Sexagesima Sunday,
February 8th, Year of Our + Lord 2026
Our Redeemer and Our
Savior’s Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, SD
Scripture Alone:
God’s Living Word, the Authority
and the Instrument of Salvation
In Memory of Rollie Anfinson
A
Sower went out to sow His Seed, and He came upon a patch of soil named
Rollie.
Today, our appointed readings drive home the
truth that Salvation is by Scripture Alone.
God’s written Word Alone is the final authority, the
Source from which we receive the teaching of Christ, the Authority which judges
all other teaching about God and man and salvation. Holy Scripture is also the means,
the tool or instrument which the Lord uses to effect
salvation. I am not ashamed of the
Gospel, the Good News message of Christ Jesus, for it is the power of
God unto salvation, for all who believe. (Romans
1:16) Through His Holy Word, preached, sung,
prayed, explained, discussed, and translated into visual arts, through His Word
Alone the Holy Spirit converts unbelievers into children of God, by faith in
Christ.
Our three readings today drive home this
truth of Scripture Alone. And, as the
Holy Spirit so often arranges, events in the life our congregations neatly
connect with this Good News, giving us a contemporary, flesh and blood example
that will, Lord willing, plant the truth of Scripture Alone deep into our
hearts and minds.
A Sower went out to sow His Seed, and He
came upon a patch of soil named Rollie, who was a bit of a hard patch of
ground. There were some thorns. There were some dry spells in Rollie’s
life. His seven-plus decades of walking,
and lately hobbling around this planet illustrate just about all of the parable
Jesus tells us today. In Rollie’s life
we can see the struggle of faith, and how God’s living and active Word keeps on
working. How the Holy Spirit keeps on
calling, how the Good Shepherd keeps on seeking His own, until He can finally
carry them home rejoicing, to the heavenly fold of His Father.
The Parable of
the Sower and the Soil presents us with a problem. Jesus talks about different types of soil, problematic
soil, hardpacked, rocky, or thorn infested, and also the good, seed-receptive, fruitful
soil. Only the good soil gives a good
result. Which immediately makes us ask,
“Which kind of soil are we?” If we feel
thorn-infested, distracted by the cares and pleasures of life, if our hearts
feel dry, or if, God forbid, we are tempted to harden ourselves against God, then
are we lost? How do we become good,
receptive soil? How does the hardpacked
ground get broken up? Who shoos away the
birds, or prunes back the thorns?
Grace Alone, and
Scripture Alone. God’s Word is living
and active. When it goes out from the
LORD’s mouth, it goes with a God-given purpose, and it always achieves that
purpose. Among the highest of the Word’s
purpose is to make good, receptive soil out of sinners like you, and me, and
Rollie. God through His Word prepares
the soil of our hearts to receive His Word, which takes us back to Grace
Alone. We have not earned God’s favor;
He is under no obligation to make us into good soil. But He loves to do it. He is the heavenly Farmer, Who loves to give this gift, to till and renew the
soil of our hearts. All of this activity
of God’s living and active Word was plainly visible in Rollie’s life.
As is true for
all of us, there were regrettable things in Rollie’s life. Rollie didn’t communicate to his family his renewed
connection to Our Redeemer, and so we were not contacted when he died. They are holding a family memorial service in
Sioux Falls, so there will be no brisket from Steve Peters to help us celebrate
the Lord bringing Rollie’s baptism to its eternal completion. But brisket or no, this is a day to
celebrate.
Rollie died
alone. He really did not
want to go into a nursing home, despite the efforts of doctors, friends and his
pastor to convince him that it was a way better option than he thought. He refused, always fighting to return to his
house in Pringle, until finally his body gave out. That’s not the best way to go. But it did not put Rollie beyond God’s
reach.
Speaking of
God’s reach, one of the other regrettable things in Rollie’s life was that he
went long stretches away from the fellowship of Christ’s Church. I don’t know the full story, but Rollie had
an on-again/off-again relationship with the Church. He and Rita were received into membership at
Our Redeemer, Custer by adult confirmation in 2001, the same year that they
were married. They formed a strong
relationship with Pastor Bob Anderson and his wife Liz, which God would put to
important use, decades later.
At some point, I
don’t know if it was driven by COVID, or if it began earlier, the Anfinsons’
attendance at Our Redeemer slackened.
Rollie later told me this was mostly his fault, that Rita always wanted
to go to Church, but he began to increasingly resist. Which made Rollie hard to care for. God’s ‘Plan A’ for sustaining the faith of
His children is to have them gather together around His Word every Sunday. When Christians stay in close contact with
God’s living and active Word, faith thrives.
When Christians stay away, faith struggles, is starved, and can die.
When I arrived
to serve in Custer and Hill City, Rita and Rollie were receiving our weekly
mailings of the bulletin, readings insert and sermon. I spoke to Rita on the phone several times,
setting up visits, but again and again she would cancel our appointments. Rita finally had to suffer a stroke in order
to reconnect Rollie to God’s Word. Yes,
the Spirit made good use of a stroke, and a yard sale.
Bob and Liz
Anderson happened to hold a yard sale out in Boot Hill after Rita had been
hospitalized. On his way to or from
Rapid, Rollie saw the signs and stopped by.
I think Rollie really loved finding a bargain. Through this, the Holy Spirit arranged a
renewal of contact, and we found out Rita had suffered a stroke. Bob told me about Rita, and I then had the
privilege of visiting her at Monument Hospital in Rapid several times.
Now, some may
say is it is sad to only get to meet face to face and minister to a member when
they are gravely ill in the hospital.
There is some truth in that. But,
at the same time, how wonderful.
Visiting Rita in the hospital was full of wonders, as the power of God’s
living and active Word was revealed.
Despite their long absence from Sunday services, Rita’s faith was
alive. She received the Gospel from me
with joy, the Word, full of Baptismal promises, and also the Lord’s
Supper. I met Rollie at the
hospital. He expressed his thanks for my
visits, to which I replied, as is often the case, “Thank Pastor Anderson.”
I finally was
able to visit the house in Pringle after Rita went home to her Savior. I was greeted loudly by Maggie, Rita’s very
round labrador. Then Rollie and I sat at
his dining room table, and planned Rita’s funeral. Pastoral home visitation is always
interesting, and this visit ranks way up there for me. Now, I’m comfortable around firearms, which
is a good thing, given that I’m called to serve in South Dakota. But I think that not since my days in the
Marine Corps have I been surrounded by so many loaded weapons, right close at
hand, as I was that day in Rollie’s dining room. But it was fine.
Rollie wanted to
begin with a story. He told me a big
part of his lack of enthusiasm for Church was an experience he had had decades
ago, back in the Sioux Falls area. The
pastor of his church ran off with the church secretary. In fact, Rollie said, “it happened to me
twice.” Two times he was in
congregations where the pastor left in a cloud of disgrace, for having an
affair with his secretary. Rollie
concluded his story with a question. “You’re
not going do that, are you?”
I may have made
a slight involuntarily glance at the weapons stacked around the room. But I controlled my reaction and said, “No,
Rollie, by God’s grace I am very much in love with the wife the Lord has given
me.” I remember clearly how Rollie said
“it happened to me.” Those pastors
didn’t run off with Rollie’s wife. But,
grave public sin of pastors is a terrible thing, a betrayal of Christ and His
Church, a denial of the Gospel. Such sin
wounds, not just to the principal people involved, but the whole congregation
and community.
A public sin
that ends a ministry and wounds an entire congregation is a powerful evil. But, it is not stronger than the Word of
God. Pastors ought to set good moral
examples. But, the Good News of Christ’s
victory doesn’t depend on the holiness of the men called to proclaim and share
Christ’s gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation. The Gospel depends on Christ Alone.
Rollie accepted
my answer, and my ministry, and we celebrated Christ’s work in Rita’s life at
Our Redeemer. Through Rita’s funeral, Rollie
and I made a good connection.
I wish we were
having a funeral for Rollie, for many reasons, but most especially because
funerals are important evangelistic opportunities. The consequences of sin are clear for all to
see at the time of death. And the crowd
at a funeral is among the most mixed congregations we ever get to preach
to. So, in my funeral preaching, I try
to be especially direct and clear, easy to understand. I wrapped up the sermon for Rita reflecting
about her faith at the last, which enabled us to celebrate and rejoice over
Rita, even though she had died. The
sermon concluded with these words.
You see, Jesus laid down His life for Rita,
and took it up again. For Rita, and for
you, Jesus, God’s eternal Son, came and faced the death that frightens us all,
and defeated it. Jesus, to save His
precious lambs, faced the sin, the envy, the greed, the selfishness, the hurt,
the sickness, everything bad that ruins our lives. Jesus took all these evils into His own body
and carried them to the Cross, the Old Rugged Cross, “where the Dearest and Best,
for a world of lost sinners, was slain.”
Now, risen from the dead and reigning at the
Father’s right hand, Jesus continues to tend His sheep. Through thick and thin, on good days and bad,
right to the end, Jesus by His Spirit kept Rita’s faith in His promises alive,
by speaking those promises to her, again and again. The Baptism by which the Father adopted Rita
and made her a member of His Son was brought to its completion on September 1st,
2022. And so we celebrate, even in the
midst of sadness and tears.
So, yes, remember and celebrate Rita, and
also listen to the Voice that she heard, the Voice of Jesus, her Good Shepherd
and yours. This is why God has gathered
you here today for this funeral, because He wants to speak to you. This is why He has given you His Word. This is why He makes sure His Word of grace
and forgiveness is proclaimed Sunday after Sunday. Your Good Shepherd wants to care for you, as
He cared for Rita. Come and hear His
Voice. Because He is speaking words of
peace and joy, words of forgiveness and life, to you, today, and forever and
ever, Amen.
It worked. The Holy Spirit worked through the Word
proclaimed at Rita’s funeral. Rollie and
I connected. I tried to stay in contact
with him, which was not easy, because Rollie and mobile phones were not friends. But he always stayed in contact with me,
calling me from time to time, to check in.
I made more visits to the gun safe that doubled as his dining room. And, even though his body was failing him, or
maybe because of this, last year Rollie started to attend services at Our
Redeemer again. He had serious back
problems, but he would park his car next to the tree on the west end of the
church, and hobble in with a walker. He
came on Sundays, and many Wednesday evenings, as that shorter service was
better for his back. Rollie brought his
own seat cushion. It took him about ten
minutes to get from his car to the back pew.
But there he was, gathered with God’s people to hear His living and
active Word, which is sharp to divide bone from marrow, to separate sinners
from their love for their sin, and give them a love for Jesus, a love that
flows from the love He first poured out for us.
These last
couple years Rollie was in and out of various hospitals. He successfully avoided moving to an Assisted
Living or Nursing Home. (Don’t be
like that. If and when that time comes
for you, go and let people care for you.
Go, and be a blessing to the staff and other residents.) Rollie was out to Sioux Falls, and back,
several times, doctoring. Through it all
we maintained the connection. The Holy
Spirit kept working on us, strengthening our faith. Various members at ORLC sought to help Rollie. (That was not always easy. If and when the time comes for you to need
help from your fellow members, try to make it easy for them.)
In December, Rollie was back in the
hospital in Custer. He called me to let
me know, and I was able to visit him several times. As is often the case, facing the end of his
life, Rollie had some sins he needed to get off his back. We did private Confession and Absolution
there in his hospital room; it was wonderful.
(By the way, you don’t have to wait till death draws near to seek out
specific forgiveness for sins that particularly trouble you. Individual Confession and Absolution is a
gift God has ready for you, right now. It
is authorized and empowered by Scripture alone, and it is my privilege to
administer. It is also my vow is never
to divulge sins confessed to God through me.)
I last served
Rollie the Lord’s Supper on December 10th. It took a long time for Rollie to be ready to
commune after he reconnected with the Church.
Rollie understood the seriousness of the Supper, for it is, after all,
the Body and Blood of the Crucified and Resurrected Christ, given to us
Christians to eat and to drink. He
struggled to believe it could be for him; he doubted that he was worthy. Which of course, in one sense, is true. Based on our personal goodness, none of us
are worthy to feed on Christ’s Body and Blood.
But Scripture
teaches us that our worthiness for the Supper depends on faith, not works. The soul truly worthy of the Supper is the
soul that trusts God’s promise of forgiveness, given through the Body and Blood
of Christ, in, with and under the bread and wine. God’s Word finally overcame Rollie’s doubt,
and so several times last year, and one last time on December 10th,
Rollie received the Word combined with the Bread and Wine, the medicine of
immortality, that delivers forgiveness and strengthens our unity with Christ
Jesus
I was sad when I
heard that Rollie had died alone. It was
not unusual for me to go for many weeks without hearing from Rollie. None of us knew how serious his decline
was. Christmas time is really busy. So, he died alone.
Except that he
didn’t. The truth is, Rollie was not
alone when he breathed his last. The
Lord God in Holy Baptism had given Rollie the Holy Spirit. Christ through the Water and the Word had
joined Himself to Rollie. By the washing
of rebirth and renewal, God the Father publicly declared that Rollie was His
beloved son, well pleasing in His sight, for Jesus’ sake. And to the end, by His powerful Word, the
Lord strengthened Rollie’s faith, until he died. Heavenly angels bore Rollie’s soul to his new
eternal home, where he rests, with Rita and all those who, by the power of
Scripture Alone, died in faith.
So, we give
thanks to God for making Rollie good soil, and for planting the seed of His
Word in Rollie’s heart, unto life everlasting, Amen.
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