The Gift of a Child - Sermon for Christmas Eve, A+D 2022

Christmas Eve 2022
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, South Dakota
The Gift of a Child

    Quite a big fuss over one little baby.  One solitary infant was born, a little over 2,000 years ago, in a small village in Roman-occupied Israel.  And we still can’t stop talking, and singing, and gifting, and all too often over-indulging in our celebrations about this birth. 

    Every baby is always a big deal, at least for the mother, whose body bears the infant for nine months, feeding and protecting and undergoing tremendous changes, an experience that concludes, by God’s grace, with one of the most frightening, intense, and yet joyful experiences of human life.  It’s a big deal for the mother, and in our better moments as a species, it is an equally big deal for the father, even though less physically so.  And for the grandparents, and any brothers or sisters who have preceded the newborn.  This describes how things should be.  The miracle of a newborn should always be momentous, should always be celebrated, should always be seen as a blessing from above.  

    The birth of a baby is an even bigger deal in recent years, within the Christian Church at least, because it’s so rare.  We’ve kinda stopped having babies.  Just one… or two, maybe.  The numerical decline of the Christian Church in America and the world can be connected to many factors.  False teaching.  Bad preaching.  The acceptance of worldly values within the Body of Christ.  But no single factor is as important as the reality that Christian couples stopped having babies. 

   The Gospel of Jesus Christ, for all we do to corrupt it, still has remarkable power, most especially in the ears and on the hearts of children.  And Christians who drift away from the Church are most likely to return when they have a baby.  Which is a feature, not a bug.  Having lots of babies is not the key to salvation.  There are many reasons that some couples only have one, or no children at all.  Those who want more, or just one child, but cannot, bear a special burden.  But we should not deny or forget that God does use the miracle of children to remind adults what is truly important, truly valuable, as well as to create more Christians. 

   But if Christians don’t have children?  The negative effect on the number of Christians when Christian families bear fewer babies is pretty simple math.  I am the fifth of five children.  But Shelee and I only had two.  This is a common pattern.  The trend over the last century plus has been for smaller and smaller families.  There are numerous factors for this decline; certainly, the capacity to choose when and how many babies to have is central.  Choosing to plan our families, and so, we think, to exert positive control over our futures, to have the “right number” of children at the “right time,” is entirely normal in today’s culture, including in the Church.  But this shift, from the baby being a gift that comes when the Lord wills, to the baby being a choice, is significant. 

   Things we receive as gifts are properly cherished, because of the bonds of love shared with the giver of the gift.  We still teach our children to smile and express thanks to that slightly weird aunt who gives us wool socks for Christmas.  She’s family, and she’s given a gift, so we are thankful, or else.  And perhaps later, when it’s 25 below zero and we have to shovel the driveway, or the power goes out and the floors are cold, we discover Auntie isn’t so crazy after all. 

   But, our attitude toward a thing we choose is different.  Chosen things can be kept, or thrown away, depending on our mood.  This difference is most frightfully potent when children are understood to be a choice, not a gift.   

   Of course, it is not just birth control and family planning that causes there to be fewer babies in America.  This shift, from a man and woman seeing their children as gifts that come when God says so, to seeing them as choices that we autonomous people get to choose to have, or not, this shift also has a darker side.  A very dark side.  In fact, “choice” has become a terrible euphemism, that is, the lie that says it is good to choose to end one life in order to supposedly make another life better. 

   If our nation or the human race can be said to have a soul, “pro-choice” has certainly proven to be a cancer on that soul.  At the very least there is a grievous wound on the soul of every implicated person, a wound made worse because of the lie that it is “no big deal.”  And, as citizens of a nation which has made the choices we’ve made, we are all to some degree implicated.  Chattel slavery may be the original sin of the American Republic, but at least everyone today agrees it was horrible.  Our treatment of the unborn is our day’s terrible collective sin, guilt which is so difficult to wash away, because we work so hard to hide, or deny, or minimize it.       

    Collectively as a nation, and perhaps individually too, we stopped seeing babies as gifts from God.  But that doesn’t change reality.  Every child, including you, is a gift from God.  (Had you forgotten that once upon a time you were conceived and born?)  You are a gift, from God, to your family, and to yourself.  You are not a random accident, no, you exist, along with all the other babies ever conceived, by God’s gracious will.  The Lord Almighty declares that you, and all the other babies, are gifts.  So that’s what you are.

   Because we forget that human life is a gift, because we seek to take control of our lives, no matter the consequences for others, because we so easily believe Satan’s lie that we are insignificant, for all these reasons, God acted, and the Virgin Mary conceived and gave birth to a Baby.  For all we’ve done to treat babies as choices and burdens, even though every one of us started out as a baby, for all we’ve done to devalue life, God’s Son took on human flesh, and came to live among us.   

   Our attitudes toward babies are not new.  We have magnified the error, for sure, with technology, chemicals and cultural callousness.  The attitude of devaluing human life among us is worse than ever, perhaps.  But it’s not categorically different than it has always been.  God creates each one of us.  He calls each of us to child-like faith, that is, to honest and unembarrassed dependence on Him.  But we by nature do not want Godly dependence.  We want to control, to choose our own path, including choosing if and when to have children. 

   We are fools.  Our self-centered ignorance is shameful.  But Jesus came to replace our foolishness with God’s eternal wisdom.  This Baby was born to take away your shame, and mine.  God’s eternal and glorious Son knows the value of each child, so valuable that He willingly joined us.  He was born into our broken world, in order to restore us, and the world. 

  For us, for you, the Love of God came down at Christmas.  Angels sang and Shepherds worshiped. 
Wise Men brought prophetic gifts, as Joseph and Mary marveled.  God’s love came down at Christmas, suffering from His first day until the last, pouring out God’s love, pouring out His own lifeblood, 33 years later.  Jesus chose to die, in order that you and I could be forgiven all our sins, including our sins of not cherishing every human life.  Jesus, the perfect Son of God, has come, to rescue us orphan sinners, and make us into children of His Heavenly Father. 

   Jesus is God’s gift to you, tonight, and every day and night, God’s gift of correction, pardon and restoration.  Whatever our errors of thanklessness, whatever our sins of lovelessness, in the Babe of Bethlehem, there is forgiveness and new life, for everyone.  So we hug our babies, and each other, and we sing, Joy to the World, the Lord is Come!  

We greet Thee Jesus at Thy birth, which fills the world with joy and mirth,

for you came down to join the fight, to bear our sins and make us right! 

Merry Christmas, and joy and peace be yours, in Jesus, tonight, and forever and ever, Amen.    

Waiting, Hoping and Expecting - A Sermon for the 4th Sunday of Advent

Fourth Sunday in Advent
December 18^th, Year of Our + Lord 2022
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, SD
Waiting, Hoping and Expecting 
Matthew 1:18-25, Psalm 130, Isaiah 7:10-17

I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His Word I hope.  

   There’s an odd thing in Spanish having to do with waiting and hoping and expecting.  They are all the same word in Spanish.  “Esperar” means to hope, and to wait, and to expect.  Of course, just like English, Spanish has other ways of expressing these concepts.  But the most common, basic way is to use the same verb for all three: waiting, hoping and expecting, all “esperar”.  Like we do in English with a bunch of other expressions, knowing which sense applies depends on context, and construction of the sentence.     

    Are waiting, hoping and expecting really the same thing?  It depends on the object, the future action, thing or event upon which our mind is set.  

    My desire, my hope that Santa Claus will bring me an official Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas is quite different than me standing on the side of the street, waiting as I see my school bus rounding the curve a quarter mile up the road, which is again different than my mother expecting that I will indeed clean my room, because she knows I want to go out to play.   

    Waiting, hoping and expecting.  Our psalmist this morning employs all these concepts.  Our degree of peace and confidence while we wait, hope or expect depends on the object. In our Psalm and generally in the Church, the object of our waiting, hoping or expecting is the Lord God Almighty.  As we wait, hope or expect the Lord and His promises, our peace and confidence depend upon what we believe about Him. 

    King Ahaz struggles with faithfully waiting, hoping and expecting.  Ruling over half the divided Kingdom of Israel 700 years before the birth of Christ, Ahaz is an unfaithful king of an unfaithful people, who mixed worshiping idols with partially following the word of Moses.  Ahaz rules over Judah, the largest tribe of Israel, from the capital city, Jerusalem.  The king and Judah are waiting for an attack from the rest of the tribes of Israel, now allied with a pagan neighbor against their brothers.  It’s a mess. But the Lord sends the prophet Isaiah with a word of promise, of hope.  God invites Ahaz to ask for a sign, so that the Lord can convince Ahaz to trust. 

   But Ahaz, out of unbelief or fear or who knows why, refuses.  He does not expect that the Lord will do good things for him, perhaps because he knows how unfaithful he and Judah have become.  God through Isaiah invites Ahaz to ask for a sign, as high as heaven or as deep as Sheol, or hell.  Whatever sign you’d like, to be convinced of the Lord’s protection, go ahead.  But Ahaz refuses:  "I will not ask, and I will not put the Lord to the test."

    Bad move, for Ahaz, for Judah and for Israel.  Foolish, and tragically unnecessary.  Because the Lord has promised good to His people.  But if we reject His promises and refuse to ask Him for good things, when He invites us, well, then eventually the Lord will comply with our wishes, and instead give us what we deserve.  For Ahaz and Judah, that meant Assyria.  The enemies at Jerusalem’s gate that day when Isaiah went out to find Ahaz were bad enough, but they were not Assyria.  Assyria was the superpower of that day, a mighty empire that nobody could resist.  Because Ahaz refused to ask for help, the Lord would use them to punish God’s people.         

    And yet, the Lord did not entirely abandon His divided, unfaithful people, Israel.  He would not.  He could not, for the Lord had staked His Name on them.  He had promised to be their husband, their shepherd, their loving God, forever.  And so, along with the warning that Assyria would come and conquer Israel, God also doubled down on His promises, in the hope that hardened hearts would believe and wait in confident expectation for the Lord’s deliverance. 

    Essentially, the Lord said this:  “So King Ahaz, you don’t want a sign?  Very well, have it your way.  But I will still give a sign, the biggest and best sign yet.”

     The Lord had done many amazing things for Israel through the centuries, including plagues of rescue in Egypt, parting the sea to protect them from Pharaoh’s chariots, manna from heaven, and the great kings David and Solomon.  But now there was something even more amazing to look forward to, to wait for. “Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.” 

 I wait for the Lord, my soul waits, and in His Word I hope. 

    What is harder to believe, that a virgin girl would conceive and bear a son, or that this child would be Immanuel, which means “God with us”? 

    Who would expect a virgin birth?  For all our 21^st century surrogate mothers, petri dishes for in vitro fertilization, and whatever other unnatural ways we modify the natural act of conceiving a child, still, one thing remains the same:  a seed from a man needs to implant in the egg from a woman.  That’s where babies come from.

   Unless God says otherwise.  And in this one instance, He has said exactly that.  Remember, God is the all-powerful Creator.  After forming our first parents, Adam from the dust and Eve from Adam’s side, God has graciously chosen to involve us in the creation of new souls – through procreation, that is a man and a woman conceiving and bearing children.  But the God who formed Adam from the mud and breathed life into him could do it that way again, or He could do it a different way.   

    Immanuel, God with us, is the virgin born Son of Mary, who is also the eternal Son of God.  I think the greater miracle is that God would even want to be with us.  You know how people are.  King Ahaz is our bad example today, but unfaithful sinners are everywhere.  You know how you are, how far short of God’s expectations you fall.  So do I.  So, why would God want to be with you and me, so much so that God would become a human being and be born?   

   Because He loves us.  God is love, and the greatest sign yet of His love for us sinful creatures, who have ruined His good creation, was revealed in the Son that Joseph cared for, even though Joseph was not the Child’s father.  This was the highest sign so far: God being truly with us.  Immanuel, the Son of God becoming our in-the-flesh brother, is the sign as high as heaven, come down to earth and joining us in our struggle.  The King of heaven slept in a feed trough and accepted the care of a newlywed couple who clearly could not have known what they were getting into. 

    We might say that the virgin birth of Jesus is the sign as high as heaven.  But what then is the sign as deep as hell, as deep as Sheol? 

    Wait for it.  Wait for the final sign, with hope.  No matter what Mary expected for her newborn baby, what happened 33 years later was also foretold in His Name, His given Name, which was Yeshua, Joshua, or Jesus.  A very common name among Israelites.  I wonder if they always remembered that Joshua or Jesus means “the Lord saves,” “the Lord is salvation?”  And so, to fulfill His Name, to save sinners, to assault the gates of Hell and set all its sin-prisoners free, the final and greater sign would be the lifting up of Immanuel, God with us to fight and die, and win forgiveness for all. 

    This too, was the expectation of the Psalmist:  I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in his word I hope;  my soul waits for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning, more than watchmen for the morning.  O Israel, hope in the LORD!  For with the LORD there is steadfast love, and with him is plentiful redemption.  And he will redeem Israel from all his iniquities, from all his sinful rebellion.  If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? ⁴ But with you there is forgiveness, that you may be feared. And hoped for.  And loved. 

    Waiting, hoping, expecting.  In our day to day lives, these are very different activities.  But with Immanuel, God with us, Jesus Christ, they are the same.  The Child whose father is God the Father has come, and has finished His course.  His mission of gaining forgiveness is finished, once and for all.  All that remains is to daily receive His love, and to share His love, to play our small part in the extension of His kingdom, and then to wait.  This is the obedience of faith, the spontaneous action of the heart that is at rest, because all its hopes and expectations have been fulfilled, in Jesus, Immanuel, God with us.    

   In perfect hope, we expect each day that Immanuel will return soon, to make the promised future joy
of heaven a present reality.  He is your hope.  Whether today is full of joy, or whether the struggles sin causes in every life are weighing you down, you can and should expect every good thing from the Lord.  Put Him to the test.   Bring your sins and sorrows to Jesus, He wants to take them from you and give you His victory.  Wait for Him with great expectations, and rejoice, because God has loved you perfectly, and will bring you through to be with Him.  God is with you, Jesus, Immanuel, your sure and certain hope, today, and forever and ever, Amen. 

Going Out to See the Kingdom - Sermon for the 3rd Sunday in Advent - December 11, A+D 2022

Third Sunday in Advent
December 11^th, Year of Our + Lord 2022
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, SD
Seeing the Kingdom - Matthew 11:2-15

   Jesus asked the crowds concerning John the Baptist: “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? 

   What do you go out to see? 

   It is part of human nature to want to go out and see things, to invest in a journey, short or long, in order to see and marvel at, and perhaps understand, some new, impressive or strange thing.  Moses saw a bush burning without being consumed by the flames, and he had to go over and see it up close.  The Queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s great wisdom and came to Jerusalem to sit at his feet.  The magi saw a star rise in the east, and understanding it be a sign that a new king was born for the Jews, they crossed field and fountain, moor and mountain, coming to see and worship the Child.  The Athenians would head to the town square to hear and debate whatever new idea came along, even the strange preaching of a guy name Paul. 

   We’re still doing it.  Pilgrims come from all over the U.S. and around the world to see four presidents carved in granite, and a Sioux chief emerging from a mountain.  Wall Drug made itself a tourist mecca with free ice water and various claims of housing the “world’s biggest” of this thing or that:  biggest drug store, biggest jackalope collection, etc.  Four different Midwestern towns make narrowly shaded claims to having the world’s largest ball of twine.  And of course, Mitchell, South Dakota boasts of a palace made of corn.  People go out to see all these things. 

   There’s something refreshing about going out to see something new or interesting, to join the crowd and be present for, well, for whatever.  A great band, a new chef.  We are of course also enticed, today more than ever, to stay home and have all the new and strange things piped into our personal screens, tempted to stay home and see.  I think it’s better to go out, to be in the sunshine and fresh air, to mingle with other people, and experience things together, for real.  The flickering blue-light images that have such a hold on our eyeballs are not reality, of course. 

    Those flickering images may or may not be lying to us; probably a lot of the time they are.  But in the end there is nothing there, simply moving lights on a screen, not the actual thing.  A giant ball of twine may be kind of corny thing to go see, but even if they don’t let you touch it, (we need to preserve history, after all), you will certainly be able to smell it, walk around it, and be impressed that it is actually taller than you.  There is something essentially human about smelling, touching and tasting real things, of experiencing reality, in the flesh.    

    There is also an implied warning in Jesus’ rhetorical questions.  “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind?”  Maybe Jesus is talking about nature watching.  Or perhaps more likely, a shaken reed is His way of referring to a “Yes man,” a talking head whose convictions and message change with the times, and the preferences of the crowds.  I believe we call such manipulators “gurus,” “influencers,” or just “political hacks.”  Not worthy of your time. 

    “What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.”  Most kings are worthy of derision, but Jesus is doing more than generally condemning elites who live high off the taxes of the people.  This was likely a shot at Herod, who lived in luxury, while he kept John the Baptizer in prison for angering his wife.  Who had been his brother’s wife, until Herod ran off with her.  

    “ What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, “‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you.”  John was worth the pilgrimage out to the wilderness, because he was a truthful preacher, who would prepare the way of the Christ, the Messiah of Israel, who was coming to punish the wicked, save His people and sit on King David’s throne, forever. 

    I’m all for Christians being out and about, seeing things.  But we citizens of the kingdom of heaven need to be wise, for not everything we might go to see is of equal value.  Much of it is pointless, or flatly evil.  As our hymn declared, angry waves are always billowing around the ark of the church, the church’s enemies are always preparing fiery darts to hurl at her.  So, if you leave the ark and enter the world, as you must from time to time in this life, you should go forewarned.  

     Jesus’ teaching today is a strange mix of blessing and foreboding, of joy in the miraculous works that Jesus did, and warnings against the violence of men who will not idly stand by as John and Jesus usher in a new kingdom.  The world, and especially the powerful of the world, will not stand by passively as the ministry of Jesus is proclaimed and His gifts are delivered.  They must try to stop them, because Jesus and His gifts are so much greater, so much better, so much more valuable than the distractions and attractions they and the world have to offer.  I may have been formerly impressed with the wonders of the world, or the righteousness of the Pharisees.  But when my eyes are opened to see Jesus and His cosmic, bloody, sinner-saving work, done to redeem me, a lost and condemned creature, well,  - then what attraction can the world hold for me? -

    So, violent, power seeking men and women do all they can to distract people, to keep us from gathering and seeing and receiving the fruit of what Jesus has done.  Their livelihood and their power depend on keeping people from truly discovering Jesus.    

    The season of Advent is all about Jesus coming.  In part we look back to the promises of the Christ in the Old Testament and their fulfillment in Jesus’ birth of the Virgin Mary.  In part we look forward to His return in glory, when every eye shall see and know that His message and work were true, some for their eternal joy, and others for their eternal sorrow.  And during Advent we also remember that Jesus, although He has ascended to God’s right hand on high, still comes to us, through the telling of His story, that sharper than a two-edged sword, life-giving message of the New Thing Jesus did, to open the kingdom of heaven to all believers. 

    It seems that people went out to see John the Baptizer in the wilderness for a variety of different reasons.  Some earnest souls knew their sin and sought salvation.  Some headed out to spy, fearing a rival preacher.  And some probably came looking for a freak show, to gawk and laugh at a wild-eyed weirdo, eating locusts and wearing animal skins.  Whatever their reasons, John didn’t shake in the wind, but proclaimed the same truth to all: repent of your sinful ways, for the Messiah, the Savior, is in your midst and will soon reveal Himself.  And He is going to clean house, once and for all. 

 

   John’s focus on the wrath the Christ would bring may be what seems to have left him confused.  When in prison he hears of all the healings and blessings Jesus was delivering, John sent a message to Jesus:  “Are you the Christ,” John asked, “or are we to look for another?”  Perhaps someone who will punish the wicked, right now.

    Jesus quotes Isaiah to help John and his disciples remember this excellent truth about the Christ:  “the blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.  And blessed is the one who is not offended by me.”  Jesus reminds John, and us, that the prophets spoke of both the destruction of the wicked and the rescue of the downtrodden.  The Christ came to do both, and we do well to marvel and celebrate the rescue part. 

   And why would anyone be offended by this Christ?  Certainly those who love their sin do not want to be rebuked.  But even more, Jesus would put on a show that made John’s camel hair and fiery message seem mild.  Jesus preached against wickedness, for sure.  But then instead of immediately destroying the wicked, instead of simply cleaning house and casting all His enemies into the fire, Jesus brought that fire down upon Himself, on the Cross.  For some the Cross is offensive, because by it Jesus mocks all human attempts to fix ourselves.  The Cross offends others because it seems so foolish, wasteful.  Others because it contradicts what they want to believe about the nature of love.  How could a loving God punish His Son for the transgressions of others?  Such thinking ignores the seriousness of sin, and fails to grasp the nature and scope of God’s love. 

   God’s love is not merely hazy positive emotions, but rather a conscious will to rescue enemies and create a whole new relationship between God and man.  Jesus declares no one greater than John the Baptist had ever been born.  He was the very best that humanity had to offer.  And yet, the kingdom of heaven was to be so much better that the least soul in the new kingdom would be greater than John of the old kingdom.  Every citizen of God’s New Testament Kingdom is greater because every member has been forgiven, restored and connected to Christ Jesus.  And He is Lord of all.  

   Whether you go out to see things, or stay home to watch in private, may the Holy
Spirit make you wise unto salvation, so that you make every effort to come out and see Jesus and His new thing, in the places He promises to be present to bless you.  See Him through your ears, attuned to the Holy Spirit’s proclamation.  Taste and see that the Lord is good, here at His altar.  Have your eyes opened and astounded by the Love of God, which came down to earth at Christmas time, and is delivered to you still today, in the Name of Jesus, Amen.   

 

Hope and Encouragement - Sermon for the 2nd Sunday in Advent

2^nd Sunday of Advent
December 4^th, Year of Our + Lord 2022
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, SD
Hope and Encouragement 
Rom. 15:4-13, Matt. 3:1-12, Is. 11:1-10

 For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope…¹³ May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.    

   At first blush, it seems like John the Baptizer didn’t get the memo about encouragement. 

    Encouragement and hope.  Sounds good.  Paul begins and ends our passage from his letter to the Romans with hope, not despair.  With the prayer that we be encouraged, not discouraged.

    Where do you find hope?  What encourages you?  Or are you not feeling very hopeful or encouraged these days? 

    Most of our joy stems from being in harmony with family and friends.  And, our greatest sorrows and angst stem from conflict with those we should be closest to.  This has always been so.  Indeed, between the first and last sentences of our Epistle reading this morning, harmony is exactly what Paul talks about.

   May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, ⁶ that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁷ Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.  Paul isn’t just speaking of getting along with parents or your siblings, or even with your countrymen.  He exhorts the Roman Christians to fulfill who they are in Christ and achieve harmony between nations, between Jew and non-Jew, between all the nations, so that all peoples be unified in praise of God, for sending the root of Jesse, Christ Jesus, the Lord of all.    

    Such harmony is hard to imagine today.  Between the nations  of the world, division and rivalry predominate, and today the possibility of wide ranging war looms.  Within these United States of America, we are fractured.  Perhaps it’s because we lack one clear agreed upon external enemy to unify us.   Or perhaps it’s due to the decline of the Christian Church and the family as institutions.   Whatever the causes, people today more and more seek identity and security in new tribes. 

    The problem is, whether they are political movements, social movements, or just crowds following charismatic leaders, these new tribes spend most of their time hating each other.  No one seems to have a positive agenda.  But it is an everyday event to hear of a mob or an tribal leader denounce a rival American tribe in much harsher terms than they will speak of an objective international enemy.  Borrowing the tone of the Baptizer, political and social rivals from all points on the spectrum label each other “broods of vipers.”  They use different words, of course.  Racist.  Traitor.  Brain-washed.  Sub-human.  “Them.”  Enemies we’d like to see burned by unquenchable fire, despite the fact they are fellow citizens, neighbors.   

    Such things ought not be, but they are.  The divided, bitter state of affairs in America today mocks the harmony prophesied by Isaiah, that the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them. 

Sounds like a pipe dream, doesn’t it?

   We are not wrong to worry about the fractured state of affairs in our world and in our nation.  Or about whatever struggles we face in our communities, our neighborhoods and our families.  We may feel powerless to improve anything.  The promises of Scripture seem to be defeated by the realities of life in this world.  But do not give up hope.  When our hope fades, we are not called to despair, but to discover true and lasting hope.  We are called to be instructed by Scripture, to dig deeper into the Word of God, and find the hope that is Christ for us.  Through His wisdom and encouragement, we will learn the right way to interpret and live in this troubled world. 

   As we struggle with the disconnect between the hope promised in the Bible and the discord and hopelessness we see all around us, the first thing to understand is where the promised harmony that Paul and Isaiah speak of is to be found.  Spoiler alert, it’s not out there in the world. 

    The harmony and unity that Paul is calling the Romans to fulfill, even between various tribes and ethnic groups, refers to peace and harmony between the people from those groups who have become part of Jesus’ tribe, the New Israel, the Christian Church.  All loyalties one might have held prior to being baptized are superseded by faith in and loyalty to the One who destroyed every wall of separation by His death on a Roman cross. 

   Am I black, brown, white or of mixed race?  O.k., but in Christ all are brothers and sisters.  Am I German or American or Japanese or Russian?  That’s fine, but first and last, I am a Christian, happily bound by the Word of the One who bears scars for me.  Am I a man, a woman, am I rich or poor, beautiful or plain?  Unimportant, for God the Father has called me and all of us to be His beloved children, by the power of His Spirit, who brought us to believe in Jesus, His Son. 

   Not all of the differences that can divide us are the result of sin.  God makes some men, some women, some tall, some short, all with differing talents.  And yet Christ joins us together in one body. 

   Still, many worldly differences, like nationality, economic level, or ethnicity, are by-products of the divisive sin that remains in all of us.  And any of these minor characteristics, whether good or bad in and of themselves, become a problem if they gain more importance than the fundamental characteristic of every member of Christ’s Body the Church. 

    This is to say, nothing comes before being a repentant sinner who clings to Jesus and His forgiving love.  And so Paul says, “welcome each other as Christ has welcomed you.” How did Christ welcome you?  By washing you clean of all your sin, and declaring you a beloved child of His Heavenly Father.  So we also see and treat our brothers and sisters in Christ.          

    John the Baptizer preached fierce law… for the sake of delivering forgiving love.  He was, after all, preparing the way of Jesus, who would submit to the fiercest law, to win forgiveness for all. 

    And so we who have been rescued by the Cross and Resurrection are called to speak the truth in love with each other, to bear each other’s burdens and faults, to be long suffering for the sake of unity.  Also, we should never just allow a brother or sister to wander off into sin.  Sometimes brotherly love requires mutual correction.  Harmony in the Church is not easy.  It cost Jesus’ His life’s blood.  But it is possible, because the lifeblood of Jesus is ours.  His Word of Hope has fractured our stony hearts and given us new hearts, hearts made whole in order to love unselfishly.  In His Supper He comes to us hidden under the bread and wine, truly feeding us with Himself, for forgiveness, and binding us together, each one to the other, a tangible local manifestation of unity and love.  

   The harmony Paul speaks of requires ongoing work within each congregation.  Isaiah encourages us with the goal, the perfect harmony that we will enjoy in the new creation, in the age to come, where wolf and lamb lie down together in peace. 

    But what about the world?  Shall we turn inward, abandon the world to hell and make ourselves into a congregational island, a 21^st century monastery?  No, not unless they force us.  We are, in an important sense, left here by Christ for the sake of the world.  There is no hope for lasting peace in the world, but there is hope for peace for every sinner.  And Christians who love and serve their neighbors are chief among the ways that the Holy Spirit builds the bridges that enable us to share God’s peace with others.  And, as the world, or your corner of the world, gets populated with more peace-filled Christians, it does become a better place, right now, one hopeful soul at a time.  That’s not heaven, but it is a very good thing.    

    So what do we do, exactly?  Well, try this.  Don’t think about fixing what’s wrong, far away.  It’s hard not to worry and focus on bad things, way over there, because these doom bricks we call smart phones grab our eyeballs and frighten us with the most outlandish or ominous news.  We could all consume less media.  Exchange some of the time you spend online with reading or listening to God’s Word.  And with loving your neighbor.  Your actual, right next to you neighbor.  Your family could always use more love and attention, and maybe a good example and a little discipline.  And that crank who lives next door or down the lane, or that crazy lady across the street, or that weird kid in science class.  They could stand to see a friendly smile, I’m sure of it.  Maybe you can start with just saying hello, or a small gesture of neighborly help.    

    That’s hard, I know.  More importantly, Jesus knows how hard it is, because He loved all His neighbors, perfectly, even as they rejected Him.  In His resurrected power, you can love a little, too.  Pray first.  Ask the Lord to soften your heart, and show you how.  If everybody makes their corner of the world a bit better, wow, that would really be something.  Something that the Spirit could use, to give the hope of eternal life to more and more sinners, sinners like you and me. 

     So, to end where we began, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.  Hope is yours, in Christ Jesus, the little child, who came at Christmas, to grow into your crucified and risen Savior.  He forgives you, loves you, and goes with you every day, until the day He leads you home.  Be encouraged, and live in His hope, Amen.