1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:10,933 I invite you this day to live and to die with peace like St. Simeon and St. Robert. 2 00:00:10,933 --> 00:00:17,633 You have already been introduced to St. Simeon in today's text from Luke chapter 2. 3 00:00:17,633 --> 00:00:21,800 I will introduce you later to St. Robert. 4 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:31,500 Peace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord Jesus Christ. 5 00:00:31,500 --> 00:00:40,866 I always get nervous preaching still, especially in this context, but I got nervous on steroids 6 00:00:40,866 --> 00:00:44,966 when I was a seminarian. 7 00:00:44,966 --> 00:00:52,366 It didn't make matters any better one time when my field ed supervisor was going to be gone. 8 00:00:52,366 --> 00:00:54,066 He said, Bruce, would you preach? 9 00:00:54,066 --> 00:00:58,666 I said, sure, be happy to, nervously. 10 00:00:58,666 --> 00:01:03,233 I would not have said that had I known who it was that was going to be the substitute 11 00:01:03,233 --> 00:01:07,000 presiding minister that day. 12 00:01:07,000 --> 00:01:12,200 Professor Pokorny, who taught me how to preach. 13 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:21,566 And today here's Rev. Rossow, who also taught me how to preach. 14 00:01:21,566 --> 00:01:30,133 I'm okay if the professor is in front of me, but if he's presiding he's behind me and I 15 00:01:30,133 --> 00:01:37,266 can't see his pained expressions every time I say or do something contrary to the way 16 00:01:37,266 --> 00:01:39,000 he taught me. 17 00:01:39,000 --> 00:01:47,400 I'm wondering if it was that kind of nervousness that Mary had as she approached the temple 18 00:01:47,400 --> 00:01:52,566 with her little 40-day-year-old son, Jesus. 19 00:01:52,566 --> 00:01:58,533 She had never been purified from her uncleanness after childbirth before. 20 00:01:58,533 --> 00:02:00,400 Did she know the protocol? 21 00:02:00,400 --> 00:02:02,266 What if she did something that was wrong? 22 00:02:02,266 --> 00:02:05,266 What if she said something that was wrong? 23 00:02:05,266 --> 00:02:07,833 She was in God's house. 24 00:02:07,833 --> 00:02:09,433 She was with the priests. 25 00:02:09,433 --> 00:02:14,866 They might be even more intimidating than professors. 26 00:02:14,866 --> 00:02:27,200 And then did she feel especially self-conscious because she was not bringing that lamb that 27 00:02:27,200 --> 00:02:30,433 the other moms were bringing. 28 00:02:30,433 --> 00:02:39,066 She was bringing what poverty-stricken women brought, two pigeons or two turtle doves for 29 00:02:39,066 --> 00:02:42,600 her cleansing. 30 00:02:42,600 --> 00:02:47,000 But it wasn't just for her purification that Mary was there. 31 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:51,066 She had come with Joseph to buy back little Jesus. 32 00:02:51,066 --> 00:02:56,866 Did she start thinking about the fact that she was buying back the one who was going 33 00:02:56,866 --> 00:02:59,333 to buy her back? 34 00:02:59,333 --> 00:03:03,133 That she was redeeming the redeemer? 35 00:03:03,133 --> 00:03:05,366 That seems a little out of order. 36 00:03:05,366 --> 00:03:14,366 And then she arrives at the temple and moms, moms tell me how would you respond if somebody 37 00:03:14,366 --> 00:03:21,733 that was a complete stranger walked up to you and said, may I hold your baby? 38 00:03:21,733 --> 00:03:28,866 Especially if, well we don't know how old Simeon was, but if he happened to be frail, 39 00:03:28,866 --> 00:03:35,466 if he happened to have tremors like I do, how would you respond? 40 00:03:35,466 --> 00:03:41,800 I don't know what the conversation was between our Lord's earthly parents and Saint Simeon. 41 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:45,800 I do know the outcome. 42 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:52,433 Simeon ends up holding little baby Jesus in his hands and he acts as if he has just stepped 43 00:03:52,433 --> 00:03:55,000 one foot into heaven. 44 00:03:55,000 --> 00:04:01,066 Lord, Lord, now you can let your servant go in peace. 45 00:04:01,066 --> 00:04:02,966 Your word has been fulfilled. 46 00:04:02,966 --> 00:04:05,500 My own eyes have seen your salvation. 47 00:04:05,500 --> 00:04:08,633 My own hands are holding your salvation. 48 00:04:08,633 --> 00:04:14,466 Dear Christians, you don't know when you're going to die. 49 00:04:14,466 --> 00:04:15,600 It could be at any moment. 50 00:04:15,600 --> 00:04:18,766 I was talking to my brother this week. 51 00:04:18,766 --> 00:04:30,400 He supervises safety for a firm that has huge fleet of trucks and one of his drivers, 30 52 00:04:30,400 --> 00:04:35,566 some years old, died in the cab of his truck. 53 00:04:35,566 --> 00:04:39,933 Fortunately it was, fortunately for other drivers, it was while he was stopped at a 54 00:04:39,933 --> 00:04:41,666 truck stop. 55 00:04:41,666 --> 00:04:44,233 You don't know when you're going to die. 56 00:04:44,233 --> 00:04:45,533 I don't know when I'm going to die. 57 00:04:45,533 --> 00:04:52,833 Perhaps before I leave this pulpit I have a friend who died while preaching. 58 00:04:52,833 --> 00:04:57,400 Simeon didn't know whether he was going to live another few hours, another few years, 59 00:04:57,400 --> 00:04:59,400 or another few decades. 60 00:04:59,400 --> 00:05:03,166 It did not matter. 61 00:05:03,166 --> 00:05:07,166 Simeon had the Lord's salvation in his hands. 62 00:05:07,166 --> 00:05:11,033 Simeon did not have to worry about what his sin would do to him. 63 00:05:11,033 --> 00:05:14,066 Simeon did not have to worry about what the Almighty thought of him. 64 00:05:14,066 --> 00:05:17,833 Simeon did not have to worry about his fate on judgment day. 65 00:05:17,833 --> 00:05:24,433 Simeon could live and die with peace. 66 00:05:24,433 --> 00:05:32,966 How appropriate that the church has appropriated his words to sing in the divine service just 67 00:05:32,966 --> 00:05:37,133 after we receive the holy supper of our Lord. 68 00:05:37,133 --> 00:05:44,233 Because at first we would say, wouldn't it be awesome if you and I could have that peace 69 00:05:44,233 --> 00:05:45,633 that Simeon had? 70 00:05:45,633 --> 00:05:49,766 If we could hold Jesus' salvation? 71 00:05:49,766 --> 00:05:56,233 If we could have his flesh and blood in our hands and you're ahead of me? 72 00:05:56,233 --> 00:06:00,633 You do when you come to the holy table of your Lord. 73 00:06:00,633 --> 00:06:07,400 In fact, you have one more than Simeon had. 74 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:15,433 You not only hold Jesus, you get Jesus placed into you. 75 00:06:15,433 --> 00:06:19,333 Simeon did not know how it was that Jesus would be his salvation. 76 00:06:19,333 --> 00:06:24,266 He only knew that Jesus would be his salvation. 77 00:06:24,266 --> 00:06:27,466 You know how he is your salvation. 78 00:06:27,466 --> 00:06:33,166 You know about that sword that pierced Mary's soul. 79 00:06:33,166 --> 00:06:37,533 You know how the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. 80 00:06:37,533 --> 00:06:42,333 You know how he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows. 81 00:06:42,333 --> 00:06:49,833 That would be the iniquity and the grief and the sorrows that might keep us from having 82 00:06:49,833 --> 00:06:56,833 a peace in life and in death. 83 00:06:56,833 --> 00:07:02,566 You know how appropriate that we say after we have received Jesus' body and blood into 84 00:07:02,566 --> 00:07:07,566 us, Lord, now you let your servant go in peace. 85 00:07:07,566 --> 00:07:10,200 Your word has been fulfilled. 86 00:07:10,200 --> 00:07:13,800 You promised to send me salvation and you did. 87 00:07:13,800 --> 00:07:16,833 You promised he would live and die for me and he did. 88 00:07:16,833 --> 00:07:23,333 You promised that you would put his body and blood into me and you did. 89 00:07:23,333 --> 00:07:31,466 Dear Christians, this is why you do not have to worry about what your sin will do to you. 90 00:07:31,466 --> 00:07:34,633 You do not have to worry about what the Almighty thinks of you. 91 00:07:34,633 --> 00:07:42,933 You do not have to worry what your fate is going to be on Judgment Day. 92 00:07:42,933 --> 00:07:48,866 Like Simeon, you can live with peace and die with peace. 93 00:07:48,866 --> 00:07:53,200 And not only like Simeon, but also like St. Robert. 94 00:07:53,200 --> 00:07:56,733 I told you I would introduce you to him. 95 00:07:56,733 --> 00:07:59,833 We usually called him Bob. 96 00:07:59,833 --> 00:08:08,666 He was a member of my congregation, or I got to pastor his congregation, back in the early 97 00:08:08,666 --> 00:08:10,100 90s. 98 00:08:10,100 --> 00:08:14,933 It's still the congregation that I get to serve all these years later. 99 00:08:14,933 --> 00:08:21,833 When Bob and his wife first came, boy, what a privilege to get to know them. 100 00:08:21,833 --> 00:08:28,233 And his wife is still a member of our congregation. 101 00:08:28,233 --> 00:08:33,133 One time, it was a Sunday morning. 102 00:08:33,133 --> 00:08:37,299 It was in July of 1995. 103 00:08:37,299 --> 00:08:41,066 My sister-in-law was visiting our church that morning. 104 00:08:41,066 --> 00:08:47,666 And as she often did, she struck up a conversation with St. Robert, Bob. 105 00:08:47,666 --> 00:08:52,966 I don't know what led them to this part of the conversation, but somewhere along the 106 00:08:52,966 --> 00:09:00,766 way, Bob said to my sister-in-law, Barbara, you know, I'm in no hurry to go, but when 107 00:09:00,766 --> 00:09:03,533 the Lord chooses to take me, I'm ready. 108 00:09:03,533 --> 00:09:05,566 I'm at peace. 109 00:09:05,566 --> 00:09:08,033 And Bob did live at peace. 110 00:09:08,033 --> 00:09:14,000 His profession in life was driving a truck. 111 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:18,900 He understood that driving a truck as a Christian meant that he was serving his Lord and serving 112 00:09:18,900 --> 00:09:24,833 his neighbor because his neighbor needed those goods that he was carrying. 113 00:09:24,833 --> 00:09:31,166 He also used the opportunity to be a witness for his Lord. 114 00:09:31,166 --> 00:09:38,466 On the side of his truck, you would read the words, Christ is our Savior. 115 00:09:38,466 --> 00:09:46,200 When he was on the CB, those of you who are young and don't know what a CB is, ask a professor 116 00:09:46,200 --> 00:09:49,733 who's my age. 117 00:09:49,733 --> 00:09:53,400 He would talk to other truckers on the CB about the peace that he had. 118 00:09:53,400 --> 00:09:59,400 I know this because one time, right after our Easter service, he was going across Missouri 119 00:09:59,400 --> 00:10:06,933 on I-70, and he was talking to another trucker about the Easter service that he had experienced 120 00:10:06,933 --> 00:10:10,700 the previous day at our church. 121 00:10:10,700 --> 00:10:14,866 The trucker to whom he was speaking happened to be my brother. 122 00:10:14,866 --> 00:10:16,066 He didn't know it at the time. 123 00:10:16,066 --> 00:10:19,933 My brother was hauling a load all the way from Idaho across the nation. 124 00:10:19,933 --> 00:10:24,166 They figured it out later on. 125 00:10:24,166 --> 00:10:30,333 Bob would talk to people in the truck stops, and I wonder over the years how many people's 126 00:10:30,333 --> 00:10:34,900 lives the Holy Spirit changed through Bob's words. 127 00:10:34,900 --> 00:10:39,366 I suppose there were probably some people who rolled their eyes when Bob started talking 128 00:10:39,366 --> 00:10:48,933 about Jesus and peace, but that didn't change the fact that Jesus had lived and died for 129 00:10:48,933 --> 00:10:49,933 Bob. 130 00:10:49,933 --> 00:10:52,533 Jesus' body and blood were inside of Bob. 131 00:10:52,533 --> 00:11:02,133 Jesus' peace filled Bob's life in his vocation, in your vocation too. 132 00:11:02,133 --> 00:11:05,766 Live with peace vocations. 133 00:11:05,766 --> 00:11:08,466 Live with peace. 134 00:11:08,466 --> 00:11:11,466 Carry them out as a child of God like Bob did. 135 00:11:11,466 --> 00:11:15,133 He lived with peace, but he also died with peace. 136 00:11:15,133 --> 00:11:25,566 On July 23, 1995, I believe it was two weeks to the day after he had told my sister-in-law, 137 00:11:25,566 --> 00:11:29,366 I'm ready to die. 138 00:11:29,366 --> 00:11:31,100 I'm at peace. 139 00:11:31,100 --> 00:11:35,433 He was only early 60s. 140 00:11:35,433 --> 00:11:37,666 Bob came to church. 141 00:11:37,666 --> 00:11:44,166 His Lord infused him with Jesus' body and blood. 142 00:11:44,166 --> 00:11:46,333 Bob attended Bible class, and then he left. 143 00:11:46,333 --> 00:11:49,066 He collapsed in the parking lot. 144 00:11:49,066 --> 00:11:51,866 With his wife Joanne's help, he made it up. 145 00:11:51,866 --> 00:11:53,066 They got into the car. 146 00:11:53,066 --> 00:11:58,233 They went home, but he didn't survive a heart attack later that afternoon. 147 00:11:58,233 --> 00:12:01,066 Bob died with peace. 148 00:12:01,066 --> 00:12:06,633 My favorite Bob story is when he was serving as a greeter at our church. 149 00:12:06,633 --> 00:12:13,200 It was Easter morning, probably the Easter morning two months before he died. 150 00:12:13,200 --> 00:12:17,766 He greeted each car as it pulled up in the circle drive outside the church. 151 00:12:17,766 --> 00:12:22,666 He opened the door, and before the passenger could get out, he would lean in and he said, 152 00:12:22,666 --> 00:12:25,666 did you hear what happened? 153 00:12:25,666 --> 00:12:29,000 The people inside would invariably say, no, what? 154 00:12:29,000 --> 00:12:33,766 He said, Christ is risen. 155 00:12:33,766 --> 00:12:36,033 And you know how they responded. 156 00:12:36,033 --> 00:12:37,600 He is risen indeed. 157 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:38,600 Hallelujah. 158 00:12:38,600 --> 00:12:44,700 That is why Bob could live and die with peace. 159 00:12:44,700 --> 00:12:48,933 Because he knew that his Lord Jesus was no longer in the grave. 160 00:12:48,933 --> 00:12:51,633 This is why you can also die with peace. 161 00:12:51,633 --> 00:12:54,766 Your Lord Jesus is not in the grave. 162 00:12:54,766 --> 00:12:57,233 You have been baptized into his death and resurrection. 163 00:12:57,233 --> 00:12:59,933 I want you to do three things the rest of this service. 164 00:12:59,933 --> 00:13:06,000 One, pay attention to how often Simeon's peace is embedded in the liturgy of the service. 165 00:13:06,000 --> 00:13:12,733 Dr. Burreson will say, the peace of the Lord be with you always. 166 00:13:12,733 --> 00:13:19,033 We will sing, O Christ, thou Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant 167 00:13:19,033 --> 00:13:21,833 us thy peace. 168 00:13:21,833 --> 00:13:25,100 We will be invited to depart in peace. 169 00:13:25,100 --> 00:13:30,066 We will sing Simeon's song about going in peace. 170 00:13:30,066 --> 00:13:34,333 I didn't look to see what the post communion collect is today, but maybe it is the one 171 00:13:34,333 --> 00:13:41,066 that says, grant us pardon and peace in this sacrament. 172 00:13:41,066 --> 00:13:44,933 And then we will receive the benediction, the Lord bless you and keep you and give you 173 00:13:44,933 --> 00:13:49,033 peace. 174 00:13:49,033 --> 00:13:51,566 Look for the ways that peace is embedded in the liturgy. 175 00:13:51,566 --> 00:13:56,466 Second, if it's possible for you to take this supper even more seriously than you always 176 00:13:56,466 --> 00:13:58,866 do, do so this day. 177 00:13:58,866 --> 00:14:03,733 Recognize that that little baby that Simeon held grew up to give His life for you on the 178 00:14:03,733 --> 00:14:11,566 cross and now from His ascended throne comes down to you and he gives to you forgiveness 179 00:14:11,566 --> 00:14:14,633 for all the sins that would rob you of peace. 180 00:14:14,633 --> 00:14:19,866 He gives to you His strength so that you can live in peace in your vocations. 181 00:14:19,866 --> 00:14:25,166 He puts his living body into your dying body so that when the time comes you are ready 182 00:14:25,166 --> 00:14:27,066 to die in peace. 183 00:14:27,066 --> 00:14:28,133 There's a second thing to do. 184 00:14:28,133 --> 00:14:31,566 The third thing that I would like you to do after you take a look at the peace embedded 185 00:14:31,566 --> 00:14:37,566 in the liturgy and come with even more reverence to the supper is to sing with even more gusto 186 00:14:37,566 --> 00:14:41,400 than usual Simeon's words. 187 00:14:41,400 --> 00:14:45,633 Say Lord, my own eyes have seen your salvation. 188 00:14:45,633 --> 00:14:47,233 My own tongue has tasted. 189 00:14:47,233 --> 00:14:51,333 My own throat has swallowed your salvation. 190 00:14:51,333 --> 00:14:58,966 And now Lord, Lord let us thou thy servant depart in peace from this chapel. 191 00:14:58,966 --> 00:15:08,233 Let me go to live in peace and when the time comes to die in peace, like Saint Simeon and 192 00:15:08,233 --> 00:15:10,366 Saint Robert. 193 00:15:10,366 --> 00:15:11,366 In the name of Jesus. 194 00:15:11,366 --> 00:15:18,366 Amen.