Sermon - Trinity XIII, 2026 - 2 Chronicles 28:8-15

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The Good Samaritan, Joseph Highmore, 1744   God’s People are Those Who Have Faith in Him We typically think my people are those who are like me externally History of the two kingdoms The Faithful Remnant of Samaria was more faithful than Judah We are God’s people through faith The lawyer asked Jesus: “ Who is my neighbor? ” That’s another way of asking: “Who are my people?” We ask this question because like prefers like and we want to love those people who are like us more than we love those who are not like us. This is a generally true principle in many facets of life. We do this in mostly playful ways with sports, where we greatly prefer our team which we identify with and we do not like the rival teams. This happens more seriously between countries, sometimes even to the point of war. This happens with some seriousness between political parties, sometimes leading to political assassinations. This happens in families when one family member defends another even through criminal be...
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West Bend, IA Newspaper - Christmas Letter 2020

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 The Word of Comfort

Scientists can’t figure out what there was before the universe, but we Christians know, even a little child can plainly say: “In the beginning was the Word.” That Word has endured since before there was time and space and it will continue to persist even when all this universe is laid waste on the last day. God has given that little changeless Word to us for our endurance, comfort, and hope.

This is really what Christmas is all about! That Word which gives us all hope and consolation through so many trials has become flesh and dwells among us. That Word became incarnate in the infant body of Jesus lying in the manger, in the adult body of Jesus hanging on the cross, and the true body and blood of Jesus in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. That Word which is eternal entered into the temporal, so that we who are mortal might put on His immortality! 

But why? Why would He do this? In the words of the great hymn writer, John Gerhard: “Love caused your incarnation; love brought You down to me. Your thirst for my salvation procured my liberty. Oh, love beyond all telling, that led You to embrace in love, all love excelling, our lost and fallen race.” Because of God’s inexplicable love for us, He sent His Word to become flesh, so that we might have hope and comfort in a world which is otherwise often filled with sadness.

May God bless you with a merry Christmas, remembering that in Christ we are made merry through the birth, death, and resurrection of the Word made flesh. Merry Christmas! 

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