Pentecost 11, Proper 15

In the eight verses of this morning’s gospel Jesus mentions the word “eat” eight times. Unless you eat the flesh of the son of man you can not have eternal life. What does Jesus mean by these words? Is Christ to be literally eaten? Jesus says, “believe in Me,” “come to Me.” Christ is to be taken into one’s life, digested so that Christ permeates the whole of life. As food is taken into the body is lost in the body, and brings strength to the body, so Christ is to become a part of us. It is a way of becoming one with Christ. Many today are searching for a personal experience with Christ. It is expressed in the phrase, “born again.” Christ desires

1. To be personalized – He desires a personal experience.

2. To be individualized – a one to one experience.

3. To be internalized – Christ comes into a person’s life.

4. To be homogenized – Christ and the believer are fused into one.

In these words Jesus will also use the word life six times. The believer eats Christ to live spiritually just as one must eat physical food to life. Either that or starve to death. Christ is our spiritual food which is necessary to life. Isn’t it interesting that we can have spiritual hunger pains and can die spiritually from lack of food? It is eternal because it is the life of Christ who is eternal.

Now it's official

It's official. Henry graduated today from Indiana State University with a double major in Psychology and Chriminology. He did an internship in Bloomington this summer which was the last step in his college process. Today his deploma from ISU will be signed, sealed and delivered to our house. He will enroll at ISU to get his Masters in Chriminology which should take a year to complete. Way to go Hank! Double major, in four years, debt free! Wow! Mom and Dad are proud.
For any of you who are thinking of a mid-major school, close to home, smaller then most in-state universities, offering a challenging curriculum at a reasonable price - for us Indiana State has been More. From day one.

Time in the Word - Proper 15 - Pentecost 11

The theme for the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost is Incarnating the Christ. Christ is the Living Bread who came down from Heaven, the Word made flesh (John 1:14), who gives His flesh for the life of the world.

We can find this Living Bread nowhere else but in Christ. As Peter answered, when asked by Jesus if he wanted to leave, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” After Jesus ascended into heaven, when called before the Jewish council, Peter would proclaim again, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12) Come, feast on the Living Bread. Gladly hear His Word, and eat His Body and Blood, given for you for the remission of all your sins.

Monday, 10 August 2009—Psalm 111:1–5, 9; Antiphon, Psalm 111:10—Athiest groups are taking out ads on city buses in cities across the U.S., even in Indiana (South Bend and Bloomington, so far), that proclaim that there is no God (‘You Can Be Good Without God’; ‘In the Beginning, Man Created God’). What utter nonsense! What through-and through foolishness! The psalmist tells us what it truly means to be wise: to fear the Lord, to recognize all that He has done for us. Those so-called ‘atheists,’ far from disbelieving in a god, have made themselves their own god, and a very poor one at that.

Tuesday, 11 August 2009—Psalm 34:12–22—This is a continuation of the psalm for last Sunday. In the antiphon for to-day (v. 11), David calls us to listen to him, that he may teach us the fear of the Lord: one who is not foolish, and acknowledges the Lord, will turn away from evil and do good; he will seek peace and pursue it. These righteous ones will the Lord deliver out of all their troubles.

Wednesday, 12 August 2009—Proverbs 9:1–10—In the Old Testament reading, we continue our education in the way of wisdom from the wisest man who has ever lived, Solomon. Here, he gives wisdom a personality, and we start to understand that the personification of wisdom is Christ our Lord, for it is Christ who invites us to eat of His bread and drink of His wine. These are His body and blood, which He gives for the life of the world.

Thursday, 13 August 2009—Ephesians 5:6–21—In this section of our reading from the book of Ephesians, St Paul continues his instruction of how we ought to live. Since Christ has made us His own, and, since, by Word and Sacrament, we have eaten the living Bread that comes down from heaven, we ought to walk, not as unwise, but as wise. We ought not allow ourselves to be deceived by charlatans masquerading as men of God; we ought not take part in the sins that the world takes pleasure in; we ought, rather, make the best use of time, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Friday, 14 August 2009—John 6:51–69—Jesus declares that He is the Living Bread that came down from heaven. It is through Him alone that we can be forgiven, that our sins can be removed, that we can partake of eternal life. Through Word and sacrament, Christ feeds us, bestowing faith and nourishing it. The bread that He gives does not just satisfy for a short time, like earthly food; whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.

Saturday, 15 August 2009—This week, the final two stanzas of O Living Bread from Heaven (LSB 642) serve as the hymn of the day. Having received from the Lord Jesus Christ living bread, we seek to serve Him with holy fear, living as wise, not foolish ones, during our days on earth, and looking forward to the day when we leave this world below, and enter Heaven, where joys unmingled flow.

Collect for Pentecost 11—Almighty God, whom to know is everlasting life, grant us to know Your Son, Jesus, to be the way, the truth, and the life, that we may steadfastly follow His steps in the way that leads to life eternal; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

This week's Time in the Word was written by Pr. Jeffrey Keuning who serves St. John Dexter and Zion Casey, IA

Pentecost 10 - Proper 14

People of Jesus’ day created a situation in which Jesus had an opportunity to explain for Himself who He was. Many ideas, opinions, and reports about Him circulated around the land. Today is no different. All kinds of things are said about Jesus – in books, lectures, sermons, and conversations. So what do you think about Jesus? Why not go directly to Jesus and let Him tell us who he is? Today we see what Jesus says concerning Himself. What does Jesus tell us about Himself?

1. I am from heaven – v.41 "Then the Jews began grumbling about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven."

2. I alone see God – v.46 I'm saying that no one has seen the Father. Only the one who is from God has seen the Father. No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him (John 1:18)

3. I am the bread of life –v.48 I am the bread of life

4. I give eternal life – v.50 "This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that a person may eat it and not die. He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." (John 6:36) "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.” (John 5:24)

In the Gospel of John Jesus comes to visit a grieving family. He speaks to Mary and Martha who were mourning the loss of their brother. Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and the live he who believe in me even though they die will live forever. And everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?" (John 11:26)

Abby Road

Heard on the BBC this morning that the picture on the album cover of the Beatles "Abby Road" was shot 40 years ago today! Now their music is played at the nursing home in Monroeville.

Abbey Road is the eleventh official U.K. album and seventeenth U.S. album released by The Beatles. Though work on Abbey Road began in April 1969, making it the final album recorded by the band, Let It Be was the last album released before the Beatles' dissolution in 1970. Abbey Road was released on 26 September 1969 in the United Kingdom, and 1 October 1969 in the United States. It was produced and orchestrated by George Martin for Apple Records. Geoff Emerick was engineer, Alan Parsons was assistant engineer, and Tony Banks was tape operator.[1] It is regarded as one of The Beatles' most tightly constructed albums, although the band was barely operating as a functioning unit at the time.[2][3] Rolling Stone magazine named it the 14th greatest album of all time,[4] even though the magazine initially gave the album a mixed reception: Their November 15, 1969 issue features two very different reviews - a strongly negative one from Ed Ward, who particularly criticizes its overproduction, and a rave review from John Mendelsohn.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbey_Road_(album)

Time in the Word - Pentecost 10 - Proper 14

The theme for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost is Eat and Live. His own people, the Jews, grumbled when Jesus told them that He is the Bread of Life that came down from heaven. They saw Him only as a man, not the Savior who had been promised from the very beginning in the Garden of Eden after the Fall (Genesis 3:15). Their own expectations of God’s promised Deliverer blinded them to the fact that He was standing before them.

Christ Jesus offers His gift of eternal salvation to all who will receive it. He calls them, and the Father draws them to Him. But some, because of the hardness of their hearts and the blindness of their sin, reject the good gift that God has for them. May we ever nourish our faith through our regular church attendance, hearing the word of God preached and proclaimed, and receiving the body and blood of Christ.

Monday, 3 August 2009—Psalm 34:8–10; Antiphon, Psalm 145:16—The antiphon should be familiar to us, as it is part of the prayer before a meal which Luther included in the Catechism. The psalmist David then says to taste and see that the Lord is good. How are we to do this? St Peter tell us that we should be like newborn infants, longing for the pure spiritual milk. We have tasted that the Lord is good, for we have heard His Word of forgiveness and salvation, we have eaten of His Holy Supper, and we long for more.

Tuesday, 4 August 2009—Psalm 34:1–8—The psalm appointed for next week is one taken from a bizarre incident in the life of David, when he pretended to be insane before Achish, a Palestinian king in the line of Abimelech. The entire story is recorded in 1 Samuel 21:10-15. David exhorts us to extol the Lord at all times, for as the Lord delivered David in answer to his prayer, so He also has delivered us from sin, death, and the devil.

Wednesday, 5 August 2009—1 Kings 19:1–8—Despite the fact that the Lord had shown that He alone is the true God in Elijah’s showdown with the prophets of Baal, wicked Queen Jezebel clung to her false gods and sought to kill Elijah. To escape, Elijah fled to the wilderness near Beersheba. There, the Lord fed him with bread. The Lord feeds us also; not through the ministrations of an angel, but by farmers, truckers, stock-boys, and grocery-store clerks. “God gives daily bread to everyone…we pray that He would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.”

Thursday, 6 August 2009—Ephesians 4:17—5:2—In this section of our reading from the book of Ephesians, St Paul tells us that, since we have been set free from bondage to sin and death, we should live outwardly in way that reflects our new life in Christ. We are to live as children of light, no longer living in the darkness of sin. Those in the world ought to see a difference in how Christians live versus how the rest of the world lives. As children of God, we imitate God, not the ways of the world.

Friday, 7 August 2009—John 6:35–51—“I am the Bread of Life,” declares Jesus. The bread that He gives is better than earthly bread, for that can only sustain the body while we sojourn in this earthly vale of tears. The bread that Jesus gives—the bread that Jesus is—sustains our souls for all eternity. Jesus gives Himself for the life of the world.

Saturday, 8 August 2009—Again this week, the hymn of the day is O Living Bread from Heaven (LSB 642). This second stanza proclaims that we have been led by the Lord to His house to receive His good gifts of forgiveness. We could not, and do not, do this on our own, but He leads us, and then feeds us with Word and Sacrament. The ‘food’ we receive in the Divine Service is better than the food we eat daily at our meals, for it is food that gives eternal life.

Collect for Pentecost 10—Gracious Father, Your blessed Son came down from heaven to be the true bread that gives life to the world. Grant that Christ, the bread of life, may live in us and we in Him, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

This week's Time in the Word is written by Pr. Jeffrey Keuning who is the pastor of St. John's Casey and Zion, Dexter, IA

Pentecost 9 - Proper 13

It’s a Lutheran thing. We love to dive home that central message that we are not saved by our good works. And yet, did you hear what Jesus said? He said there is a work that saves…it is to believe in Him. This might be a new thought – Faith is a work. It is like love in marriage. To be successful you must work at it.

To be saved means must work at our faith so that it continues to exist and grow. The spiritual bread comes as a gift, but faith is needed to receive it. In this sense, faith is all important for without the Bread of Life – without Jesus Christ we cannot be saved. Let’s consider this morning the work which saves.

1. Salvation is a gift of the Bread of life – Vs. 27 Do not work for food that perishes but for food that lasts for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you, because God the Father has set his seal on Him.
A. There are many things of which we must work for – a new car, a college education, items we need to maintain our standard of living. Items need to be budgeted, and it takes time and effort to work for these things.

B. Yet, “that one thing needful,” what we really need, life with God, a relationship with Jesus Christ all comes to us as a gift. It is by grace that you have been saved through faith says St. Paul. It is all the wonderful workings of the Holy Spirit. Luther explains it this way, “I believe that I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Jesus Christ my Lord or come to Him. But the Holy Ghost has called me by the gospel; enlightened me with His gifts, sanctifies and keeps me in the one true faith.

2. Faith is the receptive agent – Vs. 29 Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God: to believe in the one whom he has sent."
A. This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us. 1 John 3:23

B. Constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father. 1Thessalonians 1:3

3. Faith needs working – Vs. 29

A. You see that faith was working with his works, and as a result of the works, faith was perfected; James 2:22

B. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was offering up his only begotten son. Hebrews 11:17

We are saved not by works but by a work - the work of Christ. That work is active in your life. It’s the gospel light, the light of Christ. Therefore let your light so shine before men that they may see your good work and give glory to your Father in heaven.