A Christmas Eve Eucatastrophe

[A sermon delivered on Christmas Eve, 2022.]

Brothers and sisters in the Christ Child, grace and peace, hope and joy to you, Amen.

This time of year is bound up in such high hopes.  Like almost no other moment on our calendar, Christmas is a time when we yearn for everything to be just right.  We get all the decorations and the lights in place.  We set plans for family gatherings and parties hoping to see all of our favorite and beloved people.  We even offer up prayers that the weather will cooperate just nicely and give us a white Christmas.  

Yet as it goes with life, rarely does everything go according to plan.  When party plans change we almost expect it.  When the weather doesn’t cooperate, even that we kind of expect, it is Michigan after all.  What really throws us is when tragedy and hardship and suffering find us in this most holy time of year.  So many of us have endured losses at this time of year and they weigh on us, year after year.  They take so long to heal.  Losing loved ones so close to Christmas always seems to affect us more as it interrupts that idea. It interrupts those perfect hopes we so yearned for.  

God's Words of Comfort During a Pandemic

Sermon preached at my congregation on March 15, 2020 for the Third Sunday in Lent. It was preached on Exodus 17:1-7 with John 4:5-26 also heavily used. This Sunday was arguably the first Americans had for worship during the coronavirus pandemic in 2020.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you, Amen.

God’s Word is always full of perfect timing. Our lives this past week have been changed and altered in profound ways. You have the feeling we have been quickly thrust into uncharted waters and we don’t yet know where this wayward ship is headed. Its frustrating when you don’t really know exactly what to think, or what sources to trust. We’re not sure if the world is going to end in the next 7 days or if we’re going to find out everything is a-okay, nothing further to worry about. Tomorrow remains a big unknown.

Yet not entirely. God’s Word speaks about Christian living in difficult times. In days of uncertainty and days in which we feel like we are surrounded by unknowns and uncharted waters God’s Word speaks of hope. God is the most perfect of certainties in our lives. He is known. He is in charge. He makes tomorrow a matter of hope and promise because it is in His hands.

Handling Time in a Busy, Busy World

[Originally published in the Monroe News on Friday, August 2, 2019]

How many of you readers out there would say you are feeling the effects of the time crunch?  Doesn’t it seem as though there are less hours and minutes in the day with each new day that passes?  There is rarely enough time to accomplish all the things we set out to do.

I’ll be the first to admit I’m a slave to my watch and to the clock.  I’d be like a lost puppy dog if someday I forgot my watch at home and had to navigate a day without knowing the time.  This is consistent with the rest of my personality which is an “always on the move” type.  Just ask my wife.  In recent days I’ve felt the time crunch as much as ever before.  Since March, my wife and I have been enjoying the blessing of our new baby daughter, as well as raising our three older boys.  Having gone almost ten years between babies we had nearly forgotten just how much time these little ones demand.  I’m also deeply committed to my ministry and work at Grace Lutheran which amounts to a bit more than a full-time job on a weekly basis.  As many of you know, Pastors do actually put in a few more hours every week than just showing up for Sunday service to preach.  I also work to balance responsibilities around the house and taking care of our cars.  I try to find time to be outside and play with my boys. I also made the somewhat crazy decision to train for another ultramarathon which is coming in September.  Some evenings as I find a split second to try and relax on the couch I wonder “what was I thinking?”

Colorado Trail - Three Elk to Silver Creek

Colorado Trail - Three Elk to Silver Creek
Three Elk TH to Bunnys Trail to Colorado Trail to Silver Creek TH

Start Elevation: 8,829 ft.
High Point: 10,745 ft. (CT / Bunnys Trail Jct)
Harvard Lakes Elevation: 10,243 ft.
Silver Creek TH Elevation: 9,435 ft.
Distance: 6.76 mi.
Elevation Gain: 2,031 ft.
Elevation Loss: 1,367 ft.
Start Time: 8:43am
End Time: 12:29pm

Trip Report:
June 2019 hiking in Colorado has been like nothing I've seen out there before. As I began my research and my brainstorming of fun options I started with the hope the "skies the limit". The massive, well above average, snow of winter 2019 in Colorado changed these plans and lofty ideas quickly. Aspirations of hiking Frenchman's Creek up and over Harvard or the Halo Ridge route on Holy Cross quickly went out the window with reports of those basins still being buried in spring snow.

Eucatastrophe and Handling Loss

[Originally published in the Monroe News on Friday, May 31, 2019]

In the last 2 months my dear families at Grace Lutheran have endured several sudden losses. These losses may well have affected many in the Monroe community. They came as surprises to all of us. We have been passing out a lot of hugs and prayers and well wishes to one another for many weeks now holding each other up in the arms of the Lord Jesus.

Living Water in the Wilderness

[Originally published in the Monroe News on Friday, April 12, 2019]

In September 2017 I found myself on a 4-day backpacking journey with two friends of mine across Zion National Park. If you’ve ever been out to Utah to see the splendor and beauty that is Zion you’ll likely be thinking of Zion Canyon and the Virgin River running through it. The vast majority of tourists to Zion see these classic sights. And rightfully so, it is majestic and unforgettable.

Psalm 139 and the Welcoming of a Child

[Originally published in the Monroe News on Friday, March 8, 2019]

My wife Sarah and I are in the process of welcoming our fourth child into this world. This time around brings us our very first daughter. To finally have a girl has us abundantly excited. We have been blessed to welcome three healthy and rapidly growing boys thus far, the youngest of whom is already 10 years old. That gap between our children, as well as bringing a little girl into the family, has made this pregnancy full of excitement.

"Leave the Mountain with Jesus"

Luke 9:28-36
Transfiguration
February 7, 2016


Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you, Amen.

Today we stand atop the mountain with Jesus. We see Him there today alongside Moses and Elijah, as well as His disciples Peter, James, and John. We’ve been climbing this mountain throughout the Epiphany season. We’ve followed Jesus from the visit by the Magi in Bethlehem to His first miracle in Cana, and on through His early ministry of healing and teaching. Along the way we’ve been unraveling layer by layer the true identity of Jesus. As we’ve climbed higher and higher this Epiphany season we now find ourselves atop the mountain peak with the conclusive evidence of Jesus’ identity: the full glory of God is revealed in Him today as He is transfigured and shines dazzling white, and we hear the voice of the Father, "This is my Son."

"Home for the Holidays"

This sermon was my Christmas Eve 2014 sermon.  I conceived the idea as events unfurled within my own family.  On Wednesday December 17th word was that my Grandma (Mom's mom) was going downhill and fast.  This wasn't a huge surprise to us as we knew she was in poor health (alzheimer's) already.  By noon on Thursday Dec. 18th we knew that her passing was imminent.  My family had been planning on travelling to Southern Illinois on Friday Dec. 19th for Christmas parties.  This news moved our plans up a day and we travelled on Thursday.  Grandma went to be with her Lord Thursday evening.

We could see the Lord's timing in all of this as we and so much of our family was already planning to be in town and now could be together to mourn Grandma's passing.  During all of this I was also tasked with continuing to prepare a sermon for Christmas Eve at my congregation.  It seemed fitting to tie current events in with the message.  I don't often bring largely personal stories into my preaching but on this occasion it seemed both appropriate and helpful.

Blessings.

"A Not So Ordinary Manger"

Advent Midweek Service Sermon

December 17, 2014
Isaiah 35:1-10

Brothers and sisters in Christ, grace and peace to you, Amen.

Today we ask the question “how has He saved us?” At the heart of this question is our desire to know what God has done, and is still doing for us. It shows our longing for answers. Our longing for comfort from the loneliness this world can bring upon us. It shows our desire for reassurance that everything has been taken care of. And the good news we shall hear this day is all of these cares and concerns are answered.

Throughout this Advent season we have been using the beloved cradle hymn “Away in a Manger” as the backdrop for our worship. We sing in that hymn of the desires I’ve just spoken of. At the beginning of the third verse it begins “Be near me, Lord Jesus; I ask Thee to stay”. This line holds the burning desire of every believer’s heart. And though our sinful nature often has us doing the very things that take us away from God’s presence, one thing we have learned throughout this season is God has heard this cry of ours, “be near me, Lord Jesus.” We know this for God answered us in the incarnation. In the birth and life of Jesus among us. As Isaiah puts it in verse 4 of today’s reading “He will come with vengeance, with the recompense of God, He will come and save you.” Jesus has come once already and accomplished our salvation through His sacrifice, once and for all, on the cross.

It would seem this answers our question, yes? “How has He saved us?” The cross sure seems like the answer and to be sure, it is. But that doesn’t answer everything we need to know. Here’s what I mean: Jesus’ death on the cross did indeed accomplish salvation for all mankind. There was not a single person past, present, or future that His death did not pay for. Jesus’ work is like the ultimate Christmas gift to all humanity. However, like any Christmas gift we would purchase, a gift must be given and received. Just as those wonderful new earrings you bought your wife, or the power drill you bought your husband, or the new LEGO set you bought your child isn’t much of a gift if it sits wrapped in a closet somewhere, all gifts must be given and received. So it is true with the salvation Jesus has purchased for us with His own blood. That gift of eternal life has been purchased for us, now it must be given and received.

So, as we ponder what kind of heavenly delivery system God must use to give us these most precious of gifts we should understand, that God’s ways are not our ways. After all, when God first delivered His Son into flesh to be our Savior Jesus was given in the humble cradle of a manger. Our Lord’s beginnings at Christmas ought to guide us to see that God not only worked in such humble fashion then, but He continues to do so today.

God’s heavenly delivery system today works through three different means. Each is as common as the next in appearance, and yet rich with heavenly blessings nonetheless. God delivers His gifts to us through speech, water, and the bread and wine. In other words, God’s Word, Baptism, and the Lord’s Supper. These means of God’s grace to us hardly have much outward beauty that we should be attracted or impressed by them. In fact, I’ve heard it said that the simple pouring of water in baptism seems like such an ordinary, common task, how could God possibly do all that He says He does.
But these our Lord’s means of grace share in the same apparent weakness of the little Lord Jesus who did once “lay asleep on the hay.” These means hide in them the full power and glory of God, as did the child Jesus who, though being fully man, also had the fullness of God. Be not fooled by the simplicity of the words of Scripture, the waters of Baptism, or the bread and wine of the Lord’s Supper, for God does indeed employ them to deliver His heavenly blessings to His people.

This comes as a challenge to us. By our sinful nature we are challenged by our mind’s desire to be caught up with the fancy, the innovative, the attractive, the flashy. We think all great blessings must come in shiny, impressive packages and the mundane is lost on us. This reminds me of one of my favorite Disney Pixar films. Some of you may remember the flick “Ratatouille” which came out in 2007. The movie follows a rat named Remy who desires above all else to become a cook, and it just so happens, he lives in Paris. Its a cute story, but I want you to consider another character from the movie with me. I want you to consider the most feared food critic in all of Paris, a man named Anton Ego.

Now, the movie uses Ego much like a villain as they fear him giving them a bad report if their food is not innovative or perfectly delivered. Here is where the story ties in nicely for us today. Towards the end of the film, the rat-turned-cook named Remy has this one opportunity to serve the food critic Ego, and Remy decides to serve him ratatouille. The other cook’s in the kitchen are caught aback. “But that’s a peasant dish” It seems too ordinary, too mundane to serve to the food critic. But that is what they do. And it turns out they made the right choice. Anton Ego eats the ratatouille and it instantly opens his heart and takes him back to the days of his youth when his mother would cook this simple dish for him. Though nothing of great outward appearance, the ratatouille and its familiarity got the job done.

We have God’s promise that His means of giving to us His grace are sure and true. The Word of God delivers us precisely what we need. It is like the manger delivering to us the Savior every time we peer into it. We may think these words outdated or ordinary, but in them is the familiar account of God’s love for us. We may look at the words and water of baptism as a simple tradition. But they carry the promise of God, they carry the fullness of the Word of God and deliver a life-giving water that wells up to salvation. And we are tempted to look at the bread and wine on the altar and to receive them as habit, as common. Its just something we do right. And they make the service oh so long. We know we’re guilty of this when we arrive in our pew and groan when we realize the service is going to be a little longer today. But these our sinful reactions betray us. They reveal our misunderstanding or lack of understanding of the very grace of God and His answer to our heart’s desire “be near me, Lord Jesus, I ask thee to stay.”

I tell you, there is no better answer to our plea for the Lord to stay with us than when you receive His very body and blood, His real presence in the Sacrament of the altar. Your sinful nature may grumble about it, and your watch may appear to slow down, but your Savior is being given to you and the forgiveness of sins.

We pray be near me, Lord Jesus, and indeed He is with us. We know our Messiah has come because the signs of God’s Word are being, and have been fulfilled. Isaiah, in our reading today speaks of a day when the eyes of the blind will be opened, and the ears of the deaf unstopped. The lame will leap like deer and the mute tongue will shout for joy.” Surely these things have come to pass in the work of Jesus and are a sign to us that our Savior is here.

The manger is never empty, for our Savior has come to save us and deliver to us His most precious gift. To God be the glory, Amen.

"When Peace Like a River"

Sometimes, the best way for us to express ourselves, and particularly our emotions, is to do so through music. Many of the great musical masterpieces of history are reflective of a troubled or a moving time in a composer's life and their music was an outlet for them to express what they were feeling in those moments. The hymnody we sing in church here is certainly much the same. Although I would suggest, our hymnody goes a step beyond a writer expressing the emotions and feelings of their heart to a place where they are expressing the deepest words and thoughts of faith in the words and the music which we now sing.

This is why we pride ourselves, still today, in the singing of songs of praise and hymns in our worship. We're singing the songs of faith. We're lifting back to God the same words He's first given to us through the holy writers of Scripture. The hymns we sing help us in receiving and in turn expressing the Divine truth which the rest of our worship is gracefully giving us.

Dehydrated Christians?

3rd Sunday in Lent -- March 23, 2014

John 4:5-26 - The Woman at the Well

Brothers and sisters in Christ, peace be with you, Amen.

You have heard before, that at high elevations its harder to breathe and there is less oxygen in the air?  Now, if you haven't heard this, that's okay, just fly out to Denver or somewhere in the mountains some time and try walking up a flight of stairs.  Its almost an exercise in futility on your first go, as you're huffing and puffing just trying to catch your breath.

But my first comment is true only in part.  It is much harder to breathe, the body must work overtime to survive and function properly at high elevations, but oddly enough, its not because there is less oxygen.  That's actually a common misunderstanding.  Scientists tell us that the concentration of oxygen at sea level and at high elevation is relatively constant at around 20%.  The big challenge to our health comes because the air pressure is lower at higher elevations.  And because of that our bodies cannot absorb the oxygen so easily in the lower pressure.

Which Came First? Death or Man?

Sermon -- Lent 1A -- March 9, 2014
Texts: Genesis 3:1-21, Romans 5:12-19, Matthew 4:1-11


Brothers and sisters in Christ, God's peace be with you, Amen.

From Alpha to Omega, the beginning to the end, from everlasting to everlasting, the Bible is God’s Word. I think that’ll be a good starting point for us, and not a bad ending point either, for us this morning.

Here is where the wheels fell off on this whole journey that we call life, it happened with our first parents. Adam and Eve. They had it all. They were the only humans in history to literally know paradise on earth. They were made in God’s image. They were perfectly holy, perfectly righteous, perfectly perfect.

But, they blew it all up in one singular problem that has since plagued every last soul to walk this earth, less just one, named Jesus, and that problem was: they didn’t listen to God’s Word. Plain and simple. What had God told them? Just one Law we are told they were given. Don’t eat from the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That’s it.

Return of The King

This morning I was blessed to lead chapel at Lutheran South which has become my usual Tuesday morning ritual.  Throughout my chapels this year I've been reading to the school body from the devotional book "Walking With Bilbo" by Sarah Arthur.  It makes for a pleasant opportunity to share some of the basic themes and story lines from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit as well as The Lord of the Rings while also helping people to see the deep Christian themes residing behind the story.


This morning we read through Chapter 18 which is entitled "Living Legends".  With it was the theme of the King returning.  On the surface we are reminded of the return of Thorin as King under the Mountain when he arrives in Lake Town in The Hobbit.  Then the even bigger and more heralded return of the king (which Part 3 of The Lord of the Rings is titled after) with Aragorn's coronation as King of Gondor.

Taking on 2014

I'm readying to take this new year by the horns and have a great one.  So here we go. I always chuckle how we go through this ritual and every year I hear, and likely say myself, "I can't believe its 2011! [or 2012, 2013, 2014, etc].  But this oddity soon wears off.  In fact, as far as 2014 goes it seems we're well on our way to being used to it already.  As you well know, it is also a comical part of American culture to make new year's resolutions.   They're essentially lofty goals that we pretty much have no chance of keeping, but for whatever reason, because the calendar is new we think we can make some great, grand changes in our life.

What I am putting forth then is not so much your been there, done that, new year's resolutions.  I'm not sure I've ever made one of those.  I do however have goals.  Healthy challenges for the year to come.  None of them are great changes in lifestyles because those just don't realistically change over night.  The goals I have and I share are more like challenges and achievements to shoot for.   You could say they will be the carrots dangling before me in the months to come to push me to excel and to
continue to push forward.

Without any further ado, here is my 2014 list of goals:

"I go to prepare a place for you."

This is a funeral sermon I delivered at my congregation on December 6, 2013. The text was John 14:1-6. I like to respect individual's privacy to a very reasonable extent and so I've eliminated specific names. If you find these words to be helpful or comforting please feel free to pass them on.


Brothers and sisters in Christ, peace be with you, Amen.

When a loved one falls asleep, it hurts. This person whom we had known and loved for days and months and years is no longer with us, and of course, we miss them. Our heart pains us to look ahead to each day that they won't be by our side on this earth. This is just a glimpse of what we experience today as we remember our departed sister, mother, grandmother, [Deceased's name].

And even though we knew this day was eventually coming, it doesn't make the hurt or the pain simply go away. As [Deceased's name]'s body withered away day after day over the last few months it seemed as though this day was taking its time in coming. I know you found yourselves torn wanting to keep mom with us awhile longer, and yet also to see her go and be free of this body that had nothing left to offer.

Fantasy is Escapist

I ran across this quote of J.R.R. Tolkien on twitter tonight and of course it got me thinking:

"Fantasy is escapist, and that is its glory. If a soldier is imprisoned by the enemy, don't we consider it his duty to escape?"

This quote is recorded in several writings of Tolkien including "The Tolkien Reader".  I find it sums up Tolkien's motivation behind all his sub-creation of Middle Earth rather well.  When people would ask, or even criticize him, about the lengthy hours and obsessive moments spent over his many works, this is how I would imagine him responding.

Aim at Heaven

The following is a passage from C.S. Lewis' fantastic book "Mere Christianity".  Every time I read through this work this passage strikes me.  It was starting on page 160 and begins the chapter on "Hope."

Hope is one of the theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. The Apostles themselves, who set on foot the conversion of the Roman Empire, the great men who built up the Middle Ages, the English Evangelicals who abolished the Slave Trade, all left their mark on Earth, precisely because their minds were occupied with Heaven. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven and you will get earth 'thrown in': aim at earth and you will get neither. It seems a strange rule, but something like it can be seen at work in other matters. Health is a great blessing, but the moment you make health one of your main, direct objects you start becoming a crank and imagining there is something wrong with you. You are only likely to get health provided you want other things more -- food, games, work, fun, open air. In the same way, we shall never save civilisation as long as civilisation is our main object. We must learn to want something else even more.

I understand Lewis to be looking at life much as St. Paul did as he wrote to the Philippian Christians "for to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. (Phil. 1:21)"  It is common and even appropriate for Christian to yearn for the  days of sight in heaven.   We can take great comfort day after day knowing that that gift (eternal life) is a present reality for us.  Through baptism and faith we are owners already of it.  Yet, we don't yearn for heaven to the detriment of our joy in our days on this earth.  Rather, the joyful yearning for heaven is to add more to our days on earth. Or as Lewis put it, "aim at heaven and you will get earth 'thrown in.'"

The Power of God, Who Wants it? Job? Gandalf?

This morning I was teaching Bible Study at my congregation on the book of Job.  What a study this has been!  If you want an in depth look at the human condition and human nature Job is the place to look.  During our study this morning we were reading about God's final conversation with Job in chapter 40.  In that chapter (as well as chapters 38-39) God is offering the final word on the discussions that have taken place throughout the book of Job.  God is especially addressing the moments where Job has seen fit to challenge God himself.  One such incident came in Job 30 where he says:

"God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes. I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me. You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me. (Job 30:19-21)"

For All Live to Him

In Luke 20:28, Jesus says "Now He is not God of the dead, but of the living, for all live to him."

I read through this verse several times as I began to ponder my sermon for November 10, where this verse from Luke 20 is part of the Gospel pericope.  I had initially seen this verse in the NIV which translates the last phrase like this "for to him all are alive".  This struck me with one of those eyes wide open moments.  From God's perspective, all are alive!  Jesus says this in the context of God's Words to Moses at the burning bush (see Exodus 3) where God is called "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob."  Even though Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were long dead (400+ years) in Moses' time, God was still their God for they were alive to Him at that very moment.