Isaiah 30:8-17/Romans 8:31-39/St Luke 12:35-40
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Two things for which to watch. Two things for which to be prepared. The arrival of the thief, that is, the devil, trying to rob you of your blessed inheritance in Christ Jesus. And the arrival of Christ Jesus, the Master, who shall come at an unknown hour. Thus a double vigilance is required of His people. Though this Gospel text and the accompanying hymn may seem out of place, it is nevertheless, a worthy text on which to meditate in the waning hours of 2015.
A year is almost done. It contained numerous sorrows and countless joys. Both for you personally, but also within the family of Christ here at St Peter’s. It brought us opportunities both seized and missed. When you consider what has transpired this past year, the words of the offertory are a wholly fitting song, What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me? i will offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the name of the Lord. And we would not be incorrect to close this year with the confession of the publican on our lips: Lord, be merciful, the sinner.
Yet the Lord is not necessarily inviting us tonight to ponder either with sorrow or with pride the time that is past. Rather, He is reminding us of the time with which He always wishes for us to be concerned: the present and our final future.
The present, where the Lord has you now, into the vocations and calling into which He has placed you. These are where He calls for vigilance; against the thief and with eager waiting for the Master.
The promise of vigilance for the Master’s coming is great: He Himself will come to serve His servants. Incredible as that may sound, they will not find themselves serving on the day of His coming, but being served by the Master at a banquet beyond all imagining. This is a gift of love beyond all human conception; it is something that has never entered into the hearts of fallen men. They concern themselves only with this life. They think a good beginning for the new year is when they and theirs are alive and healthy, when they plan to acquire more goods than they now possess, and when new pleasures and new days of joy may come to them. But have they ever considered how greatly God loves them? Have they ever stopped and pondered the words of the prophet: In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength? Have you?
For there is one who would rob you of the Master’s hospitality. There is one who would persuade you to live your lives in the present, merely for the here and now and not for the future that is surely coming. That one, our Lord tells us, is a thief. And there is no better name for the devil. A thief. And a liar. He’s the one who comes to us to take from us everything that God in His mercy and love toward us would give: health of body and soul, joy in the kingdom of God, love toward all, peace that passes understanding. He would snatch all of that away. He would snatch you away, if possible. He would harden your hearts to the hearing of the Word and the goodness and loving kindness of God your Father, when, in His wisdom, He withholds from you or removes from you those things that may hinder faith toward Him and love toward one another.
But the devil, he doesn’t want you to enjoy anything as if it were from God! He wants you to seize on God’s gifts for the here and now, using them according to your fleshly desires. And barring that, he just wants to take them away from you. He is a thief and a liar. Watch against him constantly, our Lord Jesus exhorts us, so that in the end we may not be deprived of the good things of the Lord, His rich bounty and inheritance His Son died to win for us.
But how does one watch against the thief, the devil? In the self-same way, in fact, that one watches for the coming of Jesus our Master! With constant and vigilant prayer, abiding in His Word and promises, receiving His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation in His Sacraments.
A few months ago we started something new here at St Peter’s. Well, by new, of course, I mean old. Ancient. We began praying Compline on Wednesday evenings. We kept it right up until Advent. And I for one would like to continue it. Compline, the Prayer at the Close of the Day, helped to remind me, at least, that when our Lord called us to stay awake and dressed for action, He meant it! Nighttime is not just for sleeping. It is also a time meant for prayer and watching. it reminds us of that solemn warning of our Lord Jesus Himself: The Light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their works were evil (Jn 3:19). And St Paul, At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (Eph 5:8).
Do you remember when God called Samuel while he lay sleeping? Here am I, he ran to Eli saying. But Eli had not called him. Again and again this was repeated until old Eli realized that God was calling the boy. So Eli said, When He calls say, “Speak, Lord, for Thy servant listens.” So let it be for us, dear Christians. When in the dark hours of the night the Lord calls, His Word weighing heavy upon us, let us get up and answer, “Speak, O Lord!” Let us waken to prayer and vigilance and watch through the dark hours with prayers of expectation, with thanksgiving, with eager longing for the moment when our Lord and Master will appear.
And especially in those hours let us guard against the wretched their who would come to take away from us our joy in the Lord. Let us call our to the Lord: “Come, Lord Jesus!” “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” Let us seek His mercy and pray for ourselves, our loved ones, our enemies, and all people.
I am not the type for New Year’s resolutions, but perhaps this year I shall endeavor to close the day each night with prayer and meditation on God’s Word and promises. Is this not what the Psalmist means when he says, Teach us, O Lord, to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom? To mark time according to God’s count; according to His Word evening and morning. Sleep is, after all, a dress rehearsal for death. The removal of our clothing symbolic of the removal of sin. The closing of our eyes in rest the very description our Lord Jesus gives of the blessed death itself: but a sleep. Therefore when sleep is lacking, ought we Christians not rise and pray, read the Word of the Lord, reflect on His promises, and wait with eager longing for the coming of the Master?
It was at midnight that the Christ was born into this world, according to the Wisdom of Solomon: When peaceful stillness lay over all, and the night was half spent, Your Almighty Word, O Lord, descended fro heaven’s royal throne” (Wis 18:14-15). It was during the hours of night that Angels announced the Savior’s birth to shepherd on Bethlehem’s hills. It was at night that the Magi followed a star from Jerusalem to David’s City and found the great Desire of Nations and bowed before Him in worship, offering god, frankincense, and myrrh. It was during the hours of night that the hold Child, grown to manhood, spent time in prayer to the Father. It was during the night that He was transfigured and began to shine as bright as the sun before His astonished chosen three. It was during the darkness of night that He broke bread and fed His own with His Body and Blood. At night He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was during the darkness of night that He was betrayed and handed over to give life and light to the world. Nighttime and prayer and Jesus, they just seem to go hand in hand.
And so we are gathered here in prayer tonight, ready to bid farewell to 2015 and welcome a new year, 2016. Have you realized that this coming year our beloved congregation celebrates 120 years?! Again we shall pray and He shall come in answer to our prayers beyond all our understanding. Whatever the New Year may hold - tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword - St Paul paints a pretty bleak picture; yet in all these things we are more than conquerers through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And He comes among us this night, our dear Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, knocking at the door, entering to sup with us. He bids you recline at Table, for here He serves you. Serves you His Body and Blood give and shed for you to eat and to drink. And in so doing you proclaim His death until He comes. You watch and you wait. Waiting for that glorious day when it will not be by faith but with our eyes that we shall see Him and join the saints who have preceded us with all the hold angels in falling down before Him, giving endless praise and honor to Him and to His Father and to His Spirit, the Blessed and Most Glorious Holy Trinity, to whom shall be praise and honor now and forever! God grant this for Jesus sake. Amen!
In the Name + of JESUS. Amen.
Two things for which to watch. Two things for which to be prepared. The arrival of the thief, that is, the devil, trying to rob you of your blessed inheritance in Christ Jesus. And the arrival of Christ Jesus, the Master, who shall come at an unknown hour. Thus a double vigilance is required of His people. Though this Gospel text and the accompanying hymn may seem out of place, it is nevertheless, a worthy text on which to meditate in the waning hours of 2015.
A year is almost done. It contained numerous sorrows and countless joys. Both for you personally, but also within the family of Christ here at St Peter’s. It brought us opportunities both seized and missed. When you consider what has transpired this past year, the words of the offertory are a wholly fitting song, What shall I render to the Lord for all His benefits to me? i will offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon the name of the Lord. And we would not be incorrect to close this year with the confession of the publican on our lips: Lord, be merciful, the sinner.
Yet the Lord is not necessarily inviting us tonight to ponder either with sorrow or with pride the time that is past. Rather, He is reminding us of the time with which He always wishes for us to be concerned: the present and our final future.
The present, where the Lord has you now, into the vocations and calling into which He has placed you. These are where He calls for vigilance; against the thief and with eager waiting for the Master.
The promise of vigilance for the Master’s coming is great: He Himself will come to serve His servants. Incredible as that may sound, they will not find themselves serving on the day of His coming, but being served by the Master at a banquet beyond all imagining. This is a gift of love beyond all human conception; it is something that has never entered into the hearts of fallen men. They concern themselves only with this life. They think a good beginning for the new year is when they and theirs are alive and healthy, when they plan to acquire more goods than they now possess, and when new pleasures and new days of joy may come to them. But have they ever considered how greatly God loves them? Have they ever stopped and pondered the words of the prophet: In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength? Have you?
For there is one who would rob you of the Master’s hospitality. There is one who would persuade you to live your lives in the present, merely for the here and now and not for the future that is surely coming. That one, our Lord tells us, is a thief. And there is no better name for the devil. A thief. And a liar. He’s the one who comes to us to take from us everything that God in His mercy and love toward us would give: health of body and soul, joy in the kingdom of God, love toward all, peace that passes understanding. He would snatch all of that away. He would snatch you away, if possible. He would harden your hearts to the hearing of the Word and the goodness and loving kindness of God your Father, when, in His wisdom, He withholds from you or removes from you those things that may hinder faith toward Him and love toward one another.
But the devil, he doesn’t want you to enjoy anything as if it were from God! He wants you to seize on God’s gifts for the here and now, using them according to your fleshly desires. And barring that, he just wants to take them away from you. He is a thief and a liar. Watch against him constantly, our Lord Jesus exhorts us, so that in the end we may not be deprived of the good things of the Lord, His rich bounty and inheritance His Son died to win for us.
But how does one watch against the thief, the devil? In the self-same way, in fact, that one watches for the coming of Jesus our Master! With constant and vigilant prayer, abiding in His Word and promises, receiving His gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation in His Sacraments.
A few months ago we started something new here at St Peter’s. Well, by new, of course, I mean old. Ancient. We began praying Compline on Wednesday evenings. We kept it right up until Advent. And I for one would like to continue it. Compline, the Prayer at the Close of the Day, helped to remind me, at least, that when our Lord called us to stay awake and dressed for action, He meant it! Nighttime is not just for sleeping. It is also a time meant for prayer and watching. it reminds us of that solemn warning of our Lord Jesus Himself: The Light has come into the world, and people loved darkness rather than the light because their works were evil (Jn 3:19). And St Paul, At one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (Eph 5:8).
Do you remember when God called Samuel while he lay sleeping? Here am I, he ran to Eli saying. But Eli had not called him. Again and again this was repeated until old Eli realized that God was calling the boy. So Eli said, When He calls say, “Speak, Lord, for Thy servant listens.” So let it be for us, dear Christians. When in the dark hours of the night the Lord calls, His Word weighing heavy upon us, let us get up and answer, “Speak, O Lord!” Let us waken to prayer and vigilance and watch through the dark hours with prayers of expectation, with thanksgiving, with eager longing for the moment when our Lord and Master will appear.
And especially in those hours let us guard against the wretched their who would come to take away from us our joy in the Lord. Let us call our to the Lord: “Come, Lord Jesus!” “Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner!” Let us seek His mercy and pray for ourselves, our loved ones, our enemies, and all people.
I am not the type for New Year’s resolutions, but perhaps this year I shall endeavor to close the day each night with prayer and meditation on God’s Word and promises. Is this not what the Psalmist means when he says, Teach us, O Lord, to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom? To mark time according to God’s count; according to His Word evening and morning. Sleep is, after all, a dress rehearsal for death. The removal of our clothing symbolic of the removal of sin. The closing of our eyes in rest the very description our Lord Jesus gives of the blessed death itself: but a sleep. Therefore when sleep is lacking, ought we Christians not rise and pray, read the Word of the Lord, reflect on His promises, and wait with eager longing for the coming of the Master?
It was at midnight that the Christ was born into this world, according to the Wisdom of Solomon: When peaceful stillness lay over all, and the night was half spent, Your Almighty Word, O Lord, descended fro heaven’s royal throne” (Wis 18:14-15). It was during the hours of night that Angels announced the Savior’s birth to shepherd on Bethlehem’s hills. It was at night that the Magi followed a star from Jerusalem to David’s City and found the great Desire of Nations and bowed before Him in worship, offering god, frankincense, and myrrh. It was during the hours of night that the hold Child, grown to manhood, spent time in prayer to the Father. It was during the night that He was transfigured and began to shine as bright as the sun before His astonished chosen three. It was during the darkness of night that He broke bread and fed His own with His Body and Blood. At night He prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane. It was during the darkness of night that He was betrayed and handed over to give life and light to the world. Nighttime and prayer and Jesus, they just seem to go hand in hand.
And so we are gathered here in prayer tonight, ready to bid farewell to 2015 and welcome a new year, 2016. Have you realized that this coming year our beloved congregation celebrates 120 years?! Again we shall pray and He shall come in answer to our prayers beyond all our understanding. Whatever the New Year may hold - tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword - St Paul paints a pretty bleak picture; yet in all these things we are more than conquerers through Him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
And He comes among us this night, our dear Lord and Master, Jesus Christ, knocking at the door, entering to sup with us. He bids you recline at Table, for here He serves you. Serves you His Body and Blood give and shed for you to eat and to drink. And in so doing you proclaim His death until He comes. You watch and you wait. Waiting for that glorious day when it will not be by faith but with our eyes that we shall see Him and join the saints who have preceded us with all the hold angels in falling down before Him, giving endless praise and honor to Him and to His Father and to His Spirit, the Blessed and Most Glorious Holy Trinity, to whom shall be praise and honor now and forever! God grant this for Jesus sake. Amen!
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