EHV:  7Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Carefully consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

That’s my text for the 35th Ministry Anniversary of my baby brudder, Pastor Larry Ross Schwanke.   Larry is 9 years younger than me.  So if you start juggling some math gymnastics in your mind, you soon realize that makes me older than dirt.

Our Lord willing, Larry’s ministry anniversary will be celebrated May 18th, 2025, at St. John’s Ev. Lutheran Church, Milton, WI.  I have the honor of being preacher and liturgist for the day.  Because of this, I will be missing the youth confirmation service at Trinity.  That bothers me a bit, but short of cloning I can’t be in two places at once.  Yet my thoughts and prayers can be in both places, through the sermon I plan to preach. Here it is. 
____________________________________________________________

Dear members of St. John, friends and family of the celebrant, visitors, and especially you—Pastor Larry Ross Schwanke,  
 
For the last few weeks, I’ve been trying to figure out why I was asked to preach for this festive occasion.  Well, it’s not as if I don’t have a few ideas.  Perhaps Pastor Schwanke and his wife, Martha, wanted me because Larry is my baby brudder, and I was involved with Larry’s ordination into the holy ministry at Resurrection Ev. Lutheran Church, Aurora, Illinois on August 6, 1990.   Perhaps this time they were hoping after I had so many more years of practice, I could get the sermon right.

Or perhaps the congregation wanted me to preach for this anniversary, because I was privileged to serve on various Synodical committees over the years, and I’ve done some writing.  I also served as a Vice-President of the Northern Wisconsin District Praesidium for 12 years, so my presence today could lend this celebration a little “gravitas.”

But I doubt it.  I think we all know the real reason I’ve been asked to be your guest preacher today.  You are hoping that this message will be filled with amusing anecdotes about your pastor!  Ah, the stories I could tell, because I have known Larry since he came home from the hospital as a newborn, a tiny package red as hamburger—that’s what I said when I first saw him.  And then this tiny package tipped our dairy-farm home upside down because his delicate digestive system couldn’t handle cow’s milk.  So—scandal of scandals--we had to buy Similac soy-bean milk—by the case.  He went through it like there was no tomorrow.   

But if I steer this sermon down the anecdote pothole, the old adage will ring true.  What goes around, comes around.  That means during the potluck meal and fellowship time after this service, not to mention time with family back at the house, Larry might request “equal time” for sharing amusing anecdotes about me—of which there will be more than a few.  And more than a few a little embarrassing.  So I think it wiser not to go there!

And then there’s this.  I’d rather that we not leave this day with only a few amusing stories to remember about a pastor.  I’d rather we remember the Lord of the Church who blesses us with faithful called workers!  So today We Celebrate God’s Changeless Grace.  II.  As We Remember Your Leaders.  (vs. 7)  II.  As We Rejoice in our Savior Jesus Christ.  (v. 8) 
 
I. As We Remember Your Leaders.
 
It is a celebration of God’s changeless grace that stands as the heart and core of the book of Hebrews and also chapter 13. In this concluding chapter, the inspired author is imploring God’s people to stand firm in the faith and not grow weary in the daily fight.  That’s why he urges faithfulness in marriage and warns against the love of money—two nasty tripping points for Christians of every age.

Beyond that, the inspired author knows how important good role models can be.  So he urges us, “Remember your leaders.”  Keep on remembering--that’s what he’s urging.  Not just for a 35th anniversary.  Nor for that matter only in the month of October which someone decided should be “Pastor Appreciation month.”  But always remember your leaders.

But what do we keep on remembering about them?  The amusing anecdotes?  The clothes they once wore: bell-bottom jeans; leisure suits, or white shoes worn for boogieing the disco night away?  The cut of their hair, when they still had more of it?  Their body shape before age and gravity took a toll? 

The gifts they had: the really good preacher; the one with a special gift for hospital visits; the one with a heart for outreach who had mastered the art of cold calls in evangelism; the gifted educator who excelled in teaching Bible classes and confirmation class; the one who was a consummate administrator guiding the church through building projects yet also steering the congregation on a path of fiscal responsibility and good stewardship as it paid off all its debts?

In the body of Christ, the gifts of our called workers, our spiritual leaders, the messengers will vary—one to the next.  But what dare never change is the message, “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you.”  Nothing is more important!  Whether standing in the pulpit, or shepherding the confirmation class; whether counseling a couple whose marriage is unraveling, or sitting in a coffee shop with a skeptic who thinks religion is the height of folly—nothing is more important than faithfully sharing God’s Word. 

It is the Apostle Paul who once observed, “This is the way a person should think of us: as servants of Christ and stewards of God’s mysteries. 2In this connection, moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful. “(1 Corinthians 4:2) In season or out of season.  Whether the ministry is going well, or going bust.  But how can we gauge that faithfulness?  Paul explained that in his letter to the young pastor Timothy: “15Make every effort to present yourself to God as one who is approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, correctly handling the word of truth.”  (2 Timothy 2:15) That’s the mark of a true spiritual leader.  Someone who is never ashamed to say, “This is what the Lord says.”  This is what the writer to Hebrews wants us to keep remembering.  And when you’ve been blessed to be served by someone like that, you’ve also found a faith worth copying!  “Carefully consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith.”  Such a faith stands firm through all the changes in life.

And oh, there are so many.  I think you see that more clearly once you have a few years of experience under life’s belt.  Huge changes when it comes to technology.  As part of my extensive, time-consuming research for this sermon, I shot Larry a few messages on Facebook.  And one of the questions I asked was, “When did you get your first computer?”  Answer?  He got an Amiga “after Christmas of (his) first year at Sem.  So 87.”   What?  Larry, how in the world did you live before that?  Through high school?  Through college?  You must have relied instead on your smartphone?  What?  Are you telling me you didn’t even own a cell phone back then?  Oh, the humanity!  Not even the internet?  How did you research before Google and Wikipedia?

Technology’s fast-paced changes sometimes frustrate an older guy like me, but that’s nothing compared to the dizzying changes our society is undergoing.  Secularism which is bulldozing the mores and absolutes of Christianity further and further off into the ditch.  Science which claims the answers to life’s big questions can all be found in a laboratory and dismisses religion as superstitious and silly.  Gender issues—no more are we to believe “And God created them male and female,” but we now have transgender, fluid gender, genderqueer, non-binary, agender and dozens more terms that are multiplying almost daily.

For that matter, even our spiritual leaders change.  They take another call, just when we’ve broken them in and are comfortable with them.  They retire.  Or the Lord promotes them to heaven and eternity.

And we change. These days when I look in the mirror, I immediately think of the line from the hymn, “Change and decay in all around I see.”  Oh, well. So be it!  “Oh, thou, who changest not, abide with me!”

 The only way we can weather the tsunami of all the changes in our life is when we go back to God’s Word, and we listen to the inspired writer; when we Celebrate God’s Changeless Grace. . . 
 
II.  As We Rejoice in Our Savior Jesus Christ.
 
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”  Here is the key verse to hold in our heads and our hearts, as we move forward from this weekend celebration.  Here is the verse that stands at the heart and core of that Word of God shared by countless generations of faithful Christian leaders.  Here is our Lord’s precious guarantee that gives us hope when we witness another group of confirmands pledging to “suffer everything, even death, rather than fall away from the faith.”  Here is the Lord’s anchor to give us strength when we hold our loved ones hands as they take their final breath.  Here is our comfort as we change, age, and sense that our health is failing and our strength is ebbing away.  And here is our peace, when we fall yet again into the same old mud-puddle of sin which sometimes can simply be crabbiness at all the changes we are forced to endure in this life! 

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”  Let that be our confession that we shout before the world! 

I wonder, could we do that right now?  Would you please say that verse with me?  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”  Those are the words I pray a faithful leader will share with me when I’m ready to take my final breath on this earth. 

Which leader?  Do I have a preference?  No.  Frankly, I have no inkling as to when that might be, or where, or what congregation I might be a member of at that time.  And it really doesn’t make any difference.

Any more than it did for the first readers of the book of Hebrews.  For did you notice—none of those leaders are named. (Except in the conclusion of this letter, brother Timothy.)  So we don’t know exactly which leaders the readers were encouraged to remember or imitate.  Some scholars would say this refers back to the Apostles—maybe Peter.  Maybe Paul.  Others claim it might refer to someone like Stephen, the first martyr recorded in Scripture in the book of Acts.  Others, James.  Theologians debate such things until the cows come home, but we can’t be certain.

For that matter, we don’t even know who the writer to the Hebrews is.  Was it the Apostle Paul?  Was it Barnabas?  Was it Apollos, Luke, Clement, or Philip?  It seems clear the very first readers knew, but we’re not told--—and that’s purposeful--by inspiration!  And that tells me it’s not that important who the writer is.  And the writer himself would agree.  Because after urging us to remember our leaders who spoke the word of God to us, after urging us to imitate their faith—their hope, their trust, their peace, their confidence at the end of life, this sentence stands all by itself on the printed page.  “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” 

Leaders who faithfully share the Word of God point first and foremost to Jesus, the Word made flesh.  To the One whose birth we celebrate at Christmas.  The one who was given the name “Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:21) That’s the Only Name by which we must be saved, for there is salvation in no one else.  (Acts 4:12)

Faithful leaders will always point to the Christ.  To the Chosen One, the Anointed one, the One our children tell us about at Christmas, when they shout out their memory verse with childlike excitement: “6For to us a child is born. To us a son is given. The authority to rule will rest on his shoulders. He will be named: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”  (Isaiah 9:6) 

Jesus Christ—the same yesterday and today and forever.  Technology changes.  Society changes.  We change.  We stand before the Lord’s altar as a teen and promise Him our undying love, but sometimes we forget our vow and become a wandering sheep.  But the Shepherd never changes.  He leaves the ninety and nine and seeks after the lost sheep. 

Couples stand before the Lord’s altar and plight their troth.  Well—that’s what we used to say but nobody talks that way anymore.  We “pledge our faithfulness till death do us part,” but sometimes the stresses of married life unravel that pledge.  Yet the Heavenly Bridegroom remains ever faithful, never forgetting his promises and never failing to keep them. What a comfort to changeable, sometimes fickle sinners like you and me! 

How many more changes will the next 35 years bring?  In technology?  Maybe we’ll finally all have the flying cars like the Jetsons had in the cartoons way back when.  Or maybe at least we’ll all have autonomous cars, which will be kind of nice.  I won’t have to bother my daughter for a ride to the bait shop when I’m 105. 

In society?  If it continues on its current course, may God help the generations of Christians yet to come!  But I’m confident he will, for he has assured us that even the gates of hell won’t be able to prevail against his church, and that even the hardest days in end time will be cut short for the sake of the elect.  We’d expect nothing less from the God whose changeless grace we celebrate on this anniversary today.  Amen.
 
Privileged to serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke

Does doctrine matter?
 
Depends whom you ask. Doctrine matters to Jesus. ““If you remain in my word, you are really my disciples. You will also know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31,32) “Go and gather disciples from all nations by baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and by teaching them to keep all the instructions I have given you.” (Matthew 28:19,20a)
 
Nowhere does Jesus say, “Just pick and choose what you like. Go with what feels good. Treat my Word like a smorgasbord buffet and settle for what the culture says is OK.”
 
Today’s church – including a large segment of today’s Lutheran church – does just that. It proclaims what it thinks and feels, rather than what it knows God says in his Word. Today’s church is afraid to offend people with the Law, to confront people with their sins, to tell them they are children of hell without God.
 
Today’s church will wet its collective finger and hold it up to see which way the cultural wind is blowing – pick a topic: marriage, sexual identity, the doctrine of salvation itself – Christ alone, or Christ plus something else. Today’s church is often more interested in smooth social graces than spreading the saving grace of God. Today’s church will tell you to find God in your feelings rather than in the foundation of the Scriptures. This is poison to the soul.
    
This emphasis on feelings fools many. Martin Luther said, “If you are not ready to believe that the Word is worth more than all you see or feel, then reason has blinded faith. So the resurrection of the dead is something that must be believed. I do not feel the resurrection of Christ but the Word affirms it. I feel (guilt) but the Word says that it is forgiven to those who believe. I see that Christians die like other men, but the Word tells me that they shall rise again. So we must not be guided by our own feelings but by the Word.” Doctrine matters.
 
Three 8th graders will be confirmed at Trinity on Sunday, May 18th. They’ve been instructed in the doctrine of the Bible and are well versed in the Lutheran Catechism after years of study. Lord-willing, they will affirm God’s grace which brought them into God’s kingdom through Holy Baptism and promise lifelong faithfulness to God’s Word. This faithfulness is something only God can bring about through the Gospel in Word and Sacraments – and we pray that these precious young people will remain in Jesus and his Word.
 
May you and yours remain in the Word all summer long! Personal devotions, Wednesday Bible study (12:15 p.m.), Camp Compassion Weekend (June 20-22) Bible Blitz in mid-July, and of course, weekly worship.
 
God be with you, and may his Word be in you abundantly.
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand

As summer approaches, a Word of encouragement…
 
Keep meeting together as God’s people. “Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have the habit of doing. Rather, let us encourage each other, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25)  Literally, “don’t give up the assembly,” don’t stop going to worship, keep coming to church. Why? Two reasons: 1) For encouragement.
 
Cue the theme song from the TV sitcom “Friends.” Got “I’ll be there for you” playing in your head? It’ll be there all day long! You’re welcome! Ten seasons, 236 episodes, you can binge watch BFFs Ross, Rachel, Joey, Monica, Chandler, and Phoebe in about 86 ½ hours. Just like you binge read Scripture or binge listen to sermons online… Well, you could.
 
The six 20 somethings on Friends are flawed and bumbling and funny and sometimes make difficult circumstances impossibly worse. But, the bottom line, they were always there for each other. They encouraged one another.
 
Maybe church would be more appealing if we limited the service to 22 minutes per episode. Or at least the sermons. To limit the service to 22 minutes, we’ll have to cut out everything but the sermon… But church/the assembly/the gathering of God’s people is about more than just placing posteriors in a pew for an hour. We hear the Word of God together, we fellowship together, we encourage one another – and not just during this hour; all week long, all life long, the church is a place of grace and support and encouragement.
 
Martin Luther: “It is not enough to teach and instruct alone. There is also need for daily encouragement…For we know and feel how the devil always opposes this and every Christian exercise. He drives and deters people from them as much as he can.”
 
Want to make Satan angry? Go to church. That’s like sticking your finger in Satan’s eye. Or throw your whole fist in his face by not only going to worship, but acting like family and finding someone to encourage. Oh, that makes Satan howl with rage.
 
Want to make Satan happy? Get in the habit of skipping church, as many do. Hard to believe that at the time Hebrews was written – 60s AD, just three decades after Jesus’ ascension, Christians were skipping worship. And so it is today. Let me put this in the clearest possible terms: to choose NOT to worship is to make the deliberate choice to NOT receive God’s blessings. Who would do that? Why would anyone NOT want to receive God’s blessings? How do people deprive themselves of the blessings God wants them to have? Again, by staying away from Word and Sacrament. It’s that simple.
    
We need encouragement, especially from Jesus and his Word, and from one another. Again, that verse: “Let us not neglect meeting together, as some have the habit of doing. Rather, let us encourage each other, and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” (Hebrews 10:25) Reason #2 to keep meeting and gathering and worshiping together? The Last Day is coming.
 
Whether the day of Christ’s second coming or our own last day on earth, either of which can come at any time – the Last Day is coming. Time is of the essence. Time is short. God’s love and forgiveness, his sure promise of life in heaven through Jesus – these matter more than anything else. You already have them. Continue to receive these blessings in abundance.
 
All summer long.
 
God keep you and yours in his gracious care,
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand

During the years of my Campus Ministry at Michigan Technological University, I often worked with students from India.  I was surprised when they told me that in many areas of India, there remains a “caste” system!  What exactly is that?  What follows is a brief peek into that system. 

Villagers walk along a dusty path.  As they near certain houses, they pause to kick off their sandals, pick them up and carry them.  They proceed barefoot, until they pass the houses.  Then they drop their sandals and put them on again.

Women go to the village well for the daily task of drawing water.  But some women are not allowed.  They must find water elsewhere. . .in a muddy, brackish pool.  As one woman tries to carry her water jug home, she is attacked by a pig.  She slips into the muck and drops her water.

A frail-looking woman, middle-aged, cleans public toilets.  Her tools?  A basket and her bare hands.

Such is the plight of the "untouchables," the lowest caste in the society of India.  Untouchables are social lepers, deemed subhuman by the castes above them. The jobs no one else will do are dumped on the untouchables, and untouchables are ostracized from the castes above them.  Hence, no drawing water from a public well; no drinking tea in a public tea house. 

How does an Indian become an untouchable?  By birth.  How does one get out?  As the system stands now, there is no escape.  An untouchable is doomed to remain as such all his/her life, and then the cycle repeats with the children.

It shocks us to think there is still a society that operates like this in our modern-day world.  And yet, isn’t it true that all of us once were "untouchables"?  How so?  The Psalmist David lamented, "Certainly, I was guilty when I was born.  I was sinful when my mother conceived me."  (Psalm 51:5) This sin we’re born with is so vile, so disgusting, so dangerous, that it makes all of us "untouchable” to our holy God!  The prophet Isaiah observed, "It is your guilt that has separated you from your God."  (Isaiah 59:2)  Like spiritual lepers, we were cast out from God's presence, with no hope of enjoying His companionship now or in eternity in heaven.  (Revelation 21:27) 

Until Jesus came.  Jesus came and touched the "untouchables."   He healed lepers! (Luke 5:12-16) He ate with tax collectors and prostitutes!  (Luke 15:2)  With a touch from his holy hand, he cured the lame, the blind, and the deaf.  The power of His perfect word penetrated even the grave—touching the lifeless corpse of Lazarus and raising him from the dead!

Then Jesus suffered and died for the "untouchables," for us!  In fact, our Savior actually became an "untouchable" on the cross, as proven by that awful moment when He cried, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!"   (Matthew 27:46)  Separated from his Father, Jesus endured the agonies of hell itself for all the billions of untouchables our human race will ever number.  Then He died at 3 PM on Good Friday, offering the Father payment in full for all the sins of all the untouchables of all time!  (Remember John 19:30 which contains that precious word “Tetelestai!”)

The result?  You and I are no longer "untouchables" in the eyes of our Heavenly Father!  Instead, because of our Lord’s limitless grace, we have been given a new status, a new "caste" if you will.  The Apostle Paul assures us, "Now if we are children, we are also heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, since we suffer with him, so that we may also be glorified with him."  (Romans 8:17)
 
Privileged to serve,
​Rev. Glenn Schwanke

An area church is promoting its Good Friday and Easter Sunday services with this tagline: “Discover a Good Friday and a better Sunday.”
 
Are. You. Kidding. Me? I agree with Good Friday. Everyone calls it that. Good Friday is “good,” actually it’s great as my Savior died for my sins on Calvary’s cross on a Friday that we call good.
 
But…Easter Sunday is simply a “better” (yes, it’s not capitalized) Sunday? Lutherans love to ask: “What does this mean?” Honestly, truly, what does this even mean?
 
Better than what?

• Will the weather be better? No ice storm like a couple weeks back?
• Will the attendance be better?
• Will the coffee and cookies for fellowship time be better? Or Easter brunch, if that sort of thing is done?
• Will the sermon be better? Will it be (hopefully) shorter?
• Will the offerings be better?
• Will the live-streaming be better than it sometimes is?
• Will the music/musicians/singers/performers be better?
• Will the egg hunt be better than elsewhere or than last year’s?
• Will there be actual, live bunnies in the yard when this is happening?

 
I think you get my point. Seriously, honestly, what makes Easter Sunday “better”? (Again, with the lack of capitalization)
 
There is this: the book of Hebrews speaks of Christ as “better” than a whole host of things: angels, Moses, priests, high priests, the covenant of the law, the Old Testament sacrifices. Indeed, Christ is “better” than all of these items, although the words actually used in the original language translate far more spectacularly than “better.” Descriptions such as “greater, superior, more powerful, more excellent” power the narrative. Some examples:

• “The Son became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.” (Hebrews 1:4)
• “Jesus is worthy of greater glory than Moses.” (Hebrews 3:3)
• “In the one case, every priest stood ministering day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which are never able to remove sin. In the other case, this priest, after he offered one sacrifice for sins for all time, sat down at the right hand of God.” (Hebrews 10:11,12) All of these verses declare more than and cry out for more than “better.”

 
To keep with (tongue in cheek) the minimalist spirit of a “better” Sunday for Easter, I offer this: Easter isn’t about better; it’s about nothing. Early Sunday morning, April 20th, you and I will run in faith to our Savior’s tomb, and like Peter and John, we’ll look inside. And what will we see? “Better?” Oops, sorry, “better? (small “b”)”
 
Here’s what we will see: Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The tomb will be empty! And that nothing, my dear brothers and sisters, is everything. It isn’t just better, it isn’t just an upgrade, it isn’t just an improvement, it isn’t just a ray of light at the end of a long dark tunnel. That nothing is everything.
 
Paul declares it: “I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified.” (1 Corinthians 2:2) The whole package of the “nothing” of Christ crucified includes Christ risen from the dead. Again, this nothing is everything!
 
We can do better than “better.” Our God is glorious! Our Savior is risen from the dead! Life with God is ours now and forever! Alleluia!
 
See you at the empty tomb!
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand

It happened decades ago, but I still remember it as if it were yesterday. A young version of me was serving as a pastor in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Our parsonage was located in a quiet, wooded subdivision where almost all our neighbors were retirees.  So I felt a need to watch out for them.  One morning I was washing our car in the driveway. I noticed one of our elderly neighbors putzing around outside. I walked over and asked, “Heh!  How’s it going?”  With the most serious, sonorous voice he could muster, he looked me straight in the eye and dead-panned, “The doctor thinks I’ll make it.” 
 
The look on my face must have been priceless. Because after leaving me twisting in the wind a moment or two, my neighbor bent over laughing, before he stood up and firmly clasped me on the shoulder. “Gotcha!”
 
Relieved, I joined in his hearty laugh, but also learned an important life lesson.  I need to take care when I ask, “How’s it going?”  Because some days don’t go that well. 
 
Some days we need someone to go beyond pleasantries. We need a friend who cares enough to listen.  To ask, “How can I help?” To act. Bring over a hot dish. Help with chores around the house.  Shovel the sidewalk. Dust or vacuum.  Run to the store to pick up a few groceries. 
 
And care enough to shift the discussion to matters eternal. To faith. To the Lord. To dig into the Scriptures, where a good place to start is the book of Psalms. After all, the Psalms are God’s heavenly music, composed to touch our heartstrings.  And one Psalm that helps on days not going so well?  Psalm 42.  A Psalm by the “Sons of Korah.”  
 
“Sons of Korah”? Does that name ring a bell?  Korah led a rebellion against Moses in the wilderness.  (Numbers 16) Remember how that turned out? “The earth opened its mouth and swallowed up everyone who was with Korah, along with their households and all their possessions.”  (Numbers 16:32)
 
There must have been a few third-cousins four-times-removed who survived that day. (Numbers 26:11) And centuries later, some of those “Sons of Korah” were appointed as Levitical musicians by King David!  Even more remarkable? The Spirit made them lyricists of some divinely-inspired hymns in the Lord’s hymnbook.   
 
Psalm 42 is one that reaches down and throws us a lifeline for those days that aren’t going so well.  How?  The Psalm touches us because the Sons of Korah write from their heart—directly to our heart.  They dare to pull back the curtain on their personal lives, and show us how they hit rock bottom. “My tears have become my food.” “I am overcome by my emotions.” “My God, my soul is depressed within me.”  “I say to God my Rock, “Why have you forgotten me?”  
 
These Sons of Korah felt as if the Lord had lashed each one of them to a light like the one at the North Entry Point of the Portage Canal! During a November gale! Breaker after breaker pounded and crashed over them!  (Psalm 42:7) Bad news so dominated their lives that even their bones ached.
 
Have you ever felt that way? Maybe it’s sleep-loss. Inability to make decisions or perform basic, everyday functions. Psychosomatic aches and pains. Lethargy. That was the Psalmist’s life. One huge mess!  He was worn-out, empty, and ready to die.
 
Until the Psalmist lay hold of the Lord’s lifeline! “As a doe pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.” (Psalm 42:1-2) The picture painted by the Psalmist is vivid, powerful!  We can see this deer that has been pursued by hunters.  Running, straining, leaping, fleeing for its very life! About to die unless it gets water! At the first safe opportunity, this deer will search for water, and in that water find life.
And we can easily paint ourselves into this picture, especially on those days when we don’t want to be asked, “How’s it going?” We confess as did the Psalmist, “My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and appear before God?” 
 
Then with knuckles turning white, we lay hold even tighter to the Lord’s lifeline, because he is our only hope! “Hope in God, for I will again praise him for salvation from his presence.”  (Psalm 42:5) “Hope in God, for I will again praise him for my salvation from the face of my God.”  (Psalm 42:11) The Psalmist’s life was a mess—one violent breaker after another crashing over him!  Our lives are sometimes a mess. But when we lay hold of the Lord’s lifeline, there is hope. Solid. Certain.  Eternal. Bound up with the Lord’s promise of “salvation.” A safety package unlike any other—bought and paid for by our Savior Jesus Christ and lasting into eternity in heaven above!   
 
The Psalmist squashed the doubt that was eating at his soul like cancer, when he rested his heart and soul on the Lord, his Savior. “By day the LORD commands his mercy, and at night his song is with me―a prayer to the God of my life.” (Psalm 42:8) The Lord's love was the Psalmist’s lifeline.  Because of that love, the Lord became for him the God of hope, instead of despair.  The God of a future, instead of dead-ends. The God of life, instead of death.    
 
“How’s it going?” Are the waves and breakers of your life threatening to drown you? And the harder you to try to think yourself out of this tight spot, the more confused you get?  And the more you fight to push through it, the more exhausted you feel?  Then listen to the heart-language of the Sons of Korah. They can honestly say, “Been there. Done that.” The only solution?  It’s positively divine.
“Hope in God, for I will again praise him for salvation from his presence.”   

Privileged to serve,
​Rev. Glenn Schwanke

This is serious. This is not a belated April Fools’ prank. About a decade ago, “Noah,” a movie allegedly “inspired” by the Bible, was shown in theaters, the subject of much ranting and raving and reviewing and raging. Other religious movies that have sparked controversy over the years include “The Exorcist,” “The Last Temptation of Christ,” and Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ.” Sorry, I have not yet watched the popular series, “The Chosen,” as of yet, so I can’t comment on that.
 
I have a suggestion for Hollywood filmmakers looking for another subject to cover, one not just “inspired” by the Bible, but one that could be actually covered in a typical. Hollywood-style, godless, “not-honoring God and his Word” sort of way while actually using what the Bible says.
 
I offer the house of Herod. If “house of Herod” sounds similar to “house of horrors,” it’s well deserved. Wretched, wicked, toxic to the core – four generations of Herods ruled portions of Israel during the 1st century AD. These guys make the “Godfather” protagonists and “Game of Thrones” antagonists seem gentle, dull, and boring. (Yawn)
 
It would be hard to choose the worst of these men. The first, Herod the Great, was King of Judea at the time of Jesus’ birth. He was called “great” because of his massive building programs, including the Temple in Jerusalem. He was also “great” at murder, killing his wife, three sons, and various other relatives. He also killed all the baby boys under the age of two in the vicinity of Bethlehem after the Magi did not return to tell Herod where the Christchild was. Temper, temper…
 
The other Herod who appears with prominence in the Gospel accounts is Herod Antipas, one of three sons who divided up Herod the Great’s kingdom after he died. Herod Antipas was a “lovely” man who stole his brother’s wife (who also happened to be his/their niece), killed John the Baptist in order to keep a liquor-and lust-induced promise to Salome, the daughter of his brother’s wife, and stood face to face with Jesus once – early Good Friday morning. See what I mean? Hollywood would love this stuff, and wouldn’t even have to make anything up.
 
What I would find fascinating in such a movie (a trilogy? Four… five…six movies? A television series?) would be the filmmakers’ take on the fleeting moments during which these Herods met Jesus. How would they handle the fact that these men took a passing interest in Jesus, and then passed on him? Would they recognize the danger of doing the very same – of glancing at Jesus, then moving on without meditation and without faith?
 
Guard your own heart! Easter approaches, and many will glance Jesus’ way. So will you and I. Get more than a glimpse. Take more than a passing interest. Stay. Remain. Fix your eyes on the One who saves, on the One who lived, died, and lives again…for you. “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us. We have seen his glory, the glory he has as the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)
 
In Christ Jesus,
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand

There were three crosses on Golgotha’s hill.  Jesus hung in the center, but he was flanked by the crosses of two criminals.  Two men who must have been the dregs of society, because Rome didn’t crucify you for jaywalking or spitting your bubble gum on the sidewalk. 
 
But then came the voice of one of the criminals.  Like a crack of thunder!  So unexpected!  So shocking! Rebuking his compatriot in crime.  “Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same condemnation? We are punished justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for what we have done, but this man has done nothing wrong.”  (Luke 23:40-41)   
 
This is true repentance!  This thief offers no excuse for his conduct. There's no playing the victim card, no attempt to blame anyone else for what he was, neither his parents nor his partner nor his peers. Instead, this thief makes a candid admission that he's getting exactly what he deserves. His problem is with himself, not with his environment. He knows he is a sinner, and he confesses it openly before all.  He’s sorry for what he has done; not sorry about the consequences in his own life and how it’s hurting him, but he’s sorry for what he’s done to hurt other people.  Sorry for the way he’s hurt his God.  This is repentance.
 
"We are punished justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for what we have done." (verse 41).  Out of the mouth of a common—or perhaps I should say “uncommon”—thief comes a powerful and profound confession that each of us needs to make our own!  For this thief came to see himself as God sees all of us.  Our God dared to write, “There is surely not a righteous man on earth who does good and does not sin. (Ecclesiastes 7:20) But that’s a hard truth to make personal, isn’t it?  That’s a truth we’d much rather apply to the televangelist with his wet hanky in hand or the politician sort of apologizing into the camera or the brazen criminal caught dead to rights but still blaming society.  It is so easy for us to pontificate about the evils of others around us, but to take God’s law as a mirror and look deep into our own heart, our mind, our soul?  That we’d rather not do, and even when we try, we easily start excusing ourselves again.  Too often we tend to grade sins on a scale ranging from not so bad to really bad. Really bad?  That’s the other guy.  Not so bad.  That’s me.  No, we're not perfect, but no one is. We’re doing the best we can.  God will have to be satisfied.
 
But that’s not repentance, is it?  True repentance admits as did the thief: “We are punished justly, for we are receiving what we deserve for what we have done.”  True repentance isn’t too proud to borrow a line from the hymn as confession: “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling" (CW 389:3).
 
Yet true repentance is more than acknowledging sin.  Even Judas did that.  But unlike Judas, the thief placed his full trust in Jesus.  He knew that Jesus had done nothing wrong, and he said so. Then, when eternity stared him in the face, the thief simply said, “Jesus, remember me when you come in your kingdom.” (verse 42). What did the thief want Jesus to remember?  His rap sheet?  I doubt it.  I suspect he’d just as soon have the Lord lose that.  What did the thief want Jesus to remember?  His life filled with accomplishments?  His good name and reputation?  He had none, remember?   He had nothing to offer Jesus.  Nothing at all.  His only hope?  Jesus the Savior, the One sent to save people from their sins.  This repentant thief placed every ounce of his trust in Jesus!
 
And with the gates of hell about to slam shut on this wretch of a man, what did Jesus do?  Did he say, “Don’t bother me now.  I’m hurting too much to help you.”  Did Jesus say, “I’ll think about it.  But I don’t know if I even want to remember the likes of you.”  Did Jesus say, “I’ll try.  But being God isn’t easy.  There will be lots of names to remember on the Judgment Day.  I’m not sure yours will make the cut.”  NO!  What did Jesus say?  “Amen I tell you: Today you will be with me in paradise.”  (Luke 23:43)
 
This is the purest, sweetest Gospel, isn’t it?  The man asked for a scrap of grace, to be remembered somehow, some way on the Judgment Day.  What did Jesus give him?  A feast!  A guarantee not just to be remembered, but to be with Jesus! To be with the Savior off of that horrible cross that same day—free from pain, sorrow, punishment, and sin!  Forever in paradise!
 
Treasure this Gospel, knowing this:  that thief on the cross, that might as well be you or me.  But you argue, “Pastor, I’ve never gone to court, been tried and convicted.  I’ve never cooled my heels in the Oneida or Vilas County Jail much less a state prison.”  Maybe so. But we have been convicted in God's court, a court that has decreed, “All have sinned!”   A court that passed sentence, “The soul who sins is the one who will die.”  (Ezekiel 18:20) True repentance faces the facts as presented in God’s Word and doesn’t shrug them off.  Instead, when we’re repentant, we say, “Yes, Lord.  You got me dead to rights.  I know I’ve sinned. Take me away. I deserve it.” 
 
But then, by the grace of God the Holy Spirit working a miracle in our heart, true repentance causes us to take an incredible leap of faith.  In simple trust, like the thief on the cross, we turn to Jesus and beg, “Remember me."
 
And what will Jesus do?  Fellow felons, to us Jesus makes this grace-filled guarantee: "You will be with me in paradise."
 
Privileged to serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke
 
PS:  Our midweek Lenten theme this year is “Reflections on Repentance.”  In these services, each Wednesday at 4 pm, we are doing a deep-dive study of David’s penitential Psalm 51.  The services are led by a rotation of WELS pastors from the area.  

The concept of the “fog of battle” has been around ever since battles and wars began to be fought. Fear, panic, noise, dust, smoke, motion, and limited personal perspective all contribute to the phenomenon known as the “fog of battle” or the “fog of war.” A 5th century BC military historian, Thucydides, wrote concerning the confusion of battle on the heights above Syracuse (413 B.C.):  “Even in daytime fighters do not perceive anything; indeed, nobody knows anything more than what is going on right around himself.”
 
Even today’s technology advances are unable to clear the fog of battle. Missiles and bombs miss their marks, human error is always in the mix, and even the most highly sophisticated electronic and computer equipment can fail, leaving generals and commanders in a fog as to what it really happening on the ground. At such terrifying moments, Thucydides’ words still ring true, “Nobody knows anything more than what is going on right around himself.”
 
The Battle of Gettysburg is the most well-known and thoroughly examined battle in American history. More than 150,000 men fought there, and every soldier/general/civilian had a unique perspective of the fight limited to personal experience.  For example, the Confederate soldier on the far right flank of Pickett’s ill-fated Charge could not have known what was happening on the far left flank, a full mile away.
 
As they made their way across nearly a mile of open ground toward the Union lines, their own line shrunk in half (from 1 mile to a mere ½ mile) because of the chaos brought about by Union artillery fire, musket and rifle fire, the noise and smoke of battle, and the fear and uncertainty and panic pounding in their own hearts and minds. At the height of this intense battle, it could be said of each of those men, as well as the opposing Union forces, “Nobody knows anything more than what is going on right around himself.”
 
The fog of battle. You face it daily. Spiritual warfare rages all around you…and within you. The strain and fatigue of fighting sin, Satan, and the world wear you down. The fight is fierce, the battle relentless, the enemies powerful and resourceful. In the heat of battle, in the fog of the fight, perspective narrows and it’s hard to see beyond the moment, beyond the immediate conflict. The words of the ancient historian still ring true: “Nobody knows anything more than what is going on right around himself.” And to top it all off, the stakes couldn’t be higher: heaven or hell, life with God or life without him. Forever.
 
You need strength, resources, energy, power, and clarity to see through the fog of battle. God provides exactly what is needed: weapons for the fog of battle. Word, water, wafer and wine – we call these the Means of Grace. Word and Sacrament deliver the saving power of the Gospel to help us maintain our bearings, keep our focus on Christ, and strengthen us for the fight of faith. It all begins with the Word of God. In the midst of the fog of rhetoric and ideas, battles temptations and challenges, God’s Word give clarity. Always.
 

• “Your words are a lamp for my feet and a light for my path.” (Psalm 119:105)
•  “I will make you wise. I will instruct you in the way that you should go. I will guide you, keeping my eye on you.” (Psalm 32:8) 
• “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” (Proverbs 3:5,6)

Many, many more Scriptures speak of the clarity and power God provides. The entire Bible does!
 
Bottom line: stay away from the Word, remain immersed in the fog of battle. Be in the Word, use it, and you’ll still find yourself in the heat of battle, but armed with the clear power, presence, and promise of God, who says, “I am with you.”
 
In Christ,
Pastor Stephen Luchterhand

When I was a boy, Daniel Boone was my hero.  He visited our farm house once each week, as played by Fess Parker on the television show heralded by that memorable theme song: “From the coon-skin cap on the top of his head, to the tip of his rawhide shoe, the rippenest, roarinest, fightenist man the frontier ever knew.  Daniel Boone was a man, yes, a big man, as he fought for America to make all Americans free. What a Boone, what a doer, what a dream-come-a-truer was he!”    In the opening credits, as the theme song played, Daniel Boone held his ax, threw it, and split a big tree, clean-in-half! Ah, the stuff of a boy’s dreams.  When I grew up, I wanted to be Daniel Boone.
​
But I never could throw an ax that well.  The ax was dull and never once stuck in a tree.  And I really can’t shoot very straight.  I shake too much. Yet there was one skill I shared with Daniel Boone.  For the real-life Daniel Boone once observed, “I have never been lost, but I was bewildered once for three days.”  How many times, while my wife and I were road-tripping, even out in the Rockies on dirt-track mountain roads back in 1988, did I scoff at the idea of checking a map?  Or these new-fangled smarty-pants Google Maps!  I don’t need that kind of help.  I always know exactly where I’m going! 
 
Well, maybe I was once a little “bewildered” the first time my wife and I did a road trip on the eastern side of the Keweenaw Peninsula.  From Dollar Bay, we drove over to Lake Linden, and it sure felt like we were going in an easterly direction, though the map clearly showed that from Dollar Bay you are heading northeast—mostly north.  Then we headed south to Bootjack, down past the famous Dreamland Restaurant, and from there to Jacobsville, White City, and the Lower Portage Entry.  Now, I knew from the map that we had headed south, but it sure felt like we had headed north.  That, as I recall, prompted denial and disbelief in me!  I figured my wife had read the map wrong, because I am blessed with a perfect sense of direction.  So my momentary bewilderment caused a wrong turn or two (thankfully there aren’t many road options down around Jacobsville or it would have been more).  That, in turn, prompted a lively dialogue between driver and copilot, plus one of her memorable eye-rolls.  Things got even worse when I argued, “It must be the mineral deposits in this area that are messing up the car-compass and my internal compass!” 
 
Maybe I am a tad stubborn when it comes to checking a map or asking for directions, but from what I hear, this is not my failing alone.  It’s a “guy thing.”  We males, as a rule, live with this inner conviction that you could set us down on the dark side of the moon, with no compass or map--just a space suit and a back-pack for supplies--and, like some modern-day Daniel Boone, we would find our way back to civilization with nary a misstep or wrong-turn!
 
However, when it comes to spiritual matters, this bravado and false confidence is not just a “guy thing.” It is, tragically, a “guy and gal thing.”   Without our Lord, without His illuminating gift of faith, and without the divine guidance He provides in His Holy Word, we will invariably point our nose--not in the direction of heaven, but in the direction of hell!  You don’t believe me?  Then listen to what the Lord says about the human race and its feeble attempts to find its way to Him!  
 
The Prophet Isaiah, speaking about the Lord’s own Chosen People could say, “We all like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way. . .”  (Isaiah 53:6a) Saint Peter, writing to believers scattered throughout the world, could say, “For you were like sheep going astray.”  (1 Peter 2:25)   Now, if I were lost out in the bush somewhere, and the good Lord allowed me to choose one animal as a companion to guide me home, I would never, in a million years, choose a sheep!  Sheep are too dense, too flighty, and too helpless.  Yet God, in the pages of His Word, consistently compares the entire human race to a huge flock of sheep.  God’s point behind the comparison?  By nature, apart from our Lord and in the death-grip of sin and Satan, we are all dumber than a bag of hammers!  Totally lost! 
 
Our only way out?  Let The Lord Be Your Guide!  Because when it comes to navigating the twists and turns of this life, and when it comes to following the path that leads to heaven, you and I have only One option!  That is the One who told us, “I am the way, the truth, and the life.  No one comes to the Father, except through me.”  (John 14:6) 
 
Jesus found us when we were hopelessly lost in our sins and far too stubborn to admit it!  (Luke 19:10) Jesus lived for us, died for us, became our life-blood, and gave us a spiritual pulse!  Through his Spirit’s work, Jesus came into our hearts and gave us new life, new hope, and new direction.  He gave us a working spiritual compass—faith!  Faith to see Him!  Faith to hear Him!  Faith to trust Him!  Faith to follow Him!  Faith to walk hand-in-hand with Him through the twists and turns of this sinful and sometimes difficult life.  Faith to hold on tight to Him when weaving our way through tragedies, setbacks, and temptations that are like magnets for our old sinful nature.  Faith to know that the Lord’s Word is the only lamp for our feet and light for our path!  That means when blind guides waltz into our lives, peddling their satanic wares and tempting us to wander off hell-bent, you and I will check their guidance against God’s own infallible compass, the Bible.  And we will throw away whatever does not match what the Lord tells us.  
 
Only our Lord knows how to get us to heaven.  Jesus once said, “Everyone who listens to the Father and learns from him comes to me. . .Amen, Amen, I tell you: The one who believes in me has eternal life.” (John 6:45-47)

Privileged to serve,
Rev. Glenn Schwanke