March 5, 2025 – Ash Wednesday Texts: Psalm 90:9-14, Hebrews 1:1-3
Dear Friends in Christ,
Did you know that the soap opera began in Illinois? The first was called “Painted Dreams” and was broadcast on WGN out of Chicago on October 20, 1930. The soap opera is still going today.
The soap opera got its name because in the early days of radio and TV they were sponsored by soap manufacturers. Companies like Proctor & Gamble the makers of Tide. For these midweek Lenten sermons and Holy Week sermons we are going to use the soap opera as the backdrop to tell the story of Jesus, His passion and resurrection. Do you realize what these both have in common? They both have multiple storylines. They both have people dying that is not permanent. They both get people emotionally involved. Therefore, the word “passion” can be used for both.
Tonight, we begin with a soap opera that is just two months younger than I am. It began November 8, 1965. I saw it a lot during my freshman year at ISU. My roommate on the 5th floor of Manchester was a huge fan. If I was there over the lunch hour, we would watch it on my 12-inch black and white. Who can forget the beginning, “Like sands through the hourglass, so are the . . . .
“DAYS OF OUR LIVES”
This is one of four soaps still in production. It is streamed on Peacock. Interestingly enough it is set in Illinois, in the fictional town of Salem, even though we know Illinois has a Salem. It has focused over the years on the Brady and Horton families. It has been one of the most daring series in this particular genre. It shows what the title promises . . . the days of their lives.
Lent is the story of days of the life of Jesus. The days that lead to Holy Week. The days of Palm Sunday and Maundy Thursday and Good Friday and culminating in the greatest of days – Easter.
We journey through these 40 days of our lives together. Because we all experience the days of our lives. Recently, I came upstairs from my lair in the basement and announced to Toni, “For the 400th month in a row our checkbook is balanced!” I was excited. She not so much. It was the Lord’s reminder of our time together.
In our first text from Psalm 90, it is written in verse 10, “The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.”
These numbers are a good average and fall within the average lifespan today. When the Psalmist wrote these words, humans of this era were only living to about 40. Another indication that still today Scripture speaks to us. Do you see your life as toil and trouble? We do toil. Toil at our jobs. Toil in our homes. Toil in our leisure. Trouble? Sure we have trouble, but do you see it as the overriding theme of your life? Maybe some do. But that is a rough way to live. We probably do agree with the last part of the verse that are days are soon gone and we fly away.
“Fly away” is poetic language that evokes the despair of life’s all-too-rapid fight into death. This is why we number our days. The days of our lives in this world are limited. This is where we look to God’s glorious power. Verse 14 gives the spiritual lift to our days, “Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.” That is how I want to spend my days, how about you?
This Ash Wednesday if you received the ashes on your forehead you heard, “Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” We die because we are sinners. If our lives were left in our hands – the only reward we would have earned is God’s judgment and wrath. What does the Lord do for us? He creates in us a clean heart and right spirit. God has taken your sin and put it out of his memory. How has He done this? By speaking to us in these last days by His Son. Christ is the heir of all things.
An heir inherits all that belongs to the parents. Jesus, as God’s only begotten Son, shares with His brothers and sisters the Father’s mercy, forgiveness, and new life. That is the Lenten message. The days of our lives are filled with the Lord’s mercy, forgiveness, and new life. This Ash Wednesday you are sealed and marked with this eternal promise.
Join us next week on this same station for . . . the “Guiding Light.”
Amen.

March 2, 2025 – Transfiguration Text: Deuteronomy 34:1-12

Dear Friends in Christ,

A little girl was on a cruise ship with her parents, and as they were looking out over the deck, the girl said to her father, “Look daddy, I can see farther than my eyes can see.” Where have you been that is farther than your eyes can see? Looking out over an ocean? A mountain peak? For those of us in Central Illinois, we can say about every one of us has been to the top of the Willis Tower or the Hancock in Chicago, the Arch in St. Louie, or even Watterson Towers on the campus of Illinois State. All places where you see farther than the eyes can see.
How is your vision? In a congregation our size it is varied. Many of you have glasses or contacts. Some of you have reading glasses. Some have retina problems or macular regeneration. Others have great vision and have never had their eyes checked by a professional. Today in our text Moses sees, but what does he see? Moses did not lose what the Lord what trying to show him. How about you?
“DO YOU HAVE A VISION OF THE LORD’S PLAN?”
How did Moses get to this point? We have to go back to the Lord’s words to Abraham in Genesis 12:1 when the Lord promises to bring the people “to the land that I will show you.”
So, Moses leads two million, incredible right – 2 million people out of their slavery in Egypt. This is no walk in the park. The complaints he must have heard. You didn’t bring enough food and water…Aren’t you going to stop and ask for directions or are we going to keep on wandering…This desert area doesn’t look like a good place to bed down. Quiet you people. I am going up a mountain and you need to wash yourselves so you can be in the presence of Almighty God. Nice plan. Except when he comes down, they are singing and dancing to a golden calf. So, you want to be a travel agent? Moses sees everyone at their best and their worst.
There are times we see each other at our best and worst. It happens in our homes, at our workplaces, in our churches, on the roads, at the ballgames, the hospital, the nursing home. Up and down. Left and right. “Let’s go Moses.” “Uh, this guy doesn’t know what he’s doing.” We are a funny people.
This doesn’t come through in the Bible, but Moses had to be gifted with a sense of humor. This does come through in the Bible, his vision was tempered with patience. God promised him he would see the Promised Land but only from a distance. He was 120 with eyes undimmed and vigor unabated. The Lord kept the vision alive for Moses, but He also kept it alive for Joshua, the man who succeeded Moses.
Do you have a vision of the Lord’s plan when you lie in a hospital bed? Do you have a vision of the Lord’s plan when you look at your accident scars? Do you have a vision of the Lord’s plan when your marriage or family goes off the rails? Do you have a vision of the Lord’s plan when facing a death or your own mortality? This Promised Land trek took years to complete. Many of the people lost the vision. I’ve seen many of you struggle to look even a week ahead. Lord grant us your vision and patience.
Other than Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, the one guy in all our readings is Moses. The Lord knew him face to face. The signs and wonders he did are unequalled. He is unmatched in his display of leadership and influence. He is honored for his faith in Hebrews, “Now Moses was faithful in all God’s House as a servant, to testify to the things that were to be spoken later.” (Heb. 3:5) The writer of Hebrews also points out that while Moses was great, no one is greater than Jesus. God buried Moses, and he is still dead. We do not worship Moses. We do not lead people to Moses. Instead, through the leadership of Moses, as well as the prophets, we lead people to Christ, who leads us all to the promised land of heaven. That’s the vision. Can you see it?
God kept his promise to the Israelites. God keeps His promise to us through Jesus. Standing on the threshold of Lent we are going to view some dark, dreary days – suffering, rejection, killing. But you can see the rest of the vision. “On the third day He will be raised.” (Luke 9:22). This is God’s promise and God keeps His promises.
Our greatest vision is what Moses is experiencing. His perfect eyesight views a heavenly landscape. One day there will be people farther than the eye can see who will be assembled around the throne of God. Open your eyes and catch the vision!
Amen.

February 23, 2025 Text: 1 Corinthians 15:21-26, 30-42

Dear Friends in Christ,

Louis XV, the king of France, ordered that no one should speak about death in his presence. He tried to avoid any visible sign or symbol or place that would remind him of the mortal nature of life in this world. Yet, the king could never escape this last great enemy. He died on May 10, 1774, at 3:15 a.m. Age 64.
Death is hard to ignore. God in the Scriptures doesn’t deny it or conceal it. We all die because we are sinners. Every human body will undergo decay in the grave. But the good news is that the curse and punishment has been removed through Jesus Christ. By His resurrection from the dead Christ has defeated sin, devil, hell, and death. The grave for the Christian becomes the gate to life eternal. We wonder what will that look like? Let’s answer that question as we examine . . . .
“THE RESURRECTION BODY”
A final resurrection is going to take place. Believers and unbelievers will be made alive on the Last Day. Believers will join their Savior and all the faithful in heaven. Unbelievers will be consigned to everlasting shame and contempt in hell.
Because as a Christian we live in our baptismal grace every day we can look forward to our own resurrection transformation on the Last Day.
The Apostle Paul was very good at rhetorical questions. He liked to pose a question, but then answer it. Paul asks, “Why am I in danger every hour? I protest, brothers, by my pride in you, which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die every day.” (v. 30-31) Paul is asking rhetorically, “Why would I risk my life for things I don’t truly believe in?”
I had an uncle growing up who knew how competitive I was. I still remember him telling me, “Every time you lose, a little part of you dies.” That has been true for me. But whether you feel that way about losing or not, you still see a little dying each day. Maybe your walk isn’t as brisk, your mind regresses, hair leaves your head but grows out of your ears, you remember being 25, but the movies, music, and TV shows shove off into the distance. At some point we all realize, this isn’t going to last forever.
Time in this world, that is. We do have a forever appointment with our resurrection body. Paul ever the questioner poses another one, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” The resurrection body is the same but different. The Lord who created our physical bodies will give us spiritual bodies. Our bodies in their present state or condition will be changed instantly. We will no longer have bodies full of lusts, no longer sinful, no longer limited by hunger, thirst, pain, losing, or mortality. We will have resurrection bodies free from the debilitating effects of our sin.
Imagine experiencing this by God’s grace. Stepping onto a shore and finding it heaven…taking hold of a hand and finding it Christ’s hand…breathing new air and finding it celestial air…passing from a storm to unbroken calm…waking up and finding it….home!
The first time she saw a dead child, Corrie ten Boom began to worry about her own death and the death of her loved ones. She thought, “What if I am persecuted and must suffer?” She went to her father with her fears. He asked her a question: “When do I give you the ticket when you take the train from Haarlem to Amsterdam? Three weeks ahead of time?” “Why, no,” Corrie replied. “You give me the ticket the day I need it.” “Right,” said her father. “That’s exactly what God does. Today you don’t need the strength to be brave if someone dies or you are persecuted. But when the time comes, the Lord will give you the ticket right on time.”
Fearing death may cause us to ignore it. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.” (Jn. 11:25). We can place our hand in Christ’s nail-scarred hand and face death with peace and confidence. As baptized believers, we have the ticket. We live in Jesus now with a foretaste of the feast to come. By God’s grace in Christ we anticipate our resurrection body.
Amen.