Yes, it’s Friday… and…
God allowed it! He allowed it all! New York, even! Am I talking about 911 or communism—and am I not just talking about the 1917 + 70 years or so of the Sovietsky ?
Both… no, all of it, I am afraid.
Do we ever consider or remember that? Do we ask the all too familiar why?
He is the Lord of history. It is His story, after all.
And we are not old enough, nor can we live long enough. We are not big enough. We cannot pull back far enough. We cannot be outside this creation to be objective enough. We are not smart enough or have enough memory capacity to take in all the variables that make up this life to be able to see clearly enough…
To be able to understand the WHY of it.
Remember that—I have to say to myself, when THEY supposedly win.
It does not matter much, anyway…as this is not my home.
But we got to live here still…right? At least for a little while yet. True.
Yes, and when all is said and done, it does not matter. Also, true.
What matters is who is with us heading to our real country of citizenship.
Is that being unpatriotic? Depends.
Did you vote? Do you vote?
Some Christians don’t. And that is shirking their responsibility.
We are given temporary dual-citizenship. Plus, what we do affects those around us, and we are to be of some help… do some good… be there to support the best that this life can be…
Here… and now.
We are all called to be our brothers’ (and sisters’) keepers.
Yes, I know… it is confusing and hard to see the good guys from the bad. Hey, we are all bad guys! So, pick the least of the evil. Know what they stand for. Vote your conscience.
Maybe this week’s elections are a check in the possible rising power of one side. Maybe it is very good that one side does not have such an easy time doing everything it wants.
They… and we… are all sinners. Great sinners. Even the believing ones.
Maybe some of us need to see what it is like when we get our way. The consequences if we insist we are right, when what we want has been shown to be SO WRONG.
Some of us have to learn the hard way. But be glad that they are given a time to do so. And then be there to help pick them up, forgive them, and welcome them back into the family.
But it is all right. Nothing has really changed. God is not surprised by any of this.
No, it is he who allowed them this moment.
Yes, we STILL cannot lose. As even if we lose, we win.
How does the hymn go, that we just heard a few Sundays ago:
“take they our life, Goods, fame, child, and wife…. Though these all be gone…”
What?
“Our vict’ry has been won; the Kingdom ours remaineth.”
Because of Jesus. Because of His story. Because He is God, and not the devil. Because the devil and this world is not in control.
Because it is God’s story. He is Lord. Always and forever.
Besides…
Yes, yes…it’s Friday,
And Sunday is a’comin, soon and very soon… we will see…
We will see our salvation, the very cup that runneth over…
From that table that He has prepared for us in the midst of our enemies…
Each and every time we do this in remembrance of Him who overcame this world, who pushed back the darkness, who conquered death even.
That is what we proclaim. Sunday after Sunday. The Lord’s Day.
So, we too, with Simeon, can also go in peace once again, out and into the fray…
Because we have seen our salvation.
This coming Sunday – 22nd Sunday after Pentecost – November 9th 2025
Readings:
Old Testament – Genesis 32:22-30
Epistle – 2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
Gospel – Luke 18:1-18
Psalm – 148
Sermon
Based on the Gospel reading
Prayers: For our government and its leaders, that they will find a reasonable resolution enough so that the people who are depending upon them for employment and help would not be left without those things needed. That a lasting peace would remain between the people of Israel and Gaza as well as for the People of Russia and the Ukraine. For our congregation that it would please our Lord that we would increase in numbers and there remain in this place a congregation that calls upon Him rightly, practicing the faith according to the Scriptures.
Reflection from Luther:
“We must learn to know the power and might of God in this same Word, namely, that we are saved thereby and solely by it resist the devil’s power and all errors. For to believe firmly that I am a Christian, a child of God, and that I am saved, when I feel sin and a bad conscience; to believe that I will live eternally, endowed with a beautiful, glorious body, although I lie under the sod—that requires a divine and heavenly power and a wisdom which is not governed by any feeling or perceiving, but which can look beyond that, convinced that this is not human prattle or phantasy but that it is the Word of God, ‘who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think’ (Eph. 3:20).”
–Martin Luther, Luther’s Works, Vol. 28