Trinity Lutheran Church

On this Thanksgiving week as I dream of stuffing my face with, ironically, stuffing, a few thoughts:

• I really hope you will join us at Faith Evangelical Free Church here in Boyceville for our ecumenical Thanksgiving worship service.  We don’t take many opportunities to worship together as a community and I think we have a wonderful service planned.  We have some special music with people from the various congregations.  Come give thanks and join with our brothers and sisters in Christ in worship.
• I think that our ministerial association is a great example of how the world can be when we remember what is important.  Steve Boyd at Faith is one of my closest friends.  There are many things we disagree about, from sports teams to theology.  Yet, we have always been able to have frank and open discussions where we listen to each other’s views thoughtfully and respectfully and still maintain a good friendship as well as lift up each other in the faith.  I am really proud of our ministerial association and I hope you join us tonight.
• When you come by, bring a canned good for the food pantry and a couple of extra bucks for the offering.  All canned goods and offering will be split up between Food Harvest Ministry, West CAP food pantry, and Stepping Stones of Dunn County Food Pantry.
• I want to thank everyone who helped out to get the church decorated for Christmas.  Thanks to Jeff, Kevin, Rick, and Joe for getting the trees and getting them up and to all those who pitched in yesterday.
• I also want to thank everyone who has brought me candy in the past three weeks.  I’m overflowing and have enough candy for 1000 children sermons!  Thank you for your generosity.
• I’m not ashamed to say that I’ll be out shopping at 2 am on Friday morning.  When you are out there, keep in mind our Silent Auction.  We love items of all kinds and all of the proceeds of the auction goes to help our Mission Trip youth.  Our goal is to have as few fundraisers as possible, so a good Silent Auction can make that happen.  Help the youth realize their goal of helping others at Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
• One of the greatest things ever happened on Sunday.  Every week we have a Cake Walk where we raffle off a cake for the benefit of the mission trip.  This week, we had two cakes for one because, as the person donating this week, I had dropped a cake and though fully edible, looked terrible.  So I bought another cake that was exactly the same and we raffled them together.

As you will see in the link I have below, one of my confirmation students won the cakes and was very excited.  Even better was that she didn’t realize that she won BOTH cakes.  It was a great moment.  Here is this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3lTCu2Nm2Q&feature=youtu.be

HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Isaiah 9:2-7

²The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness— on them light has shined. ³You have multiplied the nation, you have increased its joy; they rejoice before you as with joy at the harvest, as people exult when dividing plunder. ⁴For the yoke of their burden, and the bar across their shoulders, the rod of their oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian. ⁵For all the boots of the tramping warriors and all the garments rolled in blood shall be burned as fuel for the fire. ⁶For a child has been born for us, a son given to us; authority rests upon his shoulders; and he is named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. ⁷His authority shall grow continually, and there shall be endless peace for the throne of David and his kingdom. He will establish and uphold it with justice and with righteousness from this time onward and forevermore. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will do this. 

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

I know that many of you, right now, are groaning.  Here is a text from the prophet Isaiah that we normally have, and frankly will have, on Christmas Eve.  Already you walk into almost every store and Christmas stuff is everywhere and Thanksgiving is still 11 days away!  Why are we having this reading now? It seems way too early and out of place.

Well, we are in the midst of going through the prophets in our Narrative Lectionary and this is our spot for Isaiah.  Last week, we heard about justice and righteousness in our reading from Amos and we hear it again today in Isaiah.  This justice and righteousness comes, not from us, but from God, most specifically, the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace talked about in this passage. He is one whom we identify as Jesus Christ, our savior, who breaks up our burdens, conquers our oppression, and lifts us out of darkness and into light.

And that is the key.  We are the people who walk in darkness, and not just because our clocks are back and it gets dark a lot earlier than before.  We walk in darkness because we walk with grief on our hearts.  We walk with anxiety.  We walk with depression . We walk worry.  We walk through the valley of the shadow of death.  We walk in a world torn apart by violence, separated by ideology, ravaged by inequality.  We walk in the midst of broken marriages, betrayed relationships, family conflict, and workplace drama.  We walk in darkness and feel as if we might get swallowed whole.

But then we hear these words of Isaiah and we hear the words of Jesus, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.”  And because we have the light of the world, we can walk not in darkness but in light, knowing that Christ takes our burdens with him on the cross, takes our worry, our depression, and all the things that weigh us down and lift them off our shoulders.  He brings us peace and comfort, joy and hope, and light to make our way through the darkness.

We need to be reminded of this every day.  No matter what darkness threatens to destroy your light, to snuff you out, the great light of Christ is there to shine on you.  The zeal of the Lord of hosts will always, always, shine light on you.  Embrace it.  Rejoice in it.  Trust in it, for it is always there for you no matter what season it is.

May Christ always be our light, and for that may we say, “Thanks be to God!”  Amen