Commemoration of Cyril and Methodius, Missionaries to the
Slavs
Friday of Easter 5
May 11, 2012
The Lord be with you
This coming Sunday is the Sixth Sunday of Easter. It is also
Mothers’ Day. I hope everyone has a little something special planned for their
mother. Mothers’ Day is not on any official liturgical calendars of which I
know. Nonetheless, I believe the vast majority of churches in the USA will recognize the day in some fashion.
Normally I don’t give a lot of air time to “secular” holidays (Mothers’ Day,
Fathers’ Day, Arbor Day, Earth Day, National Day of Prayer, Memorial Day,
Veterans Day, Labor Day, etc.). I am not opposed to such holidays, far from it.
I feel that, as an American citizen, recognizing Presidents' Day is quite
worthwhile. However, as a Christian, the practice of the secular government
setting holidays for the Church is troublesome to me. If the secular government
wants to set aside days the Church already recognizes as special, designating
them as national holidays (Christmas, Easter, or whatever), that is okay with
me. They can do the same for any religion, philosophy, or ideology. As a
citizen, I can do something special on those days, or not, as I choose. However,
I should not wish to recognize, in my church, a day which elevates concepts
that are counter to the Christian Faith, and letting the government determine
the days recognized in our churches runs that risk.
All this being said, it just so happens that the appointed
lessons for this coming Sunday actually work rather nicely with Mothers’ Day.
So, I will actually have a sermon that accents Mothers. Those of you who are
used to me reducing civic holidays to the announcements will have a small
surprise. The text for the sermon is John 15:9. The sermon is titled “The Power
of Love.”
Speaking of those appointed lessons, they are: Acts 10:34-48, 1 John 5:1-8, and John 15:9-17. We
will be using Setting 3 of the Divine Service (page 184) for our liturgy. This
is a communion service. To prepare to receive the Lord's Supper, I suggest you pray Psalm 86. Our opening
hymn is “O Sing to the Lord” (LSB 808).
The sermon hymn is “Awake, O Sleeper, Rise from Death” (LSB 697). The closing hymn is “Alleluia, Alleluia! Hearts to Heaven”
(LSB 477). Our distribution hymns
are, “What Wondrous Love Is This” (LSB
543), “Oh, Blest the House” (LSB 862),
and “What Is This Bread” (LSB 629).
We will continue our regular prayer pattern in our public prayers Sunday. That means we will
remember in our prayers this Sunday the Siberian Evangelical Lutheran Church
(SELC) and their Bishop, Rev. Vsevolod Lytkin. We will remember Matt and Kim
Myers, missionaries in Macau. Macau
is one of the two special administrative regions of the People’s Republic of China
lying on the western side of the Pearl River Delta across from Hong-Kong. We will
remember the persecuted believers in Laos, and our sister congregations: St.
James, Southern Pines, NC; Holy Trinity, Statesville, NC; Salem, Taylorsville,
NC; St. Paul, Taylorsville, NC; Calvary, Charleston, SC. Of course, this Sunday
we will remember our mothers in our prayers. We also will continue to remember
those who are trapped by the modern practice of slavery, and those who have
fallen victim to our cultures acceptance of abortion and advocacy of sexual
immorality.
Below is a video of “What Wondrous Love Is This,” our first
distribution hymn. It is sung and played by “Rachel” aka the LutheranWarbler.
Our adult Bible class
meets at 9:00 Sunday morning. This Sunday
we will continue in Matthew. As always, everyone is invited to come.
Preview of the
Lessons
Acts 10:34-48: We
continue with the practice of substituting a reading from Acts for the Old
Testament lesson during the Easter Season. This is the apex of the account
about how Peter brought the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles. It is,
perhaps, hard for us today to recognize just how big a step this was, and how
counterintuitive it must have been for Peter. He had been raised on the idea
that God was the God of the Jews. Good news for him, a Jew, but not so good for
Gentiles. If a Gentile wished to worship the real God, they first had to become
Jews. Christ breaks down this social barrier, and the Christian Faith jumps to
a whole new mission field. For us today, one powerful lesson to learn is that
the Gospel is for all people. We should not limit who we share God’s love with.
The Holy Spirit will work faith when and where he pleases.
1 John 5:1-8: John is called the “Apostle of Love.” He
certainly has a lot to say on the topic, and this reading is no exception.
However we should never be led to believe that John taught love as a means of
salvation. In verse 1 he wrote: “Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ
has been born of God, and everyone who loves the Father loves whoever has been
born of him.” Notice the priority of faith. Faith saves. Faith, though, bears
fruit. It is never just a sterile acknowledgement of facts. The fruit John
exalts is love. In no other way is our Christlikeness more manifest. Paul, in 1
Corinthians, lists all sorts of gifts from the Spirit. In the end, though, he
says that if they are exercised without love they are useless (chapter 13). To
this, John would say “Amen.” But again, John does not want us to be like the
foolish people who speak only of deeds, ignoring creeds. He reminds us that it
is our faith that overcomes the world (4-5), not our love. This faith is firmly
grounded in the historical person, Jesus (6-8). True Christian love flows only
from true Christian faith.
John 15:9-17: As you read this lesson, which records the
words of Jesus, it become clear why love is such an important topic for John;
it was important to Jesus. As this reading is the foundation of the sermon, I’m
not going to say much. However, in verses 14-15 Jesus tell his followers that
he no longer calls them slaves, but friends. What a precious title for Jesus to
give us. I don’t know, but it sure would make sense if this passage inspired
the hymn “What A Friend We Have In Jesus.”
Tidbits
- Well, if you haven’t figured it out yet, Sunday is Mothers’ Day. Many have special plans to honor their mothers. To enable this, we have nothing scheduled after the worship service. Have a wonderful time with your mother.
Well, I pray I’ll see you Sunday.
Blessings in Christ,
Pastor John Rickert
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