+Jeanette Davis+ "Follow Me"

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Todd A. Peperkorn, STM

Messiah Lutheran Church

Kenosha, Wisconsin

September 21, 2008

Funeral Homily for Jeanette Davis

Matthew 9:9-13

TITLE: “Follow Me”

Family and friends of Jeanette, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, family and friends, and especially especially Bob and Diane, grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Our text for today is from the Gospel of St. Matthew chapter nine. We focus on the words of our Lord to Matthew the tax collector: “Follow Me”.

Jeanette Edith Davis was born on July 27, 1917. She was baptized into Christ on August 26, 1917 and confirmed in that same Christian faith on March 20, 1932. She married her dear husband, Lawrence on July 9, 1940. She died in Christ on September 16 in the year of our Lord 2008. “And I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Write this: Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.” “Blessed indeed,” says the Spirit, “that they may rest from their labors, for their deeds follow them!”” (Revelation 14:13 ESV)

Follow me, our Lord says to Jeanette and to you. Follow me. That is the life of the Christian, of the baptized. Jeanette followed her Lord to death, and she will certainly follow Him to the resurrection of the dead at the last day. That’s why we’re here today. We’re here because Jeanette’s journey in Christ has moved beyond our shores and into another. So we gather here to remember, to reflect and to rejoice in all of the blessings that God gave to our dear sister in this life, and the blessings that are to come in the life with God.

I don’t need to rehearse Jeanette’s life for you today. Most all of you here were a part of her life, in one way or another. Some of you knew her for decades, maybe entire whole life. You worked with her, went to church with her, prayed with her, visited with her, ate with her, talked with her, or maybe more accurately listened to her. My time with Jeanette was spent being her pastor for the last nine years. During that time she went from being one of my peanut gallery in bible class, to home bound living next to her son, to staying at Brookside, where she worked for many years. The last few years were especially hard for her. She worked hard to keep a cheery disposition, but you could tell it was hard. I can remember more than a few times visiting with her when she really questioned while she was still here. This was made even worse at the time of the tragic death of her dear granddaughter, Jennie.

I don’t bring this up to revel in the sad or the morbid. I bring this up because we need to know what kind of life Jeanette lived, and perhaps more importantly, what kind of faith she has. It is easy to talk about faith when everything is easy. It is not so easy to talk about faith and trust in God when you can’t walk anymore, when your friends and relatives are dying all around you, and when you’re not sure why you are here on earth.

But Jeanette is baptized. Notice that I do not say was baptized. Jeanette is baptized. She is a child of God, holy and beloved by Him. Jeanette knew that even in the midst of suffering, God was still with her. Jeanette knew that when she died, that she would go home to be with her husband, with Jenny, and with all the saints in heaven to be with God forever. Jeanette believed in the resurrection of the body, and the life of the world to come. Remember again those beautiful words from the prophet Job:

For I know that my Redeemer lives,
and at the last he will stand upon the earth.
And after my skin has been thus destroyed,
yet in my flesh I shall see God,
whom I shall see for myself,
and my eyes shall behold, and not another.
My heart faints within me! (Job 19:25-27 ESV)

At the last day, dear friends and family, at that last day our Lord will raise up Jeanette from the dead. This body, right here, will rise again. Jesus died on the cross and rose again from the dead so that Jeanette’s journey would not end in the grave. Our Lord called her to faith with the words, Follow Me. Those words, follow me, mean that God will not abandon her to death, but that she will rise again.

But of course, we still grieve. We grieve because Jeanette isn’t here, at least in the way we have known. We grieve because we will miss her, she has been a companion on this journey of life for many years. But we grief not as those without hope. We grieve and weep, knowing that our weeping will come to an end. The Lord will dry every tear, and will reunite us with our dear sister.

So rest well, sister Jeanette. Rest well until we meet again in the arms of our Savior, even Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Believe it for the sake of Him who died and rose again, even Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Back from St. Michael's

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I’m back from the St. Michael’s conference at Redeemer Lutheran Church in Fort Wayne.  I’ll post on it more when I dig out here at church, but it was a good conference and very good seeing so many of the brethren.  The topic, “What to do when you’re bored with preaching” went fairly well from my perspective.

More soon!

-LL

Bored of Preaching

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I am speaking at the St. Michael’s Liturgical Conference next week in Fort Wayne.  In sort of typical Peperkorn fashion, I’m working on about three different papers all at once for this.  The one that I believe is going to land is going on the working title of “Bored of Preaching? What to do with you Can’t Preach”.

To that end, I would appreciate your collective wisdom.  Am I the only one out there that gets bored of preaching?  What do you do when you are in a rut or stuck?

I think this is a very common problem with pastors.  I don’t know if it is more common for those who use the historic lectionary or not, but the temptation is certainly there.  When you’ve preached the same text 5, 10, 20 or more times, it is easy to come to the conclusion that you have said it all.  This, of course, is not the case, but it is easy to think that way.

So what do you do?  Do you have typical things that you do to get yourself out of the rut, or is each time different?  Talk to me.

-LL

Follow Me (St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist)

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Messiah Lutheran Church

Kenosha, Wisconsin

Rev. Todd A. Peperkorn

St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist

September 21, 2008

Matthew 9:9-13

For an audio MP3 of this sermon, CLICK HERE

TITLE: “Follow Me”

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ, Amen. Our text for this morning, the Feast of St. Matthew, Apostle and Evangelist, is taking from St. Matthew chapter nine, the words of our Lord, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.’ For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners.” (Matthew 9:12-13 ESV)

It sounds so simple, doesn’t it? Follow me, Jesus said to Matthew. And Matthew the tax collector, the rich sinner, got up and followed Him. What could be simpler? What could be easier? What could be farther from the walk of our lives?

For most of us, following Jesus is not so simple. Your life, and mine, is filled with pitfalls and detours. There are temptations every single day to follow other paths, go different directions than the way of our Lord to the cross and resurrection. Even the mere act of getting to church on Sunday morning can be a huge victory in the insanity of life.

But our Lord’s voice continues to call out, follow me. Follow me through all the days of your life, Jesus says. Follow me in good times and bad. Follow me when you can’t see your nose in front of your face. Follow me when things are so messed up, so confused and disjointed, that you don’t know why you’re here or who you are. Follow me, sinners. Follow me, cheaters, adulterers, fornicators, thieves, murderers, gossips, lustful ones, vengeful ones, hateful ones. Follow me, one and all.

Follow me, Jesus says, and I will make all things new. Follow me and you will go through water and death. Follow me and be refreshed in the journey on my own body and blood. Follow me and you will find rest for your weary soul. Follow me and you will see the light of a new dawn. Follow me and you will have companionship and a true friend in the darkest hours of your life. Follow me and you will reach the goal of your journey, eternal life with God and with all the saints forever. Follow me.

Another word for follower is the word, disciple. And connected to that word we find another word, discipline. The Lord disciplines those He loves, says Proverbs 34. I think that’s what is really so hard about following Jesus. It means trust, or faith if you prefer. It means trusting that when things happen to you, and things always happen to you, that God means it for good even if the devil, the world and our sinful nature mean it for evil. That’s hard to see, isn’t it? Following Jesus is easy when everything is good. But when there’s a death, a loss, a heartache, a sickness, no job, no money, or worse still, when you’ve screwed up so bad you don’t know how to get out of it, when these things happen, then following Jesus isn’t so appealing.

You can be sure that St. Matthew thought this very thing many times in his life as a disciple. Today we remember St. Matthew, apostle and evangelist. Our text portrays the picture of a rich man picking himself up, leaving his old life behind, and following Jesus. We know that the road of Matthew wasn’t always one of faith to faith, victory to victory. Matthew, like the rest of the followers, the disciples, forsook Jesus at the cross. The road of this disciple wasn’t clear or easy. But our Lord picked him up, forgave him, set him apart as an apostle, and used a poor sinner like Matthew to bring the Gospel to generations not yet born.

Now if God can lead a sinner like Matthew to death and resurrection, He can do so for you, dearly baptized. The road that Matthew trod is the road of many sinner/saints throughout the ages. It is the road of Ezekiel and Isaiah. It is the road of apostles, martyrs, prophets, common Christians and mighty kings. It’s the road that your grandparents took, and theirs before them. This road, the road of salvation through the dead of Jesus, is well worn. Jesus has gone there before us, and He leads the way. In a way, we could look at this road to have as a victory parade. Jesus is at the head, and he carries the banner or your salvation to death and the other side, so that you know what’s coming.

Follow me, Jesus says. One writer (Dietrich Bonhoeffer) put it this way, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die. …” Our Lord did not call the self-righteous to follow him. He called sinners, you and me. He calls you now to a better life. The life of discipleship, to which He calls you, is better, not because you won’t have troubles on the way. It isn’t an easier life, not in that sense. It is better because you are on the right road. It is the road of God. It is the road of salvation.

You can be on the most beautiful, paved road in the world. But if the road leads you to hell, it’s not so great of a road, is it? Lutheran pastor Bonhoeffer also said this, “If you board the wrong train, it is no use running along the corridor in the other direction.”

Follow me, Jesus says. Repent. Turn away from your sinful path, your road of brokenness which leads only to perdition. Follow me, Jesus says, and I will see you through to eternal life. Follow me, and you will live forever. Follow me, Jesus says, take up your cross, and I will never leave you nor forsake you. Follow me. Believe it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

The peace of God, which passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in true faith, unto life everlasting. Amen.

On the Canons of the Church (a response to ERCO)

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My friends over at Four and Twenty Blackbirds are proposing an evangelical canon to be followed by pastors and congregations in the LCMS.  Rather than get stuck in the midst of the 55 comments (and going) they have on the list, I will offer my observations here.

First and foremost, it is undeniable that our Lutheran forefathers found no contradiction between following an evangelical rule and order (a church order) and the Gospel.  The claims that following such are legalistic misses the point that a church order is A) Voluntary and not prescribed; B) For the sake of the unity in the Gospel and C) Agreed upon in love and not coercion.  If we claim that following a church order is against the Gospel or somehow fundamentally unLutheran, we run the risk of contradicting the Lutheran Confessions themselves, which repeatedly affirm how our forefathers in the faith held to such orders.

Having said that, I don’t see how a church order will help us in any substantive way today.  For men of a common confession, such a church order is superfluous and just one more meeting, group or piece of paper.  Thank you very much, I have boxes of such and have wasted countless days in such endeavors.  Such a common Rule may be possible in a theoretical level, but I don’t see how it will meaningfully contribute to unity.

This is why I doubt it’s benefit.  For those who are in agreement, it isn’t necessary.  For those who aren’t in agreement, they will never have anything to do with it.  So all the lines and camps and the like all remain the same.  In fact, confessional Lutherans might end up dividing over things that at the end of the day simply aren’t that defining for us.  Are we really ready to say that only those who use the Common Service as handed to us in TLH, LW (which is a dubious version of the Common Service anyway), and LSB are in the club?  See Canon 12.

I will continue to look and follow with interest this line of thinking.  But I’m not convinced that this will actually contribute to the unity of the Church.  I fear it will only divide those who are in agreement all the more.

-LL