February 14, 2016. Pastor Penny's message is about temptation, from Jesus being tempted in the wilderness by the devil in Luke 4:1-13, to how we are sometimes tempted to forget our identity as Christians. *** Transcript *** We begin this morning in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. A mother was listening to her four-year-old recite the Lord's Prayer and she said, "and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us some email." That's how she heard it. And there was a bumper sticker that said, "and lead us not into temptation, because we'll find it for ourselves." And that unfortunately is too true, isn't it? Temptation is the topic of the gospel story today. And I think when we think of temptations, we think of being tempted to have that second piece of cake or another glass of wine, or maybe watch one more TV show or play one more video game, even though we know we have other things to do. But as we hear about Jesus' temptations, we begin to see that there's something much deeper than a piece of cake involved in temptation. And I think that this story of Jesus' temptation is kind of like an onion. We have to sort of peel away the layers to get to the real message, which I believe God has for us today. The first layer to peel off is what do we do with the devil? Okay, with Satan. I mean the whole story was like a dream, wasn't it? In an instant, Satan showed him all the kingdoms of the world. And so we have to think, who is this Satan? Was it a real person? Was Jesus dreaming this? Was this a way that he personified evil, to explain to his followers this time of testing that he went through? And you know, that makes sense in a lot of ways, because evil sometimes just seems to have a life of its own. We think of all the horrible things that have happened through history when mobs get violent. But it doesn't even take a mob. If you've been at a meeting or at a party, you can see that one or two people can change everything. They can get people turned against someone, criticizing them. And you might walk away from that meeting and think, why did I vote the way I did? I didn't really think that. Or walk away from the party and think, why did I laugh at that? I don't really believe that. So often, evil just seems to have a life of its own. And I think that's often why we personify it and we call it Satan or the devil. Maybe that's what Jesus was doing. But the most important thing to know about Jesus' temptations is to know what happened just before he was tempted. He was baptized. He was baptized, and the Spirit came into him and he heard the voice of the Father saying, you are my Son whom I really love and am really pleased with. And then that same Spirit led him to the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tempted by Satan. And he didn't eat in those 40 days, so at the end he was very hungry. And that's when I think we're most vulnerable, isn't it, when we are empty -- whether it's physically or spiritually -- when we are empty and hungry for something. So that's when the devil comes and says well then, just change this stone into bread. But you know, I think throughout the wilderness tempting, and in this temptation as well, Jesus must have heard the sound of his Father's voice reverberating in his mind and in his heart: but you are my Son. And so he detected that this wasn't the plan that God had for him and that God, who would take care of his beloved Son, would certainly feed him at the right time. And he said no, I won't do it. And he quoted scripture. And he refused to give in. It seemed as though it was a matter of being tempted by food. The second temptation, the devil takes them to see all the kingdoms of the world and says: these are mine. Just worship me and all the authority and glory will belong to you. But again, Jesus had the words of the Father in his head: you are my Son. In you I am well pleased. He knew that God would provide for him, and that at the right time and in the right place he would receive the glory and the authority that he deserved. So he quoted scripture and said no, I won't do it. And it seemed as though it was a matter of being tempted by glory or power. Finally, the third time the devil gets smart and starts quoting scripture to Jesus, figuring that's the way to do it. He says, why don't you (they're on top of the temple) just jump off of this, because right here in the Psalms it says the angels will catch you and you will be protected. But Jesus knew who he was. He did not need this kind of testing of the Father. He knew the Father would care for him and protect him in the way that was best. And so he said no, quoted scripture, and refused. And there it seemed as though it was a matter of safety that he was being tempted. Bread, power, safety... are those really what Jesus was being tempted to do, to give things up for those? Or was it something deeper? Because underlying all of these temptations, and all of the temptations that we feel, is the temptation to forget who we are, the temptation not to remember whose we are, because we heard the same voice in a way when we were baptized: you are sealed by the Holy Spirit and blessed with the cross of Christ forever. You are a child of God. These were the promises given to us. And in every temptation we face -- it may be a temptation about power, it may be a temptation about another piece of cake -- but underneath it all is the temptation to forget our own identity as sons and daughters of God. And we're being pressured so much to forget. Advertisers are always telling us what we lack, what we need, we're not prestigious enough or glamorous enough, or healthy enough. And so we should buy the car, the hair product, the medicine to save us, because we're not enough. Or the politicians are always telling us what's wrong with the country, so that we will vote for them and they will be our saviors and change everything. So often the way to undermine our identities is through fear. I was talking to a pastor who long ago had a call to a very wealthy section of Detroit, and when he came to his first meeting of the council (and this is Missouri Synod so they were all men) he said they sat around the first meeting and they were worried. They were fearful that they wouldn't be able to keep the lights on in the building. And how could they do this? And they were analyzing the budget very thoroughly. Well, this seemed to happen every time they met. So, three months into the call he got up in the pulpit and he -- and his wife was sitting there, and she said I was sinking down when he started talking -- and he said you know, if you want to keep the lights on in this building you just have to tithe. He said we sit at meetings and you talk about nickels and dimes how to keep this $250,000 building going, and you go home to your $400,000 homes. He said just tithe. Well of course there was a meeting right after that, and they said: you can't say that! You can't preach that! And he said yes I can, I'm called by God. That's the truth. Well, eight of the ten leaders of the congregation resigned and threatened to leave. Six of them came back. And with the remaining leaders and families, they were able to build a half million dollar addition to the church within five years -- and then there was another addition after that. It was simply a matter that they forgot who they were. They thought of themselves as business people, trying to keep all the dollars and cents in a row. They forgot that they were chosen people, that they were loved, protected, and that God had died for them. Because that of course is why Jesus was tempted to begin with: because Jesus, who was God, was willing to come and be a person and suffer temptation and be tortured and be killed, so that we would know beyond a doubt how much God loves us, so that we would know that God understands what we're going through and is with us. And Jesus was raised from the dead on Easter so that we would know beyond a doubt that God has the final word, that God's word is stronger than evil, stronger than fear, stronger even than death. Now, I know that our temptations are a lot more complicated than a piece of cake or a video game, that many of us struggle with balancing work and family and hobbies and health and commitment to the church. And I know that as citizens we struggle to balance giving people jobs and taking care of the environment, caring for the needy, keeping our country safe. But in all of this, in all of this, we need to remember who we are, that our identity does not depend on what we have or what we do, or the decisions we make, or even that we fall on our face and fall into temptation. But finally, our identity rests completely on the fact that we are loved, that we are protected, that we are chosen by God, and that we live in the promise that one day we will live out our identity perfectly as daughters and sons of God. Amen. *** Keywords *** 2016, Christ Lutheran Church, Webster Groves, sermon, podcast, transcript, Pastor Penny Holste, Luke 4:1-13, Psalm 91:1-2, 9-16

January 31, 2016. Pastor Keith discusses the text of Luke 4:22-30, in which Jesus is rejected by his own hometown, and relates it to unpleasant truths we face if we don't remember that Jesus is there for us and we instead focus only our ourselves.

January 17, 2016. Guest pastor Tom Schoenherr preaches on the story of the wedding at Cana from the Gospel of John, in which Jesus turns water into wine when the wine gives out. We too can share God's abundance with others when health, faith, or trust in God give out. *** Transcript *** Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Weddings. Weddings are places where the hopes and dreams of many people come together. Weddings are also events where things can go wrong. I presided at a wedding where the bride chose to be late because that's what she normally did. The rings didn't show up. The candles didn't get lit. At this particular wedding at Cana, we are told the wine gave out. In the Greek, that word is lack. So it was lacking. It was finished. There wasn't any more wine. And in that particular time, the wedding reception would last about seven days. So if they're in about the third day, they have a long way to go. And I always struggle with this text. It doesn't mean that everybody should get drunk at weddings, please, nor the bar be open forever. The bar was closed. It was an embarrassment to the family, and I'm sure to the couple. They may not have had very much of their own. So Jesus does something special there. But the wine gave out. It wasn't a life-threatening thing that happened, but Jesus did it for what I said before: the purpose of showing us what abundance God's grace is. I know at our wedding patience gave out. The patience of our fathers in particular. The guys in the wedding party thought it would be fun to take my wife and kidnap her. And so they drove away with her, leaving me at the reception alone. An hour later when they showed up, having gotten lost, my father and Barb's father were there meeting them at the door. It was not a pleasant experience. Those guys in the wedding party still apologize every time they see us. So patience can give out. All kinds of things give out in our lives: health, friends and family who are no longer with us. There can be, as we are also focused upon Martin Luther King, Jr. this weekend, a giving out of a desire to live together as different races and cultures, in harmony and peace. We can even reach that point, where as we see these things giving out in our lives, whatever they may be -- health being one of them -- that we may get the feeling of helplessness. We want to fix it. We want to make things better. We want to work hard in order to make everything turn out right. And that helplessness can lead to panic at times. Finally, the thing that is giving out for us is the giving out of our faith and trust in God. We wonder where is God? Like in the Isaiah text, has God really abandoned us? Does he no longer understand that all kinds of things are giving out in our lives? And where is God? Why isn't God showing up? There's a feeling, even among those presidential hopefuls that are traveling around the country these days, that there is the scarcity. There's all kinds of things giving out, like money, like security, like jobs. And so as we look at our society today, we're thinking wow, everything is giving out. What are we going to do? Mary comes to Jesus and says they have no wine. She is aware that that has given out as well, and she believes that Jesus is the one who can help. But as long as we continue to focus upon that which is giving out and our own ability to make it better and fix it, then we can cut ourselves off from that grace of God that we need so desperately. And we are left with no wine. And only in our fear. And fear seems to be a great commodity these days, fear and suspicion. We see it everywhere we look. Jesus doesn't give up on the people at Cana, and he doesn't abandon us as well, in our deeper need. For in response to his mother's saying they have no wine, Jesus says, "My hour has not yet come." But when Jesus' hour does come, then Jesus' life will be given out. Poured out for you and me, that we may have life abundantly, that we may know the promise of a God who comes to enter into the very real problems of our lives where things keep running out, giving out. It is in that Lord Jesus Christ that we have the abundance of God's grace, grace upon grace that gives us new life and hope. That grace never runs out, never gives out. It continues to flow and be abundant in our lives always. And again, Jesus invites us to the table again today, where he is the host. And he is the one who stands with us in the midst of our pains and our struggles, our fears, our suspicions, in order that he might take them all on himself and return to us the abundance of his love, the abundance of his forgiveness and healing. In Jesus Christ, there is hope for us. Everything doesn't have to, as it all is eventually running out. We know that in Jesus Christ there is a new age, a new one who holds onto us that we can hold onto in our time of struggle and need. And he also fills us with that promise and that spirit, in sending us out to be the people of God in the world, to share that abundance of love and life and joy with everyone. And I wonder what could it be this week that you might do that would show the abundance of God's grace? Students going to Guatemala, certainly a way in which that grace of God, that love of God is shown to people as we sit and listen with them. But what does it take? What could we do? You might think about that. It could be a smile. There are lots of people walking around with frowns these days, but that smile might be a way to connect with someone about the grace of God. To sit and listen to someone, and just give your time. To be patient with someone. God's abundance of grace and love counters the abundance of fear, and of the giving out of everything that seems to be so dear to us in our lives. I wonder if Jesus had a dream that day. A dream that there would be that time when all of God's people would be drawn together to live in harmony. A dream that there would be enough for everyone so that all people could thrive and survive. A dream that all races and cultures might be able to live together in peace. We have been gifted with the abundance of God's grace and love, and we are sent in order that we might be that presence of God, that presence of joy, that presence of abundance of God's grace for all of God's people. May we be filled with that spirit of new life and hope for all the world. In Jesus' name, amen. *** Keywords *** 2016, Christ Lutheran Church, Webster Groves, sermon, podcast, transcript, Tom Schoenherr, John 2:1-11, Wedding at Cana

January 3, 2016. A new year is a time for new beginnings. We make resolutions -- to have better behavior, to lead a healthier lifestyle. It's a time to start over. Pastor Keith preaches on how Jesus coming into the world was a new beginning too, and how this is relevant to our world today. We may not be optimistic in the new year, given the terrorist attacks, refugee crisis, racial violence, floods, and other struggles we've faced in the past year. But we're reminded again of God's love for us, and how his word is stronger. *** Transcript *** We continue to talk about our reading from John in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen. Well, this week a typical greeting has been "Happy New Year." It's the proper thing to say this week as we've turned the calendar page and started a new year. We've drawn the previous year to a close and now we start dating things with a new number -- that time when you have to remember not to write 2015 anymore, but to start to write 2016 when you date something, the time for new beginnings. Not just for pages in account books, but as we consider the difference that the new year will make for us, we're more likely to think perhaps of better behaviors we could have for our own care. We figure out ways to maybe lead a more healthy lifestyle in the new year. We want to get started on the right track, and so we resolve that we're going to do this, and call those resolutions -- things that we're going to do differently in the new year, because it's a new beginning, a new time to start over. In our gospel today, the first verses of John we've heard are about new beginnings also. We hear John write, "In the beginning was the Word." And as we hear that, we remember that we've heard some words like that before. If we go back to the very first page of the Bible it says, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." So, John seems to be making a bold statement here, quoting from the ancient scriptures to start writing his gospel. But it's no accident. He's being bold, because the occasion calls for it. He's quoting Genesis as he talks about the beginning of the ministry in the life of Jesus, because this is a new beginning for the world. History is starting over here. Humanity is starting over here. This is a new beginning of God's involvement in the creation. John doesn't just want to tell us this. He wants us to have a deeper knowledge, a feeling for what it means to have a whole new beginning to the world. It's a new promise, a new living promise from God for a new beginning of human history. And so, just as the whole physical being of the world came at the first word of God, when God spoke and the world was created, now a re-creation for the world and for humanity comes in the person of Jesus. This is the new word of God. Bible scholars have noticed for a while now how the first part of the book of John is structured as seven different signs. The first sign you know is when Jesus turned the water into wine at Cana in Galilee. And the last sign, the seventh one, is when he raises Lazarus from the dead, who was the brother of Mary and Martha. That last sign though so angered the priests and the authorities of his day that they start to plot to kill him from that point. And they do. But Jesus rises from the dead, and that's the eighth sign. It's a sign of a brand new beginning. Jews typically thought of things coming in groups of seven. Seven was a complete kind of number. There were seven days in the week, capped by the Sabbath day. So, a week was complete after the seventh day. Now Jesus was raised on the eighth day, which meant that John is telling us that this is the first day of the week, and it's a brand new beginning. It's a sign that his resurrection is on par with the creation of the world. This is a new creation happening. There was a creation and the world came to be. Now, there's a creation of the new world because Jesus has not only come and died, but he's also risen for all of us. This is indeed new life for the world. And in John's writing, the place of creation is the same as well. I don't think it's just any accident. We usually think of the Garden of Eden as the place where things were beginning, and where creation happened as humanity came into the world. But where was Jesus raised from the dead, where did Jesus talk with the women, where did the disciples go to see the empty tomb? It was in a garden. This likely again is by intention. John wants us to know Jesus is the beginning of the new creation of the world. So we have these meaningful signs of a new creation, and we're at the beginning of a new year, but we may not be all that optimistic, even though it talks here about new beginnings. After the difficulty we've had the past year or so with troubles, with terrorist attacks, and hearing the plight of refugees, and unparalleled gun violence, and racial injustice, and major floods now in our area to end the year, we're ready for a new year and a new beginning. But here we are on the 3rd of January already, and we wonder how will it go? Will it be so new or will it just be more of the same? Our resolutions may be intact so far, but after three days into the year, we know that almost always it's just a matter of time until we break them. We know we don't let the resurrection and the new beginning of Jesus influence us all the time. So where are we at then, in these beginning days of 2016? Does John have relevancy for us? Or is what he says just some sort of a mystical hope that comes from his sometimes-sounding, kind of "otherworldly" dreams? And is John just kind of giving what's more dream talk that really doesn't hit us where we are? Well, we take two things in particular from John to remind us that the word still has bearing for us. For one thing, the fact that it is the word that comes to us is a good thing. The word is the essence of God. The powerful word that created the world is incarnated in Jesus. Jesus is that very power of God in the world. Jesus is also the language of God. We communicate through words. And so Jesus is there, in with our communications. We use words to talk, and they convey meanings between us. We have Jesus, who allows us to know the meaning of God. Because we have words, we can talk with people. We can have meaningful discussions. We can work on things together. When God wanted to thwart human beings, when they were about to build the tower so high that God was not pleased, the way God stopped them was to stop letting people understand one another, and he messed up their languages so that they couldn't understand one another anymore and allow them to communicate. Now in Jesus is the correction for that. Jesus is the Word. Jesus shows us that God is still communicating with us. A couple of years ago, you likely noticed that many of the UCC churches had banners in front of their churches saying "God is still speaking," comma, then an ellipse. It ended in that way to show that indeed God, the word of God, is ongoing. We need to remember that in Jesus, God is still speaking to us. He has shown us a way to change the world. The signs Jesus did when he was on earth were about healing, restoring life, and bringing goodness and wholeness to life. Jesus is still about that as we are his people in the world. God is still speaking, as we let God speak through us and bring healing and life and goodness to the world around us. The second way that connection is made between God and these words to bring hope and goodness to our world in our times is to remember that word from the lesson that "The Word became flesh and dwelt among us." God didn't just beam out some radio signals, hoping that we would have the right kind of radio to know that he loves us. God sent his son in the flesh to say: I love you. Jesus was saying that in his ministry, but it wasn't always received very well. As we said before, the greater response to him was to be rid of him and to try to silence him permanently. And they did that with all their might, and they killed him. In doing that, he received the brunt of our human sinful tendency to want to go on our own way. Our sin rejected Jesus and put him on a cross, even as he was trying to bring life to us. But he was God's word in the flesh on the cross. In the flesh he died, and he died for us. He was God's communication to us of the depth and extent of God's love for us. He was the new word of God to us. He showed us that there's nothing that God wouldn't do, no place God wouldn't go, no suffering God wouldn't endure, to make the point of God's deep love for us. It was God's word in the flesh that showed the extent of God's thorough love for us. He wants there to be no doubt that we are God's beloved children, worthy of honor and love. We need to know this good, saving, loving word of God. But sometimes words come in one ear and go out the other, so we need more than words. We need a sign for it also, so we can be reminded of it again and again and again, when we forget and go our own way, that God's love is so deep for us. So as this morning we receive Leah Elise in baptism, in her baptism we are reminded of the baptism of each one of us. That's the sign that God became flesh, comes to us through the waters of new creation, to make us part of his new creation as well. Baptism is that sign, and it's a way to remember that God indeed has loved us so much. We think back to that sign: "I was baptized. That's true for me." Just as we witness it for Leah today, it's a reminder too for all of us that God in the flesh has come to love me that much. Water seems to have always been key to God. In the beginning, water and earth had to be separated. When the world went bad, God used water to destroy it with the great flood. When God chose the take it back then, he had Noah in the ark with his family to be the ones to start creation and humanity over again. Our fonts now have eight sides normally, to remember the number of people in Noah's family, to remember how God's water recreates the world and brings a new world to us. God's word is stronger than any floodwaters. It can can even hold back the Red Sea when necessary, as Moses found out. God is stronger than all things in creation, and uses those things in creation like water as a sign of life, not a thing of destruction. It's that power of God that's shown in the first creation, and in the second creation with Jesus, that's with us by virtue of baptism. That's why we can have hope, even when it seems like the new year is daunting. That's why we can have faith, when a little one is born into it. The one who created the world will continue to create and give new life. All the baptized have been sealed with the mark of baptism, according to John, to receive the inheritance from God. He claims Leah and all of us who are baptized, to be receivers of this inheritance of goodness and grace, and then to be speakers and assurers of this word, as we are the bearers of this hope to the people around us in the world. God's word became flesh in Jesus, but God's word becomes flesh in us also. As we act on his behalf, doing the kind of good that Jesus did on earth, God is showing that God isn't ephemeral, out there, distant somewhere. But God is in the world, bringing about the new creation. And the God who created the world in the beginning has created again in Jesus, and God continues to create in our time. We have that hope as we encounter challenges. And the promised now have an enduring relationship that God has made by the sign of baptism for all of us. Amen. Now, may the peace of God which passes all human understanding keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen. *** Keywords *** 2016, Christ Lutheran Church, Webster Groves, sermon, podcast, transcript, Keith Holste, John 1:1-18