Saturday, February 25, 2006

The Transfiguration of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, February 25, 2006, Mark 9:2-9

The Transfiguration of Our Lord, Jesus Christ, February 25, 2006
St. John's Lutheran Church, Howard, SD

And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them. And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah." For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified. And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is my beloved Son; listen to him." And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw
anyone with them but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. (Mark 9:2-9, ESV)

Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

What a wonderful sight it must have been, on that mountain, Jesus shining like the sun, Moses and Elijah there with him. The disciples never forgot it. They wrote about it in their letters, they must have spoken about it often. John wrote in his gospel 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, ESV)
And Peter said, For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty. (2 Peter 1:16, ESV) They were talking about this mountaintop experience, when Jesus was transfigured before them. "God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God." we say with the collective memory of the church. Here is where human
beings saw Jesus Christ shine in His full glory, as the Only Begotten Son of God.

That's what happened there on that mountain. Jesus was "transfigured." The word is really metamorphosized! He changed his appearance; he became brighter than any bleach could bleach clothing. It's another mountain top thing. Just like when he gave the law to Moses for the people. It's a people of God event. That means that the transfiguration has something to do with us! But, more on that later.

First, we need to talk about what's happening to Jesus. I said here we see his 'glory.' Really what we are talking about is his divinity, his "god-ness," shining through his humanity. We should carefully note that Jesus is all at once True-Man and True-God all together in
one person. God, The Holy Spirit, his father, and Mary is his mother. He is 100% God and 100% man. You don't get Jesus by gluing a God-board to a Man-board. Or taking God stuff and mixing it together with man-stuff to get a God-Man mixture. He's not a hybrid. He is not a superman or a lesser god. He is God-Man. Unique in the universe. There is nothing like him anywhere, and there never will be. St. Paul said it like this. For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily, (Colossians 2:9, ESV) That's what Peter, James and John saw on that day, Jesus Christ revealed, God and Man.

So what does that mean for us? We weren't on that mountain to see it, but here we are some miles and several thousand years away. What does Transfigured Jesus mean to us? It is important to know that Jesus is God and Man together in a special way. You don't get just a part of Jesus, ever. When you talk about Jesus it is always Humanity and Divinity. When we say that Jesus is here (because he promises to be where two or three are gathered together, For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them." Matthew 18:20, ESV) we mean that he is here in humanity and divinity. His humanity isn't in heaven and his divinity on earth with us. He is not physically present "at the right hand of God" and spiritually present with us right now. He is here, among us, body and blood, flesh and spirit, God and man. The same Jesus born, in the flesh, in a food trough. The same Jesus, in the flesh, who walked and talked and laughed and cried with his disciples. The same Jesus, in the flesh, who became as
bright as the sun on that mountain. The same Jesus, in flesh and blood, who bled and died on the cross, who rose again, sits at the right hand of God and rules the whole universe.

How about a little quiz? Was God born to the Virgin Mary? Did a human being shine with God's glory on the mountain of transfiguration? Did God die for your sins on a cross in Jerusalem? Does a human
being now rule over the universe? The answer to all these questions is "Yes" in Jesus Christ. God and man inseparable, undivided for all eternity.

It really answers the question: "How can the death of one man be
enough to pay for the sins of the whole world?" It can be because the death of that man was the death of God. The death of Jesus was a "God-sized" death. A human life is worth one human life, but God's life is worth an infinite amount of human lives. When God dies his death, in Jesus Christ, it is worth more than the lives of all the
people that have ever lived, all that are alive now and all that will ever live. That's how Jesus redeems us, with his holy and precious blood and innocent suffering and death, as Martin Luther put it in the Small Catechism.

Notice also that God, in Jesus Christ, deals with us through his
humanity. He comes to us in ways that humans can comprehend and understand; he comes to us in flesh and blood. He comes to us in words spoken that travel through the air and strike our ears. He comes to us in water poured on our heads. He comes to us in bread and wine. All of these ways are earthly, physical and ordinary. God
reveals himself to us in the ordinary, human, flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. If you want to know what God is like, all you have to do is look to Jesus.

Jesus shines there on the mountain. And it's more than the disciples can take. Peter says something about building tents. We don't know exactly what he means, but he must have wanted to make some way of remembering what he saw. He probably wanted to build some kind of memorial that they could return to and remember. If he had done that we could all go there and visit. There'd be a sign: "This is the place where Jesus was transfigured." But, no one really knows where it was, and maybe that's a good thing.

The idea of setting up tents was probably a way of trying to bring God under control. It's something we human beings are really good at trying. We put Jesus in a box, in a church, in our hearts, instead of looking for him the only place he promises to be. We put him where we'd like him to be instead. We privatize Jesus and make our faith
only personal, private faith. "Just me and Jesus on a mountain." "I can worship God, just as well sitting out in a boat on the lake." Lord, it's good that we're here. Forget everyone else. Let's build a tent and remember the experience, the good feelings right here and now. That's where we want Jesus to be. We forget to look for him where he says he'll be, in the preached word, in his supper, in Baptism, and his people gathered around these things. Gathering here isn't about feelings or experience, it's about meeting Jesus the way that he promises to come. He is here with us in Word and Sacrament even if we don't feel any different at all. But we are so much more impressed by visions and feelings than humble words, ordinary looking bread and wine and plain old water. Yet though these Jesus promises to forgive.

What would it be like if Jesus, and Moses and Elijah appeared standing right here and their images were burned into the walls of the church? When word got out people would come from everywhere. Our little 200 person church would be packed to the gills and everything would change. We'd speak quietly when we entered, we'd bow our heads, and never want to leave. No one would sleep if Moses and Elijah appeared in the pulpit to tell you about the forgiveness of sins found in Jesus Christ.

And yet, we have that very thing here every Sunday. Jesus is here along with the angels and "all the company of heaven." Every time we gather here we are standing on the mountain of God. Every time we receive the forgiveness of sins won for us by Jesus Christ. Every Sunday He comes here to preach to you the Good News that you have been forgiven by his bloody death on the cross. And he comes to you in his very body and blood for you to eat and drink, right here.

You see something more than the miracle of the transfiguration happens here all the time. Jesus takes sinful people and declares that they are his saints. You can't see it; sometimes you can't even feel it. You have to hear it in his Word. That's the only difference. Jesus is here for you and me, just the same as he was on that mountain for the disciples. The only difference is you can't see him the way they
saw him.

The truth be told you really don't want to see him. The sight of Jesus in all his glory would be way too much for us. It left "the Rock" blubbering about tents. The Glory of God left Isaiah shivering in his shoes saying he was dead. And the Apostle John tells us in Revelations that in the presence of God he fell to the ground like a dead man. "No one can see God and live." We are told. Jesus gives us a break. He is gentle with us. He comes to us in very hidden ways. So hidden, in fact, that most people pass him by without even
noticing. So hidden that we even sometimes forget that where the Church is gathered around his word Jesus is truly there.

There's something else important to notice about the transfiguration. God speaks to us there. "This is my son, whom I love, listen to him." Everything is focused, right where it should be, on Jesus. Moses and Elijah fade away and Jesus is left there alone. "Listen to him! He has the words of eternal life." In many and various ways God spoke to His people of old by the prophets. But now in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son. Heb 1:1-2. "Jesus alone" that's really what the mountain of transfiguration is all about. Only Jesus is God's beloved Son. Only Jesus shines with the Glory of God on the mountain. Only Jesus died on the cross bearing in his body the sins of the whole world. Only Jesus rose again from death never to die again. Only Jesus sits with God and prays directly to the Father for us. Only Jesus comes to you in Word and Sacrament to save and strengthen you.

St. Paul said And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of
glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18, ESV) Jesus Christ, present here with us right now in Word and Sacrament is here to transfigure you. He is changing you from the inside out, changing you to become like him. It's a hidden thing, this work that he is about. But when he appears in His Glory again at the end of time His work then will be shown for all to see. He will who will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body, by the power that enables him even to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:21, ESV) That will be a Transfiguration day to see! Come Lord Jesus, Come! Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.

--
Rev. Jonathan C. Watt
St. John's Lutheran Church
Howard, South Dakota

Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Seventh Sunday After The Epiphany, Mark 2:1-12, Feb 19, 2006

Mark.2.1-12
St. John’s Lutheran Church, Howard, SD
Seventh Sunday after the Epiphany, February 19, 2006
And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home.  And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door.  And he was preaching the word to them.  And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men.  And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay.  And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that?  He is blaspheming!  Who can forgive sins but God alone?” And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts?  Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’?  But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” (Mark 2:1-12, ESV)
Grace and peace from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
Well, I guess we’re not used to seeing amazing things, just like the people in the text.  In fact we don’t see much new around here much at all.  In fact, we really like to do things the way we’ve always done them.  Maybe it’s the German or Norwegian in us.  How many of you parked in the same parking space you did last week?  How many of you are sitting in the very same place?  How many of you feel out of sorts if you don’t?  It’s common for us to do the same old things here every week.  We speak the same old words of the Liturgy, and sing the same old hymns.  We have the same conversations with our friends: How much snow did you get yesterday?  How are your kids?  Isn’t the price of corn on the skids!  On and on it goes the same old way it has gone for 119+ years here at St.  John’s.  It is one thing we Lutherans are very good at: consistency.  The joke goes like this: “How many Lutherans does it take to change a light bulb?  The answer: “Change?!?”  We’re not known for innovation, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, but just the fact that things here don’t change a lot.
New things do happen here, I’m sure you could come up with a long list of changes you’ve seen in your lifetime.  Philip Behm, was 100 years old, when I asked him that question he smiled as if to say, “You’ve no idea.”  In some cases when good changes happen it’s nice to find out that we really aren’t the tired old congregation we think we are.  But most of the time we fit the old German saying better “Wir dleiben beim alten.” We love the old best.  
Even though it goes against all logic… Something new and amazing is going to happen here, nonetheless.  It might sound like a contradiction, but… it was new and amazing last time it happened here, and next time it happens it will also be new and amazing.  The real problem is that we just don’t see it that way anymore.  
To help us see it I want to look a little more closely at our text for today…  
And when he returned to Capernaum after some days, it was reported that he was at home. And many were gathered together, so that there was no more room, not even at the door. And he was preaching the word to them. (Mark 2:1-2, ESV)
Picture it.  It is a small house, almost square, maybe 20 feet by 20 feet, about the size of the chancel area here.  The walls are mud over wood and stone, kind of a poor man’s stucco.  Jesus is sitting in the center of the room, on the floor.  The room is packed, people are crowded around, it is hot, people are sweating, and you can smell it.  The doors and windows are open in a vain attempt to get some airflow.  The building only has one door, and it is crowed too.  In fact, the crowd around it numbers as many as that are in the house.  Amazingly, in spite of all the people, there is a dead silence.  They have all come to hear Jesus preaching.  They are hanging on his every word.  
And they came, bringing to him a paralytic carried by four men. And when they could not get near him because of the crowd, they removed the roof above him, and when they had made an opening, they let down the bed on which the paralytic lay. (Mark 2:3-4, ESV)
The house, just like many of that day, had a stairway on the outside up to the roof.  That space was used for storage, and sleeping.   It is cooler outside at night then inside.  These for men have gone to a lot of trouble.  They have hauled their paralyzed friend up to the roof.  They have made a whole through it by digging into the hardened mud and breaking the wooden twigs and branches that it is built upon.  When the whole is big enough to lower their friend through it.  They are determined to get Jesus to see their friend.
And when Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “My son, your sins are forgiven.” (Mark 2:5, ESV)
Jesus sees the faith of these men.  They are not about to let anything stand in the way of Jesus healing their friend.  They believe that Jesus can and will heal him, if only they can get him to Jesus.  Jesus goes straight to the heart of the matter.  Instead of healing the man, Jesus forgives him.  Jesus knows that the real illness that all people suffer from is sin.  He also knows this ‘healing’ will cause a controversy.  Sitting in the small crowded room, are some ‘teachers of the law’.  
Now some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:6-7, ESV)
These men know the bible, and they are right.  The books of Moses, the writings of the prophets, and even the psalms, all say the same thing; “only God, himself, can forgive sins.” Anyone who says what Jesus had said was claiming to be God.  Jesus purposely set the stage to declare his true identity.  He was, in fact, claiming to be the one and only God.
And immediately Jesus, perceiving in his spirit that they thus questioned within themselves, said to them, “Why do you question these things in your hearts? Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Rise, take up your bed and walk’? (Mark 2:8-9, ESV)
Jesus challenges their thoughts with a question.  “Which is easier…?” he says.  The answer has to be, ‘Neither’ and ‘Both’.  ‘Neither’ is the answer for humans, they can neither forgive sins nor make the man walk.  Saying the words for them is fruitless.  The answer is ‘Both’ where God is concerned.  Only when God himself speaks the words can they have any meaning.  When God says ‘your sins are forgiven’ they are forgiven.  When God says to the paralytic, ‘Get up and walk.’ He will get up and walk.  Jesus drives the point home by saying…
But that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on earth to forgive sins”—he said to the paralytic— “I say to you, rise, pick up your bed, and go home.” And he rose and immediately picked up his bed and went out before them all, so that they were all amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!” (Mark 2:10-12, ESV)
Jesus builds a link between the healing and the forgiving.  His question to the teachers ties them together.  Neither healing nor forgiving is possible for humans.  Yet, Jesus heals, and therefore he also forgives.  He spoke words of forgiveness to the man, and he spoke words of healing.  The healing was evident to all.  The paralytic man got up and walked.  It is clear from what Jesus has said that the man is also forgiven.  Jesus words do exactly what they say.  That is what amazed the crowds.  It wasn’t that He healed the paralytic.  Jesus has been healing people (a great number of them) every few verses in the Gospel of Mark.  They have come to expect healing from Jesus, after all that’s why lots of the people there had come… to be healed.  What they are amazed at is that Jesus words do exactly what they say they do, heal and forgive.  They are amazed that Jesus claims to be God.
Jesus is God.  Jesus is the God-Man, forever both God and Man always together.  When he speaks, what he says happens.  When he hung on the cross dying for our sins….  When he was bearing the pain of our punishment…  When he was suffering for us, he said, “It is finished!”  And he died.  It is finished.  The power of sin is destroyed.  Our sin died on that day with him.  Even the sins that trouble us today; our unwillingness to change, our lack of enthusiasm for worship, our faithless attendance, our failure to encourage our friends and family to come to church with us,  our empty repetition… they are all now powerless because of what Jesus did and said.  His death is our forgiveness.  He gives it to us through faith in his words.  
Forgiveness is an amazing thing!  And the really amazing thing about it is that it happens every week!  We confess our sins and God pronounces forgiveness through the voice of your Pastor.  We hear God’s Word and our faith in His promise for us.  Jesus’ Word and Bread and Wine do exactly what He says they’ll do.  He body and blood, placed into our mouths and they give comfort, strengthen faith, and forgive sins.  Poor miserable sinners will approach the altar with repentant hearts, and through common everyday things bread and wine and amazing thing happens, we receive the forgiveness of sins won by Christ on the cross.  Then, they will get up and go home.  It doesn’t stop there, Jesus words and sprinkled water, turned an enemy of God into his Child, and it happens right there!  A child born in sin, destined for hell, is made into a child of God.  Faith is created and forgiveness given.  Every Sunday, in this place amazing things happen…  Water is poured, bread is eaten, all with Jesus words, and forgiveness is received.
Somehow, maybe because we have seen them so many times, we’ve lost the amazement that goes with the amazing things God does in this place.  Maybe it’s because we look and see plain old things, like water, and a pasty white wafer.  Maybe because we have heard the words so many times we have forgotten the power that is in them.  My friends, Jesus words still work for us today.  The forgiveness that he gives is ours just the same as it was for that paralytic who got up and walked home from that crowded house.  Just as Jesus said to him, “Son, you are forgiven.”  He says to you right now in this place, “Son, you are forgiven!”  “Daughter, you are forgiven!”  It is an amazing thing.  He uses plain old things like me, and you, like bread and wine, like water, to show you and tell you that his forgiveness is yours right now.  
Watch and be amazed!  God is always doing something very amazing, in this place.  He is speaking words of forgiveness, words of comfort, words to strengthen faith.  He is speaking them to you.  Amen
The peace of God that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.

Monday, February 13, 2006

My Father's Passing

On Friday Feb 10, my father went to be with his Lord, Jesus.  I'll miss him very much. 
A new sermon will be posted next week.


--
Rev. Jonathan C. Watt
St. John's Lutheran Church
Howard, South Dakota

Saturday, February 04, 2006

Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, February 5, Psalm 46:1

Psalm 46v1

St. John's, Howard, SD

Epiphany 5, February 5, 2006

NIV Psalm 46:1 God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.

Herb had never felt this kind of fear before…  He had walked this way home a thousand times, but this time was different…  this time he was afraid. Maybe it was because his hip hurt more than ever… maybe it was because his cane felt heavier than usual…  or that the ally was darker, there was surely someone there waiting to jump out and hurt him like before.  Everything tonight reminded him of the night when someone did jump out  at him, and knock him down and hurt him.  That was the night he wanted to forget, but it was too much like tonight.  "Give me your money, Old Man!" said the young man towering over him as Herb lay in pain on the ground.  "I know you've go it…"  Herb obeyed without a word.  When he gave it to him the mugger just looked at it in disgust…  "Is that all you got, you stupid old man?" he said kicking him in the hip for emphasis. Then he was gone and Herb was left lying there on the sidewalk, alone.  Now tonight, he passed by the very spot where it had happened.  Herb walked as quickly as possible, whatever his hip would take.  He looked down the street, he could see his own front door, the light there above it was on for him.  That was where he wanted to be, that was where he was safe… that was his refuge.

God is our refuge and strength,

an ever-present help in trouble.

Therefore we will not fear,

though the earth give way

and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

though its waters roar and foam

and the mountains quake with their surging.

The LORD Almighty is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Like Herb, we need a refuge, because the world is a dangerous place.  There is trouble out there.  The Psalm paints a picture of violence, the earth falling apart, mountains crumbling and oceans coming out of their banks sweep over everything in their path.  It shows us dangers we can't avoid… dangers that are too big to run away from.  God is our refuge, it says, even in the face of these kinds of dangers. 

God is our refuge… our safe place… when I was younger I remember walking through our neighborhood and seeing a sing on some house, "Block Home."  "Dad, what's a block home?" I asked.  I sure I had in mind the block heads that some of you might remember on the Gumby television show, the one's that troubled him all the time, or maybe a place where you go and play with blocks…  "That's a place you can go if you are in trouble." He said, "It's a safe place to run if someone is chasing you."  Around here I see the blue stars in the window.  In St. Louis, the fire stations all have signs up that say… "Safe Place" It is a refuge.  Somewhere to go in time of trouble.

The world is a dangerous place… but God is our refuge.  He is our refuge when we are threatened by sickness, that lurks in the darkness to catch us when we least expect it.  …threatens to jump out and knock us down… to take away our ability to take care of ourselves, our independence, and self-reliance.  But, in sickness we turn to God, who is our refuge.  Like a the woman who came to Jesus crying, "heal my daughter!"  Just like her we come to our Refuge for healing.   We come to this altar in prayer.

 

The world is a dangerous place… but God is our refuge.  He is our refuge when other people threaten us.  People we don't understand… people who don't understand us.  It isn't just thieves and muggers… it's people willing to put them selves in an airplane and strike a building full of people.  People who are willing to kill thousands to satisfy their own ideals.  People who have very different ideologies… very different theologies that threaten us.  Herb was beaten on a dark street, Christians are often ridiculed on primetime.  Positive portrayals of people of faith are hard to come by on television.  And it's getting worse.  People of faith are under attack in the legal system… and the school system.  And when it happens we run to our Refuge.  "Help us, Father!" we cry.

The world is a dangerous place… but God is our refuge.  The ultimate trouble that faces us, the one that has been pushed into the forefront of our minds this week… is death.  The old hymn "I walk in trouble all the way," speaks of death 'pursuing us.'

            Death doth pursue me all the way

            Nowhere I rest securely

            He comes by night- he comes by day,

            And takes his prey most surely

            A failing breath, and I

            I death's strong grasp may lie

            To face eternity for aye.

            Death doth pursue me all the way.

Only a breath lies between life and death.  A misstep… a mistake… during a trip to the grocery store, or home from work.  The people working in the WTC were certainly caught of guard, Tuesday morning.  Death walks along with us down the dark street…  but God is our refuge, we turn to him when death threatens.  "I walk with Jesus all the way," the Hymn comforts.  In Him we find refuge.

Marten Luther understood what it meant for God to be our Refuge.  The hymn we sang just before the sermon is base on our text for today, Psalm 46.  Luther saw God as a "Mighty Fortress," a place to run in danger, a place to be safe. Just like the "block home," or the "blue star," or the fire station.  God is our fortress where evil things that are pursuing us can't reach us.  God was a refuge for Luther.

God is our refuge… we have run to him today… right here in this place.  Even though this church might seem like a tiny speck of pepper in a vast ocean…  whose waves threaten to drown it… we have come here to seek refuge.  We come here, because this is the place that God tells us about his greatest rescue.  Here is the place where we hear how he saved us from our great enemies.  How he sent his own Son… how He endured pain and death.  "Crucified dead and buried," we say every Sunday.  Jesus Christ died, but just when death seemed to have its victory, God reached out a saving hand and raised him from death.  Rescued him from the grave…

But, we couldn't turn go God as our refuge if Jesus' rescue was only for Jesus himself.  The rescue of Jesus is our rescue, too.  His death is ours, his resurrection is ours.  It becomes our when God poured water on us… and "baptized us into Christ."  The promises are for you and your children, the baptismal liturgy says, and "baptism now saves you."  Because of Jesus rescue and God's promises found in His word and given to us through Baptism, we have a refuge in God. 

The world is a dangerous place, but we have a Refuge, God is our Refuge, through Jesus Christ.  So even if illness overtakes us, he is our refuge… we look to him for healing, but even if the illness ends in death we find refuge in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the resurrection that God promises us.  Even though there are people out there who hate us and threaten us, we turn to God for refuge.  Even if they kill us we find our refuge in the resurrection of Jesus Christ, the resurrection that God promises us.  And when death does finally catch us, when the pursuit is over, when darkness is closing in on us… we look to God, our refuge and remember the rescue, the resurrection of Jesus Christ.  It is in him we find refuge.  Amen.

The peace of God, that passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.  Amen.