by Jeffrey Spencer | Jun 18, 2024 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for June 23
Sermon for the Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – June 16, 2024
Mark 4:26-34
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
There’s a show on Amazon Prime my wife and I have been watching for three seasons now called “Clarkson’s Farm.” We’re not really into reality TV, but I guess this is part of that genre, as it follows the real-life attempts by British media personality Jeremy Clarkson to run a successful farm in the Cotswolds of England. I’m not giving away too many spoilers in saying that he encounters all kinds of challenges. There is bad weather. There are local bureaucrats and stifling regulations. He reckons with disease and death among crops and livestock and in his farm hands. There are the ever-changing prices, which are influenced by world events far beyond his control. Most of all, though, there is his own ignorance. This is what makes the show so compelling and funny. He has come to farming late in life, and mostly he has no idea what he is doing.
(If you’re thinking about checking it out, know that Jeremy Clarkson deals with his frustrations with a very colorful vocabulary, with many words you don’t hear at church. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.)
I think the situation Jeremy Clarkson finds himself in as he tries his hand at farming has some striking parallels to the situation we find ourselves in in the church today. We too are trying to grow things. We would like to see Christian faith grow in our hearts. We would like to see Christian faith grow in the lives of our loved ones, particularly our children. We would like to see the Christian church and specifically our own congregation grow in numbers.
But it seems, at times, like nothing is going right for us. The cultural winds are blowing in directions that are not in our favor. There are church bureaucrats who only seem to make things worse. You may remember there was a pandemic which has left a deep mark on the church, perhaps more than any other institution. There are demographic realities mostly beyond our control, such as the breakdown of family life and the steeply falling birth rate, which profoundly impact the life of the church.
On top of all of this is the pervasive feeling across the church that we have no idea what we’re doing. So many Christians seem to be struggling to grow in their own faith. There is so much concern about how we can grow faith in the lives of our loved ones who seem to be slipping away from the Christian faith, especially the younger generations. It feels to many like we don’t know how to grow anything in the church anymore.
In the past, all of this seemed to come so easily to us. The Christian faith was in the air people breathed. Boats and babies kept the pews full in Lutheran congregations for generations. For decades, the Navy practically dropped off new families to this congregation’s doorstep every few years. But none of this is true anymore. And so there is this sense that we have no idea what we’re doing. It can be discouraging. It can be frustrating. I try really hard to not use some of the words Jeremy Clarkson uses, but there are days when I know exactly how he feels.
The parables in front of us this morning provide some comforting assurances to those of us who long for growth in the Christian church, who long to see faith in Christ grow in ourselves and in our loved ones. These parables of our Lord Jesus are full of promises that can keep our discouragement and frustration in check.
Jesus says the kingdom of God is like someone going out to scatter seeds. After this farmer scatters the seeds, he goes home and goes to bed. He sleeps and rises, night and day. And while he is sleeping, while he is away, without him seeing, the seeds sprout and rise. And then comes the kicker: “He does not know how!”
The farmer in this parable doesn’t know what he’s doing either! Jesus says he does not know how the seeds sprout and grow! He simply scatters the seed and goes to bed! He rests – quite literally – in the promise that they will do what seeds do!
Jesus continues with a second, more elaborate and better-known parable – the parable of the mustard seed. Jesus says that the kingdom of God is like this small, small seed which is put into the ground. There it remains – unseen, hidden – until it eventually grows into a large shrub where many birds come to make their home.
There’s a layer of irony here that is easy for us to miss. As we heard in our first reading, the kingdom of God had often been described as being like the mighty cedars of Lebanon. Jesus uses a decidedly less impressive species of plant to describe this kingdom. It might not look like much. It might not be all that valued by the world. The mustard plant was seen at that time as something of a weed to most people. The Jewish Mishnah, an early form of Bible commentary, even forbade the planting of mustard, describing it as “a useless, annoying weed.”
I think Jesus is cracking a joke here. I think he’s saying that this kingdom may not always look like much. It might be as modest and lowly-seeming as the scotch broom we see along the highway, but it will grow, and it will become a home to many.
Our job in all of this is simply to scatter seed. In a parable just before the ones we hear today Jesus tells the parable of the sower, which he actually explains. There he says that the seed represents the word of God. Our job, then, is to spread God’s word. We may or may not understand how it works in people’s lives. We may or may not see any results, immediately or ever. Just as the farmer sowed the seeds and went to bed, our job is to sow the seeds and relax, trusting the seeds to do their work. We are called to be seed sowers, not bean counters.
We are not totally helpless and ignorant when it comes to how we grow faith. There is much we can learn. There is much we can do. Being in the word ourselves is so important. Being regularly nourished by the Lord’s Supper is so important. Having prayer and faith conversations in the home, especially in homes with children, is essential. So is inviting people to worship with us. But none of this is a magic formula which guarantees immediately recognizable results. None of this is Miracle-Gro. We need patience. We need to sow, and then we need to relax, trusting the seed to do what God has promised it will do.
We were out back at our fire pit here a church a couple of Sundays ago and some of us got to talking about the seedlings which were planted a few years ago to replenish our forest behind the sanctuary windows here. Some of those seedlings seem to have withered, but many have taken root and are slowly growing.
It occurred to me later that it will be years and years before the efforts of those who planted the seedlings – which includes several of you here today – will be evident. Those trees only grow a foot or two a year, at best.
I don’t mean to be morbid, but I can do a little math, and the math suggests that most of those who did the planting will never see what those trees will look like out back when they come into the fullness of their towering glory.
But that isn’t why they planted them. They didn’t plant those seedlings expecting immediate results that they could observe and enjoy. They planted those seedlings trusting that they would grow in their own good time. They planted them trusting that God would tend to them long after they were gone. They planted them for others, trusting that many others would continue to make a home here under their branches.
Brothers and sisters, I know this is a concerning time to be the church. I know it can be discouraging and frustrating at times. I feel it too. Sometimes it seems like the challenges we are up against are too great. Sometimes it feels like we have no idea what we’re doing, like we don’t know how to grow anything anymore.
But it isn’t our job to know how the growth will come. It is our job to scatter seed. It is our job to let the word be planted first in our own hearts, and then to share that word with those around us, in our homes, in our neighborhoods, in our circles of influence. It is our job to scatter seed and then to be patient – patient with ourselves, patient with our children and other loved ones, patient with the church, patient with this stubborn world of ours.
Our job is not to know how things grow. It is not to plant with the expectation of immediately visible results. Our job is to scatter, and then to trust. It is to trust that a harvest will come. It is to trust that the smallest seed will become a mighty shrub. It is to trust that God’s Word will not return to him empty. It is our job to trust that the God who began a good work in us will bring it to completion on the day of Jesus Christ. It is our job to sow the seeds and then to relax – trusting God bring the growth in his time.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | Jun 10, 2024 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for June 9
Sermon for the Third Sunday after Pentecost – June 9, 2024
Mark 3:20-35
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
I would like you to imagine that you have been taken, captured by hostile forces. I would like you to imagine that you are being held against your will by someone or something more powerful than you. It isn’t a pleasant thing to imagine, I know, but now imagine that a rescuer has come. Imagine that your captors, strong though they may be, have been overpowered by someone even stronger, who now has them bound up. Maybe you want to imagine them in handcuffs. Maybe you want to imagine them duct-taped to a chair, or hog-tied with plastic zip ties. The point is, they cannot hold you anymore. They are bound and you are free.
I’ve just described to you in, in broad strokes, the basic plot of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of movies. I’ve just described to you the basic plot of thousands, perhaps millions, of TV show episodes. I’ve just described to you countless actual news stories involving police rescuing people from the hands of criminals, or border patrol agents rescuing people from human trafficking operations.
I’ve also described to you a short, but very powerful parable of our Lord Jesus Christ. I’ve described to you the plot of a parable in which we are invited to find ourselves. It is a parable which describes the situation we ourselves are in.
Jesus had been casting out demons. He had also been saying things like, “I am the Lord of the sabbath,” as we heard last Sunday. He had been asserting his authority as the Son of God. As we hear today, he had also been attracting quite a crowd.
But not everyone was impressed. At this point his own family thought he was out of his mind. Even worse, the scribes accused him of being in league with the devil. “He has Beelzebul,” they said, “and by the ruler of the demons he casts out demons.” Beelzebul is the name that was given to the prince of demons. It is loosely related to the pagan god Baal, and can be literally translated as “the lord of the flies.” It is used in the New Testament as another name for Satan. This is who the scribes thought Jesus was working for.
Jesus first responds to this accusation by pointing out the glaring flaw in their logic. Why would someone who was working for demons cast out demons? Wouldn’t someone working for Beelzebul want to help the demons in wreaking havoc? Such a divided house would surely fall, Jesus points out, and the devil is smarter than that. Satan hasn’t turned against himself, Jesus explains. You’ve got it all wrong.
And then Jesus goes on to tell them what is really happening. Jesus tells this short but powerful parable: “No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his property without first tying up the strong man; then indeed the house can be plundered.”
There it is. There’s the plot of Jesus’ mission and ministry. There’s what is arguably the plot of the whole Bible, which is about how God has come into the world to rescue what is his own. This is what Jesus is really up to. Jesus isn’t working for Beelzebul. Jesus has come to tie him up! Satan is the strong man who has been holding people captive, and Jesus is the stronger man who has come to plunder his house. Jesus has come to recover all that stolen property, returning it to God, the rightful owner. Jesus has come to cast out demons, tie up the strong man, and set the hostages free.
The devil has become an almost cartoonish, mythological figure in our post-enlightenment minds, about as real as dragons or unicorns. But the Biblical understanding of Satan, or the devil, or Beelzebul, is that it is a spiritual force at work in our lives to deceive us, to accuse us, to tempt us, to lure us away from God. As we heard in our first reading for today from Genesis, the devil is that slinky serpent who slithers into our hearts and minds saying, “Did God really say that? Surely he didn’t mean it. Don’t you think you know better? Go on, take a bite.” Satan is that force in our lives which plants seeds of doubt in us, saying, “If you really are a child of God, why do you suffer? Why is life so hard for you? Where’s the evidence of this loving God of yours? Where’s the proof?” Satan is a deceiver. He is a thief who is always trying to steal our faith, our hope, our joy – and yes, he is indeed strong.
You can see this strong man at work in both the subtle struggles and the profound sorrows of daily life. You can see him at work in self-centered behaviors and attitudes. You can see him at work when people turn to various false gods for comfort and end up being devoured by those false gods. We hear all the time about people wrestling with demons of depression or addiction. We usually think we’re talking euphemistically, but are we really? It is this strong man’s handiwork when human relationships turn sour and bitter and angry. His fingerprints are found whenever lives are shaped by the lies of the evil one instead of by God’s Word and God’s will. This strong man is a hustler who lures people into despair and holds them hostage to their sin.
The devil is strong indeed. We see how he is holding the world hostage. The evidence is all around us. We can see how much he has stolen from us, how much he has stolen from God. We live in this parable. We confess our place in this parable every Sunday when we confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.
The devil is strong indeed, but, thanks be to God, our Lord Jesus is stronger. And it is his God-given mission and purpose to come and tie up the strong man so that he can plunder his house. Jesus has come to reclaim stolen souls and return them to God. He has come to rescue us. He has come to bind up those demonic forces holding us captive and set us free. As Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, people will be forgiven for their sins and whatever blasphemies they utter.” This is how he sets us free, by forgiving our sin. This is how he restores us to God, by bringing us forgiveness and new life.
Jesus continues by saying, “but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit can never have forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin.” This verse causes a lot of spiritual heartburn for people. Many have been terrified by it, worrying that they may have committed this eternal sin that cannot be forgiven.
Let me address this just briefly by saying what this verse is NOT about. It is not about having questions about God. Nicodemus had questions, and he was welcomed by Jesus. This is not about having doubts about God from time to time. Thomas had doubts, and Jesus came to him in love and mercy. This isn’t even about denying Christ in a moment of weakness, which Peter did three times, and yet was restored through the forgiveness of the risen Jesus.
To blaspheme against the Holy Spirit is to so harden your heart against Christ’s work that you consider it demonic. If you consider grace and mercy and forgiveness and salvation as coming from the devil, then you can’t receive it – and God doesn’t have anything else to give you! If someone insists on holding to the idea that Jesus is evil and they want nothing to do with his kingdom, God will honor that. In other words, this is a hard sin to commit. You need to be really determined to commit it. If you’re worried that you have committed it, then it is a sure sign that you most certainly haven’t.
It would be just like the devil to use this verse to distract you from the beautiful promise Jesus begins with, where he announces that the Holy Spirit will bring forgiveness for sins and for whatever blasphemies people utter. It would be just like the deceiver to use this verse to distract you from the good news of this parable, which is that Jesus has come to rescue and redeem us from sin. He has come to set us free from our bondage and bring us home to God. And so we don’t need to live in fear anymore.
As Martin Luther once wrote in a sermon on this parable:
Why should you fear? Why should you be afraid? Do you not know that the prince of this world has been judged? He is no lord, no prince anymore. You have a different, a stronger Lord, Christ, who has overcome and bound him.
Therefore let the prince and god of this world look sour, bare his teeth, make a great noise, threaten, and act in an unmannerly way; he can do no more than a bad dog on a chain, which may bark, run here and there, and tear at the chain. But because it is tied and you avoid it, it cannot bite you.
The plot of this parable is the plot of our lives. Even now through his Word Christ breaks into our lives to tie up the strong man so that we can be free to live a new and renewed life with God. Even now Christ kicks in the door to get to us – to get to you! – his beloved. As he comes to us in Word and Sacrament, we are being redeemed, reclaimed, returned to our rightful owner. Even now our rescuer comes to us, so that our demons would be bound, and we would be free.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | Jun 2, 2024 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for June 2
Sermon for the Second Sunday after Pentecost – June 2, 2024
Deuteronomy 5:12-15, Mark 2:23-3:6
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
“When I was a kid, my bedtime was 9pm. I couldn’t wait to be a grown-up so I could go to bed whenever I wanted. Now that I am a grown-up, it turns out that that time is 9pm.”
“When I got in trouble as a kid, I had to go to bed early. My childhood punishment has become my adulthood goal.”
These popular memes point to two truths about us as human beings: First, we need rest. Second, we don’t always know that we need rest. Little kids are particularly known for resisting getting the rest they need, a truth which is reflected in these memes, but, particularly when it comes to spiritual rest and sabbath-keeping, adults are just as guilty.
The fact that God had to issue a commandment about rest is revealing. It says something about us as human beings. We need to be told to rest. Even though it is obviously good for us, even though we long for it, even though we recognize the benefit of it, we need to be commanded by God to actually do it! And even then, like stubborn toddlers, we often resist!
Today in our first reading we hear the Third Commandment as it appears in Deuteronomy: “Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy, as the Lord your God commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God; you shall not do any work.” Our reading further elaborates that NO ONE is to work on the sabbath day – not family members, not servants or slaves, not even one’s animals. Everyone needs rest, and once every six days, everyone should get it.
But the sabbath is not only about refraining from work. The sabbath is to be kept holy. And so the sabbath is to include a focus on God, remembering God’s act of salvation. As the scripture says: “Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the sabbath day.”
God’s people were instructed to remember what it was like to NOT have a sabbath, when they were in captivity in Egypt. They were to use the sabbath as a time to remember God’s saving act of delivering them out of captivity. This remembering was to shape how they practiced the sabbath. This remembering was what made the sabbath holy.
The days when businesses were all closed on Sunday are long gone, with one notable exception. Chick-fil-A is as known for being closed on Sundays as it is for its waffle fries or its Chick-fil-A sauce. Their being closed on Sundays stands out because it is so rare anymore for most businesses, especially restaurants. Chick-fil-A founder Truett Cathy used to work in restaurants that were open 24/7. He remembered working brutally long hours, including on Sundays. When he founded Chick-fil-A, he insisted that his restaurant would never be open on Sundays so that his employees would have an established day every week when they knew they could rest, recharge, and especially so they could attend worship if they so desired. This “closed on Sunday” rule for his franchises has held to this day, and it is estimated that the company willingly forfeits $1.2 billion dollars every year in potential revenue because of it. I think Mr. Cathy would say it is worth it. People need the sabbath. They need it not only to rest, but to attend worship and remember what God had done to save them.
In our gospel reading we hear how the Pharisees spotted Jesus and his disciples walking through a wheat field on the sabbath, plucking heads of grain and popping them in their mouths as they went. This was like snacking on Wheat Thins, only probably not quite as good. This was legal. It wasn’t considered stealing from the farmer. There was an allowance stipulated in Deuteronomy which allowed for the practice as long as you didn’t use a sickle and take too much. But it raised the question – were they “working” on the sabbath? Were they, technically, harvesting? The Pharisees seemed to think so.
In response, Jesus reminded them of the time David was in a tough spot with some of his soldiers. They were being pursued by Saul. They were tired and hungry and weak, dangerously so. They came to the Tabernacle, desperate for something to eat. The only food available was the Bread of Presence, which had been ritually offered and was only to be eaten by the priests. However, given the circumstances, the priest gave the bread to David and his men to strengthen them.
Jesus cites this story and then concludes by saying, “The sabbath was made for humankind, and not humankind for the sabbath.” In other words, the sabbath was given to strengthen and restore people. It was not given as a way for people to impress God, or to earn points with God by following it as a rule. It was a gift. It was the gift of rest, of restoration. And so whether it was the plucking of Wheat Thins for a snack in the field or the consumption of the Bread of Presence given by the priest, it was completely in line with the intent of the sabbath. Jesus then goes on to say that he is the Lord of the Sabbath. He, of all people, would know how to properly observe it! He, of all people, would know how to keep the commandment!
Later that day, Jesus went to the synagogue. There he saw a man with a withered hand. This almost seems like a set up. The Pharisees were right there, watching to see what Jesus was going to do. It almost seems like they were baiting Jesus with this guy. And sure enough, right then and there, while they were watching him, Jesus healed the man’s withered hand. At this point the Pharisees left, intent on doing whatever it would take to destroy Jesus.
It is often thought that the Pharisees were merely being legalistic about the Sabbath. It is often thought that their primary concern here is that Jesus wasn’t following the rules. That’s certainly part of it, but the greater issue here is that Jesus was asserting his authority. I imagine Jesus staring back at them while healing the man’s hand with eyes that said, “You can’t tell me what to do.” The bigger issue was that Jesus claimed to be the Lord of the sabbath and went around acting like it.
It is also often assumed that Jesus was setting aside the commandment, that he was rebelling against the restrictive rules that help people keep the commandments. But this isn’t really right either. Just a few chapters earlier Jesus said that he had not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. Jesus had utmost respect for the law. What he was doing instead was reminding people of the commandment’s intent. He was reminding people of what the commandment was for in the first place. He was reminding them that in the Third Commandment, God is giving the gift of rest, the gift of restoration. Feeding and healing are entirely consistent with this, and so Jesus was indeed keeping the commandment. He was observing the sabbath.
God knows not only that we need rest, but that we need to be told to rest. When it comes to sabbath keeping, we often act like stubborn toddlers, thinking we know best, thinking we don’t really need it, thinking we can get by without our weekly time of rest and restoration. And so God gives us a commandment: “Observe the sabbath day and keep it holy.” We are not only commanded to have a weekly day of refraining from work, but a weekly day of worship, a weekly day of remembering God’s saving acts, a weekly day of being in the Word. As Luther writes in the Small Catechism explaining the Third Commandment, “We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.”
As Luther infers, this commandment is best kept not by observing it as a rule. It is best kept by receiving it gladly as a gift. Our Lord Jesus has not come to abolish this law, but to fulfill it. And he fulfills it by using the sabbath as a time to give us his gifts. As we remember the night in which he took bread, he gives us the bread of his presence to strengthen and renew us. As we come to worship on the sabbath day, he takes the withered parts of our lives, the withered parts of our souls, and he restores them. “Come to me, all you who are weary and carrying heavy burdens,” Jesus said, “and I will give you rest.” This is what the sabbath is for, and it is a gift!
One of the things I miss most from when my boys were little is how they used to sleep on me. When they were overtired as babies they’d get fussy, and as toddlers they’d get cranky. They obviously needed rest. Eventually they’d settle down. They’d lay on my chest. I would feel them slowly start to relax, their bodies getting heavier on mine as their muscles stopped fighting it. I could feel their breathing getting slower and deeper. And then they’d be out. I loved that feeling. It wasn’t that it was comfortable. Usually it wasn’t. Usually I was too hot. Usually my arm would cramp up from how we were laying. What made it such a wonderful feeling was the love and the complete and utter trust they had in me which allowed them to rest so deeply. They were safe in my arms, and so they could sleep deeply, getting the rest they so desperately needed.
I think God must love that feeling too. I think God loves that feeling of having his children love and trust him so completely that we melt into him, getting the rest we so desperately need.
Whether you’re five or fifty or eighty-five, without enough rest we get fussy. We get cranky. And so God our Father has given us the sabbath as a time for us to rest in and on him.
Today God invites you to be strengthened by the Bread of Presence. Today God invites you to bring the withered parts of your lives to him for healing. Today God invites you to relax, to let go of control. Today God invites you to rest in him, remembering all he has done to save you.
He has given you a commandment to do this, but he’d rather give it to you as a gift.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | May 27, 2024 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for May 26
Sermon for Holy Trinity Sunday – May 26, 2024
Isaiah 6:1-8
In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit – God in three persons, blessed Trinity. Amen.
My sermon text for today is Isaiah 6, so let me bring you back to what we heard there in our first reading. As we heard, in the year King Uzziah died, Isaiah was given a grand vision. Isaiah saw God in God’s throne room. Actually, he only saw the hem of God’s robe, which, just by itself, filled the temple. It was a spectacular, mysterious scene with heavenly beings called seraphs flying around. Seraphs are fiery angels with six wings. These seraphs are covering their faces out of reverence for God as they sing, “Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts!” The ground shook and the room filled with smoke. There was an altar with live coals burning upon it, glowing red. If this were a scene in a movie you would need top-notch CGI to do it justice! This vision was magnificent and it was terrifying – and it has much to teach us about God and about ourselves. It has much to teach us about the Holy Trinity, and how sinful human beings relate to a holy God. It has much to teach us about who and whose we are, and how. So let’s dig in, shall we?
First of all, we shouldn’t move too quickly past the fact that this vision was given in the year in which King Uzziah died. This not only gives us a time stamp on when Isaiah had his vision, it describes the context for his vision. King Uzziah reigned in Judah for 52 years. This isn’t quite as long as Queen Elizabeth’s 70 years, but it was still a pretty long time. Like Elizabeth, he was the only king most people in Judah had ever known. For the most part, Uzziah was a good king. However, in the later years of his reign his success started to go to his head. In a display of shocking arrogance, he went strutting into the area of the temple reserved for the priests and burned incense. This might sound like a minor thing to us, but in that setting it was a grave offense. Uzziah was essentially saying he was above God’s law, that he could be his own god. And his pride led to his downfall. He was struck with leprosy. He was increasingly sickly and unable to perform many of his duties as king. Meanwhile, the kingdom of Assyria, their rival next door, was growing stronger every day.
It is unclear whether Uzziah had died before or after Isaiah had his vision – it only says he had his vision the same year that he died – but either way this was clearly a time of widespread national anxiety for the people of Judah. There was a lot of uncertainty in the air. And it was in the midst of this anxiety and uncertainty that Isaiah was given this vision. Isaiah saw that whatever was going on with the throne of Judah, God was still on his throne! Kings come and go. Some are holier than others. But through it all, God remains on his throne, and God alone is holy, holy, holy.
This is the first lesson for us in this passage. This is the first lesson to be found in this vision of Isaiah’s. We don’t have a king, of course, but in an election year people are starting to get anxious about who will sit in the seat of executive power for this next presidential term. Along with this there seems to be a sense of unease about growing threats in the world of various sorts. While we shouldn’t stick our heads in the sands about any of this, there is a great truth we can all hold onto: whatever happens, the Lord is on his throne. God will still be in power. God’s reign will continue, unabated!
Maybe your anxiety or uncertainty comes from a totally different place. Maybe it has to do with your relationships, or your financial situation, health problems, or your uncertain future. The same great truth holds for you: God is on his throne. God is in charge. God rules over his creation with incredible power and glory.
God’s power isn’t automatically good news, I know. While God is magnificent and glorious, God’s power, if you really understand or experience it, is terrifying!
I remember once traveling in Arizona when my boys were little. We were driving along the Mogollon Rim, which is a stunningly beautiful area with pine trees and red rocks and vast vistas. We were driving along the rim when I pulled over and got out to take a picture. There was some weather coming in, but it was behind me. It didn’t ruin the view. I took my picture when a bolt of lightning struck the ground, probably less than thirty yards away. It was so loud, it sounded like the sky was splitting in two. I could feel it in every cell of my body. I could feel it in my hair! For a second or two, I was undone. It felt like everything was over. It was magnificent, and it was terrifying.
This is what it was like for Isaiah to see God’s throne room, times about a million! It was magnificent and it was terrifying! It was magnificent and terrifying because of the overwhelming holiness of God! The word “holy” at its most basic means separate, or set apart. It also means to be filled with divine purity and power. And what is more holy than God himself? “Holy, holy, holy,” the angels were singing. This word is repeated three time to emphasize God’s holiness. I don’t want to trivialize this holy chorus, but it isn’t unlike how people will say things like, “I love this so, so, so much,” or maybe, “I am never, never, never doing that again.” We repeat for emphasis, right? These fiery angels repeated this word to emphasize God’s holiness.
But there’s something else to the three-fold “holy” in the angels’ song. Here’s where the Holy Trinity comes in. From the earliest days of the Christian church, this has been seen as a subtle reference to the Trinity, to the one God who exists as three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. As St. Ambrose wrote in the 4th century on this very passage: “[The angels] say it not once, lest you should believe that there is but one; not twice, lest you should exclude the Spirit; they say not holies, lest you should imagine there is a plurality, but they repeat three times and say the same word, that even in a hymn you may understand the distinction of Persons in the Trinity, and the oneness of the Godhead.”
And think about it, the entire Trinity can be found in Isaiah’s vision if you look for it. God the Father is there with the hem of his robe filling the room. The Son is symbolized by the altar, the place of sacrifice. The Spirit, which just last week was depicted as fire, is there in these fiery angels and the words they proclaim. Sounds like the Holy Trinity to me!
Isaiah finds the presence of this Holy Trinity magnificent and terrifying. After all, this Trinity is holy, holy, holy, and Isaiah is most certainly not! In the light of God’s holiness, Isaiah can only see his unholiness. It all shows up. It is all revealed. There are no shadows, no soft focus. Isaiah’s sin is utterly exposed by the brilliant light of God’s holiness.
And so Isaiah’s first response is not joy or ecstasy, it is terror! He is undone! “Woe is me!” he says, “I am lost, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips; yet my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!”
But here’s the thing. This God he has encountered is not only holy. This God is also gracious! This God is merciful! One of the seraphs takes a coal from the altar and presses it to Isaiah’s lips. This sounds like a horrible punishment. It sounds like an act of torture. But it is not. It is an act of grace. It is an act of forgiveness. “Now that this has touched your lips,” the angel said, “your guilt has departed and your sin is blotted out.” The same lips that cursed and gossiped and lied, the same lips that had been pressed to idols, the same lips that had been used in service of self, would now be used to the glory of God. Those same lips would be used to proclaim God’s magnificent and terrifying Word as a prophet of the Lord. Those same lips would ultimately be used to proclaim the coming of a savior.
Dear friends, we have the same unclean lips that Isaiah does. Our lips are used to curse and gossip and lie. Our lips are used to give glory to false gods, usually ourselves as we pridefully talk ourselves into being a law unto ourselves, into being our own gods. And in the brilliant light of God’s holiness, we are undone. There is no sin, no matter how deeply hidden in our hearts, that is not exposed.
But the same God that is overwhelmingly holy is also abundantly gracious! The fire upon the altar in God the Father’s throne room has now been extinguished by the sacrifice of the Son, who sits at his right hand. From that altar the Spirit brings to us not a hot coal, but the very body and blood of the Son, that they might touch our lips and blot out our sin.
You see, Isaiah’s vision was not an isolated incident. That vision continues in every Christian worship service as we gather in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. It continues in these moments in worship where the veil between heaven and earth is very thin. It continues as we sing, “Holy, holy, holy,” as part of our liturgy, echoing the very same song that continues to be sung in God’s throne room. It happens when sinners like us come into the presence of a God who is holy, holy, holy, but also gracious, forgiving, and merciful.
Whatever is going on in your life today, whatever uncertainly or anxiety plagues you, know that God is on his throne. As God sends his Word into your ears today, and as Christ’s body and blood are touched to your lips, you take part in this same vision that Isaiah did. You come into the presence of the Holy Trinity, who blots out all your sin, granting you forgiveness and new life. In so doing this God who reveals himself to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit commissions your redeemed lips for a purpose: that you might give him praise, that you might call him by name in every time of need, and that you might speak in ways that give him glory.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | May 21, 2024 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for May 19
Sermon for Pentecost Sunday – May 19, 2024
Acts 2:1-21, John 15:26-27; 16:4b-15
Kjære venner nåde med dere og fred fra Gud vår Far og vår herre Jesus Kristus.
Og det skal skje i de siste dager, sier Gud, da vil jeg utgyde av min Ånd over alt kjød, og eders sønner og eders døtre skal tale profetiske ord, og eders unge menn skal se syner, og eders oldinger ha drømmer; ja, endog over mine træler og over mine trælkvinner vil jeg i hine dager utgyde av min Ånd, og de skal tale profetiske ord. Og jeg vil la under skje på himmelen i det høie, og tegn på jorden i det lave: blod og ild og røkskyer; solen skal bli til mørke og månen til blod, før Herrens dag kommer, den store og herlige. Og det skal skje: Hver den som påkaller Herrens navn, han skal bli frelst. Amen.
Just kidding. I’ll give it to you in English. But as I switch from badly pronounced Norwegian to English, I want you to notice something. As I speak now in what is the native language of most if not all of you, there is a sudden clarity, isn’t there? It is like a fog has lifted. It is like something that was blurry has come into sharp focus. Now the words are landing in your ears and sticking, instead of bouncing off in confusion.
For Christians, Pentecost is a celebration of the Holy Spirit, of course, but more specifically, it is a celebration of the Holy Spirit’s purpose, which is to speak to us in our native language. Today we celebrate the Holy Spirit’s job, which is to preach to us in language we can understand.
Pentecost was a Jewish celebration long before it was a Christian one. In Hebrew it was (and is) called Shavuot, and is held fifty days after Passover. It commemorates the giving of the Law to Moses on Mount Sinai. It is also something of a first fruits festival, celebrating the wheat harvest, not unlike our celebration of Thanksgiving. Citizens of Israel will get June 12 off this year as a paid holiday to celebrate Shavuot.
Way back in the first century there were many Jews who had moved out of Israel and now lived in far-flung places. These diaspora Jews returned to Jerusalem to celebrate Pentecost. Many of these Jews had been born and raised speaking the languages native to the places they now lived. They might know a little Greek, which was the language of business in the Mediterranean. They might have retained a little bit of Hebrew or Aramaic, probably just a few words here or there they heard from their grandparents. But mostly they spoke the languages of the lands where they now lived. These were the languages they knew best.
As the disciples were celebrating Pentecost, there was a sound like the rush of a violent wind. As the disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, they began to speak in other languages. It is important to note that this was not some esoteric spiritual language. These were real, well-established human languages. Empowered by the Spirit, the disciples began to speak in the languages of the diaspora Jews, the now native languages of the Jews from all of these far-flung places. Amazed and astonished, the crowd said, “How can this be? Aren’t these guys all from Galilee? But we hear them speaking to us in our own language about God’s deeds of power!”
Some sneered, of course. Some thought they were drunk on new wine. But Peter stood up and said, “No, no. We aren’t drunk. It is only nine in the morning, for cryin’ out loud. No, this is what the prophet Joel said would happen. The Spirit is being poured out upon all flesh so that God’s sons and daughters would prophecy, so that they would speak God’s Word, so that they would proclaim God’s deeds of power, so that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord would be saved.”
This is what Jesus said would happen. In our gospel reading we hear Jesus promising the disciples that he would send the Spirit. Jesus makes it very clear what the Spirit would do. This Spirit would be an Advocate, or Helper. Jesus describes this Spirit as the Spirit of truth who would guide his people into all the truth. And this Spirit, Jesus says, would accomplish its job by speaking! Look at all the verbs attributed to the Spirit in our gospel reading: The Spirit would testify. The Spirit would speak. The Spirit would declare. The Spirit would preach law and gospel, both convicting of sin and taking Christ’s forgiveness and declaring it to the hearer. The Spirit would glorify Jesus – and would do so by speaking.
What happened on that Pentecost was a spectacular announcement that this promise was now being fulfilled. What happened was that the Holy Spirit promised by Jesus had come, filling the disciples with the words they needed to deliver the goods of the gospel to their neighbors. The violent wind and the tongues of fire were a sign that the church was now born, and its mission, its purpose, its job, was to be the mouthpiece of the Holy Spirit, proclaiming God’s deeds of power through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ to all the world.
There is a bad habit in some corners of Christianity of separating the Holy Spirit from Jesus – who sends it, and sends it for this specific purpose. There is a bad habit among some Christians of unhitching the Spirit from its source in Christ and his Word. When this happens, a spiritual train wreck inevitably follows. When it happens, people go off the rails.
There are far-left Christians claiming that the Spirit is leading them to invent new truths, new truths which conveniently conform to the spirit of the age. There are far-right Christians in the so-called “prophetic utterance movement” who claim the Spirit has given them a revelation about who the next president should be. This untethering of the Spirit from Christ and his Word is at best a distraction from the Spirit’s actual work, and at worst actually leads people away from the gospel, destroying souls. This is all from a spirit, alright – but it isn’t the Holy Spirit!
Though the circumstances were different, Martin Luther dealt with this in his own time from a group of people he called the Enthusiasts. These were people who claimed divine revelation from the Spirit apart from the Word. Not one to mince words, Luther said such pious-sounding delusions were from the devil himself.
Jesus is clear about what the Spirit will do. His Spirit is the Spirit of truth, who guides us into all the truth. The Holy Spirit will never lead us away from the truth of scripture. The Holy Spirit will never lead us away from Christ and his Word. The Holy Spirit’s job is to take what is Christ’s and declare it to us. It is to speak words of law and gospel to us, words that convict and set free, words which declare God’s deeds of power for us through the life, death, and resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Spirit’s job is ultimately to lead us to the truth of what Jesus has done for us to give us forgiveness, life, and salvation. And the Spirit does this in a simple, yet miraculous way: by speaking to us in our own native language, in the language we understand best.
In my previous congregation one of the members was from Germany. An American exchange student from Lewis County, Washington, lived with his family for a year, and he followed her back and married her. He spoke excellent English, but German, of course, was his native language. This was the language his mother used to sing to him. This was the language his father used to teach him to pray. One Pentecost Sunday I decided to surprise him. I practiced and practiced, and when I came to serve him communion, I said to him, “Die leib Christi, given für dich.” He looked up at me with astonishment. It hit him differently in his native tongue! After the service, he kept thanking me over and over. It meant more to him than I ever imagined it would. He heard Christ speaking to him in the language he knew best.
This is the miracle of Pentecost, and it continues to this day. God wants us to hear what he has done for us through his Son, and so, by the Spirit’s power, God speaks to us in our native language. You do not need to learn Aramaic or Hebrew or Greek to hear the gospel. The Spirit continues to work through the church to deliver the goods in the language you understand best.
For those whose native tongue is something other than English, there are congregations right here on Whidbey Island where other languages are spoken. We have been a sponsoring congregation of El Camino de Emaus, the Spanish speaking Lutheran congregation in the Skagit Valley, so that these friends can hear the gospel in the language they understand best. The Spirit is still at work through tongues, through language, through speaking, to declare God’s deeds of power to all people, so that everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord would be saved.
I began by reading part of Peter’s Pentecost sermon from Acts in Norwegian, but today, in God’s great love for you, he speaks to you in the language you know best, in words that are clear. Today the Spirit speaks to you in such a way that the fog lifts and God’s saving word for you comes into sharp focus. Today the Spirit takes what is Christ’s and declares it to you. By his grace, you have his righteousness, his holiness, his relationship with God the Father, his new and eternal life. Through Jesus, you have forgiveness, life, and salvation. It is all yours through faith in him.
Today the Spirit speaks to you in such a way that the good news of what God has done for you in Jesus Christ would land in your ears and in your heart, so that you too would look up in astonishment.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
by Jeffrey Spencer | May 15, 2024 | Sermons
CLICK HERE for a worship video for May 12
Sermon for the Ascension of our Lord (and Mother’s Day) – May 12, 2024
Acts 1:1-11, Ephesians 1:15-23, Luke 24:44-53
Dear friends, grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.
Like many of you, I’m remembering and celebrating the mothers in my life today. I’m remembering my grandmother, who sang in the choir in the congregation I grew up in. After singing she would come back to the pew and pull me into her lap and wrap her arms around me, her hands resting on my torso. Being in church with her hands holding me to herself was such a blessing. In the midst of an often-chaotic childhood, it felt like the safest place in the world. I remember my mother’s hands too. When she died, I had to work through some anger and some painful memories, but at one point my counselor pushed me to start naming the good things I remember about her. And the first thing that popped out of my mouth was the feeling of her hands on my forehead when I was sick as a kid. Nothing made me feel better than her hands on my forehead. I look at my dear wife, the mother of our three sons, and I remember how her hands could calm them down when they were little. My hands would get them riled up with wrestling and roughhousing until, without fail, one of them was crying, and then her hands would almost instantly dry their tears. I notice now how when we leave them behind after visiting them in college, her hands reach up to hold the back of their necks as she lingers in a proud, loving hug. She is blessing them, and no matter how big they get, it just melts their hearts. Even as other women are now starting to enter the picture, there is still no greater blessing than a touch from their mother’s hands.
I don’t think it is a stretch at all to find a connection in the loving, comforting, blessing hands of mothers and the Ascension of our Lord. As St. Luke tells us, after the risen Jesus had spent forty days on the earth with his disciples, he gave them some final words. He opened their minds to understand the scriptures, helping them see it all through a new lens, the lens of his death and resurrection. He gave them their mission, which was to proclaim repentance and the forgiveness of sin in his name and to be witnesses to all that he had done. Then he led them out as far as Bethany, and lifting up his hands, he blessed them.
You might think this is a minor detail, but it isn’t. Those hands mean something. This was the very same posture the priests in the temple used to put God’s blessing on the people at the end of worship. It was the posture used to put God’s mercy, God’s love, God’s blessing on them. Jesus used this very same posture. He lifted up his hands in blessing. His hands, still bearing the wounds of his great sacrifice for them, were over them, covering them, assuring them, blessing them.
These hands of blessing are what made Jesus’ departure an occasion of great joy rather than a sad goodbye. These disciples knew that these hands would remain over them, and so they could go back to their daily lives in great joy. They could go back to Jerusalem, where so much ugliness had happened, without fear. They could spend the rest of their lives worshipping Jesus and serving him. They could spend the rest of their lives blessing God for the blessing that was upon them through those eternally outstretched hands.
And where is Jesus now? Where did he go, exactly? As St. Paul says in our epistle reading, and as we confess in the creed, Jesus is “seated at the right hand of the Father.” The Ascension of our Lord doesn’t mean Jesus shot off into outer space! No, he took his place at God’s right hand in the heavenly places.
This is symbolic language. The right hand represents power. There’s nothing wrong with being left-handed, of course, but about 90% of the human population is right-hand dominant. For most of the human population, then, the right hand is their strongest hand. It is the hand you use to get things done. The right hand is the hand you use to sign your name or crank a wrench or flip a pancake. The right hand is the hand you use to accomplish things. And so, in ancient times the right-hand symbolized power and strength. This symbolism carried over to the seating arrangements in the courts of kings. The highest-ranking official would always be seated to the king’s right as a sign of his power. This communicated to everyone that this was the person the king used to accomplish things. We use the phrase “right hand man” even today.
Jesus’ ascension is his enthronement as the eternal “right hand man” to God the Father. Jesus is taking his place as the one who has the ear of the Heavenly Father, who acts with his authority, who carries out his will. Jesus, as the “right hand man” to God the Father, is the one who will continue to get things done. He will continue to be at work. He will continue to accomplish things. That’s what the right-hand man does, right?
As God’s right-hand man, Jesus continues get things done for God the Father. He continues to lift his hands over us to comfort and to heal and to strengthen and to bless. And he does this through the church, which is our spiritual mother.
There is a long history in Christianity of describing the church as our mother. St. Cyprian, a 3rd century bishop from North Africa famously wrote: “No one can have God for his Father, who does not have the Church for his mother.” That can be jarring for American Protestants steeped in “just me and Jesus” spirituality to hear, but it is not a foreign concept for Lutheran Christians. Martin Luther himself, in no less important a writing than the Large Catechism, calls the church, “the mother that conceives and bears every Christian through God’s Word.”
The church is our mother, and it is through the church that the hands of Jesus continue to be lifted in blessing over us. It is through our spiritual mother, the church, that Jesus continues to get things done for God, often through the literal laying on or lifting up of hands.
I remember receiving the laying on of hands when I was ordained as a pastor. I remember the blessing being put on me through those many hands laid upon me in prayer. I remember returning the favor when Lynne Ogren was ordained here, laying hands on her in prayer. Christ’s blessing is laid upon pastors through the loving, blessing hands of our mother, the church. In the scriptures we read how when Timothy was struggling in ministry, St. Paul encouraged him to remember those hands laid upon him when he was ordained, and to take courage from it, to literally be en-couraged, to be strengthened by the hands of his mother, the church. Those hands are powerful! Christ continues to get things done for God through them!
But it isn’t just for pastors. The newly baptized have hands laid upon them after they emerge from the womb of the baptismal font. Through the laying on of hands and prayer, Christ’s blessing is put upon them as mother church embraces her newborn child.
Next Sunday I will lay hands on the heads of our confirmation students as they publicly affirm their baptism. The hands of the ascended Christ will be lifted over them in blessing. They will literally feel the proud, loving blessing of Christ on their heads through the ministry of their mother, the church.
Every Christian who attends worship has Christ’s hands lifted over them when the absolution, the forgiveness of sins is Christ’s name, is spoken, and again when the benediction is proclaimed. Jesus borrows my hands to do it – but make no mistake: he is only using mine to remind you of his! His hands are lifted over you in blessing as his word is spoken. Through your mother, the church, he is putting his grace, his love, his blessing, on you. In the midst of all the chaos of the world and the chaos of your life, he is putting his hands over and around you, so that you would be held in his safe-keeping.
When we are sick, or hurting, or afraid, our mother, the church, is there with hands that bring comfort and peace. On some occasions hands are literally placed on foreheads as words of blessing are spoken.
Mothers don’t need to be perfect to be powerful conveyors of love and blessing. The same is true of Mother Church. Anyone who has spent any amount of time in the church has likely had times when it has led to disappointment or pain. But even so, flawed as she is, the church is the mother through whom Christ’s hands are upon us. Through her, our ascended Lord continues to comfort and heal. He continues to encourage and assure. He continues to love and bless.
The hands of your ascended Lord continue to be lifted over you today. The ascension is not a sad goodbye, it is a reason to worship him with great joy! It doesn’t mean Jesus has left us, it means he has taken his place at God’s right hand, where he continues to bestow his blessing. Through your spiritual mother the church he holds you close, so that you would know the power of his great love for you, today and forever.
Thanks be to God. Amen.
Rev. Jeffrey R. Spencer
Oak Harbor Lutheran Church
