Funeral Sermon for Shar Nalder: "The Wondrous Works of God"

 + In Memoriam: Shar Nalder - June 17^th, 2023 +

Psalm 107:1-9; Isaiah 25:6-9; 1 Corinthians 15:51-57; John 11:17-27

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

Life is full of patterns and rhythms. Anyone who loves music, as Shar did, can quickly recognize those patterns. The beat that moves the song, the words that go with the music, and so forth. Knowing these musical patterns comes in handy, especially if you’re like Shar and enjoy some karaoke.

 

The Holy Scripture is full of patterns as well, especially ones found in music, in the book of psalms, the song book of the bible. The pattern quite often goes like this. The Lord does something for his people – saves, rescues, redeems, answers their prayer – and God’s people, in turn, respond with thanks and praise. That’s the pattern. God gives out of his steadfast love, and we respond with thanks and praise. 

 

That same pattern is at the heart of the psalm we read together earlier, Psalm 107.

 

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    for his wondrous works to the children of man!

 

I couldn’t help but think of this psalm as I thought of the life and faith of Shar this week. From what I’ve come to know of her, she embodied this biblical pattern. God gave her his abundant grace and blessings, and she, in turn, could not help but live life in joy and thanks and praise. 

 

The words of Psalm 107 reminded me of Shar and the last time I saw her. When I came to the family’s house to visit, Shar had died earlier that morning, and she was resting peacefully, wrapped in her Wonder Woman blanket. Someone, I think it may have been Irene, said, “She was our wonder woman.”

 

Even though we grieve today, we also are thankful for the life and faith in Jesus that God gave to Shar. We are thankful for her life that was a blessing to everyone around her. We are thankful for our Lord’s gifts to Shar in this life, but also for his greatest gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. That’s why even as we mourn, we also join the psalmist in saying…

 

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    for his wondrous works to the children of man!

 

Indeed, our Lord has done wondrous things for Shar, our wonder woman. I recently learned that she had won gold and silver medals in the special Olympics. And enjoyed other sports and activities from bowling to basketball. All gifts of God to be enjoyed and thankful for.

 

Shar also brought joy and wonder to her time with family and friends, whether it was a hug, a favorite costume, or any number of her favorite songs. And whether you were family and close friends, or had only known her for a short while, Shar was known for sharing her love with everyone around her. And the Scriptures remind us over and over again that the kind of love Shar had for others comes from the love our Lord Jesus first gave to her. That’s the pattern of the Scriptures, and Shar’s life as well: God gives his gifts, God loves us and rescues us from sin and death, and we respond with thanks, praise, and love for others around us. 

 

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    for his wondrous works to the children of man!

 

No doubt there are many things wonderful things that come to mind when you all think of Shar, the most wonderful of them all is this: that the God who has filled the Bible with all the signs and wonders he has done came down from heaven in the most wonderful, unexpected way, to save Shar and you from sin, death, and the grave. There are many wonderful things in this life, but none so wonderful and amazing as the love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord who became man, was born, lived perfectly, suffered in our place, paid for our sin, died our death on the cross, rested in our grave, and rose from the dead on Easter Sunday and did this all for Shar and for you.

 

This is the wonderful good news that prophet Isaiah declares in Isaiah 25 when he says that on the mountain of our Lord’s death, where he was crucified for Shar and for you, there he swallowed up her death and yours forever. 

 

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    for his wondrous works to the children of man!

 

This is the wonderful, gracious promise that our Lord gives us through the prophet Isaiah and the apostle Paul, that Shar’s death, our death, and death itself do not get the last word. That there will come a day when our Lord Jesus will return and wipe away every tear from our faces. That our Lord Jesus who himself rose from the dead will raise Shar and you and me and all the faithful departed from our graves as well. A day, as St. Paul says, when this perishable body will put on the imperishable. A day when we will be raised in glory, and yet raised in the body, as real and as tangible as those famous hugs from Shar. This is the hope of what we confess in the creed…I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. 

 

This is also the wonderful and comforting promise our Lord Jesus gave to Shar and gives to you. 

I am the resurrection and the life.  Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,  and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

 

That’s quite the promise. And yet Jesus kept it. Christ Jesus died for Shar and for you, and by his death he destroyed the power of death. Christ Jesus rose from the dead for Shar and for you, and by his resurrection he opened the kingdom of heaven to all believers…for Shar and for you. And by his word, when our Lord Jesus returns on the Last Day, he will call us forth as easily and quickly as he did Lazarus from his grave. Arise! Come forth. And live!

 

Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever!
 Let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble

 

It will be said on that day, “Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us.
    This is the Lord; we have waited for him; let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.”

 

Let them thank the Lord for his steadfast love,
    for his wondrous works to the children of man!

 

The peace of God which surpasses all human understanding will guard and keep you in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.

Sermon for Pentecost 3: "The God Who Gathers"

 + 3^rd Sunday after Pentecost – 6.18.23 +

Series A: Exodus 19:2-8; Romans 5:6-15; Matthew 9:35-10:8-20

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

From the very beginning of Scripture, God reveals himself as the God who gathers. God gathered the waters of creation together to form lakes, rivers, and seas. God gathered the dust of the earth as he formed and fashioned it into the first man. God gathered flora and fauna around Adam and creation but it was not good that man was alone. Then God, who is communal in His nature as triune, established the first human community by creating the woman to complement the man.

 

God gathered a rib from Adam’s side and built him a companion, a helpmeet and God placed Adam and Eve together, man and woman, husband and wife. There was perfect communion between God and man, though tragically, this did not last. Sin drove apart what God had gathered together. And ever since humanity has been caught in the hamster wheel of coming together and falling apart.

 

But, remember, God is the God who gathers. And to restore creation, God does exactly that. God gathered. He gathered together Abraham and Sarah and a promised son in their old age and barren womb. Over time, God gathered to them not just one son, Isaac, but many sons. God gathered to himself a people, and gave a promise to bless all nations through his people Israel. 

 

This is what the Lord told Moses many years later, in Exodus. you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;  and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you shall speak to the people of Israel.”

 

God is the God who gathers. He gathered Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, and the people of Israel together, so that one day he would keep his promise and continue his gathering work, and perform his greatest work of gathering yet…God the Father would send his own and only-begotten Son to gather, not just one nation, or one man and woman together, but to gather and call all nations to himself by laying down his life on the cross for us and for all. 

 

Paul has this in mind in Romans 5. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. ¹¹ More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

 

In today’s Gospel reading from Matthew 9 and 10, we see Jesus, God in the flesh, gathering once again. As Jesus teaches and preaches his way through Galilee, he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. 

 

They were lost. Helpless. Wandering. Dead in sin. The opposite of being gathered by God. Separated from him. Sin did the same to Adam and Eve long ago. The same is true in our sinfulness. We are lost. Helpless on our own. Wandering in the dark. Dead in sin apart from our Good Shepherd Jesus. 

 

So, what did Jesus do for those crowds? He had compassion. He gathered disciples. And then he sent them out to heal the sick. Cleanse lepers. Cast out demons. And raise the dead. To gather lost sinners back to God the Father through God the Son, by the power of God the Holy Spirit.

 

“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. 

 

Jesus did what he had done throughout the Scripture. God gathered. Just as God gathered Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and later the 12 tribes of Israel, Jesus also gathers. Jesus calls his twelve disciples, teaches them, sends them out as apostles, and builds his church upon the foundation of those gathered apostles, Christ himself the cornerstone.

 

Notice the movement. Jesus loved the crowds. Then He sent His disciples to participate in His work among them. He continues the same movement today. God has compassion. God gathers. God sends. 

 

Out of his gracious, divine favor, Jesus came to bring forgiveness, life, and salvation to us, to sinful human beings who would be lost without Him. Jesus’ compassion for the crowds, and his disciples, and you, is why he gathers us as his people.

 

Here in the immediate context of Matthew 9 and 10, Jesus sent his disciples only to the lost sheep of Israel. This changed after His resurrection as Jesus extended their mission to include all nations, but the sending remained the same. His mission, to bring life to all people, would be carried out by those who had already been loved.

 

This is what Jesus does. He gathers. And then he sends. That’s the weekly pattern in our day as well. Christ our Lord gathers us here, in his house, to hear and receive his word of life. He gathers us as the baptized to confess our sins, receive forgiveness, and rejoice in his mercy. Jesus gathers us to his table where he feeds us grain gathered into a piece of bread where his body is present for you. He takes countless grapes and gathers them into a cup that he pours out, where his blood is shed for you for your forgiveness. And in these gifts he gathers you to himself over and over again.

 

God is the God who gathers. This is what we confess in the communion and fellowship of this congregation. This is also the great and gracious reality of God’s work that we learned and confess in the Small Catechism…

 

I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, my Lord, or come to him; but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the true faith. In the same way he calls, gathers and enlightens the whole Christian Church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.

 

Even though our vocations are different than those first disciples, the pattern of life is the same. Our Lord Jesus calls us. Gathers us by his grace. Teaches and preaches His word to us. Feeds us in his Supper of forgiveness. And then sends us out into our various callings in life. 

 

That’s what it means to be a disciple of Jesus. To be gathered by his grace. Loved in his death and resurrection. And sent out again into your daily life filled with his compassion for all those who are like sheep without a shepherd, and in need of being gathered by God’s grace. 

 

As our Lord did for his disciples, so he does for you, his beloved, baptized saints. God gathers you by his grace, and sends you out in his love, until he gathers you to himself once and for all on the Last Day.

 

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

 

In Memoriam: Funeral Sermon for Ruth Holmquist

 + In Memoriam - Ruth Holmquist +

Psalm 121; Job 19:23-27; Romans 8:18-30; John 11:25–27

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

“The Musician”

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

 

There’s a hymn in our Lutheran Service Book that ends this way…

 

O Spirit, who didst once restore 

Thy Church that it might be again the bringer of good news to men, 

Breath on Thy cloven Church once more, 

That in these gray and latter days 

There may be those whose life is praise,

Each life a high doxology

To Father, Son, and unto Thee.

 

As I thought about our dear sister in Christ, Ruth, this week, her life, her faith in Christ our Savior, his gifts of music through her, I thought of that last phrase…”each life a high doxology.”

 

That’s a fitting description of Ruth’s life and faith in Christ: By God’s grace, Ruth’s life was a high doxology, a hymn of praise to God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

 

Whether you knew Ruth for only a few measures of life, or over the course of many pages, all of us have been blessed by her love and care in Christ, a card or phone call, a prayer in bible study, a beautiful church garden, and especially God’s gift of music that shared with us. 

 

It was God, the musician who filled her heart, soul, ears, and mind with his mercy, grace, and redemption in Jesus. And it was through God’s gift of music, that Ruth filled our lives with the joy and praises of Christ crucified and risen. 

 

Ruth lived her life like a good Lutheran hymn. Now, a good Lutheran hymn has a few necessary ingredients. A good, strong beginning, a closing doxology, and in between that first and final verse, a good Lutheran hymn is full of the joy and peace and salvation that comes to us in Christ crucified and risen. And all throughout, it points you to Jesus.

 

That’s the way it was for Ruth. She had a good, strong and blessed beginning when our Lord, on the day of her Baptism, spoke his saving words, poured his saving water over her, and placed his holy name upon her. Ruth lived in the words of the psalmist, David. O Lord, open my lips, and my mouth will declare your praise. 

 

As life went on, each bar, measure, and turn of the page…Ruth continued to sing the praises of the Lord who called her, as he calls you, out of darkness and into his marvelous light. 

 

She sang God’s praises with children and grandchildren. But of course, Ruth would be the first to tell you though that her love of music and love for her family came from the love of God the Father for her. Christ’s love in giving his life for her on the cross and rising again three days later was the source; by his grace and love, she was pleased to be one of his instruments. 

 

After all, Ruth knew and confessed that it was our gracious Lord who composed her life, like a master musician, as Paul says in Romans 8, that for those who love God all things work together for good. for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.

 

Ruth lived as we live by our Lord’s gracious, saving, justifying calling. God calls us, as he did Ruth to faith in Christ Jesus. To rejoice in his life given, laid down, and raised up again for you. We’re also  given various callings in life. Here in our Lord’s house, some are called to play, the rest of us are called to sing. God called Ruth to bless her church family, here at Beautiful Savior, with her love of Jesus and his gift of music. 

 

Ruth sang and played God’s praises with countless children in Sunday School, Vacation Bible School, and Christmas programs. Whether she was in the church garden, leading ladies bible study, or sitting behind the organ, God’s praises surrounded her service to our Lord and his people here these past 50 years. Ruth took to heart Paul’s words in Colossians 3. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. 

 

Again, Ruth would be quick to tell you it was not me, but Christ who lives in me. That’s exactly what makes Ruth’s life like a good Lutheran hymn. Her life was one full of verse after verse after verse pointing to Christ’s gracious love for her and for you. Verse after verse of thanks and praise to Jesus who is the resurrection and the life, and through his death and resurrection promises and gives eternal life to Ruth and to you.

 

Every good hymn, though, has an end. And sadly for us, so did our time together with Ruth in this life. But even there in the last days of her life, there was doxology, praise to God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. 

 

How can that be, we wonder? How can someone suffering with cancer, losing strength before our eyes, and growing weaker by the day…how can there be praise to God in moments like that? 

 

Do you know the answer? Ruth sure did. Ruth prayed and heard the Scriptures and her favorite hymns and psalms. Why? Ruth knew the answer wasn’t found within her, but in Christ our savior. Ruth knew what Job knew so long ago in his suffering. And so she sang and confessed with Job…

 

For I know that my Redeemer lives, and at the last he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been thus destroyed, yet in my flesh I shall see God.

 

These words are what gave Ruth hope in the midst of her illness, suffering, and death. That her death and sin and disease don’t get the last verse of the hymn of her life, nor of yours. Ruth knew and believed and sang the good news that Jesus, her Redeemer and yours, has already conquered death for her and for you. Jesus paid for all her sins and yours on the cross. Jesus rose again victorious three days later for her and for you. 

 

Ruth knew that Jesus did all of this so that one day when the prayer that she prayed so often - come quickly, Lord Jesus - when that prayer would come true, Jesus would call her home to be with him. And that our Lord Jesus would be with her as he is with all the saints, until that day when He returns to her grave and raise her from the dead as surely as he rose from the dead. 

 

Ruth believed and sang the good news that she too will stand in a new, risen, glorified body. A physically resurrected, new creation with lungs full of eternal Easter air. With resurrected lips and mouth that joins the saints in perfect harmony, singing God’s praises to the Lamb who was slain and yet rules and reigns victoriously. 

 

Ruth believed and sang and rejoiced in the good news that cancer does not get the final verse in her hymn, Christ does. “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. 

 

When our Lord spoke those words, he was near the grave of Lazarus, his sisters Mary and Martha mourned for him. Our Lord speaks those words to us again today, as we mourn the death of our dear sister in Christ. And once again, our Lord comforts us. He makes a promise, the same promise he made to Ruth, he makes to you and to all who believe in him. That your life that began by God’s grace, continues each day in his grace, will one day, by his grace be raised from the dead to new life forever.

 

Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. 

 

Today, even in our grief we are thankful to our Lord for Ruth, whose life was one of praise, a high doxology to Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

 

Today, mindful of the end of life and the sorrow it brings, even in tears we have hope. We sing one doxology after another to our Lord Jesus who died that we will live, and who lives that we will never die forever.

 

Today, we end one hymn and continue on with another, as together, with Ruth, we look to the resurrection of the body and the life of the world to come. 

 

Until that day when our Lord returns and calls us out of our graves and raises us to new life…

 

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

 

Now the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus to life everlasting. Amen.

 

 

Sermon for Pentecost 2: "Christ Dwells Among Sinners"

 + 2^nd Sunday after Pentecost – 6.11.23 +

Series A: Hosea 5:15-6:6; Romans 4:13-25; Matthew 9:9-13

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

When you see a business looking to hire an employee, you’ll often see a sign that says something like, “Submit your resume to the manager; we’re looking for qualified candidates.” Or “The most qualified candidate will be hired.”

 

When our Lord calls his servants, people, prophets, and disciples, however, it seems like he does the exact the opposite. God calls Abraham who twice tried to pass off his wife as his sister. God called Moses the murderer and stutterer to lead his people out of Pharaoh’s hands. God chose his people Israel despite their continued rebellion and rejection of him. The call of Matthew the tax collector is another great example of how our Lord works. 

 

From our point of view the Bible is one story after another of God calling the most strange and unqualified bunch of sinners to be his people and go about his work. If there was a resume to be a follower of Jesus it would simply have one question…do you believe that Christ came to save sinners of whom you are the foremost? Yes. Amen! Or, as a good friend of mine likes to say, Christ died for sinners, and you qualify.

 

That is how it is for our Lord Jesus. Christ came to dwell among sinners, to call sinners to repentance and life in his name, to change sinners, and to save sinners, not by our qualifications, but by the only credentials that matter: Jesus’ crucifixion and resurrection for you. 

 

I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.

 

Jesus says these famous words at the end of Matthew’s account where Jesus called to Matthew to be his disciple. Jesus is on a mission of mercy to rescue sinners out of their own sinful, selfish destruction and to bring healing, life, and salvation. Jesus came to bring mercy to sinners like Matthew, and you and me.

 

As Jesus passed on from there, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him.

 

You have to love the simplicity and beauty of this passage. Jesus could have called anyone to be his disciple. He could have picked the outwardly more qualified pharisees. But no. Jesus goes out of his way to call a tax collector. 

 

You’ve probably heard that tax collectors unpopular among the religious leaders of the first century. Today we’d call them private government subcontractors. They often paid the authorities ahead of time what we would call a sales tax or toll or tax on goods and merchandise today. And then of course they would charge a higher rate from people than what they had already paid. Tax collectors were seen as greedy, deceitful, dishonest, traitors, outcasts of society, unredeemable. 

 

When Jesus calls Matthew it’s a reminder that this is why Jesus came, to have mercy on sinners. To call sinners to himself and rescue you. No one, not even the lowest outcast in society, was beyond Jesus’ saving. There was no one he thought beyond redemption. There’s nowhere Jesus won’t go to save you…He was willing to go the cross of you, to endure the hell and agony of crucifixion for you, to suffer even to the point of death and went down into the grave for you to rescue you and bring you to himself.

 

This is what Jesus does…he came for sinners. He meets sinners where they are. Jesus went to the house. Could’ve been Matthew’s house, or a one of his tax collector friends. This alone upset the self-righteous pharisees, but Jesus did more.

 

There’s Jesus eating and drinking with the outcasts and those deemed unredeemable by the pharisees. It’s worth noting that when Jesus does this he isn’t there to tolerate or accept their sin, but he eats and drinks with sinners in order to change and transform them. Jesus meets sinners where they are at but he doesn’t leave them there. He forgives and changes those he meets. He calls them out of their lostness, darkness, and death and into his life and healing and forgiveness.

 

And while Jesus is there enjoying a meal, the pharisees see what’s going down, and never missing an opportunity to exalt themselves and increase their righteousness, one of them says, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?”

 

Jesus’ answer is a two edged sword, with one edge he cuts down the pharisees and anyone who prides themselves on their own self-righteousness. With the other edge, he cuts away our sin and brings mercy, forgiveness, and healing for sinners.

 

“Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.”

 

As Jesus warns the pharisees, what he says seems opposite of what we’d expect. No glowing resume, no list of accomplishments and qualifications. Simply this: Jesus dwells among sinners. Martin Luther, in a letter of 1516 understood this well and wrote,

 

“Beware of aspiring to such purity that you will not wish to be looked upon as a sinner or to be one. For Christ dwells only in sinners. On this account, he [Christ] descended from heaven, where he dwelt among the righteous, to dwell among sinners. Meditate on this love of his, and you will see his sweet consolation . . . you will learn from him that just as he has received you, so he has made your sins his own and has made his righteousness yours...”

 

It’s simple really, if we see yourself as a little sinner with little sins, you will see Christ as a little savior, with little to save you from. But, if we see ourselves as Scripture says, you will see a big sinner, and your sins as bigger still, but you will also see Christ as a bigger savior and his death bigger than all your sins. It’s true, our sin is great; but Jesus blood and death and sacrifice on the cross is greater.

 

Christ dwells among sinners. It was true for Matthew. And it’s true for you as well. 

 

While our Lord’s calling of Matthew as a disciple is a unique calling and vocation, the way Jesus Matthew is a picture of the way he calls every one of us. 

 

Like Matthew, our life in Christ begins only when Christ calls. Jesus calls and bids us follow him. Like Matthew, Jesus calls us through his powerful, life-giving word, a word that does what Jesus says and gives what he promises. “Follow me.” And he rose and followed him. By his grace, so do you. Like Matthew, Jesus dwells with sinners, not to brush aside our sin, but to forgive it, heal it. Like Matthew, Jesus changes us, transforms us from love of self to love of our neighbor. Like Matthew, Jesus calls us to himself, heals us in his dying and rising, shed his blood to pay for our sins, and brings us to sit at his table, where as He did with Matthew, Jesus still eats and drinks with sinners.

 

Here in our Lord’s congregation of Beautiful Savior, Jesus is still on his mission of mercy to rescue sinners out of their own sinful, selfish destruction and to bring healing, life, and salvation. Here at our Lord’s table, in our Lord’s words, in his Supper, in his forgiveness, Jesus continues to show mercy to sinners like Matthew, like you and me. Here we rejoice that Christ continues to dwell with sinners.

 

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

 

Concordia Christian Academy Baccalaureate Sermon: "Endless Love"

Baccalaureate Sermon – 6.3.23

Concordia Christian Academy, Tacoma, WA

Hebrews 13:20-21; Jude 24-25; Matthew 28:16-20

 

 

In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.

 

I have a good pastor friend who ends just about every conversation by saying, “Go in peace; your sins are forgiven.” You could be talking about the bible or baseball, you could be a close friend or complete stranger and he’d still end the conversation the same way. “Go in peace; your sins are forgiven.”

 

Now, there are a lot of reasons for this, but one that’s important for us to think about on graduation day is this, that endings are important. And how you end something matters.

 

Ask Mrs. Shannon and I’m sure she’ll tell you that a well written sentence or a good story, has a good ending. Or, ask Mr. Boyt and I’m sure that he’ll tell you that a good piece of music has a good ending. I remember my high school soccer coach telling us, “you’re only as good as your last game” …the last game of my senior was our first and last win of the season.

 

That is part of why we’re gathered here today. To mark a good ending. An end of this academic year at Concordia. An end of the tests, papers, projects. And end of giving and grading assignments. At least for a few months of well-deserved rest. An end to our seniors’ time here at Concordia. Awards. Speeches. Commemorations. Family and friends. Parties and gifts. Music and memories. These are some of the ways we end the school year. And those are all good things. Though you can find that anywhere you go. In fact you can have all that and still not have a good ending. One thing is needful for a good ending of a year at Concordia.

 

The words of Jesus. The good news that Jesus died and rose for you. The promise and peace of sins forgiven in Jesus. That’s what makes today a good ending – that we are surrounded by Jesus’ word and work for you. That’s something you simply won’t find at other schools, that from beginning to end of the school year, and every day in between, Christ crucified and risen for you is part of our school day here at Concordia.

 

How you end something matters. The inspired biblical writers knew this as well. That’s why all three of today’s Scripture readings come from the end of the books of Hebrews, Jude, and Matthew. A good ending to an academic year, no matter how many years you’ve spent here, not only recounts the days and education, friendships, and memories that lie behind you…a good ending also prepares you for wherever our Lord leads you in the coming days, months, and years. A good ending doesn’t just mark the road traveled, it also prepares you for the journey ahead.

 

How you end something matters. And a good ending not only reflects on the achievements and accomplishments, the knowledge and wisdom gained in the past years, it also equips you for wherever our Lord calls you next. The author of Hebrews has this to say…

 

Now may the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, the great shepherd of the sheep, by the blood of the eternal covenant, ²¹ equip you with everything good that you may do his will, working in usthat which is pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever and ever. Amen.

 

 

 

 

 

How you end something matters. And a good ending not only causes us to reflect on God’s mercy in the past but leaves you with his promise for the future. Before his ascension, Jesus left his disciples with a promise, the same promise he gives to you, “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

 

Jesus who was crucified, died, risen for you, who promised to be with his disciples as he sent them out to preach his word and deliver the good news of his dying and rising; he promises to be with you as well. School years may end. High school may come to an end. Many, many things in life will have an end. But Jesus’ word. Jesus’ love for you in his death and resurrection. Jesus’ promise to you will never end. “I am with you always, to the end of the age.”

 

 

You see how you end something matters. It’s kind of like that old adage you’ve heard from your teachers, parents, and grandparents through the years. It might be your room or a campground out hiking. Leave it better than you found it. 

 

This is our hope as teachers, faculty, and staff, as parents, friends, and family, that as this school year draws to a close, as you, seniors, graduate…as you look back on all the practices, games, performances, and schoolwork…as you share memories with family, friends, and teachers…and most of all, as you hear the words of Jesus who died and rose to save you, that by his grace, you leave here better than when you started. Full of his wisdom. Full of his grace. Full of his mercy. 

 

It’s true, life is full of endings. And so as you go forth from this place, with all the endings in life that are yet to come, you go with and in and surrounded by the endless love of Jesus who made an end of death by giving his life for you. 

 

²⁴ Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, ²⁵ to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen.

 

“Go in peace; your sins are forgiven.”

 

 

In the Name of + Jesus. Amen.

 

Sermon for Trinity Sunday: "What's Your Creed?"

 + Trinity Sunday – June 4^th, 2023 +

Series A: Genesis 1:1-2:4; Acts 2:14, 22-36; Matthew 28:16-20

Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church

Milton, WA

 

 

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

 

Blessed be the Holy Trinity and the undivided Unity. Let us give glory to him because he has shown his mercy to us.
 

In mercy the Holy Trinity is active in creation. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit creating, sustaining, hovering over the waters as we heard in Genesis 1. Hovering over the waters of your baptism. Creating faith out of nothing. Sustaining you. making you a new creation in Christ.

 

In mercy the Holy Trinity was active at Pentecost. The Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father and the Son to his disciples, to the Church, to you, in the water and the word of God.

 

In mercy the Holy Trinity is active and revealed throughout Jesus’ ministry. Remember Jesus’ baptism. The Father speaks. The Spirit descends. The Son is baptized. The same is true of your baptism into this Triune Name: “You are my beloved son.”

 

In mercy the Holy Trinity is active in the life of the Church, just as Jesus promised. “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  And going, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.”
 

In mercy the Holy Trinity is at work in your daily life as well. You are baptized in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Three in one. One in Three. To have God’s Triune Name is to have the Triune God as your God. Holy Baptism is a marvelous give-away: God takes everything that belongs to him and gives it to you. Even those things we can only believe and not fully understand – such as the mystery of the Trinity – are yours in Baptism.
 

Everything Jesus declares in Matthew 28 centers on that word, “given.” The Son is given from the Father, given to be born, to suffer, to die. Jesus gives up his life for you on the cross. And Jesus gives as he receives. He gives his church and pastors the authority to forgive sin. He gives us the Holy Spirit who proceeds from the Father and the Son. He gives us that same Spirit in Baptism. He gives us his word, his promises, his very body and blood. And as we receive, so too, we give…to all nations. Teaching, holding, guarding, treasuring, keeping, watching over Jesus’ words –. Baptizing in the Triune Name.
 

According to Jesus, baptism and teaching go together. Whether you’re baptized as an infant or an adult, it matters not; that’s the pattern: baptism , then teaching; or teaching leading up to baptism, and then more teaching.

 

This is why Creeds are important. The Apostles’ Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed; they teach us. They summarize the faith once and for all delivered to the saints. They also sustain and support us in the faith. Creeds are a confession. The question is, what does it teach? What/who does it confess?
 

Creeds are everywhere in our culture: Live and let live. That’s true for you, but not for me. Love is my religion. Imagine no religion. I’m spiritual, not religious. Love is love. Don’t judge me. Deeds not creeds. No creed but the bible. Follow your heart. That’s just your interpretation. You only live once. Karma. Tolerance. Pride. Coexist. The list could go on. 

 

Creeds are everywhere. Everyone has a creed. After all, anything after the words, “I believe_____” is a creed. Creeds are a statements of belief, even if that belief is, “I believe in nothing.” 

 

Everyone has a creed. The question is, does the creed you confess point to you and what you do, or to the Holy Trinity and what God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has done for you? The historic creeds take the attention off of ourselves and onto the saving work of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
 

When we confess the creeds, we are living in the words of Jesus when he told the disciples at the end of Matthew 28, And going, make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.
 

The Christian Creeds are more than helpful tools. They’re vital. Necessary. They’re an anchor and foundation, especially as we live in storm-tossed times of relativism and subjectivity.
 

They’re unifying, not dividing. Creeds give us consensus. True doctrine unites. False doctrine divides. Confessions of faith as found in the creeds bind us together. Creeds keep us grounded in Scripture, instead of flying around with the changing winds of beliefs. After all, it’s easy to be an unorthodox church. The way of faithfulness, and a faithful confession is much harder. 

 

We confess that it is always by God’s grace that we remain faithful in receiving God’s gifts in his Word and Sacraments. Faithful in hearing Christ’s word and promises. Faithful in our witnessing the Gospel to others. Faithful as stewards of the earthly treasures our Lord gives us. Faithful in the hymns we sing and the conduct of the divine service. Faithful in our instruction of the Christian faith. Faithful in our care of one another in the body of Christ. Faithful in our love of neighbor.

Creeds are also transferrable: this is how we pass on the faith, from generation to generation.

Creeds are a defense, an apologetic, teaching us what we believe and why we believe it.
 

Creeds are a witness, a simple outline of evangelism. And the best part is you probably already have it memorized. So when someone asks you for a reason for the hope that is within you, you can start quoting the Creed. Maybe not verbatim, but use it as an outline. Let the Creeds of the church, let the language of the Scriptures shape your daily language.
 

This is what the church does. She confesses. Baptizes. Teaches. To all nations. And guess what. All nations are here in our communities as well. The nations come to our preschool. To VBS. They are your neighbors, friends, co-workers.

 

Creeds are also a reminder that you are not alone. There’s no such thing as a lone-wolf Christian. We confess the Christian faith as God’s redeemed, baptized, beloved people, and we do it together. Not only that, we are reminded and reassured in our Lord’s words from Matthew 28 that in Jesus’ work and words of baptizing and teaching, he is with you. I am with you always, to the end of the age.

 

In his mercy, the Holy Trinity – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – creates, redeems, saves, sustains, and upholds you on Trinity Sunday, and every day, now and forever.

 

A blessed Trinity Sunday to each of you…

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