The Festival of the Reformation 2024

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The history in Europe is of church decline through tyrannical governments.

But the church in America has declined with only mild hostility from the state. What has caused the decline here? Americans view church membership with less loyalty than a gym, supermarket, or airline preference. Convenience and amenities triumph over doctrine. The politics of the community matter more than the confession of faith. In the middle ages, backs were whipped in penance, and we call it darkness. Today votes are whipped, and we call it democracy. This is not reformation.

We cannot celebrate the Reformation today without acknowledging the need for reformation in our own congregation, and for each of us to confess the need for reformation in his own life….

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LCMS International Center Matins Sermon

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The day we brought him home, I began a routine every night at my son’s bedtime. After our prayers and before the blessing, I say to him, “James Julius, you are my beloved son; in you I am well pleased.” It’s adapted from the words of the Father at Christ’s baptism. Today’s Bible reading says the Father now identifies us with His beloved Son: The Father qualifies us, or makes us sufficient, to share in Christ’s inheritance; He transfers us into His beloved Son’s kingdom.

Well it’s a great thought, and they’re easy words to say to an infant: “James Julius, you are my beloved son; in you I am well pleased.” A long time goes by, night after night after night, and I remain well pleased. But of course the time inevitably came when the Old Adam gained the upper hand. It had been a rough evening. Rebellion, and raised voices. I was disappointed in him. I was angry. I was not well-pleased. Did you ever see The Incredibles? Great movie. “I’m not happy, Bob. NOT HAPPY!”

What then? Do you still say the words? ...

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Have We Failed?

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Christians are now a minority in America. When I mentioned this somewhere else I was speaking, someone asked me afterwards, “Does this mean we’ve failed?”

What do you think? If you look at our statistics, the Missouri Synod is in decline, and doesn’t seem to be turning around. How’s the Ohio District doing? What about your own congregation? If the answer is, “Not great,” then does that mean you failed? Have we failed? …

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Sanctity of Human Life 2022

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The March for Life, however others view it, is a march behind the cross. The liturgical statement of the crucifix leading us both towards the altar and later out of the church is the statement that this alone is the good that overcomes the world’s evil….

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Here I Stand

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We’re not Lutherans because of Luther. We’re labeled that because it’s our stand too. Five centuries later we are still called to this confession: “I am bound by the Scriptures,” “My conscience is captive to the Word of God.”

Today we have to get ready to confess. Christians are now a minority in America. We are about to find out if we really believe the Creed we just said. Jesus warned in today’s Gospel that the wolf is coming. “The wolf catches the sheep and scatters them.”

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March for Life sermon 2019

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Everything that lives has life from God. St. Paul told the pagan philosophers on Mars Hill, “In Him we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28).

That doctrine undergirds our confession at the nation’s high court today. All human beings are created equal – because all human beings are created. The limbs that God has joined together, let no abortion tear asunder. That baby is living, no matter how small. To be pro-life is also then to embrace that life. Thus we also confess, “That baby, no matter his color, no matter what drugs or alcohol have done to his brain, that baby is loved by God and so by the people of God. He is welcome in our churches, and in our homes. And the teenager who is pregnant, and scared: she is welcome in our churches, and in our homes.”

We are not here to protest. We are here to confess. And we leave here ready to live in, with, and under that confession.

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