Epiphany Sermon: "Epiphany Reveals Your Savior"

+ The Epiphany of Our Lord – January 6^th, 2015 +
Redeemer Lutheran, HB

Isaiah 60:1-6; Ephesians 3:1-12; Matthew 2:1-12

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

Epiphany means to reveal, to make known. That’s why some of us say, “I had an epiphany” when we learn something new. Or we speak visually: “it was like a light-bulb turned on in my head.” And that’s a fitting image for Epiphany. Light casts out the darkness. Light reveals. Light is life.

Reminds me of something C.S. Lewis’ wrote: I believe in Christianity as I believe that the sun has risen; not only because I see it, but because by it I see everything else. (The Weight of Glory)

Today the Church celebrates Epiphany. Epiphany shows us Jesus our Savior. Epiphany reveals that the helpless, defenseless babe of Bethlehem is the one who has come to banish all the wicked works of Satan and crush the Prince of darkness. Epiphany makes known to us, and to all the world, that the night of sin and death has ended in this infant king, your swaddled redeemer. Epiphany reveals to us, as it was revealed to the magi, that the ignorance and blindness of our sin-darkened minds is cast out by the radiant light of God’s Word.

Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you… not by a dream or the light of a star, but in the lamp of His Word, by the Word made flesh who dwells among us.

Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, magi from the east came to Jerusalem, saying, “Where is he who has been born king of the Jews? For we saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

No doubt Herod put on a good face, but inside he was furious. Who were these wizards from the east talking about a king of the Jews? He was the king, not some infant. There’s only enough room in Israel for one king of the Jews.

Matthew’s Gospel goes on to reveal just how far Herod was willing to go in order to remain king of the holy hill. All young boys in Bethlehem, 2 and under…slaughtered. Only Jesus was the boy who lived.

History also reveals what a demonic monster Herod was. He killed one of his wives. Killed three sons, several Jewish scholars, and then two more sons and 300 of their supporters. Upon his death he ordered the Jewish leaders would be executed so there would be weeping and mourning over his death in Israel, an order that was never carried out thankfully. Caesar Augustus said it was better to be Herod’s sow than it was his own son.

But the magi didn’t know any of that. In fact, contrary to popular opinion, they didn’t really know much of anything at all. They watched the stars but that hardly made them wise guys. Matthew’s account shows us that every important detail they were given about Jesus came, not from their own wisdom and understanding, but from outside of themselves. Remember, it’s Epiphany, a revealing.

First, the magi travelled to Jerusalem, not Bethlehem. It was the ordinary place to go to find a king of the Jews, but Jesus was no ordinary king. In Jerusalem, Herod’s own Jewish court prophets were clueless. The prophet Micah had to bail them out and inform them where the Messiah was to be born. The star they followed to Bethlehem was also given to them to point the way to Jesus. And the only reason they didn’t fall for Herod’s trap of revealing Jesus’ whereabouts was by a dream not to return back through Jerusalem.

When you read the story again you realize, Epiphany isn’t so much about the magi seeking and finding Jesus as it is the Jesus revealing himself to otherwise ignorant people. First to the Magi, and then to us.

Just like the magi, in Epiphany we don’t find Jesus, Jesus finds us. We need to be found for we’re lost in sin. Darkness covers the earth…and our hearts and minds.

Herod of old wasn’t the only king threatened by Jesus. After all, there’s only enough room for one king, in Judea, and in the kingdom of our lives. Scripture also reveals that there’s a little Herod in each of us, the Herod of our old sinful nature. The little Herod in you and me who wants to be that king at all costs. You know this to be true when we know we should stop sinning, but we don’t. We – and we alone - want to determine what is right and true. And if any other king comes along to lay claim to you, well then he has to go.

And so our little King Herod within will tell you: that you’re better off without Jesus, or with less Jesus, or Jesus at a distance. Certainly you don’t need Jesus every Sunday. He or she works to convince you your sin isn’t that bad. He pats you on the back and consoles you when you’ve chosen money or pleasure or sports or work or anything else as your king. She gladly tells you, of course you can stop doing that sin any old time you want.

Like the magi, we too must be guided by Scripture to find the newborn king. All else is darkness. Like the magi, we too need a light from above to be a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path. Like the magi, Epiphany isn’t about us seeking Jesus, but rather about Jesus finding, seeking, and saving you. Calling you out of the darkness into his marvelous light.

Epiphany reveals to you that Jesus Christ is the Light of the World, the Light no darkness can overcome. Not your sin. Not my sin. Not the whole world of sin. Not even the devil himself could snuff out the Light of Light. Oh we all tried to dethrone King Jesus. The mutiny in the Garden led to the Coup of Jesus’ crucifixion.

Jesus’ Epiphany in Bethlehem points us to his Epiphany in Jerusalem. Behold the Light of the world covered in darkness on the cross. The glory of the Lord is raised up on a wooden tree.

“He is the gold of the Father, who, for your sake became poor, that you through his poverty, you are made rich. He is the frankincense and myrrh of heaven, the incense of whose sacrificed body will waft upward as a pleasing aroma to the Lord, an incense in which the stench of every sin becomes as perfume.” (Chad Bird)

God would stop at nothing to save you. He loves you too much to let you sit in darkness forever. So he gave up his priceless treasure for you, his Son, his only Son. For where our sin, and the wickedness of our little Herod within abounds, God’s grace and mercy in Christ abounds all the more. There is no sin of yours that is darker than the Light of Christ, and no sin left uncovered by the blood of Jesus, shed for you.

Epiphany reveals the King you need and the King you have in Jesus. The King who died for us his wayward, rebellious subjects. The High Priest who prays for you even as he dies for you: father forgive them for they know not what they do. The Prophet who speaks a promise that dispels the darkness of our sins the very moment he utters the words: today you will be with me in paradise.

“Jesus is the Epiphany of everything God is, everything God has, every gift God desires to lavish upon you. The Alpha of love, the Omega of grace, and every combination of the letters of the alphabet that spells out the Father’s will to save you.” (Chad Bird)

And the sign posted above his head reads: Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. Behold, your King. Your Savior. Your Epiphany.

Come and worship him who drowns the little Herod in each of us in the font, like Pharaoh and his hosts in the Red sea.

Come and worship him who makes Holy Baptism your Epiphany, where the liquid sunshine of God’s mercy and grace is poured over you.

Come and worship him who fixes his Epiphany over you, not in a shining star, but in the pattern of his own cross. Now there’s a new king in our lives, who sends his Holy Spirit to illuminate his word, trust in his promises, and enlighten you where he reveals his mercy for you.

Come and worship him who reveals his body in the bread we eat, and his blood in the wine we drink. 

Come and worship him whom the magi worshiped 2000 years ago now present for us at his altar. 

Come and worship him who forgives all your sins of flesh and soul with his body and blood.

If Baptism is your Epiphany, and so is the Lord’s Supper, then so is Absolution. Jesus reveals and makes known his forgiveness for you. Lord, have mercy on me a sinner. The Light of Christ scatters our darkness with a word of light and life: I forgive you all your sins.

Arise, shine. Your light has come and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you.

Rejoice with exceedingly great joy this Epiphany, with the magi and all nations, for Christ has shown himself to you and for you in his Epiphany.

A blessed Epiphany to each of you…

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

New Year's Eve Sermon: "A New Name for a New Year"

+ Eve of the Name and Circumcision of Jesus – December 31^st, 2014

Redeemer Lutheran, HB

Numbers 6:22-27; Galatians 3:23-29; Luke 2:21

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

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “Speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, Thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,

The Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.  

“So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.” Numbers 6:22-27

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb. Luke 2:21

Tonight is the festival of God’s name. God’s name given for us. God’s name blessing us. God’s name saving us. God’s name upon our lips. And today…God’s name given to an eight day old boy who is God in human flesh.

What’s in a name?” Shakespeare’s Juliet asked. And you may well be wondering the same. Why does the Church have an entire festival dedicated to the name and circumcision of Jesus? What’s the big deal?

Just think about how much time and thought parents put into naming their children. Names are important: they’re our identity, it’s who we are. Names place us into a family; most parents choose names for specific reasons, mine for example means “His Name is YHWH”; it’s part of the OT Creed, the great Shema. Or Zoe: it’s the Greek word for “life”. Jonah means “dove” in Hebrew. Natasha means "Christmas Day" in Russian.

And as important as our names are, how much more so is the name of God.

That little 8 day old bundle of human flesh was given a name. Yeshua or Joshua in the Old Testament (that’s what those scribbly lines are on your bulletin cover). Jesus is “Yahweh Saves”. For he will save you from your sins. For that is what he was born to do. He was born to live for you, bleed for you, suffer for you, and die for you. He was born to receive a name so that he might take your name upon himself.

Jesus. YHWH saves. This is the Name that sends the Devil running away. This is the Name by which prayer is heard. This is the Name by which God in the flesh is known, the Name by which you are saved. 

The Name of Jesus is the name we need. For without the Name of Jesus our only name is sinner. It is precisely for you, that this child is given the Name, Jesus. Mary’s child is named Jesus in order to place his name upon us. God becomes a child in order to make us children of God. God takes a human name in order to save us from our name – sinner – and give us a new name: Baptized.

And without this new name we’re worse than orphans. We are nameless. Without the name of Jesus placed upon us we have no name. No identity. No family. No place to call home.

That’s the deadly reality of our sin. We deny the Name of our Lord. Our sinful flesh only worships one name, one god: me, myself, and I. There we see the root of all kinds of evil. A world run amuck, full of people like us who want nothing more than to make a name for ourselves at anyone’s expense. A world full of people like who gossip and slander our neighbor’s name in order to make our name appear better. A world full of people who blaspheme God’s name without the slightest thought. We carry that name sinner with us into family gatherings, church meetings (the official and unofficial ones), and everywhere we go.

We need more than a New Year with a clean slate. We need a new name. Therefore, begin this New Year not with endless resolutions but with continual repentance. Repent of your name sinner. Repent of placing your name above your neighbors’. Repent of failing to call on the Lord’s Name.

In Christ’s Church we don’t live by resolutions, but by repentance…and the forgiveness of sins.

So, rejoice this New Year in your new name, the Name given for you: Jesus, Yahweh saves! Rejoice, for no matter how often you fail to keep your resolutions – God has resolved to save you in the Name and Circumcision of his Son, Jesus. Rejoice that no matter what kind of pain, sorrow, or grief this New Year brings – all of it has been experienced for you by the boy, the teenager, the man named Jesus. Rejoice, that no matter how great your sin is, Jesus’ Name is greater than your sin.

There’s a little verse in Exodus 20:24; it’s one of my favorite verses in Scripture.  Try committing it to memory this New Year:  Wherever I cause my Name to be remembered there I will come among you and bless you.

Where is that? Just think of all the places and times you hear the Name of the Lord given to you in blessing during Divine Service…

Divine Service begins… In the Name of the Father and of the Son of the Holy Spirit. Divine Service ends the same way: the Name of the Triune God placed upon you in blessing.  After confessing our sins we hear: “In the stead and by the command of my Lord Jesus Christ I forgive you all your sins in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

Where is God’s Name? Look to where the Lord places his Name upon you: in words from lectern and pulpit and altar, in words of prayer, blessing, and hymns. Look to the altar where God’s Name is given in flesh and blood for your forgiveness. Look to God’s Name given to you in Baptism: “I baptize you in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”

A new name for a new year, and a new creation.

Reminds me of a great illustration for Baptism in the movie Toy Story. In the movie, Andy, the main character, writes his name on the foot of each toy. Why? Because having Andy’s name on your foot means you belong to him, you are loved and cared for, you are his own treasured possession; it means you’re family, and he’ll do anything to keep and protect you.

This is what Christ has done for each of you in your Baptism. He is your Andy. But instead of a black sharpie, Jesus takes the best permanent marker there is – his own precious blood – and he engraves forever His name upon your forehead. As His name is written upon you in water and blood; your name is written in heaven in the Lamb’s book of life.

Out with your old name “sinner” and in with the new: Baptized. Beloved. Holy. Saint. God’s own child, I gladly say it. You belong to Christ. You’re loved and cared for by Jesus. You’re Jesus’ own treasured possession. You’re part of the family, adopted in Baptism and given his Name with all the rights of children – an eternal inheritance. Jesus has done everything to keep and protect you, even laying down his own life for you.

So the next time you’re in the bathroom look to the place where God’s name is placed upon you with blood and water. You may not be able to see it in the mirror, but it’s there all the same. You are forever marked as one redeemed by Christ the Crucified. Fast away your old sin passes…hail, your new name, lads and lasses. Christ Crucified has taken away your sin and given you a new name. His Name.

For wherever he places his Name he is there to bless you. It was true in 2014 and it will be true in 2015 as well. Unlike our cheap attempts at making Jesus’ name great, the places where Jesus’ name comes to us will never go out of style. His forgiveness in water, word, body, and blood isn’t some passing fad or trend. This gracious, outrageous forgiveness for you is timeless, just like His name.

His Name is Jesus for he saves you from your sins.

A Blessed New Year.

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

Sermon for Christmas 2: "Wisdom Incarnate"

+ 2nd Sunday of Christmas - January 4th, 2014 +

Redeemer Lutheran, HB

Series B: 1 Kings 3:4-15; Ephesians 1:3-14; Luke 2:40-52

 

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

 

Solomon prayed for wisdom:  Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil…

 

Paul says Christ Jesus became to us Wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption (1 Cor 1:30).

 

Luke says Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.

 

And after three days they found the boy Jesus in the temple, sitting among the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions.

 

Behold the mystery and joy of Christ’s incarnation. The Omniscient God learns.  The God who knows all the answers asks questions of the temple rabbis. The God who opens the ears of the deaf opens his ears to hear his Father’s Word in his Father’s house. The God who spoke creation into being learns his Aleph, Beth, Gimmels (ABCs in Hebrew) and amazes the wise and learned theologians of the day. The God who cannot be contained in a temple made by human hands locates himself in His Father’s house and in the temple of his human flesh all for you.

 

At Christmas we celebrate the Word made flesh. But Christmas, and our celebration is not over. For along with the word, Wisdom became flesh for you. In Scripture, Wisdom is both a divine gift and God himself. Christ is God’s wisdom incarnate for you.

 

And in him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace,  which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight ⁹ making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ ¹⁰ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

 

Typically, we associate “wisdom” with people who are older than us. The young are quick with facts, but short on experience, knowledge, and general common sense. Wisdom, like a fine wine, comes with age. “Another year older and wiser we say.” The Proverbs instructs us:

The glory of young men is their strength, but the splendor of old men is their gray hair.

 

About the last thing you’d expect from a 12 year old boy is wisdom. And yet that’s precisely what this morning’s Gospel delivers to us – the Wisdom of the universe, the Holy Wisdom of God incarnate, packaged in the form of a twelve year old kid from Nazareth who is in the temple to be examined by the teachers on the eve of His becoming a man.

 

Luke includes this story here as a way of wrapping up the infancy and childhood chapter of Jesus’ life. From this point on, He would have been considered a young man and no longer a child. In Jesus’ day, they had no concept of “adolescence”.

 

But this was no ordinary twelve year old who was dropped off at the temple by His parents for free baby-sitting. This is the wisdom of God in the flesh. The Wisdom who orders the universe, who sets the sun, moon and stars in their course, who orders and governs all things so that we perceive Him in the laws of nature. There was more wisdom in the tip of that Child’s little finger than in all the teachers of Israel and the world. And yet He deigns to sit among them as a student, answering their questions, and impressing them. And being obedient to His parents as any Child.

 

But He is not just any ordinary Child. He is God’s Child, His elect Son come to save the world from Sin, Death, and Hell. You wouldn’t know that looking at Him there in the temple, or for that matter in the manger. He blends in as one of us because He is one of us: Immanuel, God with us.

 

This is the way wisdom works in the Scriptures: hidden from the so-called wisdom of this world. And so hidden “in, with and under” this humble yet deeply wise Child is the eternal wisdom of the ages. God’s plan from all eternity to redeem us and a fallen creation from its bondage to decay was happening. This Child in the manger and the temple is the One who would do it. The Spirit of wisdom is upon Him. You see it in his miracles, Baptism, Transfiguration, and ultimately His death, resurrection, and ascension – but always hidden under his humanity.

 

Christ is Wisdom, a wisdom we do not have but long for, a Wisdom we seek to gain but cannot, a Wisdom that no amount of study or experience can acquire, a wisdom that comes to us freely as a gift of God’s grace by the Spirit working through the Word, making us “wise unto salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” We see God’s wisdom most clearly in the wisdom of the cross and the Crucified Christ. As Paul declares, “The foolishness of God is wiser than man’s wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man’s strength.”

 

So, God sent a boy to do God’s job. God sent His Son, born of the Virgin, cradled in a manger, raised in a household, obedient to father and mother, to save this world from the chaos, darkness, and decay of Sin.

 

This is the nature of God’s wisdom hidden in Jesus’ humanity. It’s easy to overlook what God is doing in His hidden and foolish ways. We’ll rush the baby to the doctors for his shots, but are we as urgent about Baptism, the washing of regeneration and renewal? We’re quick to call 911 in an emergency, but do we call upon the Lord in the day of trouble? We’re always in search of our next meal and complain of “starving to death” if we miss lunch, but do we experience the same pangs of hunger and thirst for righteousness when we miss the Lord’s Supper? We’re quick to point out the sins of others, but do we rush to confess our sins and receive absolution from the pastor as from God himself with the same zealotry? Repent.

 

For apart from Christ who is Wisdom, our wisdom is like that of an eleven year old: immature, perverse, and always thinking about ourselves. The OT word for our condition is folly. Foolishness.

Repent, for there’s a little selfish fool in each of us - our sinful flesh - who delights in despising God’s Word, dishonoring His name, and praying “My will be done.”

 

Why were you searching for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house, among the things of my Father. Jesus was lost. Mary and Joseph were. And so were we – lost in sin and death.

 

Jesus is lost among us whenever and wherever Christians and the Church departs from God’s teaching of the Scriptures, or strays away from Christ’s gifts of the Sacraments. Apart from his Word and promises in water, word, body, and blood we are truly lost. And when we lose Jesus in the Scriptures and the Sacraments, Jesus is lost by our great spiritual doubts, our guilt, and sin which increases the more Jesus’ gifts are lost from us. We have become increasingly “wise” in the ways of the world, yet fools in the ways of God.

 

That is why Jesus was in his Father’s house. For you, to find you in your lostness and bring you into his Father’s house.

 

It’s no accident that Jesus was in the temple. Already at age 12, all which is promised by God’s located-ness in the OT temple is now given to you through the temple of Jesus body. Jesus was in his Father’s house that day to find you, just as he remains in his Father’s house, here in the Church, to bless you, forgive you, give you his holiness and wisdom.

 

Mary and Joseph searched high and low to find Jesus, everywhere except the one logical place where He has to be, in His Father’s house, where the Word and Sacraments are. That’s where you find Jesus for that’s where He finds you in your lostness. Jesus wasn’t lost. He’s the Lord. And he was in the Father’s house in deep humility to find you.

 

Christ who is your Wisdom comes to you in Baptism. You’ve been washed in the Wisdom of God. The Wisdom for which Solomon prayed and longed, the Wisdom the wise men sought in their travels from the East, the Wisdom that brings light and life and order to the universe and to your life sends the Holy Spirit to call, gather, enlighten and sanctify you in the true faith. Baptized and believing, you are wise to salvation through faith in Jesus. In Jesus you receive a Wisdom that will bring you to life with God forever. And in Jesus’, God’s Wisdom in the flesh, you are never lost.

 

So today on this second Sunday of Christmas, the feast continues. The Word made flesh dwells among us. We are in the Father’s house. You are not lost. Jesus finds you right where he promises, here where the Lord’s people gather on the Lord’s Day in the Lord’s house and receive the Lord’s Supper.

 

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

 

Sermon for Christmas Day: "Christmas Paradise"

+ The Nativity of our Lord, Christmas Day – December 25^th, 2014 + 

Redeemer Lutheran, HB

Series B: Isaiah 52:7-10; Hebrews 1:1-6; John 1:1-14

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

It’s beginning to look a lot like… Genesis 1.

You thought I was going to say Christmas didn’t you. Well, for John, Christmas begins in Genesis. After all, the Gospel writers tells us the Christmas story each in their own way.

Matthew gives us Joseph’s perspective. There’s the wise men, wicked king Herod, the slaughter of the innocents, and the flight to Egypt. Matthew teaches us that the cross looms large over Christmas.

Luke gives us the dramatic, sublime Christmas pageant. And it came to pass in those days… Jesus’ birth is the greatest story of all; not only is it beautifully told, it is true.

John gives us the best of both worlds: Jesus’s birth and Genesis 1. Christmas and Paradise.

In the beginning…

God is there in the beginning, just as we confess in the Creed and Catechism: Uncreated. Infinite. Eternal. Almighty. The One who is, who was, and who is to come. He is without beginning and without end.

And yet John throws a little Christmas surprise our way.

In the beginning was the Word.

Who is the Word?

The Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him.

If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and waddles like a duck then it must be a duck. Everything Genesis 1 says about God – that he is uncreated, infinite, eternal, almighty, without beginning or end - John says this is also true of Jesus. Jesus is the Word…and the Word was with God and the Word was God.

Like a master workman, Proverbs says, God spoke creation into being through the Word. Or like Aslan in the Magician’s Nephew singing Narnia into existence. It all happened through the Word, through Jesus. So, Jesus was there when the heavens were stretched out like a tent and the sun was fixed as its lamp; he was there to smell the first noble fir and send the reindeer leaping across the field; and he was there rejoicing in creation. Behold it was very good.

But John’s Christmas story doesn’t stop at Genesis 1. Jesus is the Word in Genesis 1 and in John 1. John has yet another Christmas surprise…

The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.

The Uncreated became a creature. The Eternal punches a hole right into time and space. The Infinite Word takes on finite flesh. The Almighty is born of a humble Virgin. All for you.

Jesus, the Word of God in Genesis 1, comes for you in your human flesh in John 1 all because of Genesis 3.

Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem has opened Paradise for you.

For the words “Very good” spoken over creation quickly turned to “very bad”. Blessing turned to curse. Death ended life. Paradise lost. The gates closed, guarded by an angel. Adam and Eve in exile among the thorns and thistles. And all creation covered in darkness.

With a single word, John describes our fallen world: darkness. Darkness without. And a heart of darkness within us. We’ve become lost and disoriented in the dark. We’ve filled the void and emptiness with the fear, love, and trust of creation, not the Creator. Repent. Cast off the works of darkness all you children of the day.

Arise. Shine. Your light has come. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.

In Bethlehem, the Light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it.

Redemption dawns in the dim lit room where the Almighty God is born a helpless child. The Uncreated, Eternal, Infinite Word has organs, bones, and skin. His every heart beat exists to take your heart of darkness and replace it with a new one. O come, let us adore him…born the friend of sinners.

Today the ancient bond of condemnation in Adam is loosed. In Eden the devil deceived the woman, but now he sees a woman, a new Eve, become the mother of the Creator. And her Seed has come to crush the serpent’s head forever. Jesus leads you safely past the angel’s flaming sword. Heaven’s door is open through a stable. Bethlehem has opened Eden for you.

Your paradise lies in a manger. 

Join the animals who stand watch like the angels before their Maker. Join as heaven and nature sing the Gloria. While fields and floods, rocks, hills, and plains repeat the sounding joy. Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior who is Christ the Lord. The Word became flesh and dwells among you. O come, let us adore him.

The Word who formed man from the dust has come with fingernails and eyebrows and kneecaps to reclaim his creation. In Jesus the darkness is banished. He has born the curse for you. Your sin is his. Your sorrows are his. Thorns and thistles adorn his head as he dies to set you free. O come, let us adore him.

The Word who made the forests and the mountains has come with arms outstretched on a wooden cross raised up on a hilltop. There the Creator of heaven and earth suffered and bled and died for his creation. The one in whom we live and move and have our being was wrapped in clothes and laid in a tomb. And on the third day he burst forth, the first bloom of a new creation. O come, let us adore him.

The Word who made the wheat and vine comes in bread and wine to you. The Word made flesh dwells among us, and for us. Here is your paradise in bread and wine. Taste and see that the Lord’s body and blood is good for you and your forgiveness. O come, let us adore him. Receive him. And rejoice.

Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem has opened Paradise for you.

A blessed Christmas to each of you…

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

Christmas With Chesterton

Every Advent and Christmas some of my favorite, must-read poems include the following two gems by G.K. Chesterton. Neither he nor his poems need any introduction. His sublime words speak for themselves. Enjoy the wit and wonder of Christmas with Chesterton.

A blessed Christmas to you.


A Christmas Carol

The Christ-child lay on Mary's lap,
His hair was like a light.
(O weary, weary were the world,
But here is all aright.)

The Christ-child lay on Mary's breast,
His hair was like a star.
(O stern and cunning are the kings,
But here the true hearts are.)

The Christ-child lay on Mary's heart,
His hair was like a fire.
(O weary, weary is the world,
But here the world's desire.)

The Christ-child stood at Mary's knee,
His hair was like a Crown,
And all the flowers looked up at Him,
And all the stars looked down.


The House of Christmas

There fared a mother driven forth
Out of an inn to roam;
In the place where she was homeless
All men are at home.
The crazy stable close at hand,
With shaking timber and shifting sand,
Grew a stronger thing to abide and stand 
Than the square stones of Rome.

For men are homesick in their homes, 
And strangers under the sun,
And they lay their heads in a foreign land
Whenever the day is done.
Here we have battle and blazing eyes,
And chance and honour and high surprise,
But our homes are under miraculous skies
Where the yule tale was begun.

A Child in a foul stable,
Where the beasts feed and foam;
Only where he was homeless
Are you and I at home;
We have hands that fashion and heads that know,
But our hearts we lost - how long ago!
In a place no chart nor ship can show
Under the sky's dome.

This world is wild as an old wives' tale,
And strange the plain things are,
The earth is enough and the air is enough
For our wonder and our war;
But our rest is as far as the fire-drake swings
And our peace is put in impossible things
Where clashed and thundered unthinkable wings
Round an incredible star.

To an open house in the evening
Home shall men come,
To an older place than Eden
And a taller town than Rome.
To the end of the way of the wandering star,
To the things that cannot be and that are,
To the place where God was homeless
And all men are at home.


Both of these poems are found in The Man Who Was Chesterton: The Best Essays, Stories, Poems, & Other Writings of G.K. Chesterton. ed. Raymond T. Bond. Garden City, NY. Image Books, 1960, p. 410-412.

Sermon for Christmas Eve Midnight Mass: "Home for the Holy Days"

+ Christmas Midnight Mass – December 24^th, 2014 +

Redeemer Lutheran, HB

Isaiah 9:2-7; Titus 2:11-14; Luke 2:1-20

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

There you are sitting in driver’s seat. A cramp in one leg. The other leg asleep. Disney’s Frozen soundtrack has been playing non-stop for the last 725 miles. At any moment someone’s bladder will remind them it’s been twenty three and a half minutes since the last rest stop. Everyone’s tired and hungry. When the single most quoted sentence in all of travel history is blurted out.

“Dada…Are we there yet?”

Our Advent waiting, preparing, and longing is a little like that, isn’t it. O Come thou Key of David, come…and open wide our heavenly home. Are we there yet? Is it is Christmas? Count the candles: 1 -2 – 3- 4; purple, purple, pink, purple…and tonight…white at last. The fast is over. Let the feast begin.

Don’t you think Mary was thinking the same thing as she was traveling pregnant on that luxury donkey? Joseph, are we there yet?

You see this in the holiday movies too. The agonizing journey home, where everything that could go wrong does, and everything: traffic, weather, mechanical failures, gets in the way of a smooth trip, like Steve Martin in Planes, trains, and automobiles or Kevin’s mom racing home to New York in Home Alone. Even the radio blares it into our ears: there’s no place like home for the holidays. I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams.

Are we there yet?

Well, wake up, you sleepy heads. This is no dream. St. Luke places Jesus’ birth right up there in the halls of history next to Caesar Augustus. And it came to pass in those days.

Christmas is finally here.

You can just imagine the relief. Bethlehem on the horizon. Candlelit windows. Finally some rest. At last they had made it to Bethlehem, David’s home.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.

Rejoice for this little child was born in darkness and in his gentle, fragile infant flesh we see Light of light, very God of very God. Rejoice, for we who dwell in the land of the shadow of death Jesus’ birth shines forth with uncreated light.

Rejoice, for tonight… Jesus makes his home with us at Christmas to bring us home with him.

She brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

Note well that though Jesus is a greater King than Caesar he is not born in the gilded, marble hewn Imperial palace in Rome or a picturesque seaside villa overlooking the Mediterranean. They laid him in a manger.

For all of us city-slickers, that’s a feeding trough. You can just imagine the look on the donkey’s face when he stares into his food dish only to discover a baby…and no ordinary baby at that…his Creator. The beasts of the field bow their heads and worship as the angels before the Creator clothed in humanity.

Jesus is born as you were. Born of a woman. Born under the Law to redeem us from the law. Born as we are: a son of man, to make us as he is: a son of the Father. Born homeless to bring us home.

“Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” Jesus is born homeless for us who wander in sinful exile. Many long years we’ve wandered in the desert wasteland east of Eden. At times God has tested us. Other times the devil has tempted us. We’ve lost loved ones along the way. We’ve wrestled with sin. We’ve lost our way. Our sin which promised such pleasure, leaves only guilt and despair in us. We have not become gods like the devil promised. We’ve become orphans. Death hounds us at every turn. And we’re far from home. But all of that ends tonight. Your wandering is over.

Jesus makes his home with us at Christmas to bring us home with him.

Jesus is born in humility to bring you perfection in his life, death, and resurrection. Jesus was wrapped in swaddling clothes so that you would be freed from the snares of death. Jesus had no other place in the inn, so that you might have a room in his heavenly mansion.

Your exile is over. The powers of hell flee before the little child. Death shivers at Jesus’ birth. Jesus, the rightful King, comes to bring you home from behind enemy lines. He is an infant warrior. Born to fight and die for you. This little baby, though being rich, for your sakes became poor, so that by his poverty you might be rich. He will be wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a virgin tomb. Jesus made his home in our flesh, to die for you, to make his bed in our grave, and to raise our flesh in his resurrection.

In exchange for our lawlessness of sin Jesus bestows safety and security in his heavenly kingdom. In place of our loneliness and despair, Jesus gives us joy in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, and the life everlasting. In place of our deathly exile, Jesus gives us a heavenly home.

Jesus makes his home with sinners…to bring you home with him. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.

The angels announce the message of salvation, not to the top of the social-political ladder, not in the halls of Caesar…but to lowly shepherds, with dirt under their finger nails, sheep manure covering their garments, and sinful hearts just like ours.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

Peace isn’t a feeling. Peace is a person: Jesus born for you. Born that man no more may die. Jesus is born to make makes his home with us at Christmas to bring us home with him. Death’s silence is broken by the shouts of good news and great joy. Sin’s darkness is dispelled by the Light of the world in a manger. The infant Son leads you back to your heavenly Father.

Welcome home for the holy days. We’re here at last. Christmas has arrived. And once again, Jesus makes his home with us, and in a magnificent feast. The host you receive is Jesus’ house of bread. His body born for you is now present to forgive you. This cup you drink, it is true communion with his blood, shed for your forgiveness.

The Promised Land is in view. Bethlehem is on the horizon. Christ is born for you. Welcome home.

A blessed Christmas to each of you…

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