"Since God So Wills It"

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

In peace and joy I now depart

Since God so wills it.

Serene and confident my heart;

Stillness fills it.

For the Lord has promised me

That death is but a slumber (LSB 938.1).

So goes the first stanza of Luther's hymnic paraphrase of the Nunc Dimittis – the Song of Simeon which you heard read in today's Gospel lesson. What an amazing song of faith Simeon sings! His song, so simple in its words, gives voice to a faith that is unshakeable in its trust in God to do what He says.

Throughout the Advent and Christmas season, you have heard a great deal about death. Jesus came to die. He came to die the death due for your sins. This is the reason for His incarnation, the reason we celebrate and highly exalt the mystery of His birth in the flesh. But what connection does Jesus' birth have to the death of a Christian?

"We Beheld His Glory"

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

“Oh, sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things!” Rejoice and sing this bright Christmas morning, because the Eternal Light has dawned upon this benighted sphere. The Light of the World has come upon the world, and we behold His glory. The everlasting Son of the eternal Father has been born this day into your flesh.

The virgin has conceived and has borne a son. Why do you marvel at this? The eternal Father, existing before all worlds, begot a Son from all eternity without a mother. When did this happen? That is beyond knowing; that is the wrong question. But the Blessed Virgin bore a son without a father. When did this happen? That is a good question. For the birth of the Son of God happened not in eternity, not in abstraction, but in the flesh, of the flesh and blood of Mary in the stable in Bethlehem. Marvel not that God has a Son, but that the Son of God is born of a woman.

Glory and Peace - Now!

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

“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!” So called out the multitude of the heavenly host who appeared in the Bethlehem sky on the occasion of our Lord's birth. The glory of the Lord has broken out upon the earth. No longer is God merely an unseen force above the highest heavens.

What an odd juxtaposition we have on this night! In the same sitting, you sing “Away in a Manger” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”. You are called upon to contemplate the baby born in a stable, and the words of the army of heaven who lit up the dark Judean wilderness. Fear not, proclaims the angel. Your savior is born this night in the City of David. And what a savior He is, indeed! Your savior is a baby. A child born of the flesh of a woman, born of natural means following the natural course of man. And yet that baby, so frail and feeble and dependent, is at once the Lord of Hosts, the King of the Universe, the Creator of all that is and all that ever shall have been. Consider this: the angels light up the sky and their song resounds through the cosmos to worship one who suckles at the breast of a virgin mother.

Fighting with Food

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

But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah, you are the tiniest of the towns in all of Judah. You are nobody. You are of no account. Why should anyone even know where you are? After all, nothing of any account can come of such a small and insignificant place.

But you, O Church of God, you are the weakest of all the institutions of mankind. You are nobody. You are of no account. Why should anyone even listen to you? After all, nothing but nagging and hate-mongering and oppression can come of such small and limited minds.

But you, O people of God, you are the most pitiful of all the myriads of people who wander this terrestrial sphere. You are nobodies. You are of no account. Why should anyone take heed of you or care about you? After all, you are meek and sad and poor and helpless. Nothing of any great value can come from you.

"We Give Thanks to Thee for Thy Great Glory!"

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

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods,
for his steadfast love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords,
for his steadfast love endures forever. (Psalm 136:1-3)

Giving thanks is something you hear spoken of quite a bit around this time of year. Every year, people come up with new gimmicks for spending the month of November being thankful. One of the primary social skills we teach children is to say “please” and “thank you” whenever appropriate. And all of that certainly is good. But often what we hear, especially in the mainstream media, fails to answer two fundamental questions about giving thanks.

First, to what or to whom should you be giving thanks? Proper thanksgiving only occurs if and when you are thankful to some source. It is not enough simply to meditate on “Gee, it sure is nice that I have this neat thing.” That is not thanksgiving. Gratitude has an object, a reference point, a focus. The Psalmist demonstrates this in the opening verses of Psalm 136. To whom must you give thanks? To the Lord, the God of Gods, the Lord of Lords. He is the object of your gratitude, the focus of your thanksgiving. Direct your thanks to Him.

Reasonableness and Rejoicing

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

Reasonableness and rejoicing are two concepts that seem to go hand in hand according to St. Paul. You have among you the mind of Christ, which fosters reasonableness, which therefore leads to rejoicing. And, having this mind about you, think about what is noble and good.

Reasonableness and rejoicing are not two concepts that one might use to describe our world these days, however. It seems that wherever you look, whatever you hear, people are talking about two crises, real or imagined. The end of the Mayan calendar and the “fiscal cliff”.

St. Paul says that “The Lord is at hand.” The Mayan calendar may come to an end this coming Friday. It is possible – as likely as not – that the world as we know it will come to an end. It is even possible that Christ will come again in glory this weekend. So what? The Lord is already at hand. If the Lord comes again next weekend, all your pain and suffering, all your unpaid bills and unwanted expenses will pass away. The Lord will come to call you home to Himself in heaven, where there is only rejoicing at the marriage feast of the Lamb.

"We Worship Thee"

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

“The woman said to [Jesus], 'Sir, I perceive that You are a prophet.'” The Samaritan woman at the well was astute enough to realize that Jesus was a prophet. What this meant to her is another story, but she could not but confess that the man talking to her was the messenger of the Lord sent to her. Being that Jesus had already spoken to her of her thirst and the gift of living waters, it was no surprise that she took Him to be a prophet. But her question is meant to uncover more than a mere prophet.

Something about her acknowledgment of Jesus is a little off, at least to certain ears. We cannot know her true intent, but it almost seems as though she is out to test Jesus with a “tough question”. It is like when you meet someone, and he finds out you are a Christian, so he asks you the most ridiculous, most potentially offensive question he can come up with. “Why do you hate gay people?” or “Why do you believe in a Bible so full of contradictions?” This woman's question is akin to asking, “Why should I go to your church every week?”