Lutheran Church of the Resurrection

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"Come Holy Ghost, Creator blest, and make our hearts Your place of rest; Come with Your grace and heavn'ly aid, and fill the hearts which You have made." (LSB #498 st.1)

Of all of the great holidays on the Church's calendar, the day of Pentecost has got to be the most mysterious and the hardest to comprehend.
* Christmas is easy to understand. A baby was born. We know all about that.
* Good Friday is all about the death of that child now a man. We've all had some experience with death.
* Easter is all about the resurrection of that man from the dead, a little more mysterious than birth and death maybe. But we see this all the time in nature as flowers and grass die in the winter and come to life again in the Spring. * The Ascension of our Lord may seem a bit strange at first, but we've got this whole thing of space travel down to such a science to the point that no one would dare say that a man can't fly.

But Pentecost, how do we understand the sound of a mighty rushing wind from heaven that's all sound and no wind? And the tongues of fire on the Apostles? And the ability to speak in foreign languages without any training or teaching? What are we to make of all of that?

That was the great question of those who were eyewitnesses to all of this. "And at this sound, the multitude came together, and they were bewildered, because each one was hearing them speak in his own language. And all were amazed and perplexed saying to one another, 'What does this mean?' (more…)

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This morning, we come to the last stop on our Easter tour through the book of Revelation. As we said when we began, this is an Easter tour, each stop along the way bears witness to the victory that Jesus has accomplished over sin, death and the devil by His resurrection from the dead.

Several have said you've appreciated this tour because as much as you'd like to read Revelation, you find it very difficult to do. In fact, throughout history, some have suggested that the book of Revelation doesn't belong in the bible.

So lets begin by saying that a good way to read the book of Revelation and understand how it fits into God's plan for the redemption of the world is like this. In the beginning, God created the world and all was 'very good' as we heard last Sunday. The focal point of God's 'very good' creation was a place called Eden. It was paradise.

As we know, God's 'very good' creation didn't last very long. Adam and Eve's brought sin into paradise and sin brought corruption and death into paradise and corruption and death turned paradise into a living hell. If you think I'm exaggerating sin's effect, just look around you. (more…)

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In the beginning, God made the heavens and the earth, the heavens and the earth and everything was NEW. Not only NEW, as in, right out of the box, never been used. But 'NEW' as in perfect condition. We might call it all "great," "fantastic," "incredible." But God called all that He had made, "good."

There was however one exception. "It is not good that the man should be alone. I will make him a helper fit for him." If there's one thing you should know about God, it is that He's a perfectionist. He's never satisfied with 'pretty good' or 'almost perfect' or 'better than anyone else could have done it.' We should remember that when we try to impress God by telling Him that we gave it our best, or that we had good intentions, or "at least I'm not like that sinner.'

The one seated on the throne has said, "Behold, I am making all things new." If it's not good, He's going to make it good. GOOD AS NEW. (more…)

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This is now the third stop on our tour through the book of Revelation during this Easter season.

Last week we stopped at chapter 5. There we saw the Son of God looking like a Lamb who was slain. He took the scroll that was in God the Father's right hand and that was sealed with seven seals. What we said was that the destiny of the whole human race and all of God's creation was written down on that scroll. And that by opening it, it would all be administered just as it is written, and that only the Lamb, who is the Son of God, Jesus Christ, is worthy to open the scroll and to read it and administer the course of human history because only He "was slain and by His blood, He ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation and made them a kingdom and priests to our God." (Rev.5:9-10).

And then what we said was that the rest of the book of Revelation, chapter 6 through 22, was the revealing of what is written on that scroll as it's opened one seal at a time. So, we left off at chapter 5 and today we come to chapter 7. By the time we arrive at chapter seven, six of the seven seals on this scroll have been opened in chapter 6. If you want to follow this in your bible as I try to summarize things, you'll find this in Revelation, chapter 6. (Page 1031 in your pew bible). (more…)

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Last Sunday we began a six-week trek through the Epistle readings assigned for this Easter that are all from the book of Revelation. With only six stops, we know we're not going to see it all. We could fill six months of Sundays touring this book and still not see it all. But these six stops are the Easter sites. We are stopping where we see the church in heaven celebrating the victory that our Lord Jesus Christ has won by His resurrection from the dead.

Last Sunday we met the writer, St. John who, with two feet still on the ground found his head in the clouds, seeing what no eye has ever seen and hearing what no ear has ever heard. He's told to write what he sees and send it to the churches. The churches of course are the congregations of the Church on earth. As long as they are on earth, they remain this confusing, conflicted, tangled up mixture of saint and sinner, filled with doubts and allured by temptations, sucked into sin.

They need a peek behind the veil to reassure them of what's really real and truly true, and certainly certain. And there's nothing more real and true and certain that God's Word. And what do we see and hear? We see Jesus Christ and the church in heaven. We see our destiny. (more…)

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Archeologists have uncovered a letter from the 1st century AD that was written by the governor of a Roman City named Bithynia. His name was Pliny the Younger. The governor wrote the letter to the Roman Emperor whose name was Trajan. The letter is writing to inform the Emperor of what the governor is doing to stamp out Christianity in his territory. Pliny informs the emperor that when a Christian is identified, he or she is brought into a courtroom where there are statues of several Greek gods. The Christian is given three chances to bow to the statues and renounce their allegiance to Jesus Christ. If they do, they're free to go. If they refuse to so do, they're arrested and executed.

And you always thought that if you were a Christian and belonged to a church everything would go well for you.

One of those arrested was an apostle of Jesus whose name was John. While John was in prison on the island of Patmos he is given a 'revelation.' The word is 'apocalypsis.' It means, to uncover or to unveil something or someone that's been hidden or covered up. What no eye has seen nor ear has heard, John saw and heard. (more…)

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In 1786, the poet Robert Burns was plowing a field for his garden. As he plowed the ground he noticed a sudden scurrying of little mice under his feet. Stopping, he realized that he had plowed up a mice nest. That got him thinking about the unanticipated events that happen in life that tend to wreck the careful plans that we've made. Sometimes we bring the disaster on ourselves; sometimes it comes on us from out of nowhere. That led him to write a poem called, "To A Mouse," from which we get this famous line, "the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry." Sometime later, author John Steinbeck turned Burn's short poem into a classic novel called, "Of Mice and Men."

So, what's your plan? We've all got one. Some are much more detailed than others. They include timeframes and deadlines. Others are more vague. It's all 'someday,' 'whenever.'

So, how's it going? Is it going according to plan? How many of us can look on our life and say, 'yea, it's going just the way I planned it? It's all going according to plan?'

Stuff happens doesn't it? Sometimes it's the mistakes that we've made, the stupid stuff we've done that make our best-laid plans go awry. Sometimes, things don't go according to plan just because of someone else's mistake or the whole accumulation of mistakes over a long time, or the inheritance of some ancestor's DNA, or a shift in economic or political power. (more…)

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If we were to survey of all of the parables that Jesus told, we would discover that these earthly stories with heavenly meanings are based on examples from either nature or people. And if we were to read these parables according to their kinds, what we would see is that they are all, in many ways, alike according to their kind. The parables that are based on nature, such as, the lilies of the field, birds of the air, sheep and their shepherd, these all have a certain innocence and peace about them and they have a happy ending. But many of the parables that are based on examples of people, such as, the father and his two sons, the workers in the vineyard, the unjust steward, the wounded man on the road, these all have an aspect of conflict and tension and even violence to them, and they end in hard ways.

That's certainly the case with the parable before us this morning that is based on the example of people. In fact, of all of the parables that Jesus tells, this one may be the most violent and dark. It ends in cold-blooded murder.

Before we explore this story in detail, let's be sure that we point out the one detail that isn't in the story itself, but which anchors it in reality. Jesus tells this parable on either Tuesday or Wednesday of Holy Week. By the end of the week, He will be taken outside the walls of Jerusalem and murdered at the place called 'Golgatha.' (more…)

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"Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes grumbled saying, 'This man receives sinners and eats with them.'"

The Pharisees and scribes just don't understand Jesus and His attitude towards 'sinners.' He "receives" them. That is, He welcomes them. He doesn't keep His distance from them. He doesn't put up those barriers that keep them from getting too close to Him. You know what I mean, the body language, the tone of voice that makes it very clear that I'm not going to let you get too close.

And He "eats" with them. To "eat" with them is a shorthand way of saying that he eats and drinks with them. He actually enjoys Himself with them and they with Him.

But it's not just the fact that Jesus keeps bad company or the improper recognition of class distinctions and the social boundary busting that makes them so upset with Jesus. If He enjoys Himself with that class of people, so be it. Maybe He lacks self-esteem or maybe He's strange, who knows. That's not the real issue. (more…)

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We come now to the 3rd Sunday in the season of Lent. Just 18 days ago on Ash Wednesday, we received the ashes on our forehead as the sign of our repentance and heard the prophet Joel cry out to us, "Yet even now," declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments. Return to the Lord, your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster." (Joel 2:12-13)

Just 18 days ago, we heard the apostle Paul plead with us, "We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." (2 Cor. 5:20).

By now, the ashes have long since been washed away and the words that we heard on that night have been forgotten. Which explains tells us why Lent can never be just a one-night-stand. The Church has always insisted on a prolonged period time for the call to repent to be sounded. 40 days and 40 nights is not too long a period of time either.

For the truth of the matter is, we being who we are, are never finished with repenting. Repentance is not something you do once and then get on with your life now that you've got that messy little business taken care of. Turning from the death of our sins and idolatry and being raised up to new life by the grace and mercy of Jesus Christ is a continual process for the Christian. It only stops if you stop following Christ or when you die in Christ. In the meantime, we always need to hear the call to repent and turn from our sin and to the steadfast love of God in Jesus Christ. (more…)