02 23 20 NC

Say peace be to each of you from God our Father through Jesus Christ his only son and our only Lord and Savior a man. Good to be back you got to do okay with President told me last week. Everything went well. I hope I trust that's good. I'm still recovering from the weekend both both in my body and in my voice and I think we have some pictures honey, maybe.

Well, not from the beginning. Just maybe like 3 highlights.

All right. Don't know why. All right, so that's not so I got to officiate this wedding because past hunicke was supposed to is busy Okay, and that's afterwards and what else we got now, that's a father daughter dance. That was cool. And hey, my better half look at at the wizard, but there wasn't behind all this stuff. Wonderful, and wild I think we can stop.

That's that's Michaela on. In the bathtub after the wedding when she when she came home. All right, thank you all for your for your prayers and in for the opportunity to be there in to do that. For those of you who gave gifts and cards in NM prayers and things like that. We appreciate it very much. It took them nine and a half years to get to this day and it was a good day. Okay, let's get on with the topic at hand and then they're due back tomorrow sometime since the beginning of this year 2020. We've been talking in church a lot in various forms about why we do what we do in terms of how the church is laid out the architecture some of the artwork the Powerman you've seen these we're not going to go over them. One of the things that we have not discussed though in terms of why we do what we do. Is this whole idea of a church year. Okay, cuz that's what liturgical church when we talked about liturgical churches vs. Non liturgical churches as a liturgical church. We follow a calendar and a repeating calendar of seasons and a holy days. Shall we say? Okay and all the liturgical churches do that not just looked around but it was good for aliens Roman Catholics Methodist, I believe so sometimes Presbyterians things along those lines churches do not follow up with church year calendar. They have a different system of Mark in time. That's more coordinated through the secular calendar. Play For Those About Your followers church year, you can think of the church year based face being divided into two halves of 6 months each. The first 6 months is a Life of Christ half and the second six months is the life of the church Half Moon Cay further than the Life of Christ 6 months can be divided into two parts. One is the Christmas cycle which focuses on his birth and the other three months then would be the Easter cycle which focuses on his death and his resurrection the Christmas cycle contains three seasons Advance as you know, and then Christmas is 12 days. And then of course the Epiphany is what how ever long it takes to get the warrant that that always changes because he's just always changing. We'll talk about Easter in a minute. Okay? Answer the pivot between Advent and Epiphany is the 12 Days of Christmas that season of of Christmas these two cycle that also has three seasons, when is Lent one is which is 40 days not counting Sundays and then we have Holy Week the eight days of Holy Week and then we have Easter not only day but Easter season and that's always 50 days that takes us all the way to Pentecost in the pivot between lent and Easter season is Holy Week those those eight days. By the way, do you know how Easter is figured out speaking of Easter? Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon after the first day of spring. Dot-dot-dot W quiz afterward and that's that's how come it's always moving. Okay. Alright. So what is the pimp then between the Christmas cycle? And the Easter cycle? What what switches us with switches gears? Today Transfiguration Transfiguration of Jesus is that difference between what we've been talking about for the past 3 months with the the birth and and the early life of Jesus and now we're focusing our attention going forward into his suffering his dad and his resurrection as we enter into lent Holy Week and Easter. So Transfiguration then changes our Focus from who Jesus is which is God In the Flesh Emmanuel God With Us to why he came Just offering to die and to rise again for us and for our sins. Transfiguration like baptism of Jesus which we observed earlier in January is a happy happy. Holy day. The color is white. Okay, and also just like after them at in Transfiguration God the Father speaks and in the baptism of Jesus, it was from heaven in the Transfiguration of Jesus. It's from the cloud that encompasses them and he says this is my son whom I love or in some versions. It's this is my beloved Son with him. I am well pleased that. He said those words both at the baptism and today at Transfiguration. But then today he has three more words to remember what they are. Listen to him. Listen to him and they're not kind of brings us back to our conversation that we started 2 weeks ago about the Divine service. Remember the primary purpose and focus of us getting together on Sunday is to be served by Jesus right to be served by Jesus. That's why we're not here primarily to pray. We're not here primarily to worship. Although we do all that stuff. We're here primarily to be served by Jesus divine service. So then the next question to me would logically follow with what does he serve us? How did you do that? He serves us with his word and his Spirit whatever the word of God is the spirit of God is you cannot separate the word of God from the spirit of God. You cannot separate the spirit of God from the word of God those two things are always together and Jesus when he starts us is serving us with his word and with your spirit. And so therefore in the Divine service, he speaks even though we sounds an awful lot like me or maybe this morning Danny for job day. We listen just like God the father said that we should do. He serves us and he feeds us with Divine food his word. Oui eats. We receive we believe what we hear what he says. Okay, that's kind of the overall. Just we talk more specifically then two weeks ago by the Divine service has three parts right that service the preparation the service of the word and then the service of Holy Communion. We look two weeks ago at the service of preparation. Let's do a quick review. We always start off with an opening song to help us transition from the baggage of the outside world. What's that leads us into an invocation where we enter God's Presence by invoking his name, right? And we have a couple of transitional sentences to set us up for the confession of our sins are our burdens that we carry was done always followed by Absolution. It's always followed by forgiveness. God releasing us from those burdens. God releasing us from our sins and What's that leads to the peace? We have been reconciled vertically, we are not reconciled horizontally and now we are ready then for the service of the word. If you are truly participated in the service of preparation, you are ready for the service of the word. Okay, you are ready to hear what God has to say when when when you can offload the baggage and when you can offload the burdens you are ready to listen to Jesus. If you just simply blow through the service of preparation, like none of them and leave them in the list. You might not be so ready. Okay, you might still be weighed down by your baggage and buy your burdens and by various distractions and that's why it's important to to fully meaningfully participate in the service of preparation. So you can clear your heart your mind and your conscience so you can hear what God has to say in the service of the word part 2 K know that this service at the Gathering at 9:30 the service of the word begins right away Bible readings that is showing at the peace. Okay, we did that specifically because we were trying to simplify this service at the 11:00 service. If you were to attend. After the showing of the peace, we usually have a hymn of praise of some kind and a prayer of the day to transition us into the Bible readings. Guy and that's just the traditional way of doing it. Is it essential for us to do it? No, it's not is it helpful for us to do it? Yes, it is. So at 11. We do it at 9:30. We do not matter of choice matter freedom. In both Services, we always have three readings is always an Old Testament reading is always in the New Testament rating, which is very often called the epistle and a pistol is a pistol is a fancy word for letter K song. Somebody would write you an epistle when they write you a long letter we say that they are bringing any pizzle. Okay, and then the third reading is always a gospel The Gospel reading is the basis for the three readings of the day and K and the way that got figured out if somebody has a question about that recently the way we get these readings figured out. Is it okay if I remember correctly back in the 1960s or 1970s? A lot of the liturgical denominations got together and they put together a common lectionary. So the idea was that all Christians or or many Christians. Were they go to a Catholic church or Lutheran Church and Presbyterian Church a Methodist Church Presbyterian church. We would all be hearing the same word of God. We would all be having the same readings and that's pretty much still what happens with what's going on these fifty some-odd years later and this coming election. Everything was built into a three-year cycle. If you will, okay, three years worth of reading. The first year is based on the gospel of Matthew. The second year was based in the gospel of Mark and the third year is based on the Gospel of Luke.

And I gave them really fancy name. The first year was Gold Series a and second years both series B and the second third year was Gold Series C. Anyway, so what year are we in? This year is a pop quiz. What year was this year, this is Siri's ass because we're reading Our Gospel readings from from the gospel of Matthew places throughout the course of the year. Each of the readings had no response. Okay using the first two readings we say thanks be to God, right? Why is that? Because when God says something it's appropriate for us to respond. Okay. Well if we're listening and he's talking we all have something to say back to him and it's called a response and we sort of kind of formalized that and ritualize that into thanks Peter. What we're doing is just simply acknowledging the fact and thanking God for the fact that he has spoken to us the Gospel reading. We do a little different. First of all, we stand We rise.

Respect reverence. God said listen to him he is here. He is about to speak of the gospels are about him or they are from him his words. So we stand up for that. And then before we start we say glory to you. Oh Lord, and then after we end up after the reading ends we say praise to you o Christ. So we sort of kind of Adorn or embellish the readings with with extra responses because they are about Jesus. We we acknowledge Him as the heart and is the core of God's word of God's revelation. He is God's ultimate word. He is God's final word. Okay, and so we just try to kind of signify that by rising in my having next response has concluded we respond to all three readings with a Creed with a confession of Faith. Okay with either say the Apostles Creed traditionally are there I seen Creed and then once a year we say the athanasian Creed that everybody love so much. Everyday long one. We always do that on Trinity Sunday. We'll talk more about that. Later. These are historic statements of the historic Christian faith. Play I've been said by Christians everywhere for almost 2000 years. Okay, and we continue to say these Creed's. because listen carefully to what I'm going to say next and put on screen next because these Creed Define the Catholic faith and join us to the Catholic Church.

With a small C. When I use the word Catholic like that up there, I'm not talkin about Roman. I'm talking about Catholic. What is the word Catholic mean? Universal thank you very much at all times by everyone everywhere. Okay, that's that's the meaning of the word Catholic and the church. There's only one. Catholic Church, it is the universal Body of Christ. It is the invisible Body of Christ in the world, but it has a visible expression in terms of congregations that gather and in terms of the faith that is confessed the faith that is taught there. And that faith is described in the Apostles Creed in the Nicene Creed and in the athanasian Creed. So we say these grades because we as lutherans are part of the Catholic Church the universal invisible Body of Christ. That is everywhere. That is put into this world. Okay. Actually, if you if you're looking at him though, if you look in the him know in the Nicene Creed the original language, the original wording was I believe in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church. Okay. That's the that's the original wording for the sermon. It reiterates the readings or if it cares for the sermon for the pastor's message. We can talk about that for a little while, but I mean to summarize it this way in a sermon what should you expect to hear? Don't say the word of God be more specific. What do you expect to hear? And what should you expect to hear an assortment? Two things. Okay on the internet. This is not normal in a normal serving is expected here to thing law. and gospel law is what? God's expectations God's standards K gospel is something to do with the good news of Jesus Christ something to do with the good news of Christ death and resurrection and his life for you and other words. You should expect to hear judgement. On your life and Grace for your life. You should expect to experience guilt of some kind and also release. From that guilt and innocence and strengthen the power to to leave here different. You should expect to hear in a sermon law that makes you squirm. Because it's revealing your sin. If you're listening to a sermon and your hearing stuff and you're thinking man that really applied at so-and-so behind me. Cuz that's what this will be good for them to hear that. You are somehow missing the point. It's for you. Okay, you're supposed to feel uncomfortable with the law. But then the gospel is supposed to then revive you out of your doldrums, and I'm out of your squirming and and give you a new sense of life and give you a new sense of power and give you a new sense of Freedom. So you can go forth and live not according to the law. But according to Christ according to Faith according to Grace because the gospel has forgiven your sins and raised you up from whatever my are you or in? Okay, that's the dynamic that you should expect to hear at least in a Lutheran settlement different churches have different expectations. This is ours. Find me the number for the after the sermon you respond. We have an opportunity to respond to the sermon with our tithes and offerings. And with the what was called a prayer of the church tithes of course or what. 10% of the income or increase that God has given you and offerings are. Everything else on top of that but I like the mission of the month or if we were to have a special cause if one day we going to get the windows put in the education building or pay the parking lot or things like that. It was to be offering table of Tides prayer the church then there's a prayer for a whole host of things. All right, if the congregation its Mission everything in the world is for our nation's leaders and world leaders. It's for special needs in the church for people things along those lines and into the Lord's Prayer and if there's no communion, then that leads into the benediction and then the wrap-up of of the service but let me say something before we wrap up today. How about service without communion? A Divine service without communion is like a three-legged stool without a leg.

I know that's not our traditional ways and not everybody's been accustomed to that. But we're going to talk some more about that next week where I want to show you and I want to share with you. The whole idea that communion is not an occasional extra that we add to a church service to make it more special. Communion is an integral part of the Divine service. That should always be there in time. But that's next week today. I just simply wanted you to see what goes into the service of the word what it consists of and really kind of how interactive it is. In the service of the word in the second part of the Divine Service as a whole lot of back-and-forth going on. Jesus is speaking. We're listening and responding repeatedly, thanks be to God. Thanks be to God praise to you o Christ. I believe in one God the Father Almighty and and and then the offerings and and so on and so forth Miss then becomes our pattern for the coming week. All right this responding to what God has said listening to Jesus and responding to him. He has spoken to us in this in this morning Gathering. He has served us with his word with the vine food. We have listened and then we respond not only with thanks verbally in some sort of scripted way. We also didn't respond with thanks as we go out into the world and we live lives of service. To a ham by serving those around us. Okay, the Christian life is not a life that is marked by obedience. Go to commandments so much as it is a life that is marked by Thanksgiving. And gratitude for what God has done for us in Christ by sending him to set us free to be his people to serve him in the world. amen Amen. All right. So let's respond and continue our services. We receive the tithes and offerings that we have brought for the Lord.