Sermon for Lent 4, 31.03.2025
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Let us pray: ‘Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry for ever but delight to show mercy’ (Micah 7:18). Therefore humble our hearts to confess our sins freely that we may be overjoyed by the forgiveness of sins spoken by you through your servants and from the hearts and mouths of your children. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
A reality check.
The Psalm set for today: Psalm 32; the Psalm we sang together in 10 stanzas was written for the teenage girl who has fallen pregnant out of wedlock and is delaying telling her parents for as long as she can. She fell into temptation and now her mind and body is in turmoil. She knows what she has done. But how can she admit it to anyone... ...to Mum... ...to Dad? She knows, all too well, that she can't cover things over forever. Day-after-day the truth will emerge, as the baby bump starts to show!
The Psalm set for today is written for the husband and father who has just gambled the family nest egg away. In his overconfidence and misplaced trust he fell into temptation and now his world is in turmoil. He doesn't know how to tell his wife what a dire financial crisis he has put the family in. He wants to find the right time to tell her, but that day looms like the blackest of shadows over his soul. How can he tell her what he has done? When will it ever be the "right time?"
Psalm 32 is written for the powerful king who has wondering eyes: wondering eyes that led to adultery, an adulterous relationship that lead to a conspiracy to murder, and a conspiracy to murder that led to the death of an innocent man! He, too, fell into temptation. And he doubled his sins in an attempted cover-up. He remained blinded to his idolatry for a whole year. He became the greatest of fools by fooling himself that he was above the law and beyond suspicion. If anyone did such a thing in his kingdom he would have ordered the offender hung from the gallows and demanded a four-fold restitution be paid to all victims. But the voice of God through the prophet spoke, "You are the man." It was as if a swarm of wasps landed on his ears and stung him severely, drilling deep in his conscience.
Today’s Psalm is also written for the young son of Jesus' parable. He has demanded his share of his father's inheritance, left home for a better world, but had soon squandered it all on decadence and loose living. He had lost everything and things were so bad that his only friends were his fellow swine; the food of which he wished to taste a morsel. He, too, delayed going home to his family to confront his father and glance at his brother and admit his stupidity. He had rehearsed his speech over and over, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants”... ...but would it come out right?
Psalm 32 is written for the teenage girl trying to avoid reality, for the husband and father with a gambling addiction trying to escape his reality, even written for the King of Israel trying to write reality in his own image, and it is written for you and I who are called to see ourselves, in our sin and rebellion from God, as the so-called Prodigal Son, sons and daughters facing a serious reality check!
Psalm 32 is structured is such a way that you can easily remember it. It has a "When," "Then," "Therefore," sequence to it.
Verses 1 and 2 could just as easily be read last:
1Blessed is the one
whose transgressions are forgiven,
whose sins are covered.
2Blessed is the one
whose sin the LORD does not count against them
and in whose spirit is no deceit.
These first two verses reveal the basis for what follows but could equally conclude the Psalm as a summary of the Blessed state of he whose sins are forgiven. These verses speak of the grace of God, the forgiveness of sins and of the cover provided by Christ. The one who has been forgiven is "Blessed," is "Happy," is even to be considered "Lucky," as in fortunate, for a true treasure or fortune has been placed into their hands.
In the following 5 verses we hear the "When," "Then," "Therefore," sequence. Two verses of "when", one verse of "then" and two verses of "therefore."
He who had a reality check cried:
3 When I kept silent,
my bones wasted away
through my groaning all day long.
4 For day and night
your hand was heavy on me;
my strength was sapped
as in the heat of summer.
Sin and the guilt and shame it produces are weighty things. They have the power to consume. They are draining. David says, although I groaned all day long I kept silent. His conscience kept churning but his pride kept him silent. His bones were wasting away. Luther says, "In him who cannot confess, his bones will age too quickly, and his youthful vigour will be sapped from him as in the heat of summer." When we intentionally cover our sin, it troubles both body and mind. But when we uncover our iniquity by confessing it, God is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.
In his reality-check, King David continued,
5 Then I acknowledged my sin to you
and did not cover up my iniquity.
I said, “I will confess
my transgressions to the LORD.”
And you forgave
the guilt of my sin.
God calls each person to confess their sins in order they hear the words of Absolution. For Confession and Absolution, whether conducted in church, or privately, whether just before God, or privately with a fellow Christian, and even publicly in front of the congregation, is all about the Absolution - the announcement of forgiveness, that what is loosed on earth is really and truly also loosed in heaven. For when we get hung up about our sins, their number or their "magnitude," we become inward focused and forget the treasure of the announcement of forgiveness as from the very mouth of God himself. This comes to us through his Word, through his ordained ministers, and through his children, like you and I. It is God's own promise that, 'If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven' (John 20:23).
David continues:
6 Therefore let all the faithful pray to you
while you may be found;
surely the rising of the mighty waters
will not reach them.
7 You are my hiding place;
you will protect me from trouble
and surround me with songs of deliverance.
Again David calls everyone to draw near to God with a true heart to confess their sins. He says, "Seek him while he may be found, for the days of grace will end upon the earth sooner than you realise."
God's protection envelopes those who come to him in humility. God is the high rock and the hiding place of protection. On his every side, and above and below the songs of deliverance encircle him who puts their hope in the Lord.
Then in verse 8 and 9 we hear of the instruction that Lord God Almighty is the One who will instruct, teach, and counsel those who repent and believe. It is God alone who will lead you from death to life. David writes:
8 I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.
9 Do not be like the horse or the mule,
which have no understanding
but must be controlled by bit and bridle
or they will not come to you.
When the announcement of forgiveness is believed, the fruits of repentance ripen on their own. Then the forgiven person no longer needs to be led this way or that, as if they were an uncontrollable horse that didn't know what next step was the right one to take. They now know exactly what steps to take – steps towards reconciliation with people they have hurt or even been hurt by, steps towards a sacrifice of praise, steps towards costly gifts of grace, steps deeper into the Word of God, steps that build up others, and the like.
David concludes the psalm saying:
10 Many are the woes of the wicked,
but the LORD’s unfailing love
surrounds the one who trusts in him.
11 Rejoice in the LORD and be glad, you righteous;
sing, all you who are upright in heart!
Psalm 32 is written for the teenage girl. In her youth she has fallen to the lusts of the flesh. She knows what she has done. Where can she turn in this time of crisis? The Psalm gives her the voice of instruction saying, 'I will confess my transgressions to the Lord" - and you forgave the guilt of my sin" (Ps 32:5b). Her guilt will be taken away and her body will bring forth new life!
Psalm 32 is written for the husband and father who has gambled the family nest egg and lost it all. In his overconfidence and misplaced trust he has fallen to the lusts of the world. The Psalm gives him the voice of instruction saying, 'I said, "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord" - and you forgave the guilt of my sin' (Ps 32:5b). Now he can he tell his wife what he has done? Now is the "right time!"
Psalm 32 is written for the most powerful man in the land. A man fallen: an adulterer and a murderer. The lusts of the flesh and the lusts of the world had taken possession of his soul, and for a whole year he remained blinded to his idolatry, until the day of his reality check, "You are the man."
What could he say to that? He said:
"Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean;
wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness;
let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide you face from my sins
and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence
or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation
and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." (Ps. 51:7-12).
Psalm 32 is written for the young son who sinned by going his own way as much as it is for the older son who would not reconcile with his brother. The younger demanded his inheritance, left home for a supposéd better world, but squandered it all on unholy things. He lost everything except the company of swine. Now that's a reality check! He went back to his father, rehearsing his speech all the way as he went along, "I'm so sorry; let me work it off for you... ...Let me work my way back into the family, into your love, into your good books" (Lk 15:19), but before he could finish his rehearsal for the last time, his father had already run out to meet him, had grasped him in the most affectionate of embraces, had ordered the best robe for him, a ring for his finger, new sandals for his feet and the fattened calf to be slaughtered so that the grandest feast could be enjoyed. And in his delight, the Father was heard saying, "For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found" (Lk 15:24).
Our heavenly Father has the very same to say to anyone who faces up to the serious reality of their sin and rebellion and would humbly turn back for home into his welcoming arms. For our heavenly Father also has the best of gifts and the greatest of joyful banquets to share with all his children.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sermon for Holy Trinity Sunday, 26.05.2024
Grace and peace to you God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Psalms are written to give us the voice of Jesus: in lament, in prayer, in praise, in thanksgiving, in times of suffering under other people’s sins, and to give us wisdom unto salvation.
The Psalm, "I lift my eyes to the hills - where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth," (Ps 121:1) is spoken with a contented and gentle voice, and is like a morning breeze cooling flushed cheeks.
The Psalm, "The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not be in want," (Ps 23:1) is spoken with a confident and poised voice, like that of a sea breeze that keeps a fluttering kite hanging in the sky.
The Psalm, "Come, let us sing to the Lord; let us shout aloud to the Rock of our salvation," (Ps 95:1) is spoken with a resolute and vigorous voice, like an albatross being swept into the current blast of an air-stream.
The Psalm, "As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God," (Ps 42:1) is spoken with a mournful and forlorn voice, just like an eddy of water circles itself and then is swept down the fjord.
The Psalm, "Out of the depths I cry to you, O Lord; O Lord, hear my voice," (Ps 130:1-2a) is spoken with a stifled and desperate voice, like that of a submariner trapped in his crippled vessel that lies helpless on the seafloor.
The Psalm, "By the rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion," (Ps 137:1) is spoken with a longing and single-minded voice, like that of the refugee, who weeps rivers of tears over his war-torn homeland.
The Psalm, "Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy. How awesome is the Lord Most High, the great King over all the earth!" (Ps 47:1-2) is spoken with an assertive and vigorous voice, like that of a tropical cloud burst that teems down with a roar.
And today's Psalm, Psalm 29, is spoken with an all-powerful and tempestuous voice, like that of the fiercest thunderstorm that has already made the puddles deep even before the second lightning strike has divided the tall trees in half with its fiery flash of flame.
The assembly sings:
1Honour the LORD, you heavenly beings,
honour the LORD for his glory and strength.
2Honour the LORD for the glory due his name.
Worship the LORD in the splendour of his holiness.
3The voice of the LORD echoes above the sea.
The God of glory thunders.
The LORD thunders over the mighty sea.
4The voice of the LORD is powerful;
the voice of the LORD is majestic.
5The voice of the LORD splits the mighty cedars;
the LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon.
6He makes Lebanon's mountains skip like a calf;
he makes Mt Hermon leap like a young wild ox.
7The voice of the LORD strikes
with bolts of lightning.
8The voice of the LORD makes the desert quake;
the LORD shakes the desert of Kadesh.
9The voice of the LORD twists mighty oaks
and strips the forests bare.
In his Temple everyone shouts, "Glory!"
10The LORD sits enthroned over the floodwaters.
The LORD sits enthroned as king forever.
11The LORD gives his people strength.
The LORD blesses his people with peace.
In the first two verses of our most powerful psalm, heaven and earth are assembled in the presence of the Holy Trinity. Together we ascribe all honour, glory and strength to our three-in-one God in the three-fold declaration:
1Honour the LORD, you heavenly beings,
honour the LORD for his glory and strength.
2Honour the LORD for the glory due his name.
We have been granted, in grace, the privilege of assembling together in the Triune God's most powerful and majestic name. We assemble in the confidence of his grace, for he has clothed us, through faith and baptism, in the royal regalia, that is, the white robes of righteous, so that we may: 2bWorship the LORD in the splendour of his holiness. Isaiah says, "Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool" (Is. 1:18). And St Paul adds, "But now he has reconciled you by Christ's physical body through death to present you holy in his sight, without blemish and free from accusation..." (Col 1:22).
We are not just assembled with each other. Heaven is also participating. In fact, theirs is perpetual and eternal adoration given to "God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb" (Rev 5:13; 7:10). And as we proclaim in the Preface to Holy Communion - 'It is indeed right and good, Lord God, holy Father, that we should at all times and in all places give thanks to you, through Jesus Christ our Lord; who with you and the Holy Spirit is one God, one Lord, whom we confess as the only true God and worship as the eternal Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And so, with angels and archangels, and with all the company of heaven, we adore and praise your glorious name.'
In verses three through nine of our psalm, we declare to each other seven facets of the voice of the Lord. 3The Lord's voice, hovers over the waters as it did at the creation of the world (Gen 1:2). The voice of the Lord speaks the universe into being. This same voice of the Lord is present at our re-birth and renewal at baptism. The Lord's voice, when combined with the waters of baptism speaks eternal life to us who, according to the flesh, are dead in trespass and sin.
4aThe Lord's voice is powerful. His voice can still the waters, just as easily as it can stir them up. In other places the Psalmists' sing 'The voice of the Lord "thundered from heaven, the voice of the Most High resounded,"' (Ps 18:13) & "Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth, sing praise to the Lord, to him who rides the ancient skies above, who thunders with mighty voice" (Ps 68:32-33).
4bThe Lord's voice is majestic. The Lord is King. He sits enthroned in heaven and the earth is his footstool (Is 66:1). He is the King who was coronated, not with a golden crown, but rather a crown of thorns. Through baptism we share in his majestic rule as his vice-regents, called and sent to rule the earth in grace, mercy and peace.
5The voice of the LORD splits the mighty cedars; the LORD shatters the cedars of Lebanon & 9The voice of the LORD twists mighty oaks and strips the forests bare. The Canaanites worshipped these tallest of trees and revered them as gods. But with one lash of his tongue the true God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, breaks the backs of these false gods and has them lie prostrate before him. Likewise, in baptism, God breaks our bondage to the sin of unbelief; he breaks our subservience to the gods of this world, and he frees us to fear, love and trust Him above all other gods. This is the faith, even though as small as a mustard seed, that can say to the mountains, "Move from here to there" (Mt 17:20) & "Go, through yourself into the sea" (Mt 21:21) and it will be done.
7The voice of the LORD strikes with bolts of lightning. John the Baptist baptised with water only, but he prophesized that Jesus would baptize with the Holy Spirit and with fire. At Jesus' baptism, where the Father's voice was present and the Holy Spirit was present in the form of a dove, the fire of God's wrath was placed upon his only Son. Jesus was baptised with the baptism intended for sinners who need repentance and cleansing. There Jesus took your place. The fire of God's wrath, that is, his anger at sin, was placed upon him instead of upon you, and continued to burn upon him from the time of his baptism until it was fully unleashed upon him at his crucifixion.
8The voice of the LORD makes the desert quake; the LORD shakes the desert of Kadesh. Lebanon and Mt Hermon lie to the north of Israel, while the wastelands of Kadesh lie to the south. The Lord's voice extends to each horizon. And as Isaiah says, "God's word that goes out from his mouth, does not return to him empty, but accomplishes what he desires and achieves the purpose for which he sent it" (Is 55:11 paraphrased). God's voice reaches south to the desert surrounding Mt Sinai, which was where Moses received the Law of God carved on stone tablets. God's voice had thundered there in the past (Ex 19:16ff). Now we hear God's voice again in the uninhabited regions; for God's position as King is not dependent upon people ascribing him power and authority, but rather upon God being the Lord God Almighty.
And our response to the voice of the Lord is, "Glory!"
10The LORD sits enthroned over the floodwaters. The LORD sits enthroned as king forever. The Great Flood cleansed the world from the sin, rebellion and lawlessness that was rife all the while Noah was preaching repentance and building the ark for salvation. St Peter taught, as the Great Flood prefigured it, "baptism now saves you also - not the removal of dirt from the body but the pledge of a good conscience towards God. It saves you by the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at God's right hand - with angels, authorities and powers in submission to him" (1 Pet 3:21-22).
After all the dynamic action of the preceding verses, the final verse of Psalm 29 is a declaration that no matter what storms may engulf you in life, that the Triune God has everything in hand, even you! The whole cosmos is under his control. The evil powers in this world have been defeated. And even the most wretched of a sinner can be blest with strength and peace, for 11The LORD gives his people strength. The LORD blesses his people with peace.
And may this peace of God, the peace that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 23, 13.11.2022
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Psalm 98
A psalm.
1 Sing to the Lord a new song,
for he has done marvellous things;
his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him.
2 The Lord has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
3 He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to Israel;
all the ends of the earth have seen
the salvation of our God.
4 Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth,
burst into jubilant song with music;
5 make music to the Lord with the harp,
with the harp and the sound of singing,
6 with trumpets and the blast of the ram’s horn –
shout for joy before the Lord, the King.
7 Let the sea resound, and everything in it,
the world, and all who live in it.
8 Let the rivers clap their hands,
let the mountains sing together for joy;
9 let them sing before the Lord,
for he comes to judge the earth.
He will judge the world in righteousness
and the peoples with equity.
A new song can make all the difference.
If we were to analyse Psalm 98 we would find the following expanding structure:
Come and praise the Lord…
Come and praise him in like manner…
Come and praise him in like manner all the earth!
Brothers and sisters in Christ: not only was Psalm 98 a new song for the Jewish nation to sing after all their times of rescue, but it is now also a popular song in Christian devotion as it applies to Jesus Christ, the King, coming once, meek and mild, and once again in all his risen glory! Psalm 98 is popular on many levels in both Jewish and Christian worship circles. In fact, as ancient Israel did before it, now also does the Christian Church continually compose new songs that sing praise to God in the wake of his ever-occurring marvellous deeds and the flexing of his strong arm to save. A skim through the pages of the Bible reveal that the ancient faithful and even the heavenly choir declare such praise. We hear:
‘Sing to him a new song; play skilfully, and shout for joy’ (Ps 33:3).
‘He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear the Lord and put their trust in him’ (Ps 40:3).
‘Sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth’ (Ps 96:1).
‘I will sing a new song to you, my God; on the ten-stringed lyre I will make music to you..’ (Ps 144:9).
‘Praise the Lord. Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise in the assembly of his faithful people’ (Ps 149:1).
‘Sing to the Lord a new song, his praise from the ends of the earth...’ (Isa 42:10).
‘And they sang a new song, saying: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased for God persons from every tribe and language and people and nation. You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign on the earth’ (Rev 5:9-10).
But not only the ancient faithful and the heavenly choir know the importance of responding to God’s deliverance in songs of praise, but so does the Christian church. One of the very first believers and contributors to Christian song took Psalm 98 and made it her own. And like the unnamed author of Psalm 98, she too, couldn’t keep it to herself. She gave us the Magnificat. In words so similar, Mary echoed Psalm 98, singing:
Psalm 98 vs. Luke 1:46-55
Sing to the Lord a new song, ‘My soul glorifies the Lord
he has done marvellous things; the Mighty One has done great things for me – holy is his name.
his right hand and his holy arm
have worked salvation for him. He has performed mighty deeds with his arm; he has scattered those who are proud in their inmost thoughts.
The Lord has made his salvation known
and revealed his righteousness to the nations.
His mercy extends to those who fear him,
from generation to generation.
He has remembered his love
and his faithfulness to Israel;
He has helped his servant Israel,
remembering to be merciful.
Psalm 98 describes God's redemption of Israel and the rejoicing that will follow on its heels. Man-made instruments that are held in the hand, the harp and trumpet and horn, and the God-made instruments that fill the deep and the horizon, the sea, rivers and mountains, come together in chorus to sing of the salvation wrought by the Lord, the Almighty Judge. Music and musicians are such a treasury in the congregation! Nothing grates my soul more than conducting a funeral when so many non-Christians are in attendance and don’t sing the hymns. You’ve seen them. They stand or sit in the pews looking like stunned mullets as the music plays! It’s akin to going to a disco and not dancing! All I hope for is that they pay attention to the preaching and prayers. Apart from respect for the deceased, you wonder why on earth they bothered to come! But on the other hand, there is nothing more uplifting to my soul than those occasions I get the delightful surprise of hearing and joining so many Christians gathered together, at a funeral or not, singing in raised voices to the Lord, to each other and to the world!
According to Jewish theology, Psalm 98 is the tenth and final song that the Jewish people will sing after the final redemption. For the Christian, it is one of the Psalms that prophesy the salvation that has come and is coming in Jesus Christ. The Christian Church sings this new song annually as it remembers and celebrates three grand events of our salvation history. It’s chosen for the main Christmas Day Service, that is, at Jesus’ First Advent. We sing it again at the Easter Vigil, where we celebrate the victory of Jesus over death and the grave. Then we have it before us twice again as options late in the Church Year, as we do today, when we begin to consider the Last Things, that is, the Second Coming of Jesus as Judge of the living and the dead. So the Church rightly presents to us this Psalm of Christ Jesus as her King and Judge at Christmas, at Easter and in anticipation of the Last Day.
Not only Mary in her Magnificat, but Psalm 98 moved Isaac Watts, the great English minister and writer to pen a poem that would later be transformed into what might be voted as the greatest Christmas Carol of all time, that being, ‘Joy to the World.’
Joy to the world, the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
What wasn’t intended as a Christmas Carol by Rev. Watts, but was popularised 129 years later by the composer Lowell Mason, gives voice to the Faith we have in Jesus as King and Saviour and Judge Eternal: in manger, upon cross and in coming glorious return; hence the preacher’s call to “let ev’ry heart prepare him room.”
One Commentator (Richard Niell Donovan[1]) says this: “Some Christians use the word salvation almost exclusively to mean salvation from sin resulting in admittance to heaven. That is certainly one meaning, but yasa is used much more broadly in the Old Testament. It can mean deliverance from enemies (Judges 6:14; 10:12-13)––or mortal danger (Psalm 22:21)––or making a disastrous mistake (1 Samuel 25:33)––or famine (2 Kings 6:27).”
So your homework is to look up these passages and take some time to contemplate on the wider Biblical usage of the word ‘salvation.’ What salvation have you recently received that would move you to give praise to the Lord God Almighty? What has God done for you recently in Christ Jesus that struck a new song in you? When have you been remiss in thanking God for saving you out of the peril that you found yourself in? How might God stretch out his mighty arm to save someone you know via your prayers and good deeds this week? Who can you tell how God’s marvellous deeds have changed your life for the better? Who do you know and love who is missing out on singing a new song to the Lord?
Singing a new song as akin to receiving new life, and that is what Jesus followers are all about – the receiving and forwarding on of true life, in and through Jesus - his presence, his blessings, his righteousness given in the forgiveness of sins. A congregation has vitality when engaged in bringing Jesus, and a new song of deliverance, into any and every conversation. And on that note, I’ll close with such a story taken from Charles Spurgeon’s work on the Psalms[2],
Paraphrasing what K. Arvine wrote, the story goes like this: During those days of Revivalism in England, a certain minister observed a young, but aged by hard work boy, come to listen to him preach every Sunday for many weeks on end. In those days when the church was full to overflowing, the minister had tried repeatedly to catch up with the boy after the service. But at each turn the boy had slipped out and disappeared too quickly to be questioned. Then a time passed by when the boy wasn’t noticed front and centre in the pews anymore. The minister lamented that he may never learn as to what had happened to him; why he was no longer attending. Around the same time a stranger called on the minister and revealed that his son was very eager to see him ASAP. Hearing the earnestness in this stranger’s plea, the minister responded saying, “OK. Take me to him.” On arrival at the rudimentary house, the stranger ushered him inside. What met him was a feverishly cold and clammy boy; the one he noticed for weeks on end at church, then all starry-eyed and listening with an intent he rarely saw, even in his elders. As he approached the bedside, the boy mustered all the energy he had left, lifted his head and stretched out his arms and said, “his right hand and his holy arm have worked salvation for him…even for me.” And within the hour the boy had died. But Christ Jesus - in the boy’s heart, on the boy’s lips, in the plea of a worried father, and in the presence of the preacher - was right there bestowing new life in the midst of death.
Brothers and sisters in Christ: It was a new song that had made all the difference!
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. Amen.
[1] https://sermonwriter.com/psalm-98-commentary/
[2] The Treasury of David Volume 4.
Sermon for Pentecost 20, 23.10.2022
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Psalm 84:1-2,10
1 How lovely is your dwelling-place,
Lord Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
10 Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
There’s no place like home!
Do you remember Judy Garland as Dorothy in ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ movie saying over and over again, “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home”?
Today we hear the Sons of Korah sing such a sentiment, They say, 1 How lovely is your dwelling-place,
Lord Almighty!
2 My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the Lord,’ and,
‘10 Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked.
Dorothy in ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ wanted to go home. She longed to leave the wacky world of the Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Harassed and assaulted by the Wicked Witch of the West and her flying monkey cronies, Dorothy became desperate to get home again. Being ‘over the rainbow” sounded good in the beginning, and while a few moments of “laughing the day away in the jolly old Land of Oz” with friends, punctuated the grimness of the ordeal, however, the fact that she was frightened the rest of the time was no joke. Dorothy needed rescuing, even if it was going to be from the brainless, the heartless, and cowardly companions she picked up along the way. But they failed as they would, and no further progress would be made, that is, until the evil machinations of the witch’s wickedness would caught up with her. And “ding-dong!” Would you believe, a simple splash of water brought on evil’s immediate demise?
Dorothy had to learn the hard way that what she had been given already was enough, even in the terrible hardship of loss (her beloved dog Toto). It turned out that she needed salvation from her desire to live in the fantastical, that is, in thought, but horrible in reality, Land of Oz.
The Sons of Korah in the Bible had come to know and appreciate where home was – where it was on earth, and what membership within promised and what it likewise delivered. Every day they looked out their windows and they saw pitched round them, ‘the tents of the wicked’ (Ps 84:10). But their residence was also God’s residence – the home-base to call upon God at all times in prayer, praise and thanksgiving. Their house was never to be converted into a ‘marketplace’ (John 2:16) and certainly not into a ‘den for robbers’ (Jer 7:11; Lk 19:46). For he who is rightly called ‘The Lord Our Righteous Saviour’ (Jer 23:6), came down to earth to take up residence with his people – in Tent and Temple, and in turn, in Jesus of Nazareth.
In her distress, Dorothy Gale ran out of home on a pilgrimage of sorts. But hers took her into a world of grief, into her own kind of Valley of Baka, which means “valley of weeping.” Likewise, God’s people were again and again guilty of such running away from reality to such falsities as fantastical witches and wizards and therefore they were guilty of forgetting the name of the Lord their God who had given them a new life in a new home. They had forgotten that God himself dwelt with them, having made himself a home with them. His Tent of Meeting was in their midst. He led them into the greenest of pastures and beside quiet waters. But they had come to believe, as we are all variously tempted to believe the lie, that “the grass is always greener on the other side” whether it be “over the rainbow” or “just around the corner,” as it were.
The indictment of Jeremiah, chapter 2, confirms this. We hear the allegation of God towards his chosen people:
‘You of this generation, consider the word of the Lord:
‘Have I been a desert to Israel
or a land of great darkness?
Why do my people say, “We are free to roam;
we will come to you no more”? (Jer 2:31).
And so the prophet Jeremiah was called by God to bring the message of repentance to those who had wandered afar, while Psalm 84 does likewise, as it calls God’s people, on foot and in heart, to return home - to Jerusalem into the presence of the living God.
For couched in the restoration of God’s people by the Lord himself, at that time when the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord would no longer remembered (Jer 3:16) because the Lord will have dwelt with man, as man, and when Jerusalem would receive the name, ‘The Throne of the Lord’, again, because the temple destroyed would be raised in three days, we hear, ‘A cry is heard on the barren heights, the weeping and pleading of the people of Israel, because they have perverted their ways and have forgotten the Lord their God’ ‘Return, faithless people; I will cure you of backsliding’ (Jer 3:21-22). The Lord is always calling people to himself: to repent, for the kingdom of God is at hand. We all know how good it is to come home. After a long trip away from familiarity, it is good to step inside the threshold of house and home and be at home.
When on pilgrimage to Jerusalem to any one of the Great Festivals, it was customary for travellers to sing the Songs of Accent, that being Psalms 120 – 134. In Psalm 129:4 we hear the phrase: ‘But the Lord is righteous; he has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.’ While it is true that the tents of the wicked surround God’s house, and always will until the Last Day so that their so-called rich fare and allurement will likewise remain, yet there is a safe passage provided into the presence of God. Jesus death and resurrection has cut us free from the powers of wickedness and unrighteousness. For Jesus said, ‘I am the gate; whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and find pasture’ (John 10:9). Jesus is the safe passage to enter into the courts of the Lord God Almighty. His blood makes us holy and fit to enter his house.
So as you enter in today and stand at the threshold of heaven, for the altar rail and the steps up into the sanctuary demarcate for us this heaven-on-earth reality, you are experiencing a kind of homecoming. Every time you enter within these walls, you are not just coming into God’s house, you are coming home. Every coming home here prepares you to join in the ultimate call home to be with Jesus on into all eternally. And friends: There’s no place I’d rather be, for there’s no place like home.
When you’ve been away for a long time, you appreciate even more coming home. With the relief of joy on her face and in her voice, at the conclusion of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Dorothy says, "Oh, but anyway, Toto, we're home—home! This is my room. And you’re all here. And I’m not going to leave here ever, ever again, because I love you all. And oh, Aunty Em’, there’s no place like home!
Brothers and sisters in Christ: If there’s no place you’d rather be, how might you communicate to your family members and friends this week that there’s no place like home? If you can say with the Sons of Korah,
My soul yearns, even faints,
for the courts of the Lord;
my heart and my flesh cry out
for the living God.
10 Better is one day in your courts
than a thousand elsewhere;
I would rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God
than dwell in the tents of the wicked…
…how might you tell someone that there is a true home for them as well? As a congregation, in what ways can we work on improving our open house policy? How might we improve making known that this is a residence a person can return to and be welcomed with open arms? As doorkeepers, what might we attend to individually and collectively that makes people feel more at home with us as Christians? These are some things to tackle this week as you live in the love of Jesus and the fact he has chosen to come and make himself a home with you. For Jesus promised, saying, ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them’ (John 14:23).
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds safe in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 18, 09 10 2020
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Psalm 6:1-2:
Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.
2 Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint;
heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony.
Let us pray: Lord, sanctify us in the truth: your Word is Truth. Amen.
Rebuke and Discipline as blessings in disguise.
In these opening two verses of Psalm 6 we have four main verbs. They are the actions of rebuke, chastisement, mercy & healing.
In this psalm, King David comes before the Lord his God in the stark awareness that he has failed to live up to what was expected of him, as King, and as a son of Abraham. Psalm 6 happens to be the first of the so called 'Penitential' Psalms in the Psalter. King David knows his condition. But he knows it not just intellectually, in that he has fallen short of the glory of God, but also physically, in his body, and spiritually, in his soul. He is faint and his bones are in agony. And in verse three he continues saying, 'My soul is in anguish...' Later in the Psalm we learn that he has soaked his bed with tears in the night and drenched his couch in the daytime with his weeping (v6). King David knew what it was like to stand, as a poor helpless sinner, in the presence of the Lord God Almighty, maker of heaven and earth. He knew that when it came to facing his sinful thoughts, words and deeds, that the Lord God Almighty would be proved right when he spoke and justified when he judged (Ps 51:4). He knew in mind, body and soul that he deserved the just sentence of punishment in time and in eternity.
The Lord his God was angry at his sin. The Lord our God is capable of wrath. We live in a world that takes the view that, if God actually exists, that this God must be mean in not letting us have everything we want. Or the view is that, if God actually exists, that he is an indifferent God, because he lets bad things happen to so-called good people. Christians can be tempted to go the other way by totally downplaying God's anger and wrath and focus only on his supernal love. But by doing that, we head down the path of thinking that our failures and rebellion are irrelevant, since we have the excuse that God will always love us and would never do us any harm whatsoever. But the event of the world-wide Flood in Noah's day tells us a much different story. There God washed away the sins of the world but included the sinners and trespassers with it. Or consider the events of the episode of the Golden Calf. The Lord said, "I have seen this people, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed! Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven.' If it wasn't for the sake of a few people made righteous by God's grace through faith, then humanity would have come to an abrupt end. And even the Lord's own people, the Hebrews, would have been, at one point, reduced to Moses' family alone, had Moses not interceded for them. For Moses said in Deuteronomy chapter 9:19, 'I feared the anger and wrath of the Lord, for he was angry enough with you to destroy you.'
King David knew that the anger and wrath of the Lord was justifiable. David knew that he was in the wrong. Yet he knows something else about the Lord his God. And so he makes his appeal.
Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.
King David didn't say, 'Do not rebuke or discipline me at all, Lord.' I'm sure that's what most of us would say! "Don't correct me! Don't punish me!" But David's knows he needs correction and chastisement. He knows it will actually be for his temporal and eternal good. David knows that, 'Rebuke is actually a blessing in disguise.' At the time, rebuke is like having a tooth pulled, unpleasant and painful. But after the tooth comes out, health and relief from pain comes quickly. Proverbs 3:11-12 says, 'My son, do not despise the Lord's discipline and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.'
So rather than making a request to avoid rebuke and chastisement, King David requests that the Lord his God rebuke and discipline him so that he may experience God's fatherly love. King David is pointing God to the Covenant which he swore to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He is calling God on his promises concerning the covenantal love that God made and therefore cannot break. In verse 4 of this psalm King David says, 'Turn, O Lord, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love.' The Lord has ever right to turn away from David, but once again God's love proves unfailing.
King David is drawing upon the difference between:
"LOOK! YOU UNGRATEFUL LITTLE SOD, GET TO YOUR ROOM, OR I'LL HAVE YOUR GUTS FOR GARTERS!"
which stands in contrast to;
"Go to your room and consider what you have just done."
The first sentence was one made in anger. It's a sentence full of condemnation and punishment. The child on the receiving end of that angry statement would be left in despair! Why would they return to their Father if they stand condemned in his eyes? The prophet Jeremiah adds to this truth. He said, 'Correct me, Lord, but only with justice - not in your anger, lest you reduce me to nothing' (Jer 10:24). You may have experienced the feeling of being "reduced to nothing" yourself from a parent or someone else in authority who unfortunately fell to the temptation to sin in condemning you? It's a crushing blow, even if you did wrong and deserved a rebuke and punishment.
But the second sentence was made, not in anger, but rather in fatherly love. The second statement was said in order to have the child come to their senses and be convicted of the truth of their error, admit it and be forgiven and make any recompense if needed. This leaves the door wide open to an increase in love and sanctification. This is what King David is searching for. He knows he should be condemned to the utter darkness, but he goes to God relying on him to substitute an angry rebuke and wrathful chastisement for the grace and favour of the rebuke and discipline that produces love for God. And Hebrews chapter 12 is the place to go to understand the blessing in disguise that God's fatherly discipline is to those who love him. From verse 7 of Hebrews 12 it says:
7 Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? 8 If you are not disciplined – and everyone undergoes discipline – then you are not legitimate, not true sons and daughters at all. 9 Moreover, we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and live! 10 They disciplined us for a little while as they thought best; but God disciplines us for our good, in order that we may share in his holiness. 11 No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it' (Heb 12:7-11).
And that's a good segue back into the text of Psalm 6. King David said:
2 Have mercy on me, Lord, for I am faint;
heal me, Lord, for my bones are in agony.
King David had sinned and he knew that he was a sinner even if he didn't actually commit sin. He was born in sin (Ps 51:5). He inherited it from Adam. He needed strength because his sin and/or his sinful condition were particularly crushing at this point in his life. He was crushed under the weight of his sin and it was having physical effects on his body and his soul.
In Psalm 51 King David cried, 'Cleanse me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice. Hide you face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.' (Ps 51:7-9). As with his great transgression with Bathesheba, here, too, King David needed to hear the grace of God proclaimed to him so that he may be healed. Then it was the prophet Nathan declaring God's grace to him, saying, 'The Lord has taken away your sin. You are not going to die' (2 Sam 12:13b). And now here in Psalm 6, which may have been authored looking back into his whole year of anguish, and in the wake of God's mercy of forgiveness he can say, 'The Lord has heard my cry for mercy; the Lord accepts my prayer' (Ps 6:9).
For the Lord does hear your prayers for mercy: Lord, have mercy. Christ, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. That's what beggars say. They ask and they receive. They receive food and money as gifts that do not need to be repaid. They hold out their hands and receive grace and mercy from those who have it to give away. But it wasn't King David's weakness that motivated God to act in mercy. Remember that it was sin that had made King David weak. Rather God is merciful and forgiving (Dan 9:9) and he acknowledges David's confession of the fact that he is truly weak and needs God's help. Confessing the fact that he couldn't help himself was part of David's penitential prayer. He couldn't take away the physical pain and anguish on his own. And remember it was the Tax Collector who bowed his head, beat on his breast and prayed, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner' who went home justified before God (Lk 18:13-14).
And God has given us his promise that he is full of grace and truth. In truth, sin is taken very seriously by God. In grace and mercy it is taken away by God's Son, Jesus Christ. God gives us pastors and fellow Christians in their appointed callings, to declare this Good News to you on his behalf so that you may not despair at the justifiable anger and wrath of God, but instead hear the comforting and healing words that all is forgiven.
The preparatory rite in the Divine Service is included so that you may receive, in faith, comfort from the declaration of God's forgiveness. It is comforting to know that divine justice and the wrath of God has fallen upon Jesus, instead of upon those who deserved it, like King David, and you and I. Jesus satisfied divine justice and the wrath of God on the cross so that all might know him and be saved.
And in the Lord's Supper we have a tangible experience of God's mercy and grace coming into our mouths and bodies as we partake of the body and blood of Jesus. When you have eaten his body and drunk his blood for the forgiveness of your sins, I will say, "The body of our Lord Jesus Christ and his precious blood strengthen you in body and soul to life eternal. Go in peace." The Lord's Supper was instituted by Jesus on the night he was betrayed so that through the forgiveness of your sins that you would be strengthened and healed in both your body and your soul. So when you are faint and weary under the burden of sin and it's having physical effects in your entire frame and your anguish is as deep as your soul, then, "Come for all things are now ready." For around this one table you are again forgiven you your sins by Jesus through his body given over to death and his blood shed. And in Psalm 51, David longed for the joy of his salvation and asked for a willing spirit to sustain him (v12).
Isaiah said, 'God gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak' (Is 40:29). So come to the Lord's Table today as a sinner who has cried, "Lord, have mercy." But come free of condemnation and depart strengthened to 'produce a harvest of righteousness and peace' when the Lord rebukes and disciplines you in his Fatherly love. May he help you recognise those blessings in disguise so that you can glorify his name in all the earth.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
Sermon for Pentecost 13, 27.08.2023
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Psalm 124
A song of ascents. Of David.
1 If the Lord had not been on our side –
let Israel say –
2 if the Lord had not been on our side
when people attacked us,
3 they would have swallowed us alive
when their anger flared against us;
4 the flood would have engulfed us,
the torrent would have swept over us,
5 the raging waters
would have swept us away.
6 Praise be to the Lord,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
Let us pray: O Lord God, our heavenly Father, in you is the fullness of light and wisdom: Enlighten our minds by your Holy Spirit, and give us grace to receive your Word with reverence and humility, without which no one can understand your truth. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.
King David gets this psalm’s authorship credit, but was this psalm written as a response to his own personal conflicts with Saul and the Philistines, or was it an older historical response to the struggles of the Exodus and entry into the Promised Land, or was it a post-exilic response to the rise of Israel’s internal political conflicts? Either alternative, or all-of-the-above fits the bill. And there is always a fourth option as well – for the church in all its internal political strife: when one group is saying, ‘The Lord is on our side,” and the other group responds, “No, the Lord is on our side!”
For we know that the sentiment of Psalm124 has stood the test of time. It was sung routinely by God’s Old Testament pilgrim people journeying each festival up to Jerusalem and the Temple. It also still stands the test of time for God’s New Testament people, as we come before God each Sunday, along with the ‘one holy, catholic and apostolic church’ to ‘lay down our burdens at the doorway before entering upon the praises of God’ as we appropriate this Psalm in the preparatory Rite of Confession and Absolution of Sin. For the versicle, ‘Our help is in the name of the Lord’ is one of only three parts of the Pre-Reformation worship service (that is, in the Preparatory Rite of Confession & Absolution) that was retained by the Reformers because of its Scriptural purity.
So, brothers and sisters in Christ:
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
This concluding verse sums up the whole Psalm. It sums up our whole approach to God, before, during and after our deliverance from affliction. No wonder that the prophet Isaiah commands the people of God, declaring, ‘Shout for joy, you heavens; rejoice, you earth; burst into song, you mountains! For the Lord comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones’ (Isa 49:13).
Psalm 124 gives voice to our deliverance from proud and violent men who, ‘if the Lord had not been on our side’ would like to eat the righteous alive for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And it would very much seem that David, personally as King, or the nation Israel, was battling some internal affair. For notice the language of the author. He doesn’t say ‘when the nations (i.e. the foreigner/enemy out there, across the border) attacked us,’ but rather, ‘when people [more specifically “men”] attacked us,’ those being ‘our people,’ people who ought to be on our side, those whom we know who ought to have our protection and the Lord’s interests at heart. So David’s choice of words here do point to some internal unrighteous uprising. But the Lord’s anointed will not,
‘walk in step with the wicked
or stand in the way that sinners take
or sit in the company of mockers,
Rather the righteous king, will,
delight … in the law of the Lord,
and … meditate on his law day and night.
For,
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water,
which yields its fruit in season
and whose leaf does not wither –
whatever they do prospers…
just as the first Psalm teaches.
Looking back at the exhausting period of the English Reformation, what with all its exasperating internal affairs for those who sought God’s truth, Horatius Bonar (19th Century Minister and prolific Hymn writer) commented:
In the year 1582, this Psalm was sung on a remarkable occasion in Edinburgh. One of the very first Presbyterian ministers, John Durie, had been imprisoned for ‘complaining bitterly against the court’, but eventually had been set free. He was met and welcomed on entering the town by 200 of his friends. The number increased until he found himself in the midst of a company of 2000, who began to sing, as they moved up the long High Street, ‘Now Israel may say, etc.’ They sang in four parts with deep solemnity, all joining in the well-known tune and Psalm. They were much moved themselves, and so were all who heard; and one of the chief prosecutors is said to have been more alarmed at this sight and song than at anything he had seen in Scotland.
You have heard of Daniel’s experience in the Lion’s den. There the lion’s did not lay a paw on the righteous man. King Darius was so moved that he issued an edict that all under his rule must fear and revere the God of Daniel. Darius, in fact declared (and again, take not of the language)
He (i.e. Daniel’s God) rescues and he saves;
he performs signs and wonders
in the heavens and on the earth.
He has rescued Daniel
from the power of the lions.’
Psalm 124 also speaks poetically of being torn apart by a beast with teeth that tears apart its prey. For his faithfulness to God, Daniel found himself thrown into the lion’s den. But it seems as if David found himself clenched in the jaws of death itself.
Listen again,
6 Praise be to the Lord,
who has not let us be torn by their teeth.
7 We have escaped like a bird
from the fowler’s snare;
the snare has been broken,
and we have escaped.
God afforded Daniel some distance of protection from the lions, but it seems not so, with King David. For we need to note that the righteous person is found in the beast’s mouth and inside the fowler’s snare. For God may allow the righteous man, or woman, to experience the heat of the lion’s breath and the pain of being pinned, as by teeth. God may very well allow the righteous man, or woman, to experience feeling trapped in the net, with no way out.
But the author of Psalm 124 says that the pinning will not crush and kill, and that the snare’s wooden frame will be broken, and the righteous will escape. St Paul knew it to be true. He said, ‘We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed…’ (2 Corinthians 4:8a). And we need to know that the snare of the fowler was commonly a slip-knot kind of trap. But some traps also had wooden frames that secured nets that when triggered, snapped close capturing its prey.
In the middle of the 14th Century, the well-educated English hermit, mystic, and religious writer, Richard Rolle, of Hampole, said this:
God made the earth where the snare lies, so that he can rightfully destroy the snare as laid unlawfully in his domain. [The idea here is of Satan and wicked men being like poachers transgressing upon the Lord’s estate and laying illegal traps for the unwary]. God also made the heaven, the true sphere of the soaring wings of those souls which he has delivered, so that they may fly upwards from their late prison, rejoicing. He came down to earth himself, the Lord Jesus in whose name is our help, that he might break the snare; he returned to heaven, that we might fly “as the doves to their coops” (Isaiah 60:8), following where he showed the way.
Brothers and sisters in Christ: no matter if the danger is open and engulfing as a flood, or as concealed and enticing as a snare, in the Lord Jesus, the righteous person, though they feel pinned down, will be not be crushed, and though the traps have been set, will not be ensnared by death. Rather, it is the Lord Jesus who ‘was pierced for our transgressions, …crushed for our iniquities…’ (Isa 53:5). It was the Lord Jesus who was “framed” by a net of false fabrications and the deceit of prideful men trying to ‘trap him in his words’ (Matthew 22:15). Satan and man thought they had Jesus right where they wanted him (Ps 119:110; 140:5; 141:9); they thought they had him pinned down and caught in their trap. But through his death and resurrection we see, with the eyes of faith and in ‘the hope of glory’ (Colossians 1:27), the mouth of the tomb, now empty, lies open and the curse of death has been broken.
So, brother and sisters in Christ:
8 Our help is in the name of the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
And the peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.