Author: TechCommittee

December 29, 2019                                                                     Text:  Matthew 2:13-23

Dear Friends in Christ,

            Toni needs your prayers.  For those of you visiting Toni is my wife.  I am a planner.  I come from a lineage of planners.  I do not like it when things don’t according to plan especially when I vacation.

            After last year’s winter, I know it is hard to remember it after this week of beautiful weather, I told Tone that this winter we needed to go south for my mental health.  What was especially hard last winter was all the ice/snow we got on Sunday mornings.  I knew coming into this January/February time period I would need a break.  Other than the week we are going we are not making plans, yea, it’s true.  We are going to drive where it is warm.  We don’t know where we will lodge.  We don’t know what activities are on the agenda.  We do know we are going together and it will be south of here even if North Dakota hits 80 degrees that week.  Thank you in advance for your intercessions.

            Joseph and Mary had plans.  After the visit of the wise men, they planned to return home to Nazareth.  The Lord sends a dream and the plans change.  Will it be for their good?  Let’s travel along and see if God knows what He is doing.

“ACCORDING TO PLAN”

            The plan as revealed in a dream is for Joseph and Mary and baby Jesus to travel to Egypt, which is 175 miles southwest of Jerusalem.  Instead of heading north to Nazareth they are sent another direction.  This is no small change.  Going this far on foot is going to take days and weeks.  What is the reason, Lord?

            According to plan God has a reason – Herod is searching for the child to destroy him.  They need to get out of his jurisdiction.  They need to get to safety.

            Have you ever had to go miles out of your way?  I don’t like to go one exit out of my way, how about you?  How about in your life?  Does the Lord ever send you down a road you had no plan to go down?  A job shift.  An unexpected birth.  The death of someone close you didn’t see coming.  A diagnosis that ruins your plans?

            Herod’s plans changed when he heard from the wise men about Jesus.  His rage got the best of him and he knew Jesus had to die.  The thing is Herod was right but not according to his plan.  Jesus had to die but not because Herod willed it or because of a schedule Herod made.  It wasn’t until the fullness of time that it all happened.  It was God’s time.  It was God’s plan.  He had to die because of our fear when things don’t go the way we want.  He had to die when we suffer anxiety because our plans get messed up.  He had to die because of our unbelief when life goes off in a direction we just can’t comprehend.  Our lack of trust in God’s plan can lead us to some dark places.  Go to Egypt, come on Lord!

            Joseph trusted.  Joseph trusted the Lord.  Joseph trusted the plan.  The text is hard to read when we know of all the male children who were killed.  That was also part of the plan, even if we don’t understand it.  Why Lord?  Why let those young men die? 

            The blame does not fall on God.  Herod caused the anguish and death.  God was there.  God saw what happened.  In the midst of Herod’s wickedness the Lord was working on his plan of salvation for the world.  God is not the author of evil – man is – but God is always working to turn what is meant for evil into good.

            According to plan, the family makes it to Egypt.  According to plan, they eventually end up back in Nazareth.  According to plan, Jesus was saved because of God’s intervention. 

            We too are saved by God’s intervention.  His intervention led Jesus to the cross.  He allowed Jesus to die so that you and I might live.  His intervention led to a glorious resurrection.  His intervention has given us a plan for salvation.  His intervention has given us faith and an eternal future.  God is still active in human history.  He continues to lead babies and adults to the safety of His church through Holy Baptism.  He continues to feed and nourish His Church with His Holy Word and with the precious body and blood of His Son.  He continues to announce and give His forgiveness to all who confess their sins and seek His mercy.

            We do not always know where God is leading us, but we can be sure that He will be with us and His plans are for our good.  When Karson was 1 ½ we vacationed with my family on Cape Cod in Massachusetts.  Remember again it is in the Lueck genes to plan.  We did.  We planned to take a day trip with my parents up the coast to Maine.  Seeing a part of the country we had not been to.  That night, Karson cried the whole evening.  In the morning, we had to take him to the doctor.  He had an ear infection.  After a dose or two of antibiotics, he was fine, but there would be no trip to Maine.  Plans changed.  We decided instead to spend the afternoon on Martha’s Vineyard. We had a glorious rest of our day.  We enjoyed the island and you couldn’t even tell that K-man had been sick.

            Lesson learned.  According to plan, we must be ready for things to change.  Why can we be so confident?  Because the one leading the way has given us the promise.  His plan of salvation through Jesus always gives us hope and direction.  May we all see daily where the Lord is leading us – according to plan.

                                                                                                                        Amen.

December 22, 2019                                                                   Text:  Matthew 1:18-25

Dear Friends in Christ,

            In Adult Bible Class we are doing a study on Joseph – the stepfather of Jesus.  I challenged the class to find hymns/songs that speak of Joseph.  In our hymnal you won’t find him in any of our Christmas hymns.  He does have a verse on saints in LSB #517.  There are a few songs on the Internet and one member e-mailed a song entitled, “It Wasn’t His Child.”  It has this line, “It wasn’t his child it was God’s child.”

            We don’t sing hymns about Joseph and there are no postage stamps of him holding the Christ child.  But Matthew begins the Christmas story with a Joseph problem.  What is he going to do about a wife carrying another man’s child?  Joseph is just living life and boom, in an instant, things change.  Have you had a Joseph moment?  Are you living a Joseph moment?  We are going to need some help here . . .

“THE CHRISTMAS PRESENCE OF GOD”

            Joseph and Mary are betrothed to each other.  It is like an engagement but in their cultural times it is different from ours.  P.E. Kretzmann explains:  “As a rule some time elapsed before a betrothed virgin was formally given in marriage and taken to her husband’s house…During this time (living together) did not take place, though the marriage contract was legal and binding…(Mary’s) situation was not only delicate, but the most distressing and humiliating which could fall to the lot of a pure maiden.  Knowing herself to be innocent of even the slightest transgression in deed, and fully convinced of the fact that her condition was due only to the supernatural working of the Holy Ghost, she nevertheless could expect no one to believe her defense, should she attempt one.”

            Then there is Joseph “being a just man” he wanted to divorce her quietly.  Keep it out of the papers and the town gossip.  He wished no harm on Mary.

            His wife is pregnant and he’s not the father.  This is a tough moment in his life.  And get this:  God designs all of it.  This is the Christmas presence of God.  He is in the womb of Mary.  Who in the world is going to believe this?

            Such a sweet and tender story, unless you are the one living it.  We know the outcome and so did God – before it happened.  It is the presence of God for the hard moments.

            Are you having a hard moment?  Or, is it moments?  They are part of the tapestry of living in a sinful world.  In spite of our optimism we travel from one difficulty to another – or so it seems.  Anyone here not have life push you up against a wall and maybe bash your head a time or two?

            Jesus told us, “In the world you will have trouble.” (Jn. 16:33)  Paul and Barnabas assured us, “We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God.” (Acts 14:22b)  Troubles…hardships…who wants to dwell on those?

            George Orwell observed, “Men can be happy only when they do not assume that the object of life is happiness.”  If being happy all the time is your goal in this world you are due for a crash.  Everything is fleeting.

            Why?  Because of our sin.  You and I have a terrible inability to live as God designed us to live – in perfect harmony with Him.  There is no “utopia” out there even as man continues his search.  Joseph must have felt this, do you?

            Look at the Christmas presence of God for Joseph.  He comes to him in a dream and tells him to take Mary home as his wife and she will give birth to a son and God gives him the name – Jesus.  This is the big reveal party.  It’s a boy and I’ve got his name.  Talk about the Christmas presence of God.  This child is going to save people from their sins.  The Presence of God enters this fallen and self-destructing world in the person and work of God’s only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.  He was made sin for us so that we might become the righteousness of God.  Mary had this presence.  Joseph had this presence and did as the angel of the Lord commanded.  For legal purposes Jesus was Joseph’s son.  He would have other children and with the loving presence of God he would be a wonderful parent.  It all started here when it all looked so dark and dreary.

            When we have hard moments sometimes all we see are dark and dreary.  The future is cloudy.  What now Lord?  First, he forgives our sins and our doubts about His care.  He is there, even if we don’t always see Him.  To be forgiven gives us comfort as we hear the Word and partake of the Holy Sacrament.  The hard moments are only temporary.  You know as well as I do we don’t stay there forever.  An eternal home awaits where our eyes can see the presence of God.  Look the Lord.  I’m home!

            You may receive some wonderful gifts this Christmas – hey, look new underwear – but no matter how grand and glorious, even if it’s parked in the garage, nothing compares to the greatest present.  It is something with you every waking moment of your life – THE CHRISTMAS PRESENCE OF GOD.

                                                                                                            AMEN.