Power in the Name

Biblical Text: Exodus 3:1-15

It was a fun service to plan. All the hymns of the day contained verse about the name of God (Holy God We Praise Thy Name, At the Name of Jesus, All Hail the Power of Jesus Name, Jesus! Name of Wondrous Love, Savior Again to Thy Dear Name We Raise.) That is quite the powerhouse Sunday of beloved hymns. And all of them are pretty solid on the theology. But the Text is when Moses receives the name of God. The first solid point is that god is not a name. God is a generic word for a category. And the ideas behind that category can be quite different. What Moses receives is the name. We usually say “I AM.” And that has all kinds of philosophical points. But it is first a name. And there is power in names. Not the least that you can drop them.

This Sermon is a reflection on the 2nd commandment (Do not take the name of the LORD in vain) and Luther’s explanation. It finds it’s practical points in our language, namely the causal use of things like OMG. And how OMG might not be that big a deal in itself. It doesn’t seem to trespass any of Luther’s explanation. But that is only because of how flippantly we use it. A deeper meditation would be how such flippant use of language – not just a generic category god – influences everything else we speak or hear. That is what this sermon wants to ponder.

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Recognizing the Voice

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Biblical Text: John 10:1-10

This is “Good Shepherd Sunday” in the three year lectionary, although I’m not completely sure why the appointed text cuts off early. I’m guessing it is because in the fuller passage Jesus has two other “truly, truly” passages that preachers would almost find impossible to proclaim if “I am the good shepherd” was sitting there. And honestly the two earlier “amen, amen” sayings are just as important if not more so. This sermon attempts to grasp the image of the sheepfold. It is a picture of the people of God. It is also a picture of the Christian life. There are some hard truths embedded in the image. Like: there are false shepherds and not everyone in the sheepfold might recognize the voice the shepherd. There is also the clearest gospel that Christ himself knows our name and has come to give us life abundantly. This sermon is an invitation to ponder the image of the people of God that Jesus gives us and to think of our place within that image.

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A Name from the Mouth of the Lord

Text: Luke 16:19-30
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I broke a rule today. One of the main sermon rules is pick a point or a theme and stick with it. You can’t develop more than one in the time allowed, and your listeners can’t absorb more than one. But today I had three things. There was the highly moralistic point of the lesson in its context following last week. Charity is not a false lesson. It is also one that we need to hear. But the rich man and Lazarus is more than a moral. The second was also short. I’ve heard and read way to many sermons that construct an entire picture of heaven and hell from this example. That is an abuse of the text. The sermon tells you why.

But then I turn toward the point that I think is deeper. “They have Moses and the Prophets, let them hear them.” The moral point is true, but it depends upon two things embedded in that phrase – faith and the word. Everything that happens – even a man rising from the dead – can be interpreted in different ways. People will go to great lengths to ignore or explain away things that are contrary to their monetary benefit or settled beliefs. The message of Jesus – of the cross – is contrary to both in this life. It has always been a stumbling block. But to those of us who are being saved, it is the power of God. And what that power of God has done, by the waters of baptism and the word, is give us a name. Like poor Lazarus, we have a name. The world would surely know the rich man’s name, but we do not. Jesus didn’t tell it. But he knew Lazarus. Like he knows ours.

Worship Note: We had a great slate of hymns today. I didn’t include it in the recording but LSB 845 (Where Charity and Love Prevail) was the hymn of the day picking up on the moral point of the lesson. What amazes me is that the text is 9th century Latin. The church has taught the same things for a long time. Thy hymn I left in was LSB 782 (Gracious God, You Send Great Blessings). It was pledge card collection day, so that is part of the reason, but the hymn gets the order right as few stewardship hymns do. We have received mercy. We have heard the word. We are sustained in this creation. Lord we pray that we your people, who your gifts unnumbered claim, through the sharing of your blessings, may bring glory to your name. We have that name. We don’t do good works because we’ve been told, but because we have been named. That and the tune is one of the most uplifting in the book.

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