Sermon for Thanksgiving Service

When we look at the vast expanse of the universe, the myriads of stars, the earth within it which is exactly placed in it to shelter living creatures, the minute detail of cellular, atomic, subatomic existence, the fragile complexity of the human body, any person might feel awe, wonder, or curiosity.

But for thanksgiving one needs more than that. For thanksgiving, one needs to add a phrase which is not immediately evident: ‘For me.’

Certainly it would be utterly ridiculous to presume that I am the center of the universe. But Christians believe that all of this is a gift, a gift from God, and one of the intended recipients is ‘me.’ ‘Us’ as human beings, and ‘me’ as an individual. It is not presumptuous to think so, if we think of ourselves as intended by God.

It is because of this that believers can look at the world, at all things, and feel not only awe and wonder but thankfulness. And we express our thankfulness in song, in prayer, in word, in action.

I believe that God has created me together with all creatures. God has given me and still preserves my body and soul; eyes, ears, and all limbs and senses; reason and all mental faculties. In addition, God daily and abundantly provides shoes and clothing, food and drink, house and farm, spouse and children, fields, livestock and all property, along with all the necessities and nourishment for this body and life. God protects me against all danger and preserves me from all evil. And all this is done out of pure, fatherly, and divine goodness and mercy, without any merit or worthiness of mine at all! I therefore owe it to God to thank and praise, serve and obey him. This is most certainly true.

One of the most ancient ways for humankind to give thanks is by feasting. To feast is to receive with gladness that which has been given. It is done not alone but with others, because we never receive anything simply for ourselves alone.

To feast with God in mind, to feast believing that it is his pure, fatherly, goodness and mercy that has not only given the meal but everything leading up to it that has preserved us and protected us from last Thanksgiving to this, to feast like this is more than mere consumption, but is right feasting: is praise and rededication. It is what the Israelites were to do when bringing the first-fruits of the land. They were to remember who they were and whose they were.

So on our national feast, however our fellow citizens honor the day, we as Christians are to remember who we are and whose we are. We are Jesus Christ’s, in life and in death. And whether or not the next year brings prosperity, we feast in thanks, for we have his promise that he will be with us not only in good times, but in bad. Perhaps we will give thanks, not for good health and prosperity, but simply because his Word sustains us in adversity and hardship. And yet can this not be a greater thanksgiving? For Jesus came to dwell with us and will not abandon us if we do not prosper.

I wish you a Happy Thanksgiving, and I pray that when you feast, you take time to remember who you are and whose you are, and receive the gifts of the world with gladness, because God means them for you. Amen    

Thanksgiving Service!

Please feel free to join us this evening, Tuesday, November 26, at 7:30 for a Service of the Word in observance of Thanksgiving.

Sermon 11.24.2019 - Christ the King Sunday

Luke 23:33-43

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

On the crucifix, there is a sign over the corpus, or body of Jesus, with the letters I, N, R, I written upon the sign. It is shorthand for the words Pontius Pilate had put on the cross of Jesus: in Latin, Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum: Jesus of Nazareth, the King of the Jews.

Can you see a king in this naked, bloody, dying man? Is he one to whom you could or would swear allegiance? Do you see, in him, God’s chosen one to deliver God’s people to freedom?

Before you answer ‘yes’ too quickly, with all the assurance of belief, think about this: Here is someone who cannot save himself from death, much less you. He, in fact, is the most powerless man in the universe, as we think of power.

Where are the signs of his power in the world? Almost two thousand years have gone by since he died upon the cross and the world has seemingly not changed for the better. God’s name is still trampled upon by people acting in his name, the ‘shepherds who destroy the flock,’ of whom Jeremiah speaks. Rulers, politicians, and those with power use it to abuse children, both born and unborn; the elderly; the vulnerable, the disabled. Natural disasters, perhaps aided and abetted by environmental degradation, affect many people, many of whom pray to God to spare their lives and property.

We are born and we die and in between we are up at night, worrying about things we can’t control. We, or our loved ones, may suffer from illness, contract disease, or die by accident at any time. We strive to become better people but we make the same mistakes. We pray to God but sometimes it seems he does not answer.

Again, I ask you, is this the one whom you should call king? Is this the one to whom you should dedicate your life? If you call him king, do not expect anything more, necessarily, than the men crucified on either side of Jesus. Though life is filled with signs of God’s grace and promise, though healing may indeed come, though miracles may happen, we cannot demand them of him. It can sometimes happen that life seems more like death, and sometimes for the most faithful among us.

Maybe this doesn’t seem like a very hopeful sermon to this point. But what I find convincing about faith in Christ is that it’s realistic. It doesn’t offer me false hope. So many people and so many products, so many ideologies and so many religions offer me hope that ends up being false hope. Hope that my life will magically change or that the world will magically change. Jesus has nothing to offer me except to be with me in my suffering. That is how he was on the cross with the two on either side of him. He was with them.

If we put our faith in him, if we believe that he is the king, what does that look like? The rulers, the scribes, and the first of the two crucified to speak mock him, saying, ‘he saved others, he cannot save himself.’ Today people mock God in refusing to live by his Word, for can his Word save? Can it fulfill our lives in the way we expect? If God is with us, should not he be able to remove our suffering, meet our needs, fulfill our desires, establish justice? Or, at least, he should be able to take revenge against those who mock him. But the man who is on the central cross is silent in the face of human derision. He does not summon legions of angels or consume those who scoff at him with fire from heaven. This only seems to confirm the opinion of those who mock him.

But if we are looking to him not with derision but with hope, we use the words of the man on the other cross. ‘This man has done nothing wrong.’ I know my misdeeds and I know the misdeeds of others. But if I look to Jesus, I look to him as one who is worthy to be a king, the only one worthy to be a king. I recognize the true king not by his ability to seize power, but by his worthiness to be entrusted with it.

Then I say, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’ I see that the man who is worthy, despite all appearances, will be the one through whom God rescues the world and his faithful ones. He will be so because he is worthy to be so. His silence in the face of mockery reveals God’s patience, God’s love, God’s mercy. And his resurrection reveals that he is the one whom God vindicates. He receives honor and glory from God, and to him God gives the kingship of the world. God gives him ‘the name above every name; so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, in heaven and on earth and under the earth; and  every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.’

And to the one who sees in Jesus the one worthy to receive the kingdom, to the one who asks to be remembered when his kingdom finally comes, Jesus says, ‘Today you shall be with me in paradise.’ Me, a sinner, a rebel, do I deserve a place with Jesus? No, but since Jesus comes to share in our suffering, we will also share in his kingdom. He receives what is ours, our sin, our death – we receive what is his: his righteousness and life. And it is this word alone which gives us strength to wait for his kingdom to come in its fullness; this promise which is for us the one thing which sustains us in our journey.

Christ the King – where is his kingdom? It is present here and now - because he is the one who is worthy to be king, the one who is exalted by God;, the one who is with us in our suffering, living in our hearts by the power of the Spirit, and the one who will come to judge the living and the dead.  The words Pontius Pilate wrote on the cross are true: Jesus of Nazareth, King – of his people, of all people, of the world. Lord, remember us when you come into your kingdom. Amen

Sermon 9/15/2019 Luke 15:1-10 (Lost Sheep, Lost Coin)

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

I physically feel something when I look at the picture to the left. I feel the tiredness of my eyes looking into the dim light of the house, lit only by the candle which I hold in my outstretched hand. I feel the strain of my arms as I hold the candle down lower to the ground. I feel its weight and the weight of the broom I hold in my hands. I feel the stress in my old back and my old neck as I bend close to the ground, scanning the floor with my tired eyes, the weariness of my heavy feet.

It’s hard work looking for that which is lost. It’s long work looking for that which is lost.

Patience is a virtue. It’s not one of my strengths. That’s not to say that I’m not patient with others. But to patiently and methodically and systematically look for something, going from place to place in the house, to find one thing. My brain is most likely going to be flooded with messages, ‘You’re never going to find it.’ I’m likely to get overwhelmed with the sheer variety of things in the house, and quickly distracted. I must admit that whenever I’ve looked at this parable of the lost, I’ve been most apt to think, ‘He’s got ninety-nine sheep! She’s got nine other coins!’

But it’s not about that, really. It’s not about how much as a percentage the person has lost, it’s not about the economic value, whether it’s worth it from a cost-benefit point of view. It’s about what one does when something precious is lost. It’s about the patience and persistence and the strain you go through until the thing is found.

And it’s not even mostly about an object lesson, as if these images of careful searching should teach me how to be patient. It’s about the character of Jesus. About who he is. Why he is sharing his joy with others who have no right to expect it. It’s because he sees them as precious in the eyes of God. Why he will be willing to search them out, and to endure the stress of the journey and the strain of the cross to restore them to his Father.

This is what the scribes and Pharisees just don’t understand. They see these people as throwaways, as failures, perhaps even as active rebels against God. Perhaps they are. But Jesus doesn’t see that. He sees lost creatures, lost children of God, precious children who need to be found. These have been found, and so there is joy.

Because that’s what it’s for, right? The patience and the persistence and the strain and stress are for the sake of joy.

Maybe Jesus got through to them. Maybe one or two of them or even more got what he was saying. Maybe they grumbled a little bit less, they rejoiced a little bit more. Maybe none of them did. Maybe all of them, secure in their righteousness, were there grumbling when Jesus passed through Jericho on his way up to Jerusalem, and found another lost person, a tax collector to whom the Gospel of Luke gives a name: Zacchaeus. You remember, the little guy who climbs a tree to see Jesus because he can’t see him. But Jesus sees him and sees him as one of God’s lost ones. And invites himself over. And celebrates with Zacchaeus when he finally gets it and restores the money he’s gotten by cheating and gives half of the rest to the poor. Maybe they were all grumbling, but Zacchaeus too is a son of Abraham. ‘The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.’ (Luke 19:1-10)

As lost ones ourselves, these parables give us comfort. How do we know we were lost? Because we’re far too comfortable with our own sin which cuts us off from God and hurts others. Because we’re the ones who grumble at other people, being far more willing to condemn their mistakes, wrongdoings and sins than bewail our own. Because we’re the ones whose favorite image of God is the bearded angry old guy (not an image of God our Father, but an image of the Greek god Zeus); rather than the patient woman or, more completely, the Jewish man on the cross. Because we’re the ones who look at people from a cost-benefit perspective rather than as God’s precious children.

As long as we are clear about that, we’re halfway there. For the Son of Man came to seek and save the lost. Jesus seeks us out like a tender shepherd, like a patient mistress of the house, and like a father who waits for both his wayward sons, the roving younger and the dutiful elder, to come home and live in the joy which belongs to them both. Jesus seeks us out so that we may live in that joy.

But that joy comes not without its costs. For part of living in that joy is to embrace living with the broad shoulders of the shepherd and the tired eyes and aching back of the mistress of the house. Jesus saves us for faith, for living in his kingdom, and that means celebrating with him but also ministering with him, searching with him. When Zacchaeus celebrated with Jesus in his house, it was not simply the end of a story but the beginning of a new one. You think tracking down all those people he’d defrauded and giving to the poor was easy? Stress, strain and maybe a few mistakes along the way – but we presume Zacchaeus kept at it because of the joy of which he’d tasted.

And having tasted joy, having been found, we embrace the life of faith – the life of the kingdom, with all its stress, strain and sadness, for the sake of the greater joy which is to come. Let us again taste that joy as we share peace, as we are found again at the altar. Let the sins of anger and impatience be quenched; the tired eyes be renewed; the aching back and neck be relaxed, the soul refreshed. There is work ahead, patient and slow, but for now and for ever there is joy.  

Sermon July 21, 2019 (Mary and Martha)

So it is jarring to me when one woman plunks herself down at Jesus’ feet and just sits there listening. It was jarring then and it’s jarring today, not so much anymore because a woman is sitting where the men are supposed to be, but just because anyone is sitting down and listening.

Sermon July 14, 2019

That’s what a parable does – it’s an imaginative story which illuminates reality, getting around our own mental barriers to cut to the heart of the matter. We are not told, you should do this; we are shown what reality is and who we are to be.

Sermon June 30, 2019

When we speak of the word, ‘call,’ in the church, we most often are talking about a ‘call’ to the ministry. But I can think of at least three ways we can speak of the calling of a Christian.

Sermon June 23, 2019

When the kingdom of God comes, then we are set free. Only a free person can worship and obey God. 

Sermon Easter 7 - June 2, 2019

Acts 16:16-34

16 One day, as we were going to the place of prayer, we met a slave-girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners a great deal of money by fortune-telling. ¹⁷While she followed Paul and us, she would cry out, ‘These men are slaves of the Most High God, who proclaim to you^* a way of salvation.’ ¹⁸She kept doing this for many days. But Paul, very much annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, ‘I order you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.’ And it came out that very hour.

19 But when her owners saw that their hope of making money was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the market-place before the authorities. ²⁰When they had brought them before the magistrates, they said, ‘These men are disturbing our city; they are Jews ²¹and are advocating customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to adopt or observe.’ ²²The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates had them stripped of their clothing and ordered them to be beaten with rods.²³After they had given them a severe flogging, they threw them into prison and ordered the jailer to keep them securely. ²⁴Following these instructions, he put them in the innermost cell and fastened their feet in the stocks.

25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them. ²⁶Suddenly there was an earthquake, so violent that the foundations of the prison were shaken; and immediately all the doors were opened and everyone’s chains were unfastened. ²⁷When the jailer woke up and saw the prison doors wide open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, since he supposed that the prisoners had escaped. ²⁸But Paul shouted in a loud voice, ‘Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.’ ²⁹The jailer^* called for lights, and rushing in, he fell down trembling before Paul and Silas. ³⁰Then he brought them outside and said, ‘Sirs, what must I do to be saved?’³¹They answered, ‘Believe on the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.’ ³²They spoke the word of the Lord^* to him and to all who were in his house. ³³At the same hour of the night he took them and washed their wounds; then he and his entire family were baptized without delay. ³⁴He brought them up into the house and set food before them; and he and his entire household rejoiced that he had become a believer in God.

‘Where the spirit of the LORD is, there is freedom.’

This word from Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians

is not in our lessons today,

but I can’t think of a better accompaniment

to the first reading,

which is one of my favorite readings from the book of Acts.

‘Where the spirit of the LORD is, there is freedom.’

For we have a division in our first reading

between those who are unfree and those are free;

a division between those who are animated by the Spirit of freedom

and those who are enslaved to a spirit which keeps them in bondage.

We have what our translation calls ‘a slave-girl with a spirit of divination.’

This is not an ability she has, but it is a curse.

First of all, she must say whatever the evil spirit wants her to say.

Secondly, the spirit makes her profitable to others.

She works for others, to make them money.

She is neither free to say what she wants to say

or do what she wants to say.

Neither is he free who holds the keys to the jail.

He has the power to keep people in chains,

but he must work for a system

that is not interested in what is right or what is wrong,

but only in what is expedient.

He must follow the instructions of those who are in charge,

and if he does not follow them to the letter,

it is he who will be jailed or worse.

And finally, we have Paul and his assistant, Silas.

They are very much annoyed by the slave-girl with the spirit of divination

and eventually find themselves in prison.

And yet, they are the ones who are free in this story,

for they are the ones with the spirit of the Lord.

‘Now the LORD is the spirit,

and where the spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.’

We so easily assume that external circumstances define our freedom,

but if we listen to Scripture,

we see that those with the Spirit of the Lord

are free wherever they go.

For what is freedom?

Freedom is to have a soul able to praise and serve God.

Even people who have the most freedom

according to external circumstances

may not be free to praise and serve God.

They are the most blessed in the external circumstance,

but perhaps the least in the spiritual circumstance,

for they are least able to see that they have no freedom.

But those who have the Spirit of the Lord, which is freedom,

take the Spirit of freedom with them even into the places of bondage.

And when the Spirit of freedom invades the places of bondage,

there the breath of God can do its work of liberation.

For the last time this Easter season,

remember again the story of Jacob DeShazer,

the US Navy flyer imprisoned by the Japanese

who was given a Bible midway through his captivity,

and found himself liberated from the hatred and bitterness

that had haunted him throughout his imprisonment.

After his external freedom was restored,

he went back in the Spirit,

to proclaim freedom in Christ to those of the nation

whose army had tortured him,

and to liberate those whose spirits were crushed

by their defeat in war.

Think of our reading in Acts,

when the girl with the spirit of divination

could think and speak not as a slave,

but as a free person,

and because of this,

could no longer be exploited by others.

Think of the jailer who,

expecting death at the hands of his captives or captors,

was instead offered his freedom by Paul,

his physical freedom and his spiritual freedom.

For Paul and Silas stayed in the jail and did not escape,

for their purpose was not to secure their own physical freedom,

but instead to live in the freedom of the Spirit

and to bring others into that freedom.

Perhaps we can see now that freedom is not primarily political freedom,

freedom to do what we want,

freedom to live how we choose,

but freedom is primarily freedom in the Spirit.

‘Now the Lord is the Spirit, and wherever the Spirit of the Lord is,

there is freedom.’

When our political freedom serves life in the Spirit,

then we as individuals use it wisely and for its intended purpose.

When it does not serve life in the Spirit,

then we cannot pretend that it does any good for us.

Though it is good, it may not be good for us.

More importantly for us,

do we recognize our need for freedom,

the freedom of the Spirit

which liberates us from bondage

both self-chosen and inflicted upon us.

Do we recognize our need for freedom from envy,

which drives us to spend our money on things we don’t need

and to spend our time watching stories of those with glamorous lifestyles?

Do we recognize our need for freedom from anger and hatred,

which shows us no mercy even as we show others no mercy?

Do we recognize our need for freedom from lies,

which alone we trust to keep us free from responsibility?

Do we recognize our need from freedom from fear,

which causes us to serve the powers of the world,

the powers of the world which countenance no contradictions

and who stand to profit handsomely when we are not free to live in the Spirit?

We are in desperate need of liberation.

We are the ones who are both slave-girl and jailer,

we are those ground beneath the wheels of our systems

and we are their unwilling servants.

Where shall we receive this liberation?

‘The Lord is the Spirit, and where the spirit of the Lord is,

there is freedom.’

We must wait for the Lord.

For ‘we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.’

But the promise of Jesus ascended into heaven

is the promise of Pentecost,

and Pentecost is the promise

that the Spirit of freedom is active in the world.

That Spirit is active

when we read the Scriptures 

and pray in the name of Jesus. 

When Paul prayed in the name of Jesus,

the Spirit set the slave-girl free.

When Paul spoke the word of God to the jailer,

he believed in the Lord and was set free from fear.

If there is anything we can 'do' for ourselves,

it is to name the name of Jesus

and to come to the place where the Word is spoken.

And the Spirit of God will set us free.

Sunday Worship at 9:30 a.m.

From this Sunday, June 2, through Sunday, August 25, Sunday worship will begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday worship remains at 6:30 p.m.

See you in church!

Sermon 5 Easter - May 19, 2019

There is a love which comes naturally:

returning love to those to whom nature or nurture attaches us,

having enjoyment among those who share our interests,

falling in love with another person.

But loving in Jesus’ name, in his way of love

must be commanded.

Otherwise we would be satisfied with the love that comes naturally.
And yet the impossible love of Jesus is the love to which we are called.

Sermon May 12, 2019 - Easter 4C

'Non-believers assume that we’re afraid of death and are too weak to face up to it. It’s not so much that we’re afraid of death that we believe in an afterlife – though for some a visceral fear of death is a real and constant thing. Rather, our concept of death and life comes from our understanding of God and his purpose for us and for all creation.'

Sermon, Third Sunday of Easter May 5, 2019

'But to live the life of forgiveness is a way that does not cut off the future. It is a way that prays for those who are our enemies. It is a way that does not take vengeance. It is a way that does not give up on the other until death. And it is a way that plants seeds, seeds that may well bear fruit in ways that we never would have expected.'

Sermon, Second Sunday of Easter - April 28, 2019

'...though Thomas receives this great blessing, we receive a greater one, according to Jesus. ‘Blessed are those who have not seen but yet have come to believe.’ This doesn’t mean that we have to make a great act of will in order to believe in Jesus. It means that God will bless, has blessed, many who have not seen him with faith in the resurrection. And that we should not worry if we have doubts, for we are just like Thomas. We can be confident that as God blessed Thomas, he will bless us with faith in his presence that overcomes doubt. Not extinguishes doubt, not represses doubt, but overcomes doubt.'

WALK FOR WATER 2019

ST. STEPHEN LUTHERAN CHURCH WALK FOR WATER

Learn more about and register here for our Walk for Water - Sunday, May 19, 2019

Water Mission website

Sermon, Easter Sunday 2019

'Our only hope is in a new world, a new world that breaks into the old one and begins to work on it from the inside. The resurrection of Jesus makes this new world a reality.'

Holy Week Services

Maundy Thursday service -
April 18, 2019, 7:30 pm

Good Friday services -
April 19, 2019,
12:30 pm and 7:30 pm

Easter Vigil -
April 20, 2019, 6:30 pm

Easter Sunday -
April 21, 2019, 10:30 am


Mercifully assist us, O Lord God of our salvation, that we may enter with joy upon the contemplation of those mighty acts whereby you have given us life everlasting; through your Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.  

Sermon, Fifth Sunday in Lent

It is the love of Jesus which is called forth because of the love of Jesus for me. And in the love of Jesus, I am united with all the others who are lost and have been found by Jesus.

Sermon, Fourth Sunday in Lent - March 31, 2019

'Nowadays we don’t pay attention to the Pharisees and scribes. The Church has two thousand years of thinking they’re wrong, so we don’t take their concerns seriously. But we shouldn’t be so dismissive, because Jesus isn’t. Jesus listens to them, and takes them very seriously, enough to tell them these stories of the finding of the lost.'

Walk For Water 2019

Sermon - Third Sunday in Lent, March 24, 2019

'Lent reminds us that we are travelers in this world who are journeying somewhere. We need to depend upon what God gives us in order to survive the journey. And in order to take the journey at all, we need to believe the promises that God gives that the destination is worth it.

We are journeying through a wilderness – not a literal wilderness, but a metaphorical one. It is a place where we can’t survive spiritually unless we depend on God.'

Sermon, Second Sunday in Lent, March 17, 2019

'The promises of God are not that we will never suffer, never be confused. We will not necessarily have fulfillment according to the world’s standards, and we may never achieve our dream job, our dream relationship, or our dream life. Rather, we are called to believe that we are sinners that are forgiven, we are subject to evil from which we will be delivered, and that we will die, but will be made alive.'

Lenten Wednesdays at St. Stephen

We will be going 'The Way of the Cross' during our Lenten evening prayer services. We will not do all the stations each week, however - we will be dividing them among the first five Wednesdays in Lent. This week, we will meditate upon stations four through six.
The liturgy is adapted by The Rev. Thomas Weitzel, Florida, whose liturgy page may be found here.




You are welcome to join us at 7 pm on Wednesday night. If you cannot be with us, you might read the liturgy for stations four through six on your own (or do all of them if you desire!) Read the opening prayer; stations four through six, and the closing prayer at the bottom of the web page.



Far be it for me to glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ (Galatians 6:14).

Sermon, First Sunday in Lent, March 10, 2019

‘¹Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, ²where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing at all during those days, and when they were over, he was famished. ³The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command this stone to become a loaf of bread.” ⁴Jesus answered him, “It is written, ‘One does not live by bread alone.’ ”
  ⁵Then the devil led him up and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶And the devil said to him, “To you I will give their glory and all this authority; for it has been given over to me, and I give it to anyone I please. ⁷If you, then, will worship me, it will all be yours.” ⁸Jesus answered him, “It is written,
 ‘Worship the Lord your God,
  and serve only him.’ ”
  ⁹Then the devil took him to Jerusalem, and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, saying to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down from here, ¹⁰for it is written,
 ‘He will command his angels concerning you,
  to protect you,’
¹¹and
 ‘On their hands they will bear you up,
  so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.’ ”
¹²Jesus answered him, “It is said, ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.’ ” ¹³When the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.                                                                      Luke 4:1-13

The Gospel lesson today is a war story. It tells of Jesus’ first battle with the evil one. The Son of God goes forth to be tempted, not by God, for God tempts no one, but by the evil one, who successfully tempted humanity.

Adam and Eve fell to temptation in the midst of a garden, a place where there were the evidence of God’s good gifts around them. Jesus, on the other hand, is cast out into the wilderness – a place where there is no food, no signs of God’s love or even his presence.

The evil one’s goal is to separate the Son of God from his Father. If he does this, then he will be undisputed lord of humanity – for if this human being does not fear, love and trust God above all things, then no human being can.

The evil one comes armed with three weapons that have never failed him. He comes bearing gifts that have subdued human beings for all time – hunger, power, and status.

All of us are tempted in some form in all three of these areas. We all run into the situation where our felt physical needs come into conflict with God’s commands and the needs of others. If we take our needs without regard to God’s commands and the needs of others, then we have ‘commanded stones to become bread.’ In other words, we have been more concerned with providing for our own wants and desires than being willing to receive them from God.

Not all of us have the opportunity to seize earthly power. But all of us are tempted to use physical or psychological power over others in order to control them and the world around us. Power can become an aphrodisiac. We see many people in the world who worship power, and when they worship power, they are truly dealing with the devil.

Whenever we have power in big or small ways, we must remember that it can quickly become a master. If we think of the book and movie Lord of the Rings, we remember that the Ring of Power could not be used for good. Anyone who took control of the Ring, even if they wished to do good with it, would quickly become just as much of a tyrant as Sauron the maker of the Ring. The more powerful they had been before taking the Ring, the more dangerous they would be with it.

Finally, the evil one uses the weapon of status. He claims that God’s special one will be able to use his special relationship to God to be invulnerable. Perhaps we see this in spiritual leaders that use their status in the church to cloak misdeeds, and presume that their station excuses these deeds. But anyone who claims exemption from striving to keep God’s word on the principle that God is loving and forgiving also is dependent upon status. This is what Dietrich Bonhoeffer called ‘cheap grace.’

The evil one attacks Jesus with the three weapons that have never failed him. But Jesus does not come into the fight unarmed. He has the ‘sword of the Spirit,’ the Word of God. Whenever the evil one tempts him, Jesus parries with the Word of Scripture. It is with this weapon that he routs the evil one from the field. But the devil is not vanquished, but departs ‘until an opportune time.’ The devil saves his most powerful weapon for last, the one in which he has the most confidence – the weapon of death. It is this assault that Jesus must face in Jerusalem.

Christ Tempted, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56820[retrieved March 12, 2019]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christ%27s_temptation_(Monreale).jpg.

It is for this reason that many Christians have emphasized memorizing Scripture – not for brownie points nor because there’s a test before you can enter the Pearly Gates – but because we need to be armed with the weapons of the Spirit. The only weapon we have against the evil one is the Word.

Those who would share in the king’s victory must go with him into combat. And whether or not we know it, we are under assault. 

We need not make the devil a figure in a red suit with horns and a barbed tail. All we need to do is remember how hunger, power and status entice people to forget God’s commands and violate the integrity of others.

Perhaps a good place to start might be with the words Jesus uses to repel the assaults of the devil in this passage:

One does not live by bread alone;

Worship the Lord your God, and serve only him,

You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.

So we go into combat. But we don’t go alone. Alone we would never be able to resist the evil one. ‘On earth is not his equal.’ As long as we are on the field of combat with our Lord, however, we can put our trust in Jesus that he will be our victor and our Savior. When the devil holds sin and death before us, we cling to Jesus’ forgiveness and resurrection.

No strength of ours can match his might!

We would be lost, rejected.

But now a champion comes to fight,

whom God himself elected.

You ask who this may be?

The Lord of hosts is he!

Christ Jesus, mighty Lord;

God’s only Son, adored.

He holds the field victorious!

Sermon, Ash Wednesday (March 6, 2019) - Pastor Frontz

We have received the sign of ashes on our foreheads, reminding us of our own mortality; that we are dust, and to dust we shall return.

But it is more than simply the fact that we shall die someday that we remember on this day.

We also confess by the receiving of dust on our foreheads the futility of life without God, how life without God is so much dust and ashes.

Ash Wednesday Services - March 6, 2019

Ash Wednesday services will be held at St. Stephen at 12:30 pm and 7:30 pm.

Both services will include the imposition of ashes and the Sacrament of the Altar.

The 7:30 pm service will be accompanied with choral and organ music.

Visitors are most welcome.