Feed, Pray, Walk, and Don’t Forget to Take LASSIE With You - Sermon for October 19, 2025

Lutheran Women in Mission Sunday, 2025
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Feed, Pray, Walk, and Don’t Forget to Take LASSIE With You
Isaiah 62:1-7, Romans 10:11-17, and Luke 24:44-53.  

Audio of the Sermon available HERE.

   God has ascended with a shout, Christ Jesus, your Savior, is seated at God the Father’s right hand, and He rules over all things, for you. 

   Today we celebrate the Lutheran Women’s Missionary League.  The League has chosen the Ascension from Luke as the Gospel text.  This gives us a wonderful opportunity to consider the Mission of God, how God grows His Church, and what part each of us plays in His Mission.  We rejoice in God’s Mission, and we participate in God’s Mission, because we are winners.  In Christ, we have the victory over sin, death and the devil, we know our future, we have won. 

   This is great opportunity, as we recognize and celebrate the work of those Ladies in Purple, to be reminded of this Life in Christ, of God’s ongoing mission, and our roles within in it. 

   And, we have acronyms!  FPW and LASSIE.  Feed, Pray, and Walk, and don’t forget to take LASSIE with you on your Walk. 

   It was time for the Mission to go out.  Christ, just before  at His Ascension, opened the Apostles’ minds to understand the Scriptures, which, He reminds us, is all about Jesus, from Genesis to Revelation. 

   Jesus then said to the Eleven, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, ⁴⁷ and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem. 

   Next, Jesus says:  ⁴⁸ You are witnesses of these things…(they have been with Jesus since His Baptism, they have seen His miracles, heard His teaching. They saw Him suffer, and die, and rise again.  They are eyewitnesses to it all.)  ⁴⁹ And behold, I am sending the promise of my Father upon you. (that is, the Holy Spirit)   But stay in the city until you are clothed with power from on high.” (In ten days, at the feast of Pentecost).

  We are part of the Apostolic Church that grew from those 11 Apostles and about 120 believers.  This Apostolic Church has spread to very corner of the world, converting billions of sinners.  This Mission has even reached us here in South Dakota.   

    From the whole Bible, and especially from our Romans 10 reading this morning, we know that Christ has instituted a Public Ministry, and made it central to His plan, men chosen from among the believers to public spokesman of God’s Word, to distribute His gifts.  The Public Ministry is like the hub of the wheel of God’s Mission.  Many more work in God’s Mission, but it is especially through public proclamation that God saves the hearers, and also prepares them to tell the reason for the hope that they have, to proclaim the excellencies of Him who called them out of darkness and into His marvelous light. 

   But of course, it is not just the pastors who work in Mission, it’s not just the LWML.  Every Christian has a role to play in this ongoing work.   

   Now, God’s Mission will be done, with or without us, He will save every soul He has elected.  Faith,  the trust of the heart of the new creature created by God through the Water and the Word, faith sees playing our part in God’s Mission as pure joy, as a great privilege.  But, we have to beware, because of the sinner who remains in each of us.  For the sinner is always looking to avoid doing what God calls us to, always looking for excuses to avoid God’s will.   

   We are not saved by playing our part in God’s Mission, no we are saved by grace, through faith in Christ Jesus and His sacrifice to win our forgiveness.  Christ is our salvation.  But, to refuse to do the good works God sets in front of us is sin.  And sin is corrosive to our faith.  Unchecked, if our sins are not washed away, they can weaken and eventually kill our faith.   

   Outreach or Evangelism is great, but it is also hard, it comes with its own challenges.  Anyone who comes to you with a big smile and tells you evangelism is easy is either ignorant, or simply not telling the truth.  Eventually, telling others about Jesus will lead to rejection.  If you are active in outreach, you will draw Satan’s attacks, for he hates for Christ’s Word to go out, and wants to stop it.  And, just as repentance and forgiveness are the message of Christ’s Mission, evangelism also requires daily repentance, for our failures, for our errors, and it needs daily forgiveness, God’s daily rescue.  Repentance and Forgiveness are the beating heart of our salvation, and they are also the beating heart of outreach, mission, evangelism. 

   This LWML Sunday has great timing for me, because it falls between two weekends of me teaching an Evangelism Workshop in Deadwood, with members from Grace Lutheran and Blessed Emmanuel Lutheran in Sturgis.  And as I mentioned, we have some acronyms to help the teaching:  FPW and LASSIE.  Feed, Pray, and Walk, and don’t forget to take LASSIE with you on your walk.  

 

The F in FPW is for Feed.  Every Christian needs to feed their faith, for their own salvation.  This is why Paul said, “let the Word of Christ dwell in your richly.”  Our faith lives from God’s Word, we need to feed it to endure.   

   Also, every Christian has a role to play in mission.  Not everyone is an Apostle, or a pastor or missionary.  But all of us, within our vocations, in our various relationships with people, have a role to play.  And feeding prepares us for this work.   

   You see, witnessing takes some preparation; consider the Eleven.  They had spent three years living and traveling with God’s Son.  They heard Him teach, they saw His miracles, they saw His suffering, death and resurrection.  Just before He ascended, Jesus opened their minds to understand the Scripture.  So they were finished, they had graduated from having to grow in the Word, right?  No, not at all.  The Apostles spent the rest of the their lives studying, so they could proclaim, and then studying and meditating more, to proclaim some more.  Paul, in one of his letters, late in his missionary career, asks for some scrolls to be brought to him.  What was on those scrolls?  I’m pretty sure it was God’s Word.  To the very end of his work, Paul continued to feed and grow his faith.   

   Think about it this way:  Should the Church send out poorly informed witnesses? Should we send a pastor to be a missionary in Africa who really doesn’t know the Bible well?  Should we send out Christian who hasn’t learned much about the faith to try to tell others about Jesus and His Gospel? 

   Our knowledge of Christ’s teaching is never perfect, not for any of us.  But we can be growing by feeding our faith, and this is what’s important for our contribution to God’s Mission.   

   So, step one in playing your part in God’s Mission is feed.  Be fed.  On Sundays, through Scripture, Preaching, the Lord’s Supper, and as you read your Bible through the week. 

   Hearing or reading more of God’s Word strengthens your faith, it increases love and hope, it makes you a better person, it is good for you, good for your family. 

    Also, feeding your faith will give you true and useful things to say, should someone ask you about your faith, or about God and His salvation.  And don’t forget, feeding your faith is not just an academic thing, we are not merely gaining more information.  God’s Word is a sharp, two-edged sword, it is living and active.  God’s Word changes you, transforms your mind, creates a new heart in you.  God grant us Wisdom to feed richly on His Word.   

The P in FPW is for Pray:  We have an amazing verse in our Isaiah 62 reading.  After many tremendous promises, describing the final victory of God’s people, the LORD through Isaiah says this: On your walls, O Jerusalem, I have set watchmen; all the day and all the night they shall never be silent.

   Not silent about what?  Proclaiming God’s truth and praise?  Sure.  But also prayer.  For Isaiah continues: you who put the Lord in remembrance, (that is, you who pray, which is all God’s people) take no rest, and give Him no rest, until He establishes Jerusalem, and makes her a praise in the earth.

   Put the Lord in remembrance!  What, is God forgetful?  No.  But He wants us to remind Him of His promises.  Can we dare be so bold, say such things? Well, yes! He just told us to:  Give Him no rest, wear Him out, hold God to His promises. 

   It’s Like the Widow and the Unjust Judge in Jesus’ parable (Luke 18) 

Then [Jesus] spoke a parable to them, that men always ought to pray and not lose heart, ² saying: “There was in a certain city a judge who did not fear God nor regard man. ³ Now there was a widow in that city; and she came to him, saying, ‘Get justice for me from my adversary.’ ⁴ And he would not for a while; but afterward he said within himself, ‘Though I do not fear God nor regard man, ⁵ yet because this widow troubles me I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me.’ ” ⁶ Then the Lord said, “Hear what the unjust judge said. ⁷ And shall God not avenge His own elect who cry out day and night to Him, though He bears long with them? 

   Our ultimate adversary is Satan, and He has been defeated, completely, by Jesus, our Judge.  The timing of the Lord’s deliverance is unknown, but God has promised, and He will deliver.  So yes, pray to the Lord, pester Him, hold Him to His promises, give Him no rest, until He fulfills His promises, until He establishes Jerusalem, the Church, as a praise in the earth.  God, as the perfect loving Father, wants His children to pray to Him this way. 

The W is for Walk, as in our Christian walk, walking in the good works that God has prepared in advance for us.  Walking in love toward God and toward our neighbor.   

  Part of our walk is not being hypocrites.  Hypocrisy hurts the mission and witness of the Church.  When Christians claim to believe and act one way, but then are seen to be doing the opposite, the credibility of the Church is damaged, and some may even mock Christ and His Church.  Sadly, to some extent, hypocrisy is an unavoidable reality, because we sinners will never perfectly fulfill our Christian calling in this life.  But, the damage of hypocrisy can be turned around, with repentance, confession, and forgiveness.  When the world sees Christians who sin also confess their sins, and seek forgiveness, even with people outside the Church, this is a powerful witness to the Gospel.   

   One of the good works God prepares for us is to witness, to confess the faith, to speak of Christ in our daily lives, simply telling the truth we know about God and His salvation.  No one has to do it all, nor be witnessing all the time.  No one knows everything about God’s truth.  And remember, success is not a burden we are responsible for.  We get to plant and water and encourage, but God must give the growth.  

Take LASSIE with you on your witnessing walk.  LASSIE is an acronym for an approach, a way of thinking about witnessing in our lives.  It is not a program or a script, nor is LASSIE a series of sequential steps.  In our daily lives, we will bounce around the acronym in various orders.  

   LASSIE is tool to use within our vocations, our daily lives, with the people God has put you into relationship with, like your family, your friends, co-workers, and neighbors.  LASSIE is not about randomly accosting people we don’t know and peppering them with questions about God and eternity.  This is simply not often helpful.  Think about it, did Jesus work like this?  Or was He much more conversational, and relational?   

   Remember, evangelism wants to get to the Good News, but to do so necessarily includes speaking God’s Law:  God’s Law not popular with sinners.  Don’t presume the right to preach law to someone, rather earn the opportunity through humility and friendship.  And LASSIE a great tool in this regard. 

The L and A stand for Listen, and then Ask questions, so you can listen some more. 

   I must confess, I have plenty of work to do in the area of being a good listener.  Maybe we all do.  But

How much better a place would the world be, our congregation, our families, if we all listened more, and talked less?  If we really listened, and didn’t just hear the other person while thinking of how we are going to answer, how we are going to give a witty reply, that would be great. 

   And then, after listening well, what if we asked good questions, so we can listen some more? 

   Listening to others builds trust.  Good listeners are very attractive people; perhaps they are fairly rare.  But if we can learn to listen and ask good questions and listen more, this will help us get to know each other deeply, and trust each other. 

The S and S stand for Seek and Share:  Here’s where the Bible knowledge comes in.  As your friend shares story, problems, or questions about God and religion, you can seek to find Biblical accounts or teachings that fit with their questions.  Then you can simply share that Word with them to the best of your ability.  We see that seeking and sharing depend on feeding and praying. 

   As you seek and share, remember, it is not on you to have perfect knowledge, no one does.  It is your privilege to play a part, however small, in bringing someone into contact with Christ through His Word.  We all know the Apostles’ Creed, we can even just simply tell people who God is and what He has done using the Creed.  The more Biblical stories to support these fact the better.   

   Also remember, witnessing takes time.  If your friend has hurts, maybe from a previous Christian Church, or maybe from another religion, working through this will take time.  If they are simply Biblically ignorant, then witnessing will take more time.  If your friend is hardcore secular materialist, who claims to be an atheist, well even more time might be needed.    

   So, you take your time, it’s not a race.  Think about the New Testament: even though the stakes were eternal, were Jesus or the Apostles ever depicted as running around witnessing in a panicked rush? 

 

Practice Sharing with other Christians.  We all need more grace.  We could all use more of God’s good Word in our lives.  The more we bless each other with God’s Word, the more attractive our congregation will be, and more joyous.  And as we get practiced in speaking God’s truth to each other, where it is safe, we will also be preparing for doing the same outside the Body, out in the world, to people outside the Church.   

   How do we do this?  We season our speech with salt.  We can do it in our greetings.  Instead of “hello” or “have a nice day” you could say “the Peace of the Lord be with you.”  Who knows what questions and conversations might flow from such a habit.  When something good happens, instead of simply saying, “that’s great, how nice,” we could say “Praise be to God for this wonderful gift!”  Perhaps you are struck by a catchy phrase from a hymn, or one line from a reading.  Memorize it, and look for opportunities to use it in conversation during the week.   

 

The I and E stand for Invite and Encourage:  Again, LASSIE not sequential.  An open invitation to your friends, neighbors, family, is a good thing.  And Christians should be continually encouraging others, as the Holy Spirit encourages us. 

   To what might we invite?  Sunday Service?  Maybe.  For some people, it’s perfect.  For many others, the Sunday Service is too intimidating.  But we have Wednesday evening prayer services, much smaller and simpler.  And midday prayers.  And we have Bible Study and other activities?   We can think of these as side doors into the Church, and today, when the world has many doubts or prejudices against the Church, we need to develop our side doors.         

   And here is a novel idea.  Invite you friend to meet your pastor, with you.  Don’t overpromise about your pastor, about how great or smart he is, but you could say you think your pastor might have some helpful thoughts for whatever question or problem he or she is facing.  Invite them to meet your pastor, and go with them to meet with him.  This will be helpful for everyone. 

   The same applies to inviting to services, Bible Study or other activities.  Invite, and accompany them, help them through the first few visits.  That’s very encouraging for someone checking out this Christianity thing.

 

   Witnessing requires patience:  Don’t press too hard.  You can go ahead and pester the Lord in your prayers, He loves that.  But your neighbor does not want to be pestered.  Invite, encourage, but don’t badger.  Also, don’t abandon the effort or the person at the first “no thanks” you receive. Or at the 10^th.    Jesus has never abandoned you even though you have often declined His invitations.  Extend the same grace to others. 

   This is all about Seed Planting: Never forget, Apollos planted, Paul watered, but God gave the growth.  As we speak God’s truth to others, we are planting seeds.  Maybe you will never get to see the fruit, or maybe you will.  But the fruit will come, because you have seen it in your life, and you know the Lord’s Word always achieves His purposes. 

   Jesus Christ, God’s Crucified and Resurrected Son, the perfect sacrifice for the sins of the whole world, is ruling over all things, for His Church, for His Mission, and for you.  In God’s mysterious and perfect wisdom, God does not directly do His mission.  Rather He does it through us, through His Church, through you and me, and all His Christians.  This is a remarkable, and frightful, also wonderful thing, that  God would choose to work through forgiven sinners like us, as He reaches out to yet more sinners, seeking to draw them to Jesus.   

   God does this.  He is doing it.  His Mission to you continues, as He continues to deliver forgiveness, life and salvation to you.  And His Mission through you leads to pure joy, for you, and for all who come to know Christ as Savior.   

Let us pray:  Holy Spirit of the risen Christ, sent from the Father to lead us into all truth.  Enlighten our hearts and minds to your wisdom and your good and gracious will.  Help us to grow in our knowledge of Christ and His Salvation.  Help us to speak of Christ to each other within His Body, the Church, so that we will be ready to speak of Christ to others, sinners like us, but who do not know and trust in the Savior.  Embolden your pastors, missionaries, and all your people, to walk in your ways, and to do the good work of confessing Christ to the world, in the opportunities that the Father has prepared for us, through Jesus Christ, our Savior, who lives and reigns with You and Father, one God, now and forever, Amen.

Hope Arrives in Bethlehem - Sermon for the 18th Sunday after Pentecost

Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost               
October 12^th, A+D 2025
Our Savior’s and Our Redeemer Lutheran Churches
Hill City and Custer, SD
Hope Arrives in Bethlehem
Ruth 1:1-19, Luke 17:11-19

 Audio of the Sermon is available HERE.

     I wonder what they’ll do in Bethlehem?             

     The book of Ruth tells a great story, full of faith, hope, and love.  We heard just the first part this morning, which concludes with the display of Ruth’s remarkable love and faithfulness to her mother-in-law, Naomi.  The end of our reading rings out a grace note of hope, as the two women make their way toward Bethlehem. 

     Bethlehem.  Everybody knows that name.  Bethlehem is perhaps the most famous small village in the world.  I wonder what Naomi and Ruth will do there? 

     Do you know the connections that our Old Testament reading only hints at this morning?  If you don’t remember the connections, this story may seem a bit random, and out of place. 

     It is a lovely story, to be sure.  Even unbelievers love the book of Ruth; it is simply gorgeous literature.  And Ruth is certainly a praiseworthy figure, who will not give up on tragedy-struck Naomi.  But, what does our Old Testament reading have to do with the story that normally occupies our time here, as we gather in Jesus’ Name?  Jesus Christ is the object of our faith, the One who has loved us, the Risen Savior who gives us hope.  But how do the opening verses of Naomi and Ruth’s story connect to the story of salvation?  It’s just about two women, their struggles in this dying world, and of course, the faithfulness of Ruth.  If you don’t know the connections, be patient.  God will bring all things back together before the end.  Be patient.  Be patient, and start by considering the things everyone loves about this story. 

     I pray that you can relate to the love shared between Naomi and Ruth.  I pray that into your life God has brought people whom, even though they aren’t blood relatives, you have come to love and cherish as much as you love and cherish your parents, your siblings, your children.  Such love between former strangers is a beautiful thing.  How common do you think it is? 

     I know many of you can relate to the suffering of Naomi and Ruth, maybe all of you.  Eventually, all of us will.  All of us, if we live long enough, will in some measure relate to the great sadness that fell on Naomi and Ruth.  I imagine these women trudging out of Moab, sadness weighing them down like a lead suit, making each day, each step, heavy and painful.  The death of loved ones is a tremendous burden.    

     Naomi had been dealing with the brokenness of this world for many years.  Drought and famine drove her and her husband Elimelech away, away from Judah, away from their hometown of Bethlehem.  The name Elimelech means “My God is King,” but I imagine that was hard to believe, as the threat of starvation drove them to a foreign and unappealing place: Moab. 

     The Moabites had food, that was good.  But, they were also ancient enemies of Israel.  And, if Elimelech and Naomi had been listening closely when Genesis was read to them, they would know that the founding of Moab was a scandal.  Faithful Israelites would not wish to live in Moab. 

     But all that history became unimportant, because there was a famine in Judah, but in Moab they could find food to live.  In Moab they could survive.  And so, with their two sons, they left for Moab, trying to make the best of a bad situation. 

     Then the LORD took Elimelech.  Now Naomi is a widow, a single mother of two sons, a foreigner in a strange land, facing very difficult circumstances.  Not much time for grieving; it’s time to act, to make adjustments and accommodations.  “Boys, Mahlon, Chilion, find yourselves wives.  It doesn’t matter that your wives will be Moabites; the LORD has left us here.  Following His command to only marry other Israelites is impossible.  We must eat, we must live, you must marry.”  So they do.   

     Then comes the unwritten suffering.  Ten more years they lived in Moab, Naomi, Mahlon, Chilion, and their wives, Orpah and Ruth.  Ten years of waiting, but no children, no grandchildren for Naomi to spoil.  Is this the unkindest cut of all for Naomi?  Is this the final straw?  She would soon wish a lack of grandchildren was her biggest problem, because worse is coming.  Suddenly, Mahlon, and Chilion, her two boys, both of them die.  Naomi’s hopes are dashed.  She is bitter, her faith in the LORD God of Israel is hanging by a thread.  Still, Naomi manages an attempt at loving her daughters-in-law, or so she thinks. 

      Rain and grain had returned to Judah, so Naomi, embittered by all her suffering in Moab, decides to return home.  Orpah and Ruth are both willing to go with her; it seems their struggles have bonded them together.  But Naomi knows better, she claims.  She tells her daughters-in-law to go home to their mothers, to go back to their former gods.  Maybe they can find new husbands, and forget about Naomi. 

      Orpah reluctantly agrees, kisses Naomi and returns to her mother’s house.  But Ruth will not leave her mother-in-law.  Naomi urges her to go, but Ruth will not be swayed, finally convincing Naomi with one of the most beautiful professions of love and faithfulness ever spoken by a human being: "Do not urge me to leave you or to return from following you. For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God.  Where you die I will die, and there will I be buried. May the Lord do so to me and more also if anything but death parts me from you."    

      Anti-Christian critics, many speaking from positions within nominally Christian institutions, have proclaimed for decades that the Bible is misogynistic, that is, woman-hating, and oppressively patriarchal.  It sure is strange how often the supposedly women-hating Biblical writers record marvelous things being spoken by women. 

      Like Ruth’s profession of faithfulness to Naomi.  Or Hannah’s song of joy at the birth of Samuel.  Miriam adding to the victory song of her brother Moses, after they crossed the Red Sea.  Elizabeth and Mary rejoicing over the conception of Jesus in Mary’s womb.  Or Mary’s final words recorded in Scripture, when she tells the servants at the wedding in Cana to “do whatever [Jesus] tells you to do.”  Good advice, indeed.   

      From where do such faith, hope and love spring?  In particular, how can Ruth express such marvelous commitment?  She too, has been through a lot.  No one, least of all Naomi, would have faulted Ruth for returning home.  And yet, faced with leaving her home, facing the prospect of living in a foreign land as a hated outsider, and with little reason to expect great things in Judah, Ruth nevertheless reveals tremendous love, commitment, and undying faithfulness.  She makes a confession of faith we should all envy.  How?  Can you and I ever know such love and faith?  How did these things come to this woman, and she a Moabite, not even a member of God’s chosen people? 

      Jesus asks a similar question concerning the Samaritan leper who came back to thank Him for healing his wretched, sore-covered skin, the only one of the ten healed lepers who returned to give thanks to Jesus.  Rhetorically, our Lord asks:  "Were not ten cleansed? Where are the nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?"  Jesus knows the answer.  But He’s trying to teach, to teach His disciples, and us, about faith, and the love, hope, joy and confession that flow from true and saving faith. 

      Jesus knows.  He’s known all along that faith comes by hearing about Him.  Faith comes from being wrapped up in His story, the story of the Messiah, the Christ, the promised Savior.  Faith comes by hearing the Word of Christ, faith that believes in the promise of a Savior who loves the whole world, who offers hope to all who suffer.  Jesus asks His question to teach us, to make us ponder and think about what it truly means to be a Christian.  But He knows, and now you know, that the Samaritan leper’s faith, like the faith of that other foreigner named Ruth, came from Jesus.  Faith comes when the Spirit of Christ reveals the glorious truth of the Gospel, life-giving truth spoken into the heart of a dying sinner. 

      God wills to work out His plan for saving faith through the lives of sinful people who also need that faith in order to be saved.  God chooses to work faith in and through desperate people, without regard to their pedigree, where they’ve come from, or what they’ve done in the past. 

      In the mystery of God’s plan and foreknowledge, in the mystery of God’s faithfulness and love, God chose and moved Ruth to love and serve Naomi, in order to bring this woman of faith to Bethlehem.  There God, through Naomi’s matchmaking, brings her to Boaz.  Boaz was an important man, a faithful Judahite who married Ruth in large part because he saw her faithfulness to Naomi. 

      And from this swirl of God-caused human goodness, the Lord brought forth fruit: a son, named Obed.  And Obed would have a son, named Jesse, who would have a son, named David, who would be the King of Israel, and much more.  David, shepherd boy anointed to be King of God’s people, is a forerunner of the Christ, the promised Savior.  Like he promised to his ancestors Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Judah, the LORD promises that the Seed of the woman, the serpent-crusher, would come also through King David.  God loves David.  He even calls David a man after His own heart.  And David’s imperfect but ultimately faithful heart got its start, because Ruth clung to Naomi.

      So, we see how God goes to extravagant lengths to work out His plan to save sinners.  Like He did for Naomi, the LORD even overcomes the weakness, doubt and bitterness of sinners, to move His plan forward.  God held onto and worked through bitter Naomi, in order to bring Ruth to Judah and her husband Boaz, so the LORD could bring to completion His plan for the human ancestry of Jesus Christ. 

      Some refuse God’s plan.  Naomi seemed to be on the brink of rejecting her LORD.  Nine of the lepers didn’t believe they should return and thank Jesus for healing them.  They didn’t understand that the true temple, the true dwelling place of God with His people was now in the flesh of the man Jesus, the Son of God, and the descendent of Ruth, and David, the Son of the Virgin Mary. 

    Many people suffer great pains and sadnesses, and end up cursing God, or forgetting Him.  You have suffered, and you will suffer many more pains and sadnesses.  But hear Ruth’s story, hear David’s story, for these are also your story.  Hear God’s plan of salvation, bringing blessing and a future out of suffering and desperation.  Hear God’s plan for you, worked though faithful Ruth, so that you will not think to curse God when you suffer. 

    You will suffer, and it will be hard.  Maybe you are suffering right now.  Suffering stinks.  But when you suffer, do not curse God.  Instead, follow Ruth to Bethlehem.  Know that the Lord who gave Ruth blessings she never expected has also given these same blessings to you.  Cry out in your suffering to the Master, Jesus; ask Him to help you.  Hear, see, and believe that He has become your salvation, in the most unlikely way, through suffering, through His death on a tree, by bleeding and dying for you.  Believe in His plan, which was to fulfill the law for you, right down to keeping the Sabbath rest in the tomb, so that upon His resurrection He could share all His glory with you.  Jesus can share the Father’s glory with you because your sins are forgiven, your suffering has been overcome, and your future is full of hope and love. 

     All these things are yours in that Descendent of Ruth, your Savior and her Savior, Jesus of Bethlehem, Jesus of Nazareth, Jesus of the cross and empty tomb.  The same Jesus who is right now praying for you at the Father’s side.  Jesus, who is preparing a place for you, in His heavenly home.  He is the object of faith, the reason to believe, the hope that you have, the hope that never fails.  Rejoice, His love is for you, Amen.     

Forgiveness: The Beating Heart of the Church - Sermon for the 17th Sunday after Pentecost

Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost
\October 5^th A+D 2025
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Forgiveness: The Beating Heart of the Church
Luke 17:1-10, 2^nd Timothy 1:1-14, Habakkuk 2:4

Sermon audio available HERE.

Forgive…   Forgive…   Forgive…   Forgive…   Forgive…   Forgive…   Forgive…

    That seems like a lot, no?  Forgive, spoken seven times.  And that only scratches the surface of our Lord’s teaching this morning.  Closer would be to repeat: I forgive you for what you did to me.  I forgive you for what you did to me… I …  I’ll stop. 

    Or, we could rehearse the whole scenario Jesus describes:  Your brother sins.  You rebuke him.  He turns to you, crying out: I repent!  And you must forgive him.  And then again, your brother sins, you rebuke him, He turns to you, crying out: I repent!  And you forgive…  Again, and again, and again. 

    This passage in Luke is certainly part of the basis by which Luther said what we recited for our catechetical review this morning.  From Luther’s Large Catechism, in the section on the 3^rd Article of the Creed, the Reformer says:  Everything, therefore, in the Christian Church is ordered to the end that we shall daily obtain there nothing but the forgiveness of sin through the Word and signs, to comfort and encourage our consciences as long as we live here. 

    Everything?  Luther was never shy about making categorical statements.  Everything in the Church is ordered toward delivering forgiveness…  As he tried to teach the Saxon Germans the glorious, life-giving promise of Jesus and His death and resurrection for our salvation, Martin did not hold back.  He wanted people to hear, so they could believe.  Because, contrary to what the Church was teaching in the 16^th century, Luther had learned from his study of Bible that God’s salvation is not based in our works, nor in our goodness.  Salvation is not based on the works of sinners, but rather, it is based only in the forgiveness of sins won at Calvary by Jesus.  In Christ there is forgiveness sufficient for every sin of every sinful man and woman.  Forgiveness saves an individual sinner when he or she hears and believes, when my heart has faith that what Jesus did washes away my sins.  And it does! 

    Only faith in Christ’s forgiveness saves.  And so, everything in the Christian Church is ordered toward delivering Christ’s forgiveness, through the Word and signs.  By signs, Luther means Baptism and the Lord’s Supper, the physical things ordained by Christ to serve as pointers to the Gospel, and which also, in a mystery, contain and deliver Christ’s forgiveness, by delivering Christ Himself to us.  In later years, Lutherans would come to call this Word and Sacraments.  In either phrasing, it means all the ways that God delivers His forgiveness to us sinners.  This is what the Church is all about.   

    Luther does not mean that literally there is nothing other than forgiveness in the Church, that all we do is walk around forgiving one another, and nothing more ever happens.  Rather, he meant that everything worthwhile that exists in the Church, like praise and thanksgiving, training in righteousness, good works done in love for the neighbor, joy, eternal life, fellowship, paraments, music, potlucks, all these good things rightly depend on and flow from the main thing, which is forgiveness. 

    With forgiveness, we have it all: holiness, heaven, glory, a good relationship with God the Father.  We have these now, not yet perfectly, but truly.  And one day soon, we will have them, fully, completely.  With forgiveness comes every good thing. 

    Without forgiveness, we are lost.  No matter how impressive she may look, a church that has lost her focus on forgiveness is, in reality, merely a house of cards, which will fall at the first gust of Satan’s resistance. 

    Except that Satan doesn’t try to destroy congregations that have lost their focus on forgiveness.  The evil one loves such congregations, full of souls who think they are staying close to God.  In reality, without repentance and forgiveness at the center, they are cutting themselves off from God, potentially forever.  Lord, protect us from such folly!        

    Seven times daily, we are to forgive the same sinner.  That seems hard to do, hard to even believe.  But it is a completed reality in Christ Jesus, a finished work, revealed to be our life and our glory, in His Resurrection.   By faith in Jesus, forgiveness and the new life it brings become reality also for us.  For the righteous shall live by faith. 

    Faith, trust of the heart in Christ Jesus and His perfect forgiveness, is mighty and powerful.  If we have faith even as small as a mustard seed, still, it gives us the power to move mountains, or to command a mulberry tree to be uprooted and throw itself into the ocean. 

    As we consider ourselves, clearly the power of faith is not found in the vessel that receives the gift.  The strength of faith is not found in us Christians.  The one who hears the Gospel and believes is simply a forgiven sinner.  Which is worth celebrating, for sure.  But the size and intensity of our faith is not the source of its power. 

    Faith is wonderful, necessary and mysterious.  As wise Christians, we seek to deepen our faith by growing in the Word.  And the Word teaches that it is not the quality and fervency of our faith that saves.  No, our hope of salvation lies in the object of our faith, the One in whom we trust.  The One who gave up His life, in order to share true life with you. 

    Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, sitting at the Father’s right hand, still bearing the scars of His self-sacrifice on the Cross, He is the object of our faith.  He alone empowers our faith to be strong, endure great trials, and do mighty things.  Faith does great things, precisely because the faithful soul receives and knows that it is righteous, that is, declared holy and just and good before God, for Jesus’ sake.  The believer is then free to live, love, serve, and rejoice, which the joy of the Gospel makes us want to do.  And we can pursue these good things, because faith means no worries.  Why should a believing Christian worry, when God Almighty has declared all baptized believers to be His own, holy, precious, eternal children?   

    Faith in Christ is a powerful, busy, wonderful thing.  So, why then would we ever be ashamed of our Christian faith?  The Apostle Paul, as he begins his second letter to his colleague, friend and student Timothy, starts with a strange theme: “Do not be ashamed of the Gospel.”  He says something similar at the beginning of Romans: For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, (1:16). 

     In our Epistle this morning, Paul encourages Timothy with these words: Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God.  Later, he declares of himself: But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard, until that Day, what has been entrusted to me.   Clearly, Paul is concerned that Christians might feel shame about the Gospel, and so change how they speak or act, in ways contrary to God’s way.  But why would we ever do this? 

    One reason is clearly suffering.  Sometimes being a Christian, maintaining the truth that Jesus revealed, will bring suffering into your life.  Satan hates the Gospel, and so seeks to persecute and injure anyone who remains faithful to it. 

    Another challenge is the fact that the starting point for the Good News of Jesus is the decidedly bad news that all have sinned, and lack the glory of God.  All people, apart from Christ, deserve God’s anger and punishment.  Unbelievers, including the unbeliever that in this life remains in each Christian, unbelievers hate this message.  The Gospel leaves no room for human pride, for taking satisfaction in ourselves.  Repeating and proclaiming such a teaching does not always win you friends.  

    So, the faithful can face direct persecution, rejection and ostracism by the world, or a struggle within ourselves, between the new creature born of the Holy Spirit and the old man who still loves sin.  All these troubles tempt us to be ashamed of the Gospel and downplay it.  Or even outright deny it.  Paul, along with the whole Bible, warns us against this temptation, and encourages us to steadfastly resist all anti-Gospel ridicule, resistance and hatred. 

    How can we hope to succeed?   By remembering in Whom we have believed, like Paul did.  Paul remembered the One in whom he believed, the One who suffered all the shame and hatred the devil and the world and His own people could dish out.  You can avoid the temptation to be ashamed of the Gospel precisely because the Good News of your forgiveness rises out of the place of greatest shame.  Jesus’ death-defeating death on the Cross reverses everything, turning shame into honor, suffering into blessing, and guilt into holiness.  When once we sought to claim pride in who we are and what we have done, now our pride is Jesus, the Suffering Servant who now rules over all things.  

    Shame of the Gospel is a threat to saving faith.  As is true so often, this threat has an opposite danger.  It’s like two ditches alongside the Way.  Avoid the ditch on this side, but be careful as you guide yourself back onto the road.  Don’t overcorrect, and veer into the opposite ditch.  The opposite ditch to shame is pride of self.  This danger exists because Christian faith, even as small as a mustard seed, will lead the Christian to do good, even great things.  Christians are set free to do great things, precisely because “the righteous shall live by his faith.”  But we are not to become infatuated and puffed up by our works.  So, Jesus gives His disciples one last warning this morning, in a way that might sound strange to our ears, but which in reality sets us free from any anxiety about our salvation. 

    In Luke chapter 12, Jesus made an astounding promise.  Speaking of His final return, Jesus commands His future Apostles to endure in their calling to serve:  “Let your waist be girded and your lamps burning; ³⁶ and you yourselves be like men who wait for their master, when he will return from the wedding, that when he comes and knocks they may open to him immediately.  ³⁷ Blessed are those servants whom the master, when he comes, will find watching. Assuredly, I say to you that he, (that is the Master, Jesus Himself), will gird himself and have them sit down to eat, and will come and serve them. (Luke 12:35-37)  In heaven, visibly, personally, face to face, God Himself will honor and serve His faithful disciples. 

    Here in Luke chapter 17, Jesus says just about the opposite:  “Will any one of you who has a servant plowing or keeping sheep say to him when he has come in from the field, 'Come at once and recline at table'? ^[8] Will he not rather say to him, 'Prepare supper for me, and dress properly, and serve me while I eat and drink, and afterward you will eat and drink'? ^[9] Does he thank the servant because he did what was commanded?”   In the first century world, servants, or more literally slaves, were not to imagine that they merit special treatment, just for fulfilling their callings, just for doing their work.  Jesus then specifically applies this worldly reality to His future Apostles.  “So you also, when you have done all that you were commanded, say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done what was our duty.'” 

    Jesus specifically teaches His future Apostles about how they are to act in this life, on this earth, as they fulfill their special calling as the builders of Christ’s Church.  None of us are Apostles.  But these words certainly have an application for all of us, for all preachers, and hearers, for all the members of the Body of Christ.  Even when we seem to have well completed the work God has prepared for us in this life, we are to consider and call ourselves unworthy servants. 

    What are we to make of this?  Does this mean that Christians should be continually dour and down in the mouth, never taking joy in anything in this life?  That doesn’t seem right.  Jesus went to the Cross for joy, after all.  And we do find great joy in this Christian life, even amidst sorrows and difficulties. 

      Or is it that our Lord is encouraging us to become “humble braggers?”  Are we to fake humility, in order to draw more attention to how well we have performed our Christian duties?  No, of course not. 

    The righteous shall live by his faith.  Calling yourself an unworthy servant, even when you have done all things well, is Jesus’ way for Christians to celebrate the true freedom we have in the Gospel. 

   Regardless of what we achieve in the Name of Christ, our pride, our confidence, is always and only in the free forgiveness we have received by faith in Jesus.  We never have to point to or celebrate our own works, because the LORD has already done all our works for us, and this is what makes us right with God.  This is what makes our futures eternally glorious.  

   There is a great difference between the reality of life as Christians on this earth, and the perfect, pain-free, sin-free, glory-filled future that Christ has won for us in the new heavens and the new earth.  For the sake of our salvation, for the good of our neighbors, and for the sake of God’s Mission of drawing more sinners to His Son, we are called to wisdom, to work, and to patient waiting.  There is much God would do through us.  Sometimes it seems that all things go well, that our faith is moving mountains.  Sometimes it seems that we can accomplish nothing.  But our eyes, our faith, are fixed where true joys are found, on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith. 

   And we keep our eyes fixed in the right place through the blessed reality that Jesus is getting ahead of Himself.  He promises that in heaven He will serve us at table, but for now, we are to serve, we are to be about our Christian work, and call ourselves unworthy servants, even when we have done everything. 

   But Jesus can’t quite wait to serve us.  Invisibly, hidden under simple words, and simple elements, your Lord and Savior daily girds Himself for service, and invites us to recline at table, to receive His blessings, through the Word and Signs.  What we will one day rejoice to receive in unapproachable glory and light, we now truly receive, hidden under Words, Water, Wheat and Wine.  And so we rejoice as unworthy servants, who are well served by the Master, forgiven, restored, redeemed and loved, in Jesus’ Name, Amen.   

Purple Garments - Sermon for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost

Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost, September 28^th, Year of Our + Lord 2025
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Purple Garments - Luke 16:19-31, 1 Timothy 6:6-19

Sermon Audio available HERE.   

This sermon uses the hymn "Lord, Thee I Love with All My Heart," as a frame.  It is Lutheran Service Book 708.  

1.     Lord, Thee I love with all my heart;I pray Thee, ne'er from me depart, With tender mercy cheer me.Earth has no pleasure I would share, Yea, heav'n itself were void and bare,
If Thou, Lord, wert not near me.
And should my heart for sorrow break, My trust in Thee can nothing shake.
Thou art the portion I have sought; Thy precious blood my soul has bought.
Lord Jesus Christ, My God and Lord, my God and Lord, Forsake me not! I trust Thy Word. 

   It is not sinful to be wealthy, to have great material blessings.  But it is eternally foolish, and wicked, actually, to love your wealth more than the LORD who gave you all you have.  Likewise, it is a grave sin to love your money and comfort more than the human neighbor the LORD has given you to love and serve.  In fact, we should see the neighbor in need as among God’s greatest gifts to us.  They are, like you and me, sinners for whom Christ died.  So, the opportunity to serve them binds us into an ever deepening fellowship with them, and with God and His angels, and with His whole Church, in heaven and on earth.  True and eternal joys are found only in this fellowship with God and all His people.    

    “Lord, Thee I Love with All My Heart” is a tremendous hymn.  Do you know it well?  I have not picked it much during my 4-1/2 years serving you as pastor; I think I unconsciously avoid it.  You see, it was one of the last hymns that I sang with my mom, in the nursing home in Forsyth, Montana, before her brain tumor took away her voice. 

    Shelee, the kids and I were visiting her in the Forsyth nursing home, sometime in 2003.  Mom still understood us fine, but she couldn’t speak well.  But she could still sing hymns, which she had always loved to do.  My sister Barb knew this, and so brought along several copies of TLH.  One hymn we chose was today’s Hymn of the Day.  My mother didn’t need a hymnal.  Ever since, singing “Lord Thee I Love…” is a bit nervy for me; I’m never sure how I’ll react.  Shortly after my mother’s death, I was back in Kramer Chapel at the seminary in Fort Wayne, and just as I was headed up for communion, we began to sing “Lord Thee I Love…” for a distribution hymn.  Well, the congregation sang it; I couldn’t sing.  Because I was weeping.  All the way up to the altar rail, while I received Christ’s Body and Blood, back to my pew, and for several more minutes.  Life in the Body of Christ is like that, from time to time.    

      “Lord, Thee I Love with All My Heart” is the suggested Hymn of the Day for today’s readings, although the connection is not overwhelming.  When we get to the third stanza, you’ll notice why it was selected.  But on the surface, it doesn’t really seem to fit that well with the theme of today’s readings, which are very much focused on the right perspective and use of material wealth, along with the right perspective we are called to have about helping our neighbors.  But the right foundation of faith which will lead to a right use of wealth and a joyful love of neighbor is there in the first stanza:  Earth has no pleasure I would share, Yea, heav'n itself were void and bare, If Thou, Lord, wert not near me.

    Here we find the firm foundation for right Christian living: the clear understanding and hearty agreement that nothing compares to the treasure of knowing the Lord Jesus Christ and His forgiving love.  Earthly wealth is really nice, and needy people can really be a bother.  It’s hard to not love your stuff too much, and it’s easy to love your neighbor too little.  Getting these two things right is impossible, really, unless you believe with all your heart that Jesus is your greatest treasure.  And He is. 

    Every good gift comes down from the Father of lights, (James 1:17).  Your nice car, all your nice things, all the money in your retirement fund, all of it comes from God.  Praise the Lord for all His benefits to us.  But even more, every perfect gift comes down from the Father as well, and THE perfect gift is Jesus, the only begotten Son of the Father, God in human flesh, God on the Cross, God bursting from the tomb, the God-Man Jesus, reigning on high today, for you.  He lives and reigns for your forgiveness, for your salvation, in order to have you with Himself, in glory, forever and ever. 

    By the grace and power of the Holy Spirit, we love the Lord with all our hearts.  At the same time, knowing our hearts are as yet imperfect, we also pray: Lord Jesus Christ, My God and Lord, Forsake me not! I trust Thy Word.  And fear not, the Word made flesh will not forsake you!  So, reveling in this promise, this joy, this peace of the Gospel, we begin to see our wealth and our neighbors differently.    

 2.     Yea, Lord, 'twas Thy rich bounty gave, My body, soul, and all I have, In this poor life of labor.   Lord, grant that I in ev'ry place, May glorify Thy lavish grace, And help and serve my neighbor.  Let no false doctrine me beguile; And Satan not my soul defile. Give strength and patience unto me, To bear my cross and follow Thee. Lord Jesus Christ, My God and Lord, my God and Lord, In death Thy comfort still afford.

    O.k., now here we have some more obvious teaching about Christian stewardship, on the right use of material blessings, in light of the Good News of free forgiveness, given to sinners in Christ Jesus.  Yea, Lord, 'twas Thy rich bounty gave, My body, soul, and all I have, In this poor life of labor. 

    As we already quoted from the Epistle of James, every good and perfect gift comes down from the Father of lights.  And that last bit, “In this poor life of labor,” reminds us that Jesus calls us to be pilgrims and sojourners in this world, to hold on lightly to our earthly blessings.  For they are fleeting, and unreliable.  Whatever we might be tempted to trust and treasure most, our health, our stock portfolio, our home, all these things can disappear in the blink of an eye.   In the world you will have trouble, promises Jesus, but fear not, for I have overcome the world!  (John 16:33) 

    I am but a stranger here, heaven in my home!  And heaven, that is, life in the visible presence of God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, will be better than anything we could ever know in this broken world, better than we can even imagine.  Every pain relieved, every sorrow forgotten, every tear wiped away, forever and ever.  My heart faints within me! 

    Hearing and clinging to this promise, we begin to have the mind and the eyes of Christ, and so we see this world more clearly.  And the clearly most important thing in this world to Jesus is humanity.  People.  Especially the poor and humble and hurting.  Lord, grant that I in ev'ry place, May glorify Thy lavish grace, And help and serve my neighbor.  

    The rich man in Jesus’ parable today had become blinded by his blessings, by the enjoyment of his material wealth.  So, he overlooked and neglected the greater gift, which was poor, sore-covered Lazarus, lying at his doorstep.  Or, perhaps he thought he was serving Lazarus well, by allowing him to lie at his doorstep.  What better place to beg, than at that door, through which all the rich man’s similarly rich friends would have to pass, coming and going from his lavish dinners.  See how I’m helping Lazarus! 

    Not until he arrived in Hades, in Hell, did this rich fool realize his error, his foolish sin.  Too late, he understands that the treasures of the earth are a very poor trade for the final reward of eternal suffering, of being justly cut off from every good thing, forever.  Lord, protect us from such foolish greed! 

    The Apostle Paul tells Timothy, and us this morning, that the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil.  Martin Schalling, our Reformation era hymnwriter, suggests that the love of money is heresy, false teaching.  Have you ever thought of greed as false teaching?  It is.  Indeed, in a sense, an ungodly affection for to material blessings is near the root of all sin, for it flows from the serpent’s first lie:  Did God really say that you may not eat from some tree in this Garden?  (Genesis 3:1)

    Satan beguiles Eve and her negligent husband with the suggestion that God was holding back His best from them.  That He forbade them to eat from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil because He didn’t want them to be as wise as He.  And the tree and its fruit were a delight to the eyes, much like the glitter of gold, or the allure of fame, or the figure of a woman who is not your wife are all temptations to us now, good gifts, twisted into forbidden objects of our sinful desires. 

    Our first parents gave in to this lie.  Don’t you fall for it.  God is not holding out on us. He has always and only sought our good.  It is the falsest of teaching to suggest otherwise.  And should we need convincing, wisdom teaches us to look once more to the Cross, and see that God gave His very best, and not for holy people who deserved His love.  Amazing grace indeed, that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring us to God.  (Romans 5:8 and 1^st Peter 3:18).  Any suggestion that there could be anything more valuable in the universe is absolutely false teaching.  And so with our hymnwriter we pray to the LORD: Give strength and patience unto me, To bear my cross and follow Thee.

3.     Lord, let at last Thine angels come, To Abram's bosom bear me home, That I may die unfearing;
And in its narrow chamber keep, My body safe in peaceful sleep, Until Thy reappearing.
And then from death awaken me, That these mine eyes with joy may see,
O Son of God, Thy glorious face, My Savior and my fount of grace.
Lord Jesus Christ, my prayer attend, my prayer attend,
And I will praise Thee without end.

   “There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day.”  Do you remember why purple cloth was a unique mark of wealth and power in the ancient world?  So much so that at different times and places, kings tried to forbid anyone but the royal family from wearing purple? 

    The reason is that in the ancient world, purple dye only came from the excretion of a certain Mediterranean sea-snail.  The coastal city of Tyre, just north of Israel, was the center of the purple dye trade.  The process of making purple dye was difficult.  Thousands of snails were needed to make just a few ounces of dye.  A pound of dye was worth half the year’s salary of a Roman soldier.  And so, only the wealthy and powerful could wear purple.     

    Do you know why Our Redeemer Lutheran Church’s funeral pall is purple?  A funeral pall is a large piece of fine fabric, made to cover the casket of a Christian during their funeral service.  The tradition is to cover the casket just before the funeral procession enters the Nave, while we recite from Romans, chapter six: “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?” We were buried therefore with Him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life.  For if we have been united with Him in a death like His, we shall certainly be united with Him in a resurrection like His.” (Romans 6:3-5)  

    A Christian funeral is a celebration of the completion of the dearly departed’s Holy Baptism.  The work God publicly began at the font is publicly proclaimed to be finished, as we lay the Christian’s body to rest, and rejoice that their soul already rests with Jesus.  Because of this association with Baptism, and because of John’s Revelation, where he describes the faithful in heaven as being clothed in white robes, washed in the blood of the Lamb, (Revelation 7:9-17), funeral palls are normally white, often with gold decoration, a simple cross, or perhaps an image of the Lamb of God. 

    But ours at ORLC is purple.  We’ve had it for many decades.  So many that no one seems to remember how the decision was made to purchase a purple pall.  It is beautiful.  And very unique.  I’ve made a little project out of asking other pastors, professors, and, of course, funeral directors if they’ve ever heard of another Christian congregation with a purple funeral pall.  So far, no one has. 

   White is the predominant tradition, and this makes sense.  And yet, our pall is beautiful, and there is no Biblical law saying we have to make them white, or even have them at all.  So, this one is fine, and it’s useful as a visual aid today, to go with Jesus’ teaching about the rich man clad in purple, and poor Lazarus. 

   Sadly, purple fabric can be part of a rich fool’s self-destruction, cutting himself off from God forever, by worshiping money, fine clothing and rich food.  Thise rich man was eternally foolish, ignoring God, and proved his unbelief by his disdain for Lazarus, his hurting neighbor. 

      But there is certainly a good Biblical way to understand the symbolism of a purple pall.  For purple is the royal color, and Christians are royal priests, as Moses promised in Exodus, (19:6) and St. Peter declares in his first letter (2:5-9).    Purple fabric also makes proper garments for God’s chosen and beloved children.  For God’s Son, Jesus, was dressed in royal robes and mocked by Roman soldiers.  The Eternal King of the Universe was crowned with thorns, and then suffered and died.  This Christ did, in order that even His executioners, and also you and I, could be rescued from our sins and false belief.  Your good King died, so that you can take the crown He has for you, so that you can be part of the royal family of the Kingdom of God, rejoicing in every good thing, forever and ever singing at Jesus’ feet. 

    So, it is appropriate that we, in harmony and concord with Lazarus, and with all the faithful who have gone before us, should sing and pray of that blessed day when we too will join those who already rest in the nearer presence of Christ.

 Lord, let at last Thine angels come, To Abram's bosom bear me home, (just like Lazarus!)

That I may die unfearing;
And in its narrow chamber keep, My body safe in peaceful sleep, Until Thy reappearing.
And then from death awaken me, That these mine eyes with joy may see,
O Son of God, Thy glorious face, My Savior and my fount of grace.
Lord Jesus Christ, my prayer attend, my prayer attend,
And I will praise Thee without end.

 And all God’s people said: Amen.