Easter 4 - G - 2013 - Called by the Good Shepherd From a World of Chaos.

The Fourth Sunday of Easter - Good Shepherd Sunday

April 21, 2013 - Pastor Adam Moline

Acts 20:17-35             Revelation 7:9-17        John 10:22-30

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord Jesus Christ.  Our text today is the readings just read, especially these words from the Gospel lesson, “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”  Thus far our text.

Christ is risen, he is risen indeed!  Alleluia.  Amen. 

Dear friends in Christ, so often our world is full of chaos.  It truly is the valley of the shadow of death.  We’ve seen that this last week especially.  On Monday, two bombs killed three people and wounded hundreds more in Boston.  The last few days there has been chaos and more deaths as the police attempted to apprehend the suspects in the bombing.  People were locked down in their homes while bullets flew back and forth outside their homes.  On Wednesday a fertilizer plant in Texas exploded, killing 14 people and wounding hundreds more.  Its blast could be felt 40 miles away.  Chaos ensued, as rescue personal searched for survivors and struggled to put out the fires safely without any more people at risk.  And these two events are just a microcosm of the chaos that engulfs our world.

Wars.  Earthquakes.  Floods.  Fires.  Crime.  Disease.  Hunger.  Suffering.  A world full of chaos.  A world full of hurt.  A world that seems to be falling apart at the seams.  Death surrounds us.  Darkness is everywhere. 

And dear friends, we face the same things right here.  Let’s be honest.  The safety that we presume to feel in this world is but a figment of our imagination.  There is no place where we are not in some sort of danger, be it something as common as a car accident, or something as major as a deadly storm.  Our chaotic world leaves us ever in danger of being killed and destroyed.

And the chaos that infects our own lives is often so much more than those things.  It’s there in our relationships, where fighting and bickering reigns supreme.  It’s there in our words and actions, as we gossip and lie about and to our friends and neighbors.  It’s there as we cheat and steal, or do anything in our power to get ahead of everybody else.  Chaos seems to reign supreme throughout everything we face in this world, and this life.  And there seems to be absolutely no way for us to escape it. 

We’re doomed it seems.  Doomed to eke out meaningless lives on a lonely planet with the only surety being our certain demise.  So where do we turn for help?  Where do we look for consolation?  Why are we here, and what is our purpose?

And through the midst of the chaos comes a voice.  A voice that calls to us, with forgiveness and healing in its wings.  A voice that speaks of certainty and structure in a world of confusion.  A Voice that cuts through all the chaos of this world, to call us to a reality beyond anything we can imagine. 

It’s the voice of our Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.  And he is our shepherd, and we are his sheep.  Just as the voice of the shepherd rises above all the clutter of town to keep his sheep together in the flock, so too does the voice of our shepherd keep us together.  He knows his sheep, they hear his voice and follow him.  He gives them eternal life, by suffering in their place.  He gives them peace, by giving them his own blood to drink and his own body to feast upon.  He calls them out of the world with baptismal waters, cleansing them of their sin, taking away the chaos of this world. 

You, dear friends are sheep to the Good Shepherd.  You are called to be his.  You are called to forgiveness.  To leave behind this world, and to trust in the world yet to come, the everlasting life promised in the Resurrection of Jesus.  His voice cries out to you above the din of this world.  He makes you to lie down in Green pastures by still waters.  He sets a table before you.  He restores your soul and carries you through the valley of the shadow of death, and in him, and him alone, you may truly fear no evil.  For he is always with us always, even to the end of the age. 

That’s why we are here.  We have heard the voice of Jesus.  We have come here to hear it more, to hold on to its bold promises.  To receive freely the gifts of grace offered by our Lord and Savior Jesus. 

This world is truly a world of Chaos, but it is nothing that the Good Shepherd cannot over come.  Bombings, bickerings, Explosions, or emotions.  No matter what.  The Good Shepherd overcomes.  You are forgiven by him.  You are set free from sin. 

In the name of Our Good Shepherd.  Amen.  

Easter 3 - F - 2013 - The Word of the Resurrected Jesus

Acts 9:1-22                 Revelation 5:1-14                    John 21:1-19

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is the reading from Acts just read, especially these words, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”  Thus far our text.

Christ is risen!  He is risen indeed!  Alleluia!  Amen.  Dear friends in Christ, The Resurrected Word of God is powerful.  It is able to perform miracles beyond our understanding.  It is able to take the sick and make them well, to take a murderer and forgive their guilt.  It is able to make the blind to see, and the lame to walk.  There is nothing beyond the power of God’s Holy Word, not even to rescue from your own sin and guilt. 

THE WORD OF GOD TRANSFORMS EVEN THE MOST REVOLTING SINNERS INTO BLESSED SAINTS OF GOD.

It’s exactly what happens for St. Paul.  St. Paul, originally known as Saul, was born into a wealthy Jewish family.  He received the best education a Jewish person of his day could, learning from the great Pharisee and leader of the Sanhedrin Gamaliel.  He becomes by his own account one of the premiere Pharisees of all Israel.  When the Pharisees decide something, Saul supported them 100%.  The book of Acts says that Saul stood by watching with approval as the first Christian were killed in a persecution by the Pharisees.  As St. Stephen was pummelled to death by stones, Saul watched from a distance. 

But the death of a few Christians was not enough for Saul.  He wanted all of them destroyed, all of them killed.  He sought out warrants for the arrest of any Christians from the leaders of the Sanhedrin.  He took those warrants and sought to destroy the Christian faith, beginning his travel north from Jerusalem to Damascus. 

It was a trip that would not turn out the way that Saul expected.  It was 135 miles from Jerusalem to Damascus – a several days journey.  Saul made the journey with a group of soldiers from the synagogue, the same sort of soldiers that had arrested Jesus years before.  And as Saul approached Damascus, suddenly a great light shone upon him, blinding him.  And at that moment, the Word of the Lord came to Saul with a word of law, “Saul, why are you persecuting me?”  All Saul could do is ask, “Who are you Lord?”  And the answer stuns Saul.  “I am Jesus, the resurrected Lord, the one whom you are persecuting.  Go into the city, there you will be told what to do.” 

Saul is terrified.  He can’t see.  His friends heard the voice, they saw Saul fall to the ground.  They lead him by the hand stumbling into Damascus.  What is Saul to do?  He’s been murdering the followers of the true God.  And that God has appeared to him, and spoken harshly of Saul’s intentions. 

But the Word of God comes again to Saul.  This time through a disciple of Jesus, Ananias, a pastor living and preaching in Damascus.  Jesus sends this disciple to Saul, to preach the Word of God again to him, only this time a word of Gospel.  “Saul, Jesus sent me to forgive you, to return your sight to you, to make you well in his blood, and to fill you with the Holy Spirit.”  And with these words, Saul’s sight returns, and he is baptized, and immediately begins preaching the good news of a loving and forgiving God to all who will hear. 

That’s how powerful God’s word is, dear friends.  It can take a terrible sinner like Paul, and bring his entire sinful life crashing down around him.  And when the sinner is finally killed by the truth, the Word of God comes again, to make alive, to forgive, and to connect believers to the crucified and risen forever Christ. 

It’s the same for you, isn’t it?  You too have sinned.  You too are guilty, you too have failed in thought word and deed.  There are people you have treated as Saul did, looking on with pleasure as they got what they had coming to them.  You, like Saul, have created your own understanding of God – Justifying yourselves and your actions.  Turning wrong into right and vice versa.  Sinning in all times and all ways imaginable. 

But hear God’s word !  You are full of bitterness and captive to sin.  You are guilty.  And everyone who sins (from the tiniest sin to the largest sin) is a slave to that sin.  That means you.  That means each person here.  And if you remain a slave to sin, you have but one destination awaiting you:  Hell, punishment, fire beyond belief, the place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth, where the worm does not die. 

But hear also the good news, as Saul himself did.  Christ has been raised.  He lives forever.  And in his blood you are forgiven.  You, like Saul, have been baptized into his name.  You like Saul have received the Word of Good news, the Gospel, the Euaggeloj, that in Jesus your sin is gone! Forever!  Taken away!  That in those baptismal waters you have died with Jesus and raised forever with him.  And that even now you have the promise of life everlasting.  That even now you are forgiven your sins, no matter what the depth, because God’s Word has come to you, here and in baptismal waters.  God’s word has come to you.  And you are forgiven, just as the murder St. Paul was before you. 

Rejoice!  Christ is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!  Alleluia, Amen!  

Easter 2 - G - 2013 - Confessed and Forgiven

The Second Sunday of Easter

April 7, 2013 - Pastor Adam Moline

Acts 5:12-32                           Revelation 1:4-18                    John 20:19-31

Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.  Our text today is from the Gospel lesson just read, especially these words, “Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, even so I am sending you.”  Thus far our text. 

He is Risen!  He is Risen Indeed!  Alleluia.  Amen.  Dear friends in Christ.  In our text today, we see Christ as he arises and talks for the first time to his disciples.  The last time his disciples had spoken with him, they told him, plain and simple that they would stand by him even to death.  But one betrays Jesus.  The disciples swore that they would always be there with their friend, but when the police arrived, the disciples scattered – one even running away naked rather than get arrested.  Peter denies ever knowing Christ 3 times.  The other disciples just hide away, not even showing their faces in public for fear.  They are hiding as Christ is beaten.  They are afraid as Christ is nailed to a cross.  They are hidden as Christ breathes his last and dies – Some friends huh? 

And now the truth is out.  Early in the morning the women came running.  Jesus is alive!  He’s on his way to see you disciples!  He is Risen!  He’s risen indeed!  Peter runs and sees the empty tomb.  It must be true!  Jesus is no longer dead!  He has conquered death. 

So what are the disciples to do?  They have betrayed Jesus, but he’s alive again.  They have ran away from the Son of God, but now he’s on his way to find them.  The only conclusion they can come to is that Jesus is coming to pay them back for their betrayals, their lack of concern for one who was suffering, and their own desire for self-preservation. 

And so they lock the door.  They hide in the room where just a few days earlier Jesus told them “This is my body, this is my blood.”  They try to wait out the storm that has brewed against Jesus, and now against them who abandoned Jesus.  All but Thomas.  He’s so afraid he splits from the rest hiding away on his own. 

And as they are sitting there afraid and alone, Christ appears.  He enters the room, because the worthless human locks can’t stop the Risen Son of God.  You can imagine that the disciples fall down on their faces knowing that Jesus is God incarnate.  You can imagine their fear and trepidation.  What’s going to happen? 

But Christ speaks before any of them can beg.  And Christ’s words are not words of condemnation, but words of forgiveness, of hope, and of Gospel.  “Peace be with you.”  And this is no worldly peace but a godly peace, a peace that surpasses all human understanding.  A peace that can only come about because of forgiveness of sins.  Christ’s first words to his disciples are words of absolution.  Words that say “Don’t worry about your sin, for Christ has taken care of it.” 

Even those sinful disciples who turned their back on God are forgiven by the Resurrected Christ.  Even Doubting Thomas, who had run off to hide by himself is forgiven the next week.  All sins are gone in Jesus.  All sins are forgiven by Christ.  And dear friends, the same goes for you as well. 

Lets be honest.  We aren’t any better than those disciples in reality are we?  We too try to hide away our Christian Faith.  We don’t advertise it at work during the week.  We shirk from conversation about religion.  We happily skip church if we can manage to come up with anything else to do.  Because our faith is not that important to us, except for an hour a week. 

And we avoid looking to the cross, because its offensive, its gory, its too much for us to stomach in this our civilized world and time.  And yet our civilized world can stomach abortion, babies torn limb from limb in the place that should be safest for them.  Our civilized world can stomach war and bloodshed at a rate beyond anything the ancient world could fathom.  And our sin, yes our own sin, is behind all this suffering and death in the world.

So we do avoid church, yes, but often because we are embarrassed by what we have done.  We, like the disciples are ashamed of our sin, and guilt.  We are embarrassed by what we have done in our thought word and deed.  We hide our sin from each other, keeping it to ourselves hoping that it will take care of itself. 

But Jesus comes to us the same as he comes to his disciples.  He comes with words of forgiveness for all your sin.  “Peace be with you.”  Peace be with you for I have died for your sin, I have taken it away, I have made you my child forever.  And Jesus, in our text today sends his forgiven disciples to speak these words to you.  “I am sending you as the Father has sent me.”  In other words, Jesus is sending the disciples to give the same forgiveness to others that he has now given to them.  Jesus sends them to forgive sins in his stead and by his command. 

Jesus breathed on his disciples and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit, if you forgive anyone their sins they are forgiven, and if you don’t forgive them, they are not forgiven.”  It’s the same forgiveness that you received here just a few minutes ago.  Together we confessed our sins, all of them, all their guilt, all their shame.  We stood together guilty before the Lord, in thought word and deed.  We said we were heartily sorry for them.  And through the words of your pastor, your sins were forgiven by Christ.  Its not that you pastor is holy, not that he is better than you, but he stood in the stead and by the command of Christ, and announced the grace earned by the cross for forgiveness of your sin.

Your sin is gone, because Christ has risen.  Christ has sent men to proclaim that message the world around.  To proclaim it to you.  That your sin is gone.  Forever.  As far as the east is from the west.  It’s the truth.  It’s the absolution spoken by Christ, and delivered by a pastor.  It’s a fact for you.  Your sins are truly forgiven.  In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen.  

Easter Greetings from President Harrison