Author: TechCommittee

March 5, 2025 – Ash Wednesday Texts: Psalm 90:9-14, Hebrews 1:1-3
Dear Friends in Christ,
Did you know that the soap opera began in Illinois? The first was called “Painted Dreams” and was broadcast on WGN out of Chicago on October 20, 1930. The soap opera is still going today.
The soap opera got its name because in the early days of radio and TV they were sponsored by soap manufacturers. Companies like Proctor & Gamble the makers of Tide. For these midweek Lenten sermons and Holy Week sermons we are going to use the soap opera as the backdrop to tell the story of Jesus, His passion and resurrection. Do you realize what these both have in common? They both have multiple storylines. They both have people dying that is not permanent. They both get people emotionally involved. Therefore, the word “passion” can be used for both.
Tonight, we begin with a soap opera that is just two months younger than I am. It began November 8, 1965. I saw it a lot during my freshman year at ISU. My roommate on the 5th floor of Manchester was a huge fan. If I was there over the lunch hour, we would watch it on my 12-inch black and white. Who can forget the beginning, “Like sands through the hourglass, so are the . . . .
“DAYS OF OUR LIVES”
This is one of four soaps still in production. It is streamed on Peacock. Interestingly enough it is set in Illinois, in the fictional town of Salem, even though we know Illinois has a Salem. It has focused over the years on the Brady and Horton families. It has been one of the most daring series in this particular genre. It shows what the title promises . . . the days of their lives.
Lent is the story of days of the life of Jesus. The days that lead to Holy Week. The days of Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and culminating in the greatest of days – Easter.
We journey through these 40 days of our lives together. Because we all experience the days of our lives. Recently, I came upstairs from my lair in the basement and announced to Toni, “For the 400th month in a row our checkbook is balanced!” I was excited. She not so much. It was the Lord’s reminder of our time together.
In our first text from Psalm 90, it is written in verse 10, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.”
These numbers are a good average and fall within the average lifespan today. When the Psalmist wrote these words, humans of this era were only living to about 40. Another indication that still today Scripture speaks to us. Do you see your life as toil and trouble? We do toil. Toil at our jobs. Toil in our homes. Toil in our leisure. Trouble? Sure we have trouble, but do you see it as the overriding theme of your life? Maybe some do. But that is a rough way to live. We probably do agree with the last part of the verse that are days are soon gone and we fly away.
“Fly away” is poetic language that evokes the despair of life’s all-too-rapid fight into death. This is why we number our days. The days of our lives in this world are limited. This is where we look to God’s glorious power. Verse 14 gives the spiritual lift to our days, “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” That is how I want to spend my days, how about you?
This Ash Wednesday if you received the ashes on your forehead you heard, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” We die because we are sinners. If our lives were left in our hands – the only reward we would have earned is God’s judgment and wrath. What does the Lord do for us? He creates in us a clean heart and right spirit. God has taken your sin and put it out of his memory. How has He done this? By speaking to us in these last days by His Son. Christ is the heir of all things.
An heir inherits all that belongs to the parents. Jesus, as God’s only begotten Son, shares with His brothers and sisters the Father’s mercy, forgiveness, and new life. That is the Lenten message. The days of our lives are filled with the Lord’s mercy, forgiveness, and new life. This Ash Wednesday you are sealed and marked with this eternal promise.
Join us next week on this same station for . . . the “Guiding Light.”
Amen.

March 2, 2025 – Transfiguration Text: Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Dear Friends in Christ,

A little girl was on a cruise ship with her parents, and as they were looking out over the deck, the girl said to her father, “Look daddy, I can see farther than my eyes can see.” Where have you been that is farther than your eyes can see? Looking out over an ocean? A mountain peak? For those of us in Central Illinois, we can say about every one of us has been to the top of the Willis Tower or the Hancock in Chicago, the Arch in St. Louie, or even Watterson Towers on the campus of Illinois State. All places where you see farther than the eyes can see.
How is your vision? In a congregation our size it is varied. Many of you have glasses or contacts. Some of you have reading glasses. Some have retina problems or macular regeneration. Others have great vision and have never had their eyes checked by a professional. Today in our text Moses sees, but what does he see? Moses did not lose what the Lord what trying to show him. How about you?
“DO YOU HAVE A VISION OF THE LORD’S PLAN?”
How did Moses get to this point? We have to go back to the Lord’s words to Abraham in Genesis 12:1 when the Lord promises to bring the people “to the land that I will show you.”
So, Moses leads two million, incredible right – 2 million people out of their slavery in Egypt. This is no walk in the park. The complaints he must have heard. You didn’t bring enough food and water…Aren’t you going to stop and ask for directions or are we going to keep on wandering…This desert area doesn’t look like a good place to bed down. Quiet you people. I am going up a mountain and you need to wash yourselves so you can be in the presence of Almighty God. Nice plan. Except when he comes down, they are singing and dancing to a golden calf. So, you want to be a travel agent? Moses sees everyone at their best and their worst.
There are times we see each other at our best and worst. It happens in our homes, at our workplaces, in our churches, on the roads, at the ballgames, the hospital, the nursing home. Up and down. Left and right. “Let’s go Moses.” “Uh, this guy doesn’t know what he’s doing.” We are a funny people.
This doesn’t come through in the Bible, but Moses had to be gifted with a sense of humor. This does come through in the Bible, his vision was tempered with patience. God promised him he would see the Promised Land but only from a distance. He was 120 with eyes undimmed and vigor unabated. The Lord kept the vision alive for Moses, but He also kept it alive for Joshua, the man who succeeded Moses.
Do you have a vision of the Lord’s plan when you lie in a hospital bed? Do you have a vision of the Lord’s plan when you look at your accident scars? Do you have a vision of the Lord’s plan when your marriage or family goes off the rails? Do you have a vision of the Lord’s plan when facing a death or your own mortality? This Promised Land trek took years to complete. Many of the people lost the vision. I’ve seen many of you struggle to look even a week ahead. Lord grant us your vision and patience.
Other than Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the one guy in all our readings is Moses. The Lord knew him face to face. The signs and wonders he did are unequalled. He is unmatched in his display of leadership and influence. He is honored for his faith in Hebrews, “Now Moses was faithful in all God’s House as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later.” (Heb. 3:5) The writer of Hebrews also points out that while Moses was great, no one is greater than Jesus. God buried Moses, and he is still dead. We do not worship Moses. We do not lead people to Moses. Instead, through the leadership of Moses, as well as the prophets, we lead people to Christ, who leads us all to the promised land of heaven. That’s the vision. Can you see it?
God kept his promise to the Israelites. God keeps His promise to us through Jesus. Standing on the threshold of Lent we are going to view some dark, dreary days – suffering, rejection, killing. But you can see the rest of the vision. “On the third day He will be raised.” (Luke 9:22). This is God’s promise and God keeps His promises.
Our greatest vision is what Moses is experiencing. His perfect eyesight views a heavenly landscape. One day there will be people farther than the eye can see who will be assembled around the throne of God. Open your eyes and catch the vision!
Amen.

February 23, 2025 Text: 1 Corinthians 15:21-26, 30-42

Dear Friends in Christ,

Louis XV, the king of France, ordered that no one should speak about death in his presence. He tried to avoid any visible sign or symbol or place that would remind him of the mortal nature of life in this world. Yet, the king could never escape this last great enemy. He died on May 10, 1774, at 3:15 a.m. Age 64.
Death is hard to ignore. God in the Scriptures doesn’t deny it or conceal it. We all die because we are sinners. Every human body will undergo decay in the grave. But the good news is that the curse and punishment has been removed through Jesus Christ. By His resurrection from the dead Christ has defeated sin, devil, hell, and death. The grave for the Christian becomes the gate to life eternal. We wonder what will that look like? Let’s answer that question as we examine . . . .
“THE RESURRECTION BODY”
A final resurrection is going to take place. Believers and unbelievers will be made alive on the Last Day. Believers will join their Savior and all the faithful in heaven. Unbelievers will be consigned to everlasting shame and contempt in hell.
Because as a Christian we live in our baptismal grace every day we can look forward to our own resurrection transformation on the Last Day.
The Apostle Paul was very good at rhetorical questions. He liked to pose a question, but then answer it. Paul asks, “Why am I in danger every hour? I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day.” (v. 30-31) Paul is asking rhetorically, “Why would I risk my life for things I don’t truly believe in?”
I had an uncle growing up who knew how competitive I was. I still remember him telling me, “Every time you lose, a little part of you dies.” That has been true for me. But whether you feel that way about losing or not, you still see a little dying each day. Maybe your walk isn’t as brisk, your mind regresses, hair leaves your head but grows out of your ears, you remember being 25, but the movies, music, and TV shows shove off into the distance. At some point we all realize, this isn’t going to last forever.
Time in this world, that is. We do have a forever appointment with our resurrection body. Paul ever the questioner poses another one, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” The resurrection body is the same but different. The Lord who created our physical bodies will give us spiritual bodies. Our bodies in their present state or condition will be changed instantly. We will no longer have bodies full of lusts, no longer sinful, no longer limited by hunger, thirst, pain, losing, or mortality. We will have resurrection bodies free from the debilitating effects of our sin.
Imagine experiencing this by God’s grace. Stepping onto a shore and finding it heaven…taking hold of a hand and finding it Christ’s hand…breathing new air and finding it celestial air…passing from a storm to unbroken calm…waking up and finding it….home!
The first time she saw a dead child, Corrie ten Boom began to worry about her own death and the death of her loved ones. She thought, “What if I am persecuted and must suffer?” She went to her father with her fears. He asked her a question: “When do I give you the ticket when you take the train from Haarlem to Amsterdam? Three weeks ahead of time?” “Why, no,” Corrie replied. “You give me the ticket the day I need it.” “Right,” said her father. “That’s exactly what God does. Today you don’t need the strength to be brave if someone dies or you are persecuted. But when the time comes, the Lord will give you the ticket right on time.”
Fearing death may cause us to ignore it. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.” (Jn. 11:25). We can place our hand in Christ’s nail-scarred hand and face death with peace and confidence. As baptized believers, we have the ticket. We live in Jesus now with a foretaste of the feast to come. By God’s grace in Christ we anticipate our resurrection body.
Amen.

February 16, 2025 Text: Luke 6:17-26

Dear Friends in Christ,

Charles Schultz was the syndicated cartoonist who delighted millions with his Peanuts comic strip. He wrote a book entitled, “Happiness Is . . . “ For Linus, “Happiness is…a warm blanket”; for Snoopy, “Happiness is…a full dish of food.” How would you answer that question, “Happiness is….?”
In our Gospel for today Jesus speaks about being “blessed” or “happy.” But it looks a little different than how the world defines “happy.” The blessings of which Jesus speaks are centered in the cross and open tomb and a life of cross bearing for His sake. Let’s take a few minutes this morning to ponder what makes us happy and what challenges us. In your life do you have . . . .
“MORE BLESSING OR WOE?”
The beginning of our text shows large crowds coming to Jesus to hear him and to be cured of their diseases. Luke even says, “power came out from him and healed them all.” Now that would be a blessing.
This winter of 2025 has been full of sickness. Most of us have been touched with something. When you are sick and feel crappy, it is hard to remember when you felt well. But eventually you start feeling better and you thank God for his healing. So, we can relate to these crowds. They want to be near Jesus because he has given them a great gift – their health. Both physically and mentally. With this captive audience before Him, ready to listen to Him because of what He has just done, He shares his Word with the crowd.
Jesus starts on the positive side – blessings. But telling us we are blessed because we are poor? Ah, Jesus, are you sure you know what you are talking about? He does. We are poor in spirit. We see the need for a Savior. “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.”
The next one – hunger. Again, how can this positive? Stomach growling. Body weak. But the followers of Jesus hunger for the bread of life and thirst for the living water of salvation. We look in faith to the Christ who hungered and thirsted for us and for our salvation. Jesus fills us with Word and Sacrament.
We are blessed if we weep now, because we shall laugh. I think we all understand this one pretty good. We have our moments of crying, but our moments of laughter are greater. Christ “will wipe every tear from their eyes.” (Rev. 21:4). Christ gives us so much to be joyous about. Laughter is great for physical health and mental health. Smile, the Lord loves you.
The last blessing can again cause some confusion. Who wants to be hated and reviled and excluded? But we are to rejoice and leap for joy. Our reward is eternal. Our blessing is heaven. Perfection forever and ever. No more struggle or hunger or weeping.
The woes can stop us in our tracks. How do you get a horse to stop? Whoa! Spelled differently but the same concept. The woes are God’s reminder that He condemns those who live for today, neglecting the ways of our Lord and the care of His people. When pride and self-interest allure you, turn to the Lord in repentance. Daily He provides for all your needs and forgives you by grace.
I pray you have more blessing than woe in your life. Today is that wonderful reminder that because of faith in Jesus as Savior, salvation and forgiveness our yours. “Happiness Is….?” You can complete the sentence now . . . right?
Amen.

February 9, 2025 Text: Isaiah 6:1-8

Dear Friends in Christ,

A few weeks ago I was sick, something I am not used to, except I was also sick this week. Two times in January, more than the last ten years combined. Crazy. Anyway, what I had was the runny nose, the watery eyes, the sinus pressure. This is when Kleenex and Puffs make their money. While I go with the Puffs plus lotion, when you are blowing the ole schnazz that many times there is bound to be redness, dryness, you know, not a good look. My lips hurt. So, I applied Chapstick. Owee. Those first few minutes after application my lips were burning. Eventually the burn goes away and by morning the lips feel a lot better.
Whenever this has happened to me over the years, I am always reminded of our text. Isaiah and the burning coal put on his lips for his guilt to be taken away and his sin atoned for. This morning then . . .
“THE LORD’S TOUCH FOR UNCLEAN LIPS”
When Isaiah gets to encounter God, he is not giddy about it. He wasn’t on an emotional high. Why? Because he knew he was a sinner in the midst of a holy God. He sees God in humble reverence.
Isaiah found himself in the presence of the great “I Am.” Creator of all that is seen and unseen. He says, “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people with unclean lips.” (v. 5). Isaiah saw what he truly was – a miserable sinner. He mourned for Israel and feared for his life. He had nothing to earn forgiveness. He stood before God in his naked shame.
What happened to Isaiah also happened to Peter in our Gospel. After the miraculous catch of fish, Peter fell down before Jesus and begged, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Lk. 5:8). That is the reaction of those who get just a small glimpse of God’s divine nature. They are crushed by the reality of their sin.
What about you? You have come to this holy place. You stand on holy ground. You are in the house of the Lord – His temple. You have called upon the name of the Lord, invoking his holy name – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. You are in the presence of the same God that Isaiah could not abide. We too are men and women of unclean lips. We live in the midst of people with unclean lips. We can’t hide. Our sin is exposed. We stand naked in our sin, without even a single fig leaf to cover ourselves.
For Isaiah, this is when he got the Lord’s touch for unclean lips. An angel flies to the altar, gets a burning coal, a remnant of the burnt offering, and placed it, burning, on Isaiah’s lips, owee, but because of this Isaiah’s sin is forgiven. He was made clean.
We, too, have been made clean. You need no fig leaf, for you are clothed in the robes of Christ’s righteousness. He who did not covet the glories of heaven came down from heaven for the salvation of his people. He has removed your filthy garments and clothed you with pure vestments. The cross is the only door to heaven and Christ is the only image of God.
We no longer mourn our sins. In the Holy Supper the flesh that suffered the holy fire of God’s wrath for you is placed on your lips and tongue, and you are purged of your sin, made holy and righteous in God’s sight. The Lord’s touch for unclean lips.
Say it once, you might mean it. Say it twice and you add weight to you. Say it three times, you must really mean it. In the movie A Christmas Story, a boy named Schwartz first dares another boy, Flick, to touch his tongue to the frozen flagpole on the school playground. Unimpressed, Flick declines. Schwartz ups the ante by double-dog daring Flick to do it. Flick laughs at that. Finally, Schwartz applied the coup de grace by triple-dog daring Flick. Flick couldn’t laugh this off without losing all credibility. Nothing could be more serious than giving the challenge three times. What happens? Watch the movie. It’s a great scene.
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts.” (v. 3). Three times Isaiah tells us who the Lord is. We are condemned no more, we stand with the angels and archangels and all the saints of heaven and sing with them the threefold hymn of praise, “Holy, holy, holy.”
Your tongue is loosed to sing God’s praise and tell of His glory. You no longer have to fear because you have received The Lord’s Touch For Unclean Lips.
Amen.

February 2, 2025 Text: Luke 2:22-24

Dear Friends in Christ,

When the Gospel was read today, how many of thought, “I remember hearing these same words recently.” Well, you would be correct. You are dismissed. No, please stay. Our text for today we also heard on December 29, 2024. That day the sermon was also on the Gospel, but we concentrated on Simeon and his words. Today we focus on the first three verses which are right before Simeon enters the picture.
Back in 1931 Universal Studios produced the movie Dracula. In that movie you may remember the creepy black and white details of the interior of the eerie castle. Spider webs are everywhere. The white webs remain undisturbed as the Count makes his way through them. On the other hand, Mr. Renfield, who is following the Count, must cut through the webs. Dracula pauses and remarks, “The spider, spinning his web for the unweary fly. The blood is the life, Mr. Renfield.”
As we focus on Mary’s purification today and Jesus’ presentation in the temple, we tie these happenings together with the Old Testament commands. It helps us to see . . .
“THE BLOOD IS THE LIFE”
As Lutherans one of the things that we believe is that “Scripture interprets Scripture.” That is so true today. Mary and Joseph are going for Mary’s purification because it was commanded in Leviticus chapter 12.
In this chapter God speaks to Moses who then passes on these instructions to the people. The Lord tells him that when a woman bears a male child she shall be unclean for seven days. On the eight day the child is to be circumcised. That happened to Jesus right before our text in Luke 2:21. Then the woman is to continue in the blood of her purifying for thirty-three more days. So, we know that Jesus when presented is 40 days old. The first verse of our text says, “And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, the brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord.”
We don’t follow the Old Testament laws today, there is no 40-day purifying for women, but they do need time to recover from childbirth. We could say we do present our children, either at the birth, the baptism, a gathering. There is a moment of “welcome to the world.”
Mary and Joseph did this for Jesus. They presented him to His Father. Back to Leviticus. The Lord commanded that after the purifying the parents bring to the priest at the entrance to the tent of meeting a lamb a year old for a burnt offering or a pigeon or turtledove for a sin offering. This made atonement for the mother. She would be clean from the flow of her blood. Since Mary and Joseph gave the birds instead of the lamb for the sacrifice, we know that they were poor. Again, our text, verses 23 and 24. (“As is written in the Law of the Lord, ‘Every male who first opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord’? and to offer a sacrifice according to what is said in the Law of the Lord, ‘a pair of turtledoves, or two young pigeons.’”
A sacrifice meant blood was spilled. This whole thing is bloody. The circumcision would have been bloody. The purifying was bloody. But you see, the blood meant something. The blood is the life.
We can bloody ourselves up pretty good with our behavior. A right cross to the mouth when we talk about others. A left jab to the eye when we see things differently than the Lord. An uppercut to the nose when we sniff around in places we shouldn’t be. Then the knockout punch to the side of the head when we downplay our deeds. We are bloodied. We are down . . . and we are out. We need some help getting back to our feet.
The blood is the life, but not our blood. It is the blood of the circumcised child who became an obedient Son of the Father all the way to the cross. It is the blood mingling down to take care of our questionable behavior. God set aside animal blood in the Old Testament as a picture that pointed to the person and work of Jesus Christ. Deuteronomy 12:23a says, “Be sure you do not eat the blood, because the blood is life . . .” But Jesus freed us from this restriction through his blood. So much so that the Apostle John writes in chapter 6, “I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
Jesus was born to shed his blood and give us life. The blood is the life.
Amen.