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Sermon: When Jesus gives us faith, He shares His glory with us. PDF Print E-mail

Luke 9:28-36
"An Encouraging Glimpse" 
A sermon by the Rev Roland Kubke
February 14, 2010

Transfiguration Sunday: Deuteronomy 34:1-12; 2 Corinthians 4:3-6; Luke 9:28-36

In the middle of a night in the mountains of Peru, in 1987, Ian Shelton, then a 29 year old Canadian astronomer,  was developing pictures he had taken of a part of the night sky he had photographed many times.  He was sleepy, and when he noticed a bright blotch on a developed picture, he first thought he had done sloppy work or the film had been flawed.  Then he had a second thought and he stepped outside and looked up.  Outside he saw that there really was something out there.  It looked like a star had exploded.  The astronomer knew something important had happened, but he didn't know just how important that discovery was.  
When other astronomers examined that bright spot in the sky, they decided it was the closest super nova ever to be seen from earth by the naked eye, and it was shining with the brightest light known to us.   It was also the first one seen in over 400 years that originated in our own Milky Way galaxy.   It was close enough to be measured and studied with great accuracy, and opened up a whole new way of studying the stars because of the stream of neutrinos that was flowing from it.    Even today, it is still the most studied star in the sky.  The Canadian graduate student had made the most important astronomical discovery in many years.   It was totally unexpected.
Late one evening a long time ago Peter, James and John went up onto a mountain to pray with Jesus.  They had prayed with Jesus many times before and they were used to evenings such as this.  They began to get sleepy.  Suddenly, unexpectedly, they saw something.  The appearance of our Lord changed.  Jesus became surrounded with the brightest light the Apostles had ever seen.  The Apostles were seeing the Lord in His glory!  The Apostles knew that something important had happened but they didn't realize just how important that event was.   This was the Transfiguration of our Lord.  This event was important because it showed us the glory of Jesus, the Son of God, who came to take away the sins of the world.  It was important for another reason, too!  It was important because it gave a glimpse of the glory that Jesus promises to share with you!   Jesus has promised to share His glory with you so that He can encourage you to live the life God has called you to in Christ!
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Sermon: True worship is a relationship based on God's Word PDF Print E-mail
Nehemiah 8:1-3,5-6,8-10
 An Old Relationship
A sermon by the Rev Roland Kubke
January 24, 2010

Other Readings: 1 Corinthians 12:12-31; Luke 4:16-30

Here is a silly question for you!  Have you learned yet how to tie your shoes?    Even if you prefer loafers or slip-ons, or velcro closures, or high heels,  somewhere along the line you’ve got runners or boots or skates or shoes that need to be tied.    Almost everyone in this country is going to have laces one way or another, some time or another, because when a shoe or a boot or a skate needs to be firmly and dependably attached to your feet, nothing beats a shoelace.
That leads me to another question.  How many different kinds of knots do you use to tie your laces?   Would I be right if I guessed one?  Would it be the one that Mom or Dad or the grade one teacher taught you?   Yes, the common knot that leaves a pretty little bow on your shoe or boot has its failings.   If you are not careful and the loop slips through, you end up with a stubborn knot.  If you don’t pull tightly enough, it easily comes undone.   Still with all its failings,   I’m sure most people wouldn’t think it worth the effort to learn a whole new knot for tying their shoes.  
If that old standard bow knot that you learned long ago is good enough to do the job, then it is fine, even if that knot has been around for so many years that nobody even knows anymore where it really came from!
The same thing is true of worship.   Like shoelaces that still work best despite all sorts of new inventions, the part of the worship service that really makes worship the real thing is thousands of years old.   We can actually see it described in our Old Testament lesson for this morning.   Whatever we may choose to do to make a worship service meaningful, this is the part that needs to be there if we are going to be blessed in our worship!  Thank God that He moves us to focus on His Word, for when we gather around His Word, that is truly worship.
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Sermon: We find shelter with Jesus in Christmas! PDF Print E-mail
“The Shelter of Christmas”
December 24, 2009
Luke 2:14
A sermon by the Rev Roland Kubke

My family and I have a number of spruce trees on our acreage, and in one spot, the forest is quite wild, the trees are large, and the spruces grow fairly close together.    We also live in a spot where there is a fairly large wild area on one side of us and a farmer’s grain field on the other.   Put all those things together and you have an ideal spot for deer.   
There is a herd of at least eight deer that bunkered down at our place for a number of winters.   They spent the nights under the shelter of the spruce trees, whose branches are so thick that very little snow settles down to the base of those trees.  Each deer seemed to have its own place to sleep, because you could see what looked like deer beds with well worn trails leading to each one of them.   
We all know how harsh our winters can be.   We know how severely cold it can get.  We know that we have the potential to be one of the coldest places on the entire planet at times.   The deer have to live outside in all of that, but at least they have places of shelter under the spruce trees of our region.  The spruce trees provide them what they need to help them cope with the challenges of being a wild deer in Parkland County.
We are here this evening to once again hear the Christmas story read.   We are here to sing the hymns that have been inspired by it.   For most of us, this is something that we have known since we have been old enough to remember – the account of how a quiet, humble, newly married couple coped with a pregnancy while they were forced to travel to the town of Joseph’s ancestors.   
There is something very powerful about the simplicity of St. Luke’s account of Jesus’ birth.    There is something very engaging about the familiar struggles of a couple who couldn’t find a place to spend the night, or who ended up delivering a baby at a time when they were not prepared for it.   Very much of it has an “It could happen to anyone” feel, except for the fact that it includes visions of angels and very clear ties to Old Testament promises, and an unexpected visit from excited shepherds.
With all those things taken together, we have a place of shelter.   We have that place where we, too, gather under the thick branches of God’s grace and lay down in a bed of heavenly peace.  We don’t just go there alone.   Like deer that live in a world that can sometimes be very challenging and scary and harsh, we find shelter together as family and friends.   We find shelter together as people who may have nothing else in common other than the fact that we seek the shelter of God’s love.   We come together because God Himself has made all the conditions right for us so that we may hear His Word, be touched by His love and be comforted with the peace of forgiven sins and heartfelt gratitude.    
Our theme for this Advent and Christmas is “The trees of Christmas”.    During this time, we have seen how a spruce tree can be such a beautiful picture of God’s plans for us in Jesus Christ.    We saw that a spruce tree has to have just the right conditions to sprout and grow, unlike most other common trees of our area that can sprout up from roots or tree stumps.    We saw that a spruce tree only grows into the shape that can make it a perfect Christmas tree when it has the right balance of shelter and stress.  Then we saw that spruce trees, as long as human activities like logging and farming don’t interfere, grow to be the largest and strongest of all the trees in this area.  
All of those facts are a wonderful illustration of how God provides us the right conditions through His Word so that the Holy Spirit can plant and grow saving faith inside of us.    They are an illustration of why God allows us to face stresses and disappointments and challenges and sorrows and pains even when we know and love Jesus Christ as our Lord.    He allows us to face those things so that we can be shaped into a beautiful faith that trusts in God for all things.    Those facts are an illustration, too, of how God overcomes our own sinful interference in His plans for us, so that we can stand firm in faith and be strong through His own strength to wait for the day when Jesus comes to take us to heaven.  
Now, this evening, our readers have pointed out how a tree illustrates the great truths of the Bible.  The entire plan of God’s salvation for us can be illustrated by the Christmas tree that you very likely have set up in your home.   The Christmas tree is symbol of the care that God provides to everything He has created.   It is a symbol that reminds us that God has some very serious expectations that go along with making us and looking after us.   God expects us to recognize Him and to please Him by following His Commandments.   The Christmas tree is a picture of how Jesus had to leave His place in Heaven to die for us so that our sins of breaking God’s Law could be forgiven.   It reminds us that we, who take responsibility in faith for the things we have done wrong both in doing bad things and ignoring the right thing, are transformed by the forgiveness that comes from Jesus.    The Christmas tree reminds us that we now can do good things that we otherwise could never otherwise do as the Holy Spirit equips us in God’s Word to live our lives for God.   The Christmas is a picture of how we will continue to serve God in Heaven and on the new earth God will create as we live to serve our God forever.   The Christmas tree also reminds us that the light of God’s Word, the light of God’s love is so precious that it shines through us who believe, so that others may marvel in God’s light, too.  
It is no wonder, then, why Christians have delighted in setting up a Christmas tree in their homes since the days of the Reformation, when the custom first became popular among Lutherans and spread out into every direction from there.   You see, when you take the many Bible truths that the Christmas tree can illustrate for us, and put them all together, you come up with this most wonderful realization:   Christmas it indeed about shelter.   It is about the shelter of God’s grace that not only protects us, but it also strengthens us and equips us to face the realities of the world around us.    By all the events of our salvation that happened the first Christmas, just as the prophets said it would, God has made it so that the harshness of the world cannot overwhelm us.   He has made it so that we can truly appreciate the tender things and the beautiful things and the meaningful things of this world as gifts that come from His divine love toward us.   God has made it so that, through His Word, we can be gathered by the Holy Spirit into that place in which we look upon the baby Jesus.    
We are brought to the shelter of Christmas for a quiet break in the presence of the baby Jesus.   We are brought to the shelter of Christmas so that the joy of forgiveness and grace can well up inside us and turn that quietness into excitement and the urge to praise our God.    We are here, in the shelter of Christmas so that we can feel the boldness grow within us to join with the shepherds as they ran out to tell everyone what they had seen and heard.   We are here to confess to each other how it important it is to reach out and sing out with the angels in their chorus of heavenly alleluias.  
When you look at the deer beds under the shelter of the spruce trees on our acreage, you can see that the deer trails that lead to them and away from them are well-packed.   Those deer don’t just seek out that shelter and enjoy its benefits one night a year.   They come back to that place over and over again.  
That is what the shelter of Christmas is like, too.   God has offered us that shelter in Jesus Christ and not just for a visit, but as a place we return to time and again.  The angel choirs sang, “Glory to God in the highest and peace to men on whom His favour rests.”  (Luke 2:14)    May the shelter of God’s love keep you in God’s peace as one on whom God’s own favour rests.    May that shelter make all things possible for you so that every day you rejoice in God’s forgiveness and everyday you praise God for Jesus Christ.   May that shelter bless you and keep you so that your whole life becomes a life of glory and praise to God in the highest!   Amen.
 
Sermon: The great news of Christmas is an irresistible thing! PDF Print E-mail

“All the Ends of the Earth”
A sermon by the Rev Roland Kubke 
Christmas Day, 2009
 
Isaiah 52:7-10;   Hebrews 1:1-6;   John 1:1-14

Did you know that the custom of setting up a Christmas tree is one of the most widespread customs in the world?     The custom is so compelling that it finds its way into the most surprising places.   In some ways, it is if that custom is irresistible.  
The lure of Christmas trees is so powerful that many people set them up, even when they reject the symbolism of the Christmas tree and reject Christianity entirely.    It is common to see them in the homes of many Jews, where they call them Hanukkah trees.    The Soviets set them up during the days of Eastern European Communism, calling them “New Year’s Trees”, and under that name, they are becoming increasingly popular in China.   They are popular as Christmas trees in Japan and South Korea and Taiwan, where it is cool to follow Western customs.    They are commonly found among Hindus who readily accept just about any colourful and joyful religious custom.   They are even making inroads among moderate Muslims, because Muslims acknowledge Jesus as a great prophet, and also acknowledge His birth.   Of course, you don’t have to look far around you to see how many non-Christians still admire Christmas trees even when they believe that they have moved on and don’t need any God in any heaven.   According to a recent article in Maclean’s magazine,  the most outspoken anti-Christian crusader of our day, Richard Dawkins, sets up a Christmas tree in his home.   You could say that the Christmas tree has made it to all the ends of the earth.    Yesterday, we learned about the great symbolism of the Christmas tree and how that symbolism helps us to teach the great truth that Jesus is the Promised Messiah.    Now, we can add another connection between the Christmas tree and the prophecies of the Bible.    The Christmas tree custom seems to have made it about everywhere on the planet, and it is a picture of how God’s promise of salvation will be heard everywhere, too.    Isaiah proclaimed with great confidence and joy, “All the ends of the earth will see the salvation of our God.”   (Isaiah 52:10)     The great news of Christmas is an irresistible thing!   Let us thank God for that this Christmas!
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