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Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father, the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

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Amen.

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My first car was a rusty but trusty 1993 Toyota Camry.

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Baby blue.

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Had a CD player installed in it along with four high quality speakers that I purchased

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from Best Buy.

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Far superior to the factory installed ones for cassette tapes and the AM radio.

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These things were the real deal.

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And I can still remember after a hard workout, cross country or track practice, driving home

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on Edgemont Boulevard in my hometown Perryville, Missouri, the sun setting, I would pull out

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one of my all time favorite CDs and I would push those speakers to their ultimate limits.

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Treasures of the Singing Church by Concordia Seminary Chorus.

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I was a weird kid.

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But there was a familiar hymn on that CD, Crown Hymn with Many Crowns.

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Sometimes threw me into this frenzied excitement.

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Thoughts of going to the seminary, becoming a pastor, serving in the church, shepherding

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God's people, giving holy communion to his saints.

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All these thoughts, they would come rushing over me all at once and I'd sing with all

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my heart, with goosebumps and a whole lot of excitement and fear and wonder and joy.

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The lyrics of the third stanza, Crown him the Lord of Love.

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Behold his hands and side.

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Rich wounds yet visible above in beauty glorified.

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No angels in the sky can fully bear that sight.

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The downward bend their wondering eyes at mysteries so bright.

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These moments in varied and personalized ways come to God's people.

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Perhaps you can easily recall the moment or the moments when you realized you were coming

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here.

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For many of you, your journey towards pastoral or diaconal service in the church is just

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now beginning at the seminary.

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It's orientation week and we are glad that you are here.

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Many of you have shared your moments with me.

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It is the Lord who brought you here.

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With a whole lot of help from your spouse and your pastor and a church worker or friend,

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he has brought you here to prepare you for a lifetime of ministry to his people and we

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thank God for you.

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The church prays for you.

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Do you and our mentors who are among us today, do you remember the moment when the Lord was

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calling you, dragging you to the seminary?

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Staff do you remember the moment when you were called to come here to serve and faculty

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the call to come back to come to this beautiful place, a real treasure of the church and serve

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God's future pastors and deaconesses?

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How you stood in awe and joy that God would use even you and the gifts that he gave you

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to come to Concordia Seminary and serve in a place like this.

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I imagine in these moments we are not too far away from exactly how Peter felt when

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he cries out with this great bold faith to the Lord here in John chapter 6 in the midst

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of a difficult choice, in the midst of harsh realities, disciples turning away, many of

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them no longer walked with him because his teaching was too difficult.

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Against all of this, yes even in the face of this, Peter here he cries out with this

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bold excited joyful daring confidence in the Lord, Lord to whom else shall we go?

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You have the words of eternal life and we have come to believe and we know that you

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are the holy one of God.

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What a moment for Peter.

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Faith filled, resolute, certain, makes the promise right then and there he fully commits

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with all his heart he will not walk away from his Lord, he will not turn back, he will go,

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he will follow, he will obey, he will even die rather than fall away from Christ and

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so he does.

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He goes, he follows, he obeys, but he has his moments.

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One small saying from a young servant girl on the night before Jesus's death proves

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too difficult for Peter's great faith.

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She says, you also were with Jesus, I don't know the man, not a good moment for Peter,

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not filled with faith, filled with fear, uncertain.

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He breaks his promise, he turns away, he turns back, no longer walks with Jesus, he denies

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him not once, three times.

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He goes from this great moment of faith, you are the holy one of God, to I don't know

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Him.

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He commits a grave sin, surely he remembered Christ's own words, he who denies me before

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man I will also deny before my Father who's in heaven.

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As Peter has his moments and all the way back here in the synagogue in Capernaum, recorded

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for us in John chapter 6, Jesus knows what is in the hearts of His disciples.

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He asks the twelve, He asks Peter, do you want to go away as well?

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He knows they will all fall away.

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Jesus knows they will be scattered.

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He knows that right now they don't want to, not at this moment, but when the harder and

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more difficult teaching of the cross comes.

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And that critical moment when the Son of Man is led to the slaughter as a sacrificial lamb

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and the nails pierce Him through and He is high and lifted up on a bloodied cross and

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crowned with thorns and put to death, the saying will come to pass, I will strike the

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shepherd and the sheep will be scattered.

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Jesus Christ crucified for the sins of the world, this is a hard saying.

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Who can listen to it?

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This is a hard word, who can see it?

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Peter doesn't have the best moments that Thursday evening or that Friday morning, he's not there

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at the cross.

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Mary's there.

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She doesn't go away that day, she remains at the cross.

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The prophesied sword that would pierce her own soul had come, not the best moment for

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her, but she had her own faith-filled moments just like Peter.

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The visit from the angel Gabriel, you will bear a son and you will name him Jesus.

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Let it be to me according to thy word.

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The greeting from Elizabeth with John leaping in her womb, blessed is she who believed that

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there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord and the tales

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of the shepherds of heavenly rejoicing when she gave birth to this baby boy and laid Him

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in a manger in Bethlehem.

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But now this moment had come, for He had said, I am the living bread that came down from

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heaven and the bread that I will give to the life of the world is my flesh.

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And Mary sees it.

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She's there at the cross.

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She doesn't turn away.

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She remains faithful, yet even she is crushed.

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We see other women at the cross that day too.

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Mary Magdalene is there, her own faithful and shameful moments.

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And other women who accompanied Jesus gathered at the foot of His cross a beautiful picture

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of the church, the bride of Christ receiving and believing this difficult visible word,

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Christ crucified for the forgiveness of their sins, for the forgiveness of your sins, for

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the forgiveness of the sins of the whole world as Saint Paul writes, for in Him all the fullness

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of God was pleased to dwell and through Him reconciled to Himself all things, whether

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on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of His cross.

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Christ crucified, stumbling block to the Jews and folly to the Gentiles and too difficult

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of a word for Peter, for Mary.

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You have your own faith-filled and fear-filled moments, great moments and shameful moments.

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And just like Peter, you too will experience moments of great faith and boldness.

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You step out of the boat and you walk right to Christ, come to the seminary, prepare to

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follow him and you believe with a bold faith.

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And then you will have moments in ministry where you sink.

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And sometimes, oftentimes it's because of your own doing, your own fears and faults

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and sin.

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And sometimes, like Mary, you will be laid low even though you are faithful.

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Yet in every moment, for every moment the Good Shepherd laid down His life and shed

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his blood for you, for the women who were there and the men who were not, for Peter,

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for Mary, for all.

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He died for the faithful and the unfaithful moments.

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For even when we are faithless, he remains faithful.

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For when the sheep are scattered, the Good Shepherd goes seeking.

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He finds, He brings them back, He restores, He forgives.

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He restores you to Himself and He plants your feet firmly upon the empty tomb and the glorious

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resurrection and promises that he has for He has said, I will seek the lost.

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I will bring back the strayed.

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I will bind up the injured and I will strengthen the weak.

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Therefore crown Him the Lord of love.

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Behold His hands and side, rich wounds yet visible above in beauty glorified.

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What a glorious moment for our king.

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When He walked out of that tomb and He found Peter and He found Mary and He found you.

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He claimed you to be His own dear son and daughter in the waters of your baptism and

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He has brought you to Himself and He has fully restored you and made you new.

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He has brought you to this place and you have answered the call and you're here with a great

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faith that is solely sustained by Him.

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To be prepared by Him for all the moments that He has already prepared in advance for

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you to walk in and to walk through.

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Therefore, our Lord says to you with unending grace and steadfast love, feed my lambs, tend

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my sheep, feed my sheep, follow me.

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Amen.

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Now, may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your

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minds in Christ Jesus our Lord.

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Amen.