November 11m 2018 100 Years

Proper 27B November 11, 2018

Today is the 100^th anniversary of the Armistice that ended World War One. Today I want to talk about that event and about the gospel. WWI was called “the war to end all wars,” by President Woodrow Wilson. Wilson was born December 1856 in Stauton, VA, to a Presbyterian minister in a slaveholding family. Woodrow Wilson went to Davidson, Princeton, University of VA law, and Johns Hopkins. In 1910 while President of Princeton he was elected Governor of New Jersey. In 1912 Republicans split between Taft and Teddy Roosevelt and Wilson was elected President. He was re-elected in 1916 on a slogan, “he kept us out of war.” But German submarines sank neutral American ships in late 1916, and in early April, 1917 Wilson asked Congress to join Britain and France in the war. American troops fought in France from June, 1917.  

The British naval blockade led to severe food shortages in the German cities, and though the 1917 Russian revolutions took Russia out of the war Germany began to lose. In mid-August 1917 Pope Benedict XV offered a peace proposal, basically to return to the positions held before the war, but the proposal was rejected by Wilson and by the French. In early November 1918 the German and Austrian imperial political systems collapsed. The November 11 Armistice was a German surrender.

The terms of the Armistice and of the 1919 Versailles treaty were harsh and punitive. The blockade and famine continued for 10 months. Germany was assessed heavy reparations to France and Belgium. One consequence of the armistice and treaty was German anger. That anger and the great depression led to the rise of the Nazi party and Hitler.  After the Second World War US aid under the Marshall Plan 1948-52 helped European recovery and led eventually to a common market.

We can draw a few lessons from WW I. One lesson is that war is unpredictable, and the more people are involved in the war the harder it is to end the war.  For much of the 19^th century modern European powers had won colonial wars against poorly armed locals. In Europe the 1815 Council of Vienna balance of power was upset by the unsuccessful revolts of 1848, by the inconclusive Crimean War of 1853-56 of France and Britain against Russia, by the 1863 border conflict between Denmark and Prussia, by the 7 weeks Austro-Prussian war of 1866 and the 7 months Franco-Prussian war of 1870.  The American Civil War showed the bloody effects of a 4 year war that mobilized a whole people, but the European powers concluded that with modern technology wars could be won in a short time. They were wrong.

World War One came to involve whole nations, and it was nasty, brutish, and long. Even on the morning of November 11, with the armistice set for 11 a.m. conflict continued. Henry Gunther, of 3811 Eastern Avenue, Baltimore, was the last American to die. Henry was 23 years old, a Roman Catholic, a bank clerk. Drafted in September 1917 he advanced to supply sergeant, then was busted to private when a censor read his letter home complaining about miserable conditions at the front. The Baltimore Sun newspaper reported that “Gunther brooded a great deal over his recent reduction in rank, and became obsessed with a determination to make good before his officers and fellow soldiers.”  Just before 11 a.m. on November 11 Gunther’s unit came on two German machine guns at a road block.  Against the orders of his sergeant Gunther charged with his bayonet. The German soldiers, already aware of the Armistice that would take effect in one minute, tried to wave Gunther away. He kept going and fired "a shot or two".  When he got too close to the machine guns, he was shot in a short burst of automatic fire and killed instantly.  The army restored his rank and awarded him the Distinguished Service Cross. A Veterans of Foreign Wars post in east Baltimore was named for him. It has ceased to exist.

George Edwin Ellison, a Leeds a coal miner, father of a 5 year old son, was the last British Army soldier killed – at 9:30 a.m.  George Lawrence Price, of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan was the last Canadian Army soldier killed – at 10:58. Augustin Trebuchon had served in the French Army from the beginning of the war. He was killed at 10:45 a.m. The name of the last German soldier to die is not known.   

It is hard to call back the dogs of war.  And as war, so with anger.  It is easy to yield to the temptation to anger, and very hard to let that emotion go. In the Franco-Prussian War of 1870, 48 years before, the French had lost Alsace-Lorraine. Marshall Foch refused the German request for an immediate cease fire. So 11,000 men died on the morning of November 11.

A second lesson from this day 100 years ago is that Jesus calls to forgive, to make peace quickly with our adversaries. He taught us to pray, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.”  The modern version translates as “sin.” “Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.”

 I spoke of the harshness of the Armistice and the Treaty. Jesus tells us in St. Matthew 5:43-45, and also in St. Luke 6, “I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,  so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.”

About 18 million people died in World War I, 6 million Allied military, 4 million German and Austrian military, 8 million civilians , about 6 million of them from famine and disease including the 1918 flu epidemic. All WWI veterans are dead. The last, at 110, was Frank Buckles of Los Angeles, on February 27, 2011. The memory of all these who died lives on.

 “Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord, for they rest from their labors, and their deeds follow them. (Revelation 14:13)

Pentrcost 18B A Little Child

Proper 20B  Pentecost 18 September 23, 2018

Thorleif Schjelderup-Ebbe, a Norwegian zoologist and psychologist, lived 82 years, from 1894 to 1976. In his 1921 Ph.D. dissertation he described the pecking order of hens, called the dominance hierarchy. The birds had an order in which individuals were allowed to get to the food trough, enforced by pecking each other. For 17 years, from age 10, Thorleif had kept and watched chickens. Since then similar dominance hierarchies have been observed in many other species.

When I was 10 I got interested in a Pacific sea bird, the blue footed booby, and finally got to see one in the Galapagos. The blue footed booby lays two eggs 4 days apart. The older chick frequently picks on the younger.  I’m an only child, but we have two children and our daughter has two daughters. I’ve learned from observation about sibling rivalry.

Dominance hierarchies and sibling rivalry come from competition for what are perceived as scarce resources. There is only so much food, so much parental attention, so much time to give. That is true in this life, but God is eternal and infinite. God created everything that is, and God has provided enough for everyone to have a fair share.  

So dominance hierarchy, pecking order, sibling rivalry, are all part of the sinful order of the natural world. As St. Paul wrote In Romans 8, “22 we know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; 23 and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as God’s children, the redemption of our bodies.”

 In today’s epistle St. James says, “Those conflicts and disputes among you, where do they come from? Do they not come from your cravings that are at war within you? You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder. And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts. You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, in order to spend what you get on your pleasures.”

Christian faith trusts in God’s grace to provide. God is eternal and infinite. God created everything that is, and God created enough for everyone to have a fair share.  Christian life is radically egalitarian. We are all beloved children of God. The God who made us all loves us all equally. We are all sinners, saved by grace. Sin is sin, an offense against God’s will for the world God has created.

In today’s gospel Jesus takes a little child and tells the disciples, “Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” It took a long time before Christians began to act in the world according to Jesus’ word, but in the past century we have begun to end child labor - at least in the western world.

Children are now regarded as gifts of God, not as small laborers, or as extensions of their parents.  We are now more able to see children as gifts and we are more able to recognize ourselves as God’s children, as God’s gift to the world, and so we are more able to see the gift of Jesus, God’s gift to all humankind, given for our salvation.

We can recognize in the simple trust of a child the trusting relationship God seeks with us. Babies have a grab reflex. Put your finger in a baby’s open hand and he will grab for it. The baby doesn’t know what it is; it could be harmful, and over the years we have all grabbed on to things that have in fact harmed us. We have to learn to evaluate what comes to hand, take the good and leave the rest.

But God is good, and God’s will for us is good, and God gives us many good gifts of life, and health, and ability, and wisdom. He calls us to serve him, using his gifts to his glory.

We serve with the cross as our model and example. In the last days of the Davidic kingdom of Judah Jeremiah warned about those who devised schemes to destroy and make people forget God’s care for his people. The rulers of Jesus’ people fulfilled Jeremiah’s prophecy. They sought to destroy Jesus, , saying, "Let us destroy the tree with its fruit, let us cut him off from the land of the living, so that his name will no longer be remembered!"  

The wicked will always to destroy the goodness and love of Jesus. But they failed, and they will always fail,  because God raised Jesus from the dead and in his new life gave all who will believe in him new life – new life every morning, new life from the grave, new life in child-like trust and joy. 

          All God’s children are God’s gifts in the world Jesus Christ has redeemed. Let us live seeking greatness in God through service to him and to all the other children of God has given us to love.

Remembering

Remembering  9-9-18 

 

Jesus took bread and wine, gave them to his friends, and said, “Do this in remembrance of me.” So this morning we receive bread and wine, remembering Jesus and giving thanks for his current presence in our lives and his spiritual nourishment in the new life we share with him.

The church where St. Mark wrote his gospel began with a small group of Jewish men and women. Over time others came to join, strangers, people who did not grow up in the Jewish community. And then the larger Jewish community divided,  leaving the Jews who knew the new life in Jesus separated from their family members who could not accept Jesus’ death and resurrection.

 

The new church community knew Jesus’ healing. They knew the spiritual freedom from forgiven sins. They knew the truth and the power of the Holy Spirit. They knew the spiritual food of Christ’s spiritual body received by faith in, with, and under the forms of bread and wine.

 But they missed their friends, and these new people were different. Their food was different; they brought non-kosher food to the parish suppers. They ate barbeque.  In a time of public baths, all could see the new Christian men were not circumcised. It was not easy to establish fellowship of Jews and Gentiles in the church community. Christian fellowship is not easy, but God can do it when we want him to. 

But Mark’s gospel told how Jesus had gone to Gentile territory and told how Jesus healed Gentiles.  Mark’s gospel told about the woman from the Lebanon coast whose daughter Jesus had healed of the demon and about healing the deaf man in the Greek speaking city on the far side of the Sea of Galilee.

Jesus had moved around. He spoke in synagogues. He spoke to groups of people wherever they were. Sometimes he needed time by himself, away from people, some quiet time with the Father.  Jesus went for quiet time to the mountains and went for quiet time at the beach.

Jesus had become a public figure. He was known. He was known as a teacher, and he was particularly known as a healer. People were amazed at his power over the demons. We don’t talk about demons.  We sing the third verse of “A Mighty Fortress” about this world with devils filled, but that language is 500 years old. We don’t use it.  We talk about mental illness. We name as epilepsy the convulsions the ancient world associated with demonic possession. We prescribe phenobarbital.   Many of us know something from our own experience and from raising adolescent children about obsessive thinking and compulsive behavior. For most of us supportive families and friends help us develop systems and strategies to keep our thinking and behavior within moderate and socially acceptable limits. But all of us who serve or have served as parents know something of the anxiety that our children’s obsessions can cause – whether it is rock music, sports, cars, boys, girls – single-minded enthusiasm can be hard to take. The woman who came to disturb Jesus’ time of rest and reflection was suffering from an extreme and debilitating ca1se of a not-uncommon experience.

And Jesus listens to her. “Almighty God from whom no secrets are hid.” The God who made us knows us, and loves us, and hears us when we pray, even when we can’t articulate our need. He helps by his indwelling spirit of truth to know what we need and want, and he helps us by his indwelling spirit of power to ask for what we need.

Jesus’ first response looks like rejection. I think it is testing. God does test us in prayer. He wants us to be clear in our minds, wills, and spirits about what we need, do we can recognize God’s answer when he gives it.  Jesus‘ dialogue about the dogs may have been heard by the early church as a reminder that Jesus’ ministry was to first to the Jews, to the people God had preparing through their history to receive his Messiah. The church is reminded that Jesus is a Jew, that the apostles were Jews, that the early church began as part of the Jewish community. We honor the Jews, and we thank God for offering salvation in Jesus Christ to all people, Jews and Gentiles, slave and free, men and women, native born and immigrants. The Gentile woman’s response shows she is ready to receive her daughter’s healing, and Jesus cast out the demon. He casts out our demons when we ask him to.

The deaf man miles away in the Decapolis needed more than the word the woman heard. Jesus took him aside and communicated to him what was going to happen. He opened his mouth and felt Jesus’ finger and heard Jesus’ word, “Be opened.”

We come to the rail and open our hands, remembering Jesus at the Last Supper, remembering with thanksgiving those who brought us here to receive the bread of life and the cup of salvation, our spiritual nourishment, as we are set free from the burden of sin to live the new life in Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.   

 

Feedin 5000

Feeding 5000

Our gospel readings in the next 4 weeks are from St. John chapter 6. They tell of the feeding of the 5000 and the meaning of that miracle. The feeding is reported in all 4 gospels. All say the day was ending, all have 5 loaves and two fish, all have the people sit down on the grass to be fed, all were satisfied, and 12 baskets of broken pieces were collected.  St. John adds that it was near the Passover, but the grass indicates it was spring time. I’ve been in that area in the summer, and things are dry and brown.

St. Mark 8 and St. Matthew 12 also tell of another later feeding of 4000 with 7 loaves. Jesus’ feeding large crowds with limited resources was an important part of the church’s memory of Jesus’ ministry. That memory, and Jesus’ explicit command to feed the hungry and heal the sick has inspired many soup kitchens and hospitals, including our own weekly food collection for hungry people of Avery County.

Martin Luther’s sermon on this text includes a medieval allegory. The grass is the Jewish people, from Isaiah 40, “all flesh is grass.” From the Jewish people the Word of God came forth, for salvation is of the Jews. The five loaves signify the Word of God as we receive it by the five senses. The loaves are in the basket as the word of God is contained in the Holy scriptures. That as Jesus took them in his hands to bless and increase them signifies that by Christ’s word and deeds, not by our own deeds or reason, are the Scriptures explained, rightly understood and preached. The two fish are the example and witness of the patriarchs and prophets shared with the people of God. The 12 baskets of fragments are the writings of the 12 apostles, the fulfilment of the writings of the Old Testament.

Allegorical interpretation has fallen out of favor. We prefer a more naturalistic interpretation. A popular comment on the feeding is that when Jesus called the people to sit down in groups he formed immediate communities in which those who had come prepared with some food shared with those who had not. So Jesus teaches us to share, to help people in need. That is true, and we see examples of it frequently. I remember the pictures of the Houston flood and people being rescued by volunteers in fishing boats. We contribute to needs, and as I do so I hope others will be there for me in my time of need.

But there is more to the story of the feeding than simply human sharing. Another account of feeding many with limited resources is in today’s reading from the Elisha miracle stories in 2Kings. Baal-shalishah means Lord of the three, and is identified as an Arab village in the West Bank where three dry valleys come together. On the surrounding hills are new Jewish settlements. God continues to provide – in this case five-fold – 20 loaves for 100 people. 

St. John’s report of the feeding of the 5000 makes the connection to Passover. Passover was God’s powerful action to set the people free from slavery in Egypt,  followed by God’s continuing to feed the liberated people of Israel with manna in the desert.

 God fed the people physically with manna and God continues to feed us spiritually in Holy Communion. “Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us; therefore let us keep the feast.”

At the Last Supper the disciples surely remembered the miraculous feeding. We’re not told what words Jesus used to ask God’s blessing on the 5 loaves, but at the Last Supper we are told that he said, “This is my body which is broken for you,” and “This is my blood of the new covenant.” Jesus added, “Do this in remembrance of me.” And we have been doing this – taking bread and wine, asking God’s blessing on them, breaking the bread and sharing the cup – ever since.

The 5000 sat down on the grass.  We come together in churches. They were mentally and spiritually fed by Jesus’ words and physically and spiritually fed by the bread he had blessed. We are mentally and spiritually fed by Jesus’s words, and we are physically and spiritually fed by the bread on which we ask his blessing.  

Martin Luther ended his sermon on the feeding of the 5000 with words that continue to be as true today as they were 500 years ago. “We feed on Christ, for “he alone makes satisfaction, delivers from sin and death, gives peace and fullness of joy, and does it all of his own free will, that we may know that the Gospel is devised and bestowed, not through our own merit, but out of pure grace.”  Amen.

Evil spirits

Pentecost 7 Proper 9 Evil spirits

          .Jesus called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. That authority over unclean spirits Jesus gave to the 12 continues today in the church and in all Christian people today.  By his death and resurrection Jesus finally defeated the power of evil and at Pentecost he gave the church the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth and power. We receive the gift of the Holy Spirit in baptism, that gift of the Holy Spirit offers us both knowledge of God’s truth to be able to discern the unclean spirits, and also God’s gift of spiritual power to defeat them.

We rejoice that by his death and resurrection Jesus has won the final victory. In the last day when he comes to judge Jesus’ victory will be evident to all creation. Until that day we have the victory, and we have opportunity to witness to Christ’s victory in our lives and in our relationships.

The evil spirits continue to tempt us.  We frequently hear stories of people being led astray. Some of the evil spirits are the spirits of rage and racism. The Washington Post recently reported about two 15 year old boys invited to swim at a neighborhood pool in Dorchester County, South Carolina. As they approached the pool a woman jumped out of the water, shoved one of the boys in the chest and yelled at him, “Get out! Get out! Get out! Now!” and threatened to call 911. The paper says one of the boys managed to record the woman and the encounter. He showed his parents the video and they called the sheriff’s office. The police report calls “it an “unprovoked assault” and says that the woman  “is clearly the aggressor in the assault even going as far as to continue to assault the victim as he was walking away from her.”  When officers showed up at her home, she attacked them and bit one’s arm, breaking the skin. She was arrested and released on $65,000 bail. The woman was white; the boys were not.

We all remember segregation and times before cell phone videos, times when parents would not have called, and the sheriff would not have responded and certainly would not have made an arrest. As a society we’ve made progress, but we still have a ways to go. Unclean spirits of rage and racism continue with us. But Jesus called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.  In our baptisms we receive from Jesus the gift of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of truth and power. The Holy Spirit gives us knowledge of God’s truth to be able to discern the unclean spirits, and the spiritual power to defeat them. We rejoice that Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection have won the final victory.

A few years after the Council of Nicea (325 AD) an Egyptian hermit (Evagrius Ponticus) organized an understanding of 7 general categories of evil spirits. We can remember them by a mnemonic device – WASPLEG. WASPLEG. Wrath, Avarice, Sloth, Pride, Lust, Envy, Gluttony. He also organized 7 alternative Christian virtues, gifts of the Holy Spirit as spiritual antidotes to the temptations of these evil spirits.

The virtue that turns away Wrath is Patience. Avarice Charity. Sloth Dilligence, Pride Humility, Lust Chastity, Envy Gratitude, Gluttony Temperance.  CDHCGT not as easy to remember.

Different spirits tempt different people at different times in our lives. Lust bothered me more as an adolescent than it has since I married. Age and gratitude have tempered envy. Pride continues to tempt. It takes a real act of faith to live out the truth that the God who made me loves me. He wants what is best for me. So I do much better when I seek to know and do his will for me.

So remember we have the victory over the evil spirits who tempt us. We have the tools of spiritual victory. So let us use them.

When we are tempted to irrational anger, to Wrath, let us seek to exercise patience. The woman in the South Carolina pool did not have to come out of the water and yell at the boy. She certainly did not have to bite the police officer. She could have avoided arrest, bail, and publicity by exercising patience.

When tempted to Greed, let us remember our corresponding need to give to those in need. When tempted to let someone else do what needs to be done so we can complain let us pray for the gift of truth to see what we can and should do.  All of us are continually tempted by the evil spirit of pride. We can pray for a right understanding of ourselves as God’s loved children, guided to seek to know and do only his will.  When tempted by lust, let us remember God’s love poured out on us and share his love in right relationships. When tempted by envy, let us give God thanks for his many blessings in our lives. And when tempted by gluttony, push back, seek temperance.  

.Jesus called the twelve and began to send them out two by two, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits. That authority is ours. Praise God for Christ’s victory

St, John Baptist

St. John Baptist June 24 18

Today Lutherans and Roman Catholics celebrate John the Baptist’s birth today. Oher churches celebrate it tomorrow. We give thanks to God for John’s birth, life and ministry. This is the hinge of the year – 6 months to Christmas! Since Christmas the days have been getting longer; now they will gradually get shorter. Christians see John as the last of the Old Testament prophets who point us to Christ. John preached a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, a renewed commitment to the Law of Moses. John’s baptism pointed toward baptism in Christ, a new life of grace in the power and truth of the Holy Spirit.

          We learn about John’s birth in St. Luke, Chapter 1. John’s father Zechariah was a priest of the Old Covenant. He served at the Jerusalem Temple twice a year. So John the Baptist is the patron saint of clergy kids! His mother Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron, so of a priestly family. Like Abraham and Sarah, they were old and childless. Serbing in the Temple Zechariah received a vision of the archangel Gabriel, but because he did not believe he was struck dumb. Despite Zechariah’s affliction Elizabeth conceived (marital nonverbal communication). In Elizabeth’s 6^th month Gabriel announced to Mary the virgin that Mary also would bear a son. Mary’s response is at the core of the Christian life, “Be it unto me according ro thy will,” or in two words, “Yes, Lord.”

          God is a God of love, a God of freedom, a God of grace. God is good; God is trustworthy. God loves us and we can trust our lives to God’s goodness and God’s love.  We are not alone; God is always present in and with us. The prophets revealed God’s love, God’s freedom, God’s grace. Fast forward 30 years to chapter 3 of St. Luke. John the Baptist appeared at the Jordan River, preaching a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sin.

          God chooses to use simple things to convey spiritual grace: water for baptism, bread and wine for communion. Marriage is a handshake contract, oil heals, hands on head confirm and ordain, a word forgives. 

          Lutheran and Episcopal churches teach that the ceremonial law of the Old Testament does not bind the church. (Article 28 Augsburg Confession Tappert p.91 line 59,  Article 7 of the 39)  The Jewish community interprets Leviticus 15  to require immersion in a ritual bath, called a mikvah, with this prayer:  “Barukh atah Ado-nai Elohenu melekh ha’olam asher kideshanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu al ha’tevillah. Blessed are You, O Lord, our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments and commanded us regarding the immersion.” Orthodox Jewish women go to the mikvah each month after their menstrual period. Orthodox Jewish men go at least once a year before Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. The Orthodox recite the prayer in the mikvah before immersing themselves. But converts to Judaism immerse themselves, then say the prayer and then immerse themselves again. The immersion, the ritual bath, is the outward and visible sign of accepting the responsibilities of the Law of Moses.  The prayer is the sign of obedience to the Law.

          One way to understand John’s baptism is that sin so separates us from God and from God’s people that we need to be reconverted to God; we need to ask God to renew our membership in the people of Israel, the people who know and obey God’s law. This was radical teaching. It emphasized personal commitment, not passive acceptance of membership in a privileged group, membership by birth. It said we can lose our birthright and need to claim it again. 

          Let me finish with John’s story and get back to his baptism. John went from preaching to meddling. St. Luke says he condemned the ruler Herod Antipas for marrying his brother’s wife and Herod cast him in prison and eventually beheaded him.  Another writer agrees he was imprisoned but says he was killed to prevent a rebellion.

          In St. John’s gospel chapter 4 we learn that Jesus’ disciples continued John’s baptismal ministry. Acts tells of John’s disciples in Asia Minor. John’s baptism was a promise of a new life of commitment to obey the Law of Moses, the moral law and the ceremonial law. It both a sign of repentance and also a promise of a new birth into the community of Israel. But John also promised the baptism of Jesus. “After me comes one who is mightier than I, I have baptized you with water; he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.” (Mark 1:7-8). The baptism of Jesus adds to washing away of sin and rebirth into the community of obedience the third element of the gift of the Holy Spirit, the spirit of truth and power.

          Both the Prayer Book Catechism, and Luther’s Catechism tell us Christian baptism “works forgiveness of sins, rescues from death and the devil, and gives eternal salvation to all who believe. Baptism is a life-giving water, rich in grace, and a washing of the new birth in the Holy Spirit.”  

          So as we celebrate today the birth of John the Baptist, let us give thanks to God for John’s  life and ministry, give thanks to God for Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, and give thsnks for God’s gift to us of new and eternal life in holy baptism, for the forgiveness of sins and the truth and power of the Holy Spirit. Amen.    

Trinity Athanasian Creed 18

The Athanasian Creed  Book of Concord  Tappert translation from Latin, 1959, pp 19-20.
   Whoever wishes to be saved must, above all else, hold the true Catholic faith. Whoever does not keep it whole and undefiled will without doubt perish for eternity.
   This is the true Christian faith, that we worship one God in three persons and three persons in one God
   without confusing the persons, nor dividing the divine substance.
   For the Father is one person of the Father, the Son is another, and the Holy Spirit is still another,
   but there is one Godhead of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, equal in glory, and co-equal in Majesty. .
   What the Father is, that is the Son, and that is the Holy Spirit.
   the Father is uncreated, the Son is uncreated, the Holy Spirit is uncreated;
   the Father is unlimited, the Son is unlimited, the Holy Spirit is unlimited;
   the Father is eternal, the Son is eternal, the Holy Spirit is eternal,
   and yet they are not three eternals, but one eternal,
   just as there are not three who are uncreated and who are unlimited, but there is one who is uncreated, and unlimited.
   Likewise the Father is almighty, the Son is almighty, the Holy Spirit is almighty,
   and yet they are not three who are almighties, but there is one who is almighty.
   So the Father is God, the Son is God, the Holy Spirit is God.
   and yet they are not three Gods, but one God.
   So the Father is Lord, the Son is Lord, and the Holy Spirit is Lord
   and yet they are not three Lords, but one Lord.
   For just as we are compelled by Catholic truth to acknowledge each person by himself to be God and Lord,
   so are we forbidden by the Catholic Religion to say that there are three Gods, or three Lords.
   The Father was neither made nor created nor begotten by anybody.
   The Son was not made or created, but was begotten by the Father.
   The Holy Spirit was not made or created or begotten, but proceeds from the Father and the Son
   Accordingly there is one Father and not three Fathers; one Son and not three Sons;  one Holy Spirit and not three Holy Spirits.
   And among these three persons none is before or after another; none is greater or less than another;
   but all three persons are coequal and coeternal, and accordingly, as has been stated above, three persons are to be worshipped in one Godhead and one God is to be worshipped in three persons.
   Whoever wants to be saved must think thus about the Trinity.

   It is also necessary for everlasting salvation that one faithfully believe that our Lord Jesus Christ became man,

   for this is the right faith, that we believe and confess that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is at once God and Man;
   he is God, begotten before the ages of the substance of the Father, and he is man, born in the world of the substance of his mother,
   perfect God and perfect man, with reasonable soul and human flesh,
   equal to the Father with respect to his Godhead; and inferior to the Father with respect to his manhood.
   Although he is God and Man, he is not two Christs but one Christ;
   one, that is to say, not by changing the Godhead into flesh but by taking on the humanity into God;
   one, indeed, not by confusion of substance, but by unity in one person.
   For just as the reasonable soul and the flesh are one man, so God and man are one Christ;
   who suffered for our salvation, descended into hell, rose from the dead,
   ascended into heaven, is seated on the right hand of the Father, whence he shall come to judge the quick and the  dead.
  At his coming all men shall rise with their bodies and give an account of their own deeds.
   Those who have done good will enter eternal life, and those who have done evil will go into everlasting fire.
   This is the true Catholic Faith. Unless a man believe this firmly and faithfully, he cannot be saved. 

Sermon:
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

The Bible tells us that God loves us and that Jesus death and resurrection save to eternal life all who will believe in him.  Jesus saves, and that is fact.  How Jesus saves is theology, human faith seeking understanding of God’s love. Some theology leads to life-giving truth, but some bad theology leads us to error in faith and to bad behavior in life.

On Trinity Sunday we celebrate God’s love in creation; we celebrate Jesus’ saving grace, and we celebrate the power and truth of the Holy Spirit. 

Let me begin with some history: For almost 300 years it was dangerous to believe in Jesus. From the time of Emperor Nero in 65 to Emperor Decius in 250 persecution was local and sporadic, something like the persecution Christians face today in the Middle East, Pakistan, Nigeria, and Indonesia. But in 250 Decius tried to fix increasing conflict and division in the Roman Empire by an empire-wide loyalty oath. In the governor’s office a small fire burned before a statue of the emperor as a god. You were to buy a pinch of incense and put it on the fire and get a certificate you had done so. When many Christian leaders refused to accept the emperor as divine they were executed, and for the next 50 years a hot political issue was how to deal with Christians – persecute or tolerate? The last persecution was by Diocletian in 303.  Diocletian tried with some success to destroy all copies of the New Testament. That was too much. The social and political situation flipped. Christianity became popular. People came to faith and sought to understand. Lots of questions: “Who is God?”  “How does Jesus save?”

In response the church developed the creeds.  These use Greek and Roman philosophical language to state a paradox. God is one God in three persons – the Father who creates, Jesus the Son who redeems, the Holy Spirit of power and truth who works in us and the world to bring us to new and eternal life in God. Jesus saves because he is fully and completely God and at the same time fully and completely human.

It was complicated and messy. In 325 Bishop Athanasius of Alexandria led a church council to adopt the Nicene Creed. About 150 years later in southern France his teaching was restated. In your bulletin is Pastor Theodore Tappert’s 1969 translation from Latin of the Athanasian Creed. This theological political statement is part of our heritage this Trinity Sunday.

Lutheran princes and city representatives presented the Augsburg Confession to Emperor Charles V in 1530. Fifty years later, in 1580, Lutheran theologians, princes and cities agreed on a Book of Concord - the Augsburg Confession and the commentaries on it. The Book of Concord says the Athanasian Creed is one of “the three chief symbols or Creeds of the Christian Faith which are commonly used in the church.”

God has chosen to reveal himself to us. The Bible is a trustworthy record of God’s revelation. At the bush that burned and was not consumed, God told Moses, “I am that I am.” The fundamental assertion is in Hebrew Shema, Israel, Adonai elohenu, Adonai ehad, Hear O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.

God is one, and we are one. In a world that tries to divide and conquer, we struggle for integrity. We are created to be one person, a unity of body and soul, one person committed to one truth in one God. We play many roles, but dividing ourselves up into pieces leads eventually to madness. Spiritually healthy people are at unity and peace with ourselves and with the one God.

So the Athanasian Creed teaches that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are equal in glory, co-equal in Majesty, uncreated, unlimited, and eternal, and one. It teaches that Jesus is the Son of God, at once God and Man, perfect God and perfect man, by taking the humanity into God, unity in one person, God and man one Christ.

The Creed ends, when Jesus comes in the last day, “all men shall rise with their bodies and give an account of their own deeds. Those who have done good will enter eternal life, and those who have done evil will go into everlasting fire.”

As Reformation Christians we know that the only good deed we can do is to receive the faith offered us by God’s grace. Romans 3:23-25 “²³ since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, ²⁴ they are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus, ²⁵ whom God put forward as an expiation by his blood, to be received by faith.”  

So this Trinity Sunday, we open ourselves to God’s gift of grace and receive by faith the gift of salvation to eternal life. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. “Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” Thanks be to God! Amen.