WEBVTT 00:00.400 --> 00:03.900 Grace, mercy and peace to you from God, our Father and from our Lord 00:03.900 --> 00:05.800 and Savior Jesus Christ. 00:05.900 --> 00:06.500 Amen. 00:08.800 --> 00:13.500 One of the two who heard John speak and followed Jesus was Andrew, 00:14.100 --> 00:15.500 Simon Peters brother. 00:16.400 --> 00:21.900 He first found his own brother Simon and said to him, we have found 00:21.900 --> 00:22.800 the Messiah. 00:25.800 --> 00:27.800 We have found the Messiah. 00:29.400 --> 00:30.600 Can you imagine? 00:32.100 --> 00:33.700 This morning, we observe St. 00:33.700 --> 00:34.800 Andrew's day. 00:35.800 --> 00:40.500 And we also commemorate some milestone anniversaries of ordinations 00:40.500 --> 00:41.700 and commissioning for 00:41.700 --> 00:44.500 several of our called faculty and staff. 00:45.300 --> 00:49.000 And so the stoles and the parements are red for St. 00:49.000 --> 00:49.800 Andrew's day. 00:50.800 --> 00:52.700 But I want to start out by 00:54.100 --> 00:58.100 mentioning how soft and velvety 00:58.100 --> 01:01.100 the blue parements are in our Chapel. 01:01.400 --> 01:07.000 These red things are kind of silky and smooth, but these are so soft 01:07.000 --> 01:12.300 and velvety, and our green and our white parements and stoles here in 01:12.300 --> 01:14.200 the chapel in comparison 01:14.200 --> 01:17.600 they're kind of course. They're not like burlap or anything, but 01:17.600 --> 01:22.600 they're kind of like, burlap compared to how soft and velvety the blue 01:22.600 --> 01:23.600 stoles and parements are. 01:24.200 --> 01:28.400 So I was sitting in Chapel on Monday, I was noticing these blue 01:28.400 --> 01:32.300 parents, I was remembering how soft and velvety they are, and I was 01:32.800 --> 01:36.700 seeing these Christmas trees here in the chapel, and it was taking me 01:36.700 --> 01:38.600 back to a Christmas 01:39.000 --> 01:44.000 some years ago. When I received a particular Christmas memorable, 01:44.000 --> 01:50.200 Christmas gift a velvet shirt, it was actually probably some kind of 01:50.200 --> 01:53.600 velour or something, but as a fourth, or a fifth 01:53.800 --> 01:54.300 Grader 01:54.300 --> 01:55.600 I called it velvet. 01:56.200 --> 02:01.300 It had a few different colored sections on it and I can't remember 02:01.300 --> 02:07.600 whether my mom gave it to me or my grandma but it was really soft. 02:07.900 --> 02:12.400 And it was also at least in the mind of a fourth or fifth grade boy 02:12.600 --> 02:18.000 was also really not the kind of shirt that you would ever want to wear 02:18.000 --> 02:21.900 in public and particularly to school. 02:25.000 --> 02:27.500 But it was a present at least. 02:27.500 --> 02:32.000 It was an expression of love and care, and I appreciated it but it 02:32.000 --> 02:36.300 wasn't, you know, one of the center stage presents. It wasn't the 02:36.300 --> 02:43.300 really awesome Los Angeles Rams three-quarter, sleeve t-shirt with T. 02:43.300 --> 02:48.900 Egger lettered on the back of it that I did wear to school way too 02:48.900 --> 02:52.100 often, as I look back on it. It wasn't cool 02:52.100 --> 02:53.700 like the plastic 02:53.800 --> 02:58.200 blocks with the little handle on it that were made for packing 02:58.200 --> 02:59.900 snow into so that you could 03:00.300 --> 03:03.400 like snow bricks for a snow fort. 03:03.500 --> 03:08.400 That also got a lot of use. It definitely was not the remote control 03:08.400 --> 03:13.400 race car that I got for Christmas that year, which was fantastic. 03:13.400 --> 03:18.500 Spent a lot of time with that. It was just this underappreciated 03:18.500 --> 03:20.900 velvet shirt lying there 03:20.900 --> 03:25.400 among the other presents among the wrapping paper and the bows. It was 03:25.400 --> 03:27.800 just one of the presents. 03:28.800 --> 03:30.900 It was, here's the connection. 03:31.300 --> 03:35.300 It was the Saint Andrew of Christmas presents. 03:36.900 --> 03:41.200 Four years ago on November 30th I had a CTCR meeting at the 03:41.200 --> 03:43.500 Missouri Synod International Center here in St. 03:43.500 --> 03:44.100 Louis. 03:44.800 --> 03:47.900 And since I was going to be there for that meeting, they asked me to 03:47.900 --> 03:51.300 preach in their Chapel for that morning service. 03:52.000 --> 03:56.300 And the reading that day was this Gospel reading from John one about 03:56.300 --> 03:59.800 Saint Andrew and the instruction I receive was to keep it to five 03:59.800 --> 04:00.300 minutes. 04:00.700 --> 04:05.700 And I thought, man, a five minute sermon. But if you are ever assigned 04:05.700 --> 04:06.300 a really 04:06.500 --> 04:09.400 short sermon to preach the commemoration of St. 04:09.400 --> 04:14.700 Andrew is actually a pretty good occasion for that. Because Andrew is 04:14.700 --> 04:17.100 barely mentioned in the New Testament. 04:17.600 --> 04:20.200 He is not the remote control race car. 04:20.200 --> 04:25.900 He is just the Velvet shirt of the disciples. When he is mentioned. 04:26.700 --> 04:30.900 He is mentioned just in a listing of the other disciples or he's in a 04:30.900 --> 04:34.500 group with a few other disciples or he's mentioned tagging along with 04:34.500 --> 04:36.300 his brother Saint Peter 04:36.400 --> 04:41.900 the most well known of the disciples. Matthew's gospel does not 04:41.900 --> 04:42.200 pay 04:42.200 --> 04:43.800 a lot of attention to Andrew. 04:43.800 --> 04:47.900 Other than that, Jesus called him to be a disciple along with Simon 04:47.900 --> 04:48.400 Peter. 04:49.100 --> 04:54.300 Same with Mark's gospel and when Luke tells the story of Peters call, 04:54.300 --> 04:57.900 he does not even mention the fact that Andrew was also called 04:57.900 --> 05:01.600 at the same time. He spends so much time, focusing on Jesus and Peter, 05:01.900 --> 05:06.200 Luke does list Andrew in the listing of disciples in the next chapter, 05:06.200 --> 05:06.400 however, 05:06.500 --> 05:10.200 and he calls him Andrew Peters, brother. 05:12.500 --> 05:18.600 In the Gospel of John, we finally have a little bit of screen time for 05:18.800 --> 05:24.200 Saint Andrew, but here he is always pictured as a humble go-between. 05:25.200 --> 05:30.500 When Jesus says, he wants to feed 5,000 people, it's Andrew who alerts 05:30.500 --> 05:35.300 him to the fact that there's a boy here, with some bread and fish. In 05:35.300 --> 05:36.200 John 12, 05:36.200 --> 05:40.200 when Jesus is entered into Jerusalem for his final Passover, some 05:40.200 --> 05:41.900 Greeks, come to Philip 05:42.200 --> 05:43.700 and asked to see Jesus. 05:43.700 --> 05:47.600 And what is Phillip, do he goes to Andrew and then Andrew and Philip 05:47.600 --> 05:50.500 go and tell Jesus and that's it. 05:51.000 --> 05:51.700 That's all that 05:51.700 --> 05:55.800 the New Testament tells us about Andrew except for our reading from 05:55.800 --> 05:59.600 today from John chapter 1. And here we learn 06:00.000 --> 06:05.600 that humble Andrew was first a disciple of John, the Baptist. 06:07.000 --> 06:10.300 He was John's disciple until 06:12.100 --> 06:14.700 until the Eternal Word of God, 06:15.900 --> 06:20.500 Incarnate in human flesh, came to the Jordan River that day. 06:22.100 --> 06:27.900 Andrew followed the Baptist until the light of men, the light of Life, 06:28.100 --> 06:33.800 who no darkness can overcome came to the Jordan River that day. 06:34.800 --> 06:40.900 Andrew followed John until the only begotten Son of the Father full of 06:40.900 --> 06:46.600 grace and truth came to the Jordan River. Until John the Baptist 06:46.600 --> 06:53.100 himself pointed his bony finger and said, Behold the Lamb of God who 06:53.100 --> 06:58.500 takes away the sin of the world. And until the Baptist declared I have 06:58.500 --> 07:04.400 seen and bear witness that this man is the chosen one, the Son 07:04.600 --> 07:05.900 of God. 07:07.100 --> 07:10.300 That's where our text picks up. The next day 07:10.300 --> 07:14.200 John was again standing with two of his disciples and he looked at 07:14.200 --> 07:19.100 Jesus as he walked by, and he said, as he had the day before, Behold 07:19.100 --> 07:20.700 the Lamb of God. 07:21.900 --> 07:24.100 And one of these two disciples was Andrew. 07:24.200 --> 07:29.400 And so with the other disciple Andrew went to Jesus, Jesus invited him 07:29.400 --> 07:30.800 to come and stay. 07:31.600 --> 07:33.000 He followed Jesus. 07:33.700 --> 07:40.100 And Andrew always the go-between went first to his brother, Simon, we 07:40.100 --> 07:41.700 have found the Messiah, 07:42.100 --> 07:42.900 he told him. 07:43.800 --> 07:50.000 And the rest is history. Throughout the Villages of Galilee and Samaria 07:50.100 --> 07:53.800 and Judea he would follow this man. 07:54.900 --> 07:56.500 And witness his love. 07:57.600 --> 08:03.900 His words of Life, his cleansing of lepers, his power over demons his 08:03.900 --> 08:10.600 raising the dead, his forgiving sins, his feeding 5,000 mouths with a 08:10.600 --> 08:12.200 few Loaves and fish. 08:13.700 --> 08:17.200 Andrew would eat with Jesus one, Last Supper. 08:18.400 --> 08:22.400 And then he would watch him crucified and dying. 08:23.000 --> 08:27.600 As the Lamb of God took away the sins of the world. 08:28.500 --> 08:30.800 He would see Jesus alive again. 08:30.900 --> 08:32.799 See him ascend into heaven. 08:34.299 --> 08:38.299 And church tradition places, the later Ministry of Andrew in various 08:38.299 --> 08:43.000 places in Central Europe, and around the Black Sea, where even as an 08:43.000 --> 08:47.800 apostle, he would continue his humble work of being a go-between and 08:47.800 --> 08:49.000 saying to others. 08:49.500 --> 08:52.300 Come we have found the Messiah. 08:54.000 --> 08:56.600 There is nothing flashy about Saint, Andrew. 08:57.500 --> 08:59.100 Outshone by his brother. 09:00.000 --> 09:03.900 Never speaking in original word on the page of the New Testament, just 09:03.900 --> 09:07.200 repeating things that other people have said to others. 09:08.600 --> 09:11.000 Oh, but the events that he was caught up in. 09:12.000 --> 09:13.300 Oh, but the Savior 09:13.300 --> 09:15.000 he met that day. 09:17.300 --> 09:21.700 Andrews testimony of this Savior and the testimony of the other 12 has 09:21.700 --> 09:23.600 gone throughout the world. 09:24.000 --> 09:26.500 It still rings in our ears 09:26.800 --> 09:32.000 and in our hearts. They all join us here 09:32.500 --> 09:39.600 this morning with Angels, and Archangels here in the Holy presence of 09:39.600 --> 09:41.600 the Lamb. Here 09:41.600 --> 09:46.800 our Lord Jesus meets with us in his Mercy, in peace, 09:46.800 --> 09:46.900 in 09:47.000 --> 09:52.600 hope, in joy in his holy word and in his holy supper. 09:54.000 --> 10:00.500 In this holy time and in this holy place may we hear the clear ringing 10:00.500 --> 10:02.500 voice of these brothers, 10:03.000 --> 10:07.800 these fathers in the faith. Behold the Lamb of God. 10:09.100 --> 10:12.300 Come we have found the Messiah. 10:13.700 --> 10:17.900 Humble Andrew, the velvet shirt of the Apostles. 10:17.900 --> 10:20.100 Just one on the list. 10:21.200 --> 10:28.700 But so dear to Jesus redeemed by him, used by him a small follower of 10:28.700 --> 10:29.800 a great Lord. 10:31.300 --> 10:35.800 Each spring here in this Chapel on the morning of commencement day, we 10:35.800 --> 10:41.600 have a service, the service for the conferring of theological 10:41.600 --> 10:42.600 diplomas. 10:42.900 --> 10:48.400 And during that service for several years, at least there's always 10:48.400 --> 10:53.600 this responsive prayer that has become familiar and dear to me as a 10:53.600 --> 10:57.600 part of that service, this responsive prayer includes these words. 10:58.700 --> 11:04.600 To find joy in being small followers of a great Lord. To find 11:04.600 --> 11:08.100 excitement in your working, among people through your word and 11:08.100 --> 11:12.500 sacraments. To find purpose, in serving you and your people in the 11:12.500 --> 11:18.100 church. To find peace in the five wounds and the open Tomb. 11:18.200 --> 11:21.100 We ask for your grace Heavenly Father. 11:22.500 --> 11:23.600 I love that prayer. 11:23.900 --> 11:27.500 I love praying it year after year with my faculty colleagues, and with 11:27.500 --> 11:31.900 our students, with the whole Seminary family. It could be Andrews 11:31.900 --> 11:38.600 prayer, and it is certainly ours to find joy in being small followers 11:39.200 --> 11:40.500 of a great Lord. 11:41.700 --> 11:45.500 To find purpose, in serving God and his people in the church. 11:47.300 --> 11:48.300 This morning 11:49.400 --> 11:52.800 it is our joy here in this service to give, thanks to God 11:52.800 --> 11:59.200 our great Lord and to honor a number of his small servants. 11:59.700 --> 11:59.800 That's 12:00.000 --> 12:04.500 not to say that these honored colleagues are no names or low profile 12:04.500 --> 12:05.500 in our midst. 12:05.600 --> 12:07.000 Allah Saint Andrew. 12:07.200 --> 12:09.400 Nobody would ever call Bob Kolb 12:09.400 --> 12:13.700 for example, the velvet shirt of the Concordia Seminary faculty. 12:15.800 --> 12:19.700 If we were to list their accomplishments and accolades for these 12:19.700 --> 12:23.400 honoured ones among us, it would be an impressive list. 12:24.600 --> 12:30.000 But what indelibly marks your many years of service, what eternally 12:30.100 --> 12:35.900 marks your many years of service is not personal greatness, but the 12:35.900 --> 12:40.200 great name which you bear and in which you serve. 12:42.200 --> 12:43.400 The name of Jesus 12:44.500 --> 12:52.600 our great Lord, the Lamb of God, the Messiah. In so many ways, great 12:52.600 --> 12:57.600 and small, they have been serving their Lord and his purposes. And the 12:57.600 --> 13:01.500 fruit, which they have born and continue to bear like the fruit, which 13:01.500 --> 13:06.600 you have born and continue to bear his fruit that will last forever. 13:07.300 --> 13:08.600 Thanks be to God. 13:09.500 --> 13:13.900 Like Andrew small servants of a great Lord. 13:15.200 --> 13:16.300 To this Lord 13:16.300 --> 13:17.200 Jesus Christ 13:17.200 --> 13:23.400 be glory. In this Advent season and always come, then brothers and 13:23.400 --> 13:26.400 sisters and see where he is staying. 13:27.500 --> 13:30.800 Come we have found the Messiah. 13:32.300 --> 13:32.900 Amen.