Sermons

February 18, 2015 – Ash Wednesday Text: Isaiah 41:14-16

Dear Friends in Christ,

If you could be any animal in the world, which one would you choose? Maybe, like Isaiah, you would soar on wings like an eagle. Or, like Amos, perhaps the lion is your animal of choice because he is king of the jungle. Or maybe, like Elisha, you boast in the bear, because you could maim and maul.
How many of you would like to become a worm? Show of hands? That’s what I thought – we don’t have any worm wannabes in the sanctuary tonight. Worms have no arms, no legs, and no eyes! They are small and insignificant and if you ask me they don’t have the best of personalities.
No one ever stops their car to rescue a worm. We don’t read editorials that say we must stop the genocidal atrocity taking place in our lakes and rivers. Think of a worm being a team’s mascot. Will we ever hear of the Los Angeles Leaches or the Michigan Maggots or the Washington Worms? I don’t think so.
Our text Isaiah 41:14 calls God’s people a worm: “Fear not, you worm Jacob.” Why does God call the community in Babylon a worm? Didn’t He get the memo that calling someone a worm isn’t the best way to boost self-esteem or encourage people to get up and get going?
Buried under the boot of Babylon, in Isaiah 40-55 the exiles are also called weak and weary, bruised reeds and smoldering wicks, deaf and blind, childless, widowed, divorced, and a stubborn rebel from birth. God has a word for that: worm.
It is Ash Wednesday, another season of the Passion and . . .
“GOD HAS A WORD FOR THAT”
“You worm Jacob” is equated with “those who are dead.” Isaiah’s invites us to compare dead people with worms. Dead people are buried – so are worms. Dead people are stepped on – so are worms. Dead people are surrounded by dirt – so are worms. Dead people are ignored and soon forgotten – and so are worms.
The exiles had seen terror on every side. They are caught in a culture where their most treasured narratives and liturgies are being mocked, trivialized, or dismissed as being simply irrelevant. The beast called Babylon had swallowed everything up. Their hopelessness is epitomized in Psalm 22:1: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” And then in verse 6 David says, “I am a worm and not a man.”
Now, what should I think of myself when I am captive to sin and far away from the Father? When I don’t walk humbly with God? When I feel no compassion for the lost? When I take no delight in the Word, recoil from prayer, harbor lustful thoughts and pant for the praises of people? When I am deceptive, mean-spirited, and petty? God has a word for that: worm. “Pastor, didn’t you get the memo that calling people a worm isn’t the best way to boost self-esteem or encourage us to get up and get going?”
No, I didn’t. Because thinking highly of ourselves has nothing to do with God’s Word. Rather He longs for us to cry out with Isaiah, “I am a man of unclean lips”; and with Job, “Therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes”; and with Paul, “O wretched man that I am, who will deliver me from this body of death!” This is what Lent is all about. Acknowledging who we are in God’s sight – sinful and unclean in thought, word, and deed. Lent is when we confess these sins, grieve over them, and repent before Almighty God. You see, only people who are dead and buried and surrounded by dirt cry out for life and resurrection.
Hear again Isaiah 41:14: “Fear not, you worm Jacob, you men of Israel! I am the One who helps you, declares the Lord; your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel.” The Lord is not a football coach rallying the team. He is “your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” A redeemer is your next-of-kin-relative who buys back your inheritance, frees you from slavery, and pays off your debt. Whatever has gone bad, your redeemer will make good.
Couple with Redeemer is “Holy One of Israel.” It means the Lord is completely set apart and different from everyone and everything else.
Isaiah couples your Redeemer – the completely immanent One – with the Holy One of Israel – the completely transcendent One. In this way, he announces that the Lord alone is able to marshal every power in the universe for a single, loving, furious, relentless goal – to bring us love and life, forgiveness and salvation!
How does He do it? In the fullness of time, God became our next-of-kin-relative, literally. And then He took another step. He became dirty, despised, and dismissed. But then He took another, almost incomprehensible step. It was one for the ages. “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” And then verse 6, “I am a worm and not a man.” Here is Jesus, nailed to the tree, His body bent and twisted. Here is Jesus, a bloody, horrific mess. Here is Jesus, mocked, ridiculed, and abandoned. God has a word for that: worm.
He did it all for you. And so God’s transforming word to us is exactly this. Isaiah 41:15 and 16: “Behold, I make of you a threshing sledge, new, sharp, and having teeth; you shall thresh the mountains and crush them, and you shall make the hills like chaff; you shall winnow them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the tempest will scatter them. And you shall rejoice in the Lord; in the Holy One of Israel you shall glory.”
Worms become mountain movers! The lowly and despised are loved and lifted up. Our Lenten sackcloth and ashes are not the last word. On Easter they will be exchanged for baptismal robes washed white in the blood of Jesus. “The blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, and the gospel is preached to the poor.” (Matt. 11:5) God has a word for that. Grace!
Amen.

February 15, 2015 – Transfiguration Text: Mark 9:2-9

Dear Friends in Christ,

Toni and I were vacationing with my parents and 3 year-old Karson in Monterrey, California. We were at appropriately…and my mom always thought this was funny…Dennis the Menace Park. This is a great park for children. Slides and swings and sand and you’re on the coast of California. Anyway, Karson had a wonderful time sliding and swinging and just enjoying being a kid. At some point it had to end. We had other places we wanted to go to and we didn’t want to wear out the grandparents. Karson, of course, didn’t want to go. It wasn’t quite Dennis the Menace like but you can understand his reasons for wanting to stay. He was in his glory – take a look at this park on the Internet and you will know what I mean.
We were all kids once. We can relate. There are places we just did not want to leave. As adults our understanding is a little different. We know we have to come down the mountain. Life is like that. And when it is, aren’t we glad we have a Savior? It’s Transfiguration Sunday and the Lord says . . .
“HERE I AM”
On the mountain of glory, a sustained heavenly visit has appeal. It did for Peter, James, and John. Who could blame them. Jesus had talked about being killed, denying self, taking up a cross, losing one’s life. Now they are in heaven’s company with Moses and Elijah and it seemed better.
It would be for us too especially if the last word we heard from the surgeon was cancer, or from the boss, “We’re going to let you go.” Just as we are prone to rely on worldly diversions – in the workshop, playing video games, snapchatting, facebooking, on Netflix, shopping, investing in our sports teams, knitting – to avoid the painful realities of life, surely we’d welcome a heavenly interruption by the likes of Moses and Elijah for the same reason.
How powerless life’s problems seem when we allow our imaginations to converse with the one who crossed the Red Sea and stood before I AM on holy ground. Or sit beside the prophet and ask him about the chariot of fire. A sustained heavenly visit has great appeal.
For Jesus, securing our eternal glory for us had greater appeal. He must go back down the mountain. There is but one plan of salvation and He is it. The blood of thousands and thousands of lambs sacrificed for hundreds of years means nothing, and the Spirit of death cannot “pass over” our sins if the blood of the Lamb of God is not poured out for us. Jesus would descend from the mount of glory not to provide people with problems, one more temporary diversion, but to reach the crest of Calvary, curing people of life’s problems, even sin, death, and hell, for all eternity.
Jesus leads his disciples back down the mountain. They were to be strengthened by this heavenly meeting for what was now to come – Jesus’ suffering and theirs. Following Jesus is not a passive life. It’s highly interactive. Now works righteousness here. No merits for salvation earned or given. It’s just that Jesus’ followers follow.
The pains suffered by first-century Christians is well-documented. Scripture itself tells us of Paul, Peter, James, and Stephen. We know about the millions of Christians today who are persecuted around the world. If we are not directly persecuted for our faith, then life’s situations – illness, divorce, trouble with children, loss of job, old age, finances – cause suffering or hardship. It becomes suffering for Christ’s sake when we endure and respond in faith.
Followers of Jesus will not allow the quality of life, money matters, or worldly comforts to dictate our outlook or decisions. Rather, we picture ourselves coming down the mountain, not alone, but with Jesus saying, “Here I AM with you,” and we know His glory will prevail.
Jesus’s followers know that he says, “I AM here to strengthen you through suffering.” And, “I AM here with you in suffering to use you to witness to others.”
Pastor Richard Wurmbrand knows about Christ’s strength for him in suffering and about witnessing. Before his release in 1964, he was tortured for 14 years in communist Romanian prisons for his involvement with the Christian underground.
At one time, Rev. Wurmbrand survived on an hour of sleep a night with a guard opening and shutting the spyhole in the door each minute or so. His interrogator constantly threated him, “Don’t you know I can order your execution tonight?” Wurmbrand spoke of Christ and told his torturer to put his hand over Wurmbrand’s heart. If it beat rapidly from fright, the man would know there is no God and no eternal life. If it beat calmly, indicating Wurmbrand was at peace, then the interrogator would know there is a God and eternal life. Instead of putting his hand on Wurmbrand’s chest, he struck his face saying, “Can’t you see that…your savior, or whatever you call him, isn’t going to open any prison doors?” Wurmbrand replied, “His name is Jesus Christ, and if He wishes, He can release me.”
Paul writes, “Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.” (Rom. 8:18) That is the way it is for Jesus’ followers. We work and witness and even suffer for Christ. We are not earning a trip to heaven. We just know that He has work for us to do. By His own work and witness, death and resurrection, He earned our trip to heaven. We follow Him because He says, “I AM here with you on earth, and I AM taking you to be with me in heaven.”
Amen.

February 8, 2015 Text: Mark 1:29-39

Dear Friends in Christ,

Professions and vocations serve a function. Every father, mother, student, teacher, police officer, attorney, and politician has a purpose. Basketball players and musicians, plumbers and farmers, motivational speakers and financial advisors have a function. Their vocation may be to raise their children, teach, motivate, or fix a leaky faucet. Every person has a vocation or function. Most have several vocations in addition to their job activities.
What about God and his only beloved Son, Jesus Christ? Why did Jesus go from one town to another and place-to place?
“WHAT IS CHRIST’S FUNCTION?”
Where did Jesus’ preaching fit into his total ministry? Jesus has been at the synagogue in Capernaum and now He enters the house of Peter and Andrew with James and John. Peter’s mother-in-law has a fever and is ill. Jesus lifts her up, the fever leaves her; and she begins to serve all of them.
Jesus now at sundown – after the Sabbath ends. He receives the crowds who continually bring those afflicted by sickness or demons. He heals many and He casts out the demons.
Jesus – early in the morning. He leaves the disciples to pray in solitude. He needs a break like we all do – but the disciples hunt him down because the disciples say that everyone is looking for him. He then proclaims His function. They are going to go to the neighboring towns where Jesus can proclaim the Kingdom of God. That is why He came! He continues this ministry as He goes throughout the region of Galilee preaching and expelling demons by His Word.
What does Christ’s preaching of the Word mean for us? Many times, we see or hear things while something else is going on, and we miss it. It’s like trying to watch a three-ring circus. The trapeze artists get our whole attention that we may miss the clowns or the tigers. There is so much going on. When I announce football games, which I have for a number of years, I watch the game through my binoculars so I can get the number of the ball carrier and tackler correct. Parents want that kids name said right! Anyway, when I do that my field of vision is limited. I might miss something down field. To fully appreciate a circus or football game we must see the event in its entirety.
The same is true for understanding the ministry of Jesus. During those early Galilean years, he taught, he preached, he worked miracles. Everyone wanted a piece of him, but they didn’t really know why he’d come. He’d come to preach, but just what he was preaching – himself – wasn’t understood by many until the climax of that preaching was fulfilled: His death and resurrection.
Jesus’ healing in today’s text validates His preaching. He heals our minds, bodies, and souls. He heals our greatest illnesses – rejection of His will, unbelief, sin, and death. It has the same impact on our world as it did when Jesus himself spoke.
Like Peter’s mother-in-law we have been healed to serve out of faith and love. We are here right now, in this place, to fulfill our vocation for Christ and His Church. Like the disciples, we are invited by the Holy Spirit to find Jesus at Bible Studies, in Sunday School, devotions, in Holy Communion, in Confession and Absolution. Like the crowds, we may always bring others to be spiritually healed by His touch and preaching – at worship, Bible Studies, Baptism, Holy Communion.
How does that preaching continue today? What is our function? When I hear the word “function” it always takes me back to my childhood and Saturday mornings when they had these little vignettes on television. I remember this little ditty, “Conjunction, junction, what’s your function?” We might think of it this way, “Christian, Christian, what’s your function?” The Holy Spirit empowers us to be about the mission of the church. We can’t heal, but we can invite to the healing waters. We can’t preach like Jesus, but we can reach out to others to come and hear the Lord’s preaching. And we do have the ability to forgive the sins of repentant sinners because Christ first forgave us. As the Word is preached and the Sacraments are administered, Jesus continues to heal the sick of soul.
The Lord has His function and through Him we have ours. Let’s get to it!
Amen.

Feb. 1, 2015 Text: Mark 1:21-28

Dear Friends in Christ,

About 25 years ago Dr. Dennis Waitley was a sought-after speaker and productivity consultant. Listen to this quote from one of his talks.
“We want love without commitment. We want benefit packages without production requirement. Pain, sacrifice, and effort are unacceptable. ‘If it feels good right away, I’ll try it. If I can’t be certain I’ll win, then I won’t enter. I want the American dream I saw on TV, in the movies, and the one my parents said I’d get because I’m so special. And I want it now! Tomorrow is too late.’ I call this irresponsible obsession with immediate sensual gratification.”
Boy couldn’t we go on a real tirade echoing and screaming about that quote? How else can you explain that Apple sold almost 75 million I-phones during the Christmas shopping season? Or every child gets a trophy just for participating?
If only people knew the Scripture. If only. This morning is another moment with Jesus.
“LESSONS ABOUT LIFE”
The beginning of our text. “They went to Capernaum, and immediately on the Sabbath (Jesus) entered the synagogue and was teaching. And they were astonished at his teaching, for he taught them as one who had authority, and not as the scribes.” (vs. 21-22)
Who has the authority? Jesus does. He has the final authority and final word. These words are of utmost importance because everybody is once again wondering where everything in the world is headed. The underlying thinking of our day is that man is the final authority; that man will direct his course of action and destiny.
Here in this unknown synagogue in this mostly unknown place called Capernaum. God steps into the scene of human history and vetoes all human authority now matter how powerful or significant, and trumps all human plans and thinking. Listen to these words from Proverbs: “A man’s steps are directed by the Lord. How then can anyone understand his own way.” (Prov. 20:24)
And look at this…”And immediately there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit. And he cried out, ‘What have you to do with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are – the Holy One of God.’” (v. 23-24
I pray we catch this. This man possessed by an evil spirit didn’t run into the church. He was in the church. Part of the church. And with that the lesson that most of the church’s greatest struggles are not on the outside, but within.
And most pretend that the church is the place where everyone can agree to disagree and get along. Isn’t that the goal? Whatever it takes to make the pew warm and cozy? We get twisted in our thinking.
The greatest twisting there is, is that about our sin and the trouble it causes; especially with God. And that sin is right here, in this Sanctuary. Yours and mine. And Christ is right here, in this Sanctuary – right here where He promised to be in Word and Sacrament to assure us of forgiveness of all our twisted thinking, our vile and destructive sin. This moment with Jesus is simply another wonderful and comforting reminder that He comes to where we are with forgiveness and eternal life.
Well, consider the rest of what happens in our text…”But Jesus rebuked him, saying, ‘Come out of him!’ And the unclean spirit, convulsing him and crying out with a loud voice, came out of him. And they were all amazed, so that they questioned among themselves, saying, ‘What is this? A new teaching with authority! He commands even the unclean spirits, and they obey him.’ And at once his fame spread everywhere throughout all the surrounding region of Galilee.” (vs. 25-28)
Isn’t it interesting that they ask, “What is this?” and not “Who is this?” The world is looking for answers. This world is looking for someone who will love and comfort it. But the world can’t see Jesus. It can’t recognize the Who, but it does cry out for the What – as in What the world wants and What the world thinks. How thankful we are that we know the Who.
This moment with Jesus, once again focuses on the great love of God for us. In the history of our troubled world, there have been frequent clashes between powerful forces. During World War II, there was a monumental struggle between the Axis and the Allies. Yet wondering who would win was not really doubted in the objective mind. The Axis simply had too many men and too much material for the underpowered Axis.
Despite the strategic victory the Allies were sure to win, a long war of attrition caused many casualties along the way. If victory couldn’t be achieved, then the Axis warlords wanted to take as many Allied lives as possible.
Our ultimate victory is certain through the person and work of Jesus Christ. And yet, Satan works to take as many with him as possible. He boldly attacks God’s highest creation. But through the wonderful weapon of God’s word, we’re guaranteed not only a strategic victory in heaven, but also tactical victories along the way. Armed with the ultimate weapon of God’s Holy Word and His Sacraments, we are truly “delivered from evil.”
Good lessons from this moment with Jesus.
Amen.

January 25, 2015 Text: Mark 1:14-20

Dear Friends in Christ,

One of the helpful inventions of the 21st century has been “Caller ID.” It allows you to know who is calling. It has been especially helpful here in the church office as it cuts down on wasting time talking to companies who are selling or individuals who just want something. Who is calling makes a difference.
Today in our Gospel lesson the “who is calling” makes a difference as well. The voice of Jesus is the one identified. Will the men being called recognize it and how will they react? Come along as the call is made.
“CALLER ID”
Right away in our text the caller is identified. “After John was arrested, Jesus came into Galilee, proclaiming the gospel of God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the Gospel.’” (vs. 14-15)
What is so important about “the kingdom of God is at hand?” What and where is this “kingdom of God?” All we can see is this lone new guy in town named Jesus who says to repent and believe the Gospel all because a kingdom is now at hand.
We don’t think much about kingdoms these days. But to the ears of first-century Palestine, “kingdoms” would have been a subject of great familiarity. Their minds may have focused on the oppressive, mighty rule of Rome – which they knew and experienced all too well. They may have thought of the Old Testament references to the “Sovereign Lord” – envisioning a master who sat high on a throne – personally ruling over his subjects. In either case, their minds would have been on a kingdom of power, a kingdom of might, not a kingdom like the one Jesus was bringing.
So this Jesus needs to build His kingdom. He begins along the Sea of Galilee with a couple of brothers named Andrew and Simon who were fishermen. The caller does not identify himself, we are told he says, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” If you are Andrew and Simon are you going to answer this call? Are you going to pick up?
There is always a response when Jesus calls. His presence – whether in the flesh in the first century, or by inspired Word in the twenty-first century – forces the issue. We may try to straddle the fence, but the edge is simply too narrow. Every encounter with Jesus is a force to be reckoned with. His Law crushes us – forcing us to admit we are sinners. His Gospel lifts us – freeing us to rejoice that we are forgiven sinners.
Jesus needed these men for the building of His kingdom – a future kingdom – a Kingdom called the Church. He would need foremen – pastors – to help build the Church. Jesus will train them for a far greater work than they have been doing, namely the work of winning men for the gospel and salvation.
“Immediately they left their nets and followed him.” They did not stand there and stew over the Caller ID. What should we do? Do we know this guy? They probably did as we can see from John chapter 1. But this call will affect the rest of their lives. Look at the trust as they follow Jesus for the schooling they were now to receive for a far greater calling. The key is the one making the call.
Look at this call and the one to James and John. Both came on a regular workday. Fishing, mending nets, going about their daily tasks. Your “ordinary” call to your daily tasks comes with the call to proclaim the Savior. Right now, right here, wherever Monday office or Tuesday lunch or Thursday errands find you. The caller has ID’d you. With the help of the Holy Spirit we say this in the meaning to the 3rd Article of the Apostle’s Creed, “He calls, gathers, enlightens, and sanctifies the whole Christian church on earth, and keeps it with Jesus Christ in the one true faith.” The Callers ID was put on you at Baptism, marks you as you inwardly digest His Holy Scripture and lifts you up in the Lord’s sacred meal.
The Holy Spirit helps us to pick up when we are called. As with a phone call that identifies a person you have been waiting to hear from, we excitedly heed the call of our Savior. When He calls you to share the faith with a friend or family member. When He calls you to share the truth when someone you know struggles with sin. When He calls you to prepare and serve a meal to the destitute and homeless. When He calls you to serve your congregation as they have need of elders. When He calls you to shepherd your children in the ways of the Lord. This caller – the Savior Jesus Christ – wants you to answer. He doesn’t want you to check your phone and walk away.
The phone is ringing, will you pick up?
Amen.

Jan. 4, 2015 – Epiphany Text: Ephesians 3:1-12

Dear Friends in Christ,

One of our basic human instincts is to be included. To be in a group. God did not make Adam to remain alone. We even see fellowship within the Holy Trinity, as Moses reveals their conversation in Gen. 1:26: “Let us make man…” The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit speak, a holy conversation revealing unity and purpose by the three persons of the Godhead.
It’s Epiphany and it is God’s way that we are . . .
“INCLUDED”
As the biblical story of creation unfolds, the first two created let their ears hear the voice of a separatist god-wannabe, the devil. They remove themselves from God and the fellowship they had with one another. No longer a community, with God or the other, they followed only the selfish designs of the devil. Exclusion and division.
This is how it is when the rebellious ones try to make a community apart from God on their own terms. We curve in on ourselves. This churchless community is absolutely all about me, myself, and I.
You know what that’s like. You were there once, before Christ snatched you by His gracious grip and made you His own, a decisive one-sided divine work. Oh, you still tend to lean that way, away from concern for God and each other. The Lord, though, is rather persistent in his care for you. He won’t let you fade into self-exclusion and division, to be a community of one.
He sent the unifier, and his shed blood has brought the world back to the Father, through the Son, by the Spirit’s preaching. It would have been easy for this ragtag group of Ephesus, mostly Gentiles, non-Jews, to believe they were outside the circle of inclusion, that they were not God’s Church. Why, nearly their whole city was involved in the worship of Artemis, the goddess of fertility. The prostitution house was within two hundred yards of their famous library and their amphitheater, which seated 25,000. Now, that was a holy fellowship, they thought – intellect, sexual enticement, and group entertainment. But, in reality, it was only a community of perversion.
This, Paul says, is why he is sent. Yes, the Jews are God’s chosen people if they believe in the Father’s provision for their sin. But so are the Gentiles. Unholiness, whether it comes from the Jews or the Gentiles, did not advance one into God’s circle of inclusion, His Church.
You Gentiles, you members of this Church in Ephesus, and you sitting here today, do not overlook this fact. God sent a special call to man named Paul. His call papers were not filled out by a call committee but by God himself in person.
He did this so that you would know that the mystery revealed fully in Christ is that all people, all are included, all are Church members by grace through faith in Jesus Christ. Kingdom inclusion is by grace, not by any kind of merit. Your unholiness is on Jesus and The Father accepts the sacrifice.
You need not doubt or despair Ephesus Lutheran Church members. You are not any less than Paul, the chief of sinners. Since inclusion is on God’s terms, that is, his Son’s replacement punishment and sin-payment for you, there is no doubt.
Even more so, you have access to the Father through Christ and your Baptism. You think all these powerful buildings around you and the pomp and power displayed by the Roman hierarchy here in town are greater than you? Just the reverse! God has declared you His, included, the Church, glorious and holy, united, one Body, Jew and Greek, male and female, all one with Him.
Through Jesus, and alongside Jesus, you petition the Father as Jesus does. You talk to God about your neighbor, and then you talk to your neighbor about your God, joining Jesus, your great High Priest, in holy work.
And what does this holy work look like? Many of you have commented on my long hair – good and bad and in fun. I have explained the story to a few of you but not to the whole congregation. I have not had a haircut for over four months. My barber had some major surgery about a month after my last haircut. He is a widower and we had my mom’s death and his wife’s death to talk about during haircuts. Anyway, we invited him and his son to the boy’s football games this fall. Then through the work of the Spirit they came to worship with us for a few weeks leading up to his surgery. Since he has gotten home, I have called him every other week and have been praying for him. He has had a rough time recovering. At Christmas I sent him a card with a picture of my long hair and encouraged him with the words that I needed him behind his barber chair in 2015. That has been my witness. That is just a small example of God’s holy work. I know many of you have your own work that the Holy Spirit is blessing.
Fear not, O Church, for God still sends those to do His work. As the Word is taught and preached, the broken and despairing are brought into his Church, no matter the race, color, or size of sin. And the Church stands.
Let all hell break loose. But do not fear. You are so secure in his wounds, drenched by His blood in baptismal splashing and drinking of the river of life at the rail, that you do not run. Rather, you, His Church, face westward into the wind and storm…snuggled right behind Him, dragging others with you.
Amen