Rev. Dean Poellet, guest preacher
Immanuel Ev. Lutheran Church of Frankentrost
Saginaw, Michigan
160th Anniversary (Kirchweih) (October 14th, 2007)
Text – Luke 17:12-19

10-14-2007 audio

…as He entered a village, He was met by 10 lepers, who stood at a distance & lifted up their voices, saying, ‘Jesus, Master, have mercy on us.’ When He saw them He said to them, ‘Go & show yourselves to the priests.’ And as they went they were cleansed. Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; & he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks. Now he was a Samaritan. Then Jesus answered, ‘Were not 10 cleansed? Where are the nine? No one was found to return & give praise to God except this foreigner?’ And He said to him, ‘Rise & go your way; your faith has saved you.’

THANKSGIVING

One of the earliest settlers here in Frankentrost was out for a walk in the woods one day. He was on his way to Frankenmuth to buy flour & have a beer. During his trip he was admiring all that the “accident” of evolution had created. You see, this man was an atheist.

“What majestic trees! What powerful rivers! What beautiful animals!” he said to himself. But as he came alongside the river he heard a rustling in the bushes behind him. Turning, he saw a 7-foot tall grizzly bear beginning to charge towards him.

He took off running up the path. He looked over his shoulder & saw the bear closing in. He tried to run even faster, scared so much that tears were coming to his eyes. Looking over his shoulder again, the bear was closer yet. The heart of the atheist was now pumping frantically as he tried to run still faster. It was then that he tripped & fell.

He rolled over to pick himself up just in time to see the bear right on top of him raising his giant paw to strike him. At that instant he cried out, “Oh my God!” Then, time stopped… The bear froze. The forest became silent. Even the river stopped flowing. A bright light shone upon the man & a voice came out of the heavens saying:

“You deny my existence all these years; teach others I don’t exist; even credit My creation to a cosmic accident, & now, do you expect me to help you out of this predicament? Am I to count you as a believer?” The atheist, ever so proud, looked into the light & said: “It would be hypocritical to ask to be a Christian after all this time, but could you make the bear a Christian?” “Very well,” said the voice.

As the light went out, the river began to run; the sounds of the forest continued, & the bear put his paw down. He then brought both paws together, bowed his head & began to pray, “Come Lord Jesus be our guest, & let these Thy gifts to us be blessed.”

The national holiday is still more than a month away, but today is certainly a day for thanksgiving. For the first 40 years of my life this congregation was my spiritual home, & the older I get the more I appreciate all that this Body of Christ has meant to me. So in one respect, today is a day for me to come home & say, “Thank you.”

Now, my history goes back only 48 years, & many of you’ve been here for even less than that. The roots, the foundation, of what’s been going on here goes back 160 years to a time & circumstance that none of us can even begin to relate to. Practically nothing that we use in our lives today even existed back then.

The normal daily routines, & the things of their lives, only survive in museums at best. Most of us wouldn’t last two weeks if we were transported back to the year 1847. Many of those early settlers didn’t survive either, because the transition from life in Germany to life here was so difficult.

We owe it to them to be thankful, but we could hardly speak to them because of the differences in language. So in many ways, remembering them is sort of like going through a museum. Even if everything looks nice, & is very educational, a few moments after we leave the museum our thoughts snap back to our world, & their lives are forgotten.

The shortcoming of museums is that the way of life they portray is no longer real. Sin causes entire ways of life to disappear. It causes everything to decay. Sin causes us to forget. Sin corrupts us so that we are not thankful. In many ways the heritage our ancestors passed down to us, is like the ‘stuff’ in a museum. It no longer has purpose or meaning, or the meaning is difficult to apply, because our lives are so different today.

Two things, however, remain the same; the fact of sin, & the fact of its solution – our Savior Jesus Christ. Neither of those exists only in a museum. Neither of them is useful only at anniversary celebrations. Neither of them, as a way of life, has disappeared. Some people today live for sin. Some people live for Christ.

The sermon text is one that’s commonly used to preach to us that we should be thankful. While that’s true, I think a more Christ-centered focus can be warranted. The story’s main point is that Jesus, the Son of God, is the One whom we should thank:

“Then one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, praising God with a loud voice; & he fell on his face at Jesus’ feet, giving Him thanks.”

After 160 years what have those long ago generations passed down to us that really counts? Jesus! After 160 years what have those long ago generations passed down to us that really lasts? Jesus!

Sometimes during anniversary celebrations we think back & end up longing for the ‘good old days.’ You know, the days when life was simpler & less evil. The days when life was slower & you knew your neighbors. The days when people actually did go to town to buy flour & to have a beer.

14 years before the Civil War began – Immanuel Lutheran was here. Only 71 years after America declared its independence – Immanuel Lutheran was here. When James Polk was President – Immanuel Lutheran was here, & our heavenly Father was busy building the foundation for the lives that we have lived. No, I’m not going to say there’s something wrong with fondly remembering the ‘good old days.’ There’s nothing wrong with reminiscing, because God certainly has blessed us in many ways, & for many years. But if we end up in the trap, of longing for the ‘good old days’ because we wish we could relive them, we are longing for something that is no longer real. We are longing for something we do not need.

When we are longing for those golden days of yore, what our soul is truly missing, & longing for, is the Garden of Eden, & folks, it’s not in our past. Even a 160th anniversary comes nowhere close to going back to those days when sin had not yet affected the world. None of us were there. But the Garden of Eden, & its rest, is in our future.

And heaven is our future because of Jesus, who in the Gospel lesson was on His way to Jerusalem to die. It was His death march, in order that we might live, not in the past, but in the present, & in the heavenly future. No matter how miserable our lives might be at this moment, we can truly live now, because of what Jesus has done for our future.

The 10 lepers were miserable, and then in a moment Jesus healed them. Once cured, the Samaritan’s life was overflowing in joy, yet it was his faith, which caused him to recognize that Jesus should be thanked for it.

If your life is not miserable right now, who have you been thanking? Have you thanked your lucky stars? Have you given credit to your Alma Mater for the education you received there? Have you spoken well of the friend whose connection got you the break you needed? If your life is going well, have you been tempted to thank everyone but Jesus?

The Atheist in the opening illustration had forgotten about Jesus so much so that he’d bought into Satan’s lie, & denied the existence of God. Then, after the bear attacks & the atheist realizes he needs God’s help, he buys into another of the devil’s lies when he says, “It would be hypocritical to ask to be a Christian after all this time…”

If hypocrisy were the standard that prevents someone from being converted, from an unbeliever to a Christian, then none of us would be saved. Everyone has a sinful nature that thinks only of ourselves & says, “Do as I say, not as I do.” We are all hypocrites, & sometimes that does make it difficult to believe that Jesus has forgiven my sins.

But the Gospel of Christ calls us to believe; to believe that in spite of our sins, which we see every hour of every day, we are forgiven even though we shall continue to sin every hour of every day. And we have nothing & no one to thank except for our Savior, the Son of God. The Samaritan who was cured of his leprosy makes that point clearly & joyfully.

As he’s being attacked by the bear the atheist cries out, “Oh my God,” but then Satan uses the man’s pride to get the better of him, & the atheist turns down God’s invitation to believe in Him as Lord & Savior. As the bear prepares to devour the man you might think of Satan prowling around as a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.

God sent His only begotten Son to devour as well, but He came, as the prophet Isaiah wrote, to “…swallow up death forever;” & as the Apostle Paul wrote, “Death has been swallowed up in victory. Where, O death is your victory? Where, O death is your sting? …Thanks are to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

That news is what the Samaritan recognized the moment he was cured of his leprosy. And in faith, he recognized that Jesus came not just to heal us of our diseases, but also to heal us of everything that weakens, or tears us down. He realized that no matter what troubles we’ve endured in the past, or are still enduring today – Jesus is the answer.

That’s something the settlers of Frankentrost knew 160 years ago, & they staked their futures upon it. They undertook incredible risks in moving here & building their homes, their congregation & their school, in the midst of what was then nothing more than a swampy, malaria infested, wilderness. It was faith in Christ, & the courage, which flows from Him, that gave them the assurance that God would build a new life for them in this place, & at that time. 160 years of this congregation, its school, its hymnal, its liturgy, its people, all built upon the Rock of Christ.

Its bells still are chiming & calling; calling the young & old to rest, but above all the souls distressed, longing for rest everlasting. Yes, dear brothers & sisters of Immanuel, the Garden of Eden is in our future. Amen.

Here stands the font before our eyes, telling how God has received us. The altar recalls Christ’s sacrifice & what His supper here gives us. Here sound the Scriptures that proclaim Christ yesterday, today, the same, & evermore our Redeemer. Amen.