Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

1st Sunday in Advent – December 2nd The season of Advent is about the arrival of the king to his kingdom. The Church’s Advent season begins with the arrival of Jesus on a donkey to the cheers of the crowd. Not to be upstaged or overshadowed, the shopping malls and downtown merchants associations began their season of Advent with the arrival of Santa Claus on a fire engine to the cheers of the children. Clothes and branches are laid down at the feet of Jesus. Check books and Visa cards are laid down at the feet of Santa. Two questions begging for our answer. The one asks, “what’s in your wallet?” The other asks, “what’s in your heart?” The one has done all the clever marketing surveys and offers us just what we want – on sale. The other knows us better than we know ourselves and offers us just what we need – for free. Two voices vying for our attention. The one voice says, “Behold, the flat-screen TV.” The other says, “Behold, your King!” (more…)

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If you’ve ever visited Arlington National Cemetery, or any of the military cemeteries in the country, with all the white crosses in row after row, you cannot help but be touched with a sense of the tragedy it represents. I suspect that we can handle the emotions of a visit to such a place only because we hope that the supreme sacrifice which these soldiers made was not made in vain.

And yet our hope in our own plans for peace have got to be shaken when we notice that there are some who are buried in these cemeteries gave their lives in the First World War which was called, “the war to end all wars.” But in the same cemetery, and ironically sometimes right along side of those who died in WWI, are the graves of soldiers who fought and died in subsequent wars.

There is another scene of crosses in a row. It’s a cemetery far than any military cemetery in this country. These crosses mark a tragedy even greater than the death of all the soldiers who died defending their country. But they also mark a greater peace than all of their deaths could accomplish. It is to this cemetery that we are invited to visit this morning. (more…)

Life is a journey. Which means that life moves, it doesn’t stand still or remain the same. I got a call a few weeks ago from someone I used to work with 28 years ago. If you think that life isn’t a journey that moves you along or change you, just think back to where you were 28 years ago and compare that to where you are now.

Looking back on the journey our life has taken is called ‘reminiscing.’ Looking forward, wondering where the journey will take us is called ‘speculation.’ Our reminiscing about how the journey has gone so far influences our speculation about where the journey will take us. You look back 28 years and think about all of those unexpected, unplanned things that happened along the way that changed the direction of your life. We had our plan, we were moving along, but something happened that we didn’t think would ever happen, either for better or for worse, and it changed the direction of our journey. You look forward 28 years and speculate about where the journey will take you, but who knows what unexpected things will happen along the way that will determine the direction your life takes. So, speculating about the journey your life will take can be either dreadful or hopeful – it all depends on how you think the journey will go from here. (more…)

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In the book of Genesis, we read that in the beginning when there was nothing but nothing, God out of this nothing God created the heavens and the earth. And it only took Him in 6 days to do it. It’s not that He couldn’t have done it in one day, or an hour or a minute or a second or even a split second. He certainly could have. But God created His creation with a sense of timing and rhythm and order built into it.

And “God saw everything He had made and it was very good.” The words “very good” in the Hebrew of Genesis sounds like this, “tov meoth.” These words mean that everything was “very good” quality, like we would say, ‘that’s a very good diamond,’ or a ‘very good piece of furniture.’ But these words means more than just “good quality.” They also mean that everything worked together perfectly. All the elements of creation worked together in perfect timing, perfect rhythm, perfect order.

The Scriptures describe this ecological harmony among the created elements when it says that the “morning stars sang together.” (Job 38:7) “The mountains and the hills sang together.” (Is.55:12). “The trees and the rivers clapped their hands.” (Ps. 98:8). “And the wild goats danced” to the beat and the music that heaven and earth made together. (Is.13:21). (more…)

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There was a time during college when I was interested in pursuing a career in counseling and psychology. It’s not that I decided that counseling wasn’t for me. It just happened that after graduation, I couldn’t find a job as a counselor. Sometimes its only in looking back that you are glad that things happen as they do.

Counseling is a hard job. The job of the counselor is to identify the real issue that is causing trouble for the person in counseling. The problem with counselors is simply that they can’t look inside a person to see what the real issue is. The best they can do is to collect as much of data as possible and hope that they can uncover the real issue that’s causing the problem. Counselors know that unless they can get at the real issue, they can treat the symptoms all they want but the problem will remain. Counseling is a hard job and, as with anything else, some are better at it than others.

It’s the prophet Isaiah who tells us that “to us a child is born and to us a son is given and his name shall be called, Wonderful Counselor…” (Is.9:6). (more…)

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A. Saints and Saints There are saints and then there are saints. It all depends on the angle you’re looking from. From our angle, we see saints in heaven. From God’s angle, He sees saints in heaven and on earth. It’s always best to try to see things from God’s angle.

Saints are “holy ones.” “Set apart ones.” Saints are men and women, boys and girls whom God has set apart from sin, death and hell. God has made them holy by washing them in the holy water of holy baptism. To the saints, and only the saints, God says, “They shall be my people and I shall be their God.”

When God looks down from heaven on His Church He sees the “communion of saints.” He sees you and me, His holy ones, His righteous ones, His sinless ones. He sees you and me all covered in the holy skin of Jesus –painted with the Passover blood of Jesus. Jesus is the holy One of God. He’s the saint, we’re the sinner. But through Holy Baptism, God has hidden you in Christ. When God looks at you He sees Jesus, He sees holy one, He sees saint. (more…)