"Wir Alle Sind Bettler"

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“We are all beggars. This is true.” These were Martin Luther's last words. And as true as they were for Luther, they still ring true for us today.

From the very moment our lives begin until our final moments, we are beggars. In the womb, we come into being by no force or wish of our own. We are fed, nourished, and sheltered by that powerful outsider known as our mother. We must beg her body for the privilege of continuing there during gestation. We must beg our nourishment from her, and silently entreat her not to cause harm to us by her actions or intake. When the hour comes for us to be brought forth from the womb, we must beg for passage into the world, and we begin begging for our food anew.

The Struggles of a Christian

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able.”

Many people want to enter the Kingdom of God. And many people think they have found a way in. But is it the right way?

Some people think that they can get in because of who they are or because of a group to which they belong. This is an age-old problem. Every civilization, with very few exceptions, has asserted its gods and its cult of worship over and against those of its neighbors and enemies. The Philistines thought their god Dagon was more powerful than the LORD, until the presence of the Ark caused the idol of Dagon to fall and shatter. The Assyrians, Babylonians, and Persians all tried to assert their gods over the LORD, but to no avail.

Of course, this was not lost on the Jews. They, after all, were the chosen people. They were the beloved children of the Holy One of Israel. Because they were the children of Abraham, assuredly they were going to heaven. Or so they thought, and so do Jews still think.

Fire of the Word

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

“Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division.”

We do not like division. We spend a lot of time trying to prevent or repair divisions that occur in our lives. We tell our children to get along with one another, to play nicely. Corporations have seminars to teach employees conflict-resolution techniques. People go to college and study business relations or international relations, so they learn how to prevent and resolve conflicts. If you walk through a bookstore, even a Christian bookstore, there is a whole section devoted to the topic of conflict resolution and interpersonal harmony.

+ RIP Stella Mable Gesell +

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

In our gospel lesson for this day, Jesus invites us, “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” What a glorious promise and comfort this is! For we all labor and are heavy laden with the cares of this world and life.

We labor under great burdens every day. The stresses of family, work, finances, and politics place great demands upon our time and energy. It sometimes takes all we have to keep going, one foot in front of another. There always seems to be one more project to finish, one more load of laundry, one more sports practice, one more bill to pay.

What Do You Fear?

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

What do you fear? Maybe it is spiders or snakes. Maybe you are afraid of heights or extreme depths. Maybe you are afraid of flying.

These things are the stuff of which movies are made. Hollywood spends a lot of time and money making you afraid of big, ugly bugs and snakes so that you go to the movies to root for the sexy hero and his alluring female companion. There are endless variations on the basic horror-movie plot line, really just the same thing recast with different actors and various kinds of creepy-crawlies. TV shows poke fun at these kinds of fears, making it fodder for endless sitcom scenarios.

Perhaps you consider yourself more grown-up and mature, and you are above those kinds of fears. So then, what do you fear? Maybe it is terrorist attacks. Maybe it is severe weather destroying your home and livelihood. Maybe it is economic meltdown depleting your savings. Maybe it is accident or illness taking your life or that of your loved ones.

Why Should We Work?

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Do you ever think about why you work? Why do you do the job you do every day? What makes you continue to farm or sell groceries or deliver mail or teach? Would you rather not do what you do?

Long ago, King Solomon considered these questions in his search for knowledge and wisdom. And we heard his conclusions in today's Old Testament lesson: “I hated all my toil in which I toil under the sun, seeing that I must leave it to the man who will come after me, and who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will be master of all for which I toiled and used my wisdom under the sun. This also is a vanity.”