Sermon: Trinity Sunday (Epistle)

26 May 2013
The First Sunday after Pentecost

Title: Inconceivable! (MP3 Audio)

Summary: God is totally beyond our understanding. Isaiah writes, “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. (55:8)” Paul echoes these sentiments in this doxology (song of praise) from Romans 11.

However, we can know God through the one “who descended from heaven, the Son of Man. (John 3:13)” We know Him not only as Creator and Judge but as Redeemer and Sanctifier.

We know Him as He desires us to, by faith. We know Him not completely but sufficiently for our salvation. We know Him in Scripture, in Baptism, in Christ-centered preaching, and in the Lord’s Supper.

We know that He will raise up mankind on the Last Day and will welcome those who believe in Jesus to everlasting life. And this we can conceive, at least in part, thanks to the work of the Holy Spirit.

Text: Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!

“For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?”

“Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?”

For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen. Romans 11:33-36

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Inconceivable!, preached to the saints of God at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Higginsville, Missouri.

NB: For some reason, a few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio if Windows Media is their default MP3 player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Psalm 29; Isaiah 6:1-7; John 3:1-17

Trinity Sunday: Visit Aardvark Alley to learn more about The Feast of the Holy Trinity.

Tags: Trinity Sunday | Feast of the Holy Trinity | One Year Lectionary | 1 Year Lectionary | Historic Lectionary | Jesus | Jesus Christ | Christ | Father | Son | Holy Spirit | Holy Ghost | Trinity | Triune God | God | Law | Law and Gospel | Gospel | incomprehensible | eternal | unsearchable | inscrutable | Epistle | 26 May 2013 | May 26, 2013 | Lutheranism | Lutheran | Church | Christian | Christianity | Romans 11 | sermon | text | theme | topic | Inconceivable! | audio | mp3 | Pastor Snyder | Pastor Walter Snyder | Walter Snyder | Ask the Pastor | Happenings

Sermon: Pentecost C (OT)

19 May AD 2013

Title: Babble Banished (MP3 Audio)

Summary: Ever seem like everyone’s talking and no one’s making any sense? Whether it’s many people or just one, if you can’t understand what’s being said — no matter how important it might be — you’re listening to babble. And if you’re the one who keeps talking while no one responds, maybe you’re the one who’s babbling.

Babble, noise, and confusion are signs of our fallen world. They divide and alienate us. Our world’s diverse languages make cultures suspicious of those they cannot understand. Many of us have heard a group laughing and talking in another tongue and wonder if we’re not the target of their humor.

Yet even though God divided the people by language and then geography, He always planned to reunite them in the promised Savior. That’s why the message of Pentecost wasn’t, “Come see what the Holy Spirit can do!” No, it was and remains, “Come see what Jesus did!” Sin and forgiveness, Law and Gospel, damnation and salvation — these are the poles of Pentecost preaching and they remain the Church’s vital message to a world still divided, suspicious, and confused.

Text: Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.”

And the Lord came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. And the Lord said, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, so that they may not understand one another's speech.”

So the Lord dispersed them from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. Therefore its name was called Babel, because there the Lord confused the language of all the earth. And from there the Lord dispersed them over the face of all the earth. Genesis 11:1-9

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Babble Banished.

NB: For some reason, a few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio if Windows Media is their default MP3 player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Psalm 143; Acts 2:1-21; John 14:23-31

Hymn: See the preceding post for Upon the Plain of Shinar, a Pentecost hymn I wrote based upon this text.

Tags: Pentecost | Feast of Pentecost | Day of Pentecost | Three Year Lectionary | 3 Year Lectionary | Series C | Christology | Jesus | Jesus Christ | Christ | God | Holy Spirit | Holy Ghost | Babel | Tower of Babel | Babylon | forgiveness | language | Law | Law and Gospel | Gospel | 19 May 2013 | May 19, 2013 | Lutheranism | Lutheran | Church | Christian | Christianity | Genesis 11 | lectionary | sermon | preaching | text | theme | Babble Banished | audio | mp3 | Pastor Snyder | Pastor Walter Snyder | Walter Snyder | Ask the Pastor | Happenings

Pentecost Hymn: Upon the Plain of Shinar

Genesis 11:1-9 is the appointed reading for Pentecost in the One Year Lectionary and Year C of the Three Year cycle of readings. It tells of the confusion of tongues at Babel. Pentecost shows God undoing the curse of Babel as He brought the Gospel to disparate tongues through the Apostles’ preaching.

This hymn tells the story of Genesis 11 and continues it into the New Testament. Human disunity — a sign of our lack of oneness with God Himself — is undone by Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection. As we are made one with God, so now God also works to unite the world’s disparate tongues into a united voice of faith and praise.

I wrote Upon the Plain of Shinar in the LM (88 88) meter but it also works as an LMD hymn. Therefore, I’ve provided versification and suggested tunes for each form and a link to a copier-ready PDF with both LM and LMD included.

LM (88 88) suggested tunes include Gottlob, es geht nunmehr zu Ende, Herr Jesu Christ, O Heilige Dreifaltigkeit, Winchester New, and Wo Gott zum Haus.

1. Upon the plain of Shinar stood
   The sinful heirs of Adam’s fall.
   They formed and fired bricks of mud
   To raise a town with tower tall.
   
2. They said, “This tow’r and city bold
   Shall serve as beacons for our race.
   Their majesty our hearts shall hold,
   To cease our straying from this place.”
   
3. Their wicked, vain, and prideful hearts
   The Lord condemned: “It shall not be.
   Your evil minds pervert fair arts —
   You think yourselves to be like Me.
   
4. “This unity of sinful pride
   Has led you to deep shame and woes.
   Your evil efforts I’ve denied —
   Now turn, O neighbors, into foes.
   
5. “Your tongues,” He said, “Shall speak no more
   What each the other comprehends.
   Your pridefulness I do abhor;
   Be banished to the earth’s far ends.”
   
6. This curse upon our fathers’ pride
   Its full and fell intent achieved.
   Mankind was scattered far and wide
   And foreign tongues were ill-received.
   
7. To join the scattered tribes again
   The Son of God took human frame.
   By bloody death, through bitter pain,
   He reconciled us in His name.
   
8. Then came the time for Christ’s ascent
   To God’s right hand, His heav’nly home.
   The Holy Spirit Jesus sent,
   To grow and counsel Christendom.
   
9. The Holy Spirit testifies,
   “Believe in Christ; be whole again.
   Forsake fore’er satanic lies
   And live as one with God and men.”
   
10. Come, join in faith, each race and tribe;
    Sing praise to God, the Father wise,
    The Spirit, and the crucified
    And resurrected Jesus Christ.

LMD (88 88 D) suggested tunes include O Grosser Gott and Tallis' Lamentation.

1. Upon the plain of Shinar stood
   The sinful heirs of Adam’s fall.
   They formed and fired bricks of mud
   To raise a town with tower tall.
   They said, “This tow’r and city bold
   Shall serve as beacons for our race.
   Their majesty our hearts shall hold,
   To cease our straying from this place.”
   
2. Their wicked, vain, and prideful hearts
   The Lord condemned: “It shall not be.
   Your evil minds pervert fair arts —
   You think yourselves to be like Me.
   “This unity of sinful pride
   Has led you to deep shame and woes.
   Your evil efforts I’ve denied —
   Now turn, O neighbors, into foes.
   
3. “Your tongues,” He said, “Shall speak no more
   What each the other comprehends.
   Your pridefulness I do abhor;
   Be banished to the earth’s far ends.”
   This curse upon our fathers’ pride
   Its full and fell intent achieved.
   Mankind was scattered far and wide
   And foreign tongues were ill-received.
   
4. To join the scattered tribes again
   The Son of God took human frame.
   By bloody death, through bitter pain,
   He reconciled us in His name.
   Then came the time for Christ’s ascent
   To God’s right hand, His heav’nly home.
   The Holy Spirit Jesus sent,
   To grow and counsel Christendom.
   
5. The Holy Spirit testifies,
   “Believe in Christ; be whole again.
   Forsake fore’er satanic lies
   And live as one with God and men.”
   Come, join in faith, each race and tribe;
   Sing praise to God, the Father wise,
   The Spirit, and the crucified
   And resurrected Jesus Christ.

 — W. P. Snyder © 2007, 2013
May not be used or reproduced without permission

Click for a copier-ready PDF in LM and LMD.

Walter Snyder is a Lutheran pastor, conference speaker, author of the book What Do Lutherans Believe, and writer of numerous published devotions, prayers, and sermons.

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Sermon: Easter 7 C (Epistle)

12 May AD 2013

Title: Come, Lord Jesus! (MP3 Audio)

Summary: Even as Christ prays for us, so we pray to Him, saying, “Come, Lord Jesus.” These words begin what some call the Common Table Prayer. Yet the prayer probably isn’t as common as those who use it might imagine.

However, these words that close the Scriptures are still the common prayer of Christ’s Church. With them, we urge that He return to end this Creation and bring the New into being.

Until then, we ask that Christ would continue coming in grace and mercy, forgiving our many sins of thought, word, and deed so that we might be ready for His final return. We ask Him to come in Holy Communion, that we might feast on His body and blood and be sustained until the marriage feast of the Lamb in His kingdom which has no end.

“Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!”

Text: Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”

“And behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things. And when I heard and saw them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to me, but he said to me, “You must not do that! I am a fellow servant with you and your brothers the prophets, and with those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”

And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy, and the righteous still do right, and the holy still be holy.”

“Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.”

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.

I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book, and if anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city, which are described in this book.

He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.”

Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! Revelation 22:1-20

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Come, Lord Jesus.

NB: For some reason, a few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio if Windows Media is their default MP3 player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Psalm 133; Acts 1:12-26; John 17:20-26

Tags: Easter | Easter 7 | 7th Sunday of Easter | Seventh Sunday of Easter | Three Year Lectionary | 3 Year Lectionary | Series C | Christology | Jesus | Jesus Christ | Christ | God | eternal life | Judgment Day | return | healing | life | forgiveness | Holy Communion | Holy Baptism | Law | Law and Gospel | Gospel | 12 May 2013 | May 12, 2013 | Lutheranism | Lutheran | Church | Christian | Christianity | Revelation 22 | lectionary | sermon | preaching | text | theme | Come, Lord Jesus | audio | mp3 | Pastor Snyder | Pastor Walter Snyder | Walter Snyder | Ask the Pastor | Happenings

Sermon: The Ascension of Our Lord (Psalm)

The Fortieth Day of Easter
9 May AD 2013

Title: God Has Gone Up with a Shout (MP3 Audio)

Summary: We don’t celebrate because Jesus left us but because He is with us always. We clap our hands because He ascended as conqueror of sin, death, and devil and because He now rules us in grace. We shout in triumph because His victory is ours. We sing for joy because He promises to return to lead us from this life into life everlasting.

Text: Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy! For the Lord, the Most High, is to be feared, a great king over all the earth.

He subdued peoples under us, and nations under our feet. He chose our heritage for us, the pride of Jacob whom he loves.

God has gone up with a shout, the Lord with the sound of a trumpet. Sing praises to God, sing praises! Sing praises to our King, sing praises!

For God is the King of all the earth; sing praises with a psalm! God reigns over the nations; God sits on his holy throne.

The princes of the peoples gather as the people of the God of Abraham. For the shields of the earth belong to God; he is highly exalted! Psalm 47

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of God Has Gone Up with a Shout.

NB: For some reason, a few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio if Windows Media is their default MP3 player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Acts 1:1-11; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 24:44-53

Ecclesiastical art by Ed Riojas. Graphics for the Church Year (1-Year and 3-Year Lectionaries) are available for for purchase on CD or by ZIP download from the Higher Things Store.

Tags: Easter | Ascension | The Ascension of Our Lord | Ascension Day | Christology | Jesus | Jesus Christ | Christ | God | joy | eternal life | everlasting life | judgment | return | clap | shout | sing | heaven | Law | Law and Gospel | Gospel | 9 May 2013 | May 9, 2013 | Lutheranism | Lutheran | Church | Christian | Christianity | Psalm 47 | lectionary | sermon | preaching | text | theme | God Has Gone Up with a Shout | audio | mp3 | Pastor Snyder | Pastor Walter Snyder | Walter Snyder | Ask the Pastor | Happenings

Sermon: Easter 6 C (Epistle)

5 May AD 2013

Title: Home, Sweet Home (MP3 Audio)

Summary: Call it Paradise, the New Creation, New Jerusalem, or the New Heavens and the New Earth. Think of a return to Eden, green pastures and still waters, or a never-ending banquet. Scripture gives us many images of our resurrection home. Seen beside each other, these pictures seem confusing and contradictory. Seen together through the eyes of faith, however, they begin to show the fullness of God’s plan of salvation and the riches beyond measure that await us pilgrims when we complete our journey home.

Today’s reading from Revelation continues the image of the New Jerusalem introduced in last Sunday’s Epistle. The symbolic gates and foundation stones remind us that our faith is built on the sure word of the prophets and the apostles and that our citizenship is proclaimed and guaranteed in the Scriptures. While quite possibly symbolic rather than literal, the gold and precious stones display the richness God lavishes on our eternal dwelling place — and the value He assigns to us who trust in Christ’s redemption.

Text: Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed — on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb....

And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day — and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.

But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Revelation 21:9-14, 21-27

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear the MP3 of Home, Sweet Home, preached to the saints of God at Shepherd of the Hills Lutheran Church, Fayette, Missouri.

NB: For some reason, a few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio if Windows Media is their default MP3 player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Other Readings: Psalm 67; Acts 16:9-15; John 16:23-33

Tags: Easter | Easter 6 | 6th Sunday of Easter | Sixth Sunday of Easter | Three Year Lectionary | 3 Year Lectionary | Series C | Christology | Jesus | Jesus Christ | Christ | God | Lamb | eternal life | Jerusalem | New Heavens | New Earth | Paradise | temple | Bride of Christ | heaven | Law | Law and Gospel | Gospel | 5 May 2013 | May 5, 2013 | Lutheranism | Lutheran | Church | Christian | Christianity | Revelation 21 | lectionary | sermon | preaching | text | theme | Home, Sweet Home | audio | mp3 | Pastor Snyder | Pastor Walter Snyder | Walter Snyder | Ask the Pastor | Happenings

Chapel Sermon: Follow Your Head

1 May AD 2013
Saint Philip and Saint James, Apostles

Theme: Follow Your Head (MP3 Audio)

Summary: “Where are we headed?” As the head is turned, so follows the body. Many of our troubles arise when we follow our own heads or hearts. Eventually, such willfulness leads to death and damnation.

What a blessing it is to have Christ as our head! He never leads us where we should not be. Every blessing belonging to Him belongs also to His body — that is us, the Christian Church. Forgiven by Him and guided by His heavenly wisdom, we are freed to also use our earthly intellect and emotions as we follow where He leads.

Text: And [God] put all things under [Christ’s] feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. Ephesians 1:22-23

Hymn of the Day: Here are the introductory stanza and that for May of O Heavenly Wisdom Come to Earth, which I wrote for this academic year at SPLHS:

• O heav’nly Wisdom come to Earth,
  O Christ, You Child of virgin birth,
  We pray that You would make us wise
  That we might learn Your love to prize.
  
  Our lives complete while yet we live,
  Your gifts to us You freely give.
  Your Spirit knits Your Church in faith
  And makes us vessels of Your grace.

Hymn text © 2012 Walter P. Snyder. May not be used or reproduced without permission.

Scripture quoted from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Audio: Click to hear MP3 of Follow Your Head, preached at Saint Paul Lutheran High School, Concordia, Missouri.

About the Service and the School: The theme for the 2012 – 13 academic year at St. Paul Lutheran High School is Made Wise in Christ, taken from Colossians 2:2-10. Under this theme are monthly emphases and weekly foci. May’s emphasis is “Fullness in Christ” and the week’s focus is “Wise in Christ — Headed by Him.” Time is at a premium for the SPLHS chapels, so I tried to make a few quick, concise Law applications both to students and to teachers and to bring the Gospel’s forgiveness and Christ’s encouragement to each.

While certainly a Lutheran educational institution, St. Paul is also a mission field. Not only does it admit academically qualified Lutherans, the school also welcomes a number of other Christians as well as non-Christians — even some atheists. A high percentage of students come from other lands, so chapel speakers must tailor their messages age-appropriately while remaining mindful of those unskilled with English, uncomfortable with Christianity, or both. Present this day were American students and those born in Slovakia, Norway, China, Madagascar, Japan, Vietnam, Ethiopia, and elsewhere.

Note on Playback: For some reason, a few people have had problems trying to play the inline audio if Windows Media is their default MP3 player. If this occurs, you can either change to QuickTime or another default browser player, copy and paste the link directly into a selected player, or download it to your computer, where it seems to work regardless of which player. Several folks have suggested VLC Player from VideoLAN.

Tags: Saint Philip and Saint John Apostles | Concordia, Missouri | Saint Paul Lutheran High School | St. Paul Lutheran High School | SPLHS | theology | Jesus | Jesus Christ | Christ | head | body | guidance | forgiveness | salvation | damnation | Law and Gospel | Law | Gospel | 1 May 2013 | May 1, 2013 | Lutheranism | Lutheran | Church | Christian | Christianity | Christian Church | Ephesians 1 | sermon | preaching | homily | text | theme | topic | Follow Your Head | audio | mp3 | Pastor Snyder | Pastor Walter Snyder | Walter Snyder | Ask the Pastor | Happenings