Grace mercy and Peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for today, LWML Sunday, is from Psalm 119 verse 105, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Thus far our text.
Dear friends in Christ. Elizabeth and I like to go on walks. It is something that we can do almost any time anywhere. Many evenings when finally we are done with our days' tasks we will walk up and down main street here, it is a good way to relax, a good way to get some exercise, and a good way to spend time with one another. In my mind also, it will counteract the piece of pie that I ate earlier, or the dozen cookies that I somehow managed to eat. Walking is good exercise.
God too calls us to walk, though not necessarily up and down the streets here in Hankinson. Rather God calls us to walk in His word, to spend time in it, reading, learning and inwardly digesting it. In our reading today from Psalm 119, we are told, "Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path." God invites us to be in his word daily, assuring us that he is with us to guide and lead us. God promises to be with us in His word guiding us and directing us to the most important message, the message of Jesus Christ.
But unfortunately, we do not always do a good job at walking in God's word. There are so many other things going on in our lives. Sometimes it seems like from the moment we get up to the moment we go to sleep, we don't stop moving and working. We always have something to do, Work, School, after school sports, homework, cooking dinner, making the bed, brushing your teeth, the list could go on and on and on. Where are we supposed to find time to be in God's word? What do we have to give up to make sure we have time in God's word?
But God calls us to be in his word anyways, and when we fail to find time to make God's word a priority, we are weakened. It reminds me of some of the shut-in visits I have made since I have been here. There are several members who have injured a foot or a leg, requiring it to be in a cast for a period of time. When finally the cast is removed, the leg is weak. The muscles are not as strong, because they have not been used. To return to their former strength, they need to be exercised, to be stretched, to be active again.
The same is true in our faith. Without constantly being in God's word, without seeing over and over again what God says about us and our lives, our faith becomes weak. We wander from God, and instead trust in other things. Just as a person whose leg has been in a cast has trouble walking, we have trouble walking in faith with God's word. With out spending time in God's word, we are weakened in faith.
In this weakened faith, we do not walk in the way of peace. Our text says, "Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Without the word of God creating and sustaining faith in our hearts, we walk in the dark, we wander about aimlessly, following what ever our hearts desire rather than what God wants us to. It reminds me of camping as a child, and walking out in the woods in the dark. You cannot see where you are going, or where you have been.
Without God's word we do not know that we have sinned, following false Gods. Without God's word we do not know what is right from wrong, and more often then not choose wrong for our lives. Without God's word, we would not know our own situation, our own sickness in sin, or the inevitable result of that sin, eternal death. Without God's word, we are the blind leading the blind. Friends in Christ, we need the word of God. It is the means by which the medicine of the Gospel is proclaimed to us. But yet we cannot find the time to spend in it. We turn away from it, walking in our own personal darkness of sin. We despise the word of God, and its preaching, breaking the 3rd commandment. We despise preaching and His Word, and do not gladly hear and lean it.
But Christ keeps on coming to you anyways. To get you into his Word, God sends jesus to you. Jesus who himself is the very Word of God made flesh. Jesus wants you to be his own holy possession. He wants to walk with you through your life, lighting your way, and guiding your path. Jesus gives you the gift of the word, and through the Holy Spirit's working in that word, you are ever pointed to the cross of Jesus. The entire word of God, both Old and New testaments, point to Jesus on the cross. Jesus on the cross, dying for you and your sin, including sins of neglecting the Word of God.
And Jesus continues to preach this message of forgiveness to you throughout your lives. In the Word, we see God's eternal plan for you, life with Him. Jesus wants to walk with you in His word. He wants to you to be his dear brothers and sisters, and so He gives you means to do that. He gives you preaching, where every week the word of God is proclaimed to you, and in that proclamation, the forgiveness of sins through Jesus is announced to you. He gives you baptism, where Water and the Word are connected for forgiveness, rescue from death and the devil, and you are given faith. Jesus gives you his very body and blood, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins. In these things, Jesus is a "Lamp to your feet, and a light to your path."
And Jesus doesn't only give you these gifts, but he continues to pour them out upon you. God's giving of gifts to you is like filling a teaspoon with a fire hose, they keep coming and coming all the days of your lives. You are always being inundated by Christ's work and word, even when it doesn't feel like it. Jesus is always proclaiming himself to you.
And that is part of the reason for our special celebration today. The LWML has being in the business of proclaiming the Word of God to people since 1942. Through small donations, and the collection of "mites", it has been supporting the preaching and teaching of the Word of God throughout the world. These ladies gather and hear the word of God together, and then proclaim that message to those around them. Millions of dollars have been raised through them and used to help those in need.
And the ladies in our own congregation, our own LWML, has been helping with this as well. We too have gathered and supported the church, not just in its international mission, but also in its local mission. Our LWML provides Bible Study opportunities, meeting once a month around God's word, and allowing opportunities for that to be shared with others.
Yesterday St. John's LWML hosted all of the other ladies from the area in a gathering to continue to proclaim God's word, and to receive God's word themselves. Last week, Immanuel's LWML hosted a booth for young children of the community to come and do a craft project and got the opportunity to work with and proclaim Christ to the children of this community.
The LWML receives God's gifts through the world, and then passes them on to others. They are a great example of how God works through his Word in our lives. For God, the crucified Jesus, is a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. I encourage you to walk in this forgiveness of sins that Jesus gives you just as the LWML does, and just as Christ calls all of us to.
The Word gives you forgiveness. The Word gives you life. The Word has died on the cross for you. The Word made flesh, the incarnate Son of God now makes himself known to you through means, and all of these means revolve around His Word. Lord, keep us steadfast in your Word, Curb those who by deceit or sword, would rest the kingdom from your Son, and bring to not all he has done. May God grant this to you all. Amen.
