Trinity 8

Text: Matthew: 7:15-23

Have you ever noticed parents have this crazy ability to spot a person they would prefer their child not to hang around? It's like they have sonar that keeps them in a constant state of alertness. When I was young, it would sometimes frustrate me to no end. But as I have grown and have my own children, I can now realize and understand the wisdom of my parents. They warned me of bad company and didn't want me to be led astray, into trouble, sin, or away from the faith.

One of the hardest things about growing up can be to know who a true friend is and who is not. This continues to be true throughout the Christian Church, some pastors appear good and friendly, but in reality, they are sheep in wolf’s clothing that wish to lead Christians away from true faith in Jesus.

In fact, just a couple weeks ago, I was called a wolf in sheep’s clothing, but not in so many words. The person was a devoted Latin Mass Roman Catholic and had no time to discuss the Christian faith with me. I did not belong to what the person had determined as the “One Roman Catholic Church.” My arguments and confession for the use of Scripture and the “One Christian and Apostolic Church” fell upon deaf ears. Instead, I was informed I was wearing a “Fake Collar.”

The whole ordeal brought me some sadness, but it also helped me realize again we must always keep watch over the faith entrusted to us.

For this reason, our Lord begins today’s Gospel with a word of caution against false prophets and wolves, saying, "Beware!" Be in a state of alertness, be concerned, and do not let down your guard.

What does the wolf do?

The wolf tells us what we want to hear and not necessarily what we need to hear. The wolf leads you away from your Savior. The wolf corrupts your faith at the core, telling you that it's not enough to simply believe that Jesus died for your sins; there is more you can do to be saved and earn heaven.

So, here's a challenge of today's Gospel. Jesus instructs that we are to beware, to be on guard, and to discern the faithful preachers and prophets from the false ones. Simple enough, except they will be in sheep's clothing. They will appear to be good while being bad. From the exterior, they are indistinguishable. They may even wear a clerical collar as the clergy do here at Immanuel. Or they may be the writers of the blogs you peruse or the podcasts you can’t get enough of. Yet, Christ warns us that they are ravenous wolves.

St. Paul also warns, "Satan will disguise himself as an agent of light." (2 Corinthians 11:14) These men and women are not coming to synagogues for Jews; they are not coming to mosques for Muslims. Instead, these imposters and fictitious storytellers are coming for you, the Christian.

Luther writes regarding Satan and his wolves:

The aim of these desperate scoundrels, with the beautiful appearance of their doctrine and life, is to destroy souls and to tear them up. They will not do it outwardly, like the tyrants and persecutors who tear up life and property or like the preachers who preach against us publicly and condemn our doctrine. They will do it inwardly by secretly tearing away the treasure in our heart, which has now become the throne and kingdom and dwelling place of God.

So, the wolf in sheep's clothing conducts an inside job. The treasure they wish to snatch from your heart is the true doctrine and Gospel of Jesus Christ. God the Father sent His only begotten Son into this world to be a Shepherd for His sheep, sacrificing and laying down His life so that the sheep may live and withstand the wolf's attacks, sure of their salvation and eternity.

The prophet Jeremiah says the false preacher will tell you, "It shall be well with you," and "No disaster shall come upon you." Except, these words stand in contrast to our Lord recorded in the Gospel of John that this life will, in fact, experience tribulation and hardship.

There is an allure to the words of the false preacher because when life leaves you hurting from the betrayal of family or friends, the hurt you witness of a child wounded by the lips of the wolf masquerading as a child's friend. The false preacher does not tell you what you need to hear; instead, jumping on your vulnerability, he fills you with vain hope by telling you what you want to hear. That "It shall be well with you." Sticks and stones, words never hurt, and everything will be okay in time. Don't worry, child.

So why doesn't God do away with false preachers? Why are wolves allowed to circle and lie in wait?

To strengthen you for the times when you feel as if no one is around to protect you. To prepare you for the times of despair when the friends of the night provide you with false counsel that lacks true wisdom. It's written in Deuteronomy, "You shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the LORD, your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul." (Deuteronomy 13:3) In these ways and at these times, your faith is directed to Christ, it is deepened, and your foundation surer.

How does one discern the faithful preacher from the unfaithful one? By their fruits. The fruits of a preacher are the doctrine they teach and proclaim. The faithful preacher is one that warns you of falling out of faith. He cautions you from the lure of false doctrine. He doesn't tell you what you want to hear. Instead, he speaks the words that you need to hear.

What is it that you need to hear? First, God's call to repentance. The words of the last prophet, John the Baptist, still ring true today, repent. "Bear fruit in keeping with repentance." The faithful preacher calls you out of sin; he calls you to turn away from the things that cause you harm in this life. But he also instructs you to cast your burdens, wounds, and scars upon the crucified Lord.

And then the faithful preacher equips you for the attacks of the wolf by always pointing you to the Gospel, by constantly pointing you to Jesus, by pointing you and giving you Christ's precious body and blood. Why? Because this is where Jesus has said He will be for you.

In Jesus, you are given the words you genuinely need to hear. Words that grant forgiveness. Words that give eternal life. Our prayer is that God will keep us steadfast in the one true faith by keeping us in His Son.

The antiphon of the introit today is quite beautiful; it gives us this focus as the psalmist writes, "We have thought on your steadfast love oh god, in the midst of your temple." Here the third commandment gives pause to this life so that we will gather in this place to contemplate God's Word and steadfast love in the Divine Service and become receivers of His healing, His mercy, and forgiveness. (Paraphrase of Rev. David Petersen)

What joy this is! You have a Good Shepherd that desires to keep you safe from the false prophets and wolves that come and masquerade among you. You have a merciful Lord that wishes nothing more than to bandage the wounds and scars of your life with His forgiveness.

This you can be assured of, for God's Word has surely said it. +INJ+

“Now the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.”

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA 

Congregational Letter Announcing Call Decision

***This letter was read and sent to my congregation on July 16, 2023***

Immanuel Lutheran Church and School
1801 Russell Road
Alexandria, VA 22301

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ Jesus,

On Sunday, June 18, 2023, I was extended a Divine Call from St. John’s Lutheran Church in Berlin, WI, to serve as their Pastor. Additionally, on Sunday, June 25, 2023, I was extended a Divine Call from Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Tomah, WI, to serve as their Pastor.

Over the past few weeks, I have been fervent in prayer regarding my Calls to serve St. John's Lutheran Church, Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, and Immanuel Lutheran Church. I have visited these congregations and have sought the counsel and guidance of fellow pastors and district presidents. I have greatly appreciated your prayers and am incredibly thankful for the encouragement, support, and concern you have shared with me through emails, texts, and conversations. Thank you. 

To be an undershepherd, servant of Christ, and steward of the mysteries of God is not to be taken lightly. (1 Corinthians 4:1) When a congregation extends a Divine Call, it is because there is a great need for a flock to be served and cared for by the Gospel. This is one reason the deliberation process is a challenging endeavor and an opportunity for the spiritual growth of both pastors and congregations.

This past week, I notified St. John’s Lutheran Church in Berlin, WI, that I am returning their Call.

However, I also notified Good Shepherd Lutheran Church in Tomah, WI, that I am accepting their Call.

What this means for Immanuel Lutheran Church is that in the coming days and weeks, my family and I will begin planning our move to Wisconsin. As details for our move become clear, I will share with you the date of my last Sunday at Immanuel.

Immanuel will forever remain a special place for the Rogness family – it is where Becky and I first met, it’s where we left from for seminary, it’s where we came back when the Army called again in 2018, it’s where our family has continued to grow, and the seed of faith has been nourished these past years in our children as they attended school.

As we begin this new chapter, I want to express how much my family loves you all, and while we are grateful to call you our friends, we find it even more humbling to call you our brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus.

Your brother in Christ,
Pastor Rogness

Trinity 6

Text: Matthew: 5:17-26

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,

I recently read an article on the CiRCE Institute website by Joshua Gibbs regarding the children’s book series, “Frog and Toad.” My family has particularly enjoyed reading these books, and they’ve been required reading for our school’s younger children.

Suppose you are not familiar with the book series from the 1970s. In that case, the anthropomorphic Frog and Toad are two characters who have adventures but also wrestle and teach children of a young age about real-life situations like temptation, sloth, or worry.

For instance, the story of “The Lost Button” highlights anger, which is appropriate with today’s Gospel.

You see, Frog and Toad were out on a walk across a meadow, in the woods, and along a river. Once they had returned home, Toad realized he lost a button from his jacket. So, being his good friend, Frog says, “Don’t worry, we will go back to all the places where we walked, and we’ll find your button.”

Animals of all sorts bring Toad buttons, large and small, thick and thin, but none were the correct button. The process of losing and searching for the button increases Toad's anger. Eventually, he is shouting, stomping, and just not happy at all.

After this, Toad decided to go home and slammed the door shut behind him in a fit.

But low and behold, the button that had fallen off his coat was right there under his nose on the floor of his own home.

In the end, Toad “decoratively sews all the wrong buttons [he collected from his wilderness friends] on a jacket for Frog as a way of making up for his anger and small-mindedness.”

What a friend.

Joshua Gibbs makes the point in saying he believes “children’s books have become increasingly squeamish [today] when it comes to addressing genuine human problems.”

I’d have to agree with him, but I’d add the Church has also not only become squeamish when it comes to handling genuine problems of man’s heart, such as anger, but has forgotten where true peace is located for them today and through the days of this life – in your Savior, Jesus Christ.

C.F.W. Walther wrote, “This Gospel [today] is not like the gentle dew which trickles softly upon languishing hearts. It is glorious like a torrential rain, which comes amid the flashing of lightning and the roll of thunder.” (Walther’s Works, Volume 2, Page 54)

The Gospel today speaks hard words into your ears; it convicts and leaves you little room to run because as you, too, journey through the wilderness of life, you have all given way to anger, hatred, and the murdering of your friends and neighbors.

What propels this is that you do not grasp the severity of God’s Law as you ought. Instead, you poo-poo the law when it applies to you; you minimize its importance, or as some translations of today’s Gospel say, "Whoever therefore [loosens] one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great In the kingdom of heaven."

Now, the idea of using the word "loosens" also implies a person is not concerned with abolishing God's law but rather with downplaying the law's importance.

We do this all the time, loosen our understandings of laws, rules, and instructions throughout our daily life, and do so for self-preservation and self-justification. 

Instead of taking responsibility for our feelings, words, and actions, we often justify our words and actions while accusing our neighbors of betrayal, lacking charity in their words, or even offering the gift of forgiveness.  

In other words, we act like a Toad who has lost his button; we get mad – jump up and down, stomp, and pout like a child.

Will this make you feel better? Maybe, but will you have your button? Will you receive peace or gain a friend?

No, not at all.

And this is because you are looking to self-justify yourself and search for peace as the world searches rather than looking to the One who came and fulfilled every iota of the law for you.

You see, our lives are nothing but losing our way, staggering across meadows, through the thick brush of the woods, and along long shores of rivers only to be disappointed in not finding what we’re looking for – peace among the troubles of this life, peace among and with the friends of this life.

Yet, the answer to all of this animosity, exasperation, or resentment within your heart is not lost (it's you who has been lost). Instead, the answer is found right before you – where it has always been. In your Savior, Jesus Christ.

I mean, how often do we forget we’ve received the same gift as Ruth this morning? How often do we forget Jesus has placed His name upon us in the waters of Holy Baptism, and we are now His brothers and sisters?

The epistle today speaks clearly to us sinners,
How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father; even so, we also should walk in the newness of life.

Just like Ruth, you are not to live in the sin of anger any more than the sin of lust, anxiousness, or greed. Your baptism took you into Christ's grave so that you may arise with Him to new life – thus, you are called to walk in the newness of life, the fulfillment of Christ's work upon the cross for your salvation.

For this reason, your prayer should then be that of our collect today, that God would graft into your hearts the love of His Son and the desire to be Christ-like - to be “slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.” (Psalm 103:8b)

So, with this frame of mind, what should happen to you when you become angry? First, you should feel compelled by the Word of God to run to your baptism, to rejoice again in how you have been forgiven, and how your neighbor requires this same reconciliation and new life in Christ Jesus.

Now, many of you have undoubtedly prayed these words of Psalm 4, “Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.” (v. 4). These are not words condoning the anger of our hearts, but as the Church Fathers often read them, words that lead and encourage us to do as our Gospel says today,
Therefore if you bring your gift to the altar and there, remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar, and go your way. First, be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.

In other words, when you experience anger throughout life, run through meadow or highwater to reconcile with your neighbor so that there may be peace among the relationships of your horizontal life so that your vertical relationship with your heavenly Father is not altered. 

In the end, there’s no denying how the murder that follows the anger of your heart lurks in your life and affects your relationships. There's no denying God knows your sins. But isn’t this the hard part for us, taking ownership and speaking aloud the words, “I am sorry, I have sinned.”

You are called to confess your trespasses audibly upon your lips because they lead you out of the wilderness and to those sweet words from one another and anchored in the cross of Jesus, “I forgive you.”

This is where the writings of the Law and the Prophets were leading and pointing throughout all of Scripture – to Jesus, “The Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.”

Your sin and mine.

When you take a step back in life, it's really something, isn't it? How something as simple as a missing button can turn hearts in on themselves and upon one another.

But don’t forget the answer to your anger, and all that ails you is always right before you; look to your Savior, Jesus Christ, as He continues to look upon you.

What better gift can there be for two people at odds than this? The gift of being baptized into Christ's death and raised again to walk in the newness of life. That's the kind of friend I want; that's the brother and sister in Christ I yearn for…

So, be friends with one another and journey to the cross of Christ Jesus together because the forgiveness of sin makes you more than a friend; it makes you brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus. +INJ+

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keeps your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA

The Visitation

Text: Luke 1:39-55

I was recently speaking with some school parents, and they were describing the maps they purchased for their children. One map was so the children could track all the places they had visited throughout the world. The other map was to mark the places they visit here in the United States.

It's quite something to see all the places children travel to today.

Growing up, I believe I was one of the unicorns; I was never blessed with an 8th-grade trip to the great and powerful city of Washington, D.C., like so many children throughout the country today.

What must it be like to be a student or child or one of the over twenty million (According to 2019 statistics) people, a year, who visit Washington, D.C., and see the magnificence of the buildings and monuments of this great city on a hill?

The “City on the Hill.”

John F. Kennedy echoed these words of John Winthrop in a speech as he said,
Today the eyes of all people are truly upon us--and our governments, in every branch, at every level, national, state, and local, must be as a city upon a hill--constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and their great responsibilities.

Is that the city we live near? A place “constructed and inhabited by men aware of their great trust and great responsibilities?”

You know, in the verse before the Gospel today, Mary responds to the angel Gabriel’s announcement of the Christ child she will bear, “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word.” (Luke 1:38)

How often do you who dwell near this great city join Mary’s confession, “I am a servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word?” You can just hear these words flowing off your lips, right?

Alright, probably not. Truthfully, this confession by the mother of our Lord can't be further from your lips.

We live near a city where everyone angles not for servitude but to be served. Our hearts, our minds, and the words of our lips reveal where our trust truly lies. In man, in ourselves.

Still, as we observe the Feast of the Visitation today, the Savior is found within the womb of Mary; she now represents the Church – a Church where Jesus not only visits but dwells within so that He would humbly take upon Himself the form of a servant, you.

Isn't this something? He came into your lowliness as He grew within the womb of Mary, taking upon Himself your corrupted flesh. In doing this, Christ Jesus took your sin of mistrust and failings to the most magnificent cross.

Not really the self-sacrificing image of your lives today, is it?

But here is the image of a true city on a hill because it is a city and Church whose foundation is in the cross of Jesus Christ alone.

A little later in the Gospel of Luke, John the Baptist sent His disciples to Jesus to ask, “Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?” (Luke 7:19)

“Are you the Coming One,” this is the definition of a visitation. It’s as if these disciples are asking Jesus, are you the One that has come to visit us from on high?

Jesus would send the disciples of John the Baptist back to his prison cell with a message regarding His earthly visitation:
“Blind are seeing again, lame are walking around, lepers are being cleansed, and deaf are hearing, dead are being raised, poor are proclaimed the Good News.” (Luke 7:22)

God has come to His people and brought the reign and kingdom of heaven with Him - the true and beautiful great city on a hill.

So often, we travel and visit incredible places throughout our country and the world. In fact, some of us become consumed with going places and seeing things. Sometimes even placing our trust in the great and magnificent buildings and monuments made of men.

However, no great and mighty city on earth, nor its inhabitants, will ever save you.

Instead, the One who came and continues to visit us from high saves you, the child in the manger, wrapped in swaddling clothes.

He gives you true sight when faith falters, He shows you how to walk through life's trials and tribulations, He cleanses you from sin, and opens your ears to faith, that you might be raised from death to life.

My friends, I urge you never to stop coming to this place where Christ dwells to nourish you with the Word and the holy meal of His heaven. Here you can be certain He comes to visit and abide with you.

And when He abides in you, you, as Mary, are blessed because you have confessed with her, “I am a servant of the Lord; let it be to me according to your word?”

What greater joy is there than this? This joy might even cause you and your heart to leap for joy in the womb of Christ’s blessed Church.

May we, like children, never fail to look upon the cross of Christ Jesus with fervent faith and awe, for He has come to visit and redeem us this day. +INJ+

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keeps your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA

Presentation of the Augsburg Confession

Text: Matthew 10:26b-33

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus,

On June 25, 1530, a group of German princes and representatives presented and confessed the Christian faith they shared with Martin Luther and had come to believe to be an accurate exposition of Holy Scripture.

Prior to this date, Charles V, the Holy Roman Emperor, was growing frustrated with the rise of the Lutheran Reformation. In some ways, the whole thing was a distraction as the emperor had a variety of wars he was engaged in at the time.

Due to Luther being an outlaw, he could not travel to Augsburg, so Philipp Melanchthon, a trusted partner of Luther’s and drafter of the confession, went to Augsburg. One thing that became clear as the Lutherans descended upon this city was how they were accused of many ancient heresies.

For this reason and purpose, Melanchthon drafted the first part of the Augsburg Confession rather quickly to succinctly and clearly put forth the Christian faith. 

The simplicity of the Augsburg Confession is one of the reasons it continues to be one of the principal documents of the Reformation, contained in the Lutheran Confession (otherwise known as the Book of Concord) that still presents a summary of the Christian faith for us today.

Another characteristic of the Augsburg Confession is how it presents the Christian faith methodically. The first article of the confession begins with God the Father and Creator, then original sin and man's fall, followed by the Son of God, who in Article IV then provides justification, that is, the forgiveness of sins. As we heard a couple of weeks ago, Article V is about the Office of Holy Ministry and how the gift of forgiveness is given and proclaimed to man, which explains in Article VI how we are to live and in Article VII be the Church. This whole pattern continues to demonstrate the Christian faith according to God’s Word through a total of twenty-eight articles – while also correcting various false teachings of the Roman Catholic Church. 

But another effect of the Augsburg Confession is this, it unites. This confession united the Lutherans of the Reformation and still unites us in the one Christian faith. But why?

Isn’t this the great question of Lutheranism? Why? Or “What does this mean?”

As Luther confessed nine years earlier at the Diet of Worms, even against the backdrop of possibly being burned at the stake for the charges of being a heretic in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church, he spoke these famous words, “My conscience is captive to the Word of God. Thus I cannot and will not recant, because acting against one’s conscience is neither safe nor sound. Here I stand; I can do no other. God help me.”

Why won't Luther recant, and what do Luther and all Lutherans stand upon? The Word of God.

The whole Reformation was a return to God's Word, as it is the very thing that sparked Luther to begin questioning the Roman Catholic Church in the first place.

As we heard a couple weeks ago, the words that caused such a spark within Luther came from the Apostle Paul as he wrote in the book of Romans:
For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)

“As it is written, ‘The righteous (those forgiven by God solely because of His Son, Jesus Christ) shall live by faith.’”

This faith is an absolute trust in Christ Jesus, His life, death, and resurrection.

And this faith produces an icon and image of Jesus and His cross within you, that as you live out and confess your faith in the Church and world, people do not see you; instead, they see Christ Jesus, Himself. As Luther remarked, “In the good we do, we are just “little Christs” to each other (LW, Vol. 31, pages 367-368).

But more, having the joy of this Christian faith strengthens you to confess it with the likes of Luther before men. For Jesus spoke in the Gospel,
“Therefore whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 10:32-33)

Saint John Chrysostom remarked regarding these words,
           The Son does not here speak soothing words but rather speaks of the consequences of denial. Note carefully: It is not by some power within yourself that you make your confession but by the help of grace from above. But if you deny me, the Son, he is saying, then I will deny you in the presence of the Father. Someone may then object: “How then am I to be blamed if God, forsaking me, denies me?” The answer is, Your being forsaken is the fault of you yourself, the forsaken person, not of God.

“But why,” you object, “should I need to confess faith with my mouth if I confess faith in my mind?” No, we must confess with our mouths in order that we may be steadily trained to speak boldly. It is only through this more abundant love and determination that we will be raised on high.

            In this way, Jesus addresses himself to each one of us personally. He is not here addressing his original disciples only but every one of us who follows after his disciples in accord with their witness to him. One who learns this lesson will teach it in boldness to others, prepared to suffer all things easily and with a ready mind. This is why so many have come to have faith in the witness of the apostles to this Word.

Chrysostom ends here by pointing us again back to the Words of the Holy Scripture. This is not only the tradition of the Church but the foundation and rule of faith throughout the Church’s life – the Word of God.

So take stock of your lives; how do you confess the Holy Word of God in the many vocations you possess as husband and wife, son and daughter, executive or reporter, teacher or pastor; people should not see you, but Christ Jesus Himself.

Are you “little Christs” to one another within your homes, offices, and the Church?

The reality is that few of us will ever present ourselves before emperors, kings, and presidents to confess our faith with the Lutheran Reformers. But we'll also never be ready for that day if we do not confess this faith in our homes, offices, churches, and ordinary daily lives.

This confession of the Christian faith must begin in the heart and exit your lips, but it seldom percolates as it should because of fear.

Fear for our lives, fear for the loss of friends and family, fear of confession and repentance.

Yet, if we do not confess the Christian faith in every aspect of our own lives among one another, we will no longer be “Little Christ’s,” and thus, no longer Christians.

This makes the Gospel's final verse today so terrifying, “But whoever denies Me before men, him I will also deny before My Father who is in heaven.”

In the end, why did the princes, representatives, and reformers of the Lutheran movement stand before the Emperor and the Roman Catholic Church at Augsburg? To confess Jesus and their faith in Him. It’s that simple.

So, do you, too, want to be a radical reformer? Then begin today by repenting of your sin, turn back to your Savior, Jesus Christ, and with your lips, confess His Word among the world you have been placed into.

And when you live in this Word of Christ, rejoice that it is Christ upon which you stand, and with Him, there is nothing and no one to fear. +INJ+

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keeps your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA

Saint Barnabas

Text: Mark 6:7-13 and Acts 11:19-30, 13:1-3

+INJ+

It's all a wonderful and frightening story in the Gospel today; Jesus sends His disciples out two by two. These disciples go out with absolutely nothing to their names.

He commanded these disciples “to take nothing for the journey except a staff—no bag, no bread, no copper in their money belts.”

The ministry they were to bring was to be all about Jesus.

Additionally, there was no governance, constitution, structure, or means of earthly protection for these men – just a Word of repentance and the sweet balm of the Gospel.

This is the Church in its purest form. The ministry of bringing the reign of God to man – the healing Words of Jesus.

And yet, the instruction Jesus provides His disciples also reveals how some would not receive His Word, and when this happens, He says, “shake off the dust under your feet as a testimony against them. Assuredly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city!”

This is pretty gnarly – how’d you like to go out on this journey? Jesus says when someone doesn't receive you in kindness and charity, shake off the dust of your feet as a testimony of God's judgment against them. To be honest, this sounds dangerous.

Still, since Pentecost and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit upon the Apostles, Jesus has been sending out His Apostles into parts unknown, with nothing but His Word. This is a good time to remember that a disciple is a student, and an apostle is one that is sent out.

We see this with Paul and Barnabas in the epistle today as they continued to take the message of repentance and forgiveness to those who would listen.

This message is what makes Christianity different from all other religions.

Yet, the Church has had to remain on guard throughout the centuries for error, distractions, or a departure from this message of Jesus.

Luther saw this in the Roman Catholic Church of his time, which is why, when he “rediscovered” the Gospel in reading the book of Romans, he sought to confess God's Word with the likeness of the first apostles. Luther desired to see the Church return to Jesus's words. Thus, the term “Reformation” is a return to the original form. 

What were those words of Paul that reformed Luther, this,
For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.” (Romans 1:16-17)

To summarize, God forgives, and a forgiven person will then want to help his or her neighbor.

Is this an image of the Church today?

In the first of confessional documents presented by Lutherans before Charles the V, the Augsburg Confession layouts in a methodical order what the ministry and Church are to be.

Article V of the Augsburg Confession, regarding the ministry, states,
So that we may obtain this faith (the faith of justification and forgiveness), the ministry of teaching the Gospel and administering the Sacraments was instituted. Through the Word and Sacraments, as through instruments, the Holy Spirit is given [John 20:22]. He works faith when and where it pleases God [John 3:8], in those who hear the good news that God justifies those who believe that they are received into grace for Christ's sake. This happens not through our own merits but for Christ's sake.[1]

Further, Article VII of the Augsburg Confession, regarding the Church, states,
Our churches teach that one holy Church is to remain forever. The Church is the congregation of saints [Psalm 149:1] in which the Gospel is purely taught, and the Sacraments are correctly administered. For the true unity of the Church, it is enough to agree about the doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments…. As Paul says, “One Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” (Ephesians 4:5–6).[2]

Did you hear this, “For the true unity of the Church it is enough to agree about the doctrine of the Gospel and the administration of the Sacraments.”

So the Church is pure when doctrine (the teachings of God's Word) and the Sacraments are administered correctly, and the purpose of the Office of Holy Ministry is to deliver these beautiful gifts to you, God's holy children.

But was this the image of the Church at the time of the Reformation? Or, as you examine the Church (capital "C") today, is this the image of the Church you see?

The Lutheran theologian Hermann Sasse once wrote an observation of the Christian Faith and the Church:
If one asks what the one characteristic feature of the Christian faith is, distinguishing it from all religions in the world, then we would have to say: It is the forgiveness of sins. The pious Jew and even a pious Mohammedan may hope for God's pardon. Forgiveness is a real gift, the full assurance of forgiveness that is the gift of the Gospel.

To proclaim the Gospel of forgiveness, to declare to repentant sinners the forgiveness of their sins, to distribute the Sacraments with all the gifts of divine grace contained in them, this and nothing else, is the proper task of the minister of Christ as it was the official proprium [proper office] of Christ Himself. This the Church had to learn in the great crisis of the second century. . . . The church administration in Europe follows the patterns of the administration of the state, while in America, the great business organizations seem to be unknowingly imitated by the churches. The consequence is that also the parish minister becomes more and more of an administrator and organizer who rushes from meeting to meeting and has not enough time for his proper calling as a shepherd. (Hermann Sasse, “The Crisis of the Christian Ministry,” The Lonely Way: Selected Essays and Letters, Volume 2, Page 371)

Do you agree with these words of Sasse?

It's an interesting observation when compared to how Jesus sent out the disciples in today's Gospel and, later, how the ministry and Church are presented in our Lutheran Confessions.

Has the world around us seeped into the Church? Has the Church taken on an image that follows the blueprint of our time’s great American business organizations?

I’ve always believed where we spend the most time reveals not only what we believe to be most important but the image of what genuinely guides our hearts.

So, do we spend more time in the meetings and business of the Church or in the Divine Service itself, receiving the gifts of God? Do we find ourselves arrested by fear and anger with one another or scheduling time for reconciling and prayer for and with our neighbors? Are pastors of our day hopping from meeting to meeting, as Sasse says, or are they sent off with the likes of the apostles to carry out the frightening and beautiful work they receive from Jesus Himself, to shepherd the flock with the words of repentance and forgiveness?

These are hard questions to wrestle with and may make us even more uncomfortable. But these words of Sasse are also such a blessing as they remind us of the characteristic feature of the Christian faith, “The forgiveness of sins.”

For this reason alone, today, the Church should observe St. Barnabas.

First, a little background, Barnabas’ real name was Joseph, and he was a Jewish Levite. After hearing the Gospel, he sold some of his earthly possessions and laid the money at the feet of the disciples – he desired to aid the poor in Jerusalem and support the Church. For this, the Apostles called him Barnabas, which means “Son of Encouragement.” That’s a nice name, isn’t it?

This encouragement is another way to lift another person’s spirits or comfort and provide consolation. I cannot think of a better place and way to receive such encouragement than in the Church of God – where the tired, those burdened by the world, and those who require refuge can come to receive the healing balm of Christ Jesus. 

While Barnabas did indeed support the ministry of the apostles through financial means, he also journeyed with Paul to Antioch to carry out the ministry entrusted to them by Christ Himself. It was here we heard, “And in Antioch the disciples were first called Christians.”

Another beautiful name and title because where there is a Christian, there is a heart led not only to receive the gifts of God's forgiveness but a forgiven person with a desire to forgive and help his or her neighbor.

This is the Church in its purest form.

As we remember Barnabas and all the apostles, we should take the words of the collect we prayed to heart as we petitioned God, “Grant that we may follow [the] example [of Barnabas] in lives given to charity and the proclamation of the Gospel.”

When you get to it, this is truly beautiful and frightening - confessing sin, forgiving others, and extending charity.

But, like Barnabas, it’s who we, as the Church, are called to be. +INJ+

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keeps your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA

[1] McCain, P. T. (Ed.). (2005). Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions (p. 33). St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.

[2] McCain, P. T. (Ed.). (2005). Concordia: The Lutheran Confessions (p. 34). St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.

ILS 2023 Closing Chapel

***Note: The below chapel sermon was given at Immanuel Lutheran Church and School on June 9, 2023. For context, Immanuel Lutheran Church and School is situated in Northern Virginia, and many students move from year to year due to their parent's employment or military service.

Closing Chapel Service
of Immanuel Lutheran School
June 9, 2023

My friends, the last day of school has arrived. It’s kind of crazy to believe, isn’t it? The time has come for us to say “Goodbye” for another summer.

But have you ever thought about all the ways people say goodbye in the world? I mean, there is the straightforward, “Bye.” But have you heard other ways of saying, “Goodbye?”

In Spanish there is “Adios.”

If you are wanting to have fun with someone you might say, “See you later – alligator.”

Or the Italians might say, “Ciao.”

The French say “Adieu.”

Or the British would say, “Cheerio” or “Ta-Ta.”

All of this brings to my mind the song from The Sound of Music,

So long, farewell
Auf Weidersehen, goodbye
I leave and heave
A sigh and say goodbye
Goodbye

 But what does it mean to say “Goodbye?”

This word came about in the late 16th century, but like so many words, it has a deep Christian meaning. It means “God be with ye.”

That’s right, “Goodbye” means “God be with you.”

As we all prepare to depart today, I want you to take a look to your left and right; some of your friends, classmates, and teachers will not be among us next year. Whether it’s a move to a new state, a new country, or a new school down the road – today we say “Goodbye.”

And while it might sound kind of sad, it turns out, it is a pretty great thing to say to a friend, “God be with you.”

And He is!

He is with all of you today, tomorrow, and always – no matter where you spend your summer, no matter where you attend school next year, where you move, or no matter what happens in life – God is with you.

And if you should ever forget this, let your memories of Immanuel Lutheran School be your reminder, because Immanuel means – “God with us.” (Matthew 1:23)

So as you walk out of school today and head home, be sure to say to one another, “Goodbye.”

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA

ILS Baccalaureate Service

Immanuel Lutheran School
Baccalaureate Service 2023

One of my favorite things to do this time of year is to read the "Meet Us Monday" blogs of the school because they highlight the graduating class. In these blogs, the students were asked questions like when they first began attending Immanuel Lutheran School, their favorite memory, favorite subject or teacher, hymn, or Scriptural verse.

While these questions cause the students to pause and reflect on their time at Immanuel, no matter how short or long it was, they also reveal a great deal in terms of what or who has formed them while at Immanuel.

My friends, the experiences you have had, the stories you have shared, the trouble you’ve found, the joy, the classes, the teachers, and the chapel have all formed you into who you are today. So tonight, as you prepare to leave the halls of this school, it is good to prepare yourselves for what might form you in the future.

The verse of the year was Romans 12:2, where the Apostle Paul writes, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

As you embark on the next stage of learning, I want you to especially take these words of Paul with you, “Do not be conformed to this world.”

The word “conformed” here means to be formed according to a pattern or mold. The idea is that when you are molded into a pattern, you take on its shape and all its characteristics.

So, to begin this endeavor, you must first ask, what forms or molds you into who you are today?

Like many of your answers in the “Meet us Monday” blogs, you can probably also look to the great memories you have had outside of school, the coach who inspires you, the music you sing, the television you watch, the technology you play on, the books you read, the parents who love you and the home you live – all of these things impress their image upon you too.

In fact, the reality is that where you spend the most time, the gadgets you use the most, the voices you hear the most, and the people you are surrounded by will have the greatest impact in forming and molding you today and into the future.

Over the past few years, I pray that you have been formed and molded, more than anything, in the Word and wisdom of God, so as you prepare to depart, you are ready for the world that awaits you.

But as you venture out and into the world beyond Immanuel, I want to remind you, as the Apostle Paul reminded Timothy in the first reading this evening, that you, too, have been prepared to discern and test the things of this world. Paul wrote;

But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood, you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. 2 Tim 3:14-17

Isn't this comforting? Like Timothy, you are to continue in the things of the Holy Scripture you have already been taught from childhood. But, if anything, you are to continue learning God's Word and wisdom beyond tomorrow when you leave this school as a student for the last time.

But why is this all comforting? Well, because the faith you receive is from God. God gives you the word to speak in the next chapter. The good works you are to give to your neighbor are from God.

Do you see where I am going?

When you are formed and molded in the pattern of God's Word, He lives and dwells within you. So then, when people look at you and see you, they know you are His by the fruit of your words and actions toward them.

Now, none of this means leaving Immanuel will be easy. You will be missed, and we will continue to pray for you because high school will be more challenging.

Not only will you have increased challenges in your studies, but you will experience new cultures and new friends. These new adventures will challenge many of you (and by the way, being challenged isn't bad; it can also help you grow and mature).

As you enter this new chapter, my friends, you must remember, “Do not be conformed to this world.”

But instead, be renewed and formed in the image of Jesus Christ.

As we heard at the end of the second reading, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us.” (John 1:14)

The incarnate Word, Jesus Christ, became flesh, meaning, He took upon Himself the image, the mold, and pattern of man – to be your Savior.

This is your great joy, that as you might feel peer pressure, your Jesus died for you. If you feel bullied, your Jesus died for you. If you feel alone as you walk through the doors of your new school that first day, your Jesus died for you. And He also rose again that you might have life in His name.

So as you depart this place, remember what you have been taught; God has used His servants here to form you in the pattern of His Word.

He did this so that you would never forget you have a Savior, and He is your Immanuel, God with you.

He is your comfort and defense throughout this life, even unto life everlasting.

+INJ+

Trinity Sunday

Text: John 3:1-15

In the Gospel reading, Nicodemus comes to Jesus at night. He’s an intelligent and insightful man. Yet, like us, he still walks in darkness. He has the knowledge of this world, and he even has knowledge of the Old Testament, but he struggles to understand God's ways.

On Trinity Sunday, we pause to observe this struggle in our own faith.

One of the traditions of Trinity Sunday is that many congregations use the Athanasian Creed to confess the mysteries of God that are beyond our understanding. All three of the Church's creeds reveal God in three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. They all call us not only to confess but to sit at our Father's feet and grapple with how His compassion is revealed in His Son and delivered through the work of the Spirit.

So grapple with this thought, a father's love does not depend on a child's understanding. Think of raising a child; the child receives the food, clothing, and shelter he or she needs. Yet, they take it for granted. Even as a child has a temper tantrum in the backseat of the car, even as they grow and one day wrecks the car, even as they go off and depart as the prodigal son from the home of the father, the father continues to love the child.

The great Proverb says, “Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old, he will not depart from it." The child receives everything needed for this life, even among the tantrums. Yet, the history of the world is that of a child raging against his Father, even as he lives off his inheritance. Reflect on the Prodigal Son; it's the story of a man who takes his inheritance and runs. He lives recklessly, wasting everything he has to the point of death.

Yet, the father still loves the son. The Father waits patiently. The Father urges repentance and grants forgiveness upon the son's return. This beautiful truth is revealed through the well-known passage that follows today’s Gospel, John 3:16, “That God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.”

All of this is set against the opening lines of the Athanasian Creed, which says, “Whoever desires to be saved must, above all, hold the catholic faith (That is, the universal Christian faith). Whoever does not keep it whole and undefiled will without doubt perish eternally."

Notice this statement reveals that knowledge does not deliver eternal life to you. Instead, the aspect of childlike faith we have been granted trusts the Word of God and leads us to salvation in Christ.

Again, reflect on the passage of John 3:16; this death and resurrection of Jesus was foreshadowed in and recalls the manner God saved the people of Israel as they journeyed through the wilderness to the Promised Land, “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.” It's faith in this truth that saves; it's faith in Jesus that gives eternal life. This faith propels you to good works that move you to care for your children and, in turn, for children to care for their parents. Our faith is not based on our knowledge or abilities to solve God as a rubrics cube, but rather, our faith is based on trusting Him. A trust that your sins are forgiven because of Jesus on the cross. A trust that you will be raised in the resurrection because Jesus rose from the grave.

Today, Jesus teaches Nicodemus this faith as it is set forth for you in the creeds. Jesus teaches Nicodemus about the Trinity and Baptism, the new birth from above.

The new birth from above is a birth of water and Spirit. The gift from God the Father brings us into His Holy family, receiving the Holy Spirit so that when we hear the Words of Jesus, we would joyfully believe in His Father’s mercy.

However, Nicodemus doesn’t understand and wonders, how can these things be? So Nicodemus struggles with understanding God. But what is fascinating is that even as Nicodemus comes into the darkness to Jesus, he keeps listening and struggling. He keeps struggling even to the end when he comes with Joseph of Arimathea to the tomb to help bury the Lord's body after the crucifixion.

This comforts us today because it reveals how the Christian faith is a struggle. In many ways, our path is the same as Nicodemus'. We struggle, fight, and stumble under the weight of the crosses of this life as we journey to the grave. Our lives are full of darkness. Although we have been born from above and received new life in Baptism, our flesh is weak and sinful. Our passions wage war against the Holy Spirit; the war breeds resistance to God's Word and leads us to live for ourselves.

Examine how you have been delivered from the bondage of sin in your life - the pride and bitterness, the allure of other religions and gods, and the ways you begin to rely upon your own reason and knowledge.

The deliverance you have received begins in the darkness of the font’s grave. This new birth spoken of isn’t a metaphor. Instead, it’s a gift that is received and makes you a child of God. The font of Baptism now calls you to place your trust in God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Think back to the Prodigal Son. Even while being wrapped up in sin and inclined to trust in himself rather than his father, the father continued to wait for him, his dear child.

Even as you wander, your heavenly Father also waits for you.

So take note that as you walk in the darkness of this life, the words of Christ continue to be spoken into your ears so that the light of Christ shines on you and within you. His words now give you the truth and knowledge you need in this life so that you will not wander after the things of this world but rejoice that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins. Faith in him now gives you eternal life in heaven.

Honestly, my friends, Trinity Sunday is not about figuring out the Trinity; instead, it's about adoration and praise for the Trinity and how you are given a gift no one can snatch away in Baptism. You are baptized in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Spirit. This name makes you a child of God. This name shines light into your darkened world and leads you in the way you shall go, the way of God. This light will bring you into eternal life with the blessed Trinity forever. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keeps your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA

Seventh Sunday of Easter + Exaudi

Text: John 15:26-16:4

+INJ+

Growing up in the Church, I often found these Sundays leading to Pentecost and the pouring out of the Holy Spirit challenging to comprehend. To a child, the Holy Spirit might appear to be an inanimate object or an imaginary friend.

For these reasons alone, the beginning of today’s Gospel can also be challenging to fully comprehend as Jesus says to His disciples, “But when the Helper comes…."

The “Helper” sounds nice, doesn't it? One might think that Jesus and His Father are sending someone to assist and support you in your endeavors. Like a mommy's helper who gives a mother aid around the home or an administrative assistant to keep your schedule and life straight. In some ways, sending a helper might lead you to believe you are the one driving the verbs of life, which isn't helpful in this situation at all.

Another translation Luther liked was “When the Comforter comes.”

This isn’t wrong either, but what does it mean that He will bring you comfort? What does comfort look like in this world today? Money? Great jobs? Flexible leave and retirement benefits? Well-behaved children? Schools without homework?

A more literal and fitting translation would be “when the Paraclete comes…." But this isn’t familiar to our way of speaking. A paraclete sounds more like a parrot-cleat, and while the Holy Spirit is often depicted as a dove throughout Scripture; I'm unsure many of you are looking for or would welcome a parrot into your lives.

But in all seriousness, to be the Paraclete means that Jesus is sending you an advocate to defend and protect you. He is to be “the legal advisor of the accused or defendant, who takes on, to defend the accused, [or] get things in order.” (Martin Luther)

In some ways, as I take on more responsibilities for the care of my aging parents, I see the role of an executor or fiduciary the same – one who will defend those who are now unable to protect themselves, to give protection where it is needed, to help keep their lives in order.

But why would you need an advocate in your life?

Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that you should not be made to stumble. They will put you out of the synagogues; yes, the time is coming that whoever kills you will think that he offers God service.”

Well, this sounds just splendid, doesn’t it?

Jesus speaks here of the hour or time when the witness and testimony of the disciples will have them being cast out of the Church as heretics.

Notice Jesus says it will be the Church that will reject the disciples’ witness of Him. For this reason, one should carefully examine any confession of faith they might be led to believe is true. Because Jesus says again today, the stumbling block and scandal of the sin of unbelief is His Gospel – it’s Him.

As we heard in the Gospel for the Ascension of our Lord this past Thursday, Jesus said to His disciples,
Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things. (Luke 24:46-48)

Again, the big scandal is preaching Jesus' death and resurrection (in which the disciples were eyewitnesses). The preaching of these things, along with a message of repentance and the remission of sins, was enough to continue causing a stir among Jewish leaders of the infant Church.

Just as Jesus was chased from the synagogue of His hometown, His disciples would now endure the same fate to their death.

A similar situation occurred for the Belgian Augustinian monks Heinrich Voes and Johann Esch during the Reformation. Their crime was they refused to recant the glorious truths of the Gospel – they believed in the doctrine of the Reformation and a return to the teaching of Jesus Christ. For their confession, they were burned at the stake. In response, it is widely believed Martin Luther wrote his first hymn in their honor, “A New Song We Raise.”

While the times are changing, the Church today must continue to hold fast to her teachings as she is penetrated by a culture gone woke or the idea that God’s Word can be mutable – that is, easy to change as the world does.

For your unchanging faith in Jesus, He tells you to be prepared to suffer and defend your faith throughout all the hours of this life.

In fact, the confirmands will be asked next week, “Do you intend to live according to the Word of God, and in faith, word, and deed to remain true to God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, even to death?”

As we have heard, this is a serious question with significant ramifications. Therefore, it should not be discounted or taken lightly. But it is required of any disciple or faithful student of Jesus Christ.

In his book The Cost of Discipleship, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, “When all is said and done, the life of faith is nothing if not an unending struggle of the spirit with every available weapon against the flesh.”

The life of true faith is a struggle, and your own flesh and human nature are the greatest enemy. For one, because you wrestle with the idea that forgiveness could be entirely God's work applied to you, the devil leads you to believe you must somehow contribute to His sacrifice to earn His forgiveness.

But the book of Hebrews clearly states,
And every priest stands daily at his service, offering repeatedly the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. (Hebrews 10:11-12)

What a mic drop, “But when Christ had offered for all time a single sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God.”

Atonement has been made upon the cross, Jesus has ascended, and now He sits at His Father's right hand, the place of power and authority.

From here, Jesus says, “When the Helper comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, He will testify of Me.”

I love it; the Holy Spirit will not only testify and give witness to Christ Jesus, “who is the way, the truth, and the life,” but through this testimony, create an enduring faith within you – the hearer, His disciple.   

A significant challenge the Church must wrestle with today is how to confess the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ – how do we teach and support not only ourselves but the young people among us in the struggle of faith as they go off to various schools and colleges and are exposed to competing worldviews and religious traditions?

Some would say we (the Church) need to change and adapt. Maybe we need a more prominent social media presence or a hip Twitter account (or whatever the kiddos are on today). But I believe the encouragement by the Apostle Paul to his pupil Timothy remains an incredible help to us.

Paul writes, “Follow the pattern of the sound words you have heard from me, in the faith and love in Christ Jesus.” (2 Timothy 1:13)

The pattern of sound and words calls for Timothy and us to rely upon what was established by Jesus Christ and handed down to us today in Holy Scripture.

Again, as we learn from the book of Hebrews, “In many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son. (Hebrews 1:1-2)

The words and testimony of Jesus are what the Holy Spirit delivers to you and the means to gather God's Church on the earth and in heaven.

So, we are simply called to repeat the sound words and teaching of Jesus Christ as we do within the Church every Lord’s Day, but also within our homes.

My friends, today is like a bit of an awkward stage in the life of the Church Year, Ascension Day has occurred, but Pentecost won’t come for another week. So now we are in a time of anticipation for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit.

Isn't this an image of life? We're here, but we're constantly waiting and anticipating our Lord's return, the day we will be gathered into His eternal kingdom.

While we wait, take comfort that you have not been abandoned, but Jesus has sent you the Helper to keep you in the one true faith. Through His Word, He will also be your comfort in times of trial, your advocate and defense against the false teachings that permeate the Church on earth.

So come and remain witnesses of Jesus’ death and resurrection through the continual hearing and preaching of the apostolic Word of God. And as you strive to keep on the narrow way of faith, have the confidence to raise your voice with the martyrs of old in the confession of Jesus as the Christ. +INJ+

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA

Sixth Sunday of Easter + Rogate

Text: John 16:23-33

Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation…."

These aren't just the words of Jesus; these are the words of His Father in the Garden as He spoke to your first parents, Adam and Eve.
         To the woman, he said,
“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
         in pain, you shall bring forth children.      

And to Adam, God said,
Cursed is the ground because of you;
         in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life.

These words confirm that while dwelling in this world, man will experience tribulation in the simple process of feeding and providing for his family. While the woman, your first mother, and all mothers would endure and experience the pains and sorrow of conceiving and bearing children.

What follows the Fall is that Adam named His wife Eve "because she was the mother of all living.” She was a life-giver. Yet, the anguish of this life is realized as her firstborn, Cain, rises to take the life of his very brother (and her son), Abel.

What distress and affliction Eve, "the life-giver," must have felt. One life she bore, taken by the hand of another. Her son Cain wandered off and failed to listen to the very voice of God she, too, had failed to heed, the voice of warning.

The voice of Jesus also provides us today with a warning and comfort; he says,
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world, you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."

So often, we see the tribulations of this life as external things that we might conquer or people we may defeat.

However, while tribulation is often caused by an external matter, man's heart is most severely harmed and wounded by these moments and times Jesus warns of – the moments of distress, affliction, and oppression.

For this reason, the real genesis of our tribulations resides in our heart, those matters of life, often only known to us and God, the items and sins we silently carry with us, press in and weigh upon the mind and heart – those who join Hannah in the barrenness of the womb, finding themselves in the “bitterness of soul, and [praying] to the Lord and weeping in anguish.” (1 Sam. 1:10 NKJV). Or those who continue to mourn the child's death who never would inhale the air of this world or feel a mother’s embrace. Or those who weep with the mothers and fathers of Bethlehem’s holy innocents when the lives of schoolchildren are taken through senseless violence.

Still, there is the destruction of relationships that pit you against your brother or sister in Christ, as Cain rises against Abel. The jealousy of your heart, the different political views, the arguments over how to best care for your aging parents.

Unlike Abel, your adversaries still walk this earth, but in your heart, they have already been struck down and killed.

What do you do with this hurt and anger you harbor?

You know, a couple of weeks ago, we heard Jesus say,
A woman, when she is in labor, has sorrow because her hour has come; but as soon as she has given birth to the child, she no longer remembers the anguish or joy that a human being has been born into the world. Therefore you now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart will rejoice, and your joy no one will take from you. (John 16:21-22)

Here, the Greek word for “anguish” is the same as tribulation, θλιψις, so the idea here is that once the labor and pain of giving birth are passed, it is gone, and what remains is joy and peace.

This image of childbirth also relates to Israel’s suffering, captivity, and deliverance. But more, it foreshadows Christ Jesus' passion, death, and resurrection that first Easter morning. Into the womb of the grave, His body will go, but triumphantly, Jesus will rise – He will bring to you and deliver to you the joy of His victory - His peace.

So now, for those who continue to experience the sorrows and anguish of life, Jesus says to you, “whatever you ask the Father in My name He will give you.”

And no, this does not imply the Father will grant you the children of the womb you may desperately want, nor does it mean your labors of providing for your family will ease in life. 

But, it does declare to you that the joy of His peace is present for you today. This is what Jesus says your heavenly Father wishes to give each of you who are hurt and are oppressed, His eternal peace.

So, what does this mean for today? It means we must learn and remember again these words of David, “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you.” Psalm 50:15a

This verse leads us into the Divine Service where our humble voices and lives cry out with all the Church on earth to the One who can and does grant help in our great times of distress and need.

In fact, Luther calls the Church:
Our free mother… the bride of Christ who gives birth to all. She goes on giving birth to children without interruption until the end of the world, as long as she exercises the ministry of the Word, that is, as long as she preaches and propagates the Gospel; for this is what it means for her to give birth.[1]

This ministry of new birth is carried out as the children of Christ are taken into the womb of the font and delivered to new life by the baptismal waters of Christ that continue to flow over you this day.

As Jesus said to Nicodemus, 
Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (John 3:5-6)

So, you are invited to live in the baptismal birth of water and spirit always, being led by the Holy Spirit that dwells within you to the altar where you will be fed not with the fading food of life that was produced with thorns and thistles but with the heavenly food of Christ Jesus Himself.

This is how the Church continues to give birth and care for her dear children on earth.

You know, it’s striking to reflect on Jesus’ last words from the cross. While our words often hurt and harm, His words confessed love and care, especially for His mother. 

The Gospel of John says,
When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Woman, behold, your son!" Then he said to the disciple, "Behold, your mother!" And from that hour, the disciple took her to his own home.

This is an image of the Church today. Jesus makes Mary a new Eve from the cross if you will. Mary is now the mother of the Seed born of woman, foreshadowed in the Garden - He who now gives true and eternal life.

While Mary now embraces John as her son, so John is entrusted with the care of Jesus’ mother. So here you now have a new family formed in Jesus under the cross, quite frankly, formed under the anguish and tribulation of life.

But look at this family above our altar, see the statues of Mary and John; they aren’t looking at us, they aren’t looking at each other, they aren’t saying, “Pray to me!” either. No, they’re looking to Christ and pointing all of us, as their words and confessions always have, to the One who has conquered this world and the afflictions of your life.

His arms, now extended, embrace, and invite you into His Church.

So, come to where Christ is present for you – where He unites and commands you to embrace one another as brothers and sisters of His family.

My friends, bring the anguish and tribulations of your heart to the foot of the cross where Christ Jesus has taken them upon Himself, call out in His name to your Father in heaven, and then listen to the voice of Jesus and receive the life and peace of your risen and triumphant Savior this day. +INJ+

 Alleluia! Christ is Risen!
         He is Risen Indeed! Alleluia!

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA

[1] Luther, M. (1999). Luther’s works, vol. 26: Lectures on Galatians, 1535, Chapters 1-4. (J. J. Pelikan, H. C. Oswald, & H. T. Lehmann, Eds.) (Vol. 26, p. 441). Saint Louis: Concordia Publishing House.

Third Sunday of Easter + Misericordias Domini

Text: John 10:11-16

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

What sweet words of life for the Lord of Life! They’re simply joyful to say and bring happiness to the most melancholy hearts.

Yet, we do not live in a time when life is treasured and revered as it ought. Instead, the world around us reveals a culture of death.

This dichotomy of these cultures’ pit life and death in what appears as an ongoing battle some 2000 years after Christ’s resurrection.

This battle was on full display as competing voices of death and life were gathered at the steps of the United State Supreme Court in 2021 as they heard oral arguments regarding the Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization – the case that would eventually overturn Roe v. Wade.

That day, it was quite the scene with barricades in a line down the middle to separate the two groups. The voices of the two sides couldn't be more different. Their words are a tale of two stories – two worldviews and cultures. A culture of life and another of death.

While the Dobbs victory and overturning of Roe was a great one for life. It was still a judicial and legal victory. While it saves life (thankfully!), it ultimately will not create the culture of life we so desperately need. This is a different thing altogether.

Ultimately, when you get to the basis of belief, these two cultures on display before the Supreme Court were formed by the behaviors, beliefs, and values taught and handed down from one generation to the next. Often (but not always) in a home or a classroom.

So, what type of culture can be found within your home, and how is it being formed and nurtured in the hearts of your family?

In another way, one should ask whose voice forms your heart's faith. Is it the Good Shepherd and the Lord of Life, or have you permitted the ancient enemy, the wolf, to enter your ears and snatch the joy of your heart, scattering you from the sheepfold?

Regrettably, we have welcomed the voice of the wolf into our lives all too easily.

Look at the video games your children have become addicted to, the movies you watch, and the news that “informs” you of what is happening throughout the world. What your families consume often fills your lives with a flood of tragedy. Leading you to bouts of depression, anger, and a mental health crisis of epic proportions – which is tragically increasing among the young and adolescents.

Further, recent research demonstrates most of the news and information today is of the negative sort – meant to stir up emotions and outrage in a person. So it should not shock us that even we, people of life, see the joy of Easter fade from our lips so quickly in the shadows of Christ’s tomb.

Think about this: what we consume for entertainment, news, and information is like food for the body, revealing a culture of death that transcends abortion and assisted suicide. It lives in your heart and is displayed in how the wolf uses your tongue to hurt and murder your neighbors with your very words.

So, how is this culture altered? How do you guard your heart and the door of your lips against such a dark and perverted world?

You begin by ceasing to wander as sheep that have gone astray; instead, turn, repent of your sin, and open your ears first to the voice of your true Shepherd. Listen to the voice of Jesus as He says, "I am the good Shepherd. The good Shepherd lays down His life for His sheep."

Did you hear that “The good shepherd lays down His life for His sheep?" He sacrifices Himself for you.

In other words, the fight of this life isn’t yours at all – rather, it resides with Jesus and His cross.

That means you are now simply called to confess Him in this world. And learning to confess Jesus begins in your homes.

So, what are the loudest voices in your home today? What receives the most significant priority? Sports, music lessons, a continuation of the day’s work, television, your phone?

Examining and identifying these items will begin to reveal what is genuinely forming the hearts and minds of your family, not only today but for the days and years to come.

If you want to change this culture, learn and teach your home to confess Jesus. This has to happen in the home church before you can be expected to confess Him in your lives and out among the people of this world.

But what does it mean to confess Jesus? It simply means hearing His voice and then repeating His Words into your neighbor's ears.

Remember, the fight of this life isn't yours – rather, it resides with Jesus.

Therefore, His voice must be heard and then transform the hearts of those who dwell in the shadows of death through the work of the Holy Spirit.      

The culture we seek must begin with the voice of Jesus. His voice must be on your lips as you speak to your family and friends. His words must be your confession as you venture to school and work because, through them, the very community and culture the Church is called to pasture in are formed by the voice of Life Himself.  

As Peter said to Jesus earlier in the Gospel of John, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. (John 6:68)

The battle of life and death is not yours, but as we sang the last two weeks in Christians, to the Paschal Victim,

Death and life have contended
In that combat stupendous:
The Prince of life, who died,
Reigns immortal.

While the dichotomy of cultures pits life and death in an ongoing battle still today, you know the end and how the Lord of Life has won.

So hear and learn to confess Jesus in your lives, walks, vocations, and homes - read the Scriptures together, pray together, and sing with one another. In this way, God the Holy Spirit will form your behaviors and beliefs, giving you the words to speak so the people around you not only hear but know the voice of the Good Shepherd because while the wolf still growls, Your Shepherd has struck him with a fatal blow, knocking out his teeth through His death upon the cross. From this point forward, his bite will only last one bitter hour, whereas the Shepherd has prepared an eternal home for you in the pastures of His Father’s land.

What great joy this is for you!

Today is Good Shepherd Sunday, so learn again how to be His little lambs. Learn to trust in Jesus to care for and defend you – in life and death.

There is no doubt that as you look around this world, all you will see is a world of decay. However, the joy of Easter reminds you how your Savior, Jesus Christ shattered death's reign over a man and transformed the grave into a portal to life everlasting.

So come and follow the baptismal waters to the table He has prepared for you in the face of your enemies, take the food of His flesh into yourself, and trust in your Good Shepherd to remain with you all the days of your life.  +INJ+

 Alleluia! Christ is risen! Amen.

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA

Second Sunday of Easter + Quasimodo Geniti

Text: John 20:19-31

“Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

As a pastor, especially in the school, I receive a question: "Who gives you the right to forgive my sins?"

The answer is timeless and never changes - “Jesus!”

It's the best answer and the best place to start for all things theological – the words of Jesus.

Just as we heard Jesus speaking to the Apostles in the Gospel today,
[He] said to them again, "Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you." And when He had said this, He breathed on them, saying, “Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven them; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

The Word of Christ is the authority granted to the Church on earth for lowly pastors (human men) to announce the forgiveness of sins to the repentant sinner – true words of comfort and peace.

But, I fear our love of self and independence hinders our faith and the churchly order God has established to announce His grace to His Church on earth.

Luther rightly stated in the Large Catechism:
“Everything, therefore, in the Christian Church is ordered toward this goal: we shall daily receive in the Church nothing but the forgiveness of sin through the Word and signs (sacraments), to comfort and encourage our consciences as long as we live here” (LC II 55).[1]

But the conscience that does not audibly hear the peace of Christ Jesus in the absolution of sin cannot know this joy. Remember, “Faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” (Romans 10:17) So, without this hearing of God’s Word of absolution, the conscience remains bound up in the terrors of sin and death.

In other words, one remains intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually locked up behind the doors of sin. The door is only opened when Christ opens it through His peace. He now speaks to His Church through the apostles and pastors He sends to be among those who remain shut up from the sin caused by the fears of this life.

A new phobia I’ve learned of is Cleithrophobia, which is the fear of being trapped or locked in a confined space.

If you recall, the disciples in the Gospel today found themselves locked up behind closed doors – “For fear of the Jews.”

At the root of this locking and shutting of the door for the disciples and those who suffer from Cleithrophobia is κλείω – “to shut or to lock.”

The challenge is that if you have been shut in or locked up in your conscience and heart, you cannot release yourself from what consumes you.

What kept the disciples held up was "Fear."

And guess what the Greek word is for fear? That's right, φόβος. Which means phobia.

Just as the Apostles were fearful of the Jews, the world will tell you today to fear your neighbor, fear the person of the opposite political view, and fear the government.

But are these really the genesis of your phobias in life? Are they really what keeps you trapped and locked behind the walls of your heart? Or is there a more profound fear that has brought disorder to your life? Silencing your confession.

Maybe the greatest fear in life is a loss of control. Perhaps you can't handle others taking the lead.

Or maybe your fear resides in your inability to enter where the seeds of sin and distrust have been sown between you and your neighbor, co-worker, fellow Immanuelite, or family member.

Or do you suffer from bouts of melancholy and anger that have you bound in isolation?

You will never have any semblance of peace if you are unwilling to open your ears and permit Christ’s greeting of peace to pierce your darkness. So, likewise, and in good order, you will never be able to enter and confess this peace to your neighbor in need unless you are willing to enter their darkness with this Word of peace.

Quite honestly, it’s all so frightening, confronting the phobias of your life, the fears that lead you into unbelief – your sin and the people of your life.

As you know, one thing you should avoid online is looking at the signs and symptoms of a disorder or disease. Still, I did anyway, and did you know the signs and symptoms of Cleithrophobia can also be related to the signs and symptoms of sin and a lack of confession:

• Chest pain

• Chills

• Difficulty breathing

• Dizziness

• Fear of losing control

• Nausea

• Racing heartbeat

• Shaking

• Sweating

Isn’t this how you feel when you are at odds with a spouse or a friend? Isn’t this how you feel when you are unwilling to forgive another who stands before you or find yourself trapped in that sin of unbelief?

If so, you aren't alone, and the website is correct when they say these signs may be life-threatening if left untreated. That is why these feelings of sorrow and guilt you experience should drive you to hear and exclaim the Easter message of peace again, “Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

This message of peace frees you, the captive, from the fears and phobias that threaten to paralyze and trap you.

This message is a corporate confession of faith - it confesses with all of Christendom that great Easter message of peace. Or in another way, that the day of forgiveness has arrived.

So, as the introit for this Sunday says, we need to “put away all malice and all deceit and hypocrisy and envy and all slander. Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.

He is good, kind, and charitable. For even as your faith falters like that of the disciples, Jesus does not leave or forsake you but returns to you again and again and again.

So rejoice as I do that Jesus continues to enter into our lives of disorder to speak the words of absolution through His pastors. And then He opens His wounds to you as you are invited to take the flesh of His body into your hands, and the chalice upon your lips at this rail, and He says to you again, His troubled little lamb, “Peace to you!”

“Peace to you!” - This is why pastors stand not only before you today but are called to crossover into the muck and dwell with you in your homes, your lives, your misery, and personal prisons - to announce the good news they’ve been called and sent to proclaim – the news that frees you from your fears and the imprisonment of your heart.

So rejoice for the incredible ways Jesus continues to reveal Himself to you today, and having heard with your ears and received with your lips, let your heart join Thomas in confessing before Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”

And then depart and confess these words of Easter joy in your lives for all to hear:

“Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

“Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

“Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

There are no truer words of peace! Amen!

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA

[1] Luther. (2017). Luther’s Small Catechism with Explanation (p. 315). St. Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.

Easter Vigil + This is the Night…

Text: John 20:1

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

We entered the sanctuary this evening in the silent darkness of night. It's uncomfortable and eerie. We do not like the darkness nor the silence it contains. But, in fact, we are not people of the darkness, nor were we created to be silent creatures.

Yet, “In the beginning…The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep.” (Genesis 1:1-2)

Out of this darkness, “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light. And God saw that the light was good.” (Genesis 1:3-4)

The light of God’s creation was without impurity.

However, Adam and Eve, the image of God, created in human form, destroy the goodness of God's creation through their fall into sin and death, your fall into sin and death.

The Serpent who led your mother, Eve, and father, Adam, into this pit now strives to lead a history of humanity into a permeating darkness of death - a shadow that now creeps closer for each of you with each step you take throughout this life.

For this reason, it's easy to be led into believing with the disciples and followers of Jesus that the cross is the end, death is the final word, and the darkness now wins.

But as we heard at Christmas, 
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God… All things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. (John 1:1-5)

Hear these words again, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”

In the Gospel just read, Mary Magdalene proceeded to the tomb and grave of Jesus “While it was still dark.”

It’s a beautiful pattern of Scripture we see here, God’s people are often met by darkness, but the darkness always gives way to the Light.

It’s been the pattern of life since the Lord of Life Himself first spoke creation into existence, and now, as we meet the silent darkness of this night – we learn to say again with Mary Magdalene the great Easter news, “Alleluia! Christ is risen!”

“He is risen indeed! Alleluia!”

And for this reason – “this is the night when all who believe in Christ are delivered from bondage to sin and are restored to life and immortality.”

“This is the night when Christ, the Life, arose from the dead. The seal of the grave is broken, and the morning of the new creation breaks forth out of night.” (Easter Proclamation)

So run to the darkness of the baptismal font’s grave and bring your anger, envy, and malice - drown these chains of sin and death in the life-giving flood of baptismal waters.

And then rejoice as God raises you in the Light of His reconciling act of redemption!

For this is the night your heavenly Father has kept His promise of old. His Son Jesus Christ, the Light of the world, has led you, His child, out of the darkness of death and the grave to the Light of His everlasting life; He forgives all your sins and assures you forevermore through His abiding Word.

So shout for joy, for creation is restored, sing with the Mary Magdalene, sing with the saints and angels heaven's song - your Savior lives.

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

Alleluia! Christ is risen! He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

AMEN!

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA

Good Friday + Chief Service

Text: John 18-19

“What is man?”

In the beginning, God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26)

What is this image and likeness?

A child is an image of their parent – their appearance, receding hairlines, how they walk, and how they talk.

But, the likeness and image of the Creator reside deeper than flesh. Man, like Adam, receives God's character – God's law, His will written upon the heart.

Genesis goes on to say, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it." (Genesis 2:15). The man carries out the will of God as a manager and steward of creation. His labors are not punishment, nor are they toilsome.

Yet, the question is often asked, what if Adam didn't sin? Or, why didn’t God prevent Adam from being led into the Serpent's temptation?

God did not create Adam to be some sort of mechanized being.

Rather, as we confess in the meaning of the Creed, we learn how he was given as you have been given - body and soul, eyes, ears, and all your members, reason and senses, and the promise that God will continue to care for them – Adam was given the ability to reason, to think, and to speak.

Thus the first temptation of Scripture began with the ancient Serpent leading Eve, Adam’s wife, into doubting God's Word before turning both of them to reject it and ending with Adam and Eve as their own arbiters of right and wrong.

Here it is said, “[The devil] turned Adam and Eve into enthusiasts. He led them away from God’s external Word to spiritualizing and self-pride.” (SA III VIII 5) He led them to seek a word outside of God.

From this moment in time and throughout the ages, philosophers and worldviews have struggled to answer the question, “What is man?”

Is he the product of a god that creates and then walks away from his creation? Or was Adam created as a single substance mutating in time? Or is man a free and responsible agent, determining his development through the acts of his own free will? 

These philosophies and worldviews rely upon the mind and will of man separated from God. They revolve around the created, answering the question of creation while becoming lords over the Creator.

All the worldviews and philosophies of our time reveal the brokenness of a world no longer connected to its Creator and His love. Love that did not abandon His fallen creation but continued to care for it by sending His only begotten Son into it to become Man through His incarnation.

The incarnation – meaning the enfleshment of Jesus Christ, the God-Man.

Jesus becomes the Second Adam, "By the Holy Ghost of the Virgin Mary," He becomes, as Daniel prophecies, the Son of Man, “because He was born of a human mother and assumed all the properties of a true, natural man, yet without sin.”

But, when Pilate announces to the crowd, "Behold the Man!" He reveals to you this night your Lord and your God, He who was handed over to death for the many ways you, like Adam, failed to be a steward of the greatest gifts God entrusts to your care – your fellow man.

So by saying, "Behold the Man!" Pilate uncovers how your evil thoughts of neighbor are the crown of thorns that pricked and stuck the head of Christ.

"Behold the Man!" Confesses how your sinful words toward God and man alike are the spit which splattered upon the face of Christ.

"Behold the Man!" Reveals how your evil deeds and misgivings have whipped and scourged your Christ.

For all of you this night, Pilate announces, “Behold the Man!”

As Isaiah foretells,
There is no beauty that we should desire Him.
         He is despised and rejected by men,
         A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
         And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him. (Isaiah 53:2b-3)

But, for you, the cross becomes the instrument in which “God demonstrates His own love toward [you], in that while [you] were still sinners, Christ died for [you].” (Romans 5:8). In this way, the Creator reveals His compassion and continual care for you, His creation.

Yet, as you depart this night, there is another brief sermon to take with you…

After Jesus’ death, Joseph of Arimathea petitioned Pilate for the body of the Lord so that he and Nicodemus could place it in a tomb within a garden.

As in so many instances, names matter; if you examine the name of Nicodemus, it is a compound of two words. The first is Nikos (or, as many of you would say, Nike), meaning "Victory." And the second demos, meaning "People."

Do you hear that? Into the ground, into the tomb, Nicodemus is placing God’s Son – the Son of Man, He who is the victor of the very men and people who have persecuted Him and caused His Passion – you!

Through the use of Nicodemus, God's victory over sin, the devil, and the world is already being proclaimed.

As you depart this night, take this joy with you, treasure it in your heart, and return with it as we prepare to sing our praises for the resurrection and victory of the Son of Man. +INJ+

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA

Palm Sunday

Text: John 12:12-19

Where are you going?

It’s a question children are asked in various ways and at various times as they mature and grow.

It’s a question we ask ourselves as trouble appears, hindering our steps throughout this troubled life.

It’s a question we try to discern as we depart the graves of our loved ones, intending to move forward and out of the shadows of death.

Where are you going?

In the chapter preceding the Gospel reading from St. John today, Jesus’ friend Lazarus had died. Having heard of Lazarus’ illness, Jesus said to the disciples, “Let us go to Judea again.” (John 11:7)

Why is Jesus taking His disciples to Judea again? He says, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I may wake him up.” (John 11:11)

When it says, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps,” the Greek word for “Sleeps” is “koimeterion,” which is also where we get the word “cemetery” from today. A more literal translation might be a bedroom or a sleeping place for the dead.

So, Jesus will now go to awake and arouse Lazarus from his deep sleep, demonstrating His dominion over life and death.

Still, even as Jesus, the God-Man, approaches the tomb of His friend, He is not without emotion. Instead, the shortest verse of Scripture confesses the great humility and love Jesus has for His brothers and sisters. 

“Jesus wept.” (John 11:35)

Saint Augustine will say, “Why did Christ weep except to teach us to weep?”

The procession of mankind’s history has been flooded by the tears and weeping of men and women.

After their fall into sin, your first parents, Adam and Eve, proceeded out of the Garden and into a life of tears, pain, and thorns of the flesh, accompanied by a promised return to the dust of the earth.

The sin of your first parents abides with you today as you make your procession to the grave and one day return to the dust of the earth.

What is it that will kill you?

The same things were already killing the Disciples: betrayal, denial, the sleep and slumber of unbelief.

Yet, the purpose of this Great Week resides in the tears and compassion of Jesus, to redeem you and His Disciples from the bondage of sin and death.

While we process into the sanctuary this day, we do so that we might enter Jerusalem once again with Christ Jesus and participate in the events of His Passion.

Our procession began with the same cries of the crowds that first Palm Sunday:
“Hosanna!
  ‘Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!’”

Hosanna: Save us now! Come and help us, Lord Jesus Christ.

But the week will continue and bring us to Maundy Thursday as Judas betrays his teacher for the wealth of this world. A decision Judas almost immediately regrets and reveals to us how our choices, words, and actions have eternal consequences.

While there is forgiveness, there is no going back in time. No way to take back our words or deeds.

Still, the night will grow deeper, and you must contend with the door of your lips and the confession of your heart.

Are you stronger than faithful Peter? Or, like Peter, has Satan scandalized, tempted, and caused your confession of faith to stumble?

The rooster continues to crow, and it now sounds for you who turn away from your Savior and rest in a selfish faith and trust in yourself.

The events of this Holy Week should cause you to ask the question, where are you going? Where is your faith leading you?

What remains true some two thousand years after Jesus walked this earth is that this week continues to be a reflection of your life.

While it begins with joyous cheering and hopes of redemption, it is met with failure, self-centered pride, and temporal greed for power, money, and control.

Still, the Jesus we sing to today will complete the promised journey of redemption as He assumes His place upon the altar of Good Friday. His death now restores what was lost by your first parents as they took of the Garden’s forbidden tree - His blood is the new wine that now flows from the tree of the cross and gives unto you new life.

So, even while this week's events lead you to Calvary’s cross, they also lead you out of the grave, awaken you from the sleep of unbelief, and raise you to new life.

For this purpose, your procession today now teaches you how to pray and live again. The words of the crowds are now your words and patterns of speech, grafted into your hearts as we gather here each week and prepared to be led to the Holy Supper, where Christ awakens faith and grants you forgiveness and everlasting life.

My friends, don't approach this week and life idly, but learn again from the Sanctus to say and sing:

“Hosanna in the highest. Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.”

Permit these words to lead you to trust deeply in your Savior, Jesus Christ; He continues to proceed into your lives to redeem you from the throes of death itself. In fact, He entered and sanctified the graves of the faithful so that you may go to the grave confidently, trusting that you will be awakened as Lazarus and led into eternal life on the last day.

The solemn time for weeping and mourning over sin and death has never been closer and more present, so look up and see how your Jesus leads you to His cross.

Then cry out to Him with loud Hosannas and rejoice that He now saves you.  

Even the grave will not keep you, but His Word will call and arouse you with Lazarus and all the faithful to everlasting life. +INJ+

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA

A Story of Grandparents

My mother recently gave me one of my elementary or junior high school writing projects. You know, the kind you never want to look back and read. My experience is that mementos of your childhood are kept for blackmail or embarrassment later in life! (Ha!)

But this brief paper is truly a keepsake and a reminder of my Grandma and Grandpa Peterson's love for each other. It was a love that beamed brightly and shined upon my mother and us grandchildren.

I hope you'll take a read, and if you knew my grandparents, think of them with as much fondness and love as I had for them.

Lent 2

Text: Matthew 15:21-28

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Canaanite woman in today’s Gospel is in a wilderness.

Last week we heard how Jesus was led into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil, but this week, the Canaanite woman is in a wilderness of her own.

There are powers of darkness pressing in upon her. She feels helpless as her daughter has become possessed by a deep evil, the disciples of Jesus just want her and her petitions for help to be silenced and sent away, and the One she believes to be the Son of David calls her a lapdog.

What a lonely, uninspiring, and hopeless situation for the woman.

Parents can sympathize with this Canaanite. When a child becomes sick, there is often very little you can do to “make them better.” But all you want to do as you hold the child is take their illness into yourself, that they might be freed from their infirmity.

This is what the Canaanite wants; she desires her daughter to be freed from her infirmity of evil and possession. But she cannot free her daughter herself but requires help from outside her.

For this reason, this gentile outcast looks to Jesus as He travels through the region of Tyre and Sidon. Her efforts were futile, and in her time of great need, she looked to the One whose name was spreading beyond the courts of Israel. She looks to Jesus and pleas for His mercy – His compassion and healing.

Yet, Scripture says, “[Jesus] answered her not a word.”

Jesus' demeanor and continence today lead us to question what kind of Lord is this? He does not appear to us as the Savior we have traditionally been taught to love. Instead, He’s indifferent to the needs of the Canaanite woman and, as Luther remarks, “as silent as a stump.” (Martin Luther, AE 76, Page 379)

Nonetheless, the Canaanite still sought Jesus and wasn’t going to relent. She says, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely demon-possessed.”

Her plea is packed with theological significance.  

First, she recognizes Jesus as both true God and true man, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David!

Her plea sees Jesus as the object of her faith.

The usage of “Lord” throughout the Gospel of Matthew is common for the disciples because their faith is, in fact, placed in Jesus, whereas it is striking that this gentile woman who is outside of Israel would address the Son of David in such as way.

But that's just it; to call Jesus the "Son of David" not only confesses Him as the promised Messiah of Israel but also reveals that He is born of Mary, born of man – true God and true man.

For this Canaanite, Jesus is her only hope to rescue and redeem her beloved child from the present darkness.

So often in life, it takes situations where all our strength is either stripped away before we realize only Jesus, who endured the temptations of the devil and died upon the cross, can save us from the things that truly possess our hearts - the insecurities of employment, resentment for your neighbor, or anger towards family. Or for others, the heart is possessed by the concern for what might become or possess a child as they grow, mature, and depart the home for the wildernesses of this world. Yet, others continue to wrestle with God and the desire to have children.

All of this reveals to us that we all experience possessions of the heart as a result of our first parents' sin. The question is, with this knowledge, are we willing to humble ourselves before God our Father? Are we willing to admit no good comes from within us that was not first planted by the seed of God's Word and the work of the Holy Spirit?

The liturgy serves as a fertile ground for training the heart of the Christian to humble themselves and learn to pray and petition God the Father for His mercy and help. And if you think about it, this is a whole-body exercise – we go to our knees, often bowing our heads, while lifting our voices and praying in the Kyrie or Agnus Dei – “Lord, have mercy upon me.”

This posture confesses our inability to free ourselves of the result of sin while consistently and persistently teaching us to cry out to Jesus as the only One who can grant us relief from the many things that possess our families and us throughout this pilgrimage.

Still, you may sympathize with the Canaanite's repeated requests of Jesus as you had also experienced times when it appeared your prayers were met with the deaf ears of Jesus. But Luther provides us these words regarding the perception Jesus does not care for the woman or answer her pleas, he says:

[Jesus] does not say, “I will not listen to you,” but is silent and says neither yes nor no… Also He does not say that [the woman] is not of the house of Israel, but that He was sent only to the house of Israel [Matt. 15:24]… [Further] He does not say, "You are a dog, and we should not give you the children's bread"; rather, "It is not right [to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs]" [Matt. 15:26]… Nevertheless, all three points sound more like no than yes, even though there is more yes than no…In fact, there is only yes [cf. 1 Cor. 1:19–20], it [just] looks like no.[1]

Often our prayers appear to be met with silence or indifference. But we must also remember to seek God where He has promised to be and where He continues to speak to us and reveal His will for us – in His Word.

As we heard in last week’s Gospel, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” (Matthew 4:4)

The Word of God is the peace that frees us and our hearts from bondage and temptation.

And as the Baptized, you not only have His Word, but you also possess His name. Wyatt and Emerson received this joy today. They were made children of their heavenly Father, and the unclean spirits of Satan that once possessed them were exercised from their hearts. However, this does not assure them of a life of walking on sunshine, but quite the opposite.

Luther writes,
Remember, then, that it is no joke to take sides against the devil and not only to drive him away from the little child, but to burden the child with such a mighty and lifelong enemy. Remember too that it is very necessary to aid the poor child with all your heart and strong faith, earnestly to intercede for him/her that God, in accordance with this prayer, would not only free him from the power of the devil, but also strengthen him, so that he may nobly resist the devil in life and death.

So, from this day forward, the life of Wyatt and Emerson and all of us is to be a life of persistent prayer and petitions for help and redemption.

And you can make these prayers because you have received the Holy Name of God in Baptism, and as we sang in the opening hymn, "I bind unto myself today, the strong name of the Trinity…."

The strong name is now to be your guard:
       Against the demon snares of sin,
   The vice that gives temptation force,
The natural lusts that war within,
    The hostile foes that mar [your] course…

What a joy it is to receive this Holy Name of Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, for in it, you are a child of God, and He now fights for you and frees you from all possession of sin.

This is the thing about baptism; it gathers all believers, gentiles, and outcasts who reside in the wildernesses of life into Christ Jesus and provides them the source, foundation, and assurance for their prayers.

As we journey through this Lent, examine what possesses your heart, what have you been unable to heal or change? Then learn from the Canaanite woman and with persistent faith, cry out to your Savior, saying, “Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David! Trusting that the God Israel has come into the wildernesses of your life, He hears your pleas, and through His death and resurrection, you have mercy, forgiveness, and eternal life. +INJ+

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA

[1] Luther, M. (2013). Gospel for the Second Sunday in Lent. In B. T. G. Mayes, J. L. Langebartels, & C. B. Brown (Eds.), Luther’s Works: Church Postil II (Vol. 76, p. 381). Saint Louis, MO: Concordia Publishing House.

Lent 1 Midweek

Text: Luke 22:24-32

Who is the greatest?

Many of us know these words of Muhammad Ali, “I am the greatest, I said that even before I knew I was.”

But Ali said many other things like, “It's hard to be humble when you're as great as I am."

These boastful words are sadly a manifestation not only of Muhammad Ali's heart but of mankind.

A boxer might say these things because they believe positive thinking will produce a degree of positive results. Or maybe they are striving to get into the heads of their opponents before a punch is thrown. But you manifest these thoughts of the heart in actions and words whenever you turn away from God to seek earthly dominion and glory.

The Apostles in the Gospel tonight find themselves locked in a great dispute over which one of them is the greatest. Like many family disputes, it follows a wonderful meal, where our Lord institutes a Supper given to us for the forgiveness of sin. But, how quickly the sacredness of the evening flees and the idol of oneself is propagated.

Jesus hears their silliness and says to them, “The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves.”

In other words, stop viewing greatness through the lens of this world and its leaders. Instead, look to me and answer this question, “For who is the greater, one who reclines at the table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.”

Jesus presents the Great Reversal; man's greatness is not in being served or lavished with gifts and accolades throughout this life but in serving his neighbor.

So, if the Apostles really wanted to settle their dispute, they would do as Paul wrote, “Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo[ing] one another in showing honor.” (Romans 12:10)

Or as Paul says in Philippians:
Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8)

This is how Jesus serves you, the prideful man who exchanges verbal blows with a neighbor or looks for accolades of praise; he lowers Himself to humanity and then takes your place on the cross of Good Friday. By doing so, He completes the Great Reversal by taking your sin into Himself and giving you His righteousness, His forgiveness.

Jesus is not the leader the world likes to see.

He's the Great Savior the world needs.

Jesus is now the icon we must follow.

Gregory the Great wrote:
Therefore, it should be said to the humble that whenever they lower themselves, they ascend to the likeness of God. At the same time, it should be said to the proud that whenever they take pride in themselves, they fall into imitation of the apostate angel. And what could be worse than pride, which by holding itself above everything, so unwinds itself from the stature of true greatness? And what is more sublime than humility, which by lowering itself unites with the Creator, who is above all things?

Hear these words again, “It should be said to the proud that whenever they take pride in themselves, they fall into imitation of the apostate angel.”

The pride of man’s heart is often met with the faltering of faith.

Proud Peter was no different.

Jesus said to him, “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail… Peter said to him, “Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death.”

But the rooster would soon crow, and Peter's faith had faltered.

However, tucked in this exchange are these words of Jesus to Peter, “And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”

This language of turning reflects a heart of humble repentance. A renewing of His faith in His teacher and redeemer. Likewise, Peter, and all the Apostles, must take this Word of forgiveness into the world so that the Church might have its faith strengthened through the exercise of confession and absolution.

How we kneel to confess our sins in the Divine Service is truly beautiful. We take the form of a beggar and admit that we have fallen - Satan's voice has penetrated our ears and hearts and turned us against one another.

But the words of the pastor announce to you forgiveness. Forgiveness and grace that must be extended to one another so that we might likewise strengthen one another as we live in Christ Jesus.

The beautiful reality of this kind of life is that it does not seek to be the greatest or possess lordship but desires to receive and show love. The same love that was willing to die for you upon the cross.

As we journey through this Lent, examine your hearts, put away your silly arguments, and the fighting within your heart, and continue to learn how to confess your sin and faith in Jesus Christ, your Great Redeemer. For He has humbled Himself to the point of death, and at the last, He will raise you and all your brothers and sisters in Christ to new life. +INJ+

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

Rev. Noah J. Rogness
Associate Pastor, Immanuel Evangelical-Lutheran Church
Alexandria, VA

Sermon for Ash Wednesday Chapel

Jonah 3:1-10

+INJ+

We all know the beginning of Jonah's story. God said to Jonah, go to Nineveh and call the people of the great city to repent and turn away from their sins. But he was afraid for his own life; these were evil people. So, instead, Jonah attempts to turn away from God by climbing aboard a ship and sailing to Tarshish.  

So, the story goes, a big storm arises, Jonah is thrown into the sea, and he is swallowed up into the belly of a great fish. Jonah now dwells in the darkness of this fish's stomach for three days and nights.

What would you do in such a situation?

Jonah did the only thing he could; he called out to God in prayer. He asked God to deliver him from the grave of the fish. Jonah asked God to deliver him from his sin of disobedience or not listening to God's instruction.

When we sin, when we don’t use the words we should because we are afraid for our own lives, we must join Jonah in calling out to God, praying, and asking Him for forgiveness, trusting that our heavenly Father hears us and will deliver us from the grave of sin and death.

God heard Jonah’s prayer and told the fish to spit Jonah out upon the dry land.

Then today's reading says God spoke to Jonah a second time, saying, "Go to Nineveh and speak to them the word I give to you." And this time, Jonah listens and goes as God tells him, speaks God’s Word, and what happens? The people believed and turned from their evil. They repented of their sin.

In fact, the people of Nineveh, including their king, dressed in sackcloth, a very rough garment made of goat or camel hair. Wearing such a garment and sitting in ashes was an outward sign of mourning and repentance.

Today we begin the season of Lent, and we, too, placed ashes in the shape of the cross upon our foreheads and said, "Remember, O man that you are dust and to dust you shall return."

Today's ashes are also an outward sign that must remind us that, like the people of Nineveh, we must repent (to say we’re sorry) and mourn our sins.

The ashes also remind us that we will all die one day. But the cross upon your forehead reminds you are one redeemed by Christ the crucified!

That’s right, Jesus went to the cross, died for your sins, and was then placed in the belly of the earth. But on the third day, He rose again, so you would receive forgiveness for your sin and live with Him forever.

So, as we enter the season of Lent, take this message with you, always listen to and obey God’s Word. Always have the name of Jesus upon your lips.

When you find yourself walking away from God like Jonah, repent and know that God hears you and will forgive all your sin.

And because of Jesus, know that the grave will not keep your mortal body, but will spit out your mortal body on the last day, and you will abide with Christ Jesus, your Savior, forever and ever. Amen. +INJ+