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Sixth Sunday of Easter–“If You Love Me” (John 14:15-21)

A-55 Easter 6 (Jn 14.15-21)Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon this morning comes from the Gospel, which was read earlier.

Language is a funny thing. When you look at words, how they’re formed, what they mean, it is interesting to see how they came to be. There are words that long and words that are short. We have words that are easy to pronounce and words that are not easy to pronounce. One word in the English language is 28 letters long, antidisestablishmentarianism. It’s a word that you won’t hear a lot. There’s even a 45-letter word, but I won’t begin to try to pronounce that word. But there is one word in the English language that is a very difficult word for us to comprehend. That word is not a long word; rather, it is only 2 letters long. The word is “if.” It is conditional. It indicates that should you do this, then you will receive that. It requires action, usually on your part, to receive the intended results that you desire.

That is how Jesus begins His discourse here. He says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but we don’t love Jesus. Because of our sinful nature, we want absolutely nothing to do with God. We utterly despise Him and everything that He stands for. We can’t love Jesus on our merits or work, and we surely can’t keep His commandments. That should be the end of it all. We don’t want God, we hate God, and we despise God. So in turn, God should not want us. God should hate us. God should despise us. But that is not the way it is. God chose to love us when we were unlovable in our sin. Through His great love and mercy, He gave to us His only-begotten Son. By the work of Jesus Christ, we have been given the gift of Jesus and His forgiveness, won for us on the cross.

Jesus knows that we cannot love Him. God knows that we cannot love Him, yet that doesn’t stop them from loving us. God loved us when we were unlovable and promised Jesus. Jesus loved us when we were unlovable and gave Himself to us and promised the gift of the Holy Spirit. We have been promised, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Here, Jesus tells us, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.” Really? God would promise us a Savior for breaking His one command of not eating from the tree of knowledge of good and evil? Jesus would give to us Himself even when we are incapable of doing what He says, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Speaking for myself, I know that I’m not perfect. And speaking for all of you, I know that you’re not perfect either. None of us are perfect, nor has there been anyone who is perfect, except for Jesus Christ. He is the one and only who has ever been or ever will be perfect. You and I are far from perfect. In fact, we are so far beyond perfect that the only thing you and I should receive is death and damnation. Yet, despite all of that, God still loves us. Despite our grievous sins, God still loves us enough to send to us a Savior. Despite our grievous sins, Jesus still loves us to send us the gift of the Holy Spirit for the building up of our faith.

Through the gifts of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, Jesus continues to come to us, just as He says He would. Through these simple and ordinary means of water, bread, and wine, Jesus gives to us that which we need most – His forgiveness, His life, His salvation. He gives to us freely and gives out of His great and abundant mercy.

You are His disciples, and because you are His disciples, He promises to keep you in His care and does so through the gift of the Holy Spirit. However, there is one problem with that as well. On account of our sin, we fall short of keeping God’s gifts as we should. We neglect to be in God’s Word, both privately and corporately. We do not hunger and thirst for the Sacrament which Christ gives of His own body and blood. We do not love our neighbor as we should. There is a reason for this: “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” From the greatest to the least, we all have sinned; we all have missed the mark. But the Lord knows that the only way we can even begin to keep His gifts holy and sacred is if we receive help, so He sends another Helper, another Advocate. The Holy Spirit is our second advocate. He helps us in our weakness. He especially helps us by bringing to remembrance the words of Jesus, by bearing witness to Jesus, and by taking what is Jesus’ and showing it to us. He helps us by giving us the truth, the true knowledge of God, and by actually remaining not only alongside us, but in us, for “he dwells with you and will be in you.”

It is through this Helper, through the Holy Spirit, that you and I are given the miraculous gift of faith, faith not in ourselves, but in God who is the One who makes promises and keeps them.

Christ promises to keep His disciples in His care by coming to them directly. How does He come to you? He comes in the ways that He has promised – through His Word and through His Sacraments. The writer to the Hebrews says, “In many and various ways, God spoke to His people of old through the prophets. But now, in these last days, He has spoken to us by His Son.” He comes to us through His body and His blood, in a meal that you feast upon for the strengthening and nourishing of your faith.

To have Christ means that you have the victor over sin, death, and the power of the devil. Having Christ, then, is to live in faith. And when we have Christ, we also have the Father.

Jesus didn’t just say that He loved you; He showed His love to you. He kept you and keeps you. He kept you from being destroyed by sin when He died for you. He kept you from being destroyed by death when He rose for you, and He keeps you today in His Word and in His Spirit. By Christ and His actions for you, He has shown the love of God to you, and because God has loved you, now you are able to love Jesus, because He has removed from you all of your sins and made you holy by His blood. In Jesus’ name, amen. Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, amen.

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Funeral for +Hertha Larsen+

LSB Icon_040The text I have chosen for Hertha’s funeral comes from Romans 8:31-39.

31 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? 33 Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. 34 Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us. 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Here ends our text.

George, Ann, Diann, Don, and Dan, “if God is for us, who can be against us?” That is the question that Paul asks to the Romans. The question is not meant for the Romans to give a response, for the answer is simple – no one! No one can be against us if God is for us. God is for us all the way in Jesus Christ, who died, rose, ascended and intercedes for us. No one can accuse us before God, who has chosen us to be His own and made us His own through faith in Jesus Christ.

Hertha knew that. Throughout the years, Hertha had her eyes on one thing – Jesus Christ. Her eyes were focused on what He did for her all those many years ago in her baptism. There, in simple water, when the pastor said those fateful words, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” everything changed for Hertha.

She received a gift like no other gift. She received a name and that name was “child of God.” In that simple act that might not look like anything special, something special did indeed take place. In that moment, her life forever changed, because her sins were forgiven. Every sin that she had committed, every sin she was committing at that moment, and every sin she would ever commit in her life were forgiven. This was something that she didn’t deserve and it was something she didn’t do, but it was something done for her. It was done for her and to her by the great love of God her heavenly Father throughout her life.

Her faith was something that Hertha held near and dear to her all Hertha. Before going into Pioneer Manor three years ago, Hertha would be in church nearly every Sunday. She and George would sit in the same pew week after week. On occasion, she would ask certain members of her family why they weren’t in church that Sunday. They would ask her what the sermon was about since they missed it. She couldn’t recall the sermon, but she knew who was in church and who wasn’t. Even if she couldn’t recall what the sermon was about, she still received God’s goods delivered to her each and every week through the Word as it came through the liturgy and the Sacrament of Christ’s body and blood, given and shed for the forgiveness of her sins.

Throughout Hertha’s life, there were two things that were important to her: her family and her faith. The words from our text today are indeed fitting words for Hertha. She exemplified the words of Paul: “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” No matter how good Hertha’s life was or how bad it was, Hertha’s faith never wavered. She knew that while she was a sinner, she deserved nothing but death and damnation because of those sins. But she also knew that because of the saving work of Jesus Christ for her and for you on the cross, that all of her sins were forgiven. She knew that one day, and that day came for her Monday, that she would stand before God, not with a sick and diseased body, but with a body that has been made perfect and holy by the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ.

Over these last years as Hertha’s health began to worsen, unfortunately her mind began to worsen also. She would forget the name of her children, forget where she was, and sometimes even forget who she was. But when her pastors would go and visit her, when they would read Scripture with her, when they would pray with her, everything seemed to come back. Even in her last days, when I told her that I was going to pray with her, she would fold her hands, ready to pray. When we were finished praying, she would attempt to mouth or say, “amen,” even when she said little or nothing at all.

Who shall bring a charge against Hertha? Who shall bring a charge against you? It is God who justifies. St. Paul won’t let you forget your salvation. God has not spared His own Son for you, but has condemned Him on the cross for your sins. Because He has condemned His own Son for you, He is not going to carry out that sentence again on you. For Jesus’ sake, He declares you holy, innocent, righteous… forgiven. Christ has died for all, bearing all of their sins to the cross. Hertha knew that and she took great joy in that fact. She instilled that knowledge of God’s salvation to you, her children. If there was nothing else that she ever taught you, the love that God has for you was what she wanted you to know. That is what God desires for everyone to know, for those of you gathered here this morning, for those outside of this church, and for all peoples. As St. John records, “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” That’s what God wants you to know and that is exactly what Hertha knew.

She had great peace in the knowledge that God sent His one and only Son to live and die for her, for her children, for her family and for her friends. She knew that nothing would keep her from the love that God has for her, not even death, for she knew that death in this life was not the end, but merely the last time that she would be with those she loved. Her eyes were focused on heaven, because there, she knew that she would be with her heavenly Father forever.

For you, her family, the days ahead will be difficult as your begin a life without a wife, a mother, a sister, and a grandmother. But as the psalmist says, “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” You will weep now, but your joy has come, knowing that Hertha is now in heaven, awaiting that day when those who fall asleep in the faith will be reunited with her. What a glorious day that will be; for Hertha, for you, and for all believers. In the name of Jesus, amen.

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More than a sprain–it’s a fracture

Yep, that’s what it is. I woke this morning around 6:30. Sleeping with this splint on is not exactly easy. It’s hard, heavy, and makes my leg hot. I was scheduled to have a preschool staff meeting at 10, but instead met a family at the funeral home to meet with the family of a member who passed away yesterday. Trying to move around with crutches is not the easiest thing in the world, I found. It’s sore on my arms, I get overly hot and I really want a glass of water. As I was at the funeral home, the walk-in clinic called and left me a voicemail. I returned their call to find out that my ankle or foot is indeed fractured. So that means I get to see orthopedics to resolve that. Best case is a boot. Worst case is surgery I’m sure, but I don’t think we’re there.

As an added bonus, this is what my foot looked like this morning.IMG_0145[1]

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Hopefully just a sprain

This morning when we had company, Chewie ran out the front door. I slipped on some shoes and went chasing after him. I got to where he was, just two houses down. He stopped to use the yard and I went up after him. I tripped or something and went down, spraining my ankle. I went to the hospital’s walk-in clinic this afternoon after going to the bedside of a dying member and it is sprained. Well, that’s the best case scenario. An x-ray was done and there appears to be a small bone shard floating around the ankle. It could have been been from birth, it could be old, or it could be new. The physician’s assistant is treating it conservatively and treating it as a possible fracture. It’s in a stint and I’m on crutches for several days. She’ll call me tomorrow and let me know if it’s just a sprain or a fracture.

This is what my leg looks like for now:IMG_0143[1]