Sermon Lent 1 2011 March 13, 2011

Lent 1

Invocabit

March 12-13, 2011

Matthew 4:1-11

“By Every Word”

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

To live by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God is to live by faith. Faith is a painful and awkward thing. It is not at home in our flesh. For our flesh is weak. It wants its own way. It wants satisfaction. We like things that we think are strong. Our flesh prefers bread for our bellies to the Words of God´s mouth. But the just shall live by faith. In weakness God’s strength is made perfect.

The just shall live by faith - but it will hurt every step of the way. For the just on this side of heaven continue to struggle with the old man. They are attacked by the devil. He dislikes nothing so much as faith. His temptations are always to the things he thinks are concrete: to works and success, to things that can be quantified and measured, to things that can be seen, heard, or felt, even to fame and honor with men. He would have us live by anything and everything, by logic, reason, experience, or even feelings, anything and everything but faith. But the just shall live by faith: whether they like it or not.

The things our flesh craves and thinks are lasting and practical are actually fleeting. Bread rots. But the Word of God endures forever. No one will care either in heaven or in hell about how many people knew your name or what they thought of you, how wealthy you were, how fast you could run, how good looking and smart or clever you were, or how good you were at your job, or weren’t. In fact, no one really cares now - except you. Repent.

Faith wants us to live now as we will live in Heaven, by the Word of God without concern for food or any bodily needs and certainly without sin, with only one God. Faith is not nice. It is not sensitive to society´s manners or the politics of pluralism. It is extreme, radical, and unexpected. Men fear it. When faith becomes reasonable or practical it is no longer faith. It is just the devil’s doctrine hiding behind pious sounding “God talk.”

On this side of Heaven, where Christ is, there the devil is also. Thus the famous saying of Luther: Where God builds a Church the devil builds a chapel. He found Our Lord hungry and alone in the desert. He finds you as well. That is why you suffer, why you face so many temptations. The devil is attracted to the Truth and to faith. That is why the prophets were persecuted, why the apostles were martyred, why they killed Jesus, why the world hates you. Satan doesn´t attack his friends and co-conspirators.

Satan has had the entire history of man to practice his craft of deception. All the encouraging victories of God, from the slaying of Goliath to the resurrection of Lazarus, all the encouraging victories of God which occur prior to the Last Judgment melt under the devil ´s glare. Arguments, logic, reason, works, exegesis, history, tradition, and experience help us none. Only Christ, the Word of God made flesh, can come to our aid. Satan’s wisdom is frustrated by the statement “the just shall live by faith.” God is for us in Jesus Christ, fighting for a world that the Devil, likewise is trying to conquer. The devil seeks to conquer by violence and threat. Christ overcomes Him and us by submitting to violence and by promise. Satan’s power is not unlimited; he must stay within specified bounds, but until doomsday those bounds are as wide as the whole world. So you are attacked and suffer. But Christ´s power is unlimited. It is wider than the world and longer than time.

You have an Advocate with the Father, a Redeemer back from the dead, a Hero and Champion, the Stronger Man, who has destroyed your enemies within and without, He calls you Brother and Sister, Son and Daughter, Beloved and Friend. He has taken up your Flesh, was born into your filth, suffered for your transgressions, and has redeemed your soul. He gives you His Name. He shows His love for you to the Father in His scars. He places His Spirit upon you. He was tempted in every way, but He did not fail. He has even believed for you. He, Himself, lived by faith. He overcame the devil’s lies with His own Word for you.

When His trials in the desert had ended angels ministered to Our Lord. So they also minister to you. That is not to say you won´t be tempted or suffer. You will never be free of these things prior to removal from this world. God forgets our sins and casts them into the deepest part of the sea, removing them as far as the East is from the West. But our fallen minds and our aching members remember. They still crave forbidden things. And our fallen spirits are timid. They are afraid to believe. They’ve gotten their hopes up before and been disappointed. So they hold back. They are suspicious. But God is not like us. He doesn’t break promises. He doesn’t fail. His angels protect you, pray for you, and sing with you. But since that kind of dependability and love is outside of our experience it is hard to believe. That is not what we are like. We must live by faith.

This trouble you now feel is simply the struggle of that faith. The flesh wants the upper hand. It wants proof or excuses or a plan to make things better. Give up. Stop fighting. Stop trying to be something, to experience something, to feel something, or know something. Don’t analyze it. Just quit. Quit everything. Let God do all the work, even the thinking. Jesus died - on purpose. He also rose again. He knows what He is doing. He has overcome all these things for you. You are forgiven and clean, pure and holy, righteous and whole, whether you feel it or not, whether it seems like it or not, whether or not it makes sense. Jesus died and rose. That is the Truth. And that is what matters. Don’t worry about anything else. Just let it go.

We all have bad habits and self-destructive behaviors. We all have grudges and prejudices. We all repeat our mistakes. But that doesn’t matter. Jesus died and rose. That matters. You can´t fix your family or friends, the synod or America, let alone yourself. You can’t undo the past or take it all back. But you don´t have to. Jesus died and rose. You are forgiven. Live in the present, in the reality of grace. For Jesus didn’t just die and rise again. He died and rose again FOR YOU. And that is really what matters.

In + Jesus´ Name. Amen.

Ash Wednesday 2011 Lamb of God Series

Ash Wednesday Sermon

March 9, 2011

Sermon: The Pure and Holy Lamb of God

1 Peter 1:18–19

For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. (1 Peter 1:18–19)

The phrase “spring cleaning” sounds a bit old-fashioned and outmoded to twenty-first-century ears. But even in these busy times, we do find it necessary now and then to stop and do some major cleaning around our house or work space. Cleanliness may be next to godliness, but the frantic, frenzied lives we live leave little time for either one. And it begins to show after a while.

You can live with a certain amount of clutter in your house, but messy souls are another matter. Lent comes around each year to school us in repentance. You could call it a spring cleaning for the soul. That’s why Lent is such a good thing, spiritually speaking. For forty days Christians are led on an annual pilgrimage with Jesus to His cross, through His bitter suffering and redeeming death, to His grave, and then on to His glorious resurrection.

Lent is a time of repentance. But because repentance involves both sorrow for sin and faith in Jesus that brings forgiveness and new life, Lent is also a time of cleansing and renewal—cleansing and renewal in Jesus, the Lamb of God. That’s what we will be doing in these services: airing out our souls, clearing out the clutter of our sin-filled hearts, tossing out the trash, and finding refreshment and renewal in the blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, which cleanses us from all sin.

The focus of our meditation tonight and in all the services of Lent and Holy Week will be the great Lenten hymn “Lamb of God, Pure and Holy.” Each time we gather here before the cross we will contemplate another perspective of our Savior’s redeeming love as it is highlighted in God’s Word.

Tonight, then, as we begin our Lenten journey, the sinless Lamb of God comes clearly into focus in the words of the apostle Peter, who writes that Jesus is “a lamb without blemish or defect” (1 Peter 1:19).

I don’t have to remind you how unique Jesus is. The Bible says the Son of God was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary as true man, just like us in every way except one: He was without sin. In that way He is different from you and me, for we are sinners through and through. But in every other way, Jesus is exactly like us, including the fact that He faced the very same temptations you and I face each day. The difference is that Jesus resisted every one of those temptations, while we cave in to temptation—or even embrace it with open arms. We find ourselves defiled and contaminated by sin from head to toe. It should not surprise us when we feel dirty and polluted deep within, for we have fouled ourselves not just in what we do but also in what we say and how we think. There is truly nothing good in us when it comes to our sinful nature. Sadly, we are thoroughly blemished and defiled in our sin. Worse yet, by nature we find ourselves disqualified from the presence of God and we stand under His wrath and judgment.

Yet we have an advocate with the Father: Jesus is the propitiation for our sins. He knows the onslaughts of doubt and temptation first hand; He is familiar with every trick of the devil. Jesus bore our sorrows and is well acquainted with grief. He is able to sympathize with us in our weaknesses because He has endured them all Himself and knows every one of them first hand.

Our consolation is found in Christ’s sacrifice. In His suffering and on the cross, Jesus exchanged His righteousness for our sin. He, the sinless Son of God, was made to be sin for us, though He knew no sin, so that we might be made the righteousness of God. All who trust in Christ not only find their sins removed and absolved, but by faith in Jesus they also share in His holiness; before the judgment seat of God they stand just as holy as Christ is, without blemish or defect.

The apostle teaches that the heavenly status we have in Jesus, the Lamb of God, also has profound meaning for the life we live here on earth: “you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers” (1 Peter 1:18).

At first this does not seem to connect with us because our life does not seem very empty. How can it be when it is crammed with so many activities? We have our hands full with appointments, deals to close, projects to finish, goods to be sold, people to be managed, kids to be raised. All kinds of things crowd our calendar and our clock. With all the demands on our time and attention, it is quite difficult just keeping our heads above water, much less stopping to catch our breath.

Amid our fractured, frenzied lives, Lent comes as a breath of fresh air, bidding us to pause and reflect on what is going on around us. St. Peter gives us a fresh perspective on the whirlwind blur of our lives. He labels it bluntly: “the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers” (1 Peter 1:18).

Who could call our life empty, we wonder? With our crowded calendars and jam-packed IPads, with the infinite details clamoring for our attention day to day, the problem seems to be just the opposite. We seem to be suffering from too much rather than too little. We seem to have a surplus rather than a famine. But that is precisely the problem. Too much of a good thing is not a good thing. Life on overdrive is not really living. Going faster and faster, we are getting nowhere fast. We may accumulate a good share of the trophies that many people consider signs of success, but if that is all we have to show for our time and effort, we do not have much. We may have a full life as some people count it, but when you get right down to it, such a hectic, compulsive life is full, all right—full of emptiness.

The world around us is always trying to sell us a bill of goods. We hear a great deal of talk about “freedom,” but what it boils down to is the freedom to do as you please, the freedom of the unbridled will. The Bible brands such freedom as bondage. “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death” (Proverbs 14:12). That is the problem with life in this fallen world. All that glitters is not gold. Things are not always what they seem. Turn a sinner loose to do as he pleases, and you have sent him down the path to hellfire. But that is what the world would like. Sin masquerades as freedom. All deviations are labeled “freedoms,” and the claim is made that these freedoms are a precious heritage handed down to us from our forefathers. But these so-called “freedoms” are not freedom at all. They are bondage to sin and slavery to death.

No wonder, then, that St. Peter calls such bondage disguised as freedom what it actually is: empty, worthless. Listen again: “You were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers” (1 Peter 1:18). Note the passive nature of that redemption: “You were redeemed.” This is no do-it-yourself project. Only the blood of Jesus Christ, the sinless Lamb of God, the pure and holy Lamb of God, could redeem us from the tyranny of Satan. There is a price tag on sin, you see, and that price is extremely high: “For the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23). But Jesus came, this Lamb of God, this Lamb of ours—this pure and holy Lamb—to lay down His life on the cross and pour out all His blood that we slaves might be freed.

Now, in this holy season, we contemplate the depth of the love of God, our merciful heavenly Father, who loved the world so that He gave His only Son to save the lost. By His grace, you are His and He is yours this night. So cleanse your souls in Him. Lay down your burdens, put away your sorrow, and set aside your heartache and your pain. All this and more the pure and holy Lamb of God has taken with Him to the cross that by His death He might redeem you, make you pure and holy like Himself, and set you free to live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness, innocence, and blessedness. You can be sure of that, even as He is now risen from the dead, lives and reigns to all eternity. Amen.

Sermon for March 6, 2011

Quinquagesima

March 5-6, 2011

Luke 18:31-43

“The Road to Jerusalem”

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Our Lord set His Face toward Jerusalem for all the things the prophets wrote: the delivery to the Gentiles, the mocking, the insulting, the spitting, the scourging, the killing, and finally, the rising. But that is not all the prophets wrote. They also wrote: “Strengthen the weak hands and make strong the feeble knees.” He set Himself to suffer violence in order to remove fear and bestow salvation.

But the disciples did not understand. It was hidden from them. They’d glimpsed His power in the miracles. They’d felt the depth of His wisdom in His teaching. They recognized that He was the prophet greater than Moses, that John was His Elijah, that He was the Son of the Living God. But the real point of His compassion, of His mercy, what it would cost Him, was mostly lost on them.

That is because they were not yet ready to beg, not yet ready for the mocking, insulting, spitting, scourging, and killing. They didn’t want to face what their sins would do to Him. They read the prophets like a book of quotes, skimming about for the good bits.

But where they were blind: the blind man saw. He was told that Jesus of Nazareth was passing by. But he cried out for mercy from the Son of David.

We might have thought he would ask for justice, for some recompense for his sorrows and the hardships of his life, that he would appeal to the inequities and indignities that he had suffered by an accident of birth. We expect him to say: “This is not fair. Make me whole.”

And if he was afraid, if he was uncertain as to whether the mercy of Jesus could help him or not, we’d expect him to heed the warning of the seeing. Don’t they better understood what is happening than he does? And isn’t he dependent upon them? Does he risk annoying them?

But where they were blind, he saw. He would not be quiet. But neither would not complain. He did not say, “This is not fair.” He made no appeal to his own virtue or difficulties. Instead, he cried for mercy.

Again, they told him that Jesus of Nazareth was coming. But he called Jesus by the Messianic title: Son of David. He knew what he was doing. He knew who Jesus was. He brought the full weight of the prophets to bear. He did not approach the Lord as one who had been cheated or who was a victim, who was wronged by fate or by men. He cried out as a criminal and a beggar, as a man desperate for the prophecies to be fulfilled, for God to keep His Word. He cried out for mercy that he did not deserve.

How could Our Lord refuse? He was on His way to Jerusalem for the sake of mercy, to save sinners, to rescue criminals. His mercy endures forever.

He set His face toward Jerusalem to re-create and re-order creation, to endure the most unjust judgment the world has ever known, the greatest affliction in body and soul, the most heartbreaking of betrayals and self-serving cowardice from his friends. And along the way His face was turned to this blind man, to a need for mercy.

It is for this that the Lord would be mocked and spat upon, derided by all, even forsaken by His Father. Who is blind and He is not blind? Who is hurt, betrayed, afraid, or in any way afflicted and He is unmoved? He keeps track of the sparrows. He counts your hairs. He knows your sorrows, feels your pain. He has compassion. Because His mercy, which drove Him to the cross like a lamb to the slaughter, endures forever.

And everyone who asks the Lord for mercy finds mercy. The blind man received mercy: His eyes were opened.

Then he was full of joy. He had mercy, forgiveness, grace. He followed Jesus to Jerusalem. He glorified God for the delivery to the Gentiles. He glorified God for the mocking, insulting, spitting, scourging, and killing. And he glorified God for the rising. The Word of the prophets was fulfilled in Jesus. Mercy came to earth. God in the Flesh made good on His promise by giving His life as a ransom to save fallen men.

We set our faces to Jerusalem today. We are fifty days from Easter. Three days from ashes. We set ourselves for the fast, eager for the feast. Skull Hill and the burial plot of Joseph of Arimathea are not our true goal and destination. They are the means. Our real goal is the new Jerusalem, where all suffering, all blindness of eyes and minds, comes to an end.

So let us learn from the blind man to hold Jesus to His Word. Let us not be too proud to beg. Stop the excuses. Stop the pretend piety and insincere attempts at reform. Make this Lent a holy preparation, a cleansing and renewing of body, mind, and soul. Come not as a victim, as one entitled, as one who has been wronged. But come as a criminal, undeserving. Admit. Confess. Tell the Truth.

Ask not for justice or vengeance. Ask not that things to be set right, that life be fair. Ask - nay -- beg! - for mercy. Because everyone who asks Our Lord for mercy finds mercy.

Embrace the sufferings and sorrows of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do not be ashamed of the prophets or of the holy cross. It gave way to His resurrection. It delivers your justification. Praise God for the mercy of Jesus Christ. Adore the Blood that He has shed. Glorify Him for the Life He gave. He has compassion, mercy, on us poor sinners. He has compassion on you.

This is the Love that abides. It suffers long and is kind. It does not envy or parade itself. It is not puffed up, and does not behave rudely or seek its own. This Love is not provoked. It thinks no evil, and does not rejoice in iniquity. It rejoices in the Truth. This is not how we love one another, it is how God loves us in Jesus Christ. Jesus bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Jesus never fails.

Easter is coming.

In +Jesus’ Name. Amen.

Daily Readings for March 6-12, 2011

Daily Lectionary

March 6 Ezekiel, Prophet to an Exiled People—Ezekiel 2:1–3:3, Galatians 2:1-21
March 7 Daniel Is Taken to Babylon—Daniel 1:1-21, Galatians 3:1-14
March 8 Matthew 6:1-21/Prayer, Fasting, Alms-giving, Galatians 4:8-20
March 9 Ash Wednesday Joel 2:12–19; Jonah 3:1–10; 2 Peter 1:2–11 Matthew 6:1–6
March 10 King Nebuchadnezzar’s Dream—Daniel 2:1-23, Genesis 1:1-19
March 11 Genesis 1:20–2:3, Genesis 2:4-25
March 12 Lent 1 Genesis 3:1–21; 2 Corinthians 6:1–10; Matthew 4:1–11

Look forward to ASH WEDNESDAY March 9, 2011

Joel 2:12–19; Jonah 3:1–10; 2 Peter 1:2–11 Matthew 6:(1–6) 16–21

Return to the Lord Your God with All Your Heart

With Jesus, we set our face toward Jerusalem. We make our pilgrimage with Him by the way of repentance, and thus return to the dying and rising of Holy Baptism. Each day He summons you to return to Him with all your heart because He is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love” (Joel 2:13). Do so in faith and confidence before Him, supplementing your faith with “virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness, and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love” (2 Peter 1:5–7). During this Lenten season: set aside special times to pray to your Father in heaven; give to the needy from a heart of love; and fast for the sake of repentance (Matthew 6:3–4, 6, 17–18).

FIRST SUNDAY IN LENT (Invocabit)

Genesis 3:1–21; 2 Corinthians 6:1–10; Matthew 4:1–11

Jesus Does Battle in Our Place

In the Garden, man exalts himself to be a god in place of God (Genesis 3:1–21). He succumbs to the temptation of the devil, and eating of the forbidden fruit, he receives death. But in the sin-cursed wilderness, God humbles Himself to become man in place of man (Matthew 4:1–11). He does not eat but fasts and bears the onslaughts of the devil for us that we may be restored to life. Jesus stands as David in our place to do battle against the Goliath, Satan (1 Samuel 17:40–51). Though outwardly Jesus appears weak, yet He comes in the name of the Lord of hosts. He draws from the five smooth stones of the books of Moses and slings the Word of God. The stone sinks into the forehead, and the enemy falls. In Christ we are victorious over the devil. Let us therefore not receive the grace of God in vain (2 Corinthians 6:1–10), but seeing that we have a great High Priest, let us come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain help in time of need (Hebrews 4:14–16).

Daily Readings February 27- March 5, 2011

Daily Lectionary

February 27 The Tree of Knowledge and the Tree of Life—Genesis 2:4-17; Mark 10:1-31
February 28 Man Eats the Forbidden Fruit—Genesis 3:1-24; Mark 10:32-52
March 1 The Passover—Exodus 12:1-14, 17; Mark 11:1-33
March 2 The Wedding in Cana of Galilee—John 2:1-11; Mark 12:13-44
March 3 The Bread from Heaven—Exodus 16:1-15, 31; Luke 4:14-44
March 4 Luke 5:12-39
March 5 Quinquagesima Isaiah 35:3–7, 1 Corinthians 13:1—13, Luke 18:31–43

Look forward to Quinquagesima Sunday March 6, 2011

Isaiah 35:3-7: "Our God will come and save you." With these words the prophet announces both the coming of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, but also the proclamation of His Gospel which alone has the power to save and deliver us from all the afflictions of sin.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13: The love of Christ that moved Him to suffer and die for the sins of the whole world is described by St Paul. It is called the greatest of faith, hope, and love, because without Christ's love for us we would have nothing in which to believe and hope.

Luke 18:31-43: Jesus spoke clearly about His passion, death, and resurrection, yet "these things were hidden" from the disciples, so that they did not understand His words. It was necessary that the Son of Man suffer and die alone, for salvation from sin, death, and hell is entirely the work of our Lord. It must be received by us as a gift alone or it cannot be received at all. For their benefit the disciples were prevented from knowing these words, lest anyone of them boast in his superior knowledge or understanding. The mysteries of the faith are revealed to the blind by the Spirit of God, and so, Jesus has mercy upon blind Bartemaeus opening his eyes, in token that the mysteries of salvation are revealed to us so that we might believe in the Lord and give all praise and glory to God.

Sermon for Sexagesima Sunday 2011 February 27, 2011

Sexagesima

Luke 8:4-15

The Harvest Comes Of Itself

And In Unlikely Places

February 27, 2011

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The mysteries of the kingdom of God have been given to you, that seeing you would understand and hearing you would believe, that you would turn - repent - and your sins would be forgiven. If you do not understand this parable, you will not understand any parable (Mk 4:13).

This is the first lesson in the kingdom of God: [pause]

THE HARVEST COMES OF ITSELF AND IN UNLIKELY PLACES.

The Sower does not prepare the ground, nor does He sow only where a harvest could be expected. Instead, He casts His Word to the wayside, upon the stony ground and thorny patch.

He pays for labor that was not performed.
He welcomes back sons who wanted Him dead.
He forgives those who wasted His goods and looked after themselves.
He delivers mercy to sinners.
He pours on oil and wine, pays for everything Himself, and promises to come back.

He gives everything - His most precious thing, the Life of His only-begotten - as a ransom to reconcile mankind to His Father, to bestow His Spirit.

He does not give His Life only for those who will return His love. [pause]
He gives His Life for all: for the good and the bad, for the right and the wrong, for the faithful and unfaithful.
He is no respecter of persons. He has come for those who are sick with sin, weary with death, for those who are haunted by old grudges and oppressed by their own lusts and greed, for those with a scandalous past and secret sins.

He comes for the unrighteous and unworthy, for those being snatched at by demons, trampled with violence, choked by worry and fear, dried up in temptation.

He comes to transform them into good ground, that they would heard His Word, be forgiven and cleansed, start anew, and bear fruit with patience.

For the kingdom of God like a man scattering seed on the ground who then goes off to bed. When he rises in the morning he finds the seed has sprouted and grown, though he himself does not know how. It was not by his efforts or wisdom. While he slept the seed rose.

The earth yields it crops by itself: first the blade, then the head, after that the full grain.
God provides a harvest. There is more to our lives than simply seeking our next meal.
So also the kingdom of God comes of itself: but we pray that it may come to us also.
We pray that we may learn to live by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.

We pray that our heavenly Father would give us His Holy Spirit so that by His grace we would believe His holy Word and lead godly lives here in time and there in eternity.

Judged by the standards of men, God is wasteful.
Not everyone receives His gifts.
Not everyone repents.
Not everyone believes.
Not everyone is weary with sin and death, tormented by demons and temptations.
Some are quite content in their sins, some think vice has its noble side.

Thus are they snatched away, choked out, or dried up. They do not enter into the kingdom even though it is bought and paid for and offered up to them for free. It is wasted on them.

For not every seed bears fruit. Many are called, but few are chosen.
But judged by the standards of the holy angels: [pause]
God is not wasteful. He is love. He is generous, merciful, kind, patient, and eager to forgive, not shirking His duty but going as a Lamb to the slaughter, laying down His Life to make us free, rescuing us from Satan's deceptions and torture.

And if some spills over the edge, if some refused outright, [pause] it does not matter.
That is what it took for full coverage.
That reckless sowing was necessary to get the seed to you.
All men were covered so that you would be among the elect.
All men were covered that all could know God loves them, as you know [pause] God loves you.

You need have then no doubt about whether you are the elect or not. All men were reconciled to the Father in the death of the Son. All men --including you. The Sower sows His Seed that it would grow, that men would believe. Thus have you been baptized and you do believe. The Word bears good fruit in you and God Himself is pleased.

Even as a great tree, full of flowers and aroma, giving shade to the weary and wood to the builder, is hidden inside a mustard seed, so is new life, hope, and peace hidden in the Word of God. For where it takes root, is watered by Holy Baptism, fertilized with the Blood of Jesus Christ, it bears a harvest a hundredfold.

The grace God gives is greater than the sins He takes away. [pause] Nothing is wasted.
For this Love, this generous and creative Word of God, Jesus Christ Our Lord, is without end.
The Kingdom comes of itself.

As unlikely as it might seem: it comes to and for you. It cleanses and forgives you. By it, your heart is noble and good. God keeps His promises.

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.