Sermon for 4 Epiphany Yr A

February 1, 2026 Leave a comment

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Engraving of the Prophet Micah by Gustave Doré

4 Epiphany Yr A, 1/02/2026

Based on Micah 6:8

Pastor Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

“Justice, lovingkindness, walking humbly”

Today, in our first lesson, we have one of the twelve “minor prophets,” Micah, preaching a major truth. Even though Micah comes from the backwater village of Moresheth, about twenty-five miles south west of Jerusalem—nonetheless, there is nothing minor or back waterish about this prophet’s message! Micah’s message is equally as important as that of his eighth century B.C. contemporaries Isaiah, Hosea and Amos. Micah’s message in verse eight today is not only an apt summary of all the Old Testament prophets—it is also an inspirational truth for us Christians today, which compliments the teachings of Jesus in Matthew, chapter five. Listen again to those words: “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Or as the CEV renders it: “The LORD God has told us what is right and what he demands: “See that justice is done, let mercy be your first concern, and humbly obey your God.”

First then, doing justice. How do we do justice anyways? Often we likely tend to cringe at the notion of doing justice. After all, we’re saved by grace and justified before God thanks to the saving actions of Jesus. Why do we have to do justice anyways? Well, because justice is an integral part of the very essence and being of God. God is a just God, and since we are created in God’s image, then it follows that we too will do justice. Not because we are some sort of fanatics and take pride in pushing people around to gain self-righteous brownie points. Not because doing justice saves us—God in Christ has already done that. Rather, because in faith we respond and will want to do what God himself loves and values. God loves everyone—including, and perhaps especially those who suffer injustices. That’s why Jesus is busy spending himself on the blind, the lame, the sick, the social and religious outcasts of his day. That’s why we too are called into a ministry of doing justice. 

What practical things are we to do to participate in acts of justice? Well, of course we need to continue to look after our less fortunate neighbours in need by clothing them, feeding them, and so on. However, today Micah challenges his people in ancient Judah and us to go deeper with doing justice. He says this will involve changes in the very structures and behaviours that make a society discriminate against certain groups of people by favouring others. In Micah’s day, it was the wealthy merchants who rigged their scales of weights and measures and thereby cheating their customers to make the poor poorer. Micah says God is not pleased with this; therefore the cheating merchants are called upon to change and repent of their dishonest business practices. In our day, it involves some pretty radical changes of structures and behaviours among the wealthy nations of the world in particular. It is not good enough for us to only give the poor nations aid when they need it. Rather, we are called upon to change the policies of organisations like the World Bank who set up the economic and political rules to favour the rich countries over the Two-Thirds poor nations. Closer to home, here in Canada and Alberta, it may mean looking at the root causes of and then doing something to change policies so that there will be less people homeless and poor. We all know that change does not come easily, nor do people like changes. Yet, that is what our God calls us to do if we are to participate in doing justice. Models of doing justice I think come from the Scandinavian countries, which are Lutheran, and where they have created a system of cradle to grave social programs to provide for everyone.

Yet, justice alone is definitely not enough, says Micah. Justice always has to be tempered by mercy if it is going to be true justice. Justice without mercy only leads to revenge. In our passage, Micah instructs his people and us “to love kindness,” or as the CEV renders it, “let mercy be your first concern.” The Hebrew word here is chesed, and it can be translated as: mercy, kindness, loving kindness, steadfast love, covenantal faithfulness and loyalty. 

How, then, do we act to be merciful, or show constant love, to love kindness? We first of all shall place a high priority on the quality of our relationships with each other. We shall want to be and remain loyal to each other in committed relationships with our God and one another. 

Here is one example: Bishop Kivengere (1919-1988) and his wife Mera attended a Good Friday service at All Souls Church in London. The sermon centred on Jesus’ words from the cross, “Father, forgive them for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). Festo carried in his heart hatred for one of the 20th century’s most brutal dictators who terrorized his country and plotted Festo’s death. A year earlier, Festo and fellow Anglican bishops in Uganda wrote to dictator Idi Amin challenging his human rights abuses. Festo preached on “The Preciousness of Life” to high government officials and rebuked the state for abusing the authority given it by God. Days later, a close friend and fellow bishop was murdered because he spoke out against illegal executions. Festo’s friends warned that he was next on Amin’s hit list. He and Mera fled to neighbouring Rwanda where he continued his message of reconciliation while nursing hatred in his heart for this vengeful dictator.

The enormity of Jesus’ prayer for his betrayers at the Good Friday service at All Souls Church couldn’t be avoided. Festo hadn’t let go of the bitterness and resentment that was eroding his soul. He remembered praying, “Lord, I am here and now forgiving Idi Amin.” A deep sense of release and empowerment come over him in that moment to extend forgiveness.

He later wrote a book with the shocking title, I Love Idi Amin. A reporter asked him how he could compose a title about a man often described as Africa’s Hitler. Festo said, “I may not like him, but I am obliged as a Christian to forgive him. As long as he is alive, he is still redeemable.”1

On the gentler side of kindness and mercy, it means to be sensitive to others and walk with them in their moccasins—to mourn with those who are mourning, to laugh with those who are laughing, to love those who are difficult to love, to become friends with the stranger, and so on. 

Micah then goes on to spell out a third action of faith, “to walk humbly with your God,” or as the CEV puts it to, “humbly obey your God.” This, of course, reminds us of Jesus’ beatitude: “Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.” Walking humbly or living in humble fellowship with our God is not valued or a top priority in our society. Our society favours and idolizes the rich and famous, those in the spotlight. 

According to Rabbi Meir of Apt: “The true service of God is the achievement of humility with joy. How can one rejoice in feeling humble? By knowing that thereby one is fulfilling the will of God. That alone is sufficient reason for joy.” Humility does not mean that I must have a low opinion of myself. I can be fully aware of my God-given talents, and I should put them to use in the service of God.

Such walking humbly reminds us of Jesus himself, who went about his ministry not among the Herods and Pilates of the world, but the ordinary folk like Peter, Andrew, Mary Magdalene, and Martha. Jesus who was despised and rejected; who died a cruel, criminal’s death—yet, when all other famous figures of history are forgotten, Jesus is still remembered more for his walking humbly than for his being rich or famous and living in the spotlight. So too, most of us are not destined for riches and fame and living in the spotlight. Yet, like Jesus, we go about walking humbly and in our unique, small ways, making a difference in the church and world. We do this remembering Jesus’s words in John 15:5: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, becauseapart from me you can do nothing.” Amen, may it be so!

1 Peter James, Prayers from the Cloud: 100 Prayers Through the Ages, sent daily to my email. 

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Book Review: Visions of The New Jerusalem

January 24, 2026 Leave a comment

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Visions of the New Jerusalem: Religious settlement on the prairies

Edited by: Benjamin G. Smillie

Publisher: NeWest Press Publishers Ltd., paperback, 207 pages, including: Preface, 13 chapters, Contributors, and Notes

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

Contents

The Introduction and Conclusion were written by Benjamin Smillie, II Historical background to prairie settlement, III Two faces of the New Jerusalem: Indian-Metis reaction to the missionary, IV Gestae Dei Per Francos: The French Catholic experience in western Canada, V Anglicanism on the prairies: Continuity and flexibility, VI Protestants—Prairie visionaries of the New Jerusalem: The United and Lutheran Churches in western Canada, VII New Jerusalem on the prairies: Welcoming the Jews, VIII Mennonites and the New Jerusalem in western Canada, IX The western settlement of Canadian Doukhobors, X Building the New Jerusalem on the prairies: The Ukrainian experience, XI St. Peter’s: A German-American marriage of monastery and colony, XII Hutterites: An interview with Michael Entz. 

Observations

In his Preface, Benjamin Smillie—a United Church of Canada minister and professor of church and society at St. Andrew’s College in Saskatoon—begins with this volume’s origins: “The idea for this book originated in a public lecture series sponsored by the Saskatoon Public Library in the fall of 1978” (p. ix). He contends that the biblical hope of a new Jerusalem enabled the settlers to survive physically, spiritually, financially and politically. 

In his Introduction, Smillie states that the population of settlers in the prairie provinces grew five-fold from 419,512 to 2,353,529 between 1901 and 1931. These settlers represented diverse cultural and religious backgrounds. According to Smillie, there are four main themes in this volume: “the New Jerusalem as a political reality; as a heavenly city; as a centre of worship; and as a gift from God” (p. 3). 

In chapter 2, James McCrorie—a sociology professor at the University of Regina—points out how the English Canadians regarded themselves as superior to the Indian-Metis peoples, calling them “savages,” and hence essentially stealing the land they lived on for centuries, making way for the settlers. The Canadian government never took the treaties with the Metis and Indians seriously. McCrorie also outlines the policies of the Canadian government and the CPR regarding the settlement of immigrants, as well as some of the organisations and political parties of the settlers.

In chapter 3, Marjorie Beaucage—a Metis woman and former member of Our Lady of the Missions Order—and Emma LaRoque—a Cree-Metis professor of native studies at the University of Manitoba—emphasise that the culture and religious traditions of the Metis and Indians were not respected by the settlers. There was a “dehistorization” of the Indigenous peoples, and: “Indians were described as “treacherous,” “dirty,” “barbaric,” “grotesque,” “superstitious,” “red devils” (p. 30). Today we know how damaging and destructive the residential schools have been for Indigenous peoples. 

In chapter 4, Raymond Huel—a history professor at the University of Lethbridge—observes: “Unlike Protestant eschatology which stresses the presence of God in history, the Catholic experience takes the form of a liturgical vision in which history becomes complete in the mass, the ultimate form of worship” (p. 50).

In chapter 5, Frank Peake—an Anglican parish priest and history professor at Laurentian University—provides a brief history of the Church Missionary Society, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and the Colonial and Continental Church Society. He states that the low and high church conflict lasted over a century. He observes: “Anglicans…did not come to build the New Jerusalem—they brought it with them. But, lest that sound arrogant, they were sadly aware that the Church of God is a “school for sinners” rather than a “museum for saints” (p. 66). 

In chapter 6, Benjamin Smillie points out that according to a 1971 census: “the United and Lutheran churches numerically represent nearly forty percent of the religious affiliations on the prairie” (p. 69). Today, of course, both of these mainline Protestant churches have shrunk considerably. Speaking of the doctrine of election, Smillie tells this “amusing apocryphal story about a theologically liberal student who stood before a conservative ordination committee of the Presbyterian church in the United States. As his orthodoxy was being tested prior to ordination, he was asked, “Do you believe in original sin?” “Yes,” was his response. “Do you believe that some are elected to salvation and others to damnation?” “Yes,” was the more hesitant answer. Then came the toughest question, “Would you be willing to be damned to the glory of God?” To this his reply was prompt, “I would go further; I would be willing to see this whole committee damned to the glory of God!” (pp. 72-73). Smillie also provides some history of the early Methodists, the Temperance Colonization Society, and Temperance Colony, and the idealism of the Social Gospel to build a “kingdom of righteousness,” and the failure of an elitist social Darwinism. 

In the same chapter, Norman Threinen—a Lutheran parish pastor, executive secretary of theology of the Lutheran Council of Canada, and founding editor of Consensus (a Canadian Lutheran Journal of Theology)–writes about “The doctrine of the two kingdoms and the Lutheran immigrant.” Lutheran immigrants came from the Scandinavian countries, Germany, and Germans from eastern Europe and Russia, with the overall hope of improving their lot. Threinen provides a short history of the Lutheran two kingdoms theology, which he contends dates back to Augustine. “Under the doctrine of the two kingdoms, God provided for order in society and in the church” (p. 87). Therefore, Lutherans have tended to support the political authorities rather than prophetically critique them—although there have, of course, been exceptions. Threinen also provides some history of the Lutheran Immigration Board of Canada, and the founding of Canadian Lutheran World Relief, to originally focus on the settlement of refugees from Europe after World War II. 

In chapter 7, Abraham Arnold—a lecturer, writer, broadcaster and executive director of the Manitoba Association for Rights and Liberties—points out the primacy and universality of Jerusalem for the Jewish people, dating back to biblical times, as well as in later Jewish tradition. “Jerusalem is destined to become a lantern to the nations…the metropolis of the world…[and] All nations, without exception, must go up towards Jerusalem….” (p. 91). Therefore, Arnold emphasises that building a new Jerusalem on the prairies is a Christian concept, not a Jewish one. The persecution of Jews in Russia led the Jews to consider immigrating to settle in western Canada. Arnold provides some history of Jewish immigrant farmers in Moosomin, Wapella, Lipton, Cupar and Edenbridge in Saskatchewan, and in 1908 a synagogue was built in Edenbridge. Politically: “Jews were among the builders of the CCF-NDP movement from the very beginning” (p. 102). And: “Winnipeg North became known as a Jewish Jerusalem…” (p. 102). 

In chapter 8, Ted Regehr—head of the history department, University of Saskatchewan—states: “The Mennonites wanted to establish their own utopia, separate and somewhat different from British ideals” (p. 110). Mennonites settled in all three prairie provinces, the first group came to Fort Garry on July 31, 1874. Mennonite settlers endeavoured to live by Jesus’s Sermon on the Mount, emphasising complete exemption from military service, German language schools, and religious freedom. Canadian political and non-Mennonite religious leaders were prejudiced against and opposed to Mennonites. The Mennonites “found the Social Gospel hostile to their distinctive culture, language, and social practices” (p. 117). Regehr also mentions the founding and important work of the Mennonite Central Committee. Eventually, Mennonites gave up their view of a utopian Kingdom of God on earth for a spiritual, heavenly one. 

In chapter 9, Koozma Tarasoff—author of a Pictorial History of the Doukhobors—provides a history of how the Doukhobors came to Canada from Russia. He points out that there were three groups of Doukhobors: the Independent Doukhobors, the Community Doukhobors, later known as the Orthodox Doukhobors, and the deviants, later known as the Sons of Freedom. The latter group “were often rejected from membership in other groups, and often were an embarrassment to the whole Doukhobor population” (p. 131) because of their protests, when they would strip naked. The Doukhobors were pacifists, opposed to institutional religion, and lived in a communal way of life. They settled in Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. After World War I, Doukhobors, Hutterites, and Mennonites were prohibited from voting because they were conscientious objectors. For a time, these three groups were also prohibited from immigrating to Canada, however in 1921 this was repealed for Hutterites and Mennonites, and in 1926 for Doukhobors.

In chapter 10, Stella Hryniuk—lecturer in the history department of the University of Manitoba—and Roman Yereniuk—professor of Eastern Slavic church history, St. Andrew’s College, Winnipeg—focus on the history of the Ukrainian immigrants coming to the prairie provinces from places like Galicia and Bukovina, the eastern provinces of Austro-Hungary. Mostly peasant farmers or unskilled labourers, they were mainly members of the Ukrainian Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic churches. “For the believing Christian, the Church—the New Jerusalem,–was realized and is continually realized through the liturgy” (p. 141).

In chapter 11, Bede Hubbard—a member of the Benedictine Order and former editor of the Prairie Messenger—states that “German Catholics in Saskatchewan includes German, German-American and German-Russian immigrants…” (p. 153). After providing some history of the Benedictine Order, Hubbard then shares the history of the German-American immigrants who established St. Peter’s Abbey at Muenster. One of the significant ministries of St. Peter’s Abbey that reached readers both Catholic and non-Catholic, was the publication of The Prairie Messenger. It was a prophetic voice promoting, among other things: universal health care, socialism (not communism), co-operatives, minority rights, church renewal and reform, ecumenism, social justice, rural life, and environmental protection.

In chapter 12, Gail McConnell—author of the Churchill River Enquiry Report, and free lance writer—interviews Michael Entz, leader of the Waldeck Hutterite Colony. The Hutterites—among other things—live in communes based on the Book of Acts, are pacifists, and believe in adult baptism. They immigrated to the three prairie provinces because of religious persecution—some were even horrifically tortured in the United States. They dress differently and modestly to emphasize that they are not of the world, even though they are in the world. According to Entz: “In the outside world there are too many temptations” (p. 166). There are three different groups of Hutterites: the “Schmiedeleut,” or “blacksmith people” in Manitoba, the “Dariusleut” in Saskatchewan and Alberta, and named after Darius Walther, and the “Lehrerleut” or “teacher’s people” in Saskatchewan and Alberta. Even though they have prospered and live peacefully, for the Hutterites, because nobody is perfect, the New Jerusalem will be a heavenly one. 

This volume even though it was published in 1983, will be most beneficial to those interested in western Canadian religious history. 

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Festschrift: A Tribute To Dr. William Hordern

December 4, 2025 Leave a comment

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Festschrift: A Tribute To Dr. William Hordern

Edited by: Walter Freitag

Publisher: University of Saskatchewan, paperback, 270 pages, including a Greeting, Foreword, William Hordern: Curriculum Vitae, Roster of Institutional Sponsors, Roll of Congratulators, Contributors to the Festschrift, Footnotes, Publications of William Hordern, and an Index

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

I am very grateful to have been privileged to study under the Rev. Dr. William Hordern. Dr. Hordern was a world-renowned theologian, and an excellent professor. He was the teaching assistant for Reinhold Niebuhr and Paul Tillich at Union Theological Seminary, in New York City. He was a professor at the Quaker school, Swarthmore College, in Pennsylvania, and at Garrett Theological Seminary, a Methodist seminary in Evanston, Illinois. From 1966-1985, he served as President of Lutheran Theological Seminary, after the merger of Lutheran College and Seminary and Luther Seminary, in Saskatoon. He also served as a pastor in 3 congregations. The institutional list of sponsors and festschrift contributors affirm that Dr. Hordern was highly respected ecumenically, among a wide variety of denominations. 

The Main Body of this volume consists of Part One Studies in Systematics/Ethics, and Part Two Biblical/Historical Studies. Part One has the following 10 essays: Perspective by Dr. Hordern’s wife, Marjorie Hordern, The Question of God and the Trinity by Carl Braaten, Karl Barth Juergen Moltmann and the Theopaschite Revolution by Ronald Goetz, Narrative Theology: Translation or Transformation? By Millard Erickson, Black Theology: It’s Origin, Method and Relation to Third World Theologies by James Cone who was William Hordern’s student, An Update on Liberation Theology in the Canadian Context by Benjamin Smillie, Lubricating the Camel: Clement of Alexandria on Wealth and the Wealthy by Walter Wagner, Realism and Freedom Within a Penitentiary by Gary Watts who was William Hordern’s student, Luther’s Attitude Towards Poverty: Theology and Social Reform by Richard Hordern who is William Hordern’s son and a professor at Luther College, Regina, Is the Emperor Naked?: Religions and Religion in Theological Education by Roland Miller. 

Part Two has the following 8 essays: Righteousness as Relationship by Adrian Leske, Luther in the Thought of Bultmann by Walter Freitag, The Courage of Faith at the Eucharist According to Martin Luther by Egil Grislis, Martin Luther in the Writings of Eugen Rosenstock-Huessy, by Eugene Tate, Printing and the Reformation by George Forell, Henry Melchior Muhlenburg’s Canadian Connections by Helmut Lehmann, Canada’s Lutherans in a Mediating Role? by E. Theodore Bachmann, and The Search for Christian Unity by Otto Heick. 

Depending on the readers’ preferences and backgrounds—as is the case in a volume like this, some of the essays will be more instructive and inspiring than others. 

In this review, I shall briefly highlight one essay from Part One, and one from Part Two, which hopefully will spark readers of this review to read this volume themselves. 

Richard Hordern, in his essay, begins by stating that: “Luther’s teachings on poverty and wealth are at the core of his theological program” (p. 94). In the Middle Ages, poverty was understood by the Roman Catholic Church as a spiritual blessing and a virtue for both those in monastery who took a vow of poverty, and for poor laity, who were given alms, which were viewed as good works. Therefore, there was no need to end poverty, nor to view it as an injustice or “an injury to the human spirit” (p. 94). 

Luther the monk didn’t see poverty as a spiritual blessing. Rather, he saw it as a hypocrisy among the monks—for they claimed to be poor but lived in comfort and idleness, since the commonfolk paid for the monks’ “poverty.” 

Several of Luther’s Ninety-Five Theses of 1517 critiqued how the church burdened and exploited the common and poor people with indulgences, for example, in thesis 43, Luther wrote: “Christians are to be taught that [s]he who gives to the poor or lends to the needy does a better deed than [s]he who buys indulgences.” (Luther’s Works 31:29). In Luther’s response to Johann Eck, Hordern concludes that according to Luther: “We are not called to a virtue of poverty: we are called to abolish poverty” (p. 98).

For Luther, theological reform should also involve economic reform for the poor—so in his appeal To the Christian Nobility of the German Nation, he suggested the creation of a “common chest” to provide for the poor. 

Luther was opposed to the early form of capitalism, he criticized high mark-up costs for a product: “What else does this mean but this: I care nothing about my neighbour; so long as I have my profit and satisfy my greed….” (Luther, Trade and Usury, p. 239).

Against monasticism and Anabaptism: “Luther argued that Christians should not hesitate to use the material goods that God has given in trust for the neighbour, provided we have no more than we actually need to conduct our affairs in life” (p. 101). 

Luther’s “theology of the cross” is rooted in the Incarnation, hence in life’s realities rather than abstract thought. The “theology of the cross” is revealed: “through human weakness, suffering, humility, oppression, and poverty that we find God and truly understand Christ and the nature of Christ’s salvation through the cross” (p. 103). 

Every Christian justified by God’s grace through Jesus is called to respond by loving one’s neighbour, especially the neighbour in need, for Christ meets us in the neighbour.

Otto W. Heick, in his essay, starts by stating: “Luther had no intention of destroying the unity of Western Christianity” (p. 216). Luther did not want his supporters to call themselves after his name. The most important marks of the Church for Luther are the Word and the sacraments. He, on occasion, also added the keys, ministry, prayer, suffering, and the influence of the Word in peoples’ lives as marks of the Church. 

Professor Heick points out that in Germany during the Reformation the princes and magistrates play an important role. “The Augsburg Confession, for example, was signed by seven princes and the civil authorities of the cities of Nuremberg and Reutlingen” (p. 217). It was similar in Denmark and Norway, where King Christian III imprisoned and deposed the Catholic bishops and confiscated their estates, and then paid the salaries of evangelical clergy. In Sweden, King Gustavus Vasa had the Church directly place under his authority, and a proclamation stated that Sweden was “an Evangelical Lutheran nation.” 

Heick provides a survey of how Lutherans have understood and defined ministry and ordination—there were, and still are differing views. For example, is the ministerial office only a spiritual fellowship or is it a combination of a spiritual fellowship and a divine institution? There was Heinrich Hansen, in Germany, who lead the Hochkirchliche Vereiningung (High Church Association), and: “published a set of Ninety-Five Theses in commemoration of the fourth centennial of the Reformation” (p. 219). There was Danish theologian, hymn writer, and bishop without a diocese, Nicholai F.S. Grundtvig, who believed that: “The living Word has priority over the written Word for the Gospel was spread by the living word of the Apostles and the Church independent of the written Word” (p. 219). 

Professor Heick, writing prior to the merger of the Lutheran Church in America Canada Section, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Canada into the Evangelical Lutheran Church In Canada in 1986, has a brief commentary on the issues that caused the Missouri Synod to refuse to join the merger. Heick also provides a short history of the various Lutheran organisations that eventually resulted in the formation of the Lutheran World Federation. He highlights when and where the LWF assemblies met, as well as their themes. The title, Lutheran World Federation was adopted at Lund, Sweden in 1947. 

Under the section “Lutherans and Catholics in Dialogue,” Heick has a brief historical summary of these dialogues on: “the Status of the Nicene Creed as Dogma of the Church (1965), Baptism (1966), The Eucharist as Sacrifice (1966-67), The Eucharist and the Ministry (1968-70), the Primacy of the Pope (1970-72), Teaching Authority and Infallibility in the Church (concluded in 1978), and Justification by Faith (1983)” (p. 222). He also provides a brief historical summary of the World Council of Churches statement on Baptism, the Eucharist and Ministry. “Both forms, “infant baptism” and “believer’s baptism” embody the primacy of grace and express the response of faith within the believing community” (p. 224). 

In his section “The Ecumenical Movement,” Heick states: “Luther was no separatist nor an unyielding dogmatist. In his negotiations with Martin Bucer he was satisfied with saying that the body of Christ is present in the Supper “with” the bread (Wittenberg Concord, 1536, Engl.)” (p. 225). From the 17ththrough to the 19th centuries, Lutherans were involved in colloquies and dialogues leading up to the formation of the World Council of Churches, and since its formation Lutherans have participated in the WCC. 

Back in the 17th and 18th centuries: “The clime at the court of Hannover….Linked by marriage to the Catholic house of Hapsburg, the Electress Sophia, friend of Leibnitz, herself of Calvinist training, became in 1713 heir apparent to the throne of Great Britain. Her son, George I, ascended the throne in 1714. Because of his dual reign, he was head of the Lutheran church of Hannover, of the Anglican establishment in England and of the Presbyterian church in Scotland” (Footnote 28., p. 256). 

Since through modern technology, we live in a global village and are able to communicate with Christians of every denomination as well as members of every world religion, confessional isolationism is no longer a reality. 

In “Publications of William Hordern,” there is a 10 page bibliography of his books and articles. 

This volume is still available for purchase online at, for example: https://www.abebooks.com/book-search/isbn/9780888801487/. Theologians, pastors and seminarians will most likely find this a worthwhile read—I rate it as 4.5 out 5. Thank God for the life and legacy of William Hordern! 

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Sermon for 1 Advent Yr A

November 30, 2025 Leave a comment

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1 Advent Yr A, 30/11/2025

Isa 2:1-5

Pastor Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

“God our hope-filled Judge and Arbiter”

Today, the first Sunday in the season of Advent, marks the beginning of a new church calendar year. Advent means coming. In Advent, we emphasise the coming of Jesus in the past, present, and future. 

God willing, for the next few weeks, I’m going to focus on the Isaiah passages. I love the Book of Isaiah, and if I were an OT scholar, I would definitely specialize in this wonderful book, sometimes referred to as “the fifth gospel,” because it has so many “Good News” prophecies, which we Christians believe are messianic, and refer to Jesus. 

The compilers of the lectionary throw us a curveball during Advent. The portions from the Hebrew Scriptures are foretelling the coming of a Messiah who has not yet appeared. The New Testament passages, on the other hand, not only presuppose a first coming but look forward to a second. As Martin Buber has pointed out, the biggest single difference between Jews and Christians is that while we are both messianic faiths, when it comes to cataloging how Messiahs come and go, we have very different timetables.1

That reminds me of the following story. Pastor and Professor Fred Craddock says: My now-deceased friend Oswald Goulter, thirty years a missionary to China, was under house arrest for three years. He would be released by the Communists if he promised to go home. He said he would come home. He wired back, the missionary society sent him money for his transportation, and he took a ship. He went down to India to catch a ship, and when he was in the coastal city in India before leaving, he heard that there were a lot of Jews sleeping in the barn lofts in that city. They’d been denied entrance to every country in the world except that one, and they had gone inland and were living in barn lofts. It was Christmas time. Oswald Goulter went around to those barns and said to the Jews, “It’s Christmas! Merry Christmas!”

They said, “We’re Jews.”

He said, “I know, but it’s Christmas!”

They said, “We don’t observe Christmas. We’re not followers of Christ. We’re Jews.”

He said, “I know, but what would you like for Christmas?”

“We don’t keep Christmas.”

“I know, but what would you like? If somebody gave you something for Christmas, what would you like?”

They said, “Well, we’d like some good German pastry.”

“Good!” So he went looking, and he finally found some German pastry at a shop there in that city. After cashing his passage check, he took boxes of German pastries to these Jews and said, “Merry Christmas!” Then he wired the missionary society and said, “I need a ticket home.”

When that story was being told, there was a young seminarian sitting in the front row, and he was absolutely incensed. He said to Dr. Goulter, “Why did you do that? They don’t believe in Jesus!” And Dr. Goulter said, “But I do. I do.”2

So too, like in this story, Dr. Goulter, by giving those Jews the gift of German pastries, gave the Jews a bit of hope with that gift, the words of our Isaiah passage also offer hope. Also, in response to Isaiah’s oracle of promise and hope, the nations will one day turn their weapons of war into tools of peace. 

It is interesting that Isaiah, whose name means: “The LORD gives salvation,” speaks this oracle of promise and hope before oracles of judgement. You’d think that it would be the other way round, however it’s not. Hope then comes first in order to help his straying people of Judah and Jerusalem face their judgement and soon to come Babylonian exile. They would feel abandoned by God in their Babylonian exile. However, maybe they too would remember this oracle of promise and hope that one day their lot would improve, and God would lead them out of exile, back home. 

Isaiah shares this vision of a hope-filled, promising future. Notice that this future places Zion, another name for Jerusalem, at the front and centre of the world. It will be the most important place. Reference to it being the highest place, probably means that it will be the most important place spiritually and politically for the nations. Peoples from all nations shall journey to Zion-Jerusalem to be taught by the LORD. The Torah, God’s instruction, and God’s other word in the prophets and writings shall be taught and learned by peoples of all nations. This teaching and learning will help everyone to put into practice what God wants for the nations. I like the way Eugene Peterson renders it in The Message: “He’ll show us the way he works so we can live the way we’re made.” What a wonderful word of hope and promise! 

Isaiah goes on to say: “He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples.” Here however God as Judge is not bad news. Rather, it is good news. The consequence of God’s judgement will be hope rather than despair, love rather than hatred, forgiveness rather than punishment, peace rather than war. God as Judge here is a God of grace. The judgement is gracious and merciful, leading to life rather than death. 

In concert with God as Judge, God will also be Arbiter. In our society we are familiar with the phrase “binding arbitration.” Usually it involves two opposing groups, like for example, the government and a union. An arbiter functions like a mediator, because both sides are not getting anywhere in their discussions. Both sides have hardened their positions, and are not prepared to make any changes or compromises. An arbiter works with both sides in as neutral a way as possible to hear both sides and present both sides in negotiations, with a view to try and come up with an acceptable agreement between the two groups. Eventually when an agreement is reached, the arbitration, the agreement is binding—in other words, both sides are responsible for living up to their commitment to the terms of the agreement, to do what is necessary to honour and keep the agreement. 

Recently, here in Alberta, with the government employing the notwithstanding clause by legislating the teachers back to work, there really was no arbiter, and no settlement of differences—only the threat by the government to punish teachers if they refuse to go back to work. The government now claims that they don’t have to come to an agreement with the teachers until 2027. 

This is not the kind of binding arbitration involved in our Isaiah passage! God is the perfect arbiter, and does everything possible to help all nations live in agreement with his ways. So much so to the extent that in response to God’s work as arbiter, the nations will be able to change their weapons of war into tools for peace, tools used for agricultural purposes. The hope here is that: “nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” What a wonderful hope, God’s perfect peace that comes through Jesus, Messiah, and Prince of peace. For that, thanks be to God! 

1 Robert McAfee Brown, Reclaiming the Bible: Words for the Nineties (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 1994), p. 47.

2 Fred B. Craddock, Craddock Stories (St. Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2001), pp. 141-142. 

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Reformation Sunday Yr C

October 26, 2025 Leave a comment

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Reformation Sunday Yr C, 26/10/2025

Jer 31:31-34

Pastor Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

“God’s right-side-up world”

Today we Lutherans, and maybe some other denominations, celebrate Reformation Sunday. I could focus on our hero of the faith, Martin Luther—among other things—reformer, pastor, biblical translator, professor, and hymnwriter. However, I think that if Luther were alive today, he would not want the church to focus on him—since even in his day, he didn’t want people who supported his teachings to be named after him as Lutherans. Rather, I think Luther would encourge both us pastors and congregation members to focus on God’s Word. So join me now, as we explore our passage from Jeremiah.

Just as in Martin Luther’s day, so in Jeremiah’s day, there was much going on that one might describe as an upside-down world. In the case of Luther, he in his upside-down way, tried to do everything he could to avoid God the Judge by being obsessed with confessing his sins and doing good works. However, one day God turned Luther’s world right-side-up when God revealed to Luther in the Letter to the Romans that all people, including Luther, “are now justified by [God’s] grace as a gift , through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom 3:24). Luther discovered that the right-side-up world emphasizes what God through Jesus has done for us to forgive and save us—not the other way round!

In our first lesson today, Jeremiah emphasises exactly the same right-side-up world. Jeremiah had a rough go of it as a prophet. God gave Jeremiah many prophetic oracles that offended both the religious and political leaders of his day. Jeremiah therefore was rejected and persecuted, and suffered a lot because he was the LORD’s faithful prophet. Many of the oracles that Jeremiah spoke to the people of Judah focussed on how upside-down their country really was because they had abandoned the covenant God had made with Moses; they had violated the commandments and laws. The religious and political leaders had become self-serving and corrupt. The people too had fallen away from their relationship with God and God’s ways. Repeatedly, God’s people had fallen into a tragic cycle: God in his grace and love made a covenant with his people, for a while they obeyed the covenant, when things went well for them they forgot about God, and thought their success was something they earned and deserved, then they got into trouble and became desperate, and turned to God again. God’s mercy reached out to them, things got better until they fell away from God again, and so they turned back to God, and God rescued them once again. On and on it went. However, it seemed because of this ongoing cycle that the world more or less remained upside-down.

Then suddenly, out of the blue, something new happens. Instead of a judgement oracle convicting God’s people of their sins, now God gives Jeremiah a different kind of oracle, a right-side-up oracle! 

In verse 31 of the NRSV, Jeremiah speaks a word of encouragement and hope: “The days are SURELY coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.” That word “surely” suggests that God’s people were invited to be confident in trusting what God was going to do for them. In the REB, this confidence is emphasised when God tells them: “I shall ESTABLISH a new covenant….” That word “establish” suggests confidence as well as a sense of certainty that God would look after his people by this new, right-side-up covenant. To emphasize the difference between past covenants, which God’s people broke, The Message refers to “A BRAND-NEW covenant.” A covenant different than all of the earlier ones God made with the Israelites. 

The difference is emphasized again in verse 32, referring to the covenant Israel broke when, in God’s love and grace, God “took them by the hand to bring them out of Egypt.” Even “though [God] was their husband,” and REB “was patient with them.” Notice here that even in this former covenant, God was close to his people, because he loved them just like a husband loves their wife in a marriage relationship. Sadly, God’s people were not able to keep their part of the covenant. 

Then, in verse 33 comes the Good News of the right-side-up, new covenant. It is going to be all God’s doing—4 times God tells his people: “I will.” “But this is the covenant I WILL make… I WILL put my law within them, and I WILL write it on their hearts, and I WILL be their God….” (NRSV) God’s initiative, God’s grace, God’s love, God’s mercy will make and establish this new covenant. The action is focussed on GOD. The same of course is true for us Christians when Jesus does everything for us through his suffering, death on the cross, and resurrection to make and establish a new covenant in his blood with us and for us. 

Verse 34 continues with this theme of God doing what is necessary to make and keep this covenant a reality. The Message renders it like this: “They will no longer go around setting up schools to teach each other about God. They’ll know me firsthand, the dull and the bright, the smart and the slow. I’ll wipe the slate clean for each of them. I’ll forget they ever sinned! God’s Decree.” 

So once again it all comes down to grace, love and forgiveness. That reminds me of the following story. The service in the Innuit language was not hard to follow. The worship leader indicated by gestures which were prayers. [Faith Brace] knew the Innuit words for God, Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit. 

One word…had 28 letters: “ihhumagiyunaiekvigigamitigut” [Faith Brace] knew that the Innuit language combined words to create new meanings. [She] asked a local missionary what this one meant. She said it was the closest translation possible to “he will forgive us our sins.” Literally, it says “he will think that it never happened to us.” 

That seems like a very good description of forgiveness. God wipes away our sins. It is as if they never happened. Something very unusual, the death and resurrection of Jesus, bring about our forgiveness. Today let’s think about how totally effective that forgiveness is. It is as if we never sinned. That’s miraculous!1

Karl Menninger, who wrote the book Whatever Became of Sin? the famed psychiatrist once said that if he could convince the patients in psychiatric hospitals that their sins were forgiven, 75 % of them would walk out the next day! The question I ask you today is: do you believe, are you convinced, that Jesus, through the new covenant, and through participating in the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper, forgives your sins? I truly hope and pray that your answer is “Yes.” If you answer “Yes,” then I hope that in response to Jesus having forgiven your sins, that you will be able to forgive the sins of others too, and in gratitude for what Jesus has done for you, you will freely want to share the right-side-up gospel message of his grace and love with others in word and in action. May God the Holy Spirit guide, inspire and motivate you so to do.

1 Faith Brace, “It Never Happened,” Devotion for Friday, February 15, in: 1991 LAMP Lenten Devotions, Edited by Lorriane Kalis. 

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Sermon for 13 Pentecost Yr C

September 7, 2025 Leave a comment

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13 Pentecost Yr C, 7/09/2025

Lk 14:25-33

Pastor Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

“Costly discipleship”

Will you [who are] parents agree with me when I say that one of the toughest tasks of a parent is to teach your children the value of things? Parents must teach their children that, for everything we desire in life, there is a cost. There is a relationship between what we want in life and what it will take to get what we want. There is a cost. Children must learn to count the cost, to pay what is required in money, time, or the expenditure of effort to get what they want.1 And that reminds me of Lutheran theologian, pastor and martyr, Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s famous quote: “When Christ calls a [person], he bids [them] come and die.”

Today’s gospel is a heavy one, a difficult one. Jesus has a large crowd following him, however he wants them to understand what being his disciple means and involves—so he tells them that discipleship is costly. It is NOT a ‘bowl of cherries,’ or ‘a piece of cake,’ it is not cheap, rather, discipleship will cost a lot! Jesus tells that crowd and us: “Whoever comes to me and does not hatefather and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and even life itself, cannot be my disciple.” The word “hate,” should not be understood literally, as we understand it in our culture today. No. Rather, the word hate can mean “to turn away from” or “to release from something,” or in the Aramaic of Jesus’s day, it could mean “to love less.” That is most likely why those who translated the GNT rendered it like this: “Those who come to me cannot be my disciples unless theylove me more than they love father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, and themselves as well.”

Most of us I think struggle with the cost of discipleship. For example, every working person who is married and has children have likely found themselves in conflicting situations when it comes to the demands and expectations of work and family. I know that for both Pastor Julianna and myself we have struggled with how to manage our time, trying to meet the needs of each other, our daughter, our work as pastors, and, most importantly our Saviour Jesus. 

Life is costly, being a disciple of Jesus is costly. Our parents, our spouse, our children may not always be happy when we place our number one priority in life on being a faithful follower of Jesus. That reminds me of a person I knew who was raised in a non-Christian religion. However, he was led by God’s Spirit to become a Christian and to follow Jesus. Since he is a devout Christian, there are tensions in his relationships with his other family members. He struggles with these tensions, because he sees what they are missing in life, and he would like his family members to become Christians too. Although his family members did not disown or reject him completely for becoming a Christian, that does happen in some families because of loyalty to Jesus. 

Carrying our cross and being a disciple of Jesus is costly, as Bonhoeffer stated in his quote, it may even lead to our death. As a disciple of Jesus, Bonhoeffer indeed died a martyr’s death. For him, loyalty to Jesus took number one place in his life—not loyalty to Hitler. He counted the cost. 

Coming back to our gospel again, Jesus continues with this theme of counting the cost by providing two examples. In the first one, he states that those who want to build a tower have to count the cost of it first, then after knowing the total cost they could build the tower. However, if they failed to count the cost, then there wouldn’t be enough money to complete building the tower, and they would be looked down upon and/or even laughed at because they failed to complete it. In the second example, Jesus states that a king with a smaller army than another king with a larger army should carefully count the cost. If he realizes that he cannot defeat the other king with the larger army, then the best thing to do is send someone to negotiate a peaceful solution. 

The tower example reminds me of a couple situations that I have seen. Long ago, in the city where I served my year of internship, a homeowner built a basement and had to live in it because he ran out of money. He had failed to count the cost of building all of a house, the house was not completed, so for years, he lived in the basement. 

Another example that Jesus’s words remind me of is a city we visited where a religious community decided to build a fairly large edifice. However, they had failed to count the cost, and the edifice is empty and it remains unfinished, since they ran out of money in order to complete it. 

Coming back to our gospel’s concluding verse, Jesus leaves his original audience and us with a very hard statement, which compliments the whole passage, he declares: “So therefore, none of you can become my disciple if you do not give up all your possessions.” Or, as the CEV renders it: “So then, you cannot be my disciple unless you give away everything you own.”WOW! Now that is a very hard requirement to live by, isn’t it?! Does Jesus really mean this literally? For some people, I think he does mean it literally if possessions have the danger of becoming their idol, their god, and destroy their relationship with Jesus. Way back in my seminary days, I visited a classmate who had recently been ordained and was serving his first parish. He was the kind of guy who would literally “give you the shirt off of his back.” The parsonage he lived in had hardly any material contents. He lived a very simple, frugal life, and was quite content in doing so. I remember picking up a book he had and started to look at it. He insisted that I should keep the book, even though it was a book that he valued. I told him I did not want to keep it. However, he would not take “no” for an answer, so after much back-and-forth debate about it, I reluctantly ended up with his book. Ironically, after I read it, I too ended up giving the book away. 

Most, if not all of us, in the end, do not take these words of Jesus literally. If we did take these words of Jesus literally to sell all our possesions and give away everything that we own, then all of us would be homeless, end up living in poverty, and likely have to beg for the basic necessities of life. 

We may feel that we’ve failed to be disciples because of Jesus’s radical words in today’s gospel. However, I remind you that our greatest gift for helping us finish what we have started is Jesus himself. If we follow wholeheartedly, he will show us the way to in order to complete what needs to be completed. So, as we count the cost, let us never forget Jesus, whom we can count on the most to see us through to finish whatever he wants us to finish. Jesus will be with us, help us, and give us what we need to carry out his will and purposes. For that, thanks be to God!

1 Wm. H. Willimon, “The Price of Discipleship,” in: Pulpit Resource, Vol. 26, No. 3, July, August, September 1998 Year C (Inver Grove Heights, MN: Logos Productions Inc.), p. 39. 

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Book Review: The Yellow Leaves

September 1, 2025 Leave a comment

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The Yellow Leaves: A Miscellany

Author: Frederick Buechner

Publisher: Westminster John Knox Press, hardcover, 123 pages

Reviewed by Rev. Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

The Author 

Frederick Buechner, now deceased, at the time of this volume’s publication, was an ordained Presbyterian minister, a finalist for the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize and has been honoured by the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His many acclaimed and best-selling works include Wishful Thinking: A Seeker’s ABC; The Book of Bebb; Godric: A Novel; and, more recently, Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner. 

Contents

This wee volume contains memoir, short stories, essays, and poems, with an Introduction, and the following chapter titles: Our Last Drive Together, Johnny, Presidents I Have Known, Wunderjahr, Fathers and Teachers, Bulletin Board, The Laughter Barrel, The Five Sisters, Gertrude Conover Remembers, Dickens’s Christmas Carol, and Family Poems. 

Brief Observations 

In Buechner’s Introduction, he begins by confessing that at the age of eighty, and having written over thirty books, his well may have run dry. The Introduction reveals a bit about this volume’s title, which is partly inspired by Shakespeare, and its contents: “A story, some reminiscences, a handful of poems about my family, a scene from a novel—they are the yellow leaves that hang upon these boughs that are not so bare and ruined but that they still dream from time to time of the sweet bird’s return” (p. ix).

Kaki was the name that Buechner’s family gave his mother. In “Our Last Drive Together,” Buechner describes, among other things, his mother’s final request. She didn’t want to be carried out in a bag when she died. Buechner and his brother Jamie promised her: “Instead, I said, I would take her under one arm and Jamie would take her under the other and together we would walk her out between us, which had gotten all three of us laughing…” (p. 7). 

In “Johnny,” Buechner describes the life of his brother-in-law, who was “Doubly disabled” according to the medical profession. When he died Buechner wrote a poem for him, with these words: “sometimes he turned his slow head with a smile that could break your heart…” (p. 15). 

In “Presidents I Have Known,” Buechner shares his encounters with Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and President Eisenhower’s grandson, David, who was “…in several of my classes during the years I taught at Exeter” (p. 23). 

In “Fathers and Teachers,” Buechner describes his first funeral of his French teacher, George Rice Woods. He also describes, among others, a history teacher, Rod Emory, who loved classical music. He was called “The Fish,” because students thought he looked like a fish.

In “Bulletin Board,” Buechner recalls receiving a photograph of John Irving with an Oscar for the screenplay of Cider House Rules—who was a student of Buechner’s at Exeter. 

In “The Laughter Barrel,” Buechner shares how he met Maya Angelou, and remembered her story about black slaves being forbidden to laugh because their masters were afraid that they would be laughing at them. So the slaves would find a barrel and “reach down into it as far as they could and let great peals ring out where nobody could hear them” (p. 67). 

In “The Five Sisters,” Buechner describes how his grandmother had softened somewhat after the suicide of Buechner’s father, the death of his grandfather five days later, and the suicide of his Uncle Tom a few years later. His grandmother held kaffeeklatsches for her four sisters. With humour and love, Buechner describes the sisters. For example, Aunt Frida, the oldest, studied the Italian language and practiced on the piano daily. Aunt Emma had a patrician accent, and did yoga exercises and stood on her head every day. Aunt Tony married a Jewish friend of the family. She explained, for twenty minutes, in exhaustive detail, how some little china animal worth about ten cents at Woolworth’s was made. Aunt Marie and her husband “…made a great comic team, and I remember her telling him one day as they were getting ready to leave my grandmother’s apartment after a visit that she wished he wouldn’t wear his best overcoat so often because she was planning to have him buried in it” (p. 77). 

In his “Great-grandfather” poem, Buechner recalls: “Every so often he’d be gone when they woke in the morning….Where did he go on his trips? Maybe no place at all, maybe just sat on the roof with his beautiful beard and a bagful of ointments and tonics and gumdrops, and glorified God” (pp. 95-96).

Remembering his mother in the poem “Kaki,” Buechner avers the following lament: “At ninety I haven’t a soul to tell anything, alone in my chair feeling lonely, the Daily News on my biddy knees. Only my shadow can walk still” (p. 113). 

Frederick Buechner had the gift of communicating the profound blessedness of the divine in everyday, ordinary living. For that, his legacy continues, inspiring us all. 

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Sermon for 10 Pentecost Yr C

August 17, 2025 Leave a comment

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10 Pentecost Yr C, 17/08/2025

Heb 11:29-12:2

Pastor Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

“The perseverance of the faithful cloud of witnesses”

The perseverance of the faithful cloud of witnesses—that’s the theme I invite you to focus on with me today. We find this theme in today’s passage from Hebrews. The Letter to the Hebrews is a bit different than other New Testament letters in that it contains a couple of titles for Jesus that we don’t see very much in other places. The two titles are Jesus as high priest, and Jesus as pioneer and perfecter of our faith. More about Jesus as pioneer and perfecter of our faith later. Another thing a bit different about Hebrews is that we do not know who wrote this letter. Scholars have speculated that perhaps it was Paul. Other scholars have speculated that it actually might have been written by a woman. Ultimately all we have is guesses, we don’t know for certain. However, what seems more clear is that the writer knew the Hebrew Bible very well, and therefore could have been writing to Jewish Christians. Even though Hebrews is referred to as a letter, I think that it consists of a series of sermons. The context of today’s passage might be that the faith community was getting discouraged in their faith perhaps because of persecution, and therefore they may have been tempted to give up their faith altogether or return back to Judaism.

With that background in mind, the writer, in our passage today starts off with words of encouragement by remembering people of faith in the past. The writer provides kind of an honour-roll or roll-call of past faithful people of God.

In verses 29-31, notice that the writer begins 3 sentences with the words “By faith….” The first “By faith” remembrance is that of the Exodus, of God delivering the Israelites by allowing them to pass through the sea and escape from the Egyptian army. What seemed like a suicidal thing to do by going into the sea, actually led the Israelites to freedom because by faith they put their lives into God’s hands, and God delivered them. The second “By faith” remembrance is that of the falling Jericho walls. You remember and it seemed like a crazy thing to do—to march around the walls of Jericho for 6 days, then on the 7th day march around 7 times, and blow horns and yell at the top of their voices. In all of that seemingly crazy behaviour, by faith, obeying God’s instructions, God allowed the walls of Jericho to fall down and the Israelites were able to take the city.

The third “By faith” remembrance is an interesting one, it is a reference to Rahab who had lived a rather sinful life as a prostitute. Yet, God gave her the gift of faith, she offered hospitality to the Israelite spies. She also hid them, thus preventing them from getting killed, and she also helped them escape out of Jericho safely. For these risky acts of faith, God honoured Rahab by allowing her and her family to live by not punishing them with death. Moreover, in Matthew’s genealogy of Jesus, Rahab is mentioned as an ancestor of Jesus.

After these 3 examples of faith, the writer of Hebrews, in verses 32-38 mentions a few other faithful people of the past during the periods of the judges, the monarchy, and beyond, probably during the exilic periods. Interestingly she or he names only 6 people: Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, David and Samuel, and refers only to “the prophets,” without naming them. Even though the six who are named were people of faith, they, like Rahab, were not perfect. Like her, they were sinners. For example, David, was an adulterer, and a murderer—so if God could work through him, God can work through anyone.

The writer briefly describes the type of deaths that some faithful people died without naming them. References here emphasise martyrdom, people who died terrible deaths for their faith. Others, according to the writer, were persecuted for their faith and had to live in difficult circumstances in deserts and mountains, caves and holes in the ground.

After that, the writer in 12:1-2 exhorts God’s people to persevere in their faith. The writer gives two reasons that help God’s people to persevere. First, the writer states that there is “so great a cloud of witnesses” surrounding God’s people, cheering them on as it were. Employing athletic language here, the writer exhorts God’s faithful to “run with perseverance the race that is set before us.” God’s faithful of the past, the “great cloud of witnesses are watching and cheering us on, encouraging us not to give up, to stick with it, to finish the race no matter how difficult, no matter how much suffering the race may involve. The Greek word for witness is the same word for martyr—so the cloud of witnesses, of martyrs were able to finish their race, and now are mentors, examples for God’s faithful today—cheering the present day faithful, assuring them their faith will help them to finish the race too. That’s the first reason to run with perseverance the race set before us.

The second reason is even more inspiring and powerful, it is to keep focused on Jesus himself the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. Just as many of our grandparents or great grandparents were pioneers, facing many hardships and sufferings, they persevered and finished the race, and with God’s help and their faith, thanks to them our nation was developed, and we have a better much better life than them. Jesus is our spiritual pioneer. He went ahead of us by suffering and dying on the cross, and being raised from the dead in order that we might have forgiveness for our sins, and the promise of resurrection life with him. The hope that our faith gives us through what Jesus our pioneer has done for us makes it possible for us to run with perseverance the race that is set before us. Moreover, Jesus is also our perfecter, one day, even though we still live with personal sins, and collective sins in this life, one day, we will be made perfect thanks to Jesus. We can look forward to the time in heaven where there will not be any sin, no evil, no injustices, no death—only abundant, eternal life with joy and peace and love. A perfect life, no sin, suffering, hatred, injustice or evil.

Some of you might get worn down, and tempt you not to persevere with the political, economic, environmental, social and spiritual issues prevalent in our world and church today. Or perhaps there are personal issues like your health, or family relationships, or the workplace, or school, or the community, or the congregation that wear you down, and tempt you not to continue to persevere.

So, dear sisters and brothers in Christ, keep on keeping on, don’t give up, persevere in your faith, finish the race. A stone-cutter hammers away on a rock, perhaps a hundred times without anything noticeable happening to the rock. Yet at the one hundred-and-first blow splits in two, that last blow did not do it alone, rather, the perseverance of hammering the rock the previous one-hundred blows is what helped to split the rock.

That reminds me of the following Norwegian proverb: “A hero is one who knows how to hang on one minute longer.”

My prayer for each one of you is that by God’s love and grace you will run with perseverance the race that is set before you, until you reach the finish line.

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Sermon for 8 Pentecost Yr C

August 2, 2025 Leave a comment

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8 Pentecost Yr C, 3/08/2025

Eccles 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-23; Ps 49:1-12; Lk 12:13-21; Col 3:1-14

Pastor Garth Wehrfritz-Hanson

“The idolatry of greed”

Once there was a man who refused to believe what everyone knows to be true, namely, that the Kingdom of Evil has imps whose task it is to lead [people] astray. One night such an imp came to [the man’s] house and asked him to step outside, where he offered to sell him a fine horse.

“How much do you want for it?” asked the man. 

“Four gulden,” replied the imp.

The man could see that the horse was worth at least eight, for it was an excellent animal, and so he bought it and was pleased with the bargain. 

The next day, the man went to the market to sell the horse. He was offered a good price for it, but he thought, “If that’s what I’m being offered, it must be worth twice that.” So he went somewhere else, where he was indeed offered twice as much, but he said, “I’m sure it must be worth twice as much as that!” In this manner he went from place to place until he was being offered thousands of guldens for the horse—yet whatever he was offered, he kept telling himself, “It must be worth twice as much!”

Finally, there was no one left who could afford the horse but the king. The man took it to the royal palace, and the king was willing to pay him an enormous sum, for the horse was a magnificent beast. But the man refused to sell it even now, saying, “It must be worth twice as much!” 

And so he left the king’s palace and went to water his horse at a well. This well had a pump—and all of a sudden, the horse jumped into it and disappeared. The man began to shout as loud as he could, and when people came running to ask what was wrong, he told them that his horse was in the pump. Taking him for a madman, they jeered at him and beat him, for the pump was much too small for any horse to fit into it.

At last the man was left alone and turned to go. Just then the horse stuck its head out of the pump. “There it is, there it is!” he shouted, catching sight of it—and back ran everyone to beat him again for clinging to his madness. Each time he turned to go, the horse stuck out its head and earned him another beating.

Thus, the Kingdom of Evil leads [people] astray with will-o’-the wisps, after which they chase. The more we pursue our desires, the more they elude us, and just when we think we have gotten over them, they stick out their heads at us and lure us on again. Make no mistake about it!1

In addition to this story’s conclusion about the futility and foolishness of chasing after what eludes people—the story also teaches us the foolishness of greed. In the story the man’s greed of always wanting more money for the horse, in the end not only leaves the man without the horse, but also destroys his relationships with other people. The people don’t believe the man’s words about the horse, and they become hostile to him—so much so that they physically beat him up several times. 

In all four of today’s Bible passages, there is the theme of the dangers, warnings about greed. So let’s look briefly at them. 

In our passage from Ecclesiastes, the writer, states: “vanity of vanities! All is vanity. …all is vanity and a chasing after wind.” The writer also concludes that: “…one who has toiled with wisdom and knowledge and skill must leave all to be enjoyed by another who did not toil for it.” In other words, by working to gain more and more stuff for one’s self is vanity because sooner than you realize, it will be taken from you, because life is short, you will die, and, as the old saying goes: “You can’t take it with you.”

The word “vanity” in our passage in Hebrew is hebel, and it means “meaninglessness,” or “emptiness,” or “vapour” or “mist,” suggesting something that has little substance and disappears quickly. The word appears 38 times in Ecclesiastes. So what the writer is teaching us here is: “Don’t let greed run your life. Greed and the chasing after more and more wealth, possessions, power and fame will never satisfy you, will never make you content—you will never stop wanting more and more, which only leads to a state of emptiness and meaninglessness. 

Turning to Psalm 49, a similar truth is emphasised—indeed my Lutheran Study Bible gives this psalm the following title: “The Folly of Trust in Riches.” The psalmist instructs God’s faithful people that those who are rich will only briefly be able to enjoy and trust in their wealth. Rather, God’s faithful are admonished to trust in the one, eternal God. 

Another Old Testament passage from Jeremiah 17:11 echoes the same message about the foolishness of trusting in riches, the prophet says: “Like the partridge hatching what it did not lay, so are all who amass wealth unjustly; in mid-life it will leave them, and at their end they will prove to be fools.” 

That brings us to our gospel and second lesson from Colossians. In our gospel, Jesus refused to judge or arbitrate regarding a family inheritance or family property when a man asked him to do so. In Jewish tradition, apparently rabbis were asked to function occasionally as a judge or arbitrator concerning family inheritances or properties. Moreover, according to Deuteronomy 21:17, it was the oldest son who received double the share of one or more younger siblings. So perhaps this man, being a younger brother, thought he could get his fair share of the family inheritance, whether money or property or both, by asking Jesus to tell his older brother what the latter should give his younger brother. Indeed, disputes over family wills over the centuries and even today, cause family discord, divisions, and can even permanently destroy relationships between siblings. Sadly brothers and sisters might not forgive each other or try to be reconciled and even die with the grudge they hold against one or more siblings because they felt that they did not inherit what they wanted—in other words, stuff, whether money or possessions were more important than relationships. In our gospel Jesus states greed can destroy one’s relationships with God and others. The parable of the rich fool highlights how selfishness and greed are destructive, and destroy generosity towards others. Greed became the fool’s false god. 

In our Colossians passage, the apostle Paul echoes what Jesus is teaching us in today’s gospel. Paul has a list of vices that dominate peoples lives as sinners, without Christ. He then contrasts that list with a list of virtues for people living a new life in Christ. In his vices list Paul states in the REB: “So put to death…the ruthless greed which is nothing less than idolatry….” Why is greed idolatry? Well, because it causes one to place the greatest value in life on stuff, possessions, money, power, status. It causes one to be obsessed with getting way more for one’s self than what one really needs. It is extreme selfishness and destroys relationships with God, with others, and even with God’s creation. It causes one to become god in the true God’s place. 

In contrast to this idolatrous greed, Paul emphasises love. Describing the list of virtues in the metaphor of putting on clothing, Paul states: “Above all, clothe yourselves with love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.” May it be so for you and me, for love lasts forever, and is the greatest gift. For that, thanks be to God! 

1 Pinhas Sadeh, translated by Hillel Halkin, Jewish Folktales: Selected and Retold by Pinhas Sadeh (Toronto et al: Anchor Books, Doubleday, 1989), pp. 381-382. 

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Remembering Jan Hus

July 6, 2025 Leave a comment

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On this day, July 6, 1415, Jan Hus, the Czech theologian, died a martyr’s death. He was born in a small village in Czehia called Husinec, in or ca 1369. His proposed reforms of the church influenced Martin Luther a century later. He is considered the founder of the Moravian Church. Here are 17 quotations attributed to Jan Hus. They are a significant reminder that the church-every denomination, Roman Catholic, Protestants, and Orthodox-is always in need of ongoing reformation. Hus’s 17 quotations are therefore as significant today for Christians as in his day.

  1. Truth prevails, and truth is mighty and will ultimately prevail.
  2. Do not be afraid of your opponents, for they cannot do anything against the truth.
  3. God is present everywhere, and God’s power is not limited to any particular place.
  4. The true Christian is one who follows Christ and His teachings, not the traditions of (hu)man(s).
  5. The Word of God is the sword of the Spirit, and we must wield it against falsehood and error.
  6. The Church should be a place of spiritual growth, not a center of power and control.
  7. We should strive for unity and peace among Christians, but never at the expense of truth.
  8. The Church should be a refuge for the oppressed and a voice for justice in society.
  9. The priesthood of all believers means that every Christian has direct access to God.
  10. We should strive to live a life of simplicity and humility, following the example of Christ.
  11. The true Church is not defined by its buildings or rituals, but by the presence of Christ.
  12. The teachings of Christ should be accessible to all, not hidden behind a language barrier.
  13. The Church should be a place of spiritual nourishment, not a source of guilt and fear.
  14. Christians should be known by their love for one another, not their divisions and conflicts.
  15. The true Church is not confined to a specific denomination or institution, but is made up of all believers.
  16. We should be willing to question and challenge religious authorities, if they contradict the teachings of Christ.
  17. The true essence of Christianity is found in love, mercy, and compassion, not in legalistic rules and rituals.
  18. PRAYER: We give you thanks, O Triune God, for the life and legacy of your servant, reformer and martyr, Jan Hus. May his life and legacy continue to inspire and instruct your Church, in Jesus’s name. AMEN.

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