Rotate Coeli - The Fourth Sunday In Advent (Advent 4) [Sunday School Christmas Lessons and Carols]

(Audio)

John 1:19-28; Philippians 4:4-7; Deuteronomy 18:15-19

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Well, we’re only seven days away from the Big Day. Some of you have been planning and shopping and preparing for this since Black Friday. Others of you began on December 26 last year! There’s so much to do: Cards to send, gifts to purchase and wrap, parties to attend, feasts to prepare, family to visit, lists to make, and more. And yet, too often you end up disappointed. They weren’t as excited about your gift as you had imagined they would be. They didn’t say thank you. They didn’t give you a gift in return. The kids managed to make it for dinner, but that’s all, then they were off to the in-laws, or to their own interests and pursuits. You got what you wanted, but now it doesn’t seem as special – just another thing to take care of, to store away, to realize you didn’t really need in the first place, to wear out, to fall out of style, or to become outdated and obsolete. And, let’s face it, for many Christmas is not a happy time. Many are lonely. Many are poor. Many have strife and conflict in their families and the holiday season only punctuates that fact. Many have lost loved ones this year and are experiencing their first Christmas without them. For many, the pain of loss robs the joy and peace and hope that Christmas promises to bring.

I don’t mean to be all somber and depressing at such a joyous time. Nevertheless, you know that this is true. You feel it – if not now, then later, when the wrapping paper is all over the floor, the kitchen and the dining room are a shambles, the family and friends have gone home, and the loneliness creeps back in (or rises up again, for it was there all along). We are a lonely people. Even when surrounded by family and friends, by those we love, by masses of strangers in the city, at work, and in the shopping malls, even at church – we feel alone, cut off, isolated. We want, we lack, we crave, we need. But, what? That’s the question we long for an answer to. The world and our flesh will offer all sorts of answers, but none of them fulfill and satisfy; none of them make us content. What is it that we hunger and thirst for? What is it that we want and desire? There is One who knows, the One who made us in His own image, the One who loves us even though we run from Him when He calls and rebel against Him again and again. God knows what we want for and what we need, and He is every ready to give you His Christmas presence.

Yes, that’s pres-ence, not pres-ents. Your God’s gift to you at Christmas is His presence. Your God and LORD comes to you, to be with you, as your Father, as your Brother, as your Bridegroom. He comes among you as one of you, taking up a flesh and blood body like yours, feeling your want, suffering your loneliness and pain, dying your death, and being raised to life again that you may have life in Him eternal. He promises you that you are never alone, for He is with you always. He comes to fill your every want and need with His presence so that you will never hunger or thirst. He doesn’t promise you happiness, but He promises you contentment and peace, which are far more satisfying and precious.

This is the meaning of the Incarnation, this is the meaning of Christmas: “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” In the beginning, God dwelt with our First Parents in the garden. He walked with them and talked with them as they were righteous and holy, bearing His image. But, they sold out that personal relationship for a lie and selfish pursuits. Sinful and unclean, no longer could they endure the holy and righteous presence of God. However, God so loved them and the world that He had made that He created new ways in which He could be present with His people. God spoke to Abraham through His Holy Angel. God spoke to Moses on Mount Sinai in a cloud and fire. God filled the holy place of the tabernacle with His presence veiled in a cloud, and He lead His people in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. God’s presence was with the Ark of the Covenant in the holy place of the Tabernacle and Temple. Yet all of these ways in which God was present among His people were but a foreshadowing of the presence He would establish in His Son. “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.” “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” God became a man that man might become God. In the Incarnation, God fulfilled all these foreshadowings and types, and He went a step further – He eliminated the need for intermediary means to be present among His people, for in Jesus Christ, God dwelt among His people as one of them: God became man that man might be brought into the full presence of God through baptism and communion in Jesus Christ.

 “The LORD is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” To not want is to lack no thing at all. This is an unimaginable concept for us, for to be human after the Fall is to be wracked with near continual want, desire, and longing. We hear this sentiment in our popular music: Mick Jagger can’t get no satisfaction, Bruce Springsteen has a hungry heart, and Bono still doesn’t know what he’s looking for. And, we feel this want, desire, and longing no time more than at Christmas, which has become all about fulfilling our selfish wants, desires, and longings with fleeting material, worldly, and fleshly pleasures. But, these are like bandaids and junk food, they only comfort for a short while and they only treat the symptom without healing the disease. In the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, God began to heal our disease of sin and guilt. He redeemed our flesh by taking it upon Himself. In our flesh He fulfilled the Law’s demands in holiness and righteousness that He might take upon Himself your sin sickness and guilt and die for your transgressions that He might give you in exchange His life and Sonship with the Father. But, that is not all. In the incarnation, life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Jesus, God has reestablished His presence among us, a personal and fleshly presence that cannot and will not be revoked for those who believe on Him and bear His fruits in love. Jesus is not just God for us, but Jesus is Immanuel, God with us, as one of us, now and forever. As we sing in the beloved Christmas hymn “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” “Veiled in flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate Deity! Pleased as man with man to dwell, Jesus, our Immanuel!” This is God’s present to you at Christmas – His presence among you as one of you, as your Father, your Brother, your Bridegroom, your Savior, and your God. “Highest, most holy, Light of Light eternal, born of a virgin, a mortal He comes; Son of the Father now in flesh appearing! O come, let us adore Him – Christ the Lord!”

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Advent Evening Prayer - Wednesday In the Week of Gaudete (The Third Sunday In Advent)

(Audio)

Luke 12:35-48; Isaiah 25:6-10

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

Just like Adam and Eve, whose nakedness the LORD clothed with animal skins, shedding innocent blood that our First Parents might be saved from the consequences of their sin, so the LORD clothes us still, not with animal skins, but with the righteousness of His Holy, innocent Son Jesus Christ, who willingly became our Paschal Lamb to take away our sins and the sins of the entire world. Thus, when Jesus exhorts you to “Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning,” He provides you both the clothing, His righteousness, and the oil, your faith which receives and trusts in the LORD’s forgiveness. And so, you are dressed. Christ has dressed you in His righteousness and holiness, having washed you clean of your sin and guilt in His holy, innocent shed blood. Now He exhorts you to “stay dressed.” Likewise, your lamps are, or at least were, burning. Truly, your Lord Jesus has given you your lamps and has filled them with the oil of faith and forgiveness. Now He exhorts you to “keep your lamps burning.”

How do you stay dressed and keep your lamps burning? By attending to the needful things and not being distracted and sidetracked by the cares, anxieties, pleasures, and pursuits of the world and your flesh. You are to be “like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast.” That is to say, you are to be doing all things that such servants would do expecting that their master might return home at any moment. What things are these? Well, that depends on your vocation. What has the LORD called you to do and given you to do? Are you a husband or a wife, a father or a mother, a son or a daughter? Are you a teacher, a nurse, an engineer? Are you a caregiver, a volunteer, a friend? Are you a mentor, an evangelist, a musician, one who cares for the altar and the sanctuary of the LORD? Do those things, whatever they might be, but do them as one who has been called, dressed, and filled with the oil of faith and forgiveness in Jesus Christ. And, the only way that you can do these things is if you stay dressed and keep your lamps burning. Therefore, you must wash your robes in the blood of the Lamb in daily contrition, repentance, and faith in Christ and you must receive His gifts regularly and faithfully that you may persevere and be fruitful, that you may shine forth with the Light of the World in your Christian vocations, that other may see Christ in you and glorify Him.

Jesus’ first century audience would have understood His exhortation in light of the house churches in which they gathered in fellowship to hear the apostolic teaching, to pray the liturgy, and to receive the body and blood of the Lord in the Holy Eucharist. Jesus’ exhortation is to not neglect this practice and reception and to not treat it lackadaisically as you await His coming. Your staying dressed and keeping your lamps full of the oil of faith and forgiveness is not a solitary or isolated practice, but it is a practice done in the community of the Church, your family of faith. Part of your watchfulness includes encouraging and exhorting your brothers and sisters in Christ to faithful watchfulness as you wait. The main thing, however, is that you live your life and bear the fruits of faith in Christ as if you knew the day and the hour He will return. If you live your life and trust in Him in this way, then you will be dressed and your lamps will be burning should He return even the second or third watch. Thus, what Jesus describes is not an occasional watchfulness, or an annual watchfulness, or even a weekly watchfulness, but an every-day-of-your-life watchfulness, anticipation, and expectation. For, the temptation is to live your life as if He is not coming soon and to become listless, lazy, and fruitless concerning your own faith as well as the faith of others.

But then, Jesus gives a specific exhortation to His Apostles and to His Pastors who are “stewards of the mysteries” in His Church until He returns. To be a steward is to be a servant and a manager. Pastors have been given stewardship and management of the Word of the LORD and the Blessed Sacraments in the Church, and of the flock entrusted to their care as well. Jesus says, “Who then is the faithful and wise manager, whom His Master will set over His household, to give them their portion of food at the proper time? Blessed is that servant whom His Master will find so doing when He comes.” Faithful pastors are much more concerned about faithful stewardship of the Lord’s gifts than they are about the wants, desires, and opinions of the people they have been called to serve. Pastors will have to give an account of their stewardship when the Lord returns in glory. Likewise, Pastors must be about their vocations, faithfully proclaiming the Word of the LORD in Law and Gospel and administering the Blessed Sacraments in accord with that Word. This is what Jesus exhorts pastors to be found doing when He comes. Therefore, pastors appreciate when their congregants pray for them and help them to remain faithful, even calling to their attention where they may have spoken incorrectly or mishandled the Blessed Sacraments. However, congregants must not tempt their pastors to bow to the wants, desires, and opinions of the world and the flesh any more than they should become listless, lazy, and fruitless concerning their own faith and the faith of others.

In total, these Words of our Lord are for us all, “everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.” Let us treasure the gift of righteousness and faith that has been bestowed upon us by not neglecting these, but seeking out the Lord, His Word, and His Sacraments, hungering and thirsting for them, and shining forth with His Light in this world of darkness that others might know Him and join us in His kingdom that has come, that comes among us now, and that is coming on a day and hour we cannot know. Lord Jesus, preserve and keep us in faith and make us a blessing to others to the glory of your Name.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Gaudete - The Third Sunday In Advent (Advent 3)

(Audio)

Matthew 11:2-11; 1 Corinthians 4:1-5; Isaiah 40:1-11

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

A prophet does not speak for God on His behalf, but a prophet is literally a mouthpiece for God who proclaims His Word to His people. John the Baptist was such a prophet. In fact, Jesus says that “among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.” That’s pretty high praise coming from the Son of God. It had been four hundred years since the last prophet of the LORD proclaimed His Word to His people, and that prophet was Malachi who proclaimed, “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes.” Jesus proclaimed Malachi’s prophecy fulfilled in John saying, “All the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.”

“All the Prophets and the Law” is the Holy Scriptures, The Old Testament, the Word of God, Law and Gospel. All the Prophets of the LORD, men like Isaiah, Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Malachi, and others, preached both the Law and the Gospel, but the Gospel they preached pointed to a fulfillment yet to come, the promise of Messiah, the Anointed One of the LORD. But, John was different, for John preached the Law just like those prophets before Him – “Repent! For the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” but He also had the unique honor, privilege, and blessing of pointing repentant sinners directly to the Messiah Jesus Christ saying, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”

John the Baptist was the prophesied “Elijah, who is to come,” for John prepared the way for the coming of Jesus the Messiah by turning “the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers.” That is, by turning men’s hearts in repentance through the preaching of Law and Gospel that they might be prepared to receive the LORD’s Messiah, Jesus, in faith and put their trust in Him as Jesus proclaimed of John in St. Luke’s Gospel, “And he will go on before the Lord in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous--to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”

However, as a prophet of the LORD, John’s fate would be no different than those prophets who preceded him. The Word of the LORD John proclaimed would be rejected by the self-righteous and the self-secure, by those who loved worldly power and wealth and possessions and prestige in the eyes of men more than they loved the LORD and His Commandments. They would despise him and ridicule him. They would think him crazy and out of step with the world. They would consider him a blasphemer of the LORD because they had hardened their hearts and stopped their ears to the Word of the LORD, exchanging the truth of God for a lie. They would persecute, imprison, and murder him because he exposed their hypocrisy and sin and threatened their self-righteousness and self-security. They would join with Jerusalem in killing this prophet as they killed all the prophets before John, stoning and murdering those sent to her.

And so it was that John was in prison for preaching against King Herod Antipas’ adulterous marriage to his brother’s wife Herodias, calling him to repentance. Herod hated John for this, but he also feared him, just as Jesus’ opponents, the Pharisees, the Sadducees, and Herod both hated and feared Him. Herod wanted John dead, but he was afraid to do it. It would take a young girl, Herodias’ daughter, Herod’s step-daughter and grand-niece, to bring about John’s murder by arousing and pleasing Herod with her sensuous dancing. Regardless of any delay, John knew that he would not leave that prison with his life, not without a miracle of the LORD.

And here we take up once again the annual debate: Did John have doubts about Jesus, or did he send his disciples to Jesus in order that they might follow him as his role as preparer of the way was nearing completion? In all truth, I have gone both ways on this matter. However, today I believe that it is both/and: John did truly believe that Jesus was the Lamb of God, the Messiah, but he did not fully understand what that meant or in what way precisely Jesus would save His people. It is completely reasonable and normal for people of faith to waver and to have doubts, even people of great faith like John the Baptist. All of Jesus’ disciples, including Peter, Thomas, and Paul, had their moments of doubt and weakness. They repented, and they were restored.

In prison, awaiting his inevitable execution, John heard about the deeds of Jesus in fulfillment of prophecy, perhaps particularly the prophecies of Isaiah which Jesus quotes in today’s Gospel reading: “The blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and the poor have good news preached to them.” However, John may also have been recalling Isaiah’s prophecy that the Messiah would “bring out the prisoners from the dungeon, from the prison those who sit in darkness.” It seems probable that John, in prison awaiting his execution, would be wondering if Jesus were going to fulfill that particular prophecy as well. In answer to John’s inquiry via his disciples, Jesus directed John to what they had seen and heard in fulfillment of Messianic prophecy, conveniently, intentionally (?), leaving the freeing of prisoners out. Ultimately, when all material and fleshly things have passed away, when signs and wonders are no more, we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus Christ alone. Perhaps even John the Baptist, the greatest of those born of woman, needed to learn this as much as you and I.

Yet, when John’s disciples went away to return to John and tell him the news, Jesus turned to the crowd that had gathered and proclaimed about John saying, “What did you go out into the wilderness to see? A reed shaken by the wind? What then did you go out to see? A man dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. This is he of whom it is written, ‘Behold, I send my messenger before your face, who will prepare your way before you’.” Now, “A reed shaken by the wind” is an analogy for someone who changes position with every shift in public opinion. John the Baptist was no “reed shaken by the wind,” for he fearlessly proclaimed the Word of the LORD in the face of the Pharisees and the religious leadership of Israel and even before King Herod as Psalm 119 says, “I will also speak of your testimonies before kings and shall not be put to shame,” and as Jesus taught His disciples saying, “You will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles.” Beware those who seek to appease men to win their favor and compromise the Word and Commandments of the LORD. Jesus promises that, if you confess Him before men, He will confess you before His Father in heaven, but if you deny Him before men, He will deny you before His Father in heaven.

“A man dressed in soft clothing?” John wore camel’s hair for clothing tied with a leather belt. He lived in the wilderness eating locusts and honey. Like the prophecy of Jesus before whose coming John prepared the way, John “had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him.” John did not attract people by his position, association, title, or location. His preaching drew people out to the wilderness by the Word of the LORD. So too you must not judge a book by its cover, or a preacher of the Word by his appearances, manner, or style, but by his faithfulness to the Word of the LORD alone. You will know the LORD’s servant, not by his appearance, eloquence, age, wisdom, or even his success, but you will know him by his fruits, by his faithfulness in proclaiming the Word of the LORD and His Commandments and in the administration of His Sacraments. Those who are too lazy to read, study, hear, and inwardly digest the Word of the LORD, perhaps, are best to keep their ears open and their mouths shut.

“What then did you go out to see? A prophet? Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet!” John the Baptist was indeed a prophet of the LORD, a mouthpiece proclaiming His Word to His people. John was no shrinking violet, nor was he a lover of pleasure and comfort, but he was dedicated to full proclamation of the Word of the Lord, of Law and Gospel, in season and out of season, to people who closed their ears and clenched their fists and gnashed their teeth in hatred of John and of the LORD whose Word he proclaimed. For this John was despised and ridiculed, persecuted, imprisoned, and murdered by men who feared, loved, and trusted in their own works and righteousness and believed that they earned and merited the good things they enjoyed in life. Truly, then, as now, the words of St. Paul to the young pastor Timothy ring true: “Preach the Word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching. For the time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own passions, and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths.” Truly, St. John the Baptist knew those times, as did the prophets before him, as did Jesus and the Apostles, and faithful pastors and teachers still today.

John was in prison. I know from personal experience ministering to a few folks who have spent time in prison that those walls and those bars change your perspective on the world. For a Christian locked in prison, it might seem as if Jesus isn’t doing anything, at least not to help me. Did John feel that way? Perhaps. But, even more importantly, this text, and this Advent season, is provided you that you may step outside of the prison you have constructed for yourself, a prison of selfish, fleshly, and worldly expectations for how God must act in order for you to trust in Him, and how preaching must sound for it help you to believe, and for worship to feel in order to believe that Jesus is present and active. Jesus directed John to the Word of the LORD, and to that Word fulfilled for others, if not immediately for himself. And, by hearing and seeing that God is working and active and present in the lives of others, John was encouraged and caused to reflect upon the many and various ways God was working and active and present with him in his prison cell, forgiving his sins, preserving and strengthening his faith, even unto death and eternal life with Him. Jesus directed John to hope outside of his prison walls now. And, because of that hope, John was truly free even while in prison. For the walls and bars we construct for ourselves to imprison us are much worse than any worldly and material prison that may hold us. Worldly and material prison walls and bars will fail and perish. Blessed is the one who finds his freedom in Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, now, and for eternity.

Judge not by what your eyes see and your ears hear. Things are not what they appear, but they are as the Word of the LORD has declared. John the Baptist is the greatest of the prophets of the LORD and the greatest among those born of women, but Jesus, who made Himself to be the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. John had the unique honor, privilege, and blessing of pointing repentant sinners directly to the Messiah Jesus Christ saying, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” Pastors today have this same unique honor, privilege, and blessing of pointing you to Jesus. Your Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the LORD’s Messiah, is present and active to heal you and forgive you and to set you free from the prison of sin and death you have constructed for yourself. How do you receive him? Jesus invites you to believe on Him for your life and salvation that you may live freely without fear. What did you come here today to see? Judge not by what your eyes see and your ears hear, but see with the eyes of faith and hear with the ears of faith that the Holy Spirit has created in you through the Word of the LORD, and you will be free indeed.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.

Commemoration of St. Ambrose, Bishop of Milan - Pastor, Theologian, and Hymnwriter

(Audio)

Luke 6:20-23; Ephesians 5:15-21

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.

St. Ambrose of Milan was born in 340 AD in Trier, Gaul (modern day Germany). Ambrose was the son of a Prefect and was himself appointed to the Prefecture of Sirmium with his residence in Milan. It was in his capacity as Prefect, as a government official, that Ambrose was called upon to bring peace among Christians in Milan who were divided into quarreling factions when a new bishop was to be elected in 374 AD. Ambrose addressed the crowd, and someone cried out, “Ambrose, bishop!” The entire gathering voiced their support. Ambrose was thirty-four and, being only a catechumen at the time, was baptized on December 7 and was then consecrated Bishop of Milan. No one was surprised more by this than was Ambrose himself who later wrote, “I was carried off from the judgment seat, and the garb of office, to enter on the priesthood, and began to teach you what I myself had not yet learned. So it happened that I began to teach before I began to learn. Therefore I must learn and teach at the same time, since I had no leisure to learn before.”

Patristic historian Johannes Quasten states that, “In order to live up to his new responsibilities, Ambrose devoted himself, under the direction of Simplicianus [a presbyter in Rome], to acquiring a profound knowledge of Sacred Scripture, of the Greek Fathers and of Jewish and pagan writers such as Philo and Plotinus. Augustine testifies to the intense and assiduous study of Ambrose. This study, complemented by extended prayer on the Word of God, was to become the source of Ambrose’s pastoral activity and preaching.” St. Ambrose’s devotion and study were such that he became one of Four Great Latin Doctors of the Church along with St. Augustine, St. Jerome, and St. Gregory the Great. Ambrose was also a prolific hymnwriter. We will sing three of Ambrose’s hymns this evening! Ambrose also created a style of chant, known as Ambrosian Chant, which is still used in Christian churches today. Theologically, St. Ambrose was a courageous defender of the faith. Ambrose persuaded Emperor Gratian in 379 AD to forbid the Arian heresy in the West, which denied that Jesus was truly God. At Ambrose’s urging, Gratian’s successor, Theodosious, also publically opposed Arianism.

Opposition to Arianism was one of St. Ambrose’s theological hallmarks. Ambrose defended the doctrine of the two natures of Christ, that Christ was at once fully divine and fully human while remaining one person, and the position occupied by the Son of God within the Holy Trinity. This doctrine is expounded both simply and poetically in the Ambrosian hymn “Veni, Redemptor Gentium (Savior of the Nations Come).” In this hymn St. Ambrose confessed of Christ that He is “Lord,” “not by human flesh and blood,” but “by the Spirit of our God,” “God of God, yet fully man.” Likewise, St. Ambrose proclaimed the mission of God’s Messiah in verse: “God the Father was His source, back to God He ran His course. Into hell His road went down, back then to His throne and crown.” In the doxological final stanza of his hymn “O Splendor of God’s Glory Bright,” St. Ambrose confessed the Son’s equal place, as God and man, within the Holy Trinity: “All laud to God the Father be; all praise, eternal Son, to Thee; all glory to the Spirit raise in equal and unending praise. Alleluia!”

While an immensely brilliant, wise, and powerful government official, St. Ambrose was at the same time a man of great faith and humility. Upon being consecrated bishop, Ambrose immediately adopted an ascetic lifestyle, apportioned his money to the poor, donating all of his land, making only provision for his sister Marcellina (who later became a nun), and committed the care of his family to his brother. Perhaps it was this quality of Ambrose that enabled him so profoundly to see and comprehend the great mystery that is the incarnation of Jesus Christ and its meaning and importance for the life and salvation of all people. St. Ambrose took to heart Jesus’ teaching in The Beatitudes from the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. Blessed are you who are hungry now, for you shall be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you shall laugh. Blessed are you when people hate you and when they exclude you and revile you and spurn your name as evil, on account of the Son of Man! Rejoice in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for so their fathers did to the prophets.” Likewise, St. Ambrose lived his life and testified to others, exhorting them to do the same in humility, piety, and love, as St. Paul has taught repeatedly in his epistles: “Be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.” Surely this message is as vital for us today within Christ’s Church, and out in the world, as it was for Ambrose’s flock in the fourth century.

St. Ambrose proved to be highly influential in the Christian Church, again, most notably, for his staunch defense and explication of the two natures of Christ, the Holy Trinity, and the divinity and equality of the three persons of the Holy Trinity. Ambrose was instrumental in calling for an ecumenical council in Aquileia in 381 AD to further combat the Arian heresy, to expand the creed constructed at the Council of Nicaea in 325 AD, and to prepare the way for that Creed’s further development and ratification at the Council of Constantinople later that same year, 381 AD. We can observe the Ambrosian influence throughout the Church’s confession still in the Nicene Creed. St. Ambrose was also highly influential upon another Great Latin Doctor of the Church, St. Augustine, helping him to convert to Christianity and then baptizing him! While still a pagan, Augustine was impressed, not so much by Ambrose’s elegant homilies, but by the unity of the Church with him and behind him, that they sang and prayed in unity as one body. Augustine remarked, “The devout people watched, ready to die with their Bishop.” Augustine also noted that the liturgical customs in Rome were different than those used in other places, and Ambrose told him something we still quote today: “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” To further develop, foster, and maintain the unity of Christ’s Church, St. Ambrose developed the lectio divina (divine lectionary), an annual cycle of readings from Holy Scripture still in use in the Church today.

St. Ambrose died on Good Friday, April 4, 397 AD. He was given grace to proclaim the Gospel with eloquence and power. As bishop of the great congregation of Milan, St. Ambrose fearlessly bore reproach for the honor of the Holy Triune God. May the LORD mercifully grant to all bishops and pastors such excellence in preaching and fidelity in ministering His Word that His people might be partakers of His divine nature.

In the + Name of Jesus. Amen.