Lisa and I returned from Oregon late last Tuesday evening. A dear member of our parish passed away, which occupied both my mind and time. Also, I had a wedding and a baptism on the weekend so I was not able to post on the tour. Now it is an ordinary Tuesday afternoon and I have time to give a brief overview. 

We arrived in Portland on Wednesday afternoon, rented a car and visited my grandparents in Newberg. My grandfather asked if I wanted a beer, and I reluctantly accepted. I did not want my first beer to be a Milwaukee’s Best. Apparently, the beer culture in Oregon has influenced him. He gave me a wheat beer from Weinhard’s Brewing. Not the best, but more than I could have imagined. After our visit we went into Portland to meet Doug and Karen. Doug is Lisa’s brother and Karen is his wife. Doug likes beer. We enjoyed a couple of his homebrews and then he opened up The Abyss by Deschutes Brewing. It is a limited Imperial Porter, difficult to find. We broke the wax seal on the bottle and fell into the Abyss. It was a wonderfully complex beer, full of oak, bourbon, and vanilla tones.

Thursday we headed toward Edgefield McMenamins. On the way we stopped at Main St brewery in Gresham, OR for a taster tray and lunch. They are changing their location, name and beer labels, but it was a good stop. Edgefield is just short of heaven. McMenamins has dozens of brew pubs throughout Oregon. Edgefield has a hotel, spa, golf course, distillery, winery, shops, brewery, etc. The ladies had a few hours at the spa and Doug and I enjoyed the golf course and the various places that sold their beers. We bought t-shirts.

Friday we headed down the gorge, stopping in Stevenson, WA to visit Walking Man Brewing. They were not open, but the brewer was gracious enough to show us their system and give us some samplers. We bought a growler and t-shirts. From there we went to Hood River. I used to run around Hood River some 15 years ago. We visited Double Mountain Brewery, a split from Full Sail. Hop Lava, an IPA, was the most delicious beer of the trip, IMO. We bought t-shirts. Then we went to Full Sail for appetizers and a beer. I ran into people I knew 15 years ago. Small world. We bought t-shirts. Then we had dinner at 6th St. Bistro, which is where I worked when I lived there. 

Saturday we drove through the Cascades and made our way to Bend. We stopped in Richmond for lunch at Cascade Lakes Brewing. We did not buy t-shirts, although the beer taster was tasty. Then we made it to Bend. The city is a bit like an Aspen or Vail, filled with pretentious…. A Bite of Bend, a food festival, was being held downtown. The food was delicious. We visited Bend Brewing where Tonya Carter, an accomplished female brewer does her work. Excellent beer. We bought t-shirts. We also visited Silver Moon Brewing and Deschutes Brewing. I bought a Black Butte Porter t-shirt. It is the best porter in the world (Eric, sorry but I did not bring one back for you.). 

Sunday we drove toward the coast. We stopped in Corvallis, my old college stomping grounds, and walked around Oregon St. campus. Then we had lunch at Block 15 Brewing. After lunch, we made our way toward Rogue in Newport. We stopped in Siletz to visit their brewery. You have to check out their website. Siletz is in the middle of nowhere, a small logging town. We were warmly received in the tasting room and enjoyed ourselves. We spent the evening, visiting Rogue Brewery and eating at Mo’s. Oh yeah, I bought t-shirts.

Monday we returned to Portland. Doug and I braved Tugboat, which was closed. Tugboat is essential for any brewery tour of Oregon. That is all I have to say about that. 

The weather was incredible and the beer was delicious. Oregon is one of the most beautiful places in the world. Portland, the Gorge, Hood River, the Cascades, Bend, the Valley, Corvallis, the Coast, and Newport are breath-taking. Doug and I may put together a tour of these breweries. However, we would find more wife-friendly activities. They grew weary of our tastings… go figure!

The program has returned. It is the finest Christian radio program in the US. White Horse Inn is also good, but my preference is for Pr. Wilken and Mr. Schwarz. Please check it out from 3-5 CST and contribute. It will strengthen your Christian faith.

www.piratechristianradio.com

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Today we commemorate two of the greatest saints in the history of Christianity, Peter, apostle to the Jews, and Paul, apostle to the Gentiles. In our prayer room we have windows that honor them together, St. Paul with the sword stands beside St. Peter with the keys. Tradition holds that they were martyred together in the city of Rome under Emperor Nero on this day, June 29, in the year of 67 A.D. The date and year are not certain, but the circumstances of their deaths quite sure. St. Paul was a Roman Citizen and so his death came through beheading by a sword. St. Peter was not a Roman Citizen, which meant he really suffered. St. Peter was crucified upside down. The Acts of Peter, an early non-biblical text, holds that Peter requested his crucifixion to be upside down so as not to be equated with Jesus. Our paraments are red in observance of the spilled blood of these martyrs, witnesses to Jesus Christ even to the death. Today we honor Peter and Paul because, as our Augsburg Confession teaches, “…the saints are to be remembered so that we may strengthen our faith when we see how they experienced grace and how they were helped by faith.” 

Peter definitely experienced grace and was helped by faith. During our Lord’s ministry, Peter was often impetuous, quick to speak and slow to listen. He put his foot in his mouth more than once. He acted rashly time after time. Yet Jesus was always for Peter, even when Peter was not always for Jesus. In our Gospel we find Peter at his best. There was widespread confusion about Jesus. Some, even Herod, thought Jesus might be John the Baptist raised from the dead. Others thought Jesus might be Elijah, the forerunner to the Messiah. Still others thought Him to be Jeremiah or another prophet. People were as confused then as they are now. Today people turn Jesus into a simple teacher, a purveyor of wise sayings, or a self-esteem guru. Some reduce Him to a moral example or dismiss him as a magician. Some have their own personal Jesus that becomes whoever they want Him to be. The confusion about Jesus remains.

Jesus wanted to know if Peter and the disciples shared such confusion. Jesus wanted to know, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” Peter responded with unusual clarity, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Peter confessed that Jesus was the unique Son of God. He was the only true God, beyond our control or confusion. Peter was right. In an unusual turn, Jesus commends Peter for a statement that came out of his mouth. “Peter, blessed are you.”  Peter was blessed because he had experienced the grace of God to know Jesus for who He was, is, and ever shall be. Of course, Peter’s confession was not the result of his own rational understanding or emotional response. Rather, Peter’s unusual clarity was the product of revelation from the Father. This was necessary because Peter was not otherwise capable of figuring Jesus out. Nobody is. Paul, our other saint of the day, testifies “No one can say, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ except by the Holy Spirit.” Peter was indeed blessed by the Father through the Spirit to confess the truth about Jesus. He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. Peter experienced the grace of God and was helped by God to make the confession of faith on which rests the foundation of the whole Christian Church. Upon the rock of Peter’s true confession of faith about Jesus, the Holy Christian Church is built. This confession of Jesus is the key that opens up the kingdom of heaven to repentant sinners, people in need of salvation from death and hell. Peter, blessed are you by the grace of God.

Unfortunately, Peter was not always a confessor of Jesus. He was also a denier of our Lord. Peter, apostle to the Jews and the Great Denier. He denied Jesus three times in His hour of need. Cursing and swearing, Matthew tells us, Peter would not confess Jesus to the crowd. Then, when the cock finally crowed, Peter wept bitterly. He had forsaken the Son of God, the object of his faith. He had rejected Jesus, His Savior. Peter must have suffered gut-wrenching shame as he witnessed Jesus’ crucifixion. Imagine the guilt. Still, as Jesus lay dead in the cold, still dark of the grave, Peter did not run away. He was not overcome by despair. He remained. He could go nowhere else. So when the shock of the empty grave roused the women and the disciples, there was Peter to receive the greeting of Jesus, His Lord. And Jesus remained faithful to faithless Peter, forgiving and restoring him, even sending him out as an apostle, a witness to the Jesus’ death and resurrection, God’s redemptive act for humanity. Peter received the grace of God and was strengthened in faith, even to the point of an upside down crucifixion in Rome.

St. Paul also experienced the grace of God and the strengthening of faith, although in his own way. Peter was the Great Denier, but Paul was the Great Persecutor.  Paul, apostle to the Gentiles and the Great Persecutor. Initially, Paul absolutely hated Jesus and His disciples. Paul hated them so much that he smiled when the stones were hurled at Stephen and killed him. That was not enough to satiate his blood lust for the followers of Jesus, however. So Paul pursued them, hoping to track them down and give the Christian heretics their just punishment. Paul, the Great Persecutor, spitting out his murderous threats on the Road to Damascus. He never could have suspected what would happen. 

The Risen and Ascended Jesus confronted him, knocking him flat, down and out, and striking him blind. “Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?” How does one answer that question? Obviously, Paul did not believe that Jesus was the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the Living God. He had no true faith and so he acted like one who rejected Jesus and His followers. What else could anyone expect? But Paul then obeyed Jesus’ instructions, making his way to Ananias in Damascus, where he received his commission, regained his sight, and gained his faith by the Holy Spirit in the waters of his Holy Baptism. It did not take long for Paul to sound a lot like Peter, proclaiming Jesus as the Son of God. God intervened by grace, giving Paul faith in Jesus, belief he could never have imagined or conjured up.

St. Peter, the Great Denier, and St. Paul, the Great Persecutor, were taught by God to confess Jesus. Through faith in Jesus, their denials and persecutions were forgiven. Even their ordinary, daily denials and persecutions were taken away. The cross of Jesus destroyed all sin, great and small. The resurrection of Jesus Christ meant there was victory over death itself. This was the content of their faith. Jesus was the object of their faith. With such faith in Jesus, there was nothing left to fear. The love of Jesus Christ for them was too great. Jesus died for them. He rose from the grave so they might share in His resurrection. If Jesus rose from death and the grave, then why should they be afraid any longer. Their lives were now consumed by God’s grace for them made known in Jesus Christ. They knew Jesus’ constant forgiveness. They knew the power of His resurrection. So by God’s grace at work in them, they remained steadfast in their confession of Jesus as the Son of God, even to the point of death. For this, Augustine preached long ago on this day, “And so we celebrate this day made holy for us by the apostles’ blood. Let us embrace what they believed, their life, their labors, their sufferings, their preaching, and their confession of faith.” Indeed. By God’s grace, their faith, their life, their labors, their sufferings, their preaching, and their confession were all about Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, Savior of the World.

This morning, let us embrace our Lord Jesus Christ in our faith, our life, our labors, our sufferings, our preaching, and our confession. After all, like St. Peter, we are guilty of our denials. Ours may not be as shameful as his, but they are denials all the same. We deny our Lord Jesus Christ when our voices do not join in our public confession of faith during the Divine Service. Why would we rather sleep, work, make up our own confession or babble about nothing? Why would we choose to waste such an opportunity with silly, vain pursuits? Sure, we can justify everything and anything, but we ought to weep like St. Peter. Other times we deny our Lord by choosing to keep silent when others speak with confusion about Jesus. Don’t worry, we will not hear a cock crow. And our silence guarantees we will never suffer a martyrdom by embarrassment. Lord, deliver us from such martyrdom! We also deny our Lord when we silently accommodate to the patterns, thinking, and spirituality of this world. We even deny our Lord when we remain unrepentant about our sins. We should feel their shame, but choose to make excuses. Our Holy Baptism calls us to constant, loud confession of our Lord Jesus Christ in our thoughts, words, and deeds. Yet we often remain silent out of self-preservation, smug arrogance, or convenience.

If our denials weren’t enough, we are also guilty of persecuting God’s people, like St. Paul. Worse than Paul, however, we are able to both confess with the same mouth our Christian faith and breathe out murderous threats against one another. We may not kill the body, but we damage souls. We act with pettiness, lack of humility, and desire for control. We persecute our family with our selfishness and short-temper. We want our wants and wishes at any expense. Don’t worry, Jesus is not going to knock us flat on our back and blind us. We can continue to play the martyr, persecuting others and still playing the victim when it works to our advantage. Our Holy Baptism calls us to humble, loving service to one another. Yet we often choose to persecute, holding grudges and acting without mercy. This is not the way of our Lord Savior Jesus Christ.

Lord, forgive us. Forgive us for our denials. Forgive us for persecuting one another. Please know this: if our Lord forgave Peter and Paul, He will also forgive us. Jesus is always faithful, even while we are faithless. This is what Jesus is all about. He is about forgiving sinners. He is about restoration and new life. The Great Denier and the Great Persecutor are saints by the grace of Jesus Christ. In the grace of your Holy Baptism, you too are saints by the grace of our Lord. Even this morning, young Hannah Marie was made a saint in those Holy Waters. Jesus made her His own child. The responsibility set before Cameron and Cindy and her sponsors is to always point her to Jesus Christ and His infinite love. When she denies our Lord by her actions or persecutes you with her word or attitude, your calling is to direct her to Jesus, the one who forgives and restores by the power of His word. Jesus the Christ, the Son of the Living God, is the one who makes saints out of sinners through the gift of His forgiveness and grace. Thanks be to God for Jesus Christ who makes saints out of sinners like St. Peter, St. Paul, St. Hannah Marie and the rest of us!

This is the now official title of our vacation. Lisa and I leave for Portland tomorrow, where we will meet her brother, Doug, and his wife, Karen. From Portland, we will go to McMenamin’s Edgefield for our first stop. Then we will make our way down the gorge to Hood River for a visit to Full Sail Brewery. We will then drive over Mt. Hood and through the Cascade Range to Bend. In Bend we will visit Deschutes Brewery and Bend Brewing Company. The final leg of our trip takes us to Newport and Rogue Brewing. We will return to Portland for our flight back to Tulsa. I’m sure, however, that we will visit some of the breweries there, including, but not limited to, Bridgeport Brewing. Every stop will be overnight, sometimes sleeping at the brewery itself. My parents are here to watch the kids, which means we get adult time! Needless to say, we are excited. I will offer a detailed report upon our return, including pictures and a list of filed charges. Ein prosit, ein prosit…

Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.

Lisa was cleaning out closets this week and came across a couple letters in one of my old boxes. I wrote one of them in the seventh grade. It was one of those “what do you want to be when you grow up” assignments. If all my dreams had come true, then I would be playing second base for the Philadelphia Phillies after graduating from the University of Texas, married to a woman with 38-32-38 dimensions, (I actually wrote that down, as if I knew what it meant, to which the teacher commented, “Good luck”), and be the father of two kids, a boy and a girl. I also said my personal goals were to be a good husband and father and to be a religious man, whatever that means. The entire letter is a bit comical, if not embarrassing. What else can you expect from a seventh-grade boy? 

The other letter is not so funny. It was from my father and today is Father’s Day, so it seems appropriate. The letter is filled with a father’s sorrow and disappointment over a rebellious, ungrateful son. It was written twenty years ago, when I was just about to graduate high school. Like many 17 year old boys, I was immature, selfish, and remarkably stupid. I had made some poor decisions, which were hurtful to my parents, not that I really cared. My dad was in Virginia, taking classes, and wrote to express his love and concern. Toward the end of the letter, he wrote, “You’re at a difficult age and you have some ideas about life, religion, and your future that you need to test. Many young adults choose to leave home and the church at the same time. If you decide not to be active in the church, you’ll be making the worst decision of your life.” My father realized that leaving home was inevitable. He would always be my father, but I was soon to be on my own, regardless of my level of maturity. More crucial, however, was my relationship to the church. If I was so spiritually immature as to not understand my daily need for the mercy of my Heavenly Father, then I would certainly live like a fool. He was right. My decision to disregard the faith and not be active in the church was the worst decision of my life. At the time I was incapable of understanding the truth of what he was saying. A huge log was jammed in my eyes and I could not even see the words on the page. To be quite honest, I do not even remember reading the letter. I’m glad now that my mother saved it. In matters of faith and life, my sinful flesh was in complete control, although I lived under the delusion that I was free. The reality was that I was a prisoner to my sinful self. I was an immature adolescent; arrogant, selfish, and stupid, incapable of understanding my need for God’s mercy. 

In our Gospel Lesson, our Lord Jesus addresses his disciples who, in matters of faith, were like adolescents, not knowing as much as they might have imagined. They needed to be guided and directed. They needed to be taught. Jesus did not want them to remain children forever, so He points them toward maturity in faith. But in matters of faith, growing up is not easy. Jesus makes this clear.  He tells the them to love all people, even their enemies. They are to forgive. They are to give themselves to serve others with selfless humility. They are to imitate the mercy of their Heavenly Father. Jesus is clear and straightforward, which is important when talking to an adolescent. He tells them, “Judge not, and you will not be judged; condemn not, and you will not be condemned; forgive, and you will be forgiven; give, and it will be given to you.” The immature, unfaithful person judges and condemns, withholding forgiveness and charity. Like an adolescent, he is full of empty pride and lives under the illusion of self-sufficiency and self-righteousness. He measures his own righteousness with generosity, but is strict and unyielding in his measurement of others. He is incapable of seeing anything beyond himself and cannot see the dangerous path of his own sinful blindness. He is so full of confidence and yet so remarkably dim-witted in faith and life. Like a 17-year old boy who thinks he knows more than his father, the arrogant adolescent of faith thinks he knows more than God. He dismisses God’s Word. He chooses not to listen. He notices the most minute sins and iniquities of others while ignoring his own gross immorality. Jesus teaches that such attitudes and behaviors are incompatible with being a disciple because they do not grasp the Father’s mercy. They are the attitudes and behaviors of a rebellious youth. To act out of selfishness, pride, arrogance, judgment, blame, criticism, and condemnation is to remain a foolish adolescent in matters of faith, always aging but never maturing. The Christian life is not to be marked by such immaturity.

Yet how often does our faith look like that of the immature adolescent? In our relationships we are often merciless torturers of one another. Consider how we withhold forgiveness or place conditions on our mercy. We like to think we have a right to judge and condemn, as if we are God Himself. We are generous in the measurements of ourselves, but strict and unyielding in our measurements of others. We hold tight to our grievances against our spouse. We know their weaknesses, which we do not really forgive and we certainly do not forget. We tuck away their sin to use when it will benefit us the most. When that time comes, when our anger is aroused or our patience is worn thin, we hammer them harshly with our judgment. This is how we think we win, but marriage is not a contest. Our children also become victims of our righteousness. They irritate us or fail to meet our expectations so we point out the specks in their eyes. We lash out. Perhaps we condemn them by simply ignoring them, not considering them worthy of our time and attention. We offer them no real direction in matters of life and faith for we have more important things to do. For some, our parents remain objects of our condemnation. They were not perfect and did things that annoyed or hurt us. Rather than seeking reconciliation or finding forgiveness, we keep venomous hatred in our hearts. We place our blame and feel better about ourselves. Merciless behavior even exists in the church. We confess together our faith in “One God, the Father Almighty” and pray together, “Our Father,” testifying to our unity in Christ. Still we can be petty, mean, and unloving, holding grudges against those who cross us. We often act as if our wants and desires are the only important thing in our merciless pursuit of being served. Jesus calls us to forgive and give and we keep and take. We ask for the Lord to have mercy on us and then refuse to have mercy on one another. In the church, in our homes, everywhere in our lives, we are called to be merciful. Yet too often we remain adolescents, always aging, but never maturing.

Growing up is hard to do. Jesus warns us that such behavior is incompatible with the Gospel. Don’t Jesus’ words make you cringe? They make me uncomfortable.  “With the same measure that you use, it will be measured back to you.” If you insist on judging, then know that you will be judged by the same standard. Do you not see the plank in your own eye? Will you judge your spouse and not see that you are a great sinner? Will you condemn your parents as if they are to blame for your problems? Will you judge your brothers and sisters in Christ because they don’t meet your expectations? Will you condemn others and not acknowledge that you too have failed? Will you find fault with everyone else? It is easy to do, if you try. But is this the kind of mercy that God has shown you? Is this how your Heavenly Father treats you? Luther cautions us in the Large Catechism, “Just as we daily sin much against God, and yet He forgives everything through grace, so we, too, must ever forgive our neighbor who does us injury, violence, and wrong, shows malice toward us, and so on. If, therefore, you do not forgive, then do not think that God forgives you.” Ouch! In other words, show the same mercy you have received. 

Consider the mercy that your Heavenly Father has shown you. He created you without any merit or worthiness in you, entirely out of his fatherly divine goodness and mercy. You live, move, and have your being by the mercy of the Heavenly Father. In His mercy, He has even redeemed you through His precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. In His rich mercy, the Father sent His Son into this sinful, fallen world to rescue us from sin, death, and hell. God did not sit in the heavens, distantly judging us for our sin, although our sin earned us condemnation to hell. Rather, He took the necessary action to bring us the hope of the forgiveness of sins and salvation. The Son entered the womb of Mary, enduring the humility of the cradle and the shame of the cross. There at Calvary, on the beam of the cross, the suffering, bleeding, dying Jesus is set before the Father with the Spirit, pleading, “Have mercy on them… Do not judge them… Do not condemn them… forgive them.” Jesus spoke this way for you, your spouse, your children, your parents, your enemy, and all people. Jesus bore the judgment and condemnation we have deserved. He took our place so that His mercy might be made known to us. He died for us so that we can have forgiveness of sins. You and I did not deserve this. We did not earn such love. We did not merit so great a salvation. Listen to Luther, “For should he give unto us out of and according to our merits, he would have to give us only hell-fire and eternal condemnation. Therefore what he gives us in our possessions and honor, is given out of pure mercy. He sees that we are captives of death; but he is merciful and gives us life. He sees that we are the children of hell; but he is merciful and gives us heaven. He sees that we are poor, naked and exposed, hungry and thirsty; but he is merciful, and clothes, feeds and gives us to drink, and satisfies us with all good things. Thus, whatever we have for the body or spirit, he gives us out of mercy, and pours his blessings over us and into us.” This is the mercy of the Father for you. Jesus Christ is God’s mercy and through faith you possess salvation from death and hell. Even today God is merciful to you, forgiving your sins in the gift of His Word and His Holy Sacrament. He forgives and gives, mercifully removing the judgment and condemnation of your sin. The Father is always and daily pouring out the mercy of His forgiveness in Christ. 

So on this Father’s Day, do not remain an adolescent, always aging but never maturing. It is embarrassing to see physically mature adults acting and dressing like little children. It is just as embarrassing to see Christians acting mercilessly with selfish pettiness. Christians, on this Father’s Day, be like your Father in Heaven, showing mercy. Offer forgiveness. You have received it. Offer yourself. Christ offered Himself for you. Be patient with yourself and with others. Your Lord has been patient with you. Do not stand at a distance, looking down your nose at others with judgment and condemnation. Draw close to other sinners, people like yourself who struggle, and point them to the comfort of the Father’s mercy made known in Jesus Christ. After all, it is in Jesus alone that God has been merciful to you and He is the only hope for mercy in the midst of this fallen world. May the Spirit of Christ grant us the grace to treat others with the same mercy we have received.

Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

This one is crazy. This is what the Pharisees and scribes were saying to themselves. He is crazy as a loon and so are the people around him. Look, tax collectors and sinners were coming to hear him teach. And he didn’t care. No reputable Rabbi would enroll such students! Even worse, this nut job was eating with them. No righteous person would dare dine with such losers! The tax collectors were dishonest, greedy liars. The Pharisees and scribes had a special hatred for them. In their minds such people were considered no better than thieves or robbers, grubbing money that did not belong to them. Then there were the other sinners. These sinners were no ordinary, respectable sinners. They were sexual sinners, the worst kind. Probably prostitutes.  Thieves and prostitutes, these are the kind of people hang out with this crazy man. The Pharisees and scribes are so full of repulsion and disgust they can’t even utter his name. “This man receives sinners and eats with them,” they grumble with loathing.

This crazy man, Jesus, hears them and responds with a parable. Jesus asks them, “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? Really? Not one man in that crowd would leave the ninety-nine in the open country, a place of great peril, to search out the one lost sheep. Why would anyone risk the ninety-nine for the one? It doesn’t make sense. The parable gets more bizarre. Rather than returning the lost one to the flock, the shepherd places it on his shoulders and rejoices as he takes it home. There he calls all his friends and neighbors together to tell them about the lost sheep he has found. Who cares? It is just one miserable little sheep. Yet the other ninety-nine are just left out in the open country while he throws a party. This shepherd is crazy, placing the entire flock in danger for the sake of the one. The math just doesn’t make sense. Then Jesus throws in the kicker. God is like this crazy shepherd. There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents rather than over ninety-nine persons who need no repentance. The one repentant person brings more joy than the ninety-nine righteous. What? Is Jesus saying God prefers the sinner to the righteous? 

So there can be no confusion, Jesus continues with a little story about an obsessive compulsive lady who tears her house apart looking for a lost coin. The coin was a modest sum of money, not exactly a fortune. It was no winning number lottery ticket, just a few bucks. Yet this woman lights a lamp and pulls out a broom to scour her home for this coin. Talk about tight! Then when she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors to tell them about the lost coin she has found and asks them to rejoice with her. What is all the fuss? Would you send out emails and make calls to let your friends and neighbors know you found a lost $20 and ask them to come to a party to celebrate?  I doubt it. Imagine what you would think of someone who did. You would probably think the person a little strange, just a bit off, not running on all cylinders or two cans short of a six-pack. Well, this lady is just a tad crazy, getting all worked up about finding one coin. As strange as this might sound, God is like this crazy lady. God gets worked up about repentance. Jesus says that there is joy in heaven, a real celebration of the angels before God, when one sinner repents. 

Neither the one sheep nor the one coin seem to be very significant. They certainly don’t seem to be worth all the energy expended and celebration offered. Neither do the tax collectors and sinners sitting at Jesus’ table seem to be very significant. They are losers, easy-targets for the disdain of the righteous. They were the object of ridicule for good people. Their appetites for money and sex led them to make poor career choices. Perhaps a serious of unfortunate incidents landed them in their predicament. Whatever the case, they were unclean and unrighteous. The scribes and Pharisees knew it. These tax-collectors and sinners knew it too. What else had brought them to Jesus? They were lonely, desolate, and afflicted by their sin and trouble. So they came to Jesus. They listened to Jesus. They drew near to Jesus. They came in humility and repentance, bringing nothing to Jesus but their sinful selves. 

The righteous scribes and Pharisees drew near only to scoff and ridicule. I wonder if they were offended by Jesus’ parable. Notice there was no joy and celebrating in heaven over the ninety-nine sheep in the open country or the nine coins safe in a purse on the nightstand. These were the so-called righteous and they thought they were safe. The reality of their predicament, however, was much different. This is still true for the mass of humanity. People think they are safe and protected, one of the ninety-nine. Jesus says there are no such human sheep. Jesus says there are no human coins neatly tucked in a purse or pocket. People may think they are righteous and good before God, but it is not true. People may think their religion and spiritual impulses demonstrate rightness with God, but it is not true. Before his conversion, St. Paul had been mislead into blasphemy, persecution and opposition to God. Before there is faith in Jesus Christ, power, prestige, ego, religion, therapy, money, sex, and stuff delude people into the same. The human search for significance seeks security in such things, but it is a false security. The sheep without a shepherd in the open country are in trouble. The lost coin without a frantic lady is in trouble of never being found. The scribes and Pharisees were in trouble. The righteous human, religious or irreligious, is in trouble. Jesus did not come for the self-righteous.

Jesus Christ came for sinners. He came for the troubled soul. He came for the person left desolate and afflicted by sin and death. He came for those in pain, bearing burdens in the silent sufferings of the dark night. He came for the tax-collectors and prostitutes, gamblers and thieves, liars and losers. He came for you and me. He came for all people, because all have sinned. There is none righteous. This is the bald reality of the human predicament. All people are the lost sheep. All people are the lost coin. Still, there is good news for sinners. In the words of the apostle Paul, “This saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” 

Jesus Christ is like the crazy shepherd who leaves the ninety-nine for the one. Jesus Christ is like the loony lady who scours for the lost coin. Jesus Christ went to the most extreme lengths to save sinners. The Son of God took on human flesh. He who Created became a creature. He combatted the armies of Satan, healing the sick and lame, casting out demons, and raising the dead. He who was righteous received the unrighteous in love and mercy. He suffered and died on the cross, suffering the judgment and condemnation of our sin. He who was holy became unholy for our salvation. He descended to death and the grave. He who was life itself stopped breathing and his blood ran cold. What humility! What profound love! What God would descend from the heavens for sinners? Only a God found in a cradle and on a cross! Then on the third day, He rose from the grave, conquering sin and death in victory. He has ascended into the heavens and will one day return in all His glory. Jesus went to these insane lengths to save sinners. Jesus loves sinners so much that He would have given Himself up for just one who repented. Jesus loves sinners so much that He would scour all creation for just one who repented. Jesus’ love for sinners is this great. His love for you and me is this insane.

The problem for the scribes and Pharisees was that they could not see the depths of their own sin. They saw no need for repentance before God. Sure, they might admit they had made mistakes and were not perfect. Yet they still considered themselves to be fairly secure. They were proud and arrogant. They were righteous. They made the mistake of thinking they were one of the ninety-nine. Such a mindset is a problem. The most essential element of a vital, living relationship with God is an honest recognition of the depths of our sin. Only when we understand ourselves to be the tax collector and sinner, not just with lip service but in our hearts, will we begin to pray like the Psalmist: “Turn yourself to me and have mercy on me, for I am desolate and afflicted. Look on my affliction and my pain, and forgive all my sins.” Our sin has made us desolate and lonely. Our sin has afflicted us with pain, emotional and physical pain. We are sinners. Do not be deceived. Take the time for honest self-examination according to the Word of God. Judge your thoughts, words and deeds according to God’s strict commands to love Him and neighbor with everything that you are.  It is a truly humbling experience. We will find that there are idols in our lives. Idols of power, prestige, sex, money, and stuff. Our hearts trust in things other than the Lord. Our minds are fixed on the things of the world. We will also find there is a lack of charity in our relationships with others. We ignore, even despise, our parents, spouses, and children. We look at others with judgment and hatred. We speak rashly with venomous condemnation against people and things we do not understand. We dismiss others based on our vain opinions. We are ignorant in the words and ways of the Lord and so carry ourselves with false pride and empty righteousness. For these and all the other ways we sin, we are called to repentance. Like St. Paul, we are called to confess that we are “foremost” or “chief” of sinners. Our confession, however, must be born of sorrow and despair, not merely a glib acknowledgment. In this way, we are humbled before our God. We know nowhere else to go but to Jesus Christ. Our repentance calls us to draw near to Him. In humility we must go to Jesus and make our confession. 

Whenever we are honest about our sin and our need for Jesus’ forgiveness and salvation, there is joy in heaven. The angels of God in heaven rejoice because the lost sheep has been found. God Himself is pleased because the lost coin has been found. In the humility that comes with repentance and confession of sin, God receives us with joy. Remember, Jesus receives sinners and eats with them. Jesus dines with those who need His forgiveness and mercy. Jesus does this because He is a God unlike any other. “Who is a God like you, pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression for the remnant of his inheritance?” This is unlikely, even crazy. Yet it is true.  In your confession, Jesus pardons you. Jesus passes over your transgression. Through the power of His death and resurrection, Jesus has had compassion on you, treading your iniquities underfoot. Jesus has cast all your sins into the depths of the sea. Jesus has sought you out and found you in the waters of Holy Baptism. Jesus has scoured the earth for you by the Word of His Gospel and He possesses you in faith. Jesus even dines with you this morning.  Come to His table and feed on His holy body and blood in faith, knowing that there is joy in heaven over you. Draw near to Jesus on the knees of your heart, you tax collector and sinner, knowing that He receives you with His grace and mercy. You are the lost sheep and Jesus Christ has found you. You are the lost coin and Jesus has recovered you. So this morning, there is joy before the angels of God

Well, maybe it isn’t my favorite book, but it is a good one. The author uncritically accepts the historical-critical school in its liberal form, which makes his use of scripture tedious and predictable. His diagnosis of the problems with contemporary worship, however, are on-target. He just doesn’t have a category for the received liturgy (mass) as the cure for the disease. Here are a few more quotes:

“Compulsion of God is impossible, but manipulation of God’s people is not. Worship leaders must, therefore, constantly guard against the temptation to fabricate facsimiles of religious experiences for their followers. Like bodies weakened by starvation, hungry souls are vulnerable to enslavement.”

“Attempts to compel faith by the three “m’s” of manipulation (i.e., miracles, magic, and marketing) try to convince people that spiritual ills are cured not by escaping self-preoccupation, but by serving its appetite. People are easily persuaded to fall passionately in love (and in faith) with almost anything that promises quickly to tear their ennui out by the roots. This is demonstrated by things as serious as the twentieth century’s fascist dictatorships and as trivial as weight-loss fads. But a love that is only a frantic lust for sating a personal desire is not the spontaneously self-emptying love of which the Bible speaks. It is a passion driven by the servitude of self-absorption.”

“Workshops that are intended to help parishes design worship-production systems ignore the vital distinction between a congregation and an audience. The investments they advise churches to make in synthesizers, sound systems, the large-screen projectors, and multimedia presentations are investments in the machinery of manipulation. They too easily equate the gifts of the Spirit with mere emotional reactions, and they allow worshipers to expect that everything will be done for them- that they need endure no painful and sometimes disappointing struggles with God.”

“The church that claims to have mastered ways to assure delivery of the gift of grace will always attract throngs of consumers, for the offer of convenient terms for paying the cost of discipleship is an easy sell. This means that the roar of a large crowd jamming into a sanctuary should perhaps be as troubling to conscientious Christians as the echo from a retreating stampede.”

This is the title of my new favorite book. Working off Matthew 7:9-10, “Or what man of you, if his son asks him for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a serpent?”, the author contends that contemporary worship has offered people idolatrous stones rather than the bread of life. I am only through the fourth chapter, yet am thoroughly impressed with his argument. His name is A. Daniel Frankforter and he is a medieval history professor. His background is apparently Presbyterian or Reformed of some sort. Some of his exegesis is puzzling in places, but does not affect his larger argument. I’ll offer some tidbits over the next few days.

“American churches are exposed to powerful temptations to make themselves appealing by misrepresenting the Christian faith. Since they are voluntary organizations whose survival depends on their ability to recruit members in a highly competitive market, their leaders tend to develop a business mentality. They fixate on ‘the bottom line’ and strive to maintain ‘market share’ by ditching old ‘products’ and experimenting with new packaging. Seldom do they take seriously Jesus’ warning that the message he sends them to preach is not designed to make apostles popular” (Preface, xiii).

“Pressure is building on congregations to fabricate easily marketed facsimiles of worship-to buy amplifiers, hire rock bands, outfit clergy with clothing from the Gap, substitutes amateur theatricals for exegetical sermons, scrap sacraments in favor of support groups, and jettison troubling biblical texts for the smarmy cream of pop poetry. This at least acknowledges that the church knows that it has a problem, but the solutions proposed approach that problem from the wrong end. Little of lasting significance is gained by tinkering with the language, gestures, trappings, music, and other incidentals of worship, unless sufficient attention is paid to what these vessels are intended to convey” (13). 

Amen. 

I just had to share this one.

Or something like that. We should find a marketing guru to come up with a clever title. There seem to be enough on the payroll. Anyway, Wilken is soon returning to radio. Check out www.piratechristianradio.com for the information and consider a contribution.