+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: John 11:25ff
Theme: The Divine Call
Dear family, friends and loved ones of Ruth; Heather, her mother, Mackenzie and Scarlett, her children, and especially you, Paul, her husband,
Where to start? Who has the right to speak to these people, on this topic, at this time; to this mother, to these children, to that husband, to this family? Opinions will vary. Some contenders have more credibility than others. Only One is peerless. He says, “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”1
Well, “We brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it.”2 The sage advice of the Scriptures is to exhaust all of our efforts and energies in the love of others, to go all in, leave it all on the field, don’t hold back, give it all you have. That’s what Ruth did, that’s what she believed, that’s who she was. She wasn’t a spectator, she wasn’t a bystander, she certainly wasn’t a quitter. And she wasn’t apathetic about the who and the how and the why- those details that actually give life meaning. She had her opinions and she wasn’t afraid to voice them.
Did Ruth have regrets? Of course, no one’s life progresses flawlessly. To err is human. To think that we are faultless in our motives, measures and movements is sheer arrogance or complete denial. But any regrets Ruth may have had were certainly not caused by indecisiveness of action or lack of initiative. Ruth didn’t sit around waiting for life to happen. She could be pretty high-octane. She was full of vitality, life, love and happiness.
Death can be stunning in its brutality and the grief that ensues absolutely incapacitating. It takes no prisoners and makes no concessions. With cold-blooded ruthlessness it eviscerates all who cross its path. There is no sense in, and really no way to, minimize or dismiss it. Vociferous efforts at placing blame might achieve some level of cathartic release but they won’t alter reality or compensate for death’s toll. You can scream at God, curse, swear, shout Him down. You can revile His name and desecrate His decrees in protest, complaint, or disgust. The Psalms of the Bible are full of raw expressions of emotion. The most significant was this one, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?”3 It was uttered by the One who was abandoned at the cross. There was a reason for that, an exceedingly important reason.
Jesus Christ, the Architect of the universe and Redeemer of humanity stood at the grave of a dear friend named Lazarus and He wept. He shed tears that were weighted with more than human sympathy. He knew the power of death, its devastation and its sadness. You see, lies repeatedly told still remain lies. Lies confidently told still remain lies. Lies cheerfully told still remain lies. Human autonomy is a lie. We have no power of self-definition or self-preservation. These are lies. We are not sovereigns. Apparent success might be achieved in conditioning, brainwashing or anesthetizing but in the moment of revelation the truth will be vindicated.
We must at least consider the possibility that God’s omniscience is superior to our myopathy. God sees all, His gaze pierces time and eternity. Our vision is confined to the limited scope of our temporal experience. The Holy Spirit can lead us from possibility to probability and then onto conviction. To believe in God at all is to recognize that we, you, me, all of us collectively, are not God. It is one step towards acknowledging our mortality.
Don’t think for a moment acknowledgment of mortality is a path we stroll down easily though. We have inbuilt denial mechanisms and they are powerful. Cognitively we accept that someone could get struck by lightning, and someone could get run over by a bus, but that’s a far cry from believing that would actually happen to us. When someone we know suddenly drops dead of a heart attack, is taken down by motor neuron disease, or snatched away by cancer’s complications our mindfulness of mortality is likely to be piqued considerably. The question is, where do we go with that? Does it lead to a reality check? Do we seek reconciliation with God or retreat to our own maneuverings?
The point is not to be morbid, macabre, or fixated with death, but to authentically consider the only viable resolution. The answer is not what, but Who. Christ is the only one who has been there- all the way there- and back. The crucifixion was the implosion of death’s power. With sin atoned for death lost its source. The pathology became obsolete. The resurrection was the triumph of life. Death for the believer becomes a transition to an unimaginably vibrant existence.
Ruth was baptized. It seems like such a small thing. But it comes with a mighty promise. It conveys all the blessings of the gospel- the unconditional love, forgiveness, and favour of God. Set aside any ideas that Ruth was more worthy of the gospel than the rest of us. She wasn’t. By definition the gospel is the Good News, the incomparable news, of God’s free and undeserved mercy in Christ. But Ruth was no less an object of His grace either. The cross was raised for her and she will follow His steps through the open grave into the Easter light just as Job confesses, “I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see Him with my own eyes.”4
Who can judge the relativity of grief? Is Heather’s grief, the grief of a mother losing a child greater than that of Mackenzie and Scarlett, children who have lost a mother? And what about Paul? Who will speak words of comfort that are more than thinly coated clichés, regardless of how genuine the intent? What gestures of support can compensate their loss? The memories, oh the memories of love, and laughter, sorrow and trauma! They will be vivid, captivating haunting, and comforting. But they are hollow substitutes for the real Ruth, the flesh and blood Ruth full of vigor and vitality. God alone must give the peace that human authority cannot give. We cannot give what we don’t possess. The Holy Spirit travels the road of grief. He lights the path.
Life is exceedingly precious. It is fragile. It is uncertain. It’s not guaranteed. Indemnity against its loss is not attainable. No price can purchase it. If an important relationship in your life is not reconciled, don’t wait, do what is in your power to resolve it. Life is short. This temporal life is a present gift but not a future promise. Cherish it. Value it. Relish it. Revere it. Celebrate it. In the caustic bitterness of our grief we can also celebrate Ruth’s life. We can do that genuinely and joyously. And we will!
Life will prevail because Christ has conquered. All who believe in Him will share His immortal life. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.”5 Ruth would not have wanted us to mope around as if our lives were permanently bereft of meaning. Grief will have its say, but it’s not the final word. Ruth would have wanted others to remember her by engaging life in all of its adversities and prosperities, by living it to the full.
Imagine the skepticism, the anticipation, and the tension when Jesus stood outside the grave of Lazarus and uttered these words, “Lazarus, come out!”6 How would this end? At the divine command he crossed back over the threshold going the ‘wrong way’ from eternity back into time. But it was a pledge and preview of greater things to come. Ruth Hall has crossed the threshold into the Paradise that defies description. She has gone the right way. The temporal end is the eternal beginning. May the abundant mercy of God sustain us in our grief and our in our celebration. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Funeral of Ruth Esther Hall
4 October 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Revelation 1:17-18 2 1 Timothy 6:7
3 Psalm 22:1 4 Job 19:25-27
5 John 11:25 6 John 11:43
Friday, October 4, 2019
Tuesday, October 1, 2019
Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost (C) 2019
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Luke 16:19-31
Theme: The Rich Man and Lazarus
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Jesus spoke many parables. He did so because He had vital things to say. Parables use analogies or comparisons. Therefore, they have their limitations. There is no evidence in the Bible that a person in hell can have an actual conversation with a person in heaven. But Jesus employs that possibility in order to drive home His point. And He does so emphatically. The language and imagery here are striking. Poor Lazarus, who has been mistreated all his life goes to heaven, and the rich man who neglected him goes to hell. A conversation ensues. The purpose is to teach about ultimate and eternal truths. Unsurprisingly, Jesus Himself is the decisive figure.
In hell, the rich man not only begs for relief for himself but shows concern for his brothers that are still living. But the opportunity to act on his regret has passed. His eternity is locked in. “Between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.”1 The chasm is evidence of the unalterable will of God. The Almighty has determined the partition between heaven and hell, and it cannot be breached. The dimensions are impregnable.
The message is unmistakable: There will be no second chances. Once you’re in the position of the remorseful rich man it’s too late. Now is the time to heed God’s warning. Now is the time to repent. Now is the time to trust in God’s mercy. Now is the time for faith to show that it is active in love. Now is the time to consider what is really most important in life. Repentance cannot be scheduled by us for a later time. It must be initiated by the Spirit. The rich man’s lack of faith was evidenced by his lack of love. Everyday Lazarus was laid at his gate and yet each day compassion was withheld. Compassion is not an optional virtue for Christians. Faith and hard-heartedness are incompatible.
Dear friends, the call to turn to God and away from sin is not fluid; that is, it can’t happen on our terms. The parameters of our repentance are not discretionary. We can’t define them anyway we’d like. Abraham responds to the rich man’s request to send Lazarus to his brothers saying, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.”2 That is, they have the word of God; they have the Bible. But the rich man insists someone will have to come from the dead to get them to repent. Only such a dramatic event will shake them out of their stubbornness. They won’t be moved by anything less. Abraham’s reply is resolute, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”3
Here the climax of the parable is reached. Jesus is previewing the lack of belief that will accompany His own resurrection from the dead. Someone will indeed come back from the dead- and not just anyone, the Son of God Himself- and still many will remain skeptics.
“Seeing is believing”, they say, but how and what do we see? Do we believe God’s promises because we see, or do we see (with spiritual eyes) because we believe?
Is it clear to us today that Ava was washed of her sins, became a child of God, and received an inheritance in heaven when we saw the baptismal water applied and heard the Name of God proclaimed? Is the Bible’s claim that this young soul is able to trust in her Saviour empirically evident? Is that why we believe in the power and blessing of baptism? Or do we see the blessing of this sacrament because we believe the promise of God? Is it not our faith in God’s trustworthiness (a faith the Spirit Himself must give) that gives credibility to this action? And is that not so with all of the most vital truths? We can see the Almighty’s creation, but how do we see the Saviour’s redemption?
The same conundrum applies in our daily struggle to follow God’s will. Sometimes God causes us to really feel the consequences of our sinfulness. Embarrassment, guilt, shame, and humiliation all help motivate us to seek forgiveness for our offences. The Holy Spirit works this motivation in us this through the hearing of God’s law. That’s what repentance involves. Of course, we might also feel the consequences of sin in other ways- regret, brokenness, hurt, and trauma- and be unaware or unsure about whether we are victims, perpetrators, or both.
But what happens when we don’t feel the effects of our sinfulness? How easy is it then to seek God’s forgiveness? If we’re not feeling remorse or regret over sin- and perhaps we’re in denial- the Bible calls upon us to believe that we are sinners who still need Christ’s forgiveness. How easy is it to see that Ava Thorpe needs forgiveness! Not very! But we believe it because ALL are conceived and born in sin. God tells us something that human reason can’t readily understand. And, dear friends, it must be true at some level- and probably for many a subconscious level- that one reason church attendance is generally in steady decline is because people don’t feel the need for forgiveness? They don’t believe it’s vital.
One thing we can be certain of is that Jesus was always teaching things that were critical and vital. He wasn’t given to trivial chit-chat. Today’s He’s teaching that the God who saves cannot be found just anywhere. We cannot construct our own access to a Him. He reveals His identity to us. We can see His capability in creation, but we can only see His compassion in the crucifixion. His might is evident in the laws of nature, but His mercy is seen only through the eyes of faith. Our Saviour is the One who hung upon the cross. There is no other. And there is no other means to answer the inescapability of our mortality. To die estranged from Jesus is to be eternally lost. That is the glaring and unmistakable point of the parable today. The rich man died alienated from hope and trust in God. He died on his own terms in his own way- full of indulgence in this life, but full of regret in the next.
In relation to God we are all like Lazarus. Even those most capable, successful, and confident in worldly terms are completely reliant on the grace of God when it comes to spiritual security. Like Lazarus who lay outside the gate of the rich man with no capacity to help himself, so too, we would all lay outside the gate of heaven never to enter under our own power. Christ had to come to us outside the gate, heal us of our sins, feed us with His sacrament, and make us honored guest of His kingdom. When we gather at this altar to receive the blessing of Christ’s body and blood we dine with Lazarus. At this table we are his peers.
Jesus said, “I am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved.”4 His church is built on unalterable truth and “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”5 He said, The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”6 He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies.”7 What promise could be more comforting or assuring than these?
Jesus often taught using parables. In this way important spiritual truths were instilled. But the work of Jesus for our salvation was no parable, analogy, or illustration. Our redemption is not part of a virtual or simulated reality. Jesus breached time and space to become part of our fallenness. The gospel is not a theoretical ideology. The baby in the manger was the victim of the cross and the conqueror of the grave. Death itself has been defeated by Him. Satan is silenced. Hell is vanquished. Its gates are shut to all who believe while the gates of heaven are open. That’s vital information for Lazarus, and for us! Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
29 September 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 16:26 2 Luke 16:29
3 Luke 16:31 4 John 10:9
5 Matthew 16:18 6 Luke 19:10
7 John 11:25
Text: Luke 16:19-31
Theme: The Rich Man and Lazarus
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Jesus spoke many parables. He did so because He had vital things to say. Parables use analogies or comparisons. Therefore, they have their limitations. There is no evidence in the Bible that a person in hell can have an actual conversation with a person in heaven. But Jesus employs that possibility in order to drive home His point. And He does so emphatically. The language and imagery here are striking. Poor Lazarus, who has been mistreated all his life goes to heaven, and the rich man who neglected him goes to hell. A conversation ensues. The purpose is to teach about ultimate and eternal truths. Unsurprisingly, Jesus Himself is the decisive figure.
In hell, the rich man not only begs for relief for himself but shows concern for his brothers that are still living. But the opportunity to act on his regret has passed. His eternity is locked in. “Between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.”1 The chasm is evidence of the unalterable will of God. The Almighty has determined the partition between heaven and hell, and it cannot be breached. The dimensions are impregnable.
The message is unmistakable: There will be no second chances. Once you’re in the position of the remorseful rich man it’s too late. Now is the time to heed God’s warning. Now is the time to repent. Now is the time to trust in God’s mercy. Now is the time for faith to show that it is active in love. Now is the time to consider what is really most important in life. Repentance cannot be scheduled by us for a later time. It must be initiated by the Spirit. The rich man’s lack of faith was evidenced by his lack of love. Everyday Lazarus was laid at his gate and yet each day compassion was withheld. Compassion is not an optional virtue for Christians. Faith and hard-heartedness are incompatible.
Dear friends, the call to turn to God and away from sin is not fluid; that is, it can’t happen on our terms. The parameters of our repentance are not discretionary. We can’t define them anyway we’d like. Abraham responds to the rich man’s request to send Lazarus to his brothers saying, “They have Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to them.”2 That is, they have the word of God; they have the Bible. But the rich man insists someone will have to come from the dead to get them to repent. Only such a dramatic event will shake them out of their stubbornness. They won’t be moved by anything less. Abraham’s reply is resolute, “If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.”3
Here the climax of the parable is reached. Jesus is previewing the lack of belief that will accompany His own resurrection from the dead. Someone will indeed come back from the dead- and not just anyone, the Son of God Himself- and still many will remain skeptics.
“Seeing is believing”, they say, but how and what do we see? Do we believe God’s promises because we see, or do we see (with spiritual eyes) because we believe?
Is it clear to us today that Ava was washed of her sins, became a child of God, and received an inheritance in heaven when we saw the baptismal water applied and heard the Name of God proclaimed? Is the Bible’s claim that this young soul is able to trust in her Saviour empirically evident? Is that why we believe in the power and blessing of baptism? Or do we see the blessing of this sacrament because we believe the promise of God? Is it not our faith in God’s trustworthiness (a faith the Spirit Himself must give) that gives credibility to this action? And is that not so with all of the most vital truths? We can see the Almighty’s creation, but how do we see the Saviour’s redemption?
The same conundrum applies in our daily struggle to follow God’s will. Sometimes God causes us to really feel the consequences of our sinfulness. Embarrassment, guilt, shame, and humiliation all help motivate us to seek forgiveness for our offences. The Holy Spirit works this motivation in us this through the hearing of God’s law. That’s what repentance involves. Of course, we might also feel the consequences of sin in other ways- regret, brokenness, hurt, and trauma- and be unaware or unsure about whether we are victims, perpetrators, or both.
But what happens when we don’t feel the effects of our sinfulness? How easy is it then to seek God’s forgiveness? If we’re not feeling remorse or regret over sin- and perhaps we’re in denial- the Bible calls upon us to believe that we are sinners who still need Christ’s forgiveness. How easy is it to see that Ava Thorpe needs forgiveness! Not very! But we believe it because ALL are conceived and born in sin. God tells us something that human reason can’t readily understand. And, dear friends, it must be true at some level- and probably for many a subconscious level- that one reason church attendance is generally in steady decline is because people don’t feel the need for forgiveness? They don’t believe it’s vital.
One thing we can be certain of is that Jesus was always teaching things that were critical and vital. He wasn’t given to trivial chit-chat. Today’s He’s teaching that the God who saves cannot be found just anywhere. We cannot construct our own access to a Him. He reveals His identity to us. We can see His capability in creation, but we can only see His compassion in the crucifixion. His might is evident in the laws of nature, but His mercy is seen only through the eyes of faith. Our Saviour is the One who hung upon the cross. There is no other. And there is no other means to answer the inescapability of our mortality. To die estranged from Jesus is to be eternally lost. That is the glaring and unmistakable point of the parable today. The rich man died alienated from hope and trust in God. He died on his own terms in his own way- full of indulgence in this life, but full of regret in the next.
In relation to God we are all like Lazarus. Even those most capable, successful, and confident in worldly terms are completely reliant on the grace of God when it comes to spiritual security. Like Lazarus who lay outside the gate of the rich man with no capacity to help himself, so too, we would all lay outside the gate of heaven never to enter under our own power. Christ had to come to us outside the gate, heal us of our sins, feed us with His sacrament, and make us honored guest of His kingdom. When we gather at this altar to receive the blessing of Christ’s body and blood we dine with Lazarus. At this table we are his peers.
Jesus said, “I am the gate; whoever enters through Me will be saved.”4 His church is built on unalterable truth and “the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”5 He said, The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”6 He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me will live, even though he dies.”7 What promise could be more comforting or assuring than these?
Jesus often taught using parables. In this way important spiritual truths were instilled. But the work of Jesus for our salvation was no parable, analogy, or illustration. Our redemption is not part of a virtual or simulated reality. Jesus breached time and space to become part of our fallenness. The gospel is not a theoretical ideology. The baby in the manger was the victim of the cross and the conqueror of the grave. Death itself has been defeated by Him. Satan is silenced. Hell is vanquished. Its gates are shut to all who believe while the gates of heaven are open. That’s vital information for Lazarus, and for us! Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Sixteenth Sunday After Pentecost
29 September 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 16:26 2 Luke 16:29
3 Luke 16:31 4 John 10:9
5 Matthew 16:18 6 Luke 19:10
7 John 11:25
Funeral for Barbara Kalisch (27 September 2019)
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: John 14:3
Theme: To Be Where I Am
Dear family, friends and loved ones of Barbara; Graham, Mark, Stephen, and Annette, her children, and especially you, Ralph, her husband of 65 years;
Barbara is no longer transitioning. She has reached the destination. She’s no longer progressing, she has arrived. She is no longer a pilgrim with us trekking through this wilderness, she has reached the promised land. The Saviour said, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am”1 Thanks be to God that promise has now been fulfilled! Barbara has been released from all of the burdens of this mortal existence. She has been crowned with life. She is at peace.
Dear friends, death is the universal human crisis. Death is said to be ‘natural’; and it’s accepted as natural by many because that’s what we’ve been conditioned to believe is the settled consensus of humanity. People grow old and then they die. Sometimes they don’t grow old and that’s when we tend to struggle with the deeper questions of mortality. But death isn’t actually natural at all. It’s a consequence of sin. The Scripture says, “the wages of sin is death.”2 And because all people are sinners nobody can escape it.
Reflecting on mortality should always cause us to reassess our priorities in life. What gets you out of bed each day? What do we value, and why? Are we driven by selfish motives or do we live to serve others? In what, or who do we ultimately trust? Do we see each day as a pure gift that we’ve neither earned nor deserved? Do we recognize that there are no guarantees and that the time to draw near to God is never later, it’s always now? The way these questions are answered goes along way to clarifying whether ours is a biblical, Christian worldview. No power that we have, individually or collectively, can bring us through this valley of sorrow to the heavenly life. Only Christ can do that. He does it only by grace through faith. These truths dwarf all others in the end.
Death was never God’s plan, but He wasn’t remiss in addressing humanity’s transgression. The Son of God left the place of perfection and came to our state of corruption. He left the realm of life and came to the dimension death. He suffered. He died. He bore our sins. He rose from the grave. And He still purposefully, and passionately, and persistently pursues sinners. Remember the words of the apostle from a moment ago, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all- how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?...Christ Jesus-who died-more than that, who was raised to life- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”3
Barbara was a faithful member of this congregation for many years. Here she enjoyed fellowship with God and with His people. Here she heard His words of wisdom, grace, and comfort. Here her sins were forgiven again and again. Here her faith was nourished through His body and blood in Holy Communion. Here she was strengthened to live her faith in all the different vocations to which God had called her.
And she did this faithfully, especially as a wife, a mother, a grand mother and great grandmother. Many people were blessed by her amiable presence and hospitable ways. It didn’t mean she was exempt from challenges or sailed through life without any regrets. She grappled with depression for more than half of her life. But Barbara was perseverant. By the grace of God, she pressed on through thick and thin. Her last days became a struggle and she was ready to be at home with her Lord.
She’s now enjoying the inheritance of her baptism. We heard the words at the beginning of the service, “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death?”4 That was true for Barbara, and now the threat of facing anymore melancholy has dissolved like mist in the noonday sun. But we’re still here and life must go on. Grief is clear evidence of our humanity. Grief brings scars, and scars, by definition are something we carry with us for the rest of our lives. Indeed, nobody goes through this life without accumulating scars. We might think we can cover them with cosmetic solutions much like those who chase eternal youth resort to all kinds of cosmetic enhancements to make themselves look younger (and supposedly better) than they really are. But that doesn’t work in the end. Only the Holy Spirit can fill the emptiness when a loved one passes. Barbara is safe in God’s presence and His truths, His warnings, and His promises are now directed at us.
Ralph, you and Barbara celebrated 65 years of marriage together. It’s an impressive feat that’s not likely to be matched by nearly as many couples in the next generation. The Bible compares the relationship between Christ and His bride, the Church to a marriage. More accurately, human marriage is just a reflection of the greater union between Jesus and believers. Human marriages have their challenges. They involve two sinners struggling to be faithful in accordance with God’s will. But Christ is the perfect Bridegroom who cherishes His Bride with sublime, eternal, and peerless love. Reflecting on this profound reality the apostle Paul says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church, and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”5
Dear friends, Barbara has been presented to her God radiant, holy, and blameless. She now has her place at the marriage supper of the Lamb. It is the eternal celebration of those who enjoy the presence of the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, saints and angels forever more. Barbara believed her Lord when He said, “I will come back and take you to be with Me”6 Her trust has not been in vain. She also believed “in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”7 And she will not be disappointed. Thanks be to God for His immeasurable love. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Funeral of Barbara Kalisch
27 September 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 John 14:3 2 Romans 6:23
3 Romans 8:31-32, 34 4 Romans 6:3
5 Ephesians 5:25-27 6 John 14:3
7 The Nicene Creed
Text: John 14:3
Theme: To Be Where I Am
Dear family, friends and loved ones of Barbara; Graham, Mark, Stephen, and Annette, her children, and especially you, Ralph, her husband of 65 years;
Barbara is no longer transitioning. She has reached the destination. She’s no longer progressing, she has arrived. She is no longer a pilgrim with us trekking through this wilderness, she has reached the promised land. The Saviour said, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am”1 Thanks be to God that promise has now been fulfilled! Barbara has been released from all of the burdens of this mortal existence. She has been crowned with life. She is at peace.
Dear friends, death is the universal human crisis. Death is said to be ‘natural’; and it’s accepted as natural by many because that’s what we’ve been conditioned to believe is the settled consensus of humanity. People grow old and then they die. Sometimes they don’t grow old and that’s when we tend to struggle with the deeper questions of mortality. But death isn’t actually natural at all. It’s a consequence of sin. The Scripture says, “the wages of sin is death.”2 And because all people are sinners nobody can escape it.
Reflecting on mortality should always cause us to reassess our priorities in life. What gets you out of bed each day? What do we value, and why? Are we driven by selfish motives or do we live to serve others? In what, or who do we ultimately trust? Do we see each day as a pure gift that we’ve neither earned nor deserved? Do we recognize that there are no guarantees and that the time to draw near to God is never later, it’s always now? The way these questions are answered goes along way to clarifying whether ours is a biblical, Christian worldview. No power that we have, individually or collectively, can bring us through this valley of sorrow to the heavenly life. Only Christ can do that. He does it only by grace through faith. These truths dwarf all others in the end.
Death was never God’s plan, but He wasn’t remiss in addressing humanity’s transgression. The Son of God left the place of perfection and came to our state of corruption. He left the realm of life and came to the dimension death. He suffered. He died. He bore our sins. He rose from the grave. And He still purposefully, and passionately, and persistently pursues sinners. Remember the words of the apostle from a moment ago, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all- how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?...Christ Jesus-who died-more than that, who was raised to life- is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.”3
Barbara was a faithful member of this congregation for many years. Here she enjoyed fellowship with God and with His people. Here she heard His words of wisdom, grace, and comfort. Here her sins were forgiven again and again. Here her faith was nourished through His body and blood in Holy Communion. Here she was strengthened to live her faith in all the different vocations to which God had called her.
And she did this faithfully, especially as a wife, a mother, a grand mother and great grandmother. Many people were blessed by her amiable presence and hospitable ways. It didn’t mean she was exempt from challenges or sailed through life without any regrets. She grappled with depression for more than half of her life. But Barbara was perseverant. By the grace of God, she pressed on through thick and thin. Her last days became a struggle and she was ready to be at home with her Lord.
She’s now enjoying the inheritance of her baptism. We heard the words at the beginning of the service, “Don’t you know that all of us who were baptised into Christ Jesus were baptised into His death?”4 That was true for Barbara, and now the threat of facing anymore melancholy has dissolved like mist in the noonday sun. But we’re still here and life must go on. Grief is clear evidence of our humanity. Grief brings scars, and scars, by definition are something we carry with us for the rest of our lives. Indeed, nobody goes through this life without accumulating scars. We might think we can cover them with cosmetic solutions much like those who chase eternal youth resort to all kinds of cosmetic enhancements to make themselves look younger (and supposedly better) than they really are. But that doesn’t work in the end. Only the Holy Spirit can fill the emptiness when a loved one passes. Barbara is safe in God’s presence and His truths, His warnings, and His promises are now directed at us.
Ralph, you and Barbara celebrated 65 years of marriage together. It’s an impressive feat that’s not likely to be matched by nearly as many couples in the next generation. The Bible compares the relationship between Christ and His bride, the Church to a marriage. More accurately, human marriage is just a reflection of the greater union between Jesus and believers. Human marriages have their challenges. They involve two sinners struggling to be faithful in accordance with God’s will. But Christ is the perfect Bridegroom who cherishes His Bride with sublime, eternal, and peerless love. Reflecting on this profound reality the apostle Paul says, “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church, and gave Himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to Himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.”5
Dear friends, Barbara has been presented to her God radiant, holy, and blameless. She now has her place at the marriage supper of the Lamb. It is the eternal celebration of those who enjoy the presence of the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, saints and angels forever more. Barbara believed her Lord when He said, “I will come back and take you to be with Me”6 Her trust has not been in vain. She also believed “in the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.”7 And she will not be disappointed. Thanks be to God for His immeasurable love. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Funeral of Barbara Kalisch
27 September 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 John 14:3 2 Romans 6:23
3 Romans 8:31-32, 34 4 Romans 6:3
5 Ephesians 5:25-27 6 John 14:3
7 The Nicene Creed
Monday, September 23, 2019
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost (C) 2019
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Luke 16:1-13
Theme: Managing Material Blessings
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Jesus Christ was not an aloof religious sage. He did not issue decrees from an ‘ivory tower’. He was savvy in the ways of the world. He understood how fallen humanity thinks and how the unrighteous operate. It’s the same world we still live in today. We can’t assume the unbelieving world always wants to do the right thing from the right motives. In fact, we can safely assume the opposite. Jesus says today, “The people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.”1 Of course, no one can outwit Jesus and He wants His own disciples to be savvy about how the worldly-minded think and act. As He says elsewhere, He wants them to be “Wise as serpents but innocent as doves.”2 The same is true for us.
And so, today Jesus teaches what is widely considered to be one of the more challenging of His parables. He tells of a manager who was called to give account to the owner for mis-handling his assets. Those who owed the rich man money appear to be tenants who were share-cropping his various estates. The shrewd and quick-thinking manager went to the tenants individually and had them reduce their debt (to be paid in kind) to the owner significantly- a thousand bushels of wheat marked down to eight hundred, eight hundred gallons of olive oil to four hundred and so forth.
The reasonable concern of many is that here Jesus seems to be condoning dishonesty, or at least turning a blind eye. After all, in the parable the owner or master represents God, and the manager His servants. But the recommendation of dishonesty would flatly contradict the consistent witness of Scripture and of Jesus Himself. He is not encouraging people to break the Seventh Commandment (You shall not steal). He is not making exceptions for certain circumstances. He is using a real-world example that included a dishonest practice. But the dishonesty is not the point of this parable, it’s beside the point.
The parable is about the stewardship of temporary things in light of God’s permanent things. If the manager loses the support of the master, he is finished. So, what does he do? The manager puts all of his eggs in one basket. He doesn’t try to justify himself. He doesn’t despair. He doesn’t give up. He shrewdly puts the owner in a difficult position. If he doesn’t honour the manager’s writing down of the tenants’ debts his generous reputation will be impugned. The manager banks on the owner’s mercy and he is not disappointed. This is a key point in the parable. It’s God’s approval that we need above all else. Only He can truly supply our needs.
Jesus lived in a far less affluent society than we do. Still, He constantly warned people about the idolatry of materialism and taught them what it meant to be true stewards. Do we serve, or worship our wealth, or do we use it to serve others recognizing that it has no use in the life to come? What controls you? Who or what do you serve? What causes you the greatest anxiety, fear, or loss of hope? Where do you look for security? What calms your fears and puts your mind at ease? The answers to these questions tell us who or what our God/god is.
Most people are very self-aware of which temptations are particularly problematic for them. The temptations of lust, of greed, of jealously, of apathy, of cold-heartedness, of dishonesty challenge believers to different degrees. The Holy Spirit pricks our consciences when we stray outside God’s will and contrition initiates corrective action (in addition to greatly increasing our appreciation for the gospel). Yet, in spite of our general self-awareness of temptation, we can become blind and numb to certain sinful tendencies. It happens through denial. It happens through downplaying the seriousness of the offence. And it happens through flat-out disobedience. This applies also to the temptation of materialism.
A woman who had broken off the engagement with her former fiancée wrote him this letter: “Dearest Tommy, no words could ever express the great unhappiness I’ve felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you’ll take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you; I love you; I love you! I love you!”
Yours forever, Marie. PS: And congratulations on winning the lottery.
Our sinful desires, words, and actions cannot be satiated, they must be slain. They must be continually eradicated like weeds that persistently sprout. The Scriptures, not coincidentally, employ the term crucify. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”3 But, unlike the crucifixion of Jesus, this problem requires continually crucifying our sinful ways. That’s the implication of Luther’s explanation of the power of baptism. “It indicates that the Old Adam in us [our sinful desires] should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man daily should arise and emerge…”4 In other words, every time the Holy Spirit brings us to true repentance, a crucifixion happens. Those sins are put behind us, they are buried, and we are given a new lease on life; a clean slate.
Remember, the unbelieving world seeks only to deal with the consequences of sin. It enacts many laws to do so. Sometimes these laws don’t even have the consensus of unbelievers. Christians however, insofar as they truly wish to be Christians, are concerned with the root, the cause of sin. Unbelievers may or may not strive to follow the laws of the land and reap the rewards or consequences. Believers strive to follow the will of God. We don’t need to earn any rewards. Christ has already done that. We can serve freely. We can use all of our talents and blessing to help people to know God and His grace.
Jesus knew that meant having some understanding of how the world operates. Jesus also knows that the desire is so great, and the pull is so strong that many must face their mortality before confronting the idolatry of materialism. Often God uses trauma to initiate a reassessment of priorities. Even then, some sadly die believing that their great accumulation of wealth will somehow carry them to a blessed life in the hereafter. It’s a particular weakness of human nature to believe we can project our current status into the next life. But do not have any doubt, dear friends, that the believer who dies without a penny to his name still enjoys the full riches of heaven.
Remember what the apostle Paul says today, “[God] … desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all…”5 That ransom was the price for our salvation. In Christ, we are rich beyond measure. We have a baptismal inheritance. We have the most wholesome food imaginable. We will never be disappointed when we bank on God’s mercy. He went to the cross. He overcame death and the grave. Neither poverty nor prosperity elevates or lowers us in Christ’s eyes. His love is indiscriminate. Thanks be to God! Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost
22 September 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 16:8 2 Matthew 10:16
3 Galatians 5:24 4 Luther’s Small Catechism, baptism part iv
5 2 Timothy 2:4-6
Text: Luke 16:1-13
Theme: Managing Material Blessings
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
Jesus Christ was not an aloof religious sage. He did not issue decrees from an ‘ivory tower’. He was savvy in the ways of the world. He understood how fallen humanity thinks and how the unrighteous operate. It’s the same world we still live in today. We can’t assume the unbelieving world always wants to do the right thing from the right motives. In fact, we can safely assume the opposite. Jesus says today, “The people of this world are more shrewd in dealing with their own kind than are the people of the light.”1 Of course, no one can outwit Jesus and He wants His own disciples to be savvy about how the worldly-minded think and act. As He says elsewhere, He wants them to be “Wise as serpents but innocent as doves.”2 The same is true for us.
And so, today Jesus teaches what is widely considered to be one of the more challenging of His parables. He tells of a manager who was called to give account to the owner for mis-handling his assets. Those who owed the rich man money appear to be tenants who were share-cropping his various estates. The shrewd and quick-thinking manager went to the tenants individually and had them reduce their debt (to be paid in kind) to the owner significantly- a thousand bushels of wheat marked down to eight hundred, eight hundred gallons of olive oil to four hundred and so forth.
The reasonable concern of many is that here Jesus seems to be condoning dishonesty, or at least turning a blind eye. After all, in the parable the owner or master represents God, and the manager His servants. But the recommendation of dishonesty would flatly contradict the consistent witness of Scripture and of Jesus Himself. He is not encouraging people to break the Seventh Commandment (You shall not steal). He is not making exceptions for certain circumstances. He is using a real-world example that included a dishonest practice. But the dishonesty is not the point of this parable, it’s beside the point.
The parable is about the stewardship of temporary things in light of God’s permanent things. If the manager loses the support of the master, he is finished. So, what does he do? The manager puts all of his eggs in one basket. He doesn’t try to justify himself. He doesn’t despair. He doesn’t give up. He shrewdly puts the owner in a difficult position. If he doesn’t honour the manager’s writing down of the tenants’ debts his generous reputation will be impugned. The manager banks on the owner’s mercy and he is not disappointed. This is a key point in the parable. It’s God’s approval that we need above all else. Only He can truly supply our needs.
Jesus lived in a far less affluent society than we do. Still, He constantly warned people about the idolatry of materialism and taught them what it meant to be true stewards. Do we serve, or worship our wealth, or do we use it to serve others recognizing that it has no use in the life to come? What controls you? Who or what do you serve? What causes you the greatest anxiety, fear, or loss of hope? Where do you look for security? What calms your fears and puts your mind at ease? The answers to these questions tell us who or what our God/god is.
Most people are very self-aware of which temptations are particularly problematic for them. The temptations of lust, of greed, of jealously, of apathy, of cold-heartedness, of dishonesty challenge believers to different degrees. The Holy Spirit pricks our consciences when we stray outside God’s will and contrition initiates corrective action (in addition to greatly increasing our appreciation for the gospel). Yet, in spite of our general self-awareness of temptation, we can become blind and numb to certain sinful tendencies. It happens through denial. It happens through downplaying the seriousness of the offence. And it happens through flat-out disobedience. This applies also to the temptation of materialism.
A woman who had broken off the engagement with her former fiancée wrote him this letter: “Dearest Tommy, no words could ever express the great unhappiness I’ve felt since breaking our engagement. Please say you’ll take me back. No one could ever take your place in my heart, so please forgive me. I love you; I love you; I love you! I love you!”
Yours forever, Marie. PS: And congratulations on winning the lottery.
Our sinful desires, words, and actions cannot be satiated, they must be slain. They must be continually eradicated like weeds that persistently sprout. The Scriptures, not coincidentally, employ the term crucify. “Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires.”3 But, unlike the crucifixion of Jesus, this problem requires continually crucifying our sinful ways. That’s the implication of Luther’s explanation of the power of baptism. “It indicates that the Old Adam in us [our sinful desires] should by daily contrition and repentance be drowned and die with all sins and evil desires, and that a new man daily should arise and emerge…”4 In other words, every time the Holy Spirit brings us to true repentance, a crucifixion happens. Those sins are put behind us, they are buried, and we are given a new lease on life; a clean slate.
Remember, the unbelieving world seeks only to deal with the consequences of sin. It enacts many laws to do so. Sometimes these laws don’t even have the consensus of unbelievers. Christians however, insofar as they truly wish to be Christians, are concerned with the root, the cause of sin. Unbelievers may or may not strive to follow the laws of the land and reap the rewards or consequences. Believers strive to follow the will of God. We don’t need to earn any rewards. Christ has already done that. We can serve freely. We can use all of our talents and blessing to help people to know God and His grace.
Jesus knew that meant having some understanding of how the world operates. Jesus also knows that the desire is so great, and the pull is so strong that many must face their mortality before confronting the idolatry of materialism. Often God uses trauma to initiate a reassessment of priorities. Even then, some sadly die believing that their great accumulation of wealth will somehow carry them to a blessed life in the hereafter. It’s a particular weakness of human nature to believe we can project our current status into the next life. But do not have any doubt, dear friends, that the believer who dies without a penny to his name still enjoys the full riches of heaven.
Remember what the apostle Paul says today, “[God] … desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all…”5 That ransom was the price for our salvation. In Christ, we are rich beyond measure. We have a baptismal inheritance. We have the most wholesome food imaginable. We will never be disappointed when we bank on God’s mercy. He went to the cross. He overcame death and the grave. Neither poverty nor prosperity elevates or lowers us in Christ’s eyes. His love is indiscriminate. Thanks be to God! Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost
22 September 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Luke 16:8 2 Matthew 10:16
3 Galatians 5:24 4 Luther’s Small Catechism, baptism part iv
5 2 Timothy 2:4-6
Thursday, September 19, 2019
Funeral for Austin Atkinson 19 September 2019
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: 1 Corinthians 10:4
Theme: “That Rock Was Christ”
Dear family, friends and loved ones of Austin; Alan and Simon, his sons, and especially you, Leslie;
Aussie has reached maturity. He hasn’t done it under his own steam. The Almighty has swiftly carried him out of this life. Aussie was baptized, right here in this church as a mature-aged man and the promise of his baptism has now been realized. You probably noticed that his baptism text was quite an unusual one, including God’s warnings and promises, and that is probably because of that maturity. At that point he’d already experienced a thing or too in life. He knew the dangers and temptations that were out there. He wanted to avoid them. Now all of his worries, struggles, or regrets are finished.
The Scripture says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”1 That’s it! The way of salvation is not complicated. Cast yourself on Christ’s mercy, believe in His promises, He is “the way and the truth and the life.”2 But, dear friends, it is also unimaginably difficult. The devil, the world, and our sinful natures throw at us a million different distractions, priorities, and temptations. The Holy Spirit always tries to draw our focus beyond the fallenness of this life to the salvation Jesus brings. To do this He directs us to the cross. Only Jesus can forgive sins.
Without the cross there could be no salvation, only darkness, death and despair. Only the atoning sacrifice of Jesus paid the price for our sins and opened the gates of heaven. In His resurrection Jesus gained victory over the power of death. All who believe in Him can look forward to sharing in the immortality of His life.
Dear friends, reflecting on mortality should always cause us to reassess our priorities in life. What do we value, and why? Where are our time and energy invested? In what or who do we ultimately trust? Do we have our blinders on, or are our heads buried in the sand? Are we happy to just live with sin and brokenness, or do we want them resolved?
Aussie’s sudden passing is a vivid reminder that tomorrow is not guaranteed to us. Each day is a gift. Unless the Lord comes back first- and that is His prerogative- all of us are going to be part of this scene we’re experiencing right now. There are no exceptions. No power that we have, individually or collectively, can bring us across the threshold to the heavenly life. Only Christ can do that. He does it by grace through faith.
Aussie’s congenial personality and amiable ways endeared him to those he met. We thank God for the blessing that he was to those who knew and loved him. Austin has been relieved of all the burden’s and cares of this mortal life. He’s at peace. He’s enjoying the inheritance of his baptism. But we’re still here and grieving is clear evidence of our humanity. Aussie won’t be replaced, no one can be. But life must go on. We are here to farewell and take leave of Aussie, but there’s nothing more we can do for him. God’s words, His truths, His warnings, His promises are directed at us.
Leslie, you’ve had more than your share of grief, having lost two husbands previously and a son. You’re a veteran of these affairs. But that doesn’t automatically make it easier. Grief brings scars, and scars, by definition are something we carry with us for the rest of our lives. Indeed, nobody goes through this life without accumulating scars. We might think we can cover them with cosmetic solutions much like those who chase eternal youth resort to all kinds of cosmetic enhancements to make themselves look younger (and supposedly better) than they really are. But that doesn’t work in the end.
Responses to losing a loved one can include denial, withdrawal, anger, apathy, and despair. Everyone is different. There is no formula for grieving, but grief is best faced head on. If we try to deny it, it won’t go away. If we try to suppress it, it will boil over at some point. But Christ can bear the burden, He can carry the weight. God is bigger than death. Christ was not and will never be defeated. The Holy Spirit gives us light and hope even in the darkest times. God created the universe out of nothing. He can raise the dead just as easily and He promises to do it. “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”3 In the Saviour’s blessed name, Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Funeral of Austin (Aussie) Craig Atkinson
19 September 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Romans 10:9 2 John 14:6
3 John 3:16
Text: 1 Corinthians 10:4
Theme: “That Rock Was Christ”
Dear family, friends and loved ones of Austin; Alan and Simon, his sons, and especially you, Leslie;
Aussie has reached maturity. He hasn’t done it under his own steam. The Almighty has swiftly carried him out of this life. Aussie was baptized, right here in this church as a mature-aged man and the promise of his baptism has now been realized. You probably noticed that his baptism text was quite an unusual one, including God’s warnings and promises, and that is probably because of that maturity. At that point he’d already experienced a thing or too in life. He knew the dangers and temptations that were out there. He wanted to avoid them. Now all of his worries, struggles, or regrets are finished.
The Scripture says, “If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.”1 That’s it! The way of salvation is not complicated. Cast yourself on Christ’s mercy, believe in His promises, He is “the way and the truth and the life.”2 But, dear friends, it is also unimaginably difficult. The devil, the world, and our sinful natures throw at us a million different distractions, priorities, and temptations. The Holy Spirit always tries to draw our focus beyond the fallenness of this life to the salvation Jesus brings. To do this He directs us to the cross. Only Jesus can forgive sins.
Without the cross there could be no salvation, only darkness, death and despair. Only the atoning sacrifice of Jesus paid the price for our sins and opened the gates of heaven. In His resurrection Jesus gained victory over the power of death. All who believe in Him can look forward to sharing in the immortality of His life.
Dear friends, reflecting on mortality should always cause us to reassess our priorities in life. What do we value, and why? Where are our time and energy invested? In what or who do we ultimately trust? Do we have our blinders on, or are our heads buried in the sand? Are we happy to just live with sin and brokenness, or do we want them resolved?
Aussie’s sudden passing is a vivid reminder that tomorrow is not guaranteed to us. Each day is a gift. Unless the Lord comes back first- and that is His prerogative- all of us are going to be part of this scene we’re experiencing right now. There are no exceptions. No power that we have, individually or collectively, can bring us across the threshold to the heavenly life. Only Christ can do that. He does it by grace through faith.
Aussie’s congenial personality and amiable ways endeared him to those he met. We thank God for the blessing that he was to those who knew and loved him. Austin has been relieved of all the burden’s and cares of this mortal life. He’s at peace. He’s enjoying the inheritance of his baptism. But we’re still here and grieving is clear evidence of our humanity. Aussie won’t be replaced, no one can be. But life must go on. We are here to farewell and take leave of Aussie, but there’s nothing more we can do for him. God’s words, His truths, His warnings, His promises are directed at us.
Leslie, you’ve had more than your share of grief, having lost two husbands previously and a son. You’re a veteran of these affairs. But that doesn’t automatically make it easier. Grief brings scars, and scars, by definition are something we carry with us for the rest of our lives. Indeed, nobody goes through this life without accumulating scars. We might think we can cover them with cosmetic solutions much like those who chase eternal youth resort to all kinds of cosmetic enhancements to make themselves look younger (and supposedly better) than they really are. But that doesn’t work in the end.
Responses to losing a loved one can include denial, withdrawal, anger, apathy, and despair. Everyone is different. There is no formula for grieving, but grief is best faced head on. If we try to deny it, it won’t go away. If we try to suppress it, it will boil over at some point. But Christ can bear the burden, He can carry the weight. God is bigger than death. Christ was not and will never be defeated. The Holy Spirit gives us light and hope even in the darkest times. God created the universe out of nothing. He can raise the dead just as easily and He promises to do it. “God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”3 In the Saviour’s blessed name, Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Funeral of Austin (Aussie) Craig Atkinson
19 September 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Romans 10:9 2 John 14:6
3 John 3:16
Monday, September 16, 2019
Installation of Pastor Dean Mills Berri-Barmera 15 September 2019
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Romans 12:4-8
Theme: One Body, Different Vocations
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God wants us to have certainty about the most important things. He desires that we have a confident trust in His promises. The Holy Spirit is always working towards this goal. Sin, of course, is always destabilizing our confidence and Satan works that angle relentlessly and often, efficiently. The devil’s tool is doubt. Surely God is impotent, careless, or apathetic! Just look at the balance of the empirical evidence. But God is unfazed. His powers to create, to forgive, to resurrect from death will be vindicated in due course. Meanwhile, faith perseveres through the prosperities and adversities of life.
We’re here today because God wants us to have conviction that His truth is both relevant and reliable. Therefore, God ordains locations of access to His blessings. The primary ones are the word, baptism, and Holy Communion. He does this for the purpose of certainty. He wants us to know that in and through those gifts the Holy Spirit is present and working. We don’t have to search clumsily or desperately around wondering where we might make contact with God’s truth. Don’t get me wrong, people will continue to search in all different kinds of interesting and uninteresting, innocent and dangerous, places to find God. But these will prove fruitless in the end.
When was the last time uncertainty made you feel vulnerable? Maybe you lost your keys, your mobile phone, your handbag, or your wallet. Maybe your financial stability is as risk due to unforeseen circumstances. Maybe an important relationship is full of tension and unease. Maybe the medical tests are in and you’re waiting for the results? We go to great lengths to mitigate uncertainty. That’s why people purchase insurance for such a wide range of things. If you knew for certain that the contents of your home would never be damaged by theft, fire, or flood, would you still pay for home and contents insurance? And why would you? If you knew for sure that you would never be sick for a day in your life, but that God would swiftly call you home when you reached the century mark, would you take out health cover? What happens when people don’t know where to turn for answers, where to go for assurance?
Today, we’re here to celebrate a particular way that God provides certainty: Through the gift of pastors and their vocation. The certainty that comes with the office of the ministry is probably not appreciated for what it is. But think only of the implication of your pastor standing before you in the Divine Service and saying, “I, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God to all of you, and on behalf of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”1 You’ll note that the word ‘Word’ is capitalized. Jesus is the Word. So, it’s no small privilege or insignificant responsibility. You have called Pastor Dean for the very specific reason of speaking Jesus’ words to you.
Now, you may, over the course of time, find that Pastor Dean has limited capacities. You may even notice tendencies, preferences, and God forbid- biases. You might even disagree or become offended by something he says or does. (I do pray that the merger of the two congregations has initiated a new honeymoon phase and that it will last for a very long time.) But, in stressful times, remember that he is a fallible, sinful human being just like you and me. He’s not Superman; but he is entrusted with the stewardship of supernatural things. The Holy Spirit has, through the agency of these congregations (not through the sanctity of his personal character) called him to this office of service.
Remember that like you, he is a child of God. He holds the office, but he doesn’t have a mark of indelibility. He too is restored and sustained by the same forgiveness. Remember he has a wife and family, and that they are not called to the same office. No one can be all things to all people. In the body of Christ each one is gifted in a way that contributes to the well-being of the whole. Pastor Dean, like you, is baptized. That makes him, like you, part of the priesthood of all believers. Baptism gives all believers equal status before the Almighty. All are justified by grace, through faith, for Jesus’s sake. God declares believers righteous and He does so not by mere fiat, that is., force of will, but on the basis of the atoning death and life-giving resurrection of Jesus. Baptism makes us participants of these powers and blessings. But baptism doesn’t determine vocation. God has other ways to determine vocational identity.
The apostle Paul says in Romans, “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given us.”2 You see, we’re in this together. Each of you is gifted in a way that contributes to the common good of God’s people. Pastor Dean is not here to do your work. He’s not here to take over the witness, the worship, and the identity of the people of these congregations. And don’t think for a moment that God considers Pastor Dean’s vocation more holy than yours.
In teaching about the importance of everyone’s vocation, everyone’s contribution, everyone’s gift in service of the whole, Luther used this example from his day, “I recall two leading jurists at Erfurt. When the time came for them to die, they said to each other, sighing deeply: ‘Oh, if we had not been doctors of law but monks, how much more blessedly we would die!’ …And so it was that only one remedy remained. They demanded that, in addition to the sacred rites which they bought at a high price, their bodies should be shrouded in a monk’s cowl so that they would be buried in the monastic habit. Did these men not show clearly enough that they did not know they had served God in their own office?”3
Dear friends, uneasiness and uncertainty will always be part of the human condition. We’re inclined to dip a toe in the water instead of taking a leap of faith. It’s a little like Uncle Oscar who was apprehensive about his first airplane ride. His grandchildren, eager to hear how it went, asked if he enjoyed the flight. "Well," commented Uncle Oscar, "it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, but I'll tell you this. I never did put all my weight down!" Dear friends, we can put all our weight down on Christ. His plan of salvation is not going to crash to the ground. His mission is not going to fail. He will not leave us behind when the going gets tough. He’s been to the cross. He triumphed over death. He desires that we share in His immortal life. Pastor Dean is not here to push you, but he is here to hold your hand as you take the leap of faith.
It would be remiss of us to overlook the fact that today’s appointed gospel reading contains the parable of the lost sheep. The Greek word for pastor is the word for shepherd. It’s one of the most endearing images in the Scriptures. The seeking Shepherd locates the lost sheep and brings it home. Your minister speaks to you the words of the Good Shepherd, cautions you with His warning, assures you of His promises, communicates His wisdom. That doesn’t make him a plagiarist, a copy-cat or a redundancy. It makes him a pastor, an undershepherd of the Chief Shepherd. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Installation of Dean Mills Berri-Barmera
15 September 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 LH p.7 2 Romans 12:4-6
3 LW 12, p71
Text: Romans 12:4-8
Theme: One Body, Different Vocations
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
God wants us to have certainty about the most important things. He desires that we have a confident trust in His promises. The Holy Spirit is always working towards this goal. Sin, of course, is always destabilizing our confidence and Satan works that angle relentlessly and often, efficiently. The devil’s tool is doubt. Surely God is impotent, careless, or apathetic! Just look at the balance of the empirical evidence. But God is unfazed. His powers to create, to forgive, to resurrect from death will be vindicated in due course. Meanwhile, faith perseveres through the prosperities and adversities of life.
We’re here today because God wants us to have conviction that His truth is both relevant and reliable. Therefore, God ordains locations of access to His blessings. The primary ones are the word, baptism, and Holy Communion. He does this for the purpose of certainty. He wants us to know that in and through those gifts the Holy Spirit is present and working. We don’t have to search clumsily or desperately around wondering where we might make contact with God’s truth. Don’t get me wrong, people will continue to search in all different kinds of interesting and uninteresting, innocent and dangerous, places to find God. But these will prove fruitless in the end.
When was the last time uncertainty made you feel vulnerable? Maybe you lost your keys, your mobile phone, your handbag, or your wallet. Maybe your financial stability is as risk due to unforeseen circumstances. Maybe an important relationship is full of tension and unease. Maybe the medical tests are in and you’re waiting for the results? We go to great lengths to mitigate uncertainty. That’s why people purchase insurance for such a wide range of things. If you knew for certain that the contents of your home would never be damaged by theft, fire, or flood, would you still pay for home and contents insurance? And why would you? If you knew for sure that you would never be sick for a day in your life, but that God would swiftly call you home when you reached the century mark, would you take out health cover? What happens when people don’t know where to turn for answers, where to go for assurance?
Today, we’re here to celebrate a particular way that God provides certainty: Through the gift of pastors and their vocation. The certainty that comes with the office of the ministry is probably not appreciated for what it is. But think only of the implication of your pastor standing before you in the Divine Service and saying, “I, as a called and ordained servant of the Word, announce the grace of God to all of you, and on behalf of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins, in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”1 You’ll note that the word ‘Word’ is capitalized. Jesus is the Word. So, it’s no small privilege or insignificant responsibility. You have called Pastor Dean for the very specific reason of speaking Jesus’ words to you.
Now, you may, over the course of time, find that Pastor Dean has limited capacities. You may even notice tendencies, preferences, and God forbid- biases. You might even disagree or become offended by something he says or does. (I do pray that the merger of the two congregations has initiated a new honeymoon phase and that it will last for a very long time.) But, in stressful times, remember that he is a fallible, sinful human being just like you and me. He’s not Superman; but he is entrusted with the stewardship of supernatural things. The Holy Spirit has, through the agency of these congregations (not through the sanctity of his personal character) called him to this office of service.
Remember that like you, he is a child of God. He holds the office, but he doesn’t have a mark of indelibility. He too is restored and sustained by the same forgiveness. Remember he has a wife and family, and that they are not called to the same office. No one can be all things to all people. In the body of Christ each one is gifted in a way that contributes to the well-being of the whole. Pastor Dean, like you, is baptized. That makes him, like you, part of the priesthood of all believers. Baptism gives all believers equal status before the Almighty. All are justified by grace, through faith, for Jesus’s sake. God declares believers righteous and He does so not by mere fiat, that is., force of will, but on the basis of the atoning death and life-giving resurrection of Jesus. Baptism makes us participants of these powers and blessings. But baptism doesn’t determine vocation. God has other ways to determine vocational identity.
The apostle Paul says in Romans, “Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts according to the grace given us.”2 You see, we’re in this together. Each of you is gifted in a way that contributes to the common good of God’s people. Pastor Dean is not here to do your work. He’s not here to take over the witness, the worship, and the identity of the people of these congregations. And don’t think for a moment that God considers Pastor Dean’s vocation more holy than yours.
In teaching about the importance of everyone’s vocation, everyone’s contribution, everyone’s gift in service of the whole, Luther used this example from his day, “I recall two leading jurists at Erfurt. When the time came for them to die, they said to each other, sighing deeply: ‘Oh, if we had not been doctors of law but monks, how much more blessedly we would die!’ …And so it was that only one remedy remained. They demanded that, in addition to the sacred rites which they bought at a high price, their bodies should be shrouded in a monk’s cowl so that they would be buried in the monastic habit. Did these men not show clearly enough that they did not know they had served God in their own office?”3
Dear friends, uneasiness and uncertainty will always be part of the human condition. We’re inclined to dip a toe in the water instead of taking a leap of faith. It’s a little like Uncle Oscar who was apprehensive about his first airplane ride. His grandchildren, eager to hear how it went, asked if he enjoyed the flight. "Well," commented Uncle Oscar, "it wasn't as bad as I thought it might be, but I'll tell you this. I never did put all my weight down!" Dear friends, we can put all our weight down on Christ. His plan of salvation is not going to crash to the ground. His mission is not going to fail. He will not leave us behind when the going gets tough. He’s been to the cross. He triumphed over death. He desires that we share in His immortal life. Pastor Dean is not here to push you, but he is here to hold your hand as you take the leap of faith.
It would be remiss of us to overlook the fact that today’s appointed gospel reading contains the parable of the lost sheep. The Greek word for pastor is the word for shepherd. It’s one of the most endearing images in the Scriptures. The seeking Shepherd locates the lost sheep and brings it home. Your minister speaks to you the words of the Good Shepherd, cautions you with His warning, assures you of His promises, communicates His wisdom. That doesn’t make him a plagiarist, a copy-cat or a redundancy. It makes him a pastor, an undershepherd of the Chief Shepherd. Amen.
+ In nomine Jesu +
Installation of Dean Mills Berri-Barmera
15 September 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 LH p.7 2 Romans 12:4-6
3 LW 12, p71
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost (C) 2019
+ In nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti + Amen.
Text: Luke 15:5-7
Theme: The Seeking Shepherd
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
The angels are prayerfully hopeful. About what? What are angels hopeful about? They are hopeful about the conversion of sinners. Angels are not self-absorbed. They are neither oblivious to, nor uninterested in human fate. The image of guardian angels assisting people in need is widely understood, so it would be inaccurate to claim that people think angels are completely aloof. But apart from their vocational role of assisting us on an ad hoc basis, it’s easy to assume they are mostly absorbed with the worship of God. The Scripture describes “thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly.”1 Yet here, Jesus tells us about something else that fills the angels with joy. He says, “There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."2 It’s a marvelous mystery that angels are concerned with our welfare and it will be awesome to share their company in heaven.
The angelic joy is occasioned by the finding of the lost which Jesus connects here with repentance. Remember, the occasion for Jesus speaking this parable of the seeking shepherd is the disgust of the Pharisees and scribes that tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus. They deemed them to be unclean and unworthy; lost causes. They judged them to be beyond the scope of interaction for anyone who claimed- as Jesus did- to be a messenger of God. In short, they thought the holy blessings of God were not meant for the sinful people of the world. The lost would have to see to themselves.
But, dear friends, Jesus Christ comes seeking the lost. Many are distant from God, lost in sin, and they don’t even know it. God doesn’t wait. He doesn’t sit around fretting about whether people will miss Him in their lives. He goes looking. He doesn’t set up a control centre so He can remotely direct a search and rescue operation. God didn’t remain in heaven hoping for the best after Adam and Eve fell into sin. Jesus came searching. He came to the darkness. He left the place of perfection and came to the state of corruption. He left unity and came to discord. He left the communion of truth and came to the chaos of falsehood. He left the realm of life and came to the dimension of death.
The Bible makes it clear that in spite of all that we experience in this world that is good and beautiful and desirable, we live under the specter of death. The vitality of this existence is a borrowed vitality. We do not possess it independently or autonomously. In short, the Scriptures call on us to recognize that life- in all its aspects and with all its struggles- is truly a gift from the Almighty. There is not a single child that is conceived and born that we should not consider to be a miracle. (Kye Jachmann is certainly no exception.) There is not a ray of sun that shines or a drop of rain that falls that we should fail to credit to the generosity of God. Can we bring these things to pass under our own power? Can we cause the heart to beat one single time apart from the power of God? And in spite of this preserving power of God, the consequence of sin is still death. No one can escape it.
So, Jesus came bringing the power of incorruptible life. He didn’t come with an attitude of self-preservation but of sacrifice. He didn’t come in arrogance, but humility. Jesus came, the all-powerful Son of God wrapped in swaddling clothes. He came, the holy and blameless Messiah, and subjected Himself to a cruel and unethical crucifixion. But not even that- not even His death- could stop His pursuit of our salvation. He marched right out of the grave securing for believers immortal life. He lives. He reigns. He will come again in glory.
Meanwhile, through His word and His Spirit and His sacraments, He is seeking the lost. In baptism He comes to those still in the darkness of unbelief and gives them the light of faith. The Scripture says, “He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son.”3 In Holy Communion He comes to baptized, instructed, and repentant believers with food for the journey. It is easier for Satan to lead the spiritually emaciated off the narrow road. God fortifies us against his schemes.
Maybe you’re feeling a bit lost? Maybe that’s why God has brought you to His house today? Maybe some of your most important relationships are fragile or full of conflict? Maybe your financial footing is not very stable? Maybe you’re struggling with temptation, addiction, or depression? Maybe you’ve suffered abuse or have yourself been hurtful or domineering towards others? Maybe you’re anxious about what the future holds?
Active Christians too, can feel lost. Temptation is always before us and even faithful believers head off in the wrong direction away from the will of God. The biblical examples can be multiplied many times. Noah got lost in drunkenness after his epic journey on the ark. Lot’s wife got lost in regret turning back to what was instead of forward to what would be and turned into a pillar of salt. King David was lost in the sins of adultery and murder. God sent Nathan the prophet to him and turned him in repentance. Hannah was lost in grief, God sent her a son. Thomas was lost in doubt, Peter was lost in denial, Judas was lost in betrayal. Only Judas despaired, hardening His heart and remaining determined to not be found by the Lord.
So, don’t hide from your sins. Don’t deny your shortcomings. Don’t waste time and energy trying to justify yourself before God or others. Christ is the one who justifies you. He gave His life for it. Don’t pretend to be someone or something you’re not. God knows you inside out anyway. Nothing can be hidden from Him. And people figure us out too- sooner or later. So, it’s no good trying to keep up appearances.
Believe God when He says to you, “Now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation.”4 Again, when He says, “Everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins though His name.”5 And again, “I, even I, am He who blots our your transgressions, for My own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”6 Christ never turns away those who cast themselves on His mercy. The repentance of one sinner fills angels’ hearts with joy. Even more importantly, it fills the Saviour’s heart with joy and that of the entire community. What does Jesus say about finding the lost sheep today? “When he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’”7 Jesus is the Seeking Shepherd. He intends to bring us home. Thanks be to God!
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost
15 September 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Hebrews 12:22 2 Luke 15:10
3 Colossians 1:13 4 2 Corinthians 6:2
5 Acts 10:43 6 Isaiah 43:25
7 Luke 15:5-6
Text: Luke 15:5-7
Theme: The Seeking Shepherd
Dear friends in Christ Jesus,
The angels are prayerfully hopeful. About what? What are angels hopeful about? They are hopeful about the conversion of sinners. Angels are not self-absorbed. They are neither oblivious to, nor uninterested in human fate. The image of guardian angels assisting people in need is widely understood, so it would be inaccurate to claim that people think angels are completely aloof. But apart from their vocational role of assisting us on an ad hoc basis, it’s easy to assume they are mostly absorbed with the worship of God. The Scripture describes “thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly.”1 Yet here, Jesus tells us about something else that fills the angels with joy. He says, “There is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents."2 It’s a marvelous mystery that angels are concerned with our welfare and it will be awesome to share their company in heaven.
The angelic joy is occasioned by the finding of the lost which Jesus connects here with repentance. Remember, the occasion for Jesus speaking this parable of the seeking shepherd is the disgust of the Pharisees and scribes that tax collectors and sinners were coming to Jesus. They deemed them to be unclean and unworthy; lost causes. They judged them to be beyond the scope of interaction for anyone who claimed- as Jesus did- to be a messenger of God. In short, they thought the holy blessings of God were not meant for the sinful people of the world. The lost would have to see to themselves.
But, dear friends, Jesus Christ comes seeking the lost. Many are distant from God, lost in sin, and they don’t even know it. God doesn’t wait. He doesn’t sit around fretting about whether people will miss Him in their lives. He goes looking. He doesn’t set up a control centre so He can remotely direct a search and rescue operation. God didn’t remain in heaven hoping for the best after Adam and Eve fell into sin. Jesus came searching. He came to the darkness. He left the place of perfection and came to the state of corruption. He left unity and came to discord. He left the communion of truth and came to the chaos of falsehood. He left the realm of life and came to the dimension of death.
The Bible makes it clear that in spite of all that we experience in this world that is good and beautiful and desirable, we live under the specter of death. The vitality of this existence is a borrowed vitality. We do not possess it independently or autonomously. In short, the Scriptures call on us to recognize that life- in all its aspects and with all its struggles- is truly a gift from the Almighty. There is not a single child that is conceived and born that we should not consider to be a miracle. (Kye Jachmann is certainly no exception.) There is not a ray of sun that shines or a drop of rain that falls that we should fail to credit to the generosity of God. Can we bring these things to pass under our own power? Can we cause the heart to beat one single time apart from the power of God? And in spite of this preserving power of God, the consequence of sin is still death. No one can escape it.
So, Jesus came bringing the power of incorruptible life. He didn’t come with an attitude of self-preservation but of sacrifice. He didn’t come in arrogance, but humility. Jesus came, the all-powerful Son of God wrapped in swaddling clothes. He came, the holy and blameless Messiah, and subjected Himself to a cruel and unethical crucifixion. But not even that- not even His death- could stop His pursuit of our salvation. He marched right out of the grave securing for believers immortal life. He lives. He reigns. He will come again in glory.
Meanwhile, through His word and His Spirit and His sacraments, He is seeking the lost. In baptism He comes to those still in the darkness of unbelief and gives them the light of faith. The Scripture says, “He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son.”3 In Holy Communion He comes to baptized, instructed, and repentant believers with food for the journey. It is easier for Satan to lead the spiritually emaciated off the narrow road. God fortifies us against his schemes.
Maybe you’re feeling a bit lost? Maybe that’s why God has brought you to His house today? Maybe some of your most important relationships are fragile or full of conflict? Maybe your financial footing is not very stable? Maybe you’re struggling with temptation, addiction, or depression? Maybe you’ve suffered abuse or have yourself been hurtful or domineering towards others? Maybe you’re anxious about what the future holds?
Active Christians too, can feel lost. Temptation is always before us and even faithful believers head off in the wrong direction away from the will of God. The biblical examples can be multiplied many times. Noah got lost in drunkenness after his epic journey on the ark. Lot’s wife got lost in regret turning back to what was instead of forward to what would be and turned into a pillar of salt. King David was lost in the sins of adultery and murder. God sent Nathan the prophet to him and turned him in repentance. Hannah was lost in grief, God sent her a son. Thomas was lost in doubt, Peter was lost in denial, Judas was lost in betrayal. Only Judas despaired, hardening His heart and remaining determined to not be found by the Lord.
So, don’t hide from your sins. Don’t deny your shortcomings. Don’t waste time and energy trying to justify yourself before God or others. Christ is the one who justifies you. He gave His life for it. Don’t pretend to be someone or something you’re not. God knows you inside out anyway. Nothing can be hidden from Him. And people figure us out too- sooner or later. So, it’s no good trying to keep up appearances.
Believe God when He says to you, “Now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation.”4 Again, when He says, “Everyone who believes in Him receives forgiveness of sins though His name.”5 And again, “I, even I, am He who blots our your transgressions, for My own sake, and remembers your sins no more.”6 Christ never turns away those who cast themselves on His mercy. The repentance of one sinner fills angels’ hearts with joy. Even more importantly, it fills the Saviour’s heart with joy and that of the entire community. What does Jesus say about finding the lost sheep today? “When he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’”7 Jesus is the Seeking Shepherd. He intends to bring us home. Thanks be to God!
+ In nomine Jesu +
Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost
15 September 2019
Reverend Darrin L. Kohrt
1 Hebrews 12:22 2 Luke 15:10
3 Colossians 1:13 4 2 Corinthians 6:2
5 Acts 10:43 6 Isaiah 43:25
7 Luke 15:5-6
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