Memorial Day 2013

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the midst of life, we are in death;

from whom can we seek help?

From You alone, O Lord,

who by our sins are justly angered.

Holy God, holy and mighty, holy and merciful Savior,

deliver us not into the bitterness of eternal death.

We stand here, alive and well today, yet surrounded by death. A cemetery is a great reminder of the fact of our own mortality. The grass grows green and the trees sway, and on a quiet day you can hear the birds and animals from the woods nearby. And yet here we are surrounded by death. Death stares us in the face. In the midst of life, we are in death. Who will save us from this?

Worship and Believe

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

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. And it was good. God saw all that He had made, and He called it very good. And so it was. Nothing that God creates is bad. God created all things, and without Him was nothing made that has ever existed.

All things were perfectly arranged. The sea had its course and the dry land its bounds. The night and the day, the heaven and the earth, all had their times and motions and seasons. Every tree and plant and herb brought forth fruit and seed, each according to its own kind. All the animals of the earth grew and thrived. And God created man to be the pinnacle of creation, the bearer of the image of God in the flesh. Everything was perfect, precisely according to the plan and purpose of God.

But, then, this begs the question: who is this God?

The Language of the Church

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

In the beginning, the people of the world were of one set of words. In all the earth, there was one set of words. A unity, if you will, of the tongue. Genesis literally reads that the people were of one lip. Among all the children of Adam, one language encompassed the world.

And this unity of words led them to plot evil against God. Being of one lip, the people could conspire together, and this allowed them to cook up the scheme of building a great city and a tall tower to reach up into the heavens. Their unity of words bred pride in their hearts. They were proud that they could band together and accomplish anything under the sun, whatever they set their hands to.

"That They May All Be One"

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

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

“I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us.” Jesus prays this, as part of His High Priestly Prayer on Holy Thursday.

He prays for the Church, and He prays for you. Jesus prays for those who believe through the apostolic Word, by the work of the Holy Spirit. He prays for you, each of you individually, and all of you corporately, as the members of His Body. This prayer, which our Lord prayed on the night in which He was betrayed, is for you. He prayed this for you, as He gave His disciples His own Body and Blood, which He still gives to you to make you one with Him.

When you consider the past two millennia and some of church history, it is an amazing feat the the one holy catholic and apostolic Church still exists.

Ask the Father

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

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

“Whatever you ask of the Father in My Name, He will give it to you.” Thus Jesus promises the disciples before He departs from this world. The people of God will not be left stranded, but the Father will look out for their well-being. All they need do is ask in Jesus' name, and trust God to give what they need.

On this occasion, Jesus gives a lesson about how Christians ought to pray. “Ask, and you shall receive, that your joy may be full.” Ask the Father for what you need, and He will give it to you, in order that your joy might have been fulfilled. You have not because you ask not. Just ask for what you need and God will give it.