The Sixth Sunday after Easter Your Word is a Lamp to My Feet and a Light to My Path Christ is risen! (He is risen, indeed!) Alleluia! Grace, mercy and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ! Amen. In today’s Introit Psalm we prayed twice to God, “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Dear Christian friends, Every once in a while, God our heavenly Father graciously allows certain things to happen in His Church. When these things happen—through such happenings—our heavenly Father lovingly forces us to re-think the way we have always done things. That is, God occasionally moves us to change the way we practice His gift of faith. Here is an example changed practice: Christ is risen! (He is risen, indeed!) Alleluia! After our Lord’s resurrection, some things immediately needed to change in the Church. Circumcision needed to stop because it had become an empty, worn-out rite. Christian worship moved from Saturday to Sunday, in honor of the resurrection. Believers no longer offered blood sacrifices because Christ is the Last Sacrifice, the One Sacrifice for all time and for all sins (e.g., Hebrews 10:4, 10). These changes may seem inconsequential to us today, but that is because someone else had to go through them. It was monumental stuff for Christians in that day. Similar changes in practice were needed in the Reformation. For example, there was a time when God’s Christians only received the body of our Lord in Holy Communion. The cup was for the priest. But Jesus says both “take and eat” AND “take and drink.” Therefore a change in practice was needed. And it was hard. And in some places the change took a very long time to effect. If you want to hear about an important change that took place a closer to home, you should ask Walter about the change from German to English in our worship and our confirmation instruction. Whenever we contemplate change in the church, we must be careful to distinguish between teaching and practice. Why? Because our teaching must not change. Our teaching must remain unchangingly faithful to the Scriptures of God, no matter what happens or who should protest. Why must our faithful teaching of the Scriptures never change? Because any change in our teaching—that is, any departure from the Words of God—will create a grave risk and danger among us. Here are just two examples: It is taught among us • That Christ Jesus died for the forgiveness of your sins. All your sins are eternally forgiven on account of Jesus’ blood and righteousness. Why would anyone wish to change such blessed teaching? If we should change our teaching about forgiveness, we would be throwing away God’s good and gracious gift of forgiveness. Heavenly Father, spare us from such tragedy! • That the Holy Communion IS the body and blood of Jesus, given and shed for you for your forgiveness and life. This teaching cannot and must not change! If we should teach that the bread and wine are bread and wine only, and NOT the blood of Christ, we would sin grievously against the Christ died for us (1 Corinthians 11:27, 29). Not only that, but we would be robbing ourselves and our fellow Christians from the good comfort and the quiet conscience that our Lord Jesus gives to us in the Holy Communion. Above all else, the faithful teaching of the Scriptures in our midst MUST NOT change. Every once in a while, however, God our heavenly Father graciously positions us to re-think the way we operate on account of the teaching, that is, the way we practice and the way we have always done things. Over the last couple of weeks, our God has graciously allowed certain questions to arise in our midst. We should welcome these questions as good gifts from God, even if we might hesitate to answer right away. The questions are these: How old must a child be before he or she may eat and drink of the Holy Communion? At what age are children able to examine themselves? Should participation in the communion be based upon age, or upon each individual’s confession of the one true faith? Should all children be given the same answer to these questions, or should each child be treated as an individual case? These are NOT easy questions and they should not be answered quickly or without careful thought, discussion, and study. These questions might even be made more difficult by the fact that we have for decades operated a certain way without ever asking why. Our forefathers in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries had to struggle with these questions and their answers, but we might simply have adopted their practice without ever asking why, or wondering whether all practices must always remain the same. I confess that these are not new questions for me. I was discussing such things with my fellow students twenty years ago at the seminary. The elders will tell you that we also have discussed such questions off and on over the past several years. Personally, I have a pretty good idea how I would like to answer these questions, if the answers were left solely to me. But the answers are not left solely to me. We are the body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:27). Each of us has been joined to the other by the miracle of Baptism and by the powerful glue of the divine Word. It is written in the book of Romans that none of us lives to himself (Romans 14:7). I know that no one here feels confused about who is the pastor. Nevertheless, we are all in this faith TOGETHER. I am yours and you are mine. Therefore, we must consider and discuss and decide such matters AS A GROUP. By all means, we must make every effort to stay together and, as the Scriptures say, “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). • Ask the question amongst yourselves, either in the parking lot or over the dinner table at home: How old must a child be before he or she may eat and drink of the Holy Communion? • Pray God to open your eyes, that you may see wonderful things in His Word (Psalm 118:18): Should communion participation be based upon age, or upon each individual’s confession of the one true faith? • Talk to the elders or talk to me: At what age are children able to examine themselves? • Ask our newly arrived fellow Christians, whom God has graciously sent to us from one of our sister congregations in the Kansas District. Their presence among us shows that our brothers and sisters in other places have already needed to confront these questions prior to us: At what age are children able to examine themselves? Should all children be given the same answer to these questions, or should each child be treated as an individual case? Also return frequently to today’s Introit Psalm, most especially the antiphon verse at the beginning and at the end of the Psalm: “Your Word is a lamp to my feet [O Lord], and a light to my path.” With these Words, God has set the agenda for all questions that relate to our teaching and our practice. “Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” That is to say, the teaching of the Scriptures—what this psalm calls “Your Word”—the teaching of the Scriptures guides the way we practice. The Word of God promises to shine like a lamp “to guide our feet into the way of peace” (Luke 1:79), as Zechariah prayed. Even when we feel momentarily uncertain about which way we should go, “Your Word… is a light to my path,” and illumination in our darkness and confusion. We believe that, if we keep our eyes focused upon the Scriptures of God—if we keep our eyes focused upon Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Hebrews 12:2)—the right path will not fail to open before us. And we shall not stumble. And we shall not fall. Our fellow Christians in many places will be watching and listening. This is a matter of great importance, not only for us, but also for them. They will want to know how we answer the questions that our God has raised among us. They will want to know whether the saints of Grace in Versailles have the strength of faith necessary to sail through potentially stormy seas. They will want to know about our love for one another, our forbearance with difficult answers, and our watchfulness, that no one among us slip too far away from our fellowship. In this regard, I have great confidence in you. For years I have watched the living and powerful Word of God have its way in your midst. The richness of God’s mercy and grace in Christ Jesus has flowed thickly for you here—and it shall continue to do so. That same mercy and grace in Christ Jesus has continually overflowed from each you onto one another and even onto me, to the joy and upbuilding of us all. Stated another way, the divine Word has already been a lamp for our feet and a light for our path for a very long time. Praise be to God! Nothing in heaven or on earth has the power to extinguish the divine light that continually shines for us. _______________________________________________ Sermons mailing list Sermons@cat41.org http://cat41.org/mailman/listinfo/sermons
