James Peterson – What Does This Mean?

December 31st, 2023: St. John’s Celebrates her 75th Anniversary!

1 Kings 8, Revelation 21, Luke 19
Pastor James Peterson
December 31, 2023

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

The theme is this: God will dwell with us, and we will be His people!

Will the children come home for Christmas? This is the greatest concern for many. I hope that you all have had a chance to spend time with your families this Christmas. I am more and more convinced that the reason that we feel this way is that this is exactly what happens in the Christmas story. Jesus comes to earth. Jesus is born in Bethlehem. God is with us. God dwells with His people and lives with us in the flesh.

The other question is this: Will the children come to our church? This too is the question for so many churches in our day. It is absolutely true that the persons that the world cares so little about are exactly the persons that the church cares the most about. Why do we think this way? Probably at least for some of us, we think this way because Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” And Jesus says it more and more, “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

Certainly, it is no stretch of the imagination to realize that God the Father has this same concern. It is as if He asks, How can my children come home to live with me forever? It is important that we spend time with our families when we are able. And it is important that children are brought to this church. But God’s will and our hope is that all of God’s children will go home to heaven with God. This is why our church exists and why we celebrate today and why we support this ministry and why we come to church and why we believe what we do- that all of God’s children will enter the kingdom of heaven.

What is heaven like? Hear the words of St. John today: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. God the Father has a home prepared for us with plenty of room, for every soul in this room to dwell with Him and to be His people. Every Christmas gathering at its greatest moments gives us a foretaste of this. And yet every Christmas gathering is full of sinners and sometimes falls apart and sometimes makes things worse. But when God takes us home forever, all of that sin will go away, forgiven, forgotten, forever.

What is heaven like? John says, And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Heaven is like the biggest, best, church service there ever was. Even praying in the grandest cathedrals or singing in the best choirs does not compare with the wedding feast of the Lamb in His kingdom which shall have no end.

Let us mark this 75^th anniversary of Word and Sacrament, of prayer and praise, of faith and fervent love for one another now. But let this day remind us too that one day the preacher will be Jesus and not me, and there will be one flock and one shepherd, and there will be no voters’ meetings and there will be plenty of fellowship hour. There will be songs and hymns and spiritual songs. Moses himself will teach you everything you need to know about Deuteronomy and Paul will teach all the richness of Ephesians. In a word, all God’s children will go to church to hear about Jesus.

What is heaven like? Here is the promise spoken and fulfilled. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. Here is the Gospel is a nutshell. Here is the story of the Bible reduced to one sentence. That God wants to dwell with us, live with us, and be with us. God wants to be our God and He wants us to be His people. God wants us to be His children. God wants to be our heavenly Father.

This is why Jesus came to earth on Christmas. And this is why He walked with us in Galilee and Samaria and Jerusalem. This is why He died on the cross. This is why He rose from the grave. For God desired our souls to save.

This is also why He built this church and why He continues to bless us. For here He continues His work, baptizing, teaching, and administering the Sacraments for the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of our souls. His promise throughout the Scriptures remains true for us: God will dwell with us, and we will be His people. That’s the relationship we need, that God loves us dearly, and that we will live with Him forever.

What is heaven like? St. John can only describe heaven in earthly terms. And he can only use the opposite of what we know and experience. John says, He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” In a word, there will be no more funerals, only a wedding between Christ and His Church. In another way, there will be no more hospitals, for cancer will be healed and bones will be strong. We will be well and made new by God’s abundant grace and never-ending mercy.

For God Himself will dwell with us and we will be His people. For now, let us gather with our families each Christmas. For now, let us gather as St. John’s all our lives. For now, let us remember that God has promised that all of His children will come home to heaven. For now, let us rejoice and sing as we wait with faith toward God and fervent love toward one another.

I say to you once more, “God will dwell with you, and you will be His people!”

In the holy name of Jesus. Amen.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. James Peterson
St. John Lutheran Church
Curtis, Nebraska

The First Commandment

[Seventh is a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] Everything that we do as Christians ought to in some way relate to the Ten Commandments. It is through the Ten Commandments that we learn how to worship God and how to love our neighbors.

As you know, laws change each and every day. And that is especially true during times of transitions of power, even in our country. And we ought to be careful in our church too that we do not constantly change the rules, whether they are rules of membership or church meeting time or admission to the Sacrament or some other things that come up.

But I remind you that God’s Law never changes and the laws that He established apply to all people in all times and places. There is definitely an attitude today that the Ten Commandments are old and outdated or that I know what to do and how to be a good person without the Ten Commandments. But that is not how God sees it and neither do we. For each one of us wants to follow Jesus.

So to get started, let’s take a look at the 1^st Commandment: You shall have no other gods. That’s simple enough. God is your God. But He shall not be shared. We cannot believe in God and believe in Buddha. And that might not be so difficult for us here in our community.

But it is this commandment that is the foundation of all the others. It is meet, right, and salutary that we obey our parents, but do we put our trust in them more than we put our trust in God? Do we put our trust in our teachers or our employers more than we put our trust in our God?

What about the political leaders? Is our President our Savior? Of course not. It does not matter who he is. Remember the words of the Psalm. Put not your trust in princes. Rather, let us remember God is the Lord of Lords and the Kings of Kings.

God is God, and we are not. And we fear, love, and trust in Him above all things. Remember the temptation of Eve in the Garden, when the devil says, “You shall be like God.” Eve believed that lie and everybody fell into sin that day. We are not God.

Let us follow Him each one of our days.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. James Peterson
St. John Lutheran Church
Curtis, Nebraska

Savior of the Nations, Come

Savior of the Nations, come,
Virgin’s Son, make here Your home!
Marvel now, O heav’n and earth,
That the Lord chose such a birth.

Jesus is the Savior of the nations. From the very first line, we realize that Jesus comes for more than Israel, but also for the Gentiles, also for sinners. The virgin birth is the miracle of Christmas. Though we do not understand it in our ways of thinking, we most certainly believe that God became man.

Not by human flesh and blood,
By the Spirit of our God,
Was the Word of God made flesh—
Woman’s offspring, pure and fresh.

Walking through the Apostles’ Creed, we find the following line, that Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. This “Word made flesh” language is taken right from John 1, the Gospel reading for Christmas Day.

Here a maid was found with child,
Yet remained a virgin mild.
In her womb this truth was shown:
God was there upon His throne.

Jesus’ birth appeared to the world like a peasant’s birth or a servant’s birth. But this stanza reminds us that Jesus is the King of all creation coming to redeem all creation.

Then stepped forth the Lord of all
From His pure and kingly hall;
God of God, yet fully man,
His heroic course began.

Where is Christ the King? Firstly, in heaven with God the Father, the Son lived and reigned. So for Him to step forth from heaven to earth, we realize He has come to wage war for us against sin, death, and the devil.

God the Father was His source,
Back to God He ran His course.
Into hell His road went down,
Back then to His throne and crown.

Now this verse refers to the descent into hell. If we consider this in terms of location, we might think that the descent is part of Christ’s humiliation, “going down.” But the descent into hell is the first act of the exaltation, that Christ declares the victory over the devil forever and it is finished and can never be changed.

For You are the Father’s Son
Who in flesh the vict’ry won.
By Your mighty pow’r make whole
All our ills of flesh and soul.

This verse shifts toward us. It almost sounds like the prayer of the people, that by His suffering, He sympathizes with our suffering. But by His resurrection, we have the promise of redeemed and glorified bodies without suffering.

From the manger newborn light
Shines in glory through the night.
Darkness there no more resides;
In this light faith now abides.

This verse makes clear that Jesus Christ is the Light of the World, and that darkness has no power anymore. Faith now abides in us.

Glory to the Father sing,
Glory to the Son, our king,
Glory to the Spirit be
Now and through eternity.

Rev. James Peterson
St. John Lutheran Church
Curtis, Nebraska

Once He Came in Blessing

Once He came in blessing,
All our sins redressing;
Came in likeness lowly,
Son of God most holy;
Bore the cross to save us;
Hope and freedom gave us.

This verse speaks of Christmas, the First Coming of our Lord, born of the virgin Mary. He came in blessing, but how did He bless us? He blessed us by dying on the cross for us and forgiving all of our sins. Perhaps we do not often think of “bless” and “death” in the same sentence. But this is grace, that God died for us instead of us, and this is a blessing we could never accomplish on our own. This is why Jesus came to us on earth in the first place. He came in likeness lowly, like us, but was God most holy. There is no other god that would come so humbly and die so terribly. What a blessing this truly is for all of us!

Now He gently leads us;
With Himself He feeds us
Precious food from heaven,
Pledge of peace here given,
Manna that will nourish
Souls that they may flourish.

Here we see the Good Shepherd language, that He gently leads us. This is what Christ does for the Church now, for each of us now. He leads us and He feeds us, not only with the things we need for body and soul, but even with something greater than the manna from heaven in the wilderness. Jesus Christ offers to us His very own Body and Blood at this altar, not as a re-sacrifice, but as the cross and Passion of our Lord personally applied to us and granted to us. While the first verse retold Christmas and Good Friday, this verse applies what Christ did to us, that Christ is still doing among us this work of forgiveness. The cross is only past, but present, received and believed in our life as the Church.

Soon will come that hour
When with mighty power
Christ will come in splendor
And will judgment render,
With the faithful sharing
Joy beyond comparing.

The first verse was set in the past. The second verse was set in the present. This third verse is set in the future. Here we sing of the Last Day, of the Second Coming of our Lord. Jesus regularly referred to “that hour” as the hour when He would die for the sins of the world. But we know that there is another “hour” that awaits us. And now the Lord comes not to forgive sins nor to defeat the devil, but He comes in splendor for judgment. As Christians, we do not need to fear this judgment, for we believe in the first verse of this hymn and we receive the Lord’s Supper that the second verse mentions. The judgment that we shall receive is simply this: “Not guilty!” And that is most certainly “joy beyond comparing.”

Come, then, O Lord Jesus,
From our sins release us.
Keep our hearts believing,
That we, grace receiving,
Ever may confess You
Till in heaven we bless You.

This final verse is not a doxology like we have seen in the past. But the writer of this hymn has reversed the thought he began with. In the first verse, he sang of Christ’s First Coming, and that this was a blessing. But in this verse, he encourages us to confess the Lord until we bless the Lord. Once again, this “blessing” word shows up, and this is eternal worship of the Lamb on the throne. This we even do witness on Sunday mornings. After receiving the Sacrament, toward the end of the Divine Service, we sing, “Bless we the Lord.” Perhaps we say it without faith. But in reality, this then is what Christianity seeks in the end of days, to “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless His holy name!” It doesn’t get any better than that!

Rev. James Peterson
St. John Lutheran Church
Curtis, Nebraska

The Advent of our King

The advent of our King
Our prayers must now employ,
And we must hymns of welcome sing
In strains of holy joy.

“Advent” means “to come toward.” When we use the word Advent, we speak about Jesus’ first coming toward earth and His Second Coming on the Last Day. In this verse and during this season, we recall when Jesus first came to earth as a baby in Bethlehem.

The everlasting Son
Incarnate deigns to be,
Himself a servant’s form puts on
To set His servants free.

Jesus is the Son of God. This verse reminds us that Jesus is “everlasting,” both before the creation of the world and after He rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. The Son became flesh as a servant, the opposite of King, to set His servants, all of us, free from sin, death, and the devil.

O Zion’s daughter, rise
To meet your lowly King,
Nor let your faithless heart despise
The peace He comes to bring.

“Zion’s daughter” is an Old Testament phrase for the Church. And here there are two meanings for the word “rise.” The obvious meaning is to stand up while we sing for “the King is coming.” But here also, the hymn means for us to consider the resurrection, that the Church shall rise from the graves on the Last Day and see the King, our Lord Most High.

The Advent of our King
As judge, on clouds of light,
He soon will come again
And His true members all unite
With Him in heaven to reign.

Suddenly, the hymn shifts from the First Coming to the Second Coming of our Lord. Now the Lord Jesus, the Judge of the living and the dead, comes on the clouds as the Scriptures testify. This verse puts the hymn in our own context, for we await the Last Day with patience and joy in the midst of suffering.

Before the dawning day
Let sin’s dark deeds be gone,
The sinful self be put away,
The new self now put on.

What can we do while we wait for the Last Day? We put the new self on. While we worship, we ask for God’s forgiveness of our sins, and He forgives them. This He has promised to us. Then we hear the Word of God, which works faith in us. Finally, we receive the Sacrament, the foretaste of the feast to come.

All glory to the Son,
Who comes to set us free,
With Father, Spirit, ever one
Through all eternity.

The triangle reminds us that this is a doxology. “Dox” means “glory.” These final verses of some hymns give glory to God. In this particular hymn, the doxology serves as a profound conclusion that our lives in heaven on the Last Day will be endless refrains of giving glory to God forever and ever.

Rev. James Peterson
St. John Lutheran Church
Curtis, Nebraska

Kings of Israel: David and Goliath

A Sermon on 1 Samuel 17

Wednesday in the Second Week in Advent

December 13, 2023

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

The theme is this: The King slays our enemies and saves us.

There is one basic truth that is has applied in all civilizations: The King fights for us. The Pharoahs of Egypt led the armies out on chariots to take back the Israelites. Joshua led the people around Jericho until the walls came tumbling down. The Judges of old led the armies to victories over the Midianites, the Moabites, the Ammonites, and all the other OT -ites in the Scriptures.

The King fights for us. Sennacherib led Assyria to take away the Northern Tribes and Nebuchadnezzar led Babylon to exile the Southern Tribes of Israel. Alexander the Great led his troops on conquests on multiple continents. Romans Caesars led armies clear into Britain to expand the empire.

The King fights for us. This has been true even in our country because of the first President George Washington, who was a military commander first who became President later on. Even today we consider our political leader to be the Commander-in-Chief. If the King (or in our case President) does not control the army, then he does not control very much. The Executive Branch isn’t the Executive Branch, or is a government with no teeth.

What is most surprising to us this evening is that the King does not fight for us. No, King Saul is afraid. The whole army is afraid. When the leader is afraid, then the followers become afraid. When the shepherd is afraid, then the sheep become afraid. When the world around us is afraid, then we too become afraid and worry. When the church becomes afraid, then we lose our hope and our faith and our trust in God the King.

David knew about that very well. His sheep trusted him because he protected them from the lion and the bear. Like Joshua led God’s people walking around Jericho, David led his sheep out in the wilderness walking around in danger all the way. The shepherd fights for the sheep; the shepherd dies for his sheep.

And so David fights for Israel. David is anointed, but he isn’t the king yet. No, but David knows what the real problem is. David understands this basic truth: God fights for him! Physical strength and height have defied the armies of the living God, but the living God will not be defeated. That is what David knows. That is what we know too.

The King fights for us. God Himself fights for us. Joshua, Judges, Samuel and Kings all show us this promise and comfort. And so no, I am not going to preach the tired sermon “go slay your Goliaths” or “God will give you strength.” That works-righteousness message is not the point of the reading and it is not the point of the Bible. The point is that God fights for you.

And this is most obvious to us in Matthew 4, the temptation of Jesus. The Holy Spirit leads Jesus out into the wilderness. And the devil tempts and taunts Jesus out there in the wilderness. And there Jesus fasts for forty days just like the forty days that Goliath taunted the Israelites in our reading this evening. This Old Testament battle is just like the New Testament battle. And the God is the same God in both. And God wins both battles too!

For the King Jesus fights for us. He slays our enemy the devil and saves us from him forever. How? The same way that we ought to resist temptation: through the Word of God. When the devil assails us, use the Sword of the Spirit, the Word of God, to combat the evil one. And you will not win on your own power or faith, but Jesus fights for you!

Jesus fought for us when He healed the demon-possessed men. This ought to be comforting for us too. God fights for us, and He alone has the power of both devil and demons. He has won the victory and slayed our enemies. We are saved from the powers of evil and the destruction of souls in hell.

Jesus fights for you. He slayed your enemies and saved you. He forgave your sins, paying for them like a shepherd who lays down His life for the sheep. He forgave your sins, like a king cancelling a debt, like a king promising you an inheritance of grace and mercy and love and peace.

This He applied to you like He did to the paralytic man. Our God is not a God who piles up sins and expects us to pay for it. No, our God is the only God who forgives sins and sets His people free. God fights for us! The Lord Jesus slays our enemies and saves us!

Jesus fights for you! He defeated death when He rose from the grave on Easter Sunday. Surely we can see how David realized that he would have to die to defeat Goliath if he did all by himself, but he knew that God fights for Him. God had mercy on David and saved him from death. And we definitely believe that Jesus knew He would have to die to defeat death, that curse of Adam, so that we can live forever. And so the shepherd laid down His life for the sheep and died to show that He alone has the power and the victory over the grave.

So I say to you this basic truth: The King Jesus has slain your enemies and saved you forever. Jesus has won a greater victory than David at Socoh, than David defeating Goliath. Jesus has won a greater victory than the temptation in the wilderness. Jesus has won for us because Jesus has fought for us. Our enemies sin, death, and the devil have no power over us. We the sheep do not need to be afraid.

For the King of Kings has gone out and fought the battles and won. The King of Kings has led the army out like all the kings of old and now we live in His glory. The King of Kings, Jesus Christ, the Lord of heaven and earth, has slain our enemies and saved us forever as His holy people.

In the holy name of Jesus. Amen.

Rev. James Peterson
St. John Lutheran Church
Curtis, Nebraska

Kings of Israel: David’s house, God’s house

Sermon on 2 Samuel 7

Wednesday in the Week of the Third Sunday in Advent

December 20, 2023

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

The theme is this: The Lord will make a house for His people to dwell in.

It’s pious to want to build a church. After 500 years of the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant carried on foot in the midst of the people, David wanted to make a temple. David wanted to build a church. In truth, David wanted God to have a house to dwell in.

It was not because David wanted to put God in a box. And it was not so that the priests could stop marching the holy things all over the desert in the Middle East. David wanted to build a church so that everybody knew exactly where God was. He wanted a house for God where all of God’s people could gather for worship.

It’s pious to want to build a church. In 1909, Immanuel Lutheran Church was built in Wells Canyon. In 1911, St. Paul’s Lutheran Church was built in Moorefield. In 1913, Ebenezer Lutheran Church was built north of Curtis. In 1927, St. John’s Lutheran Church was built in White. In 1929, Zion Lutheran Church was built in Wellfleet. Five Lutheran churches were built in 20 years. Our ancestors believed like David that God should have a house. And like Nathan says this evening, “The Lord was with them” in that task.

It’s pious to want to build a church. St. John’s was built first in 1948, and then again in 1968 and remains for us right now. Seventy-five years our church has existed in this community. God dwells here. God’s Word is taught here. God’s Sacraments are administered here. Like Nathan says, “The Lord is with us” in this place.

And what God says to Nathan and to David is worth noting. That while God’s people left Egypt, and while they wandered in the wilderness, and while they walked around Jericho, God did not live in a house. God was with them wherever they went.

And He is with us wherever we go too. God is still with us in Wells Canyon and Moorefield and Curtis and White and Wellfleet. He is with us at school and at work and at home. He will never leave us nor forsake us.

But God’s Church is not built by buildings, but in human hearts. God’s Church is not built for Him to dwell here, but God has promised to build a house to live with Him forever. We build our churches for God while we dwell here below, but the builder of heaven is God. And His home will be our home. That is where He dwells and that is where we too shall be.

For the house of God is not built of cedar. The house of God is built on God’s promises. That is why the Lord says this evening,

I took you from the pasture, from following the sheep, that you should be prince over my people Israel. He made a shepherd into a king. He makes farmers into Lutherans. He makes workers into Christians. Or as Jesus says it, I will make you fishers of men. The Lord calls us out of our communities and into His house. The Lord calls us away from our work and into His rest. The Lord calls us like David from the pastures to the still waters of baptism. He becomes our Shepherd, and we become His sheep.

And He promises us this: I have been with you wherever you went and have cut off all your enemies from before you. Again the Lord makes this promise. I have been with you and I am with you and I will be with you. He was with us in all the other tabernacles built around this county, but even now He remains with us in our current building. This Lord who was with the people of Israel, who was with David and Nathan, has been with the people of St. John’s here in Curtis. And He is with us as we celebrate these seventy-five years of ministry. And He will continue to be with for the next seventy-five years too.

And God promises us this: I will make for you a great name, like the name of the great ones of the earth. That name is not St. John’s or Curtis. That great name is Jesus. For the Son of David is David’s Lord. Jesus is the name we praise and bless and believe and receive. It was important for David to realize that His kingdom and His name would eventually fall and become history. Even the houses of God have come and gone. But the church in all times and places has been founded on the name of Jesus and that is what lasts forever, that is what makes the difference, and that is the kingdom that shall have no end.

What else? Rather than us building a house for God, next we hear that God will build a house for us, heaven itself. I will appoint a place for my people Israel and will plant them, so that they may dwell in their own place and be disturbed no more. Houses built by us will last for awhile, but eventually they are torn down and something new is built over the top of it. But God’s house will never be torn down. God’s house will be for His people the Church, that we will dwell with Him. That wasn’t what David was expecting, but that is what God was promising. That heaven is better than tabernacle and temple and church. Heaven will not rot or rust. God the builder has prepared a place for us where we will be disturbed no more.

For God says, Violent men shall afflict them no more, as formerly, from the time that I appointed judges over my people Israel. I will give you rest from all your enemies. In heaven there is peace. With God there is peace. There is violence in our world and it only seems to be increasing. There is war and bloodshed and sin and rebellion. But that will all come to an end by God’s will, and God Himself will protect us forever in heaven, where no violence will ever occur. The lion will dwell with the lamb and child shall be safe by the adder’s den. And you will even be able to get along with so-and-so. For the house that God makes, there are plenty of rooms and there will be so much worship. The house that God makes cannot be attacked or destroyed. God dwells in peace and we too will dwell in His peace.

It’s pious to want to build a church. And God will continue to build us up. Built on the promises of God, St. John’s is in good hands, God’s hands. What are the promises? He brings us out of the world and into His house. He is with us wherever we go. He has given us the great name Jesus who saved us. He is preparing heaven as our house to dwell with Him. And there will be peace among us forever and ever.

I remind you of God’s words this evening, Moreover, the Lord declares to you that the Lord will make you a house.

In the holy name of Jesus. Amen.

Rev. James Peterson
St. John Lutheran Church
Curtis, Nebraska

Campus Ministry and Confessional Church?

Oftentimes, I have found that campus ministry is full of gimmicks and feels like a bait-and-switch. Either congregations ignore their campus (campuses are becoming less and less aligned with LCMS teachings) or they sacrifice the Confessions and good practice for the sake of bringing in “the youth.” What good is a campus ministry if it leads to open communion? What benefit is a campus ministry to the students if it is fluffy, full of activity but void of study?

It takes some doing, but campus ministries can be thriving and congregations can be confessional. Perhaps in my case, I serve in an unusual context. At Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture, the students are focused and hard-working (or they are fooling me). The students go home most weekends to go work on the farm with dad. The campus serves as an apprenticeship, as on-the-job training, and experience and internships are abundant locally, rather than far off places with no connection to campus.

How then does a congregation do campus ministry if the students are gone on the weekends? It is necessary to host week day events. And that could be part of our success. We are not expecting regular church attendance; we focus on the Word of God and prayer throughout the week. And it is my hope that I can serve as a counselor of sorts for the students rather than the secular counsel they will receive on the campus.

“Every campus ministry is different” and “every congregation is unique.” Boy, how I get tired of that excuse that allows churches to do whatever they want. I don’t have the answers yet, but we need to discuss these matters and I hope this article is a good place to start. If the confessional congregations do not engage their universities, we are missing out on a ripe harvest field. If other congregations become like their universities, then the church becomes the world, and it is not a good witness of our faith.

Can campus ministries be confessional? I hope so, and I think so. Let us strive for that.

The Lord be with you,

Rev. James Peterson
St. John
Curtis, Nebraska

Before Childbirth—Preparing the Parents

Am I ready to be a father? How can I possibly be a mother? Shortly after a man and a woman find out that they are pregnant, it is quite natural to be shocked and surprised, to be afraid and to feel unprepared. Certainly there are many things to do to prepare for the birth of a child, to figure out a name, to tell the grandparents and family, to buy supplies, to schedule appointments, and the list goes on. But the first thing we should do is read God’s Word and pray together. We should prepare our homes as Christian homes and the husband should pray for the wife, and the wife pray for her husband, and together they should pray for their unborn child. In an effort to prepare the parents before childbirth, let us consider God’s Word found in Psalm 139.

Psalm 139:1-6

O Lord, you have searched me and known me!
²You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from afar.
³You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
⁴Even before a word is on my tongue,
    behold, O Lord, you know it altogether.
⁵You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.
⁶Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is high; I cannot attain it.

Psalm 139 reminds us first of who God is. God knows everything about us. He knows about our relationship with our spouse, and he knows about our unborn child. He knows the hairs on our head and He knows each of His sheep by name. If you are feeling uncertain or fearful about a child born into your family, the Lord knows this and He knows what you need before you ask Him. Ask Him, pray to the Lord! Prepare your home for this child and start the preparations with prayer.

Psalm 139:7-12

⁷Where shall I go from your Spirit?
    Or where shall I flee from your presence?
⁸If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
    If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
⁹If I take the wings of the morning
    and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
¹⁰even there your hand shall lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me.
¹¹If I say, “Surely the darkness shall cover me,
    and the light about me be night,”
¹²even the darkness is not dark to you;
    the night is bright as the day,
    for darkness is as light with you.

Perhaps one of the first reactions for the husband is the thought to run away. Responsibility is knocking at the door, to take care of wife and child, to make sacrifices for others. The first reaction for the wife? I can’t do this! I am not ready for this! This wasn’t part of my plan. But this child was part of God’s plan. And this child depends on you both, not just one of you, to take care of him and raise him.

We ought not to play hide-and-seek with our Savior. For wherever we go and whatever we do, He is there. He can find us. He has searched for us after all! But this is not to say that God is scary, but rather that God is merciful. Whatever your thoughts and whatever your worries, the Lord is with you. The Lord will be with you through it all. North and South and East and West, the Lord will never leave you nor forsake you.

Psalm 139:13-16

¹³For you formed my inward parts;
    you knitted me together in my mother’s womb.
¹⁴I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.^[a]
Wonderful are your works;
    my soul knows it very well.
¹⁵My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
    intricately woven in the depths of the earth.
¹⁶Your eyes saw my unformed substance;
in your book were written, every one of them,
    the days that were formed for me,
    when as yet there was none of them.

¹⁷How precious to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!
¹⁸If I would count them, they are more than the sand.
I awake, and I am still with you.

In this passage, we recognize that we were all born by God’s hand, both husband and wife, and the unborn child. God is our Creator, and when He brings life into the world through the union of a man and a woman, He will surely protect that life, He will surely strengthen you to care for this child, He will certainly provide for you now, like He did when you were being born. Parents, remember this, your child is fearfully and wonderfully made by God the Creator. And so are you!

As you prepare for this child, continue in the Word of God and prayer. Continue going to church. Continue making sacrifices of time, talents, and treasures for your spouse, and never forget that the Lord will never leave you nor forsake you. He will strengthen you and preserve you both, and the life of the unborn child in the womb.

Rev. James Peterson
St. John Lutheran Church
Curtis, Nebraska

The Advent of our King

The advent of our King
Our prayers must now employ,
And we must hymns of welcome sing
In strains of holy joy.

“Advent” means “to come toward.” When we use the word Advent, we speak about Jesus’ First coming toward earth and His Second Coming on the Last Day. In this verse and during this season, we recall when Jesus first came to earth as a baby in Bethlehem.

The everlasting Son
Incarnate deigns to be,
Himself a servant’s form puts on
To set His servants free.

O Zion’s daughter, rise
To meet your lowly King,
Nor let your faithless heart despise
The peace He comes to bring.

As judge, on clouds of light,
He soon will come again
And His true members all unite
With Him in heaven to reign.

Suddenly the hymn shifts from the First Coming to the Second Coming of our Lord. Now the Lord Jesus the Judge of the living and the dead comes on the clouds as the Scriptures testify. This verse puts the hymn in our own context, for we await the Last Day with patience and joy in the midst of suffering.

Before the dawning day
Let sin’s dark deeds be gone,
The sinful self be put away,
The new self now put on.

What can we do while we wait for the Last Day? We put the new self on. While we worship we ask for God’s forgiveness of our sins, and He forgives them. This He has promised to us. Then we hear the Word of God, which works faith in us. Finally, we receive the Sacrament, the foretaste of the feast to come.

All glory to the Son,
Who comes to set us free,
With Father, Spirit, ever one
Through all eternity.

This final verse is a doxology. “Dox” means “glory.” These final verses of some hymns give glory to God. In this particular hymn, the doxology serves as a profound conclusion, that our lives in heaven on the Last Day will be endless refrains of giving glory to God forever and ever.

Rev. James Peterson
First Lutheran Church
Phillipsburg, Kansas

1 Kings 8, Revelation 21, Luke 19 Pastor James Peterson December 31, 2023

A Sermon on 1 Samuel 17

Wednesday in the Second Week in Advent

December 13, 2023

Sermon on 2 Samuel 7

Wednesday in the Week of the Third Sunday in Advent

December 20, 2023

1 Kings 8, Revelation 21, Luke 19
Pastor James Peterson
December 31, 2023