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ing word has priority over the written word for the gospel was spread by the living word of the apostles and the church independent of the written word p 219 professor heick writing prior to the merger of the lutheran church in america canada section and the evangelical lutheran church of canada into the evangelical lutheran church in canada in 1986 has a brief commentary on the issues that caused the missouri synod to refuse to join the merger heick also provides a short history of the various lutheran organisations that eventually resulted in the formation of the lutheran world federation he highlights when and where the lwf assemblies met as well as their themes the title lutheran world federation was adopted at lund sweden in 1947 under the section lutherans and catholics in dialogue heick has a brief historical summary of these dialogues on the status of the nicene creed as dogma of the church 1965 baptism 1966 the eucharist as sacrifice 1966 67 the eucharist and the ministry 1968 70 the primacy of the pope 1970 72 teaching authority and infallibility in the church concluded in 1978 and justification by faith 1983 p 222 he also provides a brief historical summary of the world council of churches statement on baptism the eucharist and ministry both forms infant baptism and believer s baptism embody the primacy of grace and express the response of faith within the believing community p 224 in his section the ecumenical movement heick states luther was no separatist nor an unyielding dogmatist in his negotiations with martin bucer he was satisfied with saying that the body of christ is present in the supper with the bread wittenberg concord 1536 engl p 225 from the 17 th through to the 19 th centuries lutherans were involved in colloquies and dialogues leading up to the formation of the world council of churches and since its formation lutherans have participated in the wcc back in the 17 th and 18 th centuries the clime at the court of hannover linked by marriage to the catholic house of hapsburg the electress sophia friend of leibnitz herself of calvinist training became in 1713 heir apparent to the throne of great britain her son george i ascended the throne in 1714 because of his dual reign he was head of the lutheran church of hannover of the anglican establishment in england and of the presbyterian church in scotland footnote 28 p 256 since through modern technology we live in a global village and are able to communicate with christians of every denomination as well as members of every world religion confessional isolationism is no longer a reality in publications of william hordern there is a 10 page bibliography of his books and articles this volume is still available for purchase online at for example https www abebooks com book search isbn 9780888801487 theologians pastors and seminarians will most likely find this a worthwhile read i rate it as 4 5 out 5 thank god for the life and legacy of william hordern filed under church universal reviews tagged with book book review christianity ecumenism faith festschrift a tribute to dr william hordern lutheran theological seminary lutheranism theology sermon for 1 advent yr a november 30 2025 leave a comment 1 advent yr a 30 11 2025 isa 2 1 5 pastor garth wehrfritz hanson god our hope filled judge and arbiter today the first sunday in the season of advent marks the beginning of a new church calendar year advent means coming in advent we emphasise the coming of jesus in the past present and future god willing for the next few weeks i m going to focus on the isaiah passages i love the book of isaiah and if i were an ot scholar i would definitely specialize in this wonderful book sometimes referred to as the fifth gospel because it has so many good news prophecies which we christians believe are messianic and refer to jesus the compilers of the lectionary throw us a curveball during advent the portions from the hebrew scriptures are foretelling the coming of a messiah who has not yet appeared the new testament passages on the other hand not only presuppose a first coming but look forward to a second as martin buber has pointed out the biggest single difference between jews and christians is that while we are both messianic faiths when it comes to cataloging how messiahs come and go we have very different timetables 1 that reminds me of the following story pastor and professor fred craddock says my now deceased friend oswald goulter thirty years a missionary to china was under house arrest for three years he would be released by the communists if he promised to go home he said he would come home he wired back the missionary society sent him money for his transportation and he took a ship he went down to india to catch a ship and when he was in the coastal city in india before leaving he heard that there were a lot of jews sleeping in the barn lofts in that city they d been denied entrance to every country in the world except that one and they had gone inland and were living in barn lofts it was christmas time oswald goulter went around to those barns and said to the jews it s christmas merry christmas they said we re jews he said i know but it s christmas they said we don t observe christmas we re not followers of christ we re jews he said i know but what would you like for christmas we don t keep christmas i know but what would you like if somebody gave you something for christmas what would you like they said well we d like some good german pastry good so he went looking and he finally found some german pastry at a shop there in that city after cashing his passage check he took boxes of german pastries to these jews and said merry christmas then he wired the missionary society and said i need a ticket home when that story was being told there was a young seminarian sitting in the front row and he was absolutely incensed he said to dr goulter why did you do that they don t believe in jesus and dr goulter said but i do i do 2 so too like in this story dr goulter by giving those jews the gift of german pastries gave the jews a bit of hope with that gift the words of our isaiah passage also offer hope also in response to isaiah s oracle of promise and hope the nations will one day turn their weapons of war into tools of peace it is interesting that isaiah whose name means the lord gives salvation speaks this oracle of promise and hope before oracles of judgement you d think that it would be the other way round however it s not hope then comes first in order to help his straying people of judah and jerusalem face their judgement and soon to come babylonian exile they would feel abandoned by god in their babylonian exile however maybe they too would remember this oracle of promise and hope that one day their lot would improve and god would lead them out of exile back home isaiah shares this vision of a hope filled promising future notice that this future places zion another name for jerusalem at the front and centre of the world it will be the most important place reference to it being the highest place probably means that it will be the most important place spiritually and politically for the nations peoples from all nations shall journey to zion jerusalem to be taught by the lord the torah god s instruction and god s other word in the prophets and writings shall be taught and learned by peoples of all nations this teaching and learning will help everyone to put into practice what god wants for the nations i like the way eugene peterson renders it in the message he ll show us the way he works so we can live the way we re made what a wonderful word of hope and promise isaiah goes on to say he shall judge between the nations and shall arbitrate for many peoples here however god as judge is not bad news rather it is good news the consequence of god s judgement will be hope rather than despair love rather than hatred forgiveness rather than punishment peace rather than war god as judge here is a god of grace the judgement is gracious and merciful leading to life rather than death in concert with god as judge god will also be arbiter in our society we are familiar with the phrase binding arbitration usually it involves two opposing groups like for example the government and a union an arbiter functions like a mediator because both sides are not getting anywhere in their discussions both sides have hardened their positions and are not prepared to make any changes or compromises an arbiter works with both sides in as neutral a way as possible to hear both sides and present both sides in negotiations with a view to try and come up with an acceptable agreement between the two groups eventually when an agreement is reached the arbitration the agreement is binding in other words both sides are responsible for living up to their commitment to the terms of the agreement to do what is necessary to honour and keep the agreement recently here in alberta with the government employing the notwithstanding clause by legislating the teachers back to work there really was no arbiter and no settlement of differences only the threat by the government to punish teachers if they refuse to go back to work the government now claims that they don t have to come to an agreement with the teachers until 2027 this is not the kind of binding arbitration involved in our isaiah passage god is the perfect arbiter and does everything possible to help all nations live in agreement with his ways so much so to the extent that in response to god s work as arbiter the nations will be able to change their weapons of war into tools for peace tools used for agricultural purposes the hope here is that nation shall not lift up sword against nation neither shall they learn war any more what a wonderful hope god s perfect peace that comes through jesus messiah and prince of peace for that thanks be to god 1 robert mcafee brown reclaiming the bible words for the nineties louisville westminster john knox press 1994 p 47 2 fred b craddock craddock stories st louis mo chalice press 2001 pp 141 142 filed under church universal sermons tagged with advent advent hope ecumenical homily ecumenical sermon homily homily based on isa 2 1 5 homily for 1 advent yr a lutheran homily lutheran sermon sermon sermon based on isa 2 1 5 sermon for 1 advent yr a reformation sunday yr c october 26 2025 leave a comment reformation sunday yr c 26 10 2025 jer 31 31 34 pastor garth wehrfritz hanson god s right side up world today we lutherans and maybe some other denominations celebrate reformation sunday i could focus on our hero of the faith martin luther among other things reformer pastor biblical translator professor and hymnwriter however i think that if luther were alive today he would not want the church to focus on him since even in his day he didn t want people who supported his teachings to be named after him as lutherans rather i think luther would encourge both us pastors and congregation members to focus on god s word so join me now as we explore our passage from jeremiah just as in martin luther s day so in jeremiah s day there was much going on that one might describe as an upside down world in the case of luther he in his upside down way tried to do everything he could to avoid god the judge by being obsessed with confessing his sins and doing good works however one day god turned luther s world right side up when god revealed to luther in the letter to the romans that all people including luther are now justified by god s grace as a gift through the redemption that is in christ jesus rom 3 24 luther discovered that the right side up world emphasizes what god through jesus has done for us to forgive and save us not the other way round in our first lesson today jeremiah emphasises exactly the same right side up world jeremiah had a rough go of it as a prophet god gave jeremiah many prophetic oracles that offended both the religious and political leaders of his day jeremiah therefore was rejected and persecuted and suffered a lot because he was the lord s faithful prophet many of the oracles that jeremiah spoke to the people of judah focussed on how upside down their country really was because they had abandoned the covenant god had made with moses they had violated the commandments and laws the religious and political leaders had become self serving and corrupt the people too had fallen away from their relationship with god and god s ways repeatedly god s people had fallen into a tragic cycle god in his grace and love made a covenant with his people for a while they obeyed the covenant when things went well for them they forgot about god and thought their success was something they earned and deserved then they got into trouble and became desperate and turned to god again god s mercy reached out to them things got better until they fell away from god again and so they turned back to god and god rescued them once again on and on it went however it seemed because of this ongoing cycle that the world more or less remained upside down then suddenly out of the blue something new happens instead of a judgement oracle convicting god s people of their sins now god gives jeremiah a different kind of oracle a right side up oracle in verse 31 of the nrsv jeremiah speaks a word of encouragement and hope the days are surely coming says the lord when i will make a new covenant with the house of israel and the house of judah that word surely suggests that god s people were invited to be confident in trusting what god was going to do for them in the reb this confidence is emphasised when god tells them i shall establish a new covenant that word establish suggests confidence as well as a sense of certainty that god would look after his people by this new right side up covenant to emphasize the difference between past covenants which god s people broke the message refers to a brand new covenant a covenant different than all of the earlier ones god made with the israelites the difference is emphasized again in verse 32 referring to the covenant israel broke when in god s love and grace god took them by the hand to bring them out of egypt even though god was their husband and reb was patient with them notice here that even in this former covenant god was close to his people because he loved them just like a husband loves their wife in a marriage relationship sadly god s people were not able to keep their part of the covenant then in verse 33 comes the good news of the right side up new covenant it is going to be all god s doing 4 times god tells his people i will but this is the covenant i will make i will put my law within them and i will write it on their hearts and i will be their god nrsv god s initiative god s grace god s love god s mercy will make and establish this new covenant the action is focussed on god the same of course is true for us christians when jesus does everything for us through his suffering death on the cross and resurrec...