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Foreword Contents 298 LSQ 43:4 LSQ 43:4 299 Foreword Contents In this Advent and Christmastide we behold the wonder of the Christmas Eve Sermon on Isaiah 9:2 incarnation. The nations were walking in darkness and the shadow of Gaylin R. Schmeling death. Gross darkness covered the earth. Yet in the fullness of time the Light of the World, Jesus Christ, was born at Bethlehem to bring life and The Good Shepherd Leads from Wilderness to Paradise light to our benighted race. His light brings joy and light to our lives. He is Sermon on Psalm 23 the Sun of Righteousness with healing on His wings. This is the point of Bradley J. Homan the sermon on Isaiah 9:2 which has this theme: The Light of Christmas. The theme of the 2003 ELS Synod Convention was A Table in The Ecumenical Spirit and Revivalism in America the Wilderness. The sermon at the opening service of the convention was David P. Russow based on Psalm 23. In this sermon the speaker, Rev. Bradley Homan, reminds us that the Good Shepherd leads us from the wilderness to Church and State, Congregation and Synod: paradise. The Rev. Homan, who is pastor of Our Saviour’s Lutheran An Anthological Essay Church, Madison, Wisconsin, served as the chaplain of the convention. David Jay Webber “There is nothing new under the sun. .nothing new at all. Unionism and syncretism are poisonous potions that Satan has employed for ages in Notes: order actually to bring about a disintegration of the only blessed union there can be of sinners with the Savior, and then saints with other saints. Proverbs 8:35-36 Revisited But what is new is the rapid rate of public consumption of this noxious Rudolph E. Honsey concoction.” So writes Rev. David Russow who is co-pastor at King of Grace Lutheran Church, Golden Valley, Minnesota. In his paper The Fifty Years of Theological Training in Leipzig Ecumenical Spirit and Revivalism in America he points out the dangers Gaylin R. Schmeling of unscriptural unionism and syncretism which are so common today. In Church and State, Congregation and Synod: An Index to Volume 43 Anthological Essay the Rev. David Jay Webber considers church and state relationship and church polity with special reference to the church polity of the Lutheran Church in the Netherlands in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. He discusses the importance of Flacius and the Antwerp Confession for the free church concept and its influence on American Lutheranism. Rev. Webber is the Rector of St. Sophia Lutheran Seminary, Ternopil, Ukraine. Included in this Quarterly is an exegetical note on Proverbs 8:35- 36 by Professor Emeritus Rudolph Honsey of Bethany Lutheran College and Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary. There is also a report on the fiftieth anniversary of our sister seminary in Leipzig. 300 LSQ 43:4 LSQ 43:4 301 Christmas Eve Sermon on Isaiah 9:2 None of them were there because they wanted to be, but because they were required to be there—to pay their taxes to support an oppressive state. by Gaylin R. Schmeling Gross darkness covered the earth not unlike today. We have the greatest standard of living that the human race has ever seen. There are Prayer: O Holy Child of Bethlehem, Light of the World, descend to us, more Christmas presents under our trees than will ever be used. Yet this we pray. Cast out the shades of darkness and bring to us the light of day. seemingly wonderful lifestyle causes so much stress and tension that the Through your means of grace fill our hearts with your light and love that only way many feel they can handle it is by using drugs and alcohol. Others we may show forth your light drawing all people to the light of life. Then are left so alone and forgotten that they are driven to the point of depression we will be able to celebrate forever the joys of Christmas above. We ask and despair. Did we come here this evening burdened down by financial this through Your Incarnation, Death, and Resurrection. Amen. worries, family problems, domestic dispute, sickness, and even the death of one most near and dear? Does all the holiday merriment and cheer just Text: The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; mock our sorry state? Do we feel like we are groping in the darkness those who dwelt in the land of the shadow of death, upon them a looking for the light at the end of the tunnel? On each of us who by nature light has shined. (Isaiah 9:2) were walking in darkness the light has come. It was Christmas Eve in a mid-western town. The winds of a Around 150 AD there lived a Christian by the name of Justin who snowstorm had been raging the entire day. Five-foot drifts were found on is known in church history as the martyr, for he gave up his life for the all the main highways. The power had been out since the night before but Savior. Before he was brought to faith he searched in vain for peace and finally at sunset there was a calm in the storm. The power man knew that truth in the philosophies of the day. All the while he felt like he was groping many of the homes in town were already bitterly cold and another night in a dense fog and darkness. He was walking in darkness and the shadow without light and heat would be unbearable. He reached the power station of death. Then a Christian acquaintance pointed him to the great Old with his snowmobile and began to work. At the sacred midnight hour, Testament prophecies, like the birth of the Virgin’s Son who was the time of the dear Savior’s birth, light and warmth streamed in the town. Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince The bells of the church rang and the light of every Christmas tree was seen of Peace. (Isaiah 9:6-7) Through the Word, the Holy Spirit convinced throughout the city. But the power man never saw the light for he was him that these prophecies were all fulfilled in the Child born of Mary and found the next morning frozen in the place where he worked on the lights. he indeed saw the great light of Him who said, “I am the light of the He died to give them light. world.” (John 8:12) We then behold the Light of Christmas. In the same way the child born in Bethlehem died to give the light to us who are walking in darkness and the shadow of death. On that first I. For that Light Has Come. Some 2000 years ago thick darkness Holy Night amid all the darkness a great light arose. The streets were covered the earth. There was Roman peace and Roman law and order, dark and cold. The inn was dark—”no vacancy” it read. Only a stable but all was not right with the world. There were gladiator contests in was found. The smell was strong and there were flies. There in the which men hacked one another to pieces before bloodthirsty crowds. darkness the Blessed Virgin lay down on hay and straw and from her Slaves and women were regarded as little better than animals. Yes, things womb burst forth the Great Light; the Light of the World; the true Light of were pretty bad that first Holy Night. Rome’s heavy hand was everywhere Christmas. in evidence; soldiers were arrogant and sometimes brutal; taxes were This one is the Light for He was the Word who was with God and exorbitant and exacting. Bethlehem was packed with uncaring visitors. was God from all eternity and the Word who said in the beginning, “Let 302 LSQ 43:4 LSQ 43:4 303 there be light.” As He once had brought light out of darkness at the heard that story before?” “Oh, yes,” answered the nurse, “many times.” beginning, so on the Holy Night He brought light to a world lying in the “Well,” said the little girl, “you certainly don’t look like it.” Because we darkness of sin. He won true light for all in the horrible depths of darkness have heard the story of Jesus and His love, His light will shine through us. on Calvary’s black cross when He rescued us from sin by His holy life, People will see His love and light in our lives. We will be continually suffering, and death. There He died to give us the light. His death and pointing those still walking in the darkness of sin and the shadow of death resurrection bring light and life to our benighted race. He lights up our life. to the Light of the World, Jesus Christ. The Great Light has arisen! That magnificent light breaking forth from the Virgin was indeed the Soon after the sermon this evening we will conduct the candle- Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince lighting ceremony. The ceremony pictures for us that the Christ Child is of Peace, True God from Everlasting to Everlasting. indeed the Light of the World who lights up our life so that we can be lights There is an old legend that at the birth of Christ everything stood in this dark world of sin. The main candle symbolizes Jesus Christ, the still. The night birds flying in the air were motionless. The stable animals, Light of the World, the source of all light.
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