Pentecost 4 Sermon

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Confirmation of Joshua Vigil

Jesu Juva

“Not by Worth, by Grace”

Text: Matthew 10:34-42; Romans 7:1-13

I’m calling an audible today. Like they do in football. The teams call a play and line up against each other, but then one of them notices something is wrong; the play isn’t going to work. So they change it. They call an audible. 

I’m calling an audible today. We’ve lined up to do a confirmation today, of Joshua. We have the kneeler here for him and you may have noticed this rite added to the normal order of service in the bulletin. But I’m calling an audible today. Because Joshua is not worthy. 

You heard it. You heard Jesus Himself say it. Whoever loves father or mother, son or daughter, anything or anyone, really, in this world is not worthy of Jesus. And then Jesus added this too: Whoever does not take his cross and follow me - to death! Whoever does not love me more than their own life - is not worthy of me.

So how can I let Joshua come up here and say these things today? When he is not worthy. And, by the way, Joshua would agree with me on this. That he’s not worthy. He knows it. Maybe he thought he could pull the wool over your eyes. And God’s, too. 

But no, he knows he can’t do that either. Oh, maybe he can fool you all, but he knows that God knows him better than he knows himself. That God knows all the sin that is in his heart. And there’s quite a bit in there, isn’t there, Joshua? He knows because, as St. Paul said today, the law exposed his sin. When he learned the commandments, he realized there was so much more to them than meets the eye! That he was more dreadfully sinful than he could ever imagine. He actually thought he was pretty good before that! Again, like Paul. Mostly doing good. Mostly doing right. But then he learned how blind he had been. God’s Word exposed the depth of his sin.

Yet still, he was going to come forward today and make some pretty bold statements! And I was going to let him! Good thing this Gospel was assigned for today!

But wait . . . what about the rest of you? You’re not worthy either. But you’ve already been confirmed and so you don’t have to worry about it, right? Got that out of the way and over with! But all of you who are not worthy of Jesus are going to come forward today as well and expect to receive His Body and Blood in His Supper! And I was going to let you! Maybe I should call an audible here as well and have the altar guild clear the Table . . .

And . . . what about me? My black heart? My hands with blood on them? The people and things I fear, love, and trust more than God and thus sin? What about me? I was going to put these filthy hands on Joshua’s head and confirm him? Really?

So I’m going to call an audible today and not confirm Joshua . . . not because he is worthy. I’m going to confirm him because of grace. Because what is happening here today is what happens here every week: a gracious God giving gifts to unworthy sinners. 

Now, some think this was an audible called by God. That when Adam and Eve fell into sin, God was the one who had to scramble and call an audible - His original plan was no longer going to work. But no. The God who knows our hearts, the God who knows everything, knew this too. And planned for it. Planned to give His Son for the life of the world. His most gracious gift to us unworthy sinners.

At this point I am often asked why God, then, created at all, if He knew we would just sin and ruin it all? And while God hasn’t told us the answers to all our “why?” questions, I imagine the answer would be along the same reasons as why we plant gardens even though we know there will be weeds. Why we have children even though we know they will rebel and be disobedient. Why we get married even though we know there will be disagreements and fights. Because God so loved the world . . .  He gave His only-begotten Son. Because God is love. And love gives. So yes, weeds grew in God’s perfect garden, His children were rebellious, and His Bride fought against Him and was unfaithful to Him. And God loved through it all. He didn’t like it! But He loved them. And He loves you.

And this, too, Joshua learned. This is who God is. That from first to last, our God is a gracious God, a giving God, a gifting God. Creation a gift, life a gift, faith a gift, prayer a gift, baptism a gift, the Supper a gift, and today, confirmation a gift. Because not one of us is worthy. As we heard and spoke at the beginning of the liturgy this morning: If You, O Lord, kept a record of sins, O Lord, who could stand? But with You there is forgiveness . . .

Forgiveness. Not getting away with our sin and unworthiness, but having our sin and unworthiness taken by Jesus and placed upon Him and having Him pay the price for it - with His life. And then having the blood He shed wash us clean from our sin and unworthiness, to make us right again. Righteous. Just. Justified. By Him. Back to the way it was in the beginning, that it may be that way again in the end. 

Without Him, without His gifts, on our own, the only thing we can do is keep digging our holes, our debts, our graves, deeper. We need someone to not only pull us out of those graves, but fill in our graves - and so Jesus did, with His own body. And then He pulled us out with Him in His resurrection. That we no longer breathe the stale, poisoned air of death, but breathe the breath of life, by the Spirit Jesus gave, gifted, breathed into us through His Word. A new life, a different life, a godly life, begun now, that will last forever.

And Joshua knows this new life isn’t going to be easy. As much as we want peace in the world - and want Jesus to give it to us! - the reality is often the opposite. The sword of God’s Word, God’s truth, isn’t popular, and causes division. Even in families. It always has. Even a quick read through the Bible reveals that the Bible is not a peaceful book! There is sin, rebellion, death, and division everywhere! Even in families. Sinners are going to sin and no worldly peace is going to last. We keep trying and failing. Just take a look around: from the Middle East, to North Korea, to the strife in our own country. It’s like an earthen dam - plug one hole and another will soon take its place. 

So instead of leaving peace up to us, our Lord came to do it. But one person at a time. One baptism at a time. One absolution at a time. One Body eaten and Blood drunk at a time. To do not worldly peace, but His peace - the peace of forgiveness - a gift, from Him to you. And at peace with Him we can be at peace with one another. But it is gift. Peace is not something we can do - not lasting peace, anyway. It comes from the Prince of Peace, born in the manger, crucified on the cross, raised from the dead, coming now in Word and Sacrament, and coming again in glory. That is our reward when we receive those Jesus sends to us - the gift He gives us through them. The gift you receive here through the unworthy servant God put here for you.

Joshua learned that, too, that pastors are just as sinful and unworthy as the next guy. And this pastor not only taught him that in word but also in deed, right Joshua?! But Joshua learned that when these filthy hands are placed on his head, when these sinful lips speak absolution, when these blood-stained hands put the Body and Blood of Jesus to his lips, something truly extraordinary is happening! The Lord is giving him perfect gifts through an imperfect man. So he will believe - and receive - what he hears, not what he sees. And so he will not lose his reward.

And so for the rest of you as well. A confirmation is truly a day to rejoice - not in what Joshua has accomplished, but in the work of our Lord in him. And you. It is a day to remember that our Lord is faithful to all His promises, and that the work begun in Joshua in baptism our Lord has continued to work in him. And you. And to remember, too, that there is joy not only here, today, but also in heaven - for all of heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents and receives the gift of forgiveness and life from our Saviour. 

So Joshua, yes, grab your hymnal and come up here! And as you renounce the devil, and all his works, and all his ways, as you confess the faith of the Church in our gracious triune God, and as you confess your intention to continue in this faith and in this church even in the face of death, let the words you will speak sink in: I do, by the grace of God. 

So, I guess this really wasn’t an audible at all, but the way it always is. Pure gift. Pure grace. The grace of God, the gift of a Saviour, and a Spirit of forgiveness and life, for unworthy sinners. Gifts that will never let you down.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon for Installation of Rev. Daniel Broaddus

Jesu Juva

“Many Years, Many Pastors, One Shepherd”

Text: Isaiah 6:1-8; 1 Timothy 4:12-16;

2 Timothy 1:6-14; John 10:11-16

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

I could be wrong . . . but until April 29th, I don’t think Pastor Broaddus had ever heard of Zion Lutheran Church of Edgerton, Ohio. On that day, he got put here. Today was not his idea. Or yours. It was our Lord’s idea. To give you a pastor. This pastor. Yes, Pastor Broaddus said, like Isaiah, Here am I! Send me. But it was the Lord who sent him here. To you. The right pastor, in the right place, at the right time. To be the undershepherd of the Good Shepherd for you.

Just as He has sent you pastors for almost 175 years now . . . since before there even was a Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. 175 years! That means through the Civil War, as you lost sons in World War 1 and World War 2, lived through the Spanish Flu pandemic and the Great Depression, and endured many struggles no one but the members of this church know. Through it all the Lord has blessed. Through highs and lows, joys and sorrows, you have remained in the care and keeping of your Good Shepherd. For just think about how many have been baptized here, how many fed our Lord’s Body and Blood, how many escorted to their heavenly home by their pastor at their bedside. Our Lord is faithful and merciful, and has sustained you all these years. And not only sustained you but prospered you, mercied you, and used you to mercy others. And today we celebrate that once again.

So Pastor Broaddus, you’ve one-upped me with your first call here! My first call was to a church in the midst of her 100th anniversary. Yours to a church on the cusp of her 175th! And you’ll be standing on the shoulders of the many pastors our Lord put here before you.

Pastor Broaddus is a man of many gifts. The Lord has richly blessed him with many talents and abilities, and he received even more when the elders, his fellow pastors, laid their hands on him and prayed for him last weekend in his ordination. But what will make him a good and faithful undershepherd of the Good Shepherd for you is not what makes him different from the other pastors you have had, but what makes him the same - that he will speak the Word of the Lord. That’s why the Lord put him here. And so the voice you will continue to hear is the voice you’ve heard all along, for some 175 years now. The undershepherds change, but the Chief Shepherd, the Good Shepherd - and his Word - never does.

So Pastor Broaddus will follow the pattern of sounds words that he has heard, that have been passed down to him, as they were to the pastors before him. And he will preach and teach this Word. He will, as Paul instructed Timothy, devote himself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching. That is what he promised last weekend in his ordination, and what he will promise you today. To know nothing but the Word of the Good Shepherd, and to speak, to preach, to teach that to you. 

But I have to be honest with you: there will be times when you won’t want him to speak that Word. Times when you want not a Good Shepherd but a mute shepherd. When he calls you to repentance; when it is your sins, your pet sins, the sins you really don’t want to let go of, in the crosshairs of his preaching. When he points out false gods that have crept into your life; wolfish deceptions that have jumped the fence to wreak havoc among you. When that Word goes against what the world is saying and the direction the culture is going, and seducing you to follow. But the words you won’t want to hear may even be words of Gospel - when Pastor Broaddus absolves someone you don’t think should be forgiven - you won’t want to hear it. 

And I have to be honest with you in this, too: there will be times when he won’t want to speak that Word! When it will be easier to just not rock the boat, to preach only what you want to hear, to avoid the thorny issues, and to say what will make others think well of him.

But that is not why the Lord put him here. When you heard the readings from Paul’s letters to Timothy today, you know Paul was telling that to Timothy, too. It’s not going to be easy. But, he said, devote yourself to this . . . practice these things . . . persist in this . . . do not be ashamed. Because by so doing, Paul told Timothy, you will save both yourself and your hearers. Because there is only one Word that can save: the Word of God made flesh. The Word of God who died for you and lives for you. Who bought you with His own blood. Who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel. And that is the One Pastor Broaddus will preach. Every Sunday and every day.

So Pastor Broaddus will not flee like an uncaring shepherd and he will not be mute. But from the pulpit, at the font, before the altar, in confession, in your homes, beside your hospital bed, on the street, in the coffee shop, to young and to old, he will speak the Word. And as it has for some 175 years now, that Word will be your rock. In the midst of a world of sin and death, confusion and fear, that Word will be your comfort. Because that Word is the truth. The truth that you have forgiveness for your sins, a life that not even death can end, and hope when it seems that there is very little in this world you can count on. 

That Word is his only tool. But it is the only tool he needs. For though it look weak, as the Word made flesh looked weak on the cross, it is actually the most powerful thing on earth. For that Word created all things, healed the sick, cleansed lepers, welcomed the outcast, forgave great sinners, expelled demons, and raised the dead. And it is still doing so here, for you. The voice belongs to a man, but the Word and power are the Lord’s.

And this too is the Lord’s - the love He has given Pastor Broaddus for you. I can’t really explain it any other way, except that this is one of the gifts given to him by our Lord when his fellow pastors laid their hands upon him and prayed for him. For already he loves you. Even though he doesn’t really know you. Already he wants only the best for you. Already he is ready to lay down his life for you. He is no hired hand who cares nothing for the sheep. He is a shepherd. Your shepherd. Who is not only going to stand before you here, but get down on his knees for you in prayer. And he’ll need your prayers. For the wolf he won’t flee from is going to turn against him. Hard. So pray for him.

And forgive him. For as you know, he’s going to make mistakes. Maybe from loving too little; maybe from loving too much. But that’s what happens when sinful men are placed into a holy office - like Isaiah. But the Lord provided what Isaiah needed - the burning coal from the altar which touched his unclean lips and atoned for his sin. And He will provide what both you and Pastor Broaddus and his family need - the sweet words of forgiveness, the comforting words of the Gospel, and not a burning coal, but the Body and Blood of Jesus to touch your lips and take away your guilt. For Pastor Broaddus is not the only sinner in a holy office here, so are you. All of you in the holy office of the priesthood of the baptized. That, too, was the Lord’s doing. And so just as Pastor Broaddus is a gift from the Lord to you, so are you to him. And though I can’t really explain it any other way, I believe the Spirit has given you love for him already, too. Even though you don’t yet know him. But the love of Bride and Bridegroom, of Christ and His Church, is here. In him and in you.

As it has been for some 175 years here. Which is a long time for us, but just a drop in the bucket of God’s time. We don’t even know what’s going to happen over the next 175 days! Will there be more social unrest and protests in our country? A second wave of Covid? A new president? And what will happen to each of you personally? And in your families? What joys? What sorrows? What challenges? 

But what we do not know, our Lord does. And He, in His mercy and grace, has put Pastor Broaddus here to be with you through it. So that you hear the voice of your Good Shepherd, your Saviour, who is the rock solid foundation in the midst of a very uncertain and changing world. But the victory belongs to us, no matter what the world or satan can throw against us. The empty tomb proves it. And your empty tomb will prove it as well. When on the Last Day there will be one flock and one shepherd, with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, around the throne of the Lamb in His kingdom. For 175 years, you’ve been praying for that day, and you’ve had pastors proclaiming that day. And just maybe for 175 more.

So Pastor Broaddus, welcome. And preach that Word of confidence and hope. In this place named Zion - the name of the place where God dwells with His people. 

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Pentecost 2 Sermon

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Jesu Juva

“A Kingdom of Priests that Pray”

Text: Exodus 19:2-8; Romans 5:6-15; Matthew 9:35-10:20

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

Those are significant and important words. God’s Word to His people, constituting them as a kingdom, a nation, and what kind of kingdom or nation they would be. 

This is significant and important because these people had never been a nation before. They didn’t know how to be a nation. When God chose Abraham, it was just him and his wife, Sarah. And it didn’t look like a nation was coming from them since they were childless - Sarah was barren. They wound up having two sons, Ishmael from a maidservant and Isaac, who was a miracle child, but it wasn’t an auspicious start. They were small and homeless, wandering and living in lands not their own.

Their son Isaac didn’t fare much better. He also had two sons, twins, Jacob and Esau who were rivals almost their entire lives, Jacob having to flee for his life and live with his mother’s family for a number of years. But while there Jacob had twelve sons, and when they began to marry and have children, the family grew in number to 70. But still not a nation. Still they had no land of their own.

And then Jacob and his family went down to Egypt to escape a severe famine. They probably thought it would be for only a few years. But a few years turned into 400 or so, and their numbers grew. Finally, God brought them out of Egypt in the Exodus, and a nation was born. But they had never been a nation before. They didn’t know how, and they didn’t know what they would be.

So the Lord, who made them a nation, and was leading them to a land He would give them, told them: You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.

First of all, they were to be a kingdom of priests. A priest is a mediator between people and God. A priest brings God to people and people to God. Bringing God to people means speaking His Word and telling of Him. What kind of God He is. Israel was to be a light for the nations, shining the light of God’s truth and love on all people. But a priest also brings people to God, which involves sacrifices and prayer. Aaron and his sons were chosen to offer the atoning sacrifices in the Tabernacle and later in the Temple, but the people, too, would be priests, would sacrifice - themselves, for their neighbor, in love. Living sacrifices, as the apostle Paul would call it later (Romans 12:1). And they would pray. They would bring the needs of others to God, whether or not, as Jesus would explain later, they were friend or foe. This is who they were and what they were to be and do: a kingdom of priests.

And a holy nation. A nation not like the other nations, but set apart for God. They were His nation - not because they were better or God was playing favorites - but because from them would come the Son of God in human flesh. This, too, was their purpose and calling. A very high calling which, as you know, they would not live up to. In fact, they would fail quite miserably.

Yet God would still keep His promise to bring a Saviour into the world through them, and so He preserved them - though their land would be taken away, though they were reduced down to only a remnant; a shadow of what they used to be because of their sin and unfaithfulness. When they decided to be priests of other gods, and a nation far from holy.

But God was faithful and kept His promise and a Saviour was born into our world. His Son. And a nation which started with but one man, Abraham, started again with the one man, Jesus, who is the King, the Priest, and the Holy One. Doing all those things Israel was supposed to do: offering Himself as the atoning sacrifice for our sin, praying for us, speaking God to us, and shining the light of God’s love and truth on us. 

And so it is not insignificant when Peter then uses the words we heard today from Exodus again, and again calls God’s people a royal priesthood, a holy nation (1 Peter 2:9-10), and makes it sound an awful lot like Exodus redux, deja vu, all over again. He said to those early Christians:

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. Once you were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.

That’s who you are, too. A nation not with earthly territory or land, but with a heavenly home. A nation now scattered throughout all the nations of the world, to be God’s royal priests, and holy. For you have gone through your own exodus - not from slavery in Egypt, but from slavery to sin. But through the death and resurrection of Jesus and your baptism into Him, you’ve been set free to live as His people. And not because you’re better or God is playing favorites, because, as we heard Paul say today, it was while we were still sinners that Christ died for us. It was while we were His enemies, that we were reconciled and saved. It is all gift. Pure gift. 

So just as God chose Israel to be His kingdom of priests and a holy nation to shine the light of His love and truth to all the world, so now His Church. And just as God chose Aaron and his sons to serve in a special way, and yet all the people were His priests and holy, so too in the Church today pastors are called to special service, but you and all God’s people are His priests and holy. Priests, to offer yourselves as living sacrifices in love for your neighbor, to speak and live God’s Word and truth, and to pray - for both friend and foe alike. Or, to use the words Jesus used today in sending out His disciples: for both sheep and wolves alike.

For in the Holy Gospel, we heard that Jesus had compassion because He saw the crowds of people harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. That is, the wolves were having their way. He had come to be their Shepherd, and a good one at that. But not just for those who were His sheep then, but for those who would be His sheep in the future - even if they were wolves now. He came for, prayed for, and died for them. Giving Himself for all people to give Himself to all people. All gift. Pure gift.

And then, as we heard, He tells His disciples to pray. For that’s what priests do - one of the things: they pray. Pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest. You do that. We, as a congregation, pray for our seminarians and support our seminarians, one of whom, Brodi, was ordained yesterday. But I think it is significant and important what happens in the very next verse after Jesus tells His disciples to pray: they become the answer to their own prayer! Jesus tells them to pray for laborers and then He sends them as the laborers out into the harvest. At first, it is only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, but that’s not because Jesus was racist! It just wasn’t yet time to send them out into the world. He needed to go to the cross first. But once He did, then (as we heard last week), He sent them out into all the world. To speak and live and give this truth: that the Saviour had come with forgiveness and life for all. 

Now, this has been a rather long introduction to get to this very point that struck me this week: that just as the twelve disciples became the answer to their own prayer, so too maybe you.

We are living in a world that needs a kingdom of priests and a holy nation desperately. People are living in fear of their own lives - from a virus they can’t see, and from rioting they can. There are people being devoured by wolves, hungry only for their own power and purposes. There are people who are confused about the truth and if there even is truth. There are people harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. There are people abandoned and alone. All these, people for whom Jesus died. Every single one. Both those devouring and those being devoured. Sheep and wolves. Jesus died for them all that all might be His. He has gifts for all and loves all. But the light of His love and life and truth so often gets drowned out by other noise, darkened by the sin and death in the world, and obscured by the half-truths and untruths so often spouted as gospel truth. Even sometimes by us when we live unholy lives.

So repent, O people of God. There is forgiveness for you. But also pray, O kingdom of priests! For others. For those in desperate need. And I know that you do. For peace, for harmony, for love, for life, for the truth, for the spread of the Gospel, for so many people and so many needs. We have a long prayer list that we pray from every week here and in Morning Prayer during the week, but the list is really endless. What a privilege we have to bring people and their needs to our Father in heaven.

But as you pray, know this, too: that as with the disciples, maybe you too will be the answer to your own prayer. That what you pray for, God will use you to accomplish. That’s why the Church, as a holy nation, is scattered through all the nations of the world. To bless. To be living sacrifices of love for our neighbor. To speak and live His love. And the peace, harmony, love, and life you pray for for others, perhaps He will use you - in a way big or small, noticed or unnoticed - to bring.

And lest you think yourself not up for that task or unequipped or inadequate, I’m sure the twelve thought the same. And I know pastors - like the one standing before you - often think that too! And I’m sure that those whom God has used to bless and be a blessing to you thought the same as well. But your Lord does not ask what He does not first give. So as He gave the twelve what they needed and promised to provide, so He does for you. He has given you a pastor to care for you and give to you. And so the Word you need is here. The forgiveness you need is here. The life you need is here. The strength you need is here. You are baptized, you are absolved, you are fed with Jesus’ very own Body and Blood. You are a royal priesthood, a holy nation. This is His doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes (Psalm 118:23). All gift. Pure gift. For you.

And through you for others! And the results, the success, is not up to you - that’s the Spirit’s work. As we heard, some would welcome the disciples and their Word and work, and some would not. It wasn’t going to be all sunshine and rainbows for them, and it certainly isn’t for us. We’re going to have to be wise and serpents and innocent as doves. And like the twelve, maybe it will all even come at the cost of our own life. But the life Jesus gives cannot be taken away from you. He has given you a new life for a new heavens and a new earth - which obviously isn’t here yet! That’s why the new life you now live seems so out of step with the world. It is! But the day is coming. The new day. With no more viruses, rioting, sin, death, or wolves. Only sheep, with their Shepherd. The good one. In His kingdom. Forever. 

The readings that we hear on this first Sunday of the long, green Pentecost season often set the tone for the entire season. And these readings for today, coupled with what is happening in our world, I think do just that. And in a powerful way. For we really are living in a world that needs a kingdom of priests and a holy nation desperately. That desperately needs their Saviour and the hope He brings. So people of God, chosen by Him and precious to Him, kingdom of priests and holy nation, filled with hope and knowing your future, be who you are in Christ. And pray, O people of God! Pray, O kingdom of priests! The Lord will provide. For you and through you as He lives in and through you. For so He has, and He won’t stop now. And then, as Israel at the Red Sea in their exodus, and the disciples on that first Easter in their exodus . . . be prepared to be amazed.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Holy Trinity Sermon

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Jesu Juva

“No Ivory Tower God!”

Text: Genesis 1:1-2:4a; Acts 2:14a, 22-36;

Matthew 28:16-20

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

I have to say . . . today, the Church seems a bit out of step. Having a Sunday to contemplate the mystery of the Holy Trinity. This while our country is still trying to get back on its feet and come out of this time of pandemic. While our country is in the throes of discord, turmoil, rioting, and protest, and the divisions among us seem to widen and deepen with each passing day. While many continue to struggle and suffer under burdens that started before all this and haven’t gone away - diseases, woes, guilt, anxiety, and pain. A Sunday to contemplate the mystery of the Holy Trinity . . . well, seems a bit ivory tower, disconnected. Maybe even uncaring.

Or maybe it’s exactly what we need.

The world and the culture do not set the agenda for the Church. Or at least, they shouldn’t. But we also don’t want to be tone deaf to what is happening in the world and ignore it. The Church shouldn’t fiddle while the world burns. We must respond to what is going on, but not on the basis of how we feel about it, or how the world feels about it, or how they want us to feel about it, but on the basis of the truth. What God has said. That is what we as the Church have to say to the world. That is what we must say if we as the Church are being true to who we are.

And part of that is confessing that there really is a God, and just as importantly, who that God is. The one true God in the midst of a world with many gods. Not just many religions with the same god, but many gods. And that the catholic - that is, universally true, that is, only one true faith - is this (as we will say in the Athanasian Creed in just a bit): that we worship one God in Trinity and Trinity in Unity. 

Now, why is that important?

Well, first of all, we do not have a unitary, solitary God, a loner, sitting by Himself in heaven, dispassionate, isolated, separated from us and our problems. But we also do not have a pantheon of gods, a whole bunch of gods fighting with each other, more concerned with themselves and their own pecking order than with us. We have a God who is one and yet three; three and yet one. A Trinity. Equal in glory, majesty, and power. In perfect love and harmony. Jesus is saying this all the time in the book of John. I am the Father are one. One mind, one will. Separate, yet at the same time unified. 

But this is not just ivory tower speculation to keep theologians busy, because who God is and what God does go together. And in that order. According to philosophy, what man thinks, it is the opposite - that what you do determines who you are. So, you do good things to become a good person. That’s man’s way. Righteousness by works, by doing good. But theology confesses the opposite: that who you are determines what you do. Luther’s example was the apple tree: an apple tree grows apples not to be an apple tree, but because that’s what it is. 

Now, we’ll get to what that means for us in a moment. But first, what does that mean for God? For the one true God who is not a unitary loner, but Father, Son, and Holy Spirit? It means this: that God is love. The Father who loves the Son and the Son who loves the Father in the unity and bond of the Holy Spirit. And love gives. That’s what love does. And so who God is, is what God does. God loves. A love that wants the best for the other. For love is always focused outward.

And so in the beginning, God, in love, creates. The heavens and the earth, and man in His own image. And it was good, and all very good, for He is good. A loving and giving God gave and loved. 

And then when the man and woman created in God’s image did not be who they were, did not love and give but lusted and took, God again acted in love and gave: and this time, Himself. For we do not have a God we come to, vowing to change the world and make a difference for Him. We did that, actually! And the results? Well, you see them all around us. We plunged the world into sin, and we haven’t yet stopped digging that hole! So no, we do not have a God we come to, vowing to change the world and make a difference for Him - we have a God who comes to us, vowing to change us and make a difference for us! Coming to the Garden, to the manger, to Pentecost, to the Last Day. 

And so the catholic - that is, universally true, that is, only one true faith - is this: that the Father sent and gave His only-begotten Son, who laid down His life for the life of the world. For God so loved the world that He made. That is what Peter preached on that first Pentecost. That this was the loving plan of a loving God. To give of Himself in love for us. For you. For the forgiveness of your sins. For the conquering of your death. For your freedom from the grip of hell. Because that’s the change we made in the world. That made us who we now are. That divided us from God and from one another. And all the king’s horses and all the king’s men - all the powers of this earth - couldn’t put this world back together again!

But the King’s Son could! So the Son came, unifying Himself, in love, with us. And not just part of us, but with all of sinful humanity. To rescue us, to raise us, to re-create us and make us good again. As we were in the beginning. So He went to the cross bearing all the sin of all humanity. The sins from way back when, the sins you see today, and the sin yet to come. The sins of Jew and Gentile, of every race and nationality. He loves all and so He died for all. Even for you and your sins and your false gods.

And what of your false gods? Oh, there’s the usual litany of them - money, sex, and power, and more. Things we love and trust and live for because we fear losing them. But perhaps these last few weeks and months have exposed some others? 

Like maybe protecting and preserving your own life has jumped to the top of the list of what you love and fear losing. That we’ve become so afraid of death that we’ve become afraid to live. Every man for himself instead of loving my neighbor as myself.

Or maybe it’s comfort, ignoring what is happening in our world because I don’t want to be bothered; because it’s not happening in my backyard - or my front yard; because my business isn’t affected. And so we lack love for those who are affected. Because I love my comfort more than them, and don’t want to lose it.

Or what about pride? At least I’m not like that! Like them! But you are like that! It’s just that the sin in you manifests itself, comes out of you, in different ways. So in this time when we’re all wearing masks, it’s good to remember that we’ve actually all been wearing masks for a very long time - hiding ourselves and our sins, covering up who we really are, trying to get away with it. But what if those masks were taken away?

So today it’s race dividing us. But it’s also gender, sexuality, political views, life views, and more. But if you drill down beneath all that, all those things, it’s not really those things that are dividing us, but satan himself. Satan with his knee on our necks, trying to choke the life out of us all. Sowing his seeds of hate, apathy, envy, discord, rivalry, and blame. And not on only one race, gender, nationality, or those with a certain upbringing, but all. And in the midst of all that, and abetted by his co-conspirators, namely our sinful world and our own sinful flesh - in the midst of all those weeds, love may be very hard to find.

But it’s here. On a cross, on a hill just outside Jerusalem. Love that didn’t come from within us, but came to us. The God who is love who came into our world.

And who still is. And so love is found where He is. Flowing from the Font and the Pulpit and the Altar and from these out into the world. Because as with God, so with us: being and doing go together. And so united with the God of love, we who have His love begin to love as He loves. Doing good not in order to be good, but because our Saviour is making us good again. Forgiveness, re-creation, new life, love, and good - that’s who you now are, in Christ. The Son sent by the Father, who sent the Spirit to bind you together in unity with Him.

Which is why Jesus sent out His disciples, as we heard in the Holy Gospel today. To all nations, all people. To unite them to Himself. That’s what baptism, which He sent them to do, is. It’s not just a washing away of sin. It is that. But more. It is baptizing into the Triune God. Into unity with Him. It is dying with Him and rising with Him to a new life. A re-created life. A life of love. A life we had in the beginning when everything was good. And a life we have again in the one who is good.

So if that is who we are, what do we now do? We who know who this Triune God is and does and what He has done and is doing for us? We be who we are; who He has made us. The solution is not an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. The solution is to see the person sitting next to you, the person in the White House, the person rioting in the street, the person under someone’s knee, the person who cut you off in traffic, the person sitting there in your clothes, as a person Jesus died for. To see others not as opponents, or competitors, but people to love and who need our love.

That love may mean pointing out their sin - Jesus did command the disciples to teach ALL that I have commanded you. It will also mean confessing your own sin. But it will also mean forgiveness, and serving, and laying down your life for others. For that, too, is the catholic - that is, universally true, that is, the only one true faith - to live and do the good we have been given and now are. The Athanasian Creed confesses that too. That those made good and new, do good and live new lives. Not a righteousness of works, but of works that flow from the righteousness of Christ, given - that is, gifted - to us.

So, Holy Trinity Sunday. Maybe it’s not so ivory tower after all. Maybe it’s exactly what our world needs right now. Because our God - Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - and His love, life, and forgiveness, are what we need right now. For knowing who He is, is to know what He does. And knowing what He does is to know who we were, and now are. Sinners redeemed. Dearly loved children of God. Without that, we are lost; we cannot be saved. But with this . . . this catholic - that is, universally true, that is, only one true faith - we are saved. And free. Free to live in His love.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.