LWML Sunday
Grace mercy and
peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Our texts for today, LWML Sunday, are the ones just read.
Dear friends in
Christ. The story is told of the young
pastor, fresh out of the seminary, who has it all figured out. He knows the answers to any question he is
asked. He knew the confession, he knew
the bible, he knew why we do what we do.
He had it figured out. Or at
least he did until he arrived at his first parish. There, he realized that his education hadn’t
been as complete as he thought it had been.
Going to his first winkle, he asked the other pastors in the area how he
the church worked, how he could actually get things done. One of the other pastors, wise beyond his
years, looked at him, and plainly said, “have you asked the LWML?”
You see, nowhere
are there ladies more willing to work.
The LWML is always ready to serve, and to provide for those who are
around it. If a church needs to raise
money to paint the church, the LWML can raise it. If the LWML wants to increase bible study
attendance, the pastor best order more chairs.
The LWML gets done what it needs to, all the while pointing not to
themselves, but to the basis for our faith, Jesus Christ Crucified.
It is a message
that needs to be spread throughout the world, it is a message that people need
to hear and believe. For this world is
one that is in need of a kind word. It
is a world that is in need of a helping hand.
For this world is full of the darkest of sin. It is a world where God is not revered, but
spat upon. It is a world that thinks the
message of Jesus Christ is foolish. It
is a world where those who believe in Jesus are scorned, threatened,
persecuted, and killed. It is a world
hostile to God.
It really isn’t a
surprise is it? We aren’t shocked that
the world reacts that way to us, for we know how we sometimes react to the
message of Christ. How we too sometimes
have our doubts, how we choose which parts of God’s word we should obey and
which parts we should ignore. We too are
sinners, guilty, miserable, destined for death.
And so this world
which we so want to be wonderful, instead is difficult. Instead of a lifetime of joys and happiness,
we have pain and sorrow. This world is
corrupted by sin to the core, and so are we who live in it.
But we know that
is not the end for us. We know that
there is a solution beyond all this sin.
A solution on which we keep our eyes firmly affixed. A solution that promises life in the face of
death, hope in despair, and peace in chaos.
We have a solution in the person of Jesus Christ. He who loved us so much that he came to this
sin filled world to die for that sin. He
came in human flesh to live with us in our sinful life. The punishment that brought us peace, we upon
him.
For he went to the
cross. He had his hands and feet nailed
to a tree. He was pierced with a spear,
he gave up his spirit so that you might belong to him forever and ever.
And ever since
Jesus died, and then rose again on the third day, people have faithfully
witnessed this message. It is on the
shoulders of faithful witnesses that our church exists. WE all heard about the faith from our
parents, who heard it from their parents and on back thousands of years. Our texts today speak of faithful witness,
Witness by Moses, witness by John and Peter, witness that tells us the Gospel
message.
That witness goes
on still today. It goes on, as the LWML
faithful serves our congregations. As
they give of themselves to bring the message of life to those in a hurting
world. It goes on, as they give millions of dollars every year to organizations
within the church allowing them to function and serve. The LWML faithfully witnesses to Jesus. And friends so too do you. You witness as you help your neighbor, as you
smile at people on the street, as you care about someone besides yourself.
In all of these
things, Jesus is proclaimed, in all of these things we tell of Jesus to the
world. “Everyone who acknowledges me before men, Jesus says, “the Son
of Man also will acknowledge before the angels of God, 9but the one
who denies me before men will be denied before the angels of God.”
Dear friends, we are God’s witnesses
telling any and all who would listen, the wonderful blood-bought truth which
saves: Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Amen.
