κήρυξον τὸν λόγον

Sunday, March 28, 2021 Dear Hope, Hailey, Hunter, and Nora, Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ! This is an exciting day, isn’t it? Today is, in fact, one of the most important days of your life. And that makes it exciting. I know I am excited for you. And it is my hope and my prayer that today is a day you’ll always remember. I certainly remember my day way back in 1978. I don’t remember exactly what Pastor Newman told me back then, so I am going to do something different for you today to try to help you remember this day even more.  Today, because it is Confirmation Day, instead of a sermon that you only hear , I have prepared a sermon for you to keep and read , it’s really a letter, written especially for each of you. You’ll find this letter in the gift I will present to you on behalf of the congregation. Of course, we’ll let everybody else in the room hear most of the letter I have written to each of you ... it’s good for all of us ....

See, I told you so! I just knew you’d do it!  How could you! How dare you! It’s not fair! How can I bear to watch this injustice any longer! Just put me out of my misery now!   To say that Jonah, the son of Amittai, the prophet of the Lord, is angry ... like our English Standard Version suggests ... is an understated understatement. Jonah isn’t just angry at what God has done today in Nineveh. Jonah is seething. Jonah is enraged. Jonah thinks that what has just transpired is evil ... a great evil, in fact. That is the language behind the Hebrew in our Old Testament reading.  And what is this evil, this great evil? God saved them all ... all 120,000 people ... and their cows!  That’s right, Jonah complains that God saved them all. How could you! How dare you! It’s not fair! How can I forget their evil, their immorality, their idolatry? How can I forget their hatred, adultery, greed? How can I forget their impatience, their gossip, their arrogance? How can I?  I ...

For if the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer ... sanctify (with the result being) the purification of the flesh, how much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God (v. 13-14). For nearly two years now, you have heard me warn you weekly about reducing Jesus to being nothing more than a good man with a good word about good living. Maybe you’ve never understood why I was doing that ... beyond it being a catchy phrase I latched onto after reading Pastor Matthew Richard’s book, Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up? Today’s epistle gives us one answer. You might be surprised to learn how many “Christians” in our world ignore the content of the Evangelist’s sermon to the Hebrews. They ignore this passage. They ignore the all-atoning work of Jesus. They will certainly say something like, Yes, I believe Jesus died for me . But death is always clean. They ig...

And the people of Nineveh were caused to be faithful in The God. Jonah tried to go it alone, tried to go his own way. He tried to silence God’s calling. He tried to pursue life apart from God. He tried to die. But as unwilling as he was ... as unwilling as we can be ... God Almighty wins the day ... with just five Hebrew words ... eight if you want them in English.  Just say the word I give to you, Yahweh tells us. He will win the day. Just say the word. Don’t be anxious. Have Faith. Repent. Follow me. Just say the word. And just like that they did. And just like that we do.  With just a word.  NOW WON’T YOU JUST SAY THE WORD, TOO? Jonah, the son of Amittai, had been commissioned by God to Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it. Instead, Jonah arose and ran away ... as far away as he could, as far as west is from the east ... or maybe just as far as Spain is from Iraq.  I suppose you can’t blame him. Pick someone who really deserves what’s co...