Sunday, Feb. 5, The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany also, Lutheran Hour Ministry Sunday. Readings include Isaiah 40:21-31, 1 Corinthians 9:16-27, Mark 1:29-39. LSB Divine Service I, hymns 726, *578, +579, +580, +407, and 698.  The Lord’s Supper is celebrated. Communicants are reminded to prepare themselves for proper reception using Luther’s “Christian Questions and Their Answers” in the Small Catechism, Lutheran Service Book, 329.

The Son of God, Christ Jesus, Makes Us a New Creation The Lord alone “is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth” (Is. 40:28). He “sits above the circle of the earth” and “stretches out the heavens like a curtain” (Is. 40:22). Yet, His almighty power is demonstrated chiefly by His mercy and compassion. “He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might He increases strength” (Is. 40:29). The only-begotten Son of the Father, the very Word by whom all things were made, becomes flesh and takes all the poverty and weakness of our sin and death upon Himself, bearing it in His Body to the Cross. As He dies for us there, He also raises us up, a new creation, in His Resurrection from the dead. Thus, by the preaching of this Word, He heals “many who were sick with various diseases,” and He casts out “many demons” (Mark 1:34, 39). And His preaching continues through those whom He has sent, who are “entrusted with a stewardship” to “preach the Gospel” (1 Cor. 9:16–17). Thus we are set free by the Word of Christ, and we exercise our freedom in loving service to others.

Grace and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

God’s Word for our glad hearing and learning is the Gospel for this New Year’s Day, from Luke chapter 2.

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. (Luke 2:21)

Let us all pray,

The old year now hath passed away;  We thank Thee, O our God, today   That Thou hast kept us through the year  When danger and distress were near.   

Oh, help us to forsake all sin,  A new and holier course begin!  Mark not what once was done amiss;  A happier, better year be this. Amen.

Dear brothers and sisters of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Again, I extend to each of you wishes for a very blessed and happy New Year, begun this day, January 1, in the 2012th year of, and in the Name of, our Lord Jesus.

And to our new officers and board members who, in just a little while, will be installed, I wish not only God’s blessings on your upcoming service, but also sincerely wish to extend my hopes and prayers for a year of God’s blessings upon all our endeavors as we work together here at Immanuel.  He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it. (1Thessalonians 5:24)

The New Year, 2012, is not even a half day old. How have people started it?

Some, we know, are starting the new year in bed sleeping off the festivities of last night.  And, when (or more likely, if they get up sometime today) they will also start this new year with a terrible headache and a sick feeling in their stomachs and bad taste in their mouths.

Too much partying will do that.

Too much drinking and getting drunk will especially do that to you.

And to those who are Christians and who carried on that way they would do well to heed the Word of God and of Jesus our Savior who warns, “watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life.” (Luke 21:34)

And also the words of the holy Apostle Paul who writes in Ephesians 5:18, “And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit”

And also, “Do you not know that the unrighteouswill not inherit the kingdom of God?  Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality,  nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10)

You see, my dear friends, as we heard in last evening’s New Year’s Eve sermon we have a choice about these matters and you have made a different choice. You have chosen to start the New Year 2012 here in the Lord’s house, and to begin it in the Lord’s name.

So just what does it mean to begin the New Year in the Lord Jesus’ name?  It means that we have faith in Jesus; that we believe in Him as our Savior; and that we recognize Him as our Lord.

And what does it mean to begin a new year? It means that another year has passed.

Growing up my family always watched the ball drop from Times Square in New York City.  My mother was from out east and living in the Midwest that was something that still connected us with her side of the family.  Back then it was Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians.

When I recall celebrating New Year’s Eve’s past I am reminded of those who are gone: loved ones and friends.  To begin a new year means we have left behind loved ones and friends either in the past year or that another year is added to the years since we’ve parted–since they were removed–by God’s mercy–from this valley of sorrows and tears.

Beginning a new year means we are made well aware enough of the effects of sin, and of our own sins.  Recounted for us at this time of the year are all the evidences of sin in the world.  Of sin’s curse.  Of the suffering and alienation that sin has brought upon mankind.  

In our own lives we see this as we watch ourselves age. As we are confronted by illnesses and weaknesses.  As we take honest assessment of ours lives and of ourselves and recall our sinfulness the many ways break God’s commandments:

Jesus says in Mark 7:21-22,

“For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness.”

Also, we read in Galatians 5:19-21:

Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions,  envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.

Beginning the New Year in the name of Jesus means that we stand before the Lord’s altar and can only begin with prayer, saying “Lord Jesus, God’s Son, have mercy upon me, a sinner.”

That we come today confessing our sins and our unholy lives and thoughts and words and actions.  And that we desire to be made clean of them so that we may proceed in this new year as God’s children holy and without and sin and filthiness to our lives.

And that can only happen when we begin this new year in our Lord’s name.

What does the Lord’s name mean?  In our short Gospel reading this morning we learn that our Lord’s name is Jesus.  Jesus is the name given by the angel.  It is a name that comes from heaven and is the name by which we are saved.

Jesus means Savior and we recall how the angel came to Joseph in a dream and told him that he was to call his name Jesus, “for He will save His people from their sins.”  Jesus is God made flesh. God coming from heaven to dwell among us.  God acting in time to bring about the redemption of lost human beings such as ourselves.

It is appropriate to remember this on new year’s day and so close to our celebration of Christmas because in it we see the true meaning of Jesus’ birth; His coming into this world; His being conceived by the Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary. The Roman census, the journey to Bethlehem, His birth and the manger.  Of the angel’s words and the glad tiding’s of great joy: unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. (Luke 2:11)

All this makes sense when we see it on God’s timeline of redemption for us.  Paul writes in Galatians 4,

But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. (Galatians 4:4-5)

And also in Ephesians chapter one,

In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Ephesians 1:7-10)

Notice how Paul speaks of the redemption we have is in Jesus’ blood.  That’s what makes speaking about the circumcision of Jesus’ on the eighth day (New Year’s Day to us) so perfectly sensible–and, I would even suggest, so joyous.

In the recalling of the shedding of the baby Jesus’ blood we see His active obedience of placing Himself under the Law of God and submitting to the ancient demands that were part of God’s will for His people from whom would also one day come the Savior of the world.

Then we also recall the greater shedding of His holy, innocent blood on the cross for us on Calvary, where he passively fulfilled the Law on our behalf and on behalf of all mankind–by paying sin’s price.

Recalling the circumcision of our Lord is not just a way to rain on the parade of New Year’s celebrating.  It is the only way to begin the New Year for it draws our attention to the source of our redemption which is the blood of Jesus poured out for us, and makes us holy people of God and redeemed–washed clean in our Baptism. As such we can rejoice and go confidently into the New Year knowing we do so with the Lord’s blessing.

St. Paul also writes in Romans 8:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.  For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.  And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. 

(And, as we heard last night)

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can beagainst us? He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?  Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.  Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died – more than that, who was raised – who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us.

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?  As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”  No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.  For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers,   nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:28-30)

What then does it mean to begin the new year in the Lord’s name to you?  It means doing so with the promises of grace and every blessing.  It means having the baby born of Mary in Bethlehem as your Savior.  It means that the blood poured out on your behalf also comes to you today to drink, so that it might sprinkle your soul and make you forgiven and holy before God.  It means you can go confidently into this New Year 2012 knowing that God is on your side and with you.

It also means that all your sins and foolish mistakes, no matter how terrible they might have been are left behind and forgiven and forgotten.  It means that 2012 is for you and for all of us the year of our Lord, our Savior, our King, and our God.

It means that whatever may come, and that whatever by earthly standards may seem wrong and even sad and despairing.  That in Jesus’ name it is all made right and joyful when we live in faith in Him and in His name every day of this year.

May God grant this to each of us, for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

Services:  Sunday and weekday (e.g. Advent and Lent midweek),  The decision to cancel services will be made by Pastor, the head elder, and the elders on duty for thst day—in the consultation with the head trustee if necessary.

The decision will be based on  weather conditions and forecast, road advisories issued by the county or state, cancelations by sister churches, other closings in the community, and condition of the facilities (heat, electric, parking lot, etc.)

Cancelations will be communictaed to all the elders, announced on radio station WSGW 790 AM and local television stations, posted on the church’s web site, and announced through the school’s information phoning system.

Members are advised that when conditions are doubtful to call the church office, Pastor’s cell phone, or contact your elder before coming out in bad weather.

On days when public school is canceled public school catechism class will also be canceled.

Since 1997, more than 38,000 visitors have made their way to Bethlehem via this unique presentation of the familiar Christmas story.

Some fun facts include:

268 costumed cast members participated in 2011 with 93 helping from outside our congregation. Each night over 140 cast members presented, with a combined cast and crew of approximately 170 people. The ages of our volunteers over the years have ranged from 3 – 92 years old.

From start to finish, this year’s production took  approximately 300 volunteers -from rolling scrolls, mending costumes, baking cookies to building Bethlehem and cleaning-up.

2502 visitors kept Caesar Augusts’ census takers busy as they journeyed this year to be counted, listened to the shepherds tell of  the angel’s message, heared prophets recall ancient promises, and visited the town alive with villagers. Going from inn to stable, they heard and saw that God has come to us in human flesh—as a baby lying in a manger.

For more information about the 16th annual presentation for 2012, click here: 2012 Living Nativity Information

Religious News Article for the Frankenmuth News November 2, 2011

By Pastor Mark Loest

16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any scorching heat. 17 For the Lamb in the midst of the throne will be their shepherd, and he will guide them to springs of living water, and God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Revelation 7:16-17 (ESV)

Yesterday, November 1, was All Saints Day for the Christian Church. Our popular culture gets just about everything wrong concerning the state of the souls of the dead and their relationship to the living.

Take the popular Twilight vampire series of books and movies. Not only is Twilight the culmination of recent teen vampire-frenzy, it also feeds the frenzy with its demythologizing of vampires–doing away with all that we previously thought about them, so that the whole genre has gone through a sort of revisionism.

There are no vampires, nor are there ghosts, nor any of the other creatures that roamed about in people’s minds and fantasies Monday night. The dead cannot return. David said of Bathsheba’s dead son whom she bore David as the result of their adulterous, murderous affair. “He will not come to me, but I will go to him.”

The state of the dead in Christ is blessedness in paradise. The living are separated from the dead; the departed may not return. We experience this separation in the grief we feel as we mourn the loss of loved ones in death–even in the death of a loved one who has died in Christ.

John, the exiled apostle, experienced a similar sense of separation from those he loved as he remained banished on the Island of Patmos and could only gaze across the sea towards Ephesus and the congregation he had served. There he received the visions that he was told to write down as the book of Revelation. And that sense of separation comes out in Revelation when he speaks of the “great sea.” Even later, in chapter 21, in his description of heaven he says there will come a time when there will no longer be any separation between God and man. “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” Revelation 21:1 (ESV)

In the Revelation to John God is in control. Satan has been defeated. The dead await the resurrection. And in the presence of the Lamb, the faithful departed are with the Lord and they know rest. This is how it is for those who have gone before us. And this is how it will be for us, unless we live until judgment day.

Therefore we can already sing in preparation of our future joining with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven: “Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing!” Revelation 5:12 (ESV) Amen.

1 Lent A Matthew 4:1-10

Earthquake Destruction in Japan March 2011

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God and     him only shall you serve.’”  Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to  him. (Matthew 4:10-11 ESV)

Let us all pray. “Love caused Your incarnation; Love brought you down to me. Your thirst for my salvation Procured my liberty. Oh, love beyond all telling, That led you to embrace In love, all love excelling, Our lost and fallen race.” (O Lord, How shall I Meet You? Lutheran Service Book 334)

Dear fellow Pilgrims journeying to the Paschal Feast: 

For almost three days now we have been shown the terrible destruction caused upon the country of Japan and its people by Friday’s earthquake.  It is possibly the worst Japan has ever suffered. Certainly it is the worst in recently recorded history. 

It was followed by tsunamis and now failure at nuclear power stations.  The earthquake brought down buildings. The tsunamis brought in tidal waves and further devastation and flooding.  The inability to cool nuclear reactors have meant melt downs.  And what we are shown looks like a Hollywood disaster movie –or possibly even the end of the world. 

When such events come we Christians can’t help but think of the end of the world.  The rest of the world might scoff, and the scientists might objectively tell us that the earth shifted and all of Japan moved eight feet –but we also remember the words of Jesus in Matthew chapter 24, 

For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the Christ,’ and they will lead many astray. And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars. See that you are not alarmed, for this must take place, but the end is not yet. For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.  All these are but the beginning of the birth pains. (Matthew 24:5-8) 

Not long ago we took our kids out to eat.  That was a treat for them, since it was in the middle of the week.  When we sat down –and after we had ordered –we told them we had something we wanted to talk about with them.  Anna said, “Oh, no!” and Andrew, thinking he had already been left out asked, “what? what?”  Anna said, “Andrew –I remember a time when Mom and Dad took us out eat and said they had something to tell us…and we ended up finding out we’re were going to have a brother!” 

Mindy and I sat there taking it all in with amazement.  All we wanted to do was talk about spring break this year.  That’s the idea about the signs of the end times.  Christians don’t know when the end will come.  But we know the signs.  We may very well not know the hour, but we can say that the end is near.  No wonder thoughts of the end of the world pop into our heads when we see such death and destruction! 

But if you are still skeptical–remember the Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 13:11, 

Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 

So, why do such terrible things have to happen in the world?  Why doesn’t God prevent them? And where does evil come from?  The answers to these questions are found in our Lessons for this first Sunday in Lent (Genesis 3:1-21). 

Sin is the reason for earthquakes and every other natural and man made disaster.  Adam and Eve were given a beautiful earth and a beautiful garden to live in our.  Our first parents chose to listen instead to the devil and rebel against God. They brought a curse down upon us all. 

The Apostle Paul explains in today’s Epistle Lesson, 

Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned – (Romans 5:12) 

God did not make evil or sin.  The devil did. God does not tempt us, the devil does.  We have lost the image of God with which we were created.  We walked and talked with God.  We were meant to be friends with God, and as his creatures to love and serve him in holiness and righteousness.  In that world we were made to be happy. 

The Apostle Paul also tells us elsewhere about the devastating effects of sin upon the whole creation.  Just as people suffered in the earthquake, so did the planet.  The ocean left its limits.  The earth shifted and left huge cracks.  Plants and animals too, were washed away or buried in mud and debris by the tsunamis.  Paul tells us in Romans chapter 8, 

For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. (Romans 8:19-22) 

We might even be tempted to think that since the Japanese are a godless people as a whole and that Christianity makes up a very small number of the people–perhaps one or two percent–that they are suffering because of their sins.  People thought that way when Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and the Gulf region.  They said that God was judging those people for the way they carry one–especially just before Lent at Mardi Gras; that the drunkenness and prostitution and everything else that goes on brought God’s wrath upon those people at that time. 

But good people suffered along with the evil ones who do those things.  Our St. Paul’s Missouri Synod Lutheran Church in downtown New Orleans suffered a great deal of damage then, too. 

In Luke 13:1-5 we read about Jesus answer to the idea that all suffering is direct punishment because of particular sins. 

There were some present at that very time who told [Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” 

 I remember this text as the assigned Gospel Lesson for the Sunday following 9/11!  I also remember one of my former seminary professors telling me later that he lost a nephew in one of the towers. 

Jesus says, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” 

In our Gospel Lesson Jesus contends with the devil.  He takes up the battle with Satan where Adam and Eve left off.  God told our first Parents the first Gospel: 

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:15) 

We have now entered the Time of Easter and the Season of Lent.  Lent is a penitential season.  We ponder the holy Passion of our Savior, Jesus.  The devil did go after Jesus heel and bruised it.  He struck him terribly in the foot and hands and side.  Our Savior’s brow bled.  His beard was ripped out.  His face was struck multiple times.  He was beaten to a pulp.  He was psychologically mistreated.  Spat upon.  Abused.  Murdered. 

But that was just a heel wound in comparison to what our Savior did to Satan.  You see, Jesus struck the devil down.  He stomped on him.  He crushed his head.  Jesus fought with Satan and He won.  And our Gospel Lesson shows that all the temptations and ways that Satan comes to us and would try to harm us –it is undone by this one word: Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners. 

As we see the world get worse around us.  As we see the effects of sin upon our bodies.  As we wonder what might be happing to us and our loved ones as each disease and hardship threatens us, we keep in our minds these words and promises of God.  That He sent Jesus into the world to suffer and die for us –to save us from the sin of Adam, and from all of our sins.  That He is victorious over Satan.  That He will come again some day to take us to be with Him forever.  And that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus. Amen.