“*Leaning On His Everlasting Arms!--There IS Room for You in the **Inn**!!*”
on Isaiah 7.14; Luke 2.1-20 and Psalm 98
the Sermon preached at St Luke Evangelical Lutheran Church—UAC
by the Rev. Frederick E. Davison, Pastor
for the Christmas Eve Hymn Service
December 24th 2011
X X X
Grace, Mercy, and Peace to you from God our Father and Christ Jesus our
Lord. *[Amen.]*
Our sermon speaks from the Gospel spoken by Isaiah of old,
the 7th chapter with particular focus on His Holy Christmas
Word:
“*This shall be a sign unto you: A Virgin conceiving and bearing a Son . .
. *”
In the Name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Ghost. *[Amen.]*
Last night I watched my sampling of evening’s news trying to
stay in touch—viewing what you all are viewing, and hearing what you’re
hearing too! And there’s quite a bit we all had to take in and there’s
much we all could say about it. Yet all of sudden, I was as if I had
walked into a brick wall. My watching any longer was over. From that
point on, I couldn’t “Lean Forward” any longer to watch another single
thing!
One snippet of the entire night’s broadcasting captured my emotion,
captured my intellect, beckoned back to my entire world’s frame of
reference. It was as if the T.V. had reached out and grabbed me by the
throat and it **had** me, my whole soul, body, and mind. It happened while
watching Barbra Walters’ attempt at intimacy in her interview of our
President and his very-dear-to-him-wife.
And **one** question got me, one pressed “pause” in my mind. One question
made all else said thereafter of no consequence. I **couldn’t** hear
another word. My mind was fixed. I’d gone to a very different place, a
different thought-set, an utterly holy sort of space.
Ms. Walters asked, “Mr. President, if you could, if you would, if you did
indeed die tonight, how would you come back? Of which sort of thing, or of
what sort of place? If you could be **any** thing or **any** place in this
entire world of ours—what would it be?” Frankly, with this question—for a
nano-second—she had me stymied! Her query grabbed me by the throat and in
my mind I’d stopped breathing, heart stopped beating, my soul was not
within in me. It’d gone to another place.
For in that nano-second I had my answer. Within, I remember myself saying,
“This is not a difficult question. I know **exactly** what it is I’d like
myself to be! If I could come back as anything, or any place in this
entire world of ours. I’d surely be **this** Altar.” My mind’s eye had
little trouble picturing it. My imagination was not taxed even the
slightest bit. I **knew** if **that** was the situation—and it’s not. Yes,
such questions can be no more than a moments’ musing, a mental gymnastics
of a sort. For it **is** written, “It is appointed for man once to die and
then judgment.” And that ends that matter!!! But there’s no sin in
imaginative thinking, to read a novel—a work of fiction—relaxes many
Christians each night while slipping into their versions of Peter-Pan-land.
You might have done the same thing when I was speaking just a moment ago? Your
mind began filling in the words when I said, “If you were to die tonight
where would you be—in God’s holy Heaven or racing, & raging dragged into
eternal Hellfire?” But that was **not** the T.V. question.
“If you died, and could be anything or anyplace in this entire world of
ours, what would it be?” I answered as swiftly as I am now, “The Church’s
Altar where the Administration of the Sacraments remain as Christ Himself
instituted them.”
But then I thought, “An Altar’s good, but I could do better than that.” And
so I answered confidently, “Yes, now I know. It would be ‘the Cup,’ the
Chalice, THAT Cup, THAT Chalice, the one that goes THERE on **this** Altar!
That’s what I would be: “The Cup that we bless, is it not Communion with
the Blood of Christ?”
Yes, THAT would be it, I would be THAT Cup because by it, by way of
**THAT**Cup the Very Blood of Christ is given to everyone who drinks
of it—to all,
and **especially** those who repent, who desire God’s forgiveness, who take
of THAT Cup to get His Blood. For God says of those who drink, they
receive remission of all their sins. And it’s no remission that we’re used
to hearing about: one day the cancer’s gone only to hear that it’s come
back **again** with a vengeance,” But God’s remission isn’t THAT kind of
remission. God’s remission is as King David says it: “As far as the East
is from the West, this is how far God hath separated us from our sins. Or
like Isaiah says it, “Though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white. .
.” in effect, as white and as pure as the wind driven snow! That’s why I’d
want to be the Cup. Because it is what it is. It is handled with great
reverence and respect. It is cleaned and then polished to its’ brightest
and best luster and then stoically stowed away to once again greet Heaven’s
Lord in His regular Earthly invasion to conquer sin, death, and the power
of the devil. Yep, that’s what I’d want to be, I thought. But then I
thought, “You still can do better!”
The Cup—as glorious a vessel as it is—it’s still a dead thing. It’s
inanimate, not alive. And who wants when they are dead to remain that
way—dead? No one, my dear friend whose death’s anniversary was just a few
days ago would agree: “Father Fred’s **not** dead!”
So God gave me a better answer—“a more sure word of prophecy. . .” “If I
died and could come back as anything or anyplace in this entire world of
ours?” I thought, “Yes, Regis, ‘This **is** my final answer: I
would be God’s holy Church—the very **People** the Pastors and People from
every time, from every place, every people group and every nation, People
that believed, faith-full, faith-full, faith-full unto death that God for
Jesus’ sake, and by His grace alone—without worthiness or merit on our
part—that God for Jesus’ sake, washes away all our sins and in sins’ place,
He leaves His holy Son’s Goodness, His Righteousness--[the Righteous shall
live by **His** Faith], His Only Son’s Love and Purity, in sins’ place was
left a Lamb, holy, acceptable to God without spot or blemish. Yes, THAT is
what I would become.”
Yet reality swiftly snapped me back to the present. I’m NOT holy. In spite
of my great desire and striving, I am NOT righteous; I’m not even good. But
I DO believe Him. I believe **everything** He says, ‘specially ‘Whosever
believeth in me though he were dead yet shall he live. And Whosever
believeth in Me shall not perish but have everlasting life.” Again, “He
that believeth in Me shall never die.” Yes, these things I believe.
Snapped back to reality, I realize that what’s real is **not** confined to
what we see with our eyes, touch with our hands, or taste with our tongues.
What’s real is what God **says** is real. If we would know Him, we must
hear Him! There’ll **be** no more “Look at my hands and my feet” moments,
no “thrust your hands into my side.” But instead He says, “He that hath
ears, let him hear!”
And He who does—who hears—may not touch Him, but **He** touches them! His
everlasting arms that once flung out to the right and flung out to the left
being nailed to the Tree, by faith, come around you just as surely; first
the right and then the left, and He embraces each and every one who will **
dare** believe what their eyes cannot yet see. As a Shepherd gathers His
Sheep to His Arms, He gathers His Own to His Breast. We become like John
at the Last Supper, we all recline with Him at Table, all lean upon His
Breast, yes, **all**, joined one to the other, as One, **all** are now and
forever, together, forever “leaning on His everlasting arms.”
Dear Christian THAT was my late night eve of Christmas Eve moment. And
I’ve dared share it with you, ‘He that ears, let him hear!” And hearing,
let Him embrace with His Grace as He does me, too! God grant you both the
hearing and believing that your every-day-moments become
**your**Christmas-eve life everlasting and abundantly, for their *is*
room for you
in the Inn, for Jesus’ holy Passion’s sake, *[Amen.]*
In the Name of the Father and of the X Son and of the Holy Ghost. [Amen.]
The peace that passeth all understanding keep your hearts and minds in
Christ Jesus! Amen. [?]
Pastor Davison
a.k.a. frederick the less
[inasmuch as "Fritz" is already taken [?] ]
--
the Rev. Frederick E Davison, Pastor
St Luke Evangelical Lutheran Church--UAC
the Pastor's E Mail: [email protected]
the Pastor's Cell: 608-475-0860
Box 230 23357 CR AA
Richland Center, WI 53581
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“For the question is not (to borrow words from Cyprian) what someone before
us has done but what He who is before all both did before and commanded us
to do.” Martin Chemnitz, Examination of the Council of Trent, vol. II, p.
250.
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