Herein lies an important lesson. If you have an intuition, a feeling, or a sense of what you think God is telling you or wanting you to do- perhaps you’ve seen a sign that supposedly affirms your instinct- don’t automatically assume it is the voice of God speaking to you. Anything and everything that conflicts with God’s revealed word is not a prompting of the Holy Spirit.
If I have a strong feeling that it’s okay to be unfaithful to my wife because I think the circumstances warrant it, that is not the stimulus of the Holy Spirit, but of my own selfishness. If I am convinced that it’s permissible to deceive a business partner because we haven’t been seeing eye to eye on things, that attitude is not being provoked by the Holy Spirit. If I have been hurt by someone in a relationship and now I’m plotting my revenge, my motivation is not from the Spirit, but from my sinful nature. The Fifth, Sixth, and Eighth Commandments don’t make exceptions for me. My judgment will never be more righteous than God’s. In the context of today’s gospel account, Peter was so self-confident he actually accused Jesus of being off track. Such wrongheadedness cannot be mitigated or re-directed. It must be ousted. It must be defeated.
And this is precisely how the Holy Spirit deals with our sinfulness. He doesn’t try to refine or revise our sinfulness. He doesn’t make the best of an undesirable situation. Sin cannot be reformed, only the sinner can be. Ungodliness cannot be civilized. It must be rebuked. Conviction of the heart and will must occur so that repentance will lead to revival and new life. When you receive God’s forgiveness, He is not condoning your sin. He is not overlooking your transgressions. The Spirit works to crush your sinful motives, so that godly ones can leap to the fore. God does not tolerate sin, He atones for it.
Dear friends, our Lord goes right to the crux of the deepest concerns of existence when He says to the crowds today, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?”4 Posed as rhetorical questions, they have very definite answers. It’s doesn’t matter if we have everything imaginable in this life, no one can save their own soul from God’s just wrath against sin. We have nothing to offer Him worthy of reconciliation. But Christ does, and He has offered it: His own holy, precious life. This priceless gift results in a favourable exchange for us.
The divine pardon proclaimed to you is not hypothetical or abstract. Your forgiveness was purchased with Christ’s blood, the blood from His thorn-pierced brow, the blood from His hands impaled by nails driven into a cross. It is the price of redemption rendered by the Holy Son of God. When He speaks it is with the Father’s authority. There is no caveat you can raise, no complication you can assert, no exception you can claim that He is ignorant of or too impotent to address. He’s heard all the reservations. “But my sin was different!” “I did it intentionally.” “I did it viciously.” “I don’t deserve to be forgiven because I’ve committed this same transgression so many times.” “I can’t get it out of my mind or out of my heart so that must mean I’m not forgiven.” “I’m beyond help.” No one is out reach of His mercy. Dear friends, don’t waste any time trying to assess the severity of your sins compared to others. Don’t spend a moment doubting whether you could be the lone exception. Throw yourself on the mercy of God in Christ. He welcomes you like the father welcomed the prodigal son.
The capacity of Christ to forgive is far greater than our wickedness. The law of God reveals the depths of sin, thus opening the way to recognize the mercy of Christ. The Scripture says, “Now the law came to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”5 You cannot be a greater sinner than Christ is a Saviour. Peter denied Him, yet he was restored. Thomas doubted Him, yet he was reconciled. David committed adultery and murder, and yet He was absolved. Can you really believe God is unable to forgive you?
God does forewarn us against the danger and consequence of sin. Those who hard-heartedly separate themselves from God can expect darkness and judgment. Forewarned is forearmed. Still, knowledge of the danger alone cannot save us. But God doesn’t leave us to our own resources. He doesn’t leave us to fend for ourselves. We are His baptized. We dine at His table. He clothes us with His armor. The outcome of the war is not in doubt. Satan is silenced. Death is defeated. The life we have now is only a shadow of what is to come. We pray that during this Lenten season our faith will become more firmly grounded in God’s unshakeable truth, so that the prayer of St. Paul which says, “I pray you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ,”6 will be realized for us too! Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Second Sunday In Lent
25 February 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Ephesians 6:17 2 Matthew 16:16
3 Mark 8:33 4 Mark 8:36-37
5 Romans 5:20-21 6 Ephesians 3:17-18
Christian Burial of Margareta Hampel (Feb22, 2018)
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: John 11:21
Theme: No More Ifs
Dear family, friends, and loved ones of Margareta, Lyndon, Steven, Kathryn, Jillian, Bronwyn, Rosanne, and especially you; Cliff,
There are no more ifs, for Margareta. God has made good on His promise. She has been received into His magnificent presence. She has been released from the bonds of this mortal life. Martha had said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”1 She had hoped to spare her brother Lazarus from physical death. But Jesus had something more marvelous in mind. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.”2 Margareta lives. And she does so in a way that should be the envy of us all.
Dear friends, all of our greatest fears and hopes coalesce as we reflect on mortality. Death is a completely inescapable and ungovernable reality. We cannot circumvent it or negotiate with it. Death can be denied, but that hardly accomplishes anything. We will be subject to it. It is the inescapable punishment for sin. It’s not a subject to be avoided because it relates directly to our spiritual wellbeing.
Our sins, our failures, our regrets- the burdens carried deep in the heart about missed opportunities to reconcile relationships because we were too arrogant, too afraid, or too stubborn- what do we do with them on the deathbed? How can they be resolved? This is no theoretical concern. Deep wounds and lasting scars haunt many lives. The Scriptures warn us not to leave things too late, for our own sake and those we love. Most importantly, though, it’s never too soon to pour out our hearts to God. We cannot soften the heart or break the will of someone else. But our merciful Lord hears every plea of the humble soul. We commit things to Him. Only He can unlock doors that no human power can breach.
You see, no one can go from here to there under their own merit or power. Margareta was well-versed in the Scriptures. She knew that. Her faith wasn’t shallow or hollow or showy. She walked the walk and talked the talk. She knew life was a gift. The Scripture says, “This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son of God has life; He who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”3 And again, “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God.”4
Heaven is not the stuff of fairy tales. It is a dimension far above ours where God’s presence in unmediated. How can we conceive of it, really? This existence called eternity? The Scriptures promise it is not some sort of platonic state of suspended animation. We won’t be indeterminate, free-floating apparitions. We will be resurrected. Bodily! Job exclaims, “After my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes- I, and not another.”5 All of the restrictions of the sinful condition will be eradicated. No effects of decay! No inklings of apathy! No trace of anxiety! The difficulty in describing it is evidenced by the fact that the absence of evil is often the biblical focus, “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”6 There will be light and joy and peace, and an indescribable exuberance of life.
It is healthy, at least every Sunday, when we celebrate the physical resurrection of Christ to think about these promises. It is part of the exercise of our baptisms. Margareta was baptized into the saving work of Jesus- His death, resurrection, and ascension- and now the baptismal covenant He made with her is fulfilled. The Good Shepherd has carried her through her earthly journey right to the end. A bodily resurrection still awaits. The apostle writes, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.”7 The apostle cuts right to the heart of the matter. Without the resurrection we have nothing substantial to believe in. But remember, there are no more ‘ifs’ for Margareta. Christ has made them disappear like dew in the noonday sun.
And, dear friends, when the big ‘ifs’ of life are resolved we are truly freed to live in joyful service to others. Margareta pursued her passions with exactly this freedom and confidence. Music was one of her great loves. She was more familiar with the genius of Bach or Handel than most people are with music in general. She wasn’t just an admirer though. Margareta was an accomplished musician. When she played the organ in the Divine Service she understood she was leading God’s people in celebration of His love. When she directed the choir, she was helping to bring to life the promises of the gospel through song.
During her last years Margareta endured a time of feebleness that was uncharacteristic of the vibrant and active life she enjoyed most of her days. You’d never find her wasting time doing trivial things. She was as practical and industrious as she was spiritual. Even in her convalescence she was exercising her faith. She was eager to hear God’s Word and receive Holy Communion. She was diligent in prayer. She showed concern for God’s people in need. As difficult as her time of immobility was, it was an opportunity to reflect deeply on God’s mercy and grow closer to Cliff. She cherished every day as a gift.
Margareta was happy, too, when she was nurturing a garden or the next generation. How many trees did she plant? How many flowers did she grow? How many gardens did she nurture? Margareta not only had two green thumbs but all her other fingers as well! And how many children, grandchildren and great grandchildren did she nurture? Well, we can put a number to those of her own bloodline. But what about all the others? We might gather all the available flowers in Loxton and it would still hardly be a sufficient tribute to this woman who cherished her garden so immensely. But she would have been content also with one, solitary specimen, a rose or something else fitting, as a reminder of the singular, indispensable, death-defying love of her Saviour. He alone possesses immortality. As the Scripture says, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field…the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”8 All other supports collapse under the weight of mortality or abandon us in the hour of need.
Grief is among the trickiest and most vexing of all human traumas. Joy mixes with sorrow, loss is tempered by hope when we reflect on the death of a faithful Christian. The death of loved ones reaches us at the deepest levels of the human psyche. Nothing compares to the stinging sense of loss that occurs. No one can resolve someone else’s grief. Navigating it healthily requires divine assistance. The Holy Spirit does not fail to give it. Cliff, your beloved is out of sight, but she’ll never be out of heart or out of mind. She is filled with inexpressible joy and that knowledge will buoy the weight of your grief.
Margareta’s confirmation verse was, “Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”9 That has now come to pass. No more ifs. Thanks be to God. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Christian Burial of Margareta Anne Hampel
22 February 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 John 11:21 2 John 11:25-26
3 1 John 5:11-12 4 Romans 5:8-9
5 Job 19:26-27 6 Revelation 21:4
71 Corinthians 15:14 8 Isaiah 40:6-8
Text: John 11:21
Theme: No More Ifs
Dear family, friends, and loved ones of Margareta, Lyndon, Steven, Kathryn, Jillian, Bronwyn, Rosanne, and especially you; Cliff,
There are no more ifs, for Margareta. God has made good on His promise. She has been received into His magnificent presence. She has been released from the bonds of this mortal life. Martha had said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died.”1 She had hoped to spare her brother Lazarus from physical death. But Jesus had something more marvelous in mind. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in Me will never die.”2 Margareta lives. And she does so in a way that should be the envy of us all.
Dear friends, all of our greatest fears and hopes coalesce as we reflect on mortality. Death is a completely inescapable and ungovernable reality. We cannot circumvent it or negotiate with it. Death can be denied, but that hardly accomplishes anything. We will be subject to it. It is the inescapable punishment for sin. It’s not a subject to be avoided because it relates directly to our spiritual wellbeing.
Our sins, our failures, our regrets- the burdens carried deep in the heart about missed opportunities to reconcile relationships because we were too arrogant, too afraid, or too stubborn- what do we do with them on the deathbed? How can they be resolved? This is no theoretical concern. Deep wounds and lasting scars haunt many lives. The Scriptures warn us not to leave things too late, for our own sake and those we love. Most importantly, though, it’s never too soon to pour out our hearts to God. We cannot soften the heart or break the will of someone else. But our merciful Lord hears every plea of the humble soul. We commit things to Him. Only He can unlock doors that no human power can breach.
You see, no one can go from here to there under their own merit or power. Margareta was well-versed in the Scriptures. She knew that. Her faith wasn’t shallow or hollow or showy. She walked the walk and talked the talk. She knew life was a gift. The Scripture says, “This is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son of God has life; He who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”3 And again, “God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have been justified by His blood, much more shall we be saved by Him from the wrath of God.”4
Heaven is not the stuff of fairy tales. It is a dimension far above ours where God’s presence in unmediated. How can we conceive of it, really? This existence called eternity? The Scriptures promise it is not some sort of platonic state of suspended animation. We won’t be indeterminate, free-floating apparitions. We will be resurrected. Bodily! Job exclaims, “After my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes- I, and not another.”5 All of the restrictions of the sinful condition will be eradicated. No effects of decay! No inklings of apathy! No trace of anxiety! The difficulty in describing it is evidenced by the fact that the absence of evil is often the biblical focus, “There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”6 There will be light and joy and peace, and an indescribable exuberance of life.
It is healthy, at least every Sunday, when we celebrate the physical resurrection of Christ to think about these promises. It is part of the exercise of our baptisms. Margareta was baptized into the saving work of Jesus- His death, resurrection, and ascension- and now the baptismal covenant He made with her is fulfilled. The Good Shepherd has carried her through her earthly journey right to the end. A bodily resurrection still awaits. The apostle writes, “If Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith.”7 The apostle cuts right to the heart of the matter. Without the resurrection we have nothing substantial to believe in. But remember, there are no more ‘ifs’ for Margareta. Christ has made them disappear like dew in the noonday sun.
And, dear friends, when the big ‘ifs’ of life are resolved we are truly freed to live in joyful service to others. Margareta pursued her passions with exactly this freedom and confidence. Music was one of her great loves. She was more familiar with the genius of Bach or Handel than most people are with music in general. She wasn’t just an admirer though. Margareta was an accomplished musician. When she played the organ in the Divine Service she understood she was leading God’s people in celebration of His love. When she directed the choir, she was helping to bring to life the promises of the gospel through song.
During her last years Margareta endured a time of feebleness that was uncharacteristic of the vibrant and active life she enjoyed most of her days. You’d never find her wasting time doing trivial things. She was as practical and industrious as she was spiritual. Even in her convalescence she was exercising her faith. She was eager to hear God’s Word and receive Holy Communion. She was diligent in prayer. She showed concern for God’s people in need. As difficult as her time of immobility was, it was an opportunity to reflect deeply on God’s mercy and grow closer to Cliff. She cherished every day as a gift.
Margareta was happy, too, when she was nurturing a garden or the next generation. How many trees did she plant? How many flowers did she grow? How many gardens did she nurture? Margareta not only had two green thumbs but all her other fingers as well! And how many children, grandchildren and great grandchildren did she nurture? Well, we can put a number to those of her own bloodline. But what about all the others? We might gather all the available flowers in Loxton and it would still hardly be a sufficient tribute to this woman who cherished her garden so immensely. But she would have been content also with one, solitary specimen, a rose or something else fitting, as a reminder of the singular, indispensable, death-defying love of her Saviour. He alone possesses immortality. As the Scripture says, “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field…the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”8 All other supports collapse under the weight of mortality or abandon us in the hour of need.
Grief is among the trickiest and most vexing of all human traumas. Joy mixes with sorrow, loss is tempered by hope when we reflect on the death of a faithful Christian. The death of loved ones reaches us at the deepest levels of the human psyche. Nothing compares to the stinging sense of loss that occurs. No one can resolve someone else’s grief. Navigating it healthily requires divine assistance. The Holy Spirit does not fail to give it. Cliff, your beloved is out of sight, but she’ll never be out of heart or out of mind. She is filled with inexpressible joy and that knowledge will buoy the weight of your grief.
Margareta’s confirmation verse was, “Fight the good fight of faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called when you made your good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”9 That has now come to pass. No more ifs. Thanks be to God. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Christian Burial of Margareta Anne Hampel
22 February 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 John 11:21 2 John 11:25-26
3 1 John 5:11-12 4 Romans 5:8-9
5 Job 19:26-27 6 Revelation 21:4
71 Corinthians 15:14 8 Isaiah 40:6-8
Midweek Lent #1 2018
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: John 18:40
Theme: A Surprise Ending?
Dear followers to the cross,
Do you like to skip to the end? Some people are in the habit of turning straight to the conclusion of a novel to find out how it ends. A basic understanding of the storyline is usually needed to make the exercise worthwhile. There’s little use or satisfaction in knowing the conclusion if you don’t know anything about the characters and events leading up to it. Some stories have such a surprise ending that it makes following the entire narrative essential. What about the passion of Jesus, the Christ?
Pilate was the secular authority in charge, but he didn’t know how this was going to end. Pontius Pilate had dealt with the Jews before. Did he have any reason to believe this Passover would be different? Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But My kingdom is not from this world.”1 Imagine the skepticism going through his mind? Another dreamer? Another failed revolutionary? A Saviour? Why would one think so?
Did the passion of Christ have a surprise ending? Any Christian (or unbeliever for that matter) with even a rudimentary knowledge of the Scriptures already knows the finale involves the death and resurrection of the main character. It’s a pretty dramatic curtain call! Did the contemporaries of Jesus expect it? Was the betrayal, suffering, sentencing, and execution of Jesus of Nazareth something that should have caught them by surprise? Well, if they were familiar with the prophecies of Isaiah or the Psalms, one would think not.
Yet, there is more involved here than an intellectual grasp of events and circumstances. Descending from the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus told Peter, James, and John not to tell anyone what they had seen “until the Son of Man is risen from the dead. So, they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.”2 So, we can say that they were kept from properly understanding it until the resurrection. Not until then did the Holy Spirit pull the blinders off their eyes. And not until Pentecost did they really see clearly with the eyes of faith.
We can hardly fault them. We know the entire story, yet clarity of faith- which is such an exceedingly precious gift- is still so easily clouded with doubt, skepticism, and apathy. Such, dear friends, is the power of sin. Satan is forever seeking to turn our gaze from the cross, to countless other distractions. Faith must remain anchored to a certainty that is always external to ourselves. God is unfailing. No one else, nothing else is. Our God is not of human making. Pilate poses the question, “What is truth?”3 We have nothing to do with such cynical philosophizing. Jesus provides the answer. Truth is not whatever we’d like to make of it. A God made in our own image is not a God, but an idol. Christianity is not about constructing your own definitions of morality, security, and beliefs about the here and now, and the hereafter and pinning God’s name to them. You may have noticed that it is increasingly popular to reinterpret or sideline what the Bible says in the interest of appealing or succumbing to the prevailing culture. You can misrepresent God’s word to make it say pretty much anything all.
But the truth is still true even if nobody believes it. Lies are still lies even if everybody believes them. Lent does not involve a mental exercise in which try to make a big chronological leap into the ancient past and attempt to identify with the topic under discussion. And this is not what Jesus was teaching when He said in the institution of the Lord’s Supper, “Do this in remembrance of Me.4 The historical details of the passion of Jesus are critical information, to be sure. Yet, we don’t receive the benefits of His redeeming work by trying to go back to the cross and reconstruct the circumstances. The crucified and risen Lord comes to us. Repentant hearts are always greeted by Him. He meets His baptized with compassion and forgiveness.
Still, in Lent we desire even more fervently both clarity of faith and certainty of conviction. Sin wages a war of attrition and we need to be renewed. Included in every prayer to be cleansed with the forgiveness earned at the cross is the plea of Thomas, “Show me Your hands and Your side.”5 He does exactly that when He offers us His body and blood in the sacrament. He does exactly that when the promise of absolution is publicly proclaimed. He does exactly that when our hearts are set at ease by His comforting words of compassion.
It doesn’t mean our faith doesn’t lose perspective anymore. We tend to see things with a very narrow focus according to what is troubling us at the moment. So, we might ask… Where is the gentle Jesus when we need Him? Where is the strong deliverer? Where is the patient pastor? Where is the seeking shepherd? Yet He knows when we need discipline as opposed to coddling. He knows when we need comfort instead of condemnation. He’s not a Saviour we can sculpt according to our own whims. He’s a Shepherd who tends to us according to our actual needs. The Suffering Servant is the Risen Saviour, is the Ascended Lord, is the Reigning King. The events of redemption cannot be parceled into stand-alone segments. The love of God is not subject to compartmentalization. Neither is our Saviour. Your Redeemer hung upon a cross and rose from death. Those events alone qualify Him to meet your every need.
On Palm Sunday jubilant crowds welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem with high expectation. It seems surprising then, that our Passion Reading ends with the release of Barabbas, a criminal. Things were about to get very interesting. Perhaps you’ve wondered whether your own life will have a surprise ending? Well, hopefully your life will have many pleasant surprises in the future, but there are likely to be some difficult ones too. God knows and will be present with you through all circumstances. But we know the final chapter involves resurrection to eternal life in the heavenly realms. Knowing the ending doesn’t make the journey to that point less relevant, but more exciting. Does your vocation still matter? Do your relationships still matter? Do the daily opportunities you have to walk with people in the brokenness of their lives still matter? Very much in every way! We are not in doubt about the truth like Pilate was. Jesus is the way and the truth and the life6. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end7.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Midweek #3 in series Lent 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 John 18:36
2 Mark 9:9-10
3 John 18:38
4 Matthew 22:19
5 See John 20:25
6 See John 14:6
7 See Revelation 22:13
Text: John 18:40
Theme: A Surprise Ending?
Dear followers to the cross,
Do you like to skip to the end? Some people are in the habit of turning straight to the conclusion of a novel to find out how it ends. A basic understanding of the storyline is usually needed to make the exercise worthwhile. There’s little use or satisfaction in knowing the conclusion if you don’t know anything about the characters and events leading up to it. Some stories have such a surprise ending that it makes following the entire narrative essential. What about the passion of Jesus, the Christ?
Pilate was the secular authority in charge, but he didn’t know how this was going to end. Pontius Pilate had dealt with the Jews before. Did he have any reason to believe this Passover would be different? Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, My servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But My kingdom is not from this world.”1 Imagine the skepticism going through his mind? Another dreamer? Another failed revolutionary? A Saviour? Why would one think so?
Did the passion of Christ have a surprise ending? Any Christian (or unbeliever for that matter) with even a rudimentary knowledge of the Scriptures already knows the finale involves the death and resurrection of the main character. It’s a pretty dramatic curtain call! Did the contemporaries of Jesus expect it? Was the betrayal, suffering, sentencing, and execution of Jesus of Nazareth something that should have caught them by surprise? Well, if they were familiar with the prophecies of Isaiah or the Psalms, one would think not.
Yet, there is more involved here than an intellectual grasp of events and circumstances. Descending from the Mount of Transfiguration Jesus told Peter, James, and John not to tell anyone what they had seen “until the Son of Man is risen from the dead. So, they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.”2 So, we can say that they were kept from properly understanding it until the resurrection. Not until then did the Holy Spirit pull the blinders off their eyes. And not until Pentecost did they really see clearly with the eyes of faith.
We can hardly fault them. We know the entire story, yet clarity of faith- which is such an exceedingly precious gift- is still so easily clouded with doubt, skepticism, and apathy. Such, dear friends, is the power of sin. Satan is forever seeking to turn our gaze from the cross, to countless other distractions. Faith must remain anchored to a certainty that is always external to ourselves. God is unfailing. No one else, nothing else is. Our God is not of human making. Pilate poses the question, “What is truth?”3 We have nothing to do with such cynical philosophizing. Jesus provides the answer. Truth is not whatever we’d like to make of it. A God made in our own image is not a God, but an idol. Christianity is not about constructing your own definitions of morality, security, and beliefs about the here and now, and the hereafter and pinning God’s name to them. You may have noticed that it is increasingly popular to reinterpret or sideline what the Bible says in the interest of appealing or succumbing to the prevailing culture. You can misrepresent God’s word to make it say pretty much anything all.
But the truth is still true even if nobody believes it. Lies are still lies even if everybody believes them. Lent does not involve a mental exercise in which try to make a big chronological leap into the ancient past and attempt to identify with the topic under discussion. And this is not what Jesus was teaching when He said in the institution of the Lord’s Supper, “Do this in remembrance of Me.4 The historical details of the passion of Jesus are critical information, to be sure. Yet, we don’t receive the benefits of His redeeming work by trying to go back to the cross and reconstruct the circumstances. The crucified and risen Lord comes to us. Repentant hearts are always greeted by Him. He meets His baptized with compassion and forgiveness.
Still, in Lent we desire even more fervently both clarity of faith and certainty of conviction. Sin wages a war of attrition and we need to be renewed. Included in every prayer to be cleansed with the forgiveness earned at the cross is the plea of Thomas, “Show me Your hands and Your side.”5 He does exactly that when He offers us His body and blood in the sacrament. He does exactly that when the promise of absolution is publicly proclaimed. He does exactly that when our hearts are set at ease by His comforting words of compassion.
It doesn’t mean our faith doesn’t lose perspective anymore. We tend to see things with a very narrow focus according to what is troubling us at the moment. So, we might ask… Where is the gentle Jesus when we need Him? Where is the strong deliverer? Where is the patient pastor? Where is the seeking shepherd? Yet He knows when we need discipline as opposed to coddling. He knows when we need comfort instead of condemnation. He’s not a Saviour we can sculpt according to our own whims. He’s a Shepherd who tends to us according to our actual needs. The Suffering Servant is the Risen Saviour, is the Ascended Lord, is the Reigning King. The events of redemption cannot be parceled into stand-alone segments. The love of God is not subject to compartmentalization. Neither is our Saviour. Your Redeemer hung upon a cross and rose from death. Those events alone qualify Him to meet your every need.
On Palm Sunday jubilant crowds welcomed Jesus to Jerusalem with high expectation. It seems surprising then, that our Passion Reading ends with the release of Barabbas, a criminal. Things were about to get very interesting. Perhaps you’ve wondered whether your own life will have a surprise ending? Well, hopefully your life will have many pleasant surprises in the future, but there are likely to be some difficult ones too. God knows and will be present with you through all circumstances. But we know the final chapter involves resurrection to eternal life in the heavenly realms. Knowing the ending doesn’t make the journey to that point less relevant, but more exciting. Does your vocation still matter? Do your relationships still matter? Do the daily opportunities you have to walk with people in the brokenness of their lives still matter? Very much in every way! We are not in doubt about the truth like Pilate was. Jesus is the way and the truth and the life6. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end7.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Midweek #3 in series Lent 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 John 18:36
2 Mark 9:9-10
3 John 18:38
4 Matthew 22:19
5 See John 20:25
6 See John 14:6
7 See Revelation 22:13
Sunday, February 18, 2018
Ash Wednesday (February 14, 2018)
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: 2 Corinthians 6:2
Theme: Now Is The Time
Dear followers to the cross,
“Now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation.”1 It’s never too soon to confess your sins. It’s never premature to receive God’s forgiveness. Mortality sharpens our focus. The deliberate sobriety of lent assists us in these things. Ashes are a stark reminder of our limitations and the tenuous nature of life. A corpse has no sentience. Sentience is the ability to perceive, to feel, to be self-aware. It speaks to the capacity of the senses to be conscious of their surroundings. For most people, dying doesn’t happen all at once. It’s a process. Senility, a decline mostly in cognitive function, is one stage of the journey towards lack of sentience. Death means the endpoint has been reached.
Today is Ash Wednesday. The Scripture is clear, “Dust you are and to dust you will return.”2 And Job confesses, “I am reduced to dust and ashes.”3 What is the ash that the human body is composed of? Those who know the Periodic Table know it’s more than 99% of these few elements: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. There are trace elements of five others and that’s it! (Don’t panic, the ashes you’ll soon be marked with are made from Palm leaves!) But what is life itself made of? And what is the composition of the soul? The technical advances of science will never discover it. Humans were made in the image of God.
Lent is typically characterized as the sinner’s struggle for obedience. It’s often seen as a renewed effort to resist temptation and follow God’s way of holiness. The whole idea of sacrificing something is meant to help the believer identify more closely with the humility of Jesus and serve as a regime of discipline. There’s nothing wrong with this until it becomes and exercise in false piety.
Let’s be clear about the ability of the human will to follow God, pursue any measure of righteousness, or even desire that which is godly. Before the Holy Spirit’s work of conversion, the human will has no such ability whatsoever. Any desire or pursuit of godliness is simply not on the agenda. Outwardly, people might do some good, generous, and useful things (and these are to be encouraged). But in a state of unbelief, these are still sins before God. After the Holy Spirit converts, the human will then cooperates in seeking the will of God. Believers have desires (these being gifts of God themselves) which now align with God’s good and gracious will.
Well, and good. But believers immediately recognize that the old feelings, the cravings, the selfish desires, don’t automatically disappear. In fact, they can seem more intense. The sinful nature still has life and Satan is very experienced. That’s why lent should begin with candid recognition of our frailty. If you don’t think you’re vulnerable, fragile, or frail; if you believe you’re out of the reach of disaster, danger, or threat; if accusation, admonishment, and condemnation are of no concern to you, then you’re clinging to a dangerous sense of false security. And whether the reason is ignorance, naivety, or denial, it’s not how things really are. We can hedge ourselves with comprehensive measures of security; we can build a bank account, buy insurance of every sort, drive safely, eat healthily, exercise regularly, but life can be ended or radically changed in a moment.
Still, the Lenten journey is not meant to be one of drudgery or monotony. It’s not a journey of shame, and doubt, and despair. But it is healthy if it is a candid one. One in which the door under the stairs is opened enough to glimpse the skeletons in the closet. After all, what’s the use in just going through the motions and putting on appearances. Lent is not a time to showcase our piety at the expense of others. The Pharisees would likely have seized on the season of Lent as an opportunity to publicize their righteousness. But the self-righteous aren’t looking for a cross, they’re looking for a throne. They want a crown. They don’t need a Saviour.
Candid recognition of frailty, does not lead to despair, however. If you feel like you have no defence or protection; if you believe you’re alone and without support; if you’re unduly anxious or paranoid that everyone is out to get you, then maybe you haven’t taken to heart the promises of the Saviour. The Scriptures make no small issue of the fact that the love of God is not some generic platitude that vaguely pertains to the human race. You are not an anonymous figure among the masses. The God who created you went to great pains to redeem you. Jesus preached to the masses; but He healed individuals. The Scripture says, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!”4
Dear friends, if Jesus had not worn the crown of thorns, none of us could wear the crown of life. If He had not hung from the cross, we could not stand in God’s presence. If He had not been smothered by evil, we could not breathe God’s truth. If He had not endured the darkness, we would not enjoy the kingdom of light. But He did all these things. He rose from death. He ascended on high. He intercedes for the saints.
The Holy Trinity is the only reliable person in your life. Not because others don’t wish to support you. You may be blessed with those who are quite devoted and perseverant. But they are not immortal. They are not omnipotent. Only Christ has the capacity to carry sinners over the threshold of death. Only Jesus is completely unfaltering, completely reliable. As the Psalmist says, “Though my father and mother forsake me. The Lord will receive me.”5
Dear friends, you are no more holy if you give up something for lent, and no less holy if you don’t. It can be a time for spiritual renewal if properly used. But believe this: You are His baptized and you are holy because Jesus Christ was handed over for crucifixion as a substitute for you. He bled. He was tortured. He was forsaken by the heavenly Father. All so a blessed exchange could take place. You receive His righteousness. He bears your transgressions. You are one of His saints. In Lent, all lost ground can be made up. It doesn’t matter how you started. All that matters is that you finish. “Now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation.”6 Christ brings you to the finish. In His hands, ashes become the material of immortality. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Ash Wednesday
14 February 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 2 Corinthians 6:2
2 Genesis 3:19
3 Job 30:19
4 Isaiah 49:15
5 Psalm 47:10
6 2 Corinthians 6:2
Text: 2 Corinthians 6:2
Theme: Now Is The Time
Dear followers to the cross,
“Now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation.”1 It’s never too soon to confess your sins. It’s never premature to receive God’s forgiveness. Mortality sharpens our focus. The deliberate sobriety of lent assists us in these things. Ashes are a stark reminder of our limitations and the tenuous nature of life. A corpse has no sentience. Sentience is the ability to perceive, to feel, to be self-aware. It speaks to the capacity of the senses to be conscious of their surroundings. For most people, dying doesn’t happen all at once. It’s a process. Senility, a decline mostly in cognitive function, is one stage of the journey towards lack of sentience. Death means the endpoint has been reached.
Today is Ash Wednesday. The Scripture is clear, “Dust you are and to dust you will return.”2 And Job confesses, “I am reduced to dust and ashes.”3 What is the ash that the human body is composed of? Those who know the Periodic Table know it’s more than 99% of these few elements: carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. There are trace elements of five others and that’s it! (Don’t panic, the ashes you’ll soon be marked with are made from Palm leaves!) But what is life itself made of? And what is the composition of the soul? The technical advances of science will never discover it. Humans were made in the image of God.
Lent is typically characterized as the sinner’s struggle for obedience. It’s often seen as a renewed effort to resist temptation and follow God’s way of holiness. The whole idea of sacrificing something is meant to help the believer identify more closely with the humility of Jesus and serve as a regime of discipline. There’s nothing wrong with this until it becomes and exercise in false piety.
Let’s be clear about the ability of the human will to follow God, pursue any measure of righteousness, or even desire that which is godly. Before the Holy Spirit’s work of conversion, the human will has no such ability whatsoever. Any desire or pursuit of godliness is simply not on the agenda. Outwardly, people might do some good, generous, and useful things (and these are to be encouraged). But in a state of unbelief, these are still sins before God. After the Holy Spirit converts, the human will then cooperates in seeking the will of God. Believers have desires (these being gifts of God themselves) which now align with God’s good and gracious will.
Well, and good. But believers immediately recognize that the old feelings, the cravings, the selfish desires, don’t automatically disappear. In fact, they can seem more intense. The sinful nature still has life and Satan is very experienced. That’s why lent should begin with candid recognition of our frailty. If you don’t think you’re vulnerable, fragile, or frail; if you believe you’re out of the reach of disaster, danger, or threat; if accusation, admonishment, and condemnation are of no concern to you, then you’re clinging to a dangerous sense of false security. And whether the reason is ignorance, naivety, or denial, it’s not how things really are. We can hedge ourselves with comprehensive measures of security; we can build a bank account, buy insurance of every sort, drive safely, eat healthily, exercise regularly, but life can be ended or radically changed in a moment.
Still, the Lenten journey is not meant to be one of drudgery or monotony. It’s not a journey of shame, and doubt, and despair. But it is healthy if it is a candid one. One in which the door under the stairs is opened enough to glimpse the skeletons in the closet. After all, what’s the use in just going through the motions and putting on appearances. Lent is not a time to showcase our piety at the expense of others. The Pharisees would likely have seized on the season of Lent as an opportunity to publicize their righteousness. But the self-righteous aren’t looking for a cross, they’re looking for a throne. They want a crown. They don’t need a Saviour.
Candid recognition of frailty, does not lead to despair, however. If you feel like you have no defence or protection; if you believe you’re alone and without support; if you’re unduly anxious or paranoid that everyone is out to get you, then maybe you haven’t taken to heart the promises of the Saviour. The Scriptures make no small issue of the fact that the love of God is not some generic platitude that vaguely pertains to the human race. You are not an anonymous figure among the masses. The God who created you went to great pains to redeem you. Jesus preached to the masses; but He healed individuals. The Scripture says, “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!”4
Dear friends, if Jesus had not worn the crown of thorns, none of us could wear the crown of life. If He had not hung from the cross, we could not stand in God’s presence. If He had not been smothered by evil, we could not breathe God’s truth. If He had not endured the darkness, we would not enjoy the kingdom of light. But He did all these things. He rose from death. He ascended on high. He intercedes for the saints.
The Holy Trinity is the only reliable person in your life. Not because others don’t wish to support you. You may be blessed with those who are quite devoted and perseverant. But they are not immortal. They are not omnipotent. Only Christ has the capacity to carry sinners over the threshold of death. Only Jesus is completely unfaltering, completely reliable. As the Psalmist says, “Though my father and mother forsake me. The Lord will receive me.”5
Dear friends, you are no more holy if you give up something for lent, and no less holy if you don’t. It can be a time for spiritual renewal if properly used. But believe this: You are His baptized and you are holy because Jesus Christ was handed over for crucifixion as a substitute for you. He bled. He was tortured. He was forsaken by the heavenly Father. All so a blessed exchange could take place. You receive His righteousness. He bears your transgressions. You are one of His saints. In Lent, all lost ground can be made up. It doesn’t matter how you started. All that matters is that you finish. “Now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation.”6 Christ brings you to the finish. In His hands, ashes become the material of immortality. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Ash Wednesday
14 February 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 2 Corinthians 6:2
2 Genesis 3:19
3 Job 30:19
4 Isaiah 49:15
5 Psalm 47:10
6 2 Corinthians 6:2
Sunday, February 11, 2018
The Transfiguration of Our Lord (2018)
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Mark 9:2
Theme: What Kind Of Glory?
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
It was a mountaintop experience like no other. The inner circle of Jesus’ disciples witnessed a gripping and terrifying sight when they saw Jesus’ appearance completely transformed before them. He was beaming with light. The experience became even more surreal when the ancient figures of Moses and Elijah appeared with Him. The drama escalated further when the Father spoke. It happened in this way, “A cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son; listen to Him.’"1 Not surprisingly, the disciples were terrified. But they knew something important was happening. And the message was unmistakable: Jesus is the one; follow Him.
Dear friends, this event was unique in the earthly ministry of Jesus. These privileged disciples got to see it. But why not everyone? Why were the crowds not allowed to see Jesus with His divinity unveiled? They saw plenty of miracles. Jesus did not want people to get the wrong idea about His work and His kingdom. He was not an earthly breadwinner. Nor did He come to make a show of His majesty. Yet, the transfigured Jesus is the Lord our human nature is naturally drawn to; the Jesus bursting with glory, the Saviour emanating divine light. People crave hard evidence of God’s presence, His power, His majesty. Many say they won’t believe until they see it. But Jesus is a humble Saviour. His love is not flashy, it is sturdy.
Life is lived mostly in the valleys. We have mountaintop experiences, to be sure. Many are healthy celebrations of life’s joys and achievements. Yet some people try to extend them artificially by indulging excessively in behaviour that becomes harmful. Others are thrill-seeking, adrenaline junkies who would rather live life on the edge than live it at all. Still others prefer to escape to worlds of their own creation (and many of these worlds today are cyber worlds) where they can avoid the struggles of the daily grind. We’re all drawn to these in various degrees, often as coping mechanisms.
Christ journeys with us in the brokenness of our lives. The route to heaven does not follow a beacon to a mountaintop. It winds through the shadows of a cross. Jesus, the Suffering Servant, the Immortal Son of God did not say, “Come up to Me.” He came down to us. He says, “I go to prepare a place for you…I will come again and take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.”2 It wouldn’t matter if there was a ladder to heaven that had 10 rungs or ten million. We’d have no hope of climbing it. Our sinfulness prevents us from taking a single step into the presence of God.
We are no further from God than people of previous generations, but we’re no closer either. Society is going through tremendous change, but the nature of people does not change. It’s a patently false assumption to claim that people born today are naturally any more righteous, godly, or even civil than those born in the past. Yes, collectively we may be benefitting from the accomplishments of those before us and learning from their mistakes (in addition to suffering for their failings). That’s always been the case to some extent. But societal affluence does not equal individual godliness. Collective knowledge does not equate to personal holiness.
What will the world be like when those who are born today are in the prime of their lives? (What will the world be like when little Charlie might be having a family of her own?) No one can say, of course. But it’s important to learn from the past, and also recognise the trends of the present. Current indications are that 25 years from now Christianity will be greatly diminished in this country. We’ve already been witnessing the decline for decades. If the younger generations continue to fall so quickly away from the faith many churches and parishes simply won’t exist.
It’s no use being pessimistic or adopting a defeatist attitude though. And the church isn’t in the business of self-preservation, per se. The church is God’s people gathered around His gifts of word and sacrament. We are entrusted with sacred treasures. The gospel, the good news of forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation acquired by Christ and gifted to sinful humans is the greatest treasure that has ever and will ever exist. We are stewards of these treasures. Through these means the Holy Spirit raises people from spiritual death. It happens in initially in baptism. Through the same word of truth, we are fortified in Holy Communion.
The Bible says, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”3 That means when the Heavenly Father looks at us He sees Christ. Now, that is an astounding reality! And why is that important? If Christ, and His work of salvation were not in the foreground, we would all be like disappearing images in the rear-view mirror. Again, God’s word says, “God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”4
Do you see what the Scripture says here? Jesus made a public spectacle of all ungodly authorities, gaining the victory over them by the cross. Jesus, hanging derelict, clinging to His last breath, receiving the insults and mockery of everyone who passed by, this Messiah was conquering evil in the process. Nothing would seem to be farther from the truth! It looked, by all human assessments, that He was going down in defeat. Few believed their Saviour would ever be heard from again.
Dear friends, God doesn’t secure victories the way humans do. In His most important battles, He doesn’t fight fire with fire; He fights fire with love. The heavenly Father (in justice) says, “I demand perfection.” Jesus says, “I have rendered it.” The Father says, “I demand atonement for the sins of sinners.” Jesus says, “I have given it.” Satan says, “Sinners don’t deserve God’s favour.” But Jesus says, “I do.” And so, the supreme power of God is displayed in sacrifice.
The transfiguration brings us to the end of the Epiphany season. The pilgrimage of lent lies ahead. It’s a microcosm of our life’s journey, just as Jesus’ passion was of His earthly sojourn. We don’t know what experiences we’ll still have in this life. But believer’s can be assured the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit travels with us. The destination is not in doubt. You, too, will be transfigured. It is hard to imagine. And we have no way to wrap our minds around it save for the Holy Spirit teaching us the divine promises. The apostle says Christ will, “…transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.”5
Yes, it sounds like the stuff of sci-fi movies. But it’s much more real than that. Imagine what a cinematic spectacle could be made of Elijah’s ascent to heaven in a whirlwind, or Jesus’ metamorphosis on the mountain! The cinematographer seeks to create some emotional connection with the viewer. But we have a God who makes us the subjects, not the observers. The are no aloof or independent spectators in God’s kingdom. We will be resurrected from death. We will be raised in glory. In heaven we won’t need to worry about the peaks and valleys of life. We won’t crave a mountaintop experience. We’ll be in the inner sanctum of God’s holiness. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Transfiguration of our Lord
11 February 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Mark 9:7 2 John 14:2-3
3 Galatians 3:27 4 Colossians 2:13-15
5 Philippians 3:21
Text: Mark 9:2
Theme: What Kind Of Glory?
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
It was a mountaintop experience like no other. The inner circle of Jesus’ disciples witnessed a gripping and terrifying sight when they saw Jesus’ appearance completely transformed before them. He was beaming with light. The experience became even more surreal when the ancient figures of Moses and Elijah appeared with Him. The drama escalated further when the Father spoke. It happened in this way, “A cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, ‘This is my beloved Son; listen to Him.’"1 Not surprisingly, the disciples were terrified. But they knew something important was happening. And the message was unmistakable: Jesus is the one; follow Him.
Dear friends, this event was unique in the earthly ministry of Jesus. These privileged disciples got to see it. But why not everyone? Why were the crowds not allowed to see Jesus with His divinity unveiled? They saw plenty of miracles. Jesus did not want people to get the wrong idea about His work and His kingdom. He was not an earthly breadwinner. Nor did He come to make a show of His majesty. Yet, the transfigured Jesus is the Lord our human nature is naturally drawn to; the Jesus bursting with glory, the Saviour emanating divine light. People crave hard evidence of God’s presence, His power, His majesty. Many say they won’t believe until they see it. But Jesus is a humble Saviour. His love is not flashy, it is sturdy.
Life is lived mostly in the valleys. We have mountaintop experiences, to be sure. Many are healthy celebrations of life’s joys and achievements. Yet some people try to extend them artificially by indulging excessively in behaviour that becomes harmful. Others are thrill-seeking, adrenaline junkies who would rather live life on the edge than live it at all. Still others prefer to escape to worlds of their own creation (and many of these worlds today are cyber worlds) where they can avoid the struggles of the daily grind. We’re all drawn to these in various degrees, often as coping mechanisms.
Christ journeys with us in the brokenness of our lives. The route to heaven does not follow a beacon to a mountaintop. It winds through the shadows of a cross. Jesus, the Suffering Servant, the Immortal Son of God did not say, “Come up to Me.” He came down to us. He says, “I go to prepare a place for you…I will come again and take you to Myself, that where I am you may be also.”2 It wouldn’t matter if there was a ladder to heaven that had 10 rungs or ten million. We’d have no hope of climbing it. Our sinfulness prevents us from taking a single step into the presence of God.
We are no further from God than people of previous generations, but we’re no closer either. Society is going through tremendous change, but the nature of people does not change. It’s a patently false assumption to claim that people born today are naturally any more righteous, godly, or even civil than those born in the past. Yes, collectively we may be benefitting from the accomplishments of those before us and learning from their mistakes (in addition to suffering for their failings). That’s always been the case to some extent. But societal affluence does not equal individual godliness. Collective knowledge does not equate to personal holiness.
What will the world be like when those who are born today are in the prime of their lives? (What will the world be like when little Charlie might be having a family of her own?) No one can say, of course. But it’s important to learn from the past, and also recognise the trends of the present. Current indications are that 25 years from now Christianity will be greatly diminished in this country. We’ve already been witnessing the decline for decades. If the younger generations continue to fall so quickly away from the faith many churches and parishes simply won’t exist.
It’s no use being pessimistic or adopting a defeatist attitude though. And the church isn’t in the business of self-preservation, per se. The church is God’s people gathered around His gifts of word and sacrament. We are entrusted with sacred treasures. The gospel, the good news of forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation acquired by Christ and gifted to sinful humans is the greatest treasure that has ever and will ever exist. We are stewards of these treasures. Through these means the Holy Spirit raises people from spiritual death. It happens in initially in baptism. Through the same word of truth, we are fortified in Holy Communion.
The Bible says, “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.”3 That means when the Heavenly Father looks at us He sees Christ. Now, that is an astounding reality! And why is that important? If Christ, and His work of salvation were not in the foreground, we would all be like disappearing images in the rear-view mirror. Again, God’s word says, “God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having cancelled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and stood opposed to us; He took it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”4
Do you see what the Scripture says here? Jesus made a public spectacle of all ungodly authorities, gaining the victory over them by the cross. Jesus, hanging derelict, clinging to His last breath, receiving the insults and mockery of everyone who passed by, this Messiah was conquering evil in the process. Nothing would seem to be farther from the truth! It looked, by all human assessments, that He was going down in defeat. Few believed their Saviour would ever be heard from again.
Dear friends, God doesn’t secure victories the way humans do. In His most important battles, He doesn’t fight fire with fire; He fights fire with love. The heavenly Father (in justice) says, “I demand perfection.” Jesus says, “I have rendered it.” The Father says, “I demand atonement for the sins of sinners.” Jesus says, “I have given it.” Satan says, “Sinners don’t deserve God’s favour.” But Jesus says, “I do.” And so, the supreme power of God is displayed in sacrifice.
The transfiguration brings us to the end of the Epiphany season. The pilgrimage of lent lies ahead. It’s a microcosm of our life’s journey, just as Jesus’ passion was of His earthly sojourn. We don’t know what experiences we’ll still have in this life. But believer’s can be assured the triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit travels with us. The destination is not in doubt. You, too, will be transfigured. It is hard to imagine. And we have no way to wrap our minds around it save for the Holy Spirit teaching us the divine promises. The apostle says Christ will, “…transform our lowly body to be like His glorious body, by the power that enables Him even to subject all things to Himself.”5
Yes, it sounds like the stuff of sci-fi movies. But it’s much more real than that. Imagine what a cinematic spectacle could be made of Elijah’s ascent to heaven in a whirlwind, or Jesus’ metamorphosis on the mountain! The cinematographer seeks to create some emotional connection with the viewer. But we have a God who makes us the subjects, not the observers. The are no aloof or independent spectators in God’s kingdom. We will be resurrected from death. We will be raised in glory. In heaven we won’t need to worry about the peaks and valleys of life. We won’t crave a mountaintop experience. We’ll be in the inner sanctum of God’s holiness. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Transfiguration of our Lord
11 February 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Mark 9:7 2 John 14:2-3
3 Galatians 3:27 4 Colossians 2:13-15
5 Philippians 3:21
Tuesday, February 6, 2018
Harvest Thanksgiving (B) 2018
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Matthew 6:31-33
Theme: All Is Provided
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
We are still dependent on the miracle of the seed. It is the botanical equivalent of the physiological miracle of conception. Despite all our great knowledge and technical advances in agriculture and the sciences surrounding it, we depend on a more fundamental and mysterious power. Life is not self-generating or self-sustaining. Life is in God. From the awesome complexity of the human body to the simplicity of the smallest cell; life is sustained by the deeper mystery of the divine presence. Life is in God and life belongs to God. “Every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills,”1, says the Lord.
Dear friends, the God who creates is not different from the God who redeems. The God who provides is not different from the God who saves. And the God who is present with us now-who sent us His Son, gives us His Spirit, and sustains us by His promises- is not different from the One we will meet on the other side of death. Heaven, and hell, life and death, time and eternity are all present and tangible realities to Him. So, any disconnect that we now have is a result of our sinful limitations and not of His grace.
Harvest Thanksgiving is an excellent opportunity to reflect on the organic and practical nature of God’s love. In affluent societies we run the risk of ingratitude for the most basic things. Luther expresses proper gratitude in his explanation to the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil.”2
All that we have, even when we’ve worked hard for it and ‘earned it’ is still a blessing from God. We are not owners. We are stewards. We should be warned that when develop a sense of entitlement God may at any moment seek to curb it. He knows fully well the difference between what we want and what we need, something we struggle with our entire lives. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not.”3 He knows that all material blessings can be used for good or for ill and that we are no closer to Him if we have them and no further if we don’t. Efforts to keep up with the Joneses are signs of greed and discontent.
Luther continues, “All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.”4 God is motivated by His own goodness, not by His assessment of our merit. If we received things based on merit, we would rightly be denied even the smallest measure of His grace. When we believe this, faith motivates our response accordingly. And what good is it to fret over material blessings if the mercy of God is of no value to us? Jesus covered this ground when He said today, “Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”5
First things first! Creature comforts may provide a certain level of contentment for the body, but the soul in want can never be at peace. It is commonly said that when people are starving or desperate they will not listen to the gospel. Undoubtedly, when the stomach is screaming out few other messages can get through. The mission of the church is always holistic. The body must be fed along with the soul. But the former cannot render unnecessary the latter. Many well-fed people are starving to death spiritually. We are not fictitious sinners and we don’t have a fictitious Saviour. His forgiveness is essential food. “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”6
For the past weeks we’ve been speaking about what it means to follow God. Following is an activity of faith. It is marked by humility. It is renewed through repentance. And today we are reminded it is characterised by thankfulness. Gratitude is a movement of the heart. But it should also be a discipline of the will. We should cultivate the habit of being thankful even in times of trial. We can do that, not artificially, but in certainty that God uses our trials to draw us closer to Himself. We might not be able to see the forest for the trees, but God weaves us, warts and all, into the beautiful tapestry which is His church.
The engine room of our thankfulness is found right here in the Divine Service. God gives, and we receive. We then offer back to God what He has first given us; our time, treasures, and talents, over very existence. Sunday sets the rhythm of our week and each Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection miracle. St. Paul shows in the Fifteenth Chapter of First Corinthians how our earthy, tangible existence is part of a deep mystery that will unveiled in the resurrection of the dead. “But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.”7
Harvest Thanksgiving helps to keep us grounded. Even in this marginal farming area God continues to provide. Even if we were bereft of every material comfort, the knowledge of eternity is enough to fill our hearts with joy. Still, God wishes to be generous. Dear friends, you will never outpace God’s generosity. You will not surpass His compassion. You will not match His patience. Now, for sure, it may seem to us like God is being stingy at times. We may struggle, but we are never forsaken. The Christ who endured the torment of the cross for you desires that you share in the victory of His resurrection. You are His baptized.
Imagine what magnificent variety adorned the Garden of Eden! “God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.’”8 And still, after all these generations since the Fall, our merciful Lord continues to provide us with rich abundance. He provides our daily bread and gives us spiritual food to sustain our souls. The sacred meal of Holy Communion is both a benefit of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and a participation in a future reality. Received in faith, it is already an experience of the time in which faith will be obsolete. The restored Paradise, heaven, will make our harvest thanksgiving celebrations seem pretty paltry. Still, foretastes are a cause for joy. We still depend on the miracle of the seed. The seed of God’s word is planted among us and in us. It will bear a harvest. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fifth Sunday After Epiphany
Harvest Thanksgiving
4 February 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Psalm 50:10 2 Luther’s Small Catechism
3 See Psalm 23:1 4 Luther’s Small Catechism
5 Matthew 6:31-33 6 Matthew 4:4
7 1 Corinthians 15:35-39 8 Genesis 1:29
Text: Matthew 6:31-33
Theme: All Is Provided
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
We are still dependent on the miracle of the seed. It is the botanical equivalent of the physiological miracle of conception. Despite all our great knowledge and technical advances in agriculture and the sciences surrounding it, we depend on a more fundamental and mysterious power. Life is not self-generating or self-sustaining. Life is in God. From the awesome complexity of the human body to the simplicity of the smallest cell; life is sustained by the deeper mystery of the divine presence. Life is in God and life belongs to God. “Every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills,”1, says the Lord.
Dear friends, the God who creates is not different from the God who redeems. The God who provides is not different from the God who saves. And the God who is present with us now-who sent us His Son, gives us His Spirit, and sustains us by His promises- is not different from the One we will meet on the other side of death. Heaven, and hell, life and death, time and eternity are all present and tangible realities to Him. So, any disconnect that we now have is a result of our sinful limitations and not of His grace.
Harvest Thanksgiving is an excellent opportunity to reflect on the organic and practical nature of God’s love. In affluent societies we run the risk of ingratitude for the most basic things. Luther expresses proper gratitude in his explanation to the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe that God has made me and all creatures; that He has given me my body and soul, eyes, ears, and all my members, my reason and all my senses, and still takes care of them. He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life. He defends me against all danger and guards and protects me from all evil.”2
All that we have, even when we’ve worked hard for it and ‘earned it’ is still a blessing from God. We are not owners. We are stewards. We should be warned that when develop a sense of entitlement God may at any moment seek to curb it. He knows fully well the difference between what we want and what we need, something we struggle with our entire lives. “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not.”3 He knows that all material blessings can be used for good or for ill and that we are no closer to Him if we have them and no further if we don’t. Efforts to keep up with the Joneses are signs of greed and discontent.
Luther continues, “All this He does only out of fatherly, divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness in me. For all this it is my duty to thank and praise, serve and obey Him.”4 God is motivated by His own goodness, not by His assessment of our merit. If we received things based on merit, we would rightly be denied even the smallest measure of His grace. When we believe this, faith motivates our response accordingly. And what good is it to fret over material blessings if the mercy of God is of no value to us? Jesus covered this ground when He said today, “Do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”5
First things first! Creature comforts may provide a certain level of contentment for the body, but the soul in want can never be at peace. It is commonly said that when people are starving or desperate they will not listen to the gospel. Undoubtedly, when the stomach is screaming out few other messages can get through. The mission of the church is always holistic. The body must be fed along with the soul. But the former cannot render unnecessary the latter. Many well-fed people are starving to death spiritually. We are not fictitious sinners and we don’t have a fictitious Saviour. His forgiveness is essential food. “Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”6
For the past weeks we’ve been speaking about what it means to follow God. Following is an activity of faith. It is marked by humility. It is renewed through repentance. And today we are reminded it is characterised by thankfulness. Gratitude is a movement of the heart. But it should also be a discipline of the will. We should cultivate the habit of being thankful even in times of trial. We can do that, not artificially, but in certainty that God uses our trials to draw us closer to Himself. We might not be able to see the forest for the trees, but God weaves us, warts and all, into the beautiful tapestry which is His church.
The engine room of our thankfulness is found right here in the Divine Service. God gives, and we receive. We then offer back to God what He has first given us; our time, treasures, and talents, over very existence. Sunday sets the rhythm of our week and each Sunday is a celebration of the resurrection miracle. St. Paul shows in the Fifteenth Chapter of First Corinthians how our earthy, tangible existence is part of a deep mystery that will unveiled in the resurrection of the dead. “But someone will ask, "How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?" You foolish person! What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of some other grain. But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to each kind of seed its own body. For not all flesh is the same, but there is one kind for humans, another for animals, another for birds, and another for fish.”7
Harvest Thanksgiving helps to keep us grounded. Even in this marginal farming area God continues to provide. Even if we were bereft of every material comfort, the knowledge of eternity is enough to fill our hearts with joy. Still, God wishes to be generous. Dear friends, you will never outpace God’s generosity. You will not surpass His compassion. You will not match His patience. Now, for sure, it may seem to us like God is being stingy at times. We may struggle, but we are never forsaken. The Christ who endured the torment of the cross for you desires that you share in the victory of His resurrection. You are His baptized.
Imagine what magnificent variety adorned the Garden of Eden! “God said, ‘Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food.’”8 And still, after all these generations since the Fall, our merciful Lord continues to provide us with rich abundance. He provides our daily bread and gives us spiritual food to sustain our souls. The sacred meal of Holy Communion is both a benefit of the death and resurrection of Jesus, and a participation in a future reality. Received in faith, it is already an experience of the time in which faith will be obsolete. The restored Paradise, heaven, will make our harvest thanksgiving celebrations seem pretty paltry. Still, foretastes are a cause for joy. We still depend on the miracle of the seed. The seed of God’s word is planted among us and in us. It will bear a harvest. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fifth Sunday After Epiphany
Harvest Thanksgiving
4 February 2018
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Psalm 50:10 2 Luther’s Small Catechism
3 See Psalm 23:1 4 Luther’s Small Catechism
5 Matthew 6:31-33 6 Matthew 4:4
7 1 Corinthians 15:35-39 8 Genesis 1:29
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