Each of us comes to this place of worship with a “thirst” which we, ourselves, cannot quench; something deep-down, inside which needs to be satisfied. Can you remember a time when you were thirsty – I mean, REALLY thirsty? Parched! …Perhaps on a hot, 100+ degree, summer day with the Kansas wind and dust blowing? If you can remember such a feeling of thirst, perhaps you have an idea of what the Old Testament Israelites might have been experiencing, as recorded in our text from Exodus 17.

They had not long been freed from their brutalizing captivity in Egypt when they were led by God to camp at Rephidim, toward the southern end of the Sinai Peninsula, near Mt Sinai. As it turns out, this was a place without water and “So, they quarreled with Moses and said, ‘Give us water to drink.’ Moses replied, ‘Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?'” (Exodus 17: 2)

This was certainly NOT the first time that they quarreled with Moses about what they needed and wanted. Exodus 16 reminds us that, only a little over a month after God had miraculously rescued them out of their Egyptian bondage, “the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron (and God). The Israelites said to them, ‘If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.'” (Exodus 16: 2-3) God graciously provided meat (quail), bread (manna) and, in our text, water. God commanded Moses to take some of the Elders of Israel, go out ahead of the people to “the rock at Horeb (meaning “dry place”) [and] strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” (Exodus 17: 6)

Through their self-centered and sinful words and actions, the people continually quarreled, grumbled and tested both their own leaders and God, Himself! They thought that “the grass seemed greener on the other side.” And, often, so do we! We see what others have and covet it. We want what we want, when we want it, because we want it! We find ourselves so worried about our finances, family and the future.

God DID provide for His people, the Israelites, and He provides for us… not because we fuss and grumble and quarrel and test; but because it is His nature to care, forgive, provide and save! He cares for you, too, no matter what your situation, concern and thirst. He knows how to quench your real thirst. Paul reminds us, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8: 31b-32) Our Heavenly Father gave His only Son, Jesus, to be our sacrifice – to take away all of our sin, guilt and shame – and give us forgiveness and freedom. He provides for our greatest need and quenches our greatest thirst! Won’t He also care for “the little things that come along?” Of course He will, and does!

God calls us today – to repent of our self-centeredness; to believe in the Savior He sent for us; to trust that He knows and supplies us with everything we truly need; and to live confidently in that assurance. As Luther said it so well, so long ago, “I believe that God has made me and all creatures… given me clothing, shoes, food and drink… [and] He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.” (Luther’s Explanation to the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed). How thankfully, confidently and joyfully we can now live to His glory! May we do exactly that! Amen!

See you in church this next weekend!

Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Snow

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2^nd Weekend in Lent – March 15 & 16, 2014

A father was telling the story about Abraham and Isaac to his two little daughters. Hearing that God told Abraham to take his only son, Isaac and sacrifice him on the altar, and realizing that Abraham was obeying God, the younger daughter was terrified and told her daddy to stop! She didn’t want to hear the rest of the story! But her older sister reassured her, “You don’t have to be scared. This is one of God’s stories, and they always turn out all right!” This older sister is right. Although we don’t always see, God’s stories, and those who live obediently to God’s will and His Word, ALWAYS DO turn out all right.

By God’s gift of faith, Abraham had learned this. What a test it must have been when God told Abraham, “Take your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains I will tell you about.” (Genesis 22:2) Giving up an only son would have been hard enough if Abraham had been 30 years old with a chance to have more children; but Isaac was the child of promise born when Abraham was 100 years old and Sarah was 90! Abraham and Sarah had waited 25 years for this son and now God was telling Abraham to “give him back,” by way of a sacrifice of worship to God! What an agonizing walk that must have been those three days it took Abraham and his only son to get to the mountain! And then the question asked by Isaac, “Father… the fire and the wood are here, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” (v.7)  NOTE WELL the answer that Abraham gave, for it serves as a model reply to all kinds of agonizing, “unanswerable” questions in our lives as well -: “God Himself will provide the lamb” (v.8) And Abraham called that place, “the Lord will provide.” (v.14)  In all times of greatest TRIAL / TEMPTATION; when there seems to be no “way of escape;” God, through His unfailing Word assures us – in faithful obedience, trust that GOD HIMSELF WILL PROVIDE!

Today, we know that this powerful Old Testament story is also a foreshadowing of the Greatest Sacrifice ever made – the “once for all sacrifice” made on Mt. Calvary (very near Mt. Moriah – see 2 Chronicles 3:1), when God, our Heavenly Father “did not spare His (only) Son, but gave Him up for us all” (Romans 8:32).  On that Good Friday, some 2,000 years after Abraham, there was no substitute ram “caught in a thicket.”  This time “God Himself provided the Lamb” – Jesus, “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world;” AS OUR SUBSTITUTE. And this time, God the Father did not stop from killing his Only-Begotten Son; but “He gave Him up for us all (God’s Word assures us) – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?” (Romans 8:32)

This was quite a “test” that God gave to Abraham! Abraham could have FAILED the test – and he would have failed if he had given in to his own thinking and refused to obey God.  Earlier in Abraham’s life, God’s Word tells us of numerous times that Abraham FAILED to obey God (e.g. twice, trying to do things his way, Abraham passed off Sarai, his wife, as his sister; as well as committing adultery with Sarai’s servant, Hagar as a way of having a son.) When God “tested” Abraham concerning the sacrifice of Isaac, Abraham was certainly again “tempted” by the devil, as well as his own sinful nature to disobey God’s clear command for him. But God’s Word demonstrates the ONLY way to “PASS these tests”, as Abraham did NOT look to his own ability, but in confident faith CONFESSED: “God will provide.” And in his obedience to God’s “testing”, God strengthened Abraham’s faith and blessed his life.

What are the “tests”, the “temptations” in our lives? We are constantly making choices, to obey or disobey.  On the one side, God encourages us to trust Him and live obediently according to His will, but our sinful, self-centered nature and Satan never ceases in pulling us in the opposite direction. Left to ourselves we would always lose. But as we read in today’s Gospel, Jesus “won the most important contest”, not just during the “40 days in the desert being tempted by Satan” (Matthew 4 – last weekend’s Gospel); but as God’s Word assures us: “We have (Jesus) who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy (forgiveness when we confess to losing the contest of sin and temptation) and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15-16)

The contest (“the test”) of obedience or disobedience to God’s Word and will continues in our lives.  Again today, our Lord graciously gives us Jesus, through His Word and Jesus’ true body and true blood, in the Lord’s Supper for the forgiveness of all of our sins and to “strengthen and keep us” in the one true faith. By God’s working of faith and obedient trust God provided the faith for Abraham to obey. And by the same gift of faith and obedient trust in God, we too know that “He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things! … by God’s power, growing in our lives of faith and obedience.

Pastor Myers

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The Transfiguration of our Lord – March 1 & 2, 2014

This weekend is the end “Epiphany” – the end of Advent / Christmas / Epiphany in the church year – Epiphany is the “show and tell” time. On this last weekend after the Epiphany, we read in the Old Testament about “The Cloud and the glory of the LORD” on Mt. Sinai (Exodus 24); as well as “The glory of Jesus and the Cloud” on the Mt. of Transfiguration (Matthew 17).

There is a wonderful connection throughout Scripture with clouds. In Exodus 13 & 14, remember, how God led the Israelites out of Egypt and through the Wilderness, and protected them, by a Pillar of Cloud by day and a Pillar of Fire by night?  In today’s Old Testament reading, Exodus 24, on Mt. Sinai, God revealed His great power and justice by a cloud that looked like “a consuming fire on top of Mt. Sinai.” (Exodus 24:17)  Earlier, in chapter 19, we read, “the LORD descended in fire; and the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln… and the whole mountain quaked greatly… and God spoke in thunder.” (Exodus 19:18-19)  Again, God revealed His presence when “the glory of the Lord filled the Holy of Holies of the Tabernacle / and later, the Temple.” (see Exodus 40 and 1 Kings 8)

In the New Testament, as we read today, God the Father, revealed His presence in a cloud as Peter offered to built three shelters for Moses, Elijah and Jesus and “behold, a bright cloud (interestingly, how this is different from the dark, threatening cloud of the Old Testament!) enveloped them, and behold a voice from the cloud said, ‘This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.  Listen to Him!'” (Matthew 17:5)  Later on, 40 days after Jesus’ death and resurrection, as Jesus bodily ascended into heaven, “a cloud hid Jesus from the sight of His disciples,” and while His disciples “were looking intently up into the sky… suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them (promising) This same Jesus… will come back in the same way you have seen Him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:9, 11)  And as John writes in Revelation, “Look, He is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, even those who pierced Him.” (1:7)

Both on Mt. Sinai, and on the Mt. of Transfiguration, when “the cloud” appeared, the people were filled with fear and their unworthiness before God! Do we have this same “holy respect” for God and His Word?  Sadly, isn’t it rather, that we as a church and especially as a society, we have lost the “holy fear of God’s wrath!”  In our society and world and even within the church there is a growing attitude of apathy and indifference concerning Jesus and his Word.  There seems to be no “fear” of disobeying God or living against His will.  There are those who demand what they call “their right” to “alternative life-styles” and are quick to mock and ridicule Christians who “take a stand” on God’s clear Word.  Even many Christians show little reverence and a lack of fear, love and trust in God, by treating the preaching and teaching of God’s Word as an occasional “Sunday duty to perform;” seldom coming to receive the true body and blood of Jesus in the Sacrament of the Altar; and living no differently than the unbelievers of this self-centered world; seeking first the worldly pleasures and possessions rather than “seeking first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness.”  (Matthew 6:33)

God’s holy presence among us is also sorely abused as rather than the COMMANDS of God to be obeyed – the 10 Commandments – which God wrote with His finger on tablets of stone (indicating their permanence! Exodus 31:18); are treated by many as 10 suggestions – as if the commandments are subject to our editing and interpretation influenced by what the majority in society decides.  It’s as if we just ignore the cloud of God’s revealed will and wait for it to blow away!

God revealed Himself in the dark and threatening cloud on Mt. Sinai as the visual reminder of His great power and might.  It is a serious reminder that those who disobey His Law will be punished!  God revealed Himself as a “consuming fire,” threatening to “punish the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate Him!” (Exodus 20:5)  If our nation continues to disregard God’s Commandments we should not at all be surprised that our nation (and world) is in the state of moral and spiritual depravity that it is!  Three times in Romans 1, God’s Word states that when mankind “suppress the truth of” God and His Word, “God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another… God gave them over to shameful lusts; God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.” (v.24, 26, 28)  The writer of Hebrews also reminds us: “Our God is a consuming fire” and “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 12:29; 10:31)

No wonder, that when Peter, James and John saw Jesus’ “face shine like the sun, and His clothes as white as the light…(and) when a bright cloud enveloped them, and God’s voice from the cloud said, ‘This is My Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.  Listen to Him!’  (of course) they fell face down to the ground, terrified. But (what good news as) Jesus came and touched them. ‘Get up,’ He said. ‘Stop being afraid.’ When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.” (Matthew 17:2-8) – “When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.”  Listen to Jesus.

Listen to Jesus – as He “touches us” again today through His Word of forgiveness and assures us: “Stop being afraid,” I died and rose again so that you might live the new life in Me.  Listen to Jesus – as again we are reminded also of our baptism when God the Father said of Jesus: “This is My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased” and be reminded that because of Jesus’ blood and righteousness, through Holy Baptism God has made us His “beloved sons and daughters” through saving faith.  Listen to Jesus, as His Word is read and proclaimed, preached and taught; read in daily devotions and shared by Christians.  Come at Jesus’ invitation to receive His true body and blood for the forgiveness of all of your sins and the strengthening of your faith.

On this final “Show and Tell” Sunday for this Church year – “What’s behind the Cloud?”  Because of Jesus’ life, death and resurrection – it is no longer God’s fierce, consuming punishment toward sinners, but our crucified and risen Savior, Jesus!

This week, Ash Wednesday, the Lord offers us His Holy Supper – Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior – who comes through bread / wine and His Word to give us His True Body and Blood to “strengthen and preserve us in the true faith until life everlasting.” Come to receive God’s most precious gifts!  Come to “Listen to Jesus!”

Pastor Myers

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In 1 Corinthians 3, the Apostle Paul was calling the Christians in Corinth (and God is also calling us through His divinely inspired Word) to grow in our faith, maturity and Christian lives, remembering that we are “Building For Eternity.”

Without “pulling any punches” and with great candor, Paul says, “Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly – mere infants in Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3:1) He chides them for their jealousy and quarreling and encourages them, guided by the power and working of the Holy Spirit, to grow (build) their faith on the sure and firm foundation of Jesus Christ who was crucified, died, was buried and has now risen for the forgiveness of our sins and the sins of the whole world.

Paul humbly said, “By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.” (1 Corinthians 3: 10-11)

By His mercy, goodness, forgiveness and grace, God lays the foundation of faith in Christ in our hearts. Through Baptism, the Lord’s Supper and His Word He creates and sustains that life-giving faith which trusts in Him for our eternal salvation. We are called to “build upon that foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw” knowing that our “work will be shown for what it is, because the Day [of Judgment] will bring it to light… and will test the quality of each man’s work.” (1 Corinthians 3: 12-13)

It sounds a little like the “Three Little Pigs,” doesn’t it? The first two each built their homes quickly, easily and flimsily. But the third built his strong and to last so that when the Wolf came, it could not be destroyed and, thus, saved those who took safety in it!

As Jesus’ disciples today, we build our faith, our Christian lives, our families and our church on the foundation of Jesus Christ alone. We know that the devil (the “Big, Bad Wolf”), trouble, hardships and heart-break will certainly “huff and puff and try to blow down” what we have built but, founded on Christ, what we have built will stand the trial and the fire of this world and the world to come.

Jesus said, “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock, the rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.” (Matthew 7: 24-25) And Jesus is, of course, that rock – the firm foundation of our faith and life in Him!

Three bricklayers, all working on the same project, were asked the purpose of their labors. The first replied that he was laying bricks. The second said that he was building a wall, but the third truly comprehended the immensity and significance of his work when he responded that he was building a cathedral to the glory of God! So, what are you building? …with what? …will it last? …on what foundation are you building?  May we confidently build our faith and Christian lives on Him who lived and died and is returning again for us! If we do, we can be confident that we are truly “Building For Eternity!”

See you in church this next weekend!            

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor Snow

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How many choices do you make every day? [What time to get up / what to wear / breakfast? / way to drive to work / use my time etc.] 100’s? 1,000’s? every day? It was simpler back in the 1920’s – Henry Ford’s famous quote – “Any customer can have a car painted any color that he wants so long as it is black.”

Now, we expect to have many choices – Skim milk, 1%, 2%, whole / white, chocolate, even strawberry! Our young children know this – Mom asks: “For your snack would you like an apple or a banana?” The child says, “Can I please have a cookie?”

Some choices are a matter of life or death (e.g. band aid on a paper cut or call 911 at the signs of a heart attack!)

God’s Word to us comes from some of the last words that God gave Moses to write just before his death, recorded for us in Deuteronomy 30. “This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live…” Deuteronomy 30:19-20

That’s a rather easy choice, right? Surely if given the option of life and blessings or death and curses, we would naturally and enthusiastically choose life! But the command: “Choose life” is more than a decision to keep on breathing. God’s command to choose life is defined in Deuteronomy 30:16: “For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in God’s ways, and to keep God’s commandments.”

First, “choosing life” involves loving God. Not the grade school valentines kind of love; nor the infatuation or selfish kind of love that says, “I love you because you make me feel so good!” Rather, it is the Godly marriage kind of love – exclusive, whole-hearted love, Deuteronomy 6:5 “Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”

Second, “choosing life” means to walk in God’s ways – At the very beginning of time, Adam and Eve had a choice – obey God or do what they wanted. To obey God meant life and perfection / to choose their own way meant rebellion, death and curses; and we know what happened – they DID IT THEIR WAY! “By one man, sin entered into the world and death through sin, and so death passed to all people, because all have sinned.” Romans 5:12 By nature, on our own – we want it “our way!”

Third, “choosing life” means to keep God’s commandments; but we make loopholes / excuses as we rebelliously do it “our way!” In the Gospel reading, as part of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5:21-37) Jesus clarifies what it means to “choose life.”

Jesus says: “You have heard that is was said… but I say to you” four times in our few verses! The Scribes and Pharisees had “watered down” God’s Law – had actually changed it! So it appeared that they were obeying God’s Law. But Jesus very boldly and clearly teaches that “murder” includes anger and contempt; “adultery” includes lust and what is going on with our minds, our eyes and hearts; “divorce” should be extremely rare; and “oaths” and “swearing” should not be necessary for those who are trustworthy. “Let your yes be yes and your no, no; anything beyond that comes from the evil one.” Matthew 5:25-37 And Jesus emphasizes the impossibility of “choosing life” on our own with one of the “hard statements” of Scripture – “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell.” ( Matthew 5:29-30) Jesus is not telling us to mutilate ourselves, but He is saying: STOP MAKING EXCUSES / STOP choosing the way of death / STOP DOING IT YOUR WAY! It’s not just your eyes or hands that make you sin, but your heart!

Therefore, to “Choose Life” we MUST have a change of heart! And that change can ONLY come through faith in Jesus, who graciously teaches us: “I Am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to the Father (no one Chooses Life) except through Me.” (John 14:6) and again Jesus clearly teaches us: “You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit…” John 15:16

“Bearing fruit” / “Choosing Life” / living by God’s commands is God’s gracious work in us, daily turning us away from sinful self and in true repentance “being turned back” to Jesus.

This weekend, we celebrate another baptism. God’s Word tells us: “When the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs having the hope of eternal life.” Titus 3:4-7

Through the daily blessings of Holy Baptism – through the daily blessings of God’s gracious Word and Sacraments – we CAN and DO “Choose Life” / live in the blessings of Eternal Life with Jesus, now and eternally. With the apostle Paul we rejoice: “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20

The peace of God that passes all our understanding keeps our hearts and minds centered in Christ Jesus, until life everlasting. Amen.

Pastor Myers

Throughout the history of the People of Israel, just imagine how many millions, perhaps, of sacrifices had been offered asking for God’s mercy, grace and forgiveness. From that time until today, the Children of God still seek these same gifts of His favor. Then and now, God grants His blessings to those who have “Humble Hearts of Faith.”

Today our text draws us to a topic with which many Lutherans seem unfamiliar. Fasting! In the Book of Psalms, David connects humility and fasting (Psalm 35:13). In the New Testament, Luke, the Evangelist, speaks of fasting as if it were “every-day, common place, expected” when he speaks of praying and fasting (Acts 13: 2-3 and 14: 23). Jesus, Himself, anticipates that believers regularly participate in fasting as He encourages, “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 10: 16-18)

While there are some who might think that “fasting doesn’t sound very Lutheran,” you may remember memorizing from Luther’s Small Catechism, “Fasting and bodily preparation are certainly fine outward training.” But we know it’s not the fasting that accomplishes anything; it’s the faith that trusts and believes!

That’s what Isaiah, speaking for God, says to his hearers. He called for fasting to be an expression of sincere, genuine faith. Instead, their fasting was “for show,” to be seen by others, and an attempt to “impress” God! While they were doing all the right things outwardly – God could see that their hearts were far from Him. Inwardly, they continued living unjustly; quarreling and fighting. Speaking at another time to equally hypocritical hearers, Jesus said, “You hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs which look beautiful on the outside but on the inside are full of dead men’s bones and everything unclean. In the same way, on the outside you appear to people as righteous but on the inside you are full of hypocrisy and wickedness.” (Matthew 23: 27-28)

Jesus calls us to guard that our piety (that is, the outward demonstration of our inmost faith) is truly motivated by a Humble Heart of Faith. Our fasting, our praying, our paying (giving) and worshipping are all to be expressions of a sincere and joyful faith responding in thanksgiving to the salvation won for us by our Savior, Jesus!

Humble hearts, motivated by love for God and our neighbors, will in turn, “loose the chains of injustice… set the oppressed free… share food with the hungry… provide the wanderer with shelter… and the naked with clothing.” (Isaiah 58: 6-7) When our hearts are humbled and our faith is lived out in service to the Savior and His Saints, “Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.” (Isaiah 58: 8) By faith, God lives in such “Humble Hearts of Faith” as these. He walks with us and He invites us to walk with Him!

See you in church this next weekend!

Blessings in Christ,
Pastor Snow

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Already at Jesus’ birth – we see that Jesus placed Himself “under the law” for us. This rite of purification had been practiced for centuries and surely, on this day, Joseph and Mary were among many other Jewish parents at the Temple in obedience to God’s Old Testament ceremonial law. So, how was it that Simeon and Anna recognized that this Child was the fulfillment of the confident hope that they had been waiting for?

The same can be asked of us today: how is it that we know Jesus as “the fulfillment of the confident Hope” that had been promised from the beginning of time?

Let’s start to answer this with a related question: With many babies born each day, what makes one child more special to us than any of the others?

The answer is quite simple – the ones that are most special to us are those who are OUR child (or grandchild) / we have a special relationship with them. Because this child is a part of us, a part of our Hope, our Future, they have a great effect on our lives.

Simeon and Anna lived in this confident Hope and Luke 2 tells us why. Three times Luke records for us that The Holy Spirit “was upon Simeon,” “revealed to Simeon,” “moved Simeon!”And likewise, “Anna, a prophetess, moved by the Holy Spirit, never left the temple, but worshiped night and day…”

The same is true for us also. We confess with Martin Luther in the Small Catechism: “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ, My Lord, or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel…”

Also, note 2) that Simeon was in the place where Jesus was present – “moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts.” (v.27) WHAT IF Simeon had decided NOT to come to the Temple that day? Oh, what blessings we miss when we spend no time in God’s Word or miss out on the public gathering of believers in worship!

And 3) Simeon “took Jesus in his arms.” When Simeon did it, Jesus was about six weeks old. We take Jesus who is “The Word become flesh” (John 1) – when we take His Word, the Bible and read, study, listen and learn from it; and when Jesus invites: “Take eat, this is My Body… Take drink, this is My blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.”

After Simeon had seen and held Jesus, he broke out in the song we still sing: “Lord, now You let Your servant depart in peace, according to Your Word. For my eyes have seen Your salvation which You have prepared in the sight of all people, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to Your people Israel.” (v.29-32)

“Depart in peace” is the dismissal at the Lord’s Supper. It is also the closing words of the Benediction that sends us back out into the world after “holding Jesus” – receiving His life-strengthening Word and Sacrament: “…the Lord lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.”

May God, the Holy Spirit, so fill us; enlighten us; empower us with the Hope – as He did to Simeon and Anna – that we not only receive God’s peace but that God’s Peace go in us and through us – to our family, friends, neighbors and co-workers – this week and always. Amen.

Pastor Myers

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God has Chosen you; Chosen you to Change you and, then, Chosen you to be an Agent of Change wherever you live, play, work and travel.

The Gospel of Matthew begins by giving us a glimpse into the inauguration of Jesus’ earthly ministry at His Baptism in the Jordan River by His cousin, John the Baptist. Immediately afterward, Jesus is “led by the [Holy] Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil” for forty days and forty nights. (Matthew 4: 1-2) And after John is imprisoned by Herod, “Jesus began to preach, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is near.’” (Matthew 4: 17)  Jesus needed no “earthly help” to proclaim that He was the promised Messiah; that the Kingdom was near; and that He was bringing the Kingdom of God to those who would trust Him as the Savior of the World. He was, after all, the Son of God; God the Son; the Light of the World (Isaiah 9: 2 and Matthew 4: 16).

Yet, in His wisdom and grace, He began to choose earthly disciples to participate with Him in proclaiming the Kingdom of God and sharing God’s love in Christ with the entire world. These same disciples, and those who would soon be chosen to join them, are the ones who would proclaim the life and death of Jesus and the saving, life-giving message of His triumphant resurrection! “As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, He saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow Me,’ Jesus said, ‘and I will make you fishers of men.’ At once they left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there, He saw two other brothers [James and John]… preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they… followed Him.” (Matthew 4: 18-22) Jesus Chose these men and Changed them forever. He Chose these unschooled, unsophisticated men to be His Change Agents in the world. And God’s message through them has changed the history of the world!

Jesus did NOT “Call the Qualified,” rather He “Qualified the Called!” He chooses “ordinary people,” like you and me, – men and women, boys and girls, grandpas and grandmas – to be His modern-day disciples. By His grace He has chosen us to Believe in Him as our only Lord and Savior; to Stand firm in the truth of His Word, in spite of wicked worldly opposition; to Serve Him through our loving service to those around us and to faithfully and joyfully Follow wherever He leads us.

Through the waters of Baptism, through the life-giving Word of God and through the witness of the Gospel, God has Chosen You to be His own. He has Chosen you in order to Change you and, now, He has Chosen you to be an Agent of Change wherever you live, play, work and travel. May God grant to each of us, His modern-day disciples, the compassion, power, courage, strength and joy to be “fishers of men!”

See you in church this next weekend!            

Blessings in Christ,

Pastor Snow

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