The Service of the Word for the First Sunday after Christmas (December 27, 2020)

This service was not recorded to provide our volunteers and Pastor some time off during this busy holiday season. The video below is compliments of the LCMS video ministry, “Main Street Living.” Pastor Augustine’s sermon is below the video.

Here are Immanuel’s weekly bulletin and announcements:
(opens as a PDF in separate tab/window)
December 27 bulletin
December 27 announcements

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Click here for a web version of today’s in-person service at Immanuel:
The Service of the Word for December 27, 2020

Pastor Augustine’s sermon delivered to the saints gathered in person today:

“The Death of 2020”
Pastor J. Philipp Augustine

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

“Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32)

Only 4 days left, and 2020 will be history. It’s funny how something totally symbolic, like the numbers on a calendar, can make people feel like they’re starting over with something brand new.

A new year means a new slate. A new opportunity. A new chance for things to work out right. And of course, new year’s resolutions, which may or may not happen. But that’s half the fun anyways. Because it’s all about new possibilities.

Are any of us sorry to see 2020 go? Probably not. But when have we ever mourned the death of the old year? I think for most of us, we’re happy to lay 2020 to rest. With only four days left, there’s almost no hope left to squeeze out of it. Especially when one abounding in hope is right around the corner.

We’re always running away from the things that give us no hope; or at least ready to leave them behind. And it’s even more clear in the stuff that actually matters.

Try being friendly with someone who is suffering. Try talking with someone who had a terminal disease – for someone condemned to die. Try visiting with someone who has been told that there is no hope; who believes there is no hope. When death itself is right around the corner. It is one of the most difficult things you will ever do. Because we want people to have hope in spite of a hopeless situation.

In our text today, Simeon did have hope. The hope that there would always be a New Year’s Day for him and thus, life for him. As long as God waited to send His Son, there would always be a tomorrow. After all, “It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ.”

What would you do with a promise like that? A promise that let you know that as long as you hadn’t seen the Lord’s Christ, there would most certainly be a tomorrow for you, no matter what? Every day would have the hope of New Year’s Day.

Until one day, when a young mother and father bring their baby to the temple for his dedication and mother’s purification and the appointed offerings. And the Holy Spirit reveals to Simeon that this child is in fact the Lord’s Christ. God’s Word had been fulfilled.

Therefore, tomorrow may never come again for him. Because for Simeon, where Christ is, death is right around the corner. Could we bear that day? Could we take it if God came right out and told us, “this is the day you will die”?

And there are no promises that it will be clean. No promises that death will be painless. No promises that we will die in peace. Nor that we will have a good death. Just, today you will die. Or maybe tomorrow. But it will be soon. And there’s nothing you can do to stop it.

But, to this Simeon said, “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.”

You are letting your servant depart in peace. A peace greater than the promise of not dying. A peace greater than a pleasant death. Because now Simeon had seen his Savior.

His eyes had seen God’s salvation, prepared in the presence of all peoples. He had seen God’s light. His Son Jesus Christ. A light to bring the Gentiles out of darkness. A light that was itself the glory of all God’s people.

Simeon knew that Jesus brought a peace far greater than the peace of knowing death was not today. That Jesus brought a hope far greater than the hope for tomorrow.

This Savior was one bringing so much, that Simeon couldn’t help but take the infant up in his arms. Because this Savior would bring about a peace that conquered death rather than delay it. This Savior brought a hope that went past tomorrow and into life everlasting.

And yes, this meant that by seeing Christ, death was right around the corner. But it was now better to say that where death was, Christ was right around the corner. This Savior came to follow death. As death shadows us, Jesus shadows death. Stalking it. Hunting it. Killing it. Using the ultimate trap of the cross, and Himself as the bait.

And by going to the cross, Simeon was right, a sword would indeed pierce mother Mary’s heart. Watching her son, the one promised by God, the one she raised, the one she loved, crucified on behalf of the world.

And yet, Jesus goes to the cross to swallow up death forever. That is why He’s our Savior. That is our salvation. Because through Jesus Christ is the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.

These words of Simeon are historically used in the Divine Service right after the Lord’s Supper. Although for most of 2020 we have not sung them in order to shorten the service and our time together in one place. We will sing an adaptation before Communion today.

They are perfect words for what we have just received in Jesus’ own body and blood. Because there we have seen His salvation prepared in the presence of all people. We have seen the Light to the Gentiles, and the glory for God’s people. And we are dismissed from there into the world.

These words are also ones we hear in the funeral service. Where we trust that those dying in the faith have been dismissed from this world in peace. And that God’s Word has been – and will be – fulfilled.

Salvation also means resurrection. A hope greater than tomorrow. A peace right there in our presence, as Jesus is present even in death, preparing to give His resurrection at the right time.

We don’t need to wait four days to have hope. We don’t have to have a new year to live in peace. 2020 may be dying in four days, but that doesn’t mean a thing. Because Christ Jesus is here. Right now; for you. Because in the face of death, He is our life. Thanks be to God. Amen.

The sermon for the Nativity of Our Lord – Christmas Day, 2020
Pastor J. Philipp Augustine

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.  Amen.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

The opening verses of the Gospel of John are among the greatest and most elegant verses of the Bible—or of any literature for that matter. In wonderful rhetoric, the evangelist brings heavenly truth and majesty into human words.

In John’s Gospel, the story of Jesus does not begin with the story of Mary, of Joseph, of shepherds, and of Magi. It begins before the creation of the world and in the eternity before time was created.

John writes, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him was not any thing made that was made” (John 1:1–3). This is a “great and mighty wonder”—the Creator, the Word of God, now joins Himself to His broken and hurting creation in order to redeem us all.

This was the promise of God from the beginning. From the day in which human sin broke the perfection of Eden, one golden thread is woven by God through the lives of patriarchs and prophets and kings, through a humble man named Jesse and the tree that would sprout through his son David.

Though change is a fact of history and our everyday lives, God’s eternal promises do not change; nor are they forgotten. And this day, this blessed, holy Christmas Day, we see the descendant of Jesse, the Virgin Mary, bringing into the world a baby who will change the universe.

The prophets of God had foretold Christmas (c.f. Isaiah 52). Yet those who read the prophets still did not understand the fulfillment of the prophetic word. John tells us, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him” (John 1:10–11).

God has not chosen visibly great and mighty people and things to work His great and mighty deeds. He has chosen that which is humble and hidden to human eyes.

And so it was that His fulfillment of all things came through a lowly, peasant girl giving birth in a stable. Here was the Babe, hidden in the tree of Jesse, who had now come forth as the fruit of that same tree.

So it was at Bethlehem two thousand years ago, and so it is today. Humanity lives in a world that seems to be defined not by life, but by death. The sanctity of life is denied; that a baby really isn’t a baby until it’s born; that the elderly and handicapped should have the option to end their suffering on their terms.

Nation rises against nation as humanity finds new and more effective ways to wage deadly war against one another – not only with guns and tanks but now with technology.

Closer to home, we drive past a cemetery and, unless we choose to fool ourselves, know that the day will come when our own earthly bodies will be placed in a grave.

Death is a darkness that floods all of human history and, unless we are alive at the second coming of the King of kings and Lord of lords, it will define our own personal history as well.

It’s into that grim reality of death that the words of John ring out with a hope and certainty that defies the power of death itself. This Word of God who created all things also changes all things! “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4–5).

Yes, it is a dark world in many ways. Yes, all of us have sinned and all of us thus deserve not only earthly death but eternal death. And yet, the Creator so loves us that He has taken the darkness and destroyed it with His own light. And where His light is, life—not death—reigns.

The Old Testament records God’s promises throughout human history, promises that are more sure and certain than anything our eyes might conceive or our minds imagine.

The world, the devil, and our own flesh would have us look inward for an answer to the darkness that surrounds us and fills us. Yet all we find there is more darkness and hopelessness.

We need God’s own light to break into our darkness and change night to eternal day. And in Jesus, the light of the world, God has given us that blessed light! For “the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen His glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

No human eye could perceive it that night. All that could be seen was a child. Yet this child would forever destroy the darkness. His light was to be the light of the world.

Every force of Satan would seek to put that light out. Herod would attempt to destroy Him by killing every male infant. Scribes and Pharisees would seek to silence Him as He spoke words of life. Failing to silence Him, they would seek to kill Him. Some thirty-three years after the first Christmas, the Babe of Bethlehem would be nailed to a cross.

But this is what He had come to do. The Christmas story is about a baby who had been born to die—yet not just to die but to be placed in the utter darkness of a tomb and on Easter morning to burst forth from the tomb. When the child of Mary rose from the grave, the light that began at Bethlehem shone so brightly that Easter morn that no one can put it out.

That light still shines in the darkness, a light that neither the world nor Satan can ever put out. It shines as the Babe of Bethlehem fills our lives with Himself. It shines with a brilliance perceived only by eyes of faith that gaze upon the baptismal font and the altar. It shines on you this Christmas Day – and tomorrow – and into the eternity He has prepared for you! Amen.

Christmas Eve Lessons and Carols

Merry Christmas! Immanuel Lutheran Church shares the good news of great joy that is for you and all people. Just when you feel cut off, God provides a shoot of life; a branch to grow to provide the fruit of God’s grace and mercy. Enjoy this service of God’s word spoken and sung to bring you the good news that Jesus is born for you! Glory to the newborn king!

Christmas Eve Service 2020 – click to view/download the service; hymn texts will be provided in the video.

The service of the Word and prayer for the Fourth Sunday in Advent (December 20, 2020). In the Annunciation of our Lord (Luke 1), God affirms the promise He made to King David that a descendant would reign upon the throne forever. David did not get to see this fulfilled, but he believed it. So also the Virgin Mary when chosen by God to bear the Christ child also simply trusted God’s Word to be so. May we also hear and treasure God’s Word that still dwells among us today!

December 20 Video service
December 20 bulletin
December 20 announcements

NOTE: There will be no recording of the December 27 service. The Christmas Eve service will be prerecorded to view on December 24. Viewers of the service on Plainview cable channels will be able to view the Christmas Eve service the week of the 27th.

Please also take a moment to read the latest update from PJ & Melanie Aarsvold who are on vicarage in Lakewood, Colorado:
2020-12-15 PJ and Melanie letter

Christmas services this week:
— Christmas Eve at 5:00 p.m. (Lessons and Carols; much singing; masks required)
— Christmas Day at 9:30 a.m. (with Holy Communion; masks required)

If you have been blessed with this service of the Word and would like to support this ministry, you can mail your contribution to:

Immanuel Lutheran Church
45 West Broadway
Plainview, MN 55964

Please do not mail cash.

You can give online here through our online service or check out other ways to give a financial gift to Immanuel.

Members:

• If you have offering envelopes, they are addressed and just need a stamp.
• 2021 envelopes are in the CLC lobby. If you or someone for you cannot pick them up before the end of December, kindly contact the office so we can mail them to you.

The service of the Word and prayer for the Third Sunday in Advent (December 13, 2020). It’s all downhill to Christmas now that we are on the last half of Advent. The pink candle is lit to remind us of the joy of Jesus and to rejoice that He has come to bind up the brokenhearted and set the captives free (Isaiah 61:1). Sin thrives in darkness, so the light of God’s mercy in Christ shines to show us they way out of darkness to true, lasting joy that is beyond an emotion or state of mind. True joy is found in Jesus and the gifts He gives because of the cross and empty tomb. ‘Tis the season to REJOICE!

December 13 video service
December 13 bulletin
December 13 announcements

If you have been blessed with this service of the Word and would like to support this ministry, you can mail your contribution to:

Immanuel Lutheran Church
45 West Broadway
Plainview, MN 55964

Please do not mail cash.

You can give online here through our online service or check out other ways to give a financial gift to Immanuel.

Members:

• If you have offering envelopes, they are addressed and just need a stamp.
• 2021 envelopes are in the CLC lobby. If you or someone for you cannot pick them up before the end of December, kindly contact the office so we can mail them to you.

The service of the Word and prayer for the Second Sunday in Advent (December 6, 2020). God’s voice of comfort is found in His Word that breaks down the mountains of sin and fills the valleys of despair with His grace and love. Amid the cries of repentance and preparing for the Lord’s return, we can be assured of a voice of comfort that tells us that it is going to be OK because the war is over, and our sins are forgiven. This promise is fulfilled in Jesus. He is the Word of the Lord that will stand forever.

December 6 video service
December 6 bulletin
December 6 announcements

If you have been blessed with this service of the Word and would like to support this ministry, you can mail your contribution to:

Immanuel Lutheran Church
45 West Broadway
Plainview, MN 55964

Members:

• If you have offering envelopes, they are addressed and just need a stamp.
• 2021 envelopes are in the CLC lobby. If you or someone for you cannot pick them up before the end of December, kindly contact the office so we can mail them to you.

Please do not mail cash. You can also give online here.