St. Boniface House

In our epistle reading this morning, we heard Paul warn the Corinthian church against an improper practice of the sacraments. Paul told the story of Israel in the wilderness, and reminded the Corinthian Christians that Israel was baptized in the Sea and in the Cloud when they crossed the Red Sea, and that they all ate the Manna in the wilderness and drank the water from the Rock. Israel in the wilderness had the sacrament of baptism, and they had the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, and Paul’s point is that they had these great gifts, which were intended to help them faithfully make their journey from Egypt into the land of promise, and yet they didn’t believe God, and they disobeyed, and they fell in the wilderness and did not receive the things promised. (more…)

In our text this morning, Jesus declares that those who are persecuted are blessed, for the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to them. This sort of persecution for the sake of Jesus and his Kingdom is prevalent today, just as it has been throughout history. I read this week that the German Judiciary has upheld a law forbidding Christians from homeschooling their children, and that all Christian parents in Germany are required to send their children to government schools. The reasoning the court gave, however, shows an understanding of what the church is and does on the part of the German court that many Christians, especially in America, don’t get. They said, “It is in the general interest of society to avoid the emergence of parallel societies based on separate philosophical convictions”. This is just fancy legal talk for saying, “We cannot permit the church to act as though it were an alternative and competing nation.” 2000 years ago, the Roman Empire said the same thing, only the way they said it was kaisar o`kurioj –Caesar is Lord—and you must burn incense to him”. (more…)

We saw in the words that Jesus taught us to pray that we are to pray for the consummation of all things—for God’s name to be hallowed, for his kingdom to come, for his will to be done, all “on earth as it is in heaven.” This is the great prayer of the church—that the veil of the firmament would be rent and that heaven and earth would be face to face as they were always meant to be. This understanding of God’s purpose in history, that earth would become like heaven, gives us a better picture of what our purpose is, as well. In other words, the great prayer of the church is also the great task of the church. Going all the way back to the garden of Eden, the charge of the images of God was to “be fruitful and fill the earth, and have dominion over it”—to create a culture glorifying to Yahweh—to turn the whole world into the garden, and take the glorious creation and turn it into something fit for heaven, made after the pattern of heaven. And now we who are united to the perfect image of God, the second Adam who knew no sin are called to take up and continue that task, even as our Lord Jesus sits at the right hand of God the Father with dominion over all things in heaven and on earth, and as he fills the earth with the glory of God by growing his church, making his bride mature and perfect, spotless and blameless and glorious for the last day. (more…)

We are all familiar with the tendency in modern American Christianity to treat the worship of the Lord’s Day as though it were a shopping mall, to which we come to pick and choose what we think will most benefit us, to purchase what we desire for ourselves. We worship here the way we worship partly to counteract that trend. We insist that worship must be in accordance with God’s Word, and that the whims of self-absorbed evangelicals are not a good reason to do anything. (more…)

In just a few moments, I will invite the heads of households to come and receive the bread and the wine of the Lord’s Supper, so that you can take it back to your seats and share it with your family. This morning I would like to take a couple of moments to address this practice, so that we can understand how doing the Lord’s Supper in this way instructs us in the mercy which we have received. (more…)

You have probably noticed that we make a lot of the doctrine of the Trinity. It’s in our name, a symbol of the Trinity is on the front of our bulletin. We begin and end the service each Lord’s Day “In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit”. We sing at least two songs each week that are oriented around the Trinity. We confess our common faith by means of one of the great ancient Trinitarian creeds each Sunday. The Trinity is a big deal. Why? (more…)

In our sermon text this morning, Jesus said, “I tell you, many will come from east and west and recline at table with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven.” Jesus is talking, of course, about the great “Wedding Supper of the Lamb” (as the Apostle John calls it) which will happen at the last day, and the Feast we are about to eat here on the Day of Yahweh is a foretaste of the Supper of that Great Day. There are about a hundred different ways we could tie this into the Lord’s table, but I want to focus on two quick things for us to remember as we come to the table this morning. (more…)

In our sermon text this morning, Jesus is portrayed as “sitting at table” with tax-collectors and sinners.  This is something we see all over the Gospels: the coming of Jesus means party time!  This was the chief complaint of the Pharisees:  First, that Jesus came “eating and drinking”, and second, that he came eating and drinking with “tax collectors, sinners, Gentiles, and prostitutes.”  Jesus’ reply: “It is not those who are well who need a physician, but those who are ill…I didn’t come to call the righteous, but sinners”.   (more…)