Date Changes for Confirmation

The information below will be sent home with the eighth graders.

Confirmation Sunday is moved to Sunday, May 26^th. The Questioning service will be Wednesday, May 22^nd. My intention is to have a potluck meal and presentation of gifts after the questioning. More details will be forthcoming. We will still use the season of Lent as a time to pray for and bless our catechumens as they prepare for confirmation.

This new schedule will allow more time for confirmands to review their catechism work and interview with me throughout the year. Please feel free to call with any questions.

In Christ,

Pastor Gaunt

452 3685 (church)

452 3605 (home)

Large Catechism

At the orientation meeting last September I handed out Large Catechisms for each family, but didn't really explain the purpose.  Luther wrote the Large Catechism for parents and pastors to expand what he writes in the Small Catechism. As I prepare to teach a portion of the Small Catechism each week, I often study the correlating passages from the Large Catechism. I always learn something new as I read it.

I wanted to provide each family with a copy as a support to parents as they hand the faith on to their children. The ideal scenario would be that parents read the portion of the Large Catechism that corresponds to those portions that we are learning in Midweek. If nothing else I hope it is a helpful resource, and I pray it is a tool that deepens your faith in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Google Docs Are Public

You should now be able to access the documents at the top right. Sorry to those who tried to access them earlier. I'm technologically infirm.

Palm Sunday Sermon

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

1.                   Fear not Christian, behold your king is coming, but you have to receive Him as He comes, no as you want Him to be. The crowds came to see Jesus on the first Palm Sunday because He raised Lazarus from the dead. They were not anticipating Christ riding into Jerusalem as the sacrifice for sin. But that’s the king who comes. He has not come to put a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage. He has not come to be an example. He does not come to inspire the people. He comes to do battle with your sin. That is the king you must receive, or you cannot receive Him at all.

2.                   There’s the problem: Sin’s not much of a problem. We’re tired of hearing about it. We’re tired of preaching about it. Do you know the last time you sinned? We’ve got due dates we’re worried about. Celebrations we have to plan for. all sorts of time commitments we struggle to keep straight. But, sin doesn’t cause us much heartburn. We don’t want to be free from sin. We just don’t want to get in trouble for it.

3.                   But Christ was not stripped naked and exposed so that we would have license to sin. He was not scourged 39 times, his flesh ripped from His back, because sin is nothing to worry about. His hands and feet were not bounded through with spikes because what you need is to feel better about yourself.

4.                   Christ has come to do battle with your sin. Therefore, His cross is the intervention god has staged that you might come to see your addiction to sin. The cross is an assault on the life we have wanted for ourselves. The bleeding and dying of His Son is God’s judgment of all the works which we think make us worthwhile. The spectacle of the cross draws us from our inward contemplations. Contemplate the suffering and death of Christ. It’s on the cross you will see how dire your situation is.

5.                   If you are already conscience stricken over your sin, thank God for His mercy. If not, ask that God would have mercy and soften your heart. Then when you are aware of your sin, you must cast it back on Jesus. Let Jesus deal with it, because again, He is the one who has come to battle your sin and rebellion.

6.                   God has not willed that you fight your sin., but that Christ should. Is. 53:6 “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” 1 Peter 2:24 “In His body He has borne our sins on the wood of the cross.” 2 Cor. 5:21 “God mad Him who knew no sin to be sin for us. That we might become  the righteousness of God through Him.”

7.                   If you let sin remain in your conscience it will be too strong for you. If you try to still your conscience with how sorry you feel, or with acts that show your sorrow, you will never have peace. If you try to deal with your sin yourself in your heart it’s over.

8.                   But if Christ deals with your sin in his body, then perfect confidence is yours. Christ is strong enough, and your has no choice but to be killed on christ’s corss and swallowed in His resurrection.

9.                   And so you are made new. You might look and feel the same but you are a completely new creation. And so God puts in you a new mind to deal with temptation. Even that you don’t do alone, and the cross of Christ is the key to the battle. Listen to Luther…

If pain or sickness afflicts you, consider how paltry this is in comparison with the throny crown and tne nails of Christ. If you are obliged to do or to refrain from doing things against your wishes, ponder how Christ was bound and captured and led hither and yon. If you are beset by pride, see how your Lord was mocked and ridiculed along with criminals. If unchastity and luts assail you, remember how ruthlessly Christ's tender flesh was scourged, pierced and beaten. If hatred, enfy, and vindictiveness beset you, recall that Chrsit, who indeed had more reason to avenge himself, interceded with tears and cries for you and for all his enemies. If sadness or any adversity, physical or spiritual, deistresses you, strengthen your hear and say, "Well why should I not be willing to bear a little grief, when agonies and fears caused my Lord to sweat blood in the Garden of Gethsemane?"

10.                God is judge, but He doesn’t want only to be your judge. He wants to suffer in your place, that you might be free. “Hosannah, blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” For He comes to fight your sin and save you.

11.                We are entering into the holies of weeks. The devil, world, and your flesh want you to be too busy to take time to hear the story of Christ’s suffering and death. If you do hear the story, your enemies want you to be too preoccupied to meditate and take it to heart. But what else can we do but ponder these events? Every wound Jesus receives means healing for you. This story of shame is your glory. This display of weakness is your strength. Peer into these mysteries of Christ’s passion, and you are peering into nothing less than the very heart of God.

January 25th Midweek

3rd and 4th Grade: Read from Mark 2 where Jesus healed a man who was paralyzed. Things to notice in the story: Of first importance, is the fact that for Jesus that which is most necessary is forgiveness of sins. Upon this gift rests all other healing. Second, notice that the man benefits from the faith of the other men who bring the paralytic to Jesus.

5th and 6th: Matthew 2: 1-23. Notice from the beginning of Jesus life the cross looms as the authorities of the earth (namely Herod) want to kill Jesus. Yet Jesus is protected so that He might be killed for all people.

7th and 8th: We reviewed the Creed. Especially looking at Christ's humiliation and exaltation, as well as why it was necessary that our Savior is both human and divine.

Liturgy and the imagination

From next months newsletter:

The liturgy of the church is an astounding gift.

I just finished reading a very thought-provoking book by Anthony Esolen entitled, Ten Ways to Destroy the Imagination of Your Child. In the book he highlights ten habits of our culture that arrest and atrophy the imagination of people. Of the many helpful things he discusses, two items that he provocatively unfolds are the benefit of memorization and structure to the imagination.

In regard to memory Esolen writes about the ancient practice of the oral traditions where people would sing epic tales in sometimes complicated yet memorable rhythm. These poems would be sung over and over and passed on from generation to generation. Esolen goes on to show how people who have created great things were benefited by that which was committed to memory – always by repetition and often by music. The point is that by putting important and useful things to memory, the imagination has tools to create new things and deal with new problems.

In regard to structure, Esolen says that facts can be robbed of their power by keeping them random and unorganized. On the contrary when there is structure and purpose for how things are put together, than we have a skeleton upon which we can build all sorts of imaginative things. The better a person understands the grammar of language the more that person can do with language in a meaningful way; so also with math or art. It’s just true.

This gets me back to my original comment: The liturgy is a jewel which serves to broaden a sanctified imagination and to foster our understanding of God and our life with Him. To paraphrase C.S. Lewis, you’re not really dancing when you have to think about the steps. So also when the structure and words of the liturgy become ingrained, so that you can sing it in your sleep then you are really able to dance with God. The liturgy is nothing more than the word of God set in a structure that is able to encapsulate the life of every Christian for it is handed down from generation to generation according to the wisdom and experience of the church. The more we sing the liturgy the more the words become a part of us. These words become the lens by which we can see and make sense of life. They are the tools from which we can draw when we meet new challenges and obstacles and questions. The liturgy is the structure which enables us to engage life with purpose and creativity.

Personally, as I work with people in our church and in other denominations, as I think about issues going on in the world, I’m amazed at how the liturgy frequently pops up, offering guidance. Next month I’d like to share with you the comments of a Lutheran woman who wrote a very nice piece illustrating the effect of the liturgy in her life. For now, I simply want to encourage us all to evermore diligently attend to the words of the liturgy and see how it gives voice to our needs and purpose to our life.

Cancellation

*Please note Midweek is canceled on February 8th*

Midweek January 19th

3rd & 4th Grade: Jesus calms the Sea. Mark 4. Note that the disciples question, "What kind of man is this?" is an invitation for us to ponder as well.

5th & 6th Grade: Presentation of Jesus at the temple and the song of Simeon. Luke 2: 22-40. Notice the connection to Simeon's song upon seeing Jesus, and the Nunc Dimittis after we've received the Lord's Supper.

7th & 8th Grade: John 15:26 - 16:15 Jesus promises the Holy Spirit. What is the essential work of the Holy Spirit as far as Jesus is concerned?

January 10th Midweek

Here are the topics from yesterday with some discussion questions:

3rd and 4th grade: Talked about the miracle wherein Jesus turned water into wine. John calls these things signs. What are these signs for? Does Jesus still give us signs today?

5th and 6th Grade: Matthew 1: 1-25 The Angel appears to Joseph and the Genealogy of Jesus. Jesus genealogy includes some unsavory characters. What does their inclusion in Jesus lineage show?

7th and 8th Grade: Third article of the Creed - What is the work of the Holy Spirit? How does the Holy Spirit work? What is "sanctification?" What are the gifts by which He accomplishes our sanctification?

Changes in Memory Work

Midweek students will be getting a new memory work schedule. Please note that we're doing things differently. I've broken up the memory work according to grade. That said, while the 3rd and 4th graders won't be responsible to recite as much material as a 7th grader, I would still like the 3rd and 4th graders to read through all of the material and get started on it. The goal is that by the time they're in 7th and 8th grade they have the material memorized by virtue of repetition.

A copy of the schedule is linked on the top of the side bar under 2012.

Sermon 1/1/2012

Circumcision and Name of Jesus

January 1, 2012

Luke 2: 21

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1.                  What an odd celebration that occupies our thoughts this morning. While others are celebrating the New Year with sleeping in and hangover’s, we celebrate the circumcision and name of Jesus. Usually a gospel lesson gives us a teaching or a miracle or a parable of Jesus, but tonight we get one verse: “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.”

2.                  This is peculiar to say the least. Yet, the wisdom and wonder of this one little verse is enough to eclipse all of the thinking compiled in all the tomes in the history of human writ. The circumcision of a Jewish baby boy was an ordinary part of life. Ever since Abraham and all the males of his household were circumcised, every Jewish boy eight days old received this physical mark. It was a law mandated by God, and it served as a sign of God’s covenant with his people. This was a sign that the offspring of Abraham, though they were sinners, were to be set apart from the sinful world. They were to be holy to the Lord.

3.                  So it could have been assumed that Jesus would be circumcised. Yet, the Holy Spirit so inspired Luke to pen these words, to make these things explicit. Why? Because in the details of Christ’s life we see His work for all people. So it has already begun. Eight days after His birth, Jesus begins to fulfill his role as substitute and sacrifice. At the end of eight days, Jesus is already cut by the law on your behalf. Here for the first time, He steps into the place of sinners and takes upon Himself their duties, their burdens, their punishments, though He, Himself, was sinless.

4.                  And so we begin to see how Jesus frees us from the burden of the law. He doesn’t say the law doesn’t matter. He doesn’t wink and look the other way. God’s word and thus, His law, cannot be avoided, or swept under the rug, as if it was of no account. It does not bend or break for the sake of humans. It bends and breaks us. You cannot run from it. God’s law is even written in to creation. If you abuse alcohol it will take its toll on your body and your relationships. What’s more the law is written on our hearts accusing us of sin. You cannot deaden the accusation of sin, without first deadening your heart.

5.                  So, how can we finally be freed from the burden of the law? How can we have a good conscience, and yet truly live, our hearts beating full within us? The answer is that Christ must free us from the law by fulfilling the law perfectly for us in our place. The God and Lord of Abraham, must submit to the covenant of Abraham. The God and giver of the law must surrender to the laws demands. The God who required the blood of circumcision and animal sacrifices must suffer his own blood to be spilt. But this was only the beginning. Not only must Jesus fulfill the law perfectly, but also he must bear the weight of the sin of the whole world. Every time the law was transgressed must be assigned to Jesus to answer for. All of the laws demands for our sin must be met and satisfied by the blood of Christ which was shed on the cross.

6.                  But there’s more. Jesus is circumcised on the eighth day. This is the number for starting afresh. This is the number of recreation. It was on the eighth day after the flood that the Lord started over with Noah and his family, eight persons in all. Consider also that Jesus is born of the seventh barren woman recorded in Scripture. There was Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel, Sampson’s Mother, Hannah, Elizabeth, and then there was Mary who was the most barren of all. For no one looks to a virgin to give birth. Yet there is an eighth and even more barren womb in Scripture. This is the womb of the grave. No one looks for life out of a grave. And yet Christ burst forth from the earth, the firstborn of the dead. Note that He rose from the dead on the eighth day of the week. This is not because the church can’t count, but it’s a symbolic rendering of time, given that God created the world in six days. On the seventh He rested, and on Sunday our Lord rose again starting all things new and fresh. It is this work completed and accomplished on the eighth day that you inherit. You do not inherit the burden of the law. You inherit the promise of life. You are not made right by obeying the law. You are made right by trusting in Christ for life.

7.                  We are entering into a time where people will make New Year’s resolutions. That’s all well and good. But it’s even better to think about this: you are free. You have nothing to fear. All that truly could harm and destroy you has been dealt with. Christ has accomplished everything necessary for your new life. Nothing can get in the way of the good purposes God has for you, not even yourself. And so you are free to shed the weight you’ve resolved to lose or to tackle the project you’ve resolved to get at. Yet if the weight remains and the project is left undone, you are still free.

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