Rev. Tucher

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

Someone has said that worry is prayer in reverse. That makes sense. When we worry, we depend on ourselves, not on God, the giver of all good things. Jesus makes a connection between worry and prayer in our text. He’s just taught His disciples the prayer that we say at every Divine Service: the Lord’s Prayer. Now He expands on that, talking about what makes us anxious. As we listen to the Words of Jesus, we learn that when we take our anxieties to God and turn them over to Him, prayer puts worry into reverse.

The question we need to ask ourselves is why do we let worry drive us backward? It’s an easy question to answer. The answer is because we do not fully put our trust in God and His provisions for our lives. Some of us may be concerned about our daily needs, such as food and clothing. However, we should not be concerned about our daily needs, as these are provided for us by God daily. Luther, when explaining the First Article of the Apostles’ Creed writes the following: “He also gives me clothing and shoes, food and drink, house and home, wife and children, land, animals, and all I have. He richly and daily provides me with all that I need to support this body and life.” There are those who face devastation in their lives, such as those affected by the tornado in Colorado last week. They are desperately seeking daily needs of food, clothing, and shelter; yet we know God will provide for them because He has said that He will.

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In the May 2008 newsletter to pastors, President Kieschnick has some good words regarding the unity of the Spirit.

A word from St. Paul: “I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace” (Eph. 4:1-3).

The unity we have as Christians is a precious gift of God. If it then behooves us as Christians to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace,” how much greater is our responsibility in this regard as ordained ministers of the Gospel?

While much could be written about these few verses in Ephesians, I find a comment in Kretzmann’s Popular Commentary worth sharing: “By striving after the virtues named by the apostle: love, peace, meekness, humility, long-suffering, patience, the Christians maintain the unity of the Spirit given to them in the Word. As soon as these virtues are disregarded, the result is dissension and disagreement, division and sectarianism.” It’s my prayer that all of us-and I begin with myself-will exhibit these virtues and maintain the gift of unity given us by God’s Spirit.

May this be our prayer!

The National Football League’s 32 owners, meeting in Atlanta, voted to award the city the Feb. 5, 2012, game on their first vote. Arizona came in second.

That’s the news from Atlanta right now.  Kudos to the city and all the work on preparing a great bid for 2011.  Unfortunately, they lost then by 2 votes.  That was not the case for the 2012 bid.  If you would like to see the executive summary for the 2012 bid, click here.

Again, kudos to everyone back home.  Wish I could be there for the 2012 Super Bowl, or at least back in Indy when all the fun takes place.

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

In just a matter of months, Americans will come together on a day that marks us as a nation: the 4^th of July, Independence Day. Why is the 4^th of July so important? Independence Day commemorates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. On this day, more than any other, we identify ourselves with the nation of the United States of America.

The Old Testament Feast of Pentecost was one of the three annual harvest celebrations of the ancient Israelites. Grain in Israel is harvested in the spring, and on Pentecost the Israelites were expected to bring to the Lord the “firstfruits of the wheat harvest.” Pentecost was also one of the three great festivals for which every Israelite was to assemble in Jerusalem. It was a day like this that the Jews truly identified themselves as Jewish.

What did happen on that first Pentecost when the Holy Spirit came to the Church in a very special way? In the tradition of the day, Pentecost was a kind of memorial day. Everybody got the day off from work. They gathered to celebrate the spring harvest and to remember the time in history when Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mt. Sinai. Pentecost was a day to celebrate God’s direction and the purpose given to His people in His law and sustained in the fruitful harvest. This was the Jewish Festival of Pentecost, fifty days after the Passover feast.

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That’s right folks, Indianapolis is putting itself out there for the 2012 Super Bowl. That’s old news, actually. They’ve had this in the works since they lost the bid for the 2011 Super Bowl. However, what’s new is WHO is delivering the Indy bids: 8th graders! Yep, that’s right. No stuffy men in suits, it’s 32 8th graders from 26 central Indiana schools.

So you might be asking yourself the question: why pick 8th graders? Here’s the answer.

“This is an evolution of our theme — that this really is our community’s bid,” explained Mark Miles, who is heading the bid effort. “That’s been the overall theme, and this idea seemed to fit perfectly in that context.”

Personally, I think that this is a cool idea. It really shows, as Mark Miles says, that this isn’t just the hope of a few business people hoping to make lots of money off of the Super Bowl. It shows that the entire community of Indianapolis is behind this and would love to have the opportunity to showcase what makes Indianapolis tick. Kudos to those who have been planning the 2012 Super Bowl bid, for the entire city of Indianapolis, and for those luck 32 students who get to be part of history (hopefully).
(Photo credit: Danese Kenon/The Star)

Yes, it’s another sad day for The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod. Another mission has been closed, this time in Burkina Faso and Togo, West Africa. Rev. James May and family will be leaving their missions this summer. The reason why: money. Unfortunately, money takes precedence over the Gospel. This comes from his latest newsletter:

I regret to inform you that due to programmatic and business decisions, World Mission has decided to cease employing me as a missionary in West Africa. This decision came as a shock to me and my family as it may also be a surprise to you.

World Mission has been pressuring me to move on and inform you as soon as possible. One reason is that I would be without a paycheck and insurance soon after we have a baby due in July. We hope that by the grace of God we could have another call in place when my salary and benefits terminate at the end of August 2008.

The decision leaves three newly planted churches in Burkina Faso without a theologically trained leader and also the Lutheran Church of Togo without a missionary which they had been awaiting for six years. Please keep all these people involved in your prayers.

I didn’t know him and his family all that well. I think I met him and his wife at an LLL deal or something during summer Greek back in 2001. Our thoughts and prayers go out to him and his family (with a baby on the way), the churches of Burkina Faso and Togo, and for the Church throughout the world so that the Gospel of Christ may continue to be preached, regardless of the cost.

What I’m hoping won’t happen will be the following announcement. Please note, this is purely satire and has not happened (and we pray that it won’t)!

ST. LOUIS - Churches close their doors across the country

Many churches across the country have closed their doors due to lack of funding. A decision by The Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod’s Board for Poor Church Spending (BPCS) has closed the doors of some 6100 churches because money became a bigger issue than the spreading of the Gospel. No statement was available, as there was no one left to say anything about the issue.

UPDATE 5/8/08

It has been brought to my attention that money was not the issue behind Rev. May’s termination as a missionary in West Africa.  My apologies for any misconceptions.