WEBVTT

1
00:00:00.625 --> 00:00:04.325
Grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

2
00:00:04.525 --> 00:00:05.025
Amen.

3
00:00:07.725 --> 00:00:10.525
Romans, 8:31 a.

4
00:00:14.125 --> 00:00:16.625
What then shall we say to these things?

5
00:00:22.025 --> 00:00:25.325
Friends, as long as I can remember, I've been glad to be a Lutheran.

6
00:00:25.925 --> 00:00:27.125
This may not surprise you.

7
00:00:29.325 --> 00:00:33.325
There's a number of reasons for this but as we approached, excuse me,

8
00:00:33.325 --> 00:00:35.525
this morning's special worship time.

9
00:00:36.325 --> 00:00:39.925
Remembering little ones who have died in the womb, or at birth or in

10
00:00:39.925 --> 00:00:41.025
other terrible ways.

11
00:00:42.125 --> 00:00:45.425
I was glad once again that we are Lutheran's.

12
00:00:47.825 --> 00:00:50.925
Now, what we believe of course, is not unique to us, other Christians,

13
00:00:50.925 --> 00:00:53.625
know this to, but our teaching gives us permission.

14
00:00:55.225 --> 00:00:59.025
Gives us permission not to know things

15
00:01:00.425 --> 00:01:04.725
about God and about his ways in the world. And our teaching from the

16
00:01:04.725 --> 00:01:09.825
scriptures centered in Jesus also gives us permission to call things

17
00:01:09.825 --> 00:01:13.825
horrible, when they are actually horrible.

18
00:01:15.525 --> 00:01:17.225
To name as terrible

19
00:01:18.525 --> 00:01:20.425
the terrible things that happen in life.

20
00:01:21.725 --> 00:01:25.225
Whether that's on a large-scale or a very, very small one.

21
00:01:27.725 --> 00:01:30.725
So for ourselves, and for others, we know and love today

22
00:01:30.725 --> 00:01:32.525
we remember this.

23
00:01:36.125 --> 00:01:40.625
I read just half of the first verse half of that first section of

24
00:01:40.625 --> 00:01:41.925
Romans chapter 8.

25
00:01:43.425 --> 00:01:46.625
What then shall we say to these things?

26
00:01:47.925 --> 00:01:51.225
Part of what's been going on, leading up to that point in the chapter

27
00:01:52.025 --> 00:01:53.625
has been terrible things.

28
00:01:53.725 --> 00:01:58.625
Some very large scale, some very small. Paul speaks about the

29
00:01:58.625 --> 00:01:59.625
creation

30
00:02:01.225 --> 00:02:03.825
of which we are part groaning

31
00:02:03.825 --> 00:02:06.325
like a woman in labor.

32
00:02:08.525 --> 00:02:09.725
That's a dangerous time.

33
00:02:11.225 --> 00:02:12.825
Terrible things can happen.

34
00:02:16.725 --> 00:02:18.425
So then Paul says, what shall we say?

35
00:02:18.525 --> 00:02:20.825
What shall we say to these things?

36
00:02:22.425 --> 00:02:27.525
Well, when terrible things happen in life than sometimes what we say

37
00:02:27.525 --> 00:02:28.725
are questions.

38
00:02:32.325 --> 00:02:34.725
Friends, it makes a great deal of difference

39
00:02:34.825 --> 00:02:37.525
which question you ask.

40
00:02:40.025 --> 00:02:42.725
One of the more terrible questions can be this one.

41
00:02:44.125 --> 00:02:44.725
Why?

42
00:02:48.025 --> 00:02:49.425
It's a terrible question

43
00:02:49.425 --> 00:02:55.725
because it moves in a lot of directions and it can be restless and

44
00:02:55.725 --> 00:02:59.225
damage a lot of things unless sooner or later

45
00:02:59.925 --> 00:03:03.625
the question is tamed and put in its place.

46
00:03:05.825 --> 00:03:09.125
You see why can move in the direction of blame

47
00:03:10.025 --> 00:03:11.525
and fault. Is this

48
00:03:11.525 --> 00:03:12.725
my fault?

49
00:03:13.225 --> 00:03:14.625
Are you to blame?

50
00:03:15.525 --> 00:03:16.725
What caused this?

51
00:03:16.725 --> 00:03:17.725
Who should pay?

52
00:03:19.125 --> 00:03:22.525
Who should be sent away because this has happened?

53
00:03:23.825 --> 00:03:24.425
Why?

54
00:03:28.225 --> 00:03:30.825
Why can move also in the direction of the future?

55
00:03:31.025 --> 00:03:34.325
But far too quickly was this supposed to happen.

56
00:03:34.325 --> 00:03:37.025
What purpose can this possibly serve?

57
00:03:37.025 --> 00:03:39.925
I have to live tomorrow and the next day and the next.

58
00:03:39.925 --> 00:03:45.525
But why this what can possibly come from this . Why moves into the future

59
00:03:45.525 --> 00:03:49.225
and that might end up being a good direction, but perhaps not for a

60
00:03:49.225 --> 00:03:49.825
while.

61
00:03:50.425 --> 00:03:53.225
It may take a long time, a long time,

62
00:03:54.225 --> 00:03:58.525
to arrive at a healing true location in the future.

63
00:03:59.925 --> 00:04:01.925
And no one can rush you

64
00:04:02.925 --> 00:04:04.125
to get to that place.

65
00:04:07.525 --> 00:04:09.425
Friends, why can damage me.

66
00:04:11.325 --> 00:04:12.825
It can break your heart.

67
00:04:14.625 --> 00:04:16.425
If left unchecked

68
00:04:17.425 --> 00:04:24.125
it can harden my heart because in demanding an answer and in refusing

69
00:04:24.125 --> 00:04:25.325
anything less.

70
00:04:26.825 --> 00:04:30.125
I can in enthrone myself as Lord.

71
00:04:31.625 --> 00:04:37.925
And I demand an answer and when an answer doesn't come, then the

72
00:04:37.925 --> 00:04:43.025
domain over which I rule, as Lord begins to shrink.

73
00:04:44.625 --> 00:04:49.825
And it becomes locked down and locked up, tight air tight.

74
00:04:51.125 --> 00:04:52.525
And no one can breathe.

75
00:04:54.025 --> 00:04:56.025
And no one can survive very long

76
00:04:57.725 --> 00:04:59.325
in the domain of why.

77
00:05:05.025 --> 00:05:08.525
When something terrible happens, when a child dies in the womb or in

78
00:05:08.525 --> 00:05:12.325
birthing or soon, after it won't do any good to say, don't ask

79
00:05:12.325 --> 00:05:13.025
questions.

80
00:05:13.225 --> 00:05:14.925
That does not do any good.

81
00:05:15.925 --> 00:05:17.125
You can't help it.

82
00:05:18.725 --> 00:05:22.325
In a way, all you can do is try to take a breath and pray

83
00:05:22.325 --> 00:05:24.625
Lord, have mercy and start again.

84
00:05:26.425 --> 00:05:28.225
But Paul's question remains.

85
00:05:28.325 --> 00:05:32.025
What shall we say to these things?

86
00:05:34.225 --> 00:05:38.025
There is something that we can say at least perhaps after a time has

87
00:05:38.025 --> 00:05:38.725
passed.

88
00:05:38.825 --> 00:05:39.725
There is a question

89
00:05:39.725 --> 00:05:45.325
actually that can be the gift of the Holy Spirit who is alive and well

90
00:05:45.325 --> 00:05:50.325
in your heart. An act of the will that the Spirit can enable. An act of

91
00:05:50.325 --> 00:05:55.625
faith that you and I can do over and over again, as often as we need

92
00:05:55.625 --> 00:05:57.125
to. The act of faith

93
00:05:57.125 --> 00:06:03.425
is this. To take why and to put it aside for a time, maybe for a long

94
00:06:03.425 --> 00:06:03.825
time.

95
00:06:04.025 --> 00:06:06.725
Maybe until Jesus appears in

96
00:06:06.725 --> 00:06:12.125
glory. Put why over to the side and ask another question.

97
00:06:14.725 --> 00:06:15.325
Who?

98
00:06:18.325 --> 00:06:25.025
Who is this God who seems so mysterious and so unknown and so

99
00:06:25.025 --> 00:06:26.025
unpredictable?

100
00:06:26.325 --> 00:06:27.725
Who is he?

101
00:06:29.125 --> 00:06:30.225
And who am I

102
00:06:31.225 --> 00:06:31.925
to him?

103
00:06:33.725 --> 00:06:35.825
There is so much that we do, not know.

104
00:06:36.725 --> 00:06:39.025
But can we answer this question?

105
00:06:39.325 --> 00:06:42.025
Who is God? And I say to you

106
00:06:42.425 --> 00:06:44.325
yes, we can.

107
00:06:45.325 --> 00:06:46.925
He is the Father

108
00:06:48.525 --> 00:06:51.125
who has a son.

109
00:06:53.525 --> 00:06:59.225
He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and he is for you

110
00:07:01.125 --> 00:07:02.225
not against you.

111
00:07:03.825 --> 00:07:07.225
Now that's easy to say sometimes at least it's easy to say, but how do

112
00:07:07.225 --> 00:07:10.925
I know not how do I know everything and how it all fits together?

113
00:07:11.225 --> 00:07:12.325
No, that's too much.

114
00:07:12.325 --> 00:07:16.225
But who is he and how do I know that God is for me?

115
00:07:17.625 --> 00:07:18.825
Saint, Paul tells us.

116
00:07:20.025 --> 00:07:25.025
He did not spare his own son, but delivered him up for us, all.

117
00:07:26.725 --> 00:07:30.225
And the son freely gave himself for us

118
00:07:30.225 --> 00:07:30.725
all.

119
00:07:32.625 --> 00:07:36.425
And so God makes himself known not fully of course because we couldn't

120
00:07:36.425 --> 00:07:37.325
bear that much.

121
00:07:38.225 --> 00:07:41.625
But he makes himself known in his Son.

122
00:07:43.125 --> 00:07:47.025
He is the Father of Jesus and Jesus makes him known to us.

123
00:07:47.025 --> 00:07:53.125
Jesus makes the the Father's fatherly heart known in his own dying

124
00:07:53.125 --> 00:07:55.025
and his rising from the dead.

125
00:07:55.025 --> 00:08:02.325
We learn from Jesus who God is. A God, who has enemies but who loves

126
00:08:02.325 --> 00:08:02.825
them

127
00:08:03.025 --> 00:08:07.825
nonetheless. We learn from Jesus who God is a God who does not stay

128
00:08:07.825 --> 00:08:12.725
aloof apart from struggle and pain, but who came down

129
00:08:13.025 --> 00:08:19.525
into it. Who embraced it all and took it and died for it and overcame

130
00:08:19.525 --> 00:08:26.325
it and is exalted on high to see you and to hear you.

131
00:08:28.125 --> 00:08:30.225
To hear your questions.

132
00:08:33.025 --> 00:08:33.925
Who are you

133
00:08:34.125 --> 00:08:34.825
Oh, God?

134
00:08:36.825 --> 00:08:41.625
We learn from Jesus who God is. A God, who will one day will utterly

135
00:08:41.625 --> 00:08:45.725
win the victory over death and everything that connects to it sin and

136
00:08:45.725 --> 00:08:48.225
separation and grief and loss.

137
00:08:48.225 --> 00:08:54.425
God will one day utterly win the victory over death because in Jesus

138
00:08:54.725 --> 00:08:56.925
he already has.

139
00:08:58.225 --> 00:08:59.425
This is who God is.

140
00:09:00.825 --> 00:09:04.825
The one whom the Son reveals he is, the Father of Jesus.

141
00:09:05.825 --> 00:09:10.825
And because you are in Jesus, it answers the question.

142
00:09:10.825 --> 00:09:12.225
Who am I?

143
00:09:13.025 --> 00:09:17.125
I am his child, his son, his daughter for Jesus sake.

144
00:09:17.125 --> 00:09:20.125
This God loves you and he loves me.

145
00:09:21.125 --> 00:09:23.125
He does not reveal everything to us,

146
00:09:23.125 --> 00:09:24.525
not even close.

147
00:09:25.225 --> 00:09:27.525
He does not answer every question.

148
00:09:27.925 --> 00:09:30.025
Not even close.

149
00:09:32.625 --> 00:09:34.325
But this question, he answers.

150
00:09:35.225 --> 00:09:36.025
Yes, he does.

151
00:09:37.325 --> 00:09:41.325
May it please God to help us to ask it.

152
00:09:43.325 --> 00:09:47.025
What shall we say to these things?

153
00:09:48.825 --> 00:09:49.625
We will say.

154
00:09:50.925 --> 00:09:51.825
Who are you

155
00:09:51.925 --> 00:09:52.625
O Lord

156
00:09:54.025 --> 00:09:55.025
and who am I?

157
00:09:57.325 --> 00:09:58.825
He is the God of life

158
00:09:59.625 --> 00:10:01.025
who will raise the dead.

159
00:10:01.025 --> 00:10:03.125
He is the Father of Jesus

160
00:10:03.125 --> 00:10:03.825
who died.

161
00:10:03.825 --> 00:10:08.325
Yes, even more, who was raised from the dead and who is at the right

162
00:10:08.325 --> 00:10:09.225
hand of God.

163
00:10:09.525 --> 00:10:13.325
Pleading for you in your need.

164
00:10:14.325 --> 00:10:16.825
And you are his child.

165
00:10:18.225 --> 00:10:21.625
In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.