[Machine transcription]
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you, from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
My beloved parish family, indeed you are my beloved parish family, and you have shown that to us not just in words, but in words and deeds. My daughter, whom you barely knew, you took up the task of praying for her and financially supporting her to complete her degree at Concordia Seward. She’s finishing her second year at Lincoln Lutheran High School. Thank you.
My son, whom you knew a little bit better, when he went off to defend our nation and serve our country, you supported him with prayers and with many wonderful cards and packages. Thank you.
When we were apart from one another, not just once, but twice, as God worked through you without me and worked through me without you, you supported me and my beloved bride with not just words, but with cards and letters and packages as well. Thank you. You indeed are our beloved parish family.
And what a beautiful insight that we were blessed to receive when we had our cottage meetings last August, September, October, and November. We got to sit down in a smaller group of you in one of your homes to talk about the blessings of St. Paul and where we want to go as a parish family. When we asked you to share the things that you were the most thankful for at St. Paul, there were two, among many others, but there were two that rose to the top like cream on milk.
And the two were these: One, that you were very appreciative, thankful, and supportive—that the Word of God is taught here in its truth and purity. That baptism and the Lord’s Supper are presented as God meant them to be presented. And all of that is brought in a liturgical and traditional setting. We’re committed to continuing to do so.
It is the other that is the most marvelous of all. Not that that’s not marvelous; that is. But the one that really encouraged us as well. You spoke about the relationships you had with your fellow parish family members, and how those relationships were some of your best in your life. That is a beautiful thing indeed. And that’s not something that two men can work. That’s something that God works through that Word and Sacrament in your lives as He knits us together.
We are committed to continue to be a part of that. But how can God knit you and me into even a closer communion than we already are? That is a good question. Having been joined to our Lord in our baptism, and having been knit together in this body, the church, these blessings that were spoken of us in that gospel reading are descriptive of who we are as God’s baptized children and of what we are as the communion of saints here at St. Paul.
It is He who works the work of being poor in spirit, humble in heart. It is He who works within you and me to be merciful when the one receiving it isn’t always deserving of our mercy. It is He who has worked all of these great things within us because Christ Jesus gave them to us and continues to give them to us here among this close communion of saints.
But the church on earth is a church that’s constantly engaged in battle. The old evil foe and his minions never rest in their attacks and accusations of us as the sons of God. Satan’s attacks and accusations reveal something very interesting among us as a parish family. Satan’s accusations reveal to us that there is a big disparity between what we see with our visible eyes in one another and what God calls us as His holy people.
That marked disparity is cultivated and flourishes because of Satan’s constant temptation and accusations of you and me. He loves to get us to focus upon the other and not ourselves. And then, as soon as we feel pretty good about ourselves, he reminds us of how shoddily we really are. And we’re left in despair and hopeless despair. And yet God calls us His holy people, His royal priesthood. And yet that’s not what we see, is it?
So how can we reconcile these two diametrically opposed truths? The truths of our eyes and of our senses that says this church is not always as polished as everybody thinks it is, and with the reality that this church is polished and is holy, and not because we’ve made it such, but because He has worked that work within us.
Well, there is only one way, and that is for you and me to repent. Repent of what? Repent of not always being a good family member in this family. Repent of allowing things to keep us away from this communion at times so that Satan can work his work upon our hearts and not be reconciled. Repent because we don’t always see what God proclaims us to be. We’d rather see something else that he, that is Satan, chooses for us to see. Yes, we must repent.
Just like in a marriage, when one of the spouses does not want reconciliation, we call that, the Bible calls that, God calls that impenitence. And that is a sin. And that is what we must repent of. Is St. Paul Parish family as beautiful as the world thinks it is? No. No. And it’s not as beautiful as you or I wish it could be. Because we’re judging it according to sight and senses and not according to what God calls us—or better yet, what God calls me and you—blessed and righteous and holy.
In the Old Testament, Micah is dealing with a people that do not want to repent either. And Micah is responded to by the people of God saying, “Well then what must we do? Tell us.” That’s the flesh talking. That’s not the spirit. The flesh says, “Tell me what I got to do so that I can fix what’s wrong.” Because then, if I can fix what’s wrong, then I feel better about me.
And Micah says, no. None of those things that you are going to do will make you feel any better. He wants us to do justice as we have received justice, to love kindness as we cherish and relish being treated kindly, and to walk humbly with our God as He puts up with our imperfections and our disparity within us.
You and I have been fed to our full. We’ve been watered and washed. We’ve been nurtured and nuzzled. We’ve even been fed by hand because we cannot feed ourselves lots of times in our life. My beloved, you are the ones whom God has faithfully sought after, and you are the ones that God has faithfully brought back to the family.
And as family members, we need to repent for forgetting what God has done for us as family. No, we will never look as beautifully shiny and bright as you and I would love for us to look, but by faith, we know that when we sup with one another here, we sup with sinners and leave as saints. No one worse sinner and no one better saint than the other. And we’re in good fellowship with those around the world who declare and confess the same truth.
Dear brothers and sisters, you are our beloved. But more importantly, you are His beloved. And just as you bear one another’s sins, so He bore yours and mine in the same way, but even more so. And rather than letting Satan cause us to be disenfranchised from the body or from the family, leaving us to despair and hope, we with Paul say very clearly, we consider our calling that not many of us was wise according to worldly standards.
But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak to shame the strong. God chose what is low and despised and the things that are not to make them the things that are. And that’s what you have been made—something that is because He’s declared it to be and not because you and I have figured it out or have come upon it by stumbling.
We shall continue to be reconciled together with joy, for this blessedness that has been given to us and accompanies us each and every moment will carry us all the way till we lay in state here at this place and rise with our family in heaven.
But until then, we bear one another’s sins, we rejoice with one another, we suffer with one another, not only spiritually, but spiritually. But as you said so eloquently, financially, because we’re family, and family takes care of one another.
In the name of the one who knit us as family and who will continue to weave us as family, Jesus Himself. Amen. The peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and your minds on Christ Jesus to life everlasting.
