Rev. Tucher

My coffin arrived on the 20th, a day earlier than expected.  My new 360 is on its way.  And when I say new, I mean new.  It’s not a refurb like expected.  According to the serial number, it was manufactured in 2007, actually, just a couple of weeks ago.  That’s nice to hear.  Unfortunately, the UPS tracking number on the Support website doesn’t read on the UPS site.  Translation, I have no way of tracking my new console.  That’s ok, by the time it arrives, I probably won’t have a chance to play it since my mother-in-law and sister-in-law are coming in one week.

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon this morning comes from the Gospel, which was read earlier.

“Once upon a time…and they lived happily ever after. The End.” These are words which we all grew up on, words which we enjoyed to hear because of the happiness which it would bring to us. You always knew that if a story started as “Once upon a time,” it would always end with “and they lived happily ever after. The End.”

There was another story that we enjoy to hear because of the happiness which it brings to us. However, it doesn’t begin with “Once upon a time.” It begins with “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” This particular chapter, entitled “Jesus” begins with the following: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

This is a familiar story to all of us. We know the happy ending of this story: God’s promises are fulfilled on that day of final resurrection. One day, Jesus will come back. On the Last Day, everything will come to an end. Those who had died will have their physical bodies rise up and live again. On this Judgment Day, those who have believed in Jesus Christ enter into the final glorious heavenly life forever, with body and soul reunited. (more…)

According to this, my package has arrived in a McAllen hub. It looks like it will make it to the Repair Center today.

The Sermon page has been updated.  Previous sermons dating back to April can be found there.

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for our sermon this morning comes from our First Reading, which was read earlier.

Today we observe All Saints’ Day. This doesn’t honor saints like one would think of in the Roman Catholic Church. Today, we remember those who have died in the faith. Saints are all those who are “knit together as one communion and fellowship in the mystical body of Jesus Christ.” The saints are blessed in Christ, who is the Blessed One. They serve as an example of faith and “virtuous and godly living” to those who still struggle in this world.

While all believers in Christ in heaven and on earth are His saints, on this day the Church remembers all of God’s saints who have died and now participate in the “unspeakable joys” of heaven. These saints, who trusted in the Lord in their earthly life, as members of the Church Militant, live now in His eternal peace, the Church Triumphant. They exalt and magnify His Name, look to Him, and are radiant, reflecting His glory.

Once upon a time, this world was sinless, without death and all that is harmful and takes away from the goodness that God made. Things could not have been better. Adam and Eve had an entire garden at their fingertips. Everything that they could ever need was theirs. God even walked alongside with them and they could see God and talk to Him face to face. But as we all know, paradise didn’t last for long. Satan managed to get himself into the garden and tempted Adam and Eve, causing them to fall into sin.

However, prior to this, we were perfect, without sin.

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According to UPS tracking, on 11/18 at 11:00pm, my 360 arrived at Billings, MT.  ETA to McCallen, TX is 11/21.  We’ll see if it gets there Wednesday like it says it should.

I mailed off my coffin today. It looks like it might get there on Wednesday, 3 business days, just like it says. Let’s cross our fingers and hope.

My “coffin” arrived tonight.  I placed my original call on 11/9 and it arrived 11/15.  It’s going out UPS 3-day tomorrow.  I guess it’ll probably arrive Wednesday, hopefully.  If not, probably Friday due to Thanksgiving.  Then after that, probably another 2 weeks or so until I get a 360 back.  Hopefully, it’ll get back soon.  More updates to follow.

Ok, I know that Reformation has passed. One of my members sent me this video link. I think you’ll enjoy. “Papal bulls, indulgences, and transubstantiation…”

To see the lyrics, click here.

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, amen. The text for the sermon this morning comes from the Epistle, which was read earlier.

In just a few weeks, we will come to the close of another Church Year. In these last weeks, we begin to look forward to the return of Christ. Paul, in his second letter to the church in Thessalonica. He begins by saying, “Now concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our being gathering together to him…” He makes two very distinctive points in his opening line. The first is that Christ will come again. This was a very important point for Paul to make because there were those who were preaching that Christ had come the first time and He died; because He’s dead, He won’t be coming a second time. Paul makes it clear that Christ will come a second time and we will be gathered together to Him, which is His second point. We will be gathered to Christ. We will not be gathered to an earthly king. We will not be gathered to earthly things. Instead, we will be gathered to Christ and Him alone.

How easy must it have been for those in Thessalonica to just ditch the message of Jesus and adopt whatever message someone else was preaching in the synagogue or on a hill or in the marketplace. One could hear a pro-Christ and an anti-Christ message all in the same afternoon. The choices which one had at their fingertips with regard to Christianity were numerous. (more…)